V BOOKS & COMICS

 

  NEW - 7/20/08 - Pre-Order the re-release of "V" The Original Miniseries due out October 28, 2008 by clickling on the picture left of this box!  You'll note that now it says written by Kenneth Johnson AND A.C. Crispin!  (Thanks Patrick!)

KEN JOHNSON wrote me saying, "The re-released book does not contain any material from The Final Battle, merely that drawn from my original four hour. My contribution is a new epilogue that rounds out the original story and introduces one of the heroines of VTSG -- at a young age. xxx K"

Tell everyone to come to my site and pre-order this book!  It might bring us one step closer to WB giving us a new "V"! 

Meanwhile, from KJ's site: "Update 7/17/08 -- Kenny, along with several noted producers, financiers and the powerhouse Endeavor Agency, are working diligently to get V before the
cameras as a theatrical motion picture we can all be proud of. Ignore all other rumors -- the real deal will be announced here as soon as possible."

Click HERE to see different views of the V:TSG Novel!

REVIEWS OF V: THE SECOND GENERATION the novel.  Send them in to me at lizard.lady@mindpulse.com !

BEWARE OF SPOILERS BELOW!

Favorable V:TSG book review - http://www.ifmagazine.com/review.asp?article=2548 (thanks Eli!)
"The Second Generation" novel was a fun read and I'm intrigued by the possibility of a remake. Truth be told, I'll take anything V-related. Hope you're doing well, John
I tried not to get too excited for fear of expectations. I love "V' !! however I gotta say all that aside I was kinda dissapointed. great idea for it to be 20 years later couldnt be anythng else. I know somepeople said it wouldnt make sense to be that long but I said wars can last years  and years . a lifetime but they didnt get my point. anyway the book reminded me way to much of Alien Nation. (which  I didnt care for) but there was something else that didnt get my imagination to get fully involved. I cant place my finger on it but it seemed to be missing something. thinking about it . it was the characters. none really thrilled me enough to actually care about them. actually I was glad when some of the people died. obviously  its Kenny's  idea but thats my thought.. for one of my points the Leader should be a male. no sexism but when I read a female it didnt make sense considering when Martin an Willie were over hearing the whole convo. with Diana and the guy above of her talking  Willie says to Martin  something to the effect that the guy above Diana slept his way to the top  with a  male leader. We all know Diana would too and it was evident with Diana  in the original mini series that she was getting too friendly with the reporter lady Christine. very obvious what shed do in any situation. there are other things about the book but I guess thats just my opinion.. Alcove
The novel reads as though it's adapted from a screenplay but I have been waiting for something from Kenneth Johnson for over twenty years. I'm ecstatic because if the novel was adapted from a screenplay that means a new mini-series could be on the way.  I was afraid the novel wouldn't even come to pass with the four month delay.  A friend in the book publishing industry tells me this usually happens when a writer and producers work out a deal to make a screenplay closely resemble the novel or vice versa before a production can begin. I'm concerned though because Barnes & Knobles only had two paperback copies and Borders didn't carry any.  This book really needs some great PR to get produced into a mini-series.

I'm into the first quarter of the book right now (I'm savoring every page in case this book is it)and am not disappointed with it. I was glad to see new characters introduced and old ones return (without giving anything away). Kenneth has kept things current in every way so far. I loved the twist on the idea of teammates and complex leadership relationships. I definately see this story being told on Sci-Fi Channel (NBC owned)before NBC network but that's a plus. Sci-Fi has done a great job with Battlestar Galactica and I can see them do just as good a job with V. I hope to keep in touch as I get toward the middle of the book.  - Rich
Well, I read the new book.

Let me preface my opinion by stating I understand film can add a whole different flavor to a book. It can ruin it or enhance it. Ever read the screenplay to the 1977 movie Star Wars? Star Wars turned out much better than the script led you to believe. Now, the author of V: The Second Generation is an experienced television writer and director but not an author. What's "iffy" on paper may be turned into cinematic gold.

Furthermore, I went into this with no preconceived ideas of how I wanted the story to unfold. I had no expectations other than be entertained while giving me something to think about. After all, this story is from the originator.

I really, really wanted to like this book.

In the end, based solely on the book's merits, I hope this story does not get produced into a movie. Not without first making significant changes or reassurances that what leaves me uncomfortable is simply an exaggeration of my mind.

What I liked: Dregs, Ruby Parish, some old faces, the new world, Teammates, the Visitor leader's arrival ceremony, honest brutality of an occupation

What I didn't like: Air bikes, air patrol, Zedti, clothed prisoners, sense of deja vu, underutilization of Maxwell, plug-ins, rushed resolution and the speeches that followed.

Let me flesh those things out a bit.

Deja Vu: Resistance hacking into television transmissions(as already seen in V: The Final Battle), Black Factory Worker (Caleb in the original, Blue in the novel), Reuse of names from the V canon (John/Jon, Nathan, etc.)

The plug-ins seemed like something that would have been in the weekly series.

The air bikes should have stayed in Galactica 1980.

Everytime I think of the air patrol I see Lee Majors strapping on a rocket pack. It ain't right.

Too much sci-fi in this one. What was good in the original was it took place in our modern world thus we related to it. Now it takes place in a world one step removed from ours, which makes it tougher to relate, in addition to throwing in a second alien race with goofy technology that just increases the emotional distance.

The book trades in character development for action. The original sequel and series already did that quite effectively. Did Johnson think it was necessary to do this in order to have the film produced? Given his resume this does not seem like something he would do. Again, do he give him a pass being an inexperienced author who otherwise excels at drawing out emotions from his actors?

I'm not a huge stickler for science being spot-on in sci-fi but if you were in stasis for 10-20 years wouldn't your muscles be shot to hell? Astronauts who have been in orbit for weeks are a wreck when they come home. Now we have prisoners who are ready to fight the moment they drop out of stasis? Maybe they should be seen receiving electrical stimuli while in stasis, like involuntary twitching and thrashing, so their muscles remain active. At least it could make for a horrific visual.

Should the follow-up instead conclude when they hatch the plan to release the prisoners in stasis? You would hate to think 20 years of oppression could have ended years ago with 30 minutes of action. I think the plan's execution stretched-out would make a good third installment rather than jam it into the current story.

What to do with the Zedti? I didn't care for their air bikes, their gadgets, the logic of their mission on Earth carried out by only three individuals and the fact that they are naturally humanoid despite being insects. I like the threat they pose in theory but otherwise they should be written out of the story until the end. The resistance needs to beat the Visitors away themselves. Rather than dink around with the Zedti Johnson would be better off to elevate the Dregs as fighters to the human cause. When the Visitor leader gives credibility to the Dregs it would be more interesting so see the Dreg community question their loyalty to the weakened Resistance in exchange for quick respect from the Visitors.

On a side note, if the Zedti were not integral to the story I would have liked Donovan to gouge his own eye out on his own rather than have a Zedti around to blind him. Hell, with the guilt he feels over the '99 Purge he should be suicidal discovering he's once again leading his cause to destruction.

The Zedti should be a mysterious threat that is discussed but not seen. Their first reveal to us should be at the stadium. If we see them as the insect race they are rather than humanoid we, the audience, would feel differently about the Dreg killing the Zedti. If they look and act like monsters in that scene we might think the Visitors are justified in creating a human army to attack the Zedti. Think how much more effective The Leader's speech would be if the troops hauled out a couple of dozen human husks showing the savage attacks of the Zedti. I'd prefer being manipulated to think we should consider believing The Leader... that there is a genuine threat on the world and the Visitors can help eliminate it.

Similar to how the Visitors were presented originally as our friends, the Zedti should be presented as our enemy only to discover later they are an ally to mankind. The real motive of the Zedti and Visitors should come from the Visitor Fifth Column as relayed to the Resistance.

In fact, we see too much behind-the-scenes of the Visitor side. What was interesting in the original mini-series was most of our understanding of them came from the humans. It was a real mystery that unfolded limited by how much the humans had access to them. The only time in the original film that we saw a one-on-one with the Visitors was Diana and Brian discussing the human, Robin, in the adjacent cell. You could argue that a human was "in" that scene, too. At any rate it would be more interesting if there was less Visitor-only action. One of the faults of the original sequel was the soap-opera dynamic of seeing the Visitor-only intrigue. It totally spoiled the mystery and threat.

I actually somewhat like the ultimate conclusion of the novel regarding the Zedti's new role. Strangely, though, I didn't care to know where the story goes from there. It all seems too familiar at this point.

The epilogue isn't a terrible way to conclude things but my problem is that I don't want the story to end yet. There are too many stories to tell of the intervening 20 years. Maybe they should go ahead and remake the original mini-series with a new cast to continue the storyline as originally started in 1983. - Brian Olson