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Author Topic: "V" and Political Commentary  (Read 1177 times)

jeff37923

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"V" and Political Commentary
« on: November 06, 2009, 08:58:40 PM »
Ok, I tuned in the new V mini-series pilot episode because I was bored. Happily, my boredom was solved by seeing the hotness that is Morena Baccarin as the leader of the alien Visitors. Firefly/Serenity co-star Alan Tudyk is also in V.

Now, there are plot holes that you can drive a truck through in the pilot, whose story felt rushed and forced. However, in a scene where Baccarin's character was doing a softball interview with a pro-Visitor news anchor, the pilot really caught my interest. The Visitors, who are known by most Sci-Fi fans to be disguised evil reptilians who want to conquor Earth, make their subversive offer to help humanity - with solutions for global warming, economic assistance, and medical innovations (at which the reporter character actually said, "You mean universal health care?"). At that point, I knew that this was going to get short-stroked all over the political commentary spectrum as anti-Obama.

Lo and behold, the following Entertainment Weekly article shows up.

Now, I think that science fiction and fantasy are at their best when doing societal and political commentary, it is one of the strengths of the genres.

Yet I wonder about the impact of this one. I know it is too soon to fully tell, and I'm waiting to see it all play out as fast as I can.

Just found it interesting.

EDIT: Just to be a little more clear here. I find this interesting not because of the political subject matter, but because I get to see the process in action this time.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2009, 09:43:46 PM by jeff37923 »
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Hairfoot

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"V" and Political Commentary
« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2009, 07:17:11 PM »
I don't know if it's categorically anti-Obama, but what you're describing sounds very pro-libertarian schizophrenic.

The internet has allowed psychiatric patients to feed off each others' delusional schema and achieve some common memes about the real world that the rest of us sheeple refuse to see.

Take a trip to CSTDT and check out the popularity of "disguised reptilian aliens are in positions of power" mixed with the usual extreme Right-wing memes of "anything less than anarchy is de facto communism", and "progress is scary.  Let's wind the clock back a few centuries".

It sounds like the producers are testing the mentally ill demographic to see if it's a worthwhile market to pitch programming to.

jeff37923

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"V" and Political Commentary
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2009, 09:01:12 PM »
Quote from: Hairfoot;342625
I don't know if it's categorically anti-Obama, but what you're describing sounds very pro-libertarian schizophrenic.

The internet has allowed psychiatric patients to feed off each others' delusional schema and achieve some common memes about the real world that the rest of us sheeple refuse to see.

Take a trip to CSTDT and check out the popularity of "disguised reptilian aliens are in positions of power" mixed with the usual extreme Right-wing memes of "anything less than anarchy is de facto communism", and "progress is scary.  Let's wind the clock back a few centuries".

It sounds like the producers are testing the mentally ill demographic to see if it's a worthwhile market to pitch programming to.


You didn't bother to look at the Entertainment Weekly article, did you?
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Hairfoot

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"V" and Political Commentary
« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2009, 09:18:24 PM »
I did, then commented on what you wrote.  How does the article conflict with my comments?

jeff37923

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« Reply #4 on: November 07, 2009, 10:12:20 PM »
Quote from: Hairfoot;342638
I did, then commented on what you wrote.  How does the article conflict with my comments?


So, you equate political commentary to some form of mass psychosis?

Gotcha, thanks for playing...
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Hairfoot

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« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2009, 10:53:57 PM »
Gotcha.  You're going to play that game where you attack people who disagree or point out logical fallacies in your statements.  I think you'll have the thread to yourself.  Go nuts, bro.

Kyle Aaron

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« Reply #6 on: November 07, 2009, 11:40:21 PM »
Alien lizardmen are offering us universal healthcare? Wacky.

I wonder if the series will end up with everyone turning into Commie hippies like in BSG.
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jeff37923

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« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2009, 01:50:21 AM »
Quote from: Hairfoot;342650
Gotcha.  You're going to play that game where you attack people who disagree or point out logical fallacies in your statements.  I think you'll have the thread to yourself.  Go nuts, bro.


Except you didn't point out any logical fallacies, you just made the comment that this wasn't an example of political commentary but a case of mass psychosis since it didn't support your political position.

Feel free to come back into the thread and contribute when you pull your head out of your ass. This trolling crap is just that, crap.
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jeff37923

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« Reply #8 on: November 08, 2009, 01:51:15 AM »
Quote from: Kyle Aaron;342653
Alien lizardmen are offering us universal healthcare? Wacky.

I wonder if the series will end up with everyone turning into Commie hippies like in BSG.


And that is exactly why I am watching this and waiting as fast as I can to see how it all turns out.
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Werekoala

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"V" and Political Commentary
« Reply #9 on: November 08, 2009, 01:57:17 AM »
Well, we had Fascist aliens the first time around - isn't it only fair to give Communist aliens a shot too? :)

(I apologize in advance for Stormbringer coing in here and fucking up this thread too)
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Kyle Aaron

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« Reply #10 on: November 08, 2009, 02:35:15 AM »
The thing is that commie aliens aren't scary, because we know from experience with communism that if you just wait for a bit the termites eat away at the structure so much that it just falls over one day. But fascism seems to require you coming in with a giant wrecking ball to knock the fucker over. So the lizard guys should be fascists.

Did the Nazis have universal healthcare? Apart from the end of the war, I mean, when everyone over eight years old and with at least one functioning limb was enlisted in the armed forces, and so they got the army medical care.

I know they were quite keen on vitamin C.
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"V" and Political Commentary
« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2009, 05:12:45 PM »
I don't know if V's new-series creators intended for the series to involve anti-obama commentary; but if they have any brains, they'll run with that now, taking advantage of the coincidence, the controversy, and the publicity.

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Koltar

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"V" and Political Commentary
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2009, 06:01:56 PM »
The real Irony is the lead time between finished episode and when it airs and we see it.

This pilot/first episode that we all saw was filmed at least 5 or 6 months ago and in the can...same thing for the 3 or 4 eps after it.

THEN, news came out that ABC didn't like the "Creative direction" that the show was going - so they changed the showrunner and a few writers and ordered chamnges in a few scripts.

SO, the stuff that Jeff...and maybe me and thousands of others find interesting and entertaing - might be gutted by the 5th or 6th episode in February.
ABC execs probably did not like the politics stuff - but now that the mood of the country has drifted since late summer - ABC might want to backpedal and possibly put the parallels back into the gutted stories that we haven't seen yet.

At wikipedia :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_(2009_TV_series)

A quote from that:
Quote
As production of the fourth episode of V wrapped, it was announced on November 3, 2009 that Scott Rosenbaum had been named executive producer and showrunner of the series, with Peters and Hall remaining as executive producers. Production on the remaining nine episodes will resume in January 2010.


Also:
Quote
Chicago Tribune reviewer (and noted libertarian) Glenn Garvin called the show, "controversial" but took a more down-the-middle approach, saying the series was "a barbed commentary on Obamania that will infuriate the president's supporters and delight his detractors."

The show's cast and crew denies the charges of bias. While actress Baccarin acknowledges that she had modeled her character, Visitor leader Anna, after politicians, she and series executive producer Peters were surprised by the alleged "controversy." At a press conference at Summer TV Press Tour 2009, Peters said that the show was open to interpretation and that "people bring subjective thoughts to it ... but there is no particular agenda." Bell agreed, stating that it was simply "a show about spaceships."



Might be a slight backpedal in there PR-wise.

At the IMDB:
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1307824/

From there I linked to an article about the "re-tooling" , here:
http://www.tvovermind.com/v-tv-news/v-taking-a-winter-break/10238

The key quote:
Quote
The decision is said to be based on ABC's efforts to promote the series as an "event." But less optimistic minds might recall that the network had previously shut down production on "V" for two weeks in order to undergo some creative overhaul. That hiatus has now been extended for an additional four weeks.



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David R

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"V" and Political Commentary
« Reply #13 on: November 08, 2009, 06:18:49 PM »
Has the series got a Ham Tyler type character ?

Regards,
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Koltar

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« Reply #14 on: November 08, 2009, 07:48:32 PM »
Quote from: David R;342732
Has the series got a Ham Tyler type character ?

Regards,
David R


Not yet - besides even in the original TWO miniseries runs, Tyler didn't show up until second miniseries - and as the cliffhanger character.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_(The_Final_Battle)

At that rate, we shouldn't see a similiar charter til at lest 6 to 7 episodes into the ongoing  story.


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