In the 1980s, TV producer Kenneth Johnson wanted to create a mini-series adapting the classic anti-fascist novel It Can’t Happen Here. Network executives did not think this was a marketable idea. Johnson returned to those very same network executives to present an idea for a new series he called V.
In V, friendly aliens arrive on Earth with the promise of a technological utopia. When scientists protest that what the aliens propose is impossible or unlikely, the scientist are branded as anti-American. The scientist are rounded up along with anyone else who points out that along with the developing techno-utopia comes control, militarism, and nationalism. Soon a loose-knit group of ex-cons, artists, journalists, scientists, and gun-runners band together to fight against the aliens, who turn out to be lizards in disguise. The network thought this pop scifi, anti-fascist, David Icke mash-up was a great idea.
The series was an unprecedented success. More Americans watched V than anyone watches any show aired in the last ten years. It was not subtle. It was deeply strange. It was, for its time, multicultural, anti-fascist, feminist, pro-science, and refreshingly sober about the kind of sacrifices one must make to fight entrenched fascist governments from within. It was Andor, 1984.
Here’s more from Musings of a Middle-Ages Geek:
Johnson’s miniseries is less about invading lizard people with ray guns, and more about the nature, and allure, of power; all of the ways in which it is manifested, usurped, enabled, sought, and, most importantly, resisted. While the miniseries begins with a grand international scope (shades of 1951’s “The Day The Earth Stood Still”), the story soon settles within the general Los Angeles area with a diverse group of resistance fighters led by young med student Julie Parrish (Faye Grant). She organizes a clandestine resistance movement against the increasingly oppressive and fascistic “Visitors”, doing whatever they can to impede their progress whenever possible.
The message is clear; the strength of this resistance movement comes largely through its diversity and determination. Johnson’s aim was fairly progressive in its pre-Cosby Show era… a time when most TV series centered largely on all-white casts, such as “Dynasty” “Family Ties” or “Dallas,” the cast of “V” represented a much broader spectrum of Los Angelinos.
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