ZOË RICE: I have a distinct memory of my mom watching the original V miniseries. It was the moment when skin first gave way to scales, and boy was I scared. Now over 25 years later, the unfortunately spelled SyFy channel has replayed the original series, and oh, is it funny! Clearly I was easily scared as a child. The original series, now fresh in my mind, was somewhat chilling, but it was also scrappy. The heroes were a rag tag band of rebels you couldn’t help but root for. The new V revival is way more slick than scrappy. The special effects are updated, naturally, but also the rebels have been upgraded. Instead of an intrepid cameraman and medical student who just fall into fighting aliens, now we’ve got an FBI agent and an organized resistance cell not long after the Visitors land.
EMILY SAIDEL: V has enough science fiction street cred to deserve a viewing: Morena Baccarin (Inara from Firefly), Joel Gretsch (Tom from The 4400), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet from Lost), Laura Vandervoort (Kara from Smallville) and that’s just on the actor side. The 1983 miniseries and related movie evoke enough cult love to also inspire a viewing. And at least this first episode of V suggests this might be a show worthy of interest, if not devotion.