It's been awhile, but I was always under the impression that the opening seen, 'right out of Independence Day', was actually from the original 'V', and that Independence Day was paying homage to it, though it did it better...

Anyways, looks great, I hope they do not mimic the original too closely...it did not last too long...some familiar faces there as well, from Lost, 4400, Firefly, and one or two others I could not place. Tells me we have a real effort at sci-fi...I hate Morena Baccarrin's short hair, I saw here guest star recently with it...not the same...

This trailer is everything that I expected. Good character diversity, as long as you don't mind everyone being American and stereotyped. Any chance that we might have characters that aren't defined by their careers?

Okay, that's probably harsh considering it's just a trailer, but seriously. FBI agent, priest, cop, reporter; it's all been done. Where are the regular people? And why stick with America? Let's get global. Subtitles work on Lost and Heroes.

I'm not crazy about the logo change, either. Is it just me, or does the V look short and fat?

"starting with a sequence right out of Independence Day"

Trebuken's right. The original V did it first, ID4 copied it, now V is taking it back. Of course everyone is going to say "hey, they copied ID4", since almost no one remembers the original V...

Some of us forgot about ID4....

That said, alien ships appearing over the worlds' capitols I find hard to believe is an image that V came up with first though. I mean, I know it's been in print since I want to say Childhood's End (which would make an awesome V type movie, if you ask me), but there weren't any classic 50s/60s scifi with the flying saucer simultaneously hovering over the whole world?

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the original V took the scene directly from Robert A. Heinlein's "Childhood's End." (I remember an interview with Kenny Johnson citing Heinlein as the inspiration for that sequence.)

The new V looks great. As the series goes on, it would be great to have most or all of the original casts from the mini-series and series involved with this on-going project.

Childhood's End is by Arthur C Clarke not Heinlein.

Right book, wrong author. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood's_End

OK, guys... nobody say "Childhood's End" out loud anymore, or Hollywood is going to sink their stinking claws into that too!

I must say, the new V looks promising!

Yeah, looks pretty good. I will never, ever forget seeing the original though. When Diana unhinged her jaw and ate that guinea pig (looks really cheesy now though) and when Robin gave birth to the twins. Holy crap, people talked about that for DAYS! And no one knew it was coming. No Internet spoilers or secrets spilled. Those scenes are burned into the memories of anyone who saw the original.

I wish the show luck and I'm with Trebuken, I don't like Morena Baccarin's short hair either. She was on Medium a few weeks ago with the short hair. But I'd rather have her back on TV with short hair than not on with long hair =)

>>OK, guys... nobody say "Childhood's End" out loud anymore, or Hollywood is going to sink their stinking claws into that too!

No worries on that. Morgan Freeman has been trying to get it off the ground for years, but Hollywood is super squeemish about the story's punchline.

Actually Morgan Freeman is trying to get "Rendezvous with Rama" made.

But back to the topic at hand, who knew Supergirl was a lizard?

Childhood's End is a good print source but can't we go farther and, all the way back to War of the Worlds. I mean it is THE classic tale of alien invasion so ultimately everything else is derivative of it....

It's only 13 episodes, so I'm hoping Scott Peters and co., are able to take it in a different direction and come up with a story arc / stories and thematic subtext that will diverge to some degree from the original.

You would think that after practically every one in the US and many parts of the world has watched Independence Day. That one day suddenly seeing enormous ships floating over major cities every one would start panicking, and running away from the ships.

Whoo it looks like Earth:Final Conflict/Them.ABC has a problem,they are broadcasting in fullscreen.So if they are going with a all new cinematic feel.Fullscreen won,t cut it.
Anyway it has a over-done way to much dialog feel to it.The CGI lokks really bad too.

They made a movie (loosely) based on Childhood's End. It was called "2001: A Space Odyssey"

dear jj abrams this is what a reboot should look like. Close to the orginal but not exact.

I wish they would have saved the little twist for the series instead of showing it in the trailer… just spoils it.

Wasn't V originally a reference to Victory (as in WWII) .. ?

I remember them referencing them as the Visitors in the original series, not the "Vs" ..

Yeah, in the original show V was the symbol of the resistance. Who knows if they'll co-opt it. But "the Vs" is something I'd picture the human youth culture developing as slang (which seems to be how that starts from what I can see in the trailer.

Kevin, 2001 came from the Clarke story "The Sentinel". Childhood's End is nothing at all like 2001, though might've been the book that led Kubrick to Clarke in the first place.

I don't know. This didn't impress me. I remember watching the original one when I was a little kid, and it was so much more exciting then this. Maybe they should have done it as a mini-series instead. Doing it as a series makes it more dragged out and it shows in the commercial.

Not impressed so far.

Looks promising. I just hope they don't use a "star child" type ending. That ending had the "star child" use magical powers to keep one of the ships from self-destructing and destroying Earth; it was incredibly cheesy and disappointing.

I can still remember seeing the original V back in the 80's and I loved it. This trailer looks promising. I think that Morena Baccarin can pull off Diana convincingly. I'm looking forwar to seeing this.

I'll miss the symbol the Visiters used and I'll miss the red that their uniforms represented. The new one seems good but a pale take on the origional. I hope for the best.

Looking forward to this...although, as a friend said to me, they've taken the surprise out of the look of the Visitors for those who didn't see the original series...

I was trying my best to forget ID4, then someone had to go and mention it. I like Morena as the head alien but they look like Madison Ave executives and not aliens. C'mon you can make them alien without trying to humanize them too much. Looks pretty good none the less and this is from someone who watched the originals back during their debut.

SMP0328 hopefully they won't use the Star Child too, though that became a good foil for Elizabeth in the tv series episodes. That was something that Tartikof at NBC kinda forced on to the scene and since Johnson walked on V: The Final Battle anyway, it got thrown in.

Zachary Wildstar: Puleeze, like you are a fair minded critic of Star Trek now or something. You probably woud have said V was better than Abrams if dogs were performing all the lead roles. Stop trying to sound un-partisan.

Captain Zachary says, "dear jj abrams this is what a reboot should look like. Close to the orginal but not exact."

Awesome! He listened to you!

Now..how about sticking to THIS topic...this isn't your therapist's office.

IsoTek, Pilgrim, some peoples is just haytas. Please don't feed the troll. ;)

Have to admit, this looks pretty good, and as influential as the original was, if you've checked some of the YouTube clips recently, it hasn't aged all that well. I think it still resonates with so many folks because it was a big mini-series event back when there was such a thing and there were few other entertainment choices beyond the Big Three networks on TV. So pretty much everyone, especially SF fans, watched it. The Nazi allegory was fairly blunt, though, so I hope if this new version goes into similar territory, they're a little more subtle. The minute they go on some liberal polemic about the War on Terror, I'm out.

I saw Independence day when I was a kid and at the time I wasnt looking for any personal oscar winning material, it gave me what I wanted a show about aliens with huge firepower kicking butt until we kick their butts in the last second. That being said now V.
The mini series had a good although dated cheesy story but good none the less. Characters were cool enough to like or hate (in a good way) With money the way it is if they cant give both a good story and great alien action, at least give a good story. Although if they decide to go with lizards looking for some water and people to eat, I dont know how thats going to be a shocking revalation. These days aliens coming for our water and coming to eat us just doesnt have the same bang.

OK....i need to get out my V dvd's and watch them before i see the ABC slaughter of a classic mini-series.

If you thought you were the only life form, why does your ship come equipped with a jumbo TV screen. We are going out to space, what is the one thing we can spend billions of dollars on that we will only use during the Lizard Super Bowl.

There's no use in hiding the twist. It's a remake, so surprise about the premise is impossible.

What's interesting is how the same premise can send different messages. The first one was about fascism arising through popular acclaim. This one seems to have more emphasis on faith and worship---at least from the trailer. (That was there in the original, but only as a minor supporting element.)

Are you guys all sheep, this new incarnation looks utter shite! Same old plastic actors, REALLY unimpressive spaceships that don't even look as good as the 80's version and more religious hokum to boot. Is there not a single original idea left on American TV? Somebody should start sending the TV execs some scifi 'books' (you must remember them, large things made from tree pulp with lots of writing in them) so they can see that there's more to science fiction than this truck load of drivel we are having shoved down our throats. Surely there must be a copy of 'Before the Golden Age' kicking around somewhere that we could send to NBC, ABC, Fox et al so they can get a feel for original scifi ideas. Stop pandering to the new generation of mindless emos and idiots our school systems are churning out and stimulate them mentally. TV has an obligation to the public, an obligation that seems to have been lost under the endless barrage of mind numbing reality TV and shallow, pointless scifi and fantasy. Rant over.

@MikeJ....The revelation of the aliens is more than the obvious "their Reptiles" revelation. I won't spoil it but its revealed in the teasers about the aliens and their presence on Earth. Once you know that it seems fairly plausible that they would have giant TV screens to broadcast their message.

@Nygard...Perhaps there is more than one surprise. Everyone knows "V" is famous for the "Lizards in people's clothing" trick so of course the writers would have to create surprises in other ways to keep the story fresh.

@Jerfob....I also get sometimes fustrated over TV's attempts at entertainment but I think this one deserves a litte more credit than you are willing to give. First off, they have created a richer story than the first while still giving the original its due. Second no one is forcing anyone to watch this so your line about it being forced down our throats is a bit false. If it offends thee then shut the TV off. Third, TV does not have an obligation to the public let alone any obligation that says it will only show good programming. It is a free service (in this country for the most part), it is run mostly by business agents not the public and if you don't like something you have the right not to watch. Its that simple.

My initial reaction shouts, "Why, oh, why must they ruin another good thing?" But then I see the beautiful Morena Baccarin and it strikes down my dread leaving... hope.

I usually run screaming into the night at the idea of remakes/reboots - but I have to say this one looks interesting. I loved the original V and etc., but I'll watch this, it looks good.

Sci-Fi rip-off of every movie out there. This one they will want to kill all of us or eat us.

I loose interest in series. Should have made a movie instead, at least we could leave when it was over.

Oh, and there is only one "R" in Morena Baccarin's last name. Yes, the same girl in SG-1 and a bunch of other stuff, check her name on IMDB.

I wonder how many reptilian tentacle penises that alpha alien chick has tucked away

They should cancel Ghost Whisperer & Supernatural just so they can 're-imagine' them next year. Also, Wolverine is do for a remake isn't it? The entire Star Wars saga? In case my sarcasm isn't strong enough, remakes, reinventions, re-imaginings all suck. Trek, Galactica, Fugitive, Land of the Lost, etc. Leave good things alone & come up with something original.

You gotta admit, Jane Badler was HOT in the original... For you nostalgic ones, you can watch a lot of the old shows on JOOST.COM

Well Read all the comments and I think some of them are a bit harsh...

One reflection... when BSG had its remake come out all those years ago I was like oh no loved the old series, wasn't even sure about the Starbuck character being a women and then I watched it... and wow couldn’t believe what a great job they did ok not all aspects of the series were great but overall a fine job!!

Now back on subject, The V... some people are slating it before it’s released and this just off a two and half min trailer come on give it a chance. Yes they have revealed some things already in the trailer, but is it surprising I mean is it something we didn’t know already... answer NO... there might be surprises on the way and other twists. One I think that might be, is maybe just maybe the hybrid baby is born to an alien this time (the blonde girl on the mother ship, I forget her name just now) and not a human (you read it here first if it happens that is lol). I just think if you don't like it don't watch it no one is forcing anyone, just give it a chance. I am sure there will be many millions of people around the world who will happily watch this remake. I for one cannot wait for the new one to come out, don’t get me wrong I loved the old series, miniseries and the final battle episodes have them all in my collection.

So lets just see what this one brings to the table granted some of it will be disappointing I am sure but overall I think they will do a good job... If not then we can wait for Kenneth Johnson’s project to come to light if he can get the funding for it which I understand to be a continuation of the original series but set a good few years after the final battle. Fingers crossed!!

REGURGITATION-to be honest,are there no bright execs out there with an imagination.please come out with new ideas.There are great sci-fi books out there crying out for being put onto the small box in the corner of your room.V was great in its day but come on ,think of something new.

v

Ugh, gave way too much away in one trailer. They could have been all awesome and tricked the viewers into trusting the aliens, and then going around surprising us as well as the characters in the show. That, in my opinion, would have been beyond epic.

It still looks interesting, though, and the special effects are surprisingly good for a TV show. I may watch the original, because knock-offs tend to suck anyway.

Looks really good, I hope they take it further as I always wanted to know what happened after Elizabeth went with the leader in the spaceship in the last episode.

So I was able to grab a hold a a cut of the pilot episode. I have mixed feeling about the series. Some parts were great and were really compelling. At times it was horribly cheesy and played out. Only time will tell.

I constantly was talking about "V" and using it as a reference to may movies moments, I even own the VHS box set if you can believe that it is just staring at me, I honestly hope they don't "day the earth stood still' it! Cause I am a fan of the originals, the previews looks like it has potential except it was really ARMY based in the original, hopefully they won't glam it up and understand it is about "don't mess with Earthlings we will mess your MM HMM up!!!

The original had humans from all walks of life and all ethnic and economic groups joining the resistance to overthrown the lizards. My favorite scene is when a rebel, a Mexican gardener, is rescued from the aliens who have tortured him. The rebels fear he has informed the lizards of their plans. Although badly beaten the gardener replies "my grandfather rode with Zapata....I told them notting (nothing)....then I SPIT IN THEIR FACE!" Way to go hermano.

The original V was cheesy when it fist aired. At least that's what I thought as I watched it during original broadcast. Back then there wasn't much SciFi on TV so any was better than none. BSG, Buck Rogers, V...V was cooler than the others but still kind of lame.

I agree with the others that aliens coming to eat us is not new. The best was To Serve Man on Outer Limits. Hard to beat the punchline in that one.

I hope they do something cool and new with this one but, from the trailer, it doesn't look as good as Fringe.

Although, after the jumbo tron, I expected Priors to come out with their staffs and demand we all convert to Origin.

I have never seen V but by the trailer it looks good. But the ship looks like a mattress in the sky they should make it look less like a mattress. And remove Anon obnoxious comment. Thanks.

We live in a world of remakes...Nobody wants to take a risk on an original idea. I am torn on how to feel for both "V" and "The Prisoner" remakes. On the one hand I really like both shows and would love to see more. On the other for every good remake there have been at least 10 horrible remakes and I am worried that they wil turn shows I like to crap...

It doesn't appear that any of the original characters will be in the new show. Ok, there are a couple similar characters, but it looks like it will be a completely different show with the same name. (Kind of like Highlander 2 didn't really have anything to do with any of the other Highlander movies) I guess we just have to wait and see.

I thought it amusing that there were so many ID4 references in this thread. Just remember that to was a remake. It was War of the Worlds except instead of a biological virus killing the aliens it was a computer virus...

Lets not forget where the original "UFO over the city scarin the bejeebez outta everybody" came from. Go much further back than even the original V series from the 80's. The Original "Day the Earth stood still" could almost claim ownership over it as far as movies go. My dad says the whole scene in that movie had people on the edge of their seats back in its day.

Loved the trailer! I finally have a new show to take over my obsession w/ LOST when it ends. Although "V" does resemble the Obama administration so it should be really scary to see how they exterminate earth. LOL

I had given up on the Networks for being too LEFT, but if this show continues in the vein it began... I'm Baaack! Thanks for finally giving the thinking a fun show to escape into. Wicked Awesome!

I am from the old school of V, and own the complete DVD collection. Tuesdays episode was so bad that I will not be watching again. The story started out loosely following the story then, then turned it in to a hybrid of Sleeper Cell and Battlestar Galactic with elements of Numbers. For prime time I cant believe that cancelled shows like Moonlight, the Unit and 4400, for this over CGI'ed show if they had kept to the original script,with the latest Special Effects it could have been a fantastic show, instead of another over rated over price "B" rated SI-FI.

When is it suppose to show?