If giant alien ships randomly showed up in 29 major cities across the globe bearing this message, would you believe them? That's the catchphrase for Anna, the Visitor high commander in the new ABC series V.
What makes the show great is that there are mixed reactions to the Visitors (as the aliens like to be called). People don't just bow down and worship the V's (well, some do), and they don't let them just take control of everything (like in Childhood's End). Most people in the show are pro-V, because they don't seem to do anything bad, and actually promise universal health care and all kinds of cool alien technologies. Others, like Father Jack Landry are skeptical of the V's. Father Jack is a member of the Fifth Column, a resistance group that knows the true nature of the V's: they are actually reptilian underneath a "human skin." Even though the V's plan isn't revealed (they have some vague and scary plan the whole time), it is clear to the viewer that they are evil. In the beginning, they lied about their true nature when Anna said their scientists can explain why they look exactly like humans, and then FBI agent Erica Evans found out someone she thought she knew and trusted was actually a V. It shows that they have infiltrated all walks of life and that anyone could be a V.
That's half the fun of the show: trying to figure out who is a V. After their true nature is revealed, Father Jack cautions people against jumping on the V bandwagon in his homilies, much to the chagrin of the other priest at the church. That priest is so blindly pro-V that I'm convinced he is one of them. The other half of the fun of the show is all the big reveals and twists that they have. The show is so quick and action packed, and then at the end of every episode someone says something like "We have to tell Tyler the truth about his parents" and it leaves me begging for more. Many times while watching the preview, they'll say "Next week, on V:" and at the end of the preview I shout "I CAN'T WAIT THAT LONG!"
Aside from cheap tricks like plot twists at the end of every episode, the show doesn't drag it's feet in the middle. There are a lot of characters, and there is a lot going on in each episode. The Fifth Column members are always looking for ways to help them fight the V's and convince the rest of humanity that they are being lied to, and there are many scenes with Anna and Marcus (her second in command) plotting and scheming up on the ship. What I like about the scenes where Anna and Marcus is that they have a special camera angle they use just for when they are plotting something.
The show is also very character-driven. Erica leads the Fifth Column, while her son Tyler gets closer to a Visitor named Lisa. Lisa frequently brings him to Anna (the high commander), and Tyler becomes very pro-V. Obviously, this leads to some tensions between him and his mother, but they manage to have some kind of relationship just the same. This is just one example of the character driven nature of the show, but suffice to say that none of the characters are the same at the end of the season.
I could go on and on and on about how great V is, but I might end up ruining the whole show by just giving a synopsis of it. You'll just have to buy the DVD on Tuesday when it comes out.
V on amazon.com
Showing posts with label alien takeover. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alien takeover. Show all posts
Friday, October 29, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Way of the Wolf (and the Vampire Earth Series)
Way of the Wolf is the first of an ongoing series called Vampire Earth, which is currently on its 8th book. The series takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where the Earth has been taken over by an alien race called the Kurians. They have taken over the planet, except for a pockets of resistance spread throughout the world and concentrated in the Ozark Free Territory--the area west of the Mississippi. The plot follows David Valentine, one of those freedom fighters.
There are also beings called Lifeweavers who have taken the side of the humans, and they are able to impart certain powers on humans who are capable of possessing them. There are four branches of service in the militia known as Southern Command: Guards, Wolves, Cats, and Bears. Each branch except guards has certain advanced abilities given to them by the Lifeweavers (senses for wolves, reflexes and balance for cats, and strength and berserker rage for bears).
David Valentine is a resourceful Wolf Lieutenant who readers quickly come to like. He's a Minnesota boy, which gets me rooting for the home team right off the bat. He was raised by a priest after the Kurians killed his parents, and he went into Southern Command to protect others from similar experiences. Though in this book he's a new Wolf, he shows a lot of promise, and seems to be a natural leader. His ability to sense Reapers, the life-sucking minions of the Kurians, also gives him an edge.
In this book, he is separated from his unit when he goes out on a covert operation into Kurian-controlled Wisconsin. He finds himself posing a Kurian supporter while caring for a badly wounded comrade in secret. With the help of a Wisconsin farming family named the Carlsons, he is able to hide his friend, and maintain his cover. But when the family that has been so gracious to him is in danger, he finds it impossible to just stand by and watch.
I loved this book, and the entire series after it. EE Knight's writing is superb, and every story is so gripping I read it in just a few days. I have recomended this book to two other friends and they both love it just as much as I do. This book is unlike anything I've ever read before. Knight places you in a dark future, but with a character who won't allow that darkness to get through to the reader. It speaks volumes about the indomitable human spirit, and our will to fight and survive no matter how bad things get.
Every book of this series is excellent, but I have to warn you of its one drawback: after book 2, (Choice of the Cat), the books no longer have endings which will allow you to stop reading the series. While they do wrap up almost everything that happens in the book, they don't leave you satisfied. You will always think to yourself, "I need the next book RIGHT NOW!" or "I have to find out what happens next!" Even at book eight, there is no end in sight for the series as of yet. So unless you're in it for the long haul, you better just quit after Choice of the Cat. If you can, that is.
ISBN# 0-451-45973-3
Way of the Wolf on Amazon.com
There are also beings called Lifeweavers who have taken the side of the humans, and they are able to impart certain powers on humans who are capable of possessing them. There are four branches of service in the militia known as Southern Command: Guards, Wolves, Cats, and Bears. Each branch except guards has certain advanced abilities given to them by the Lifeweavers (senses for wolves, reflexes and balance for cats, and strength and berserker rage for bears).
David Valentine is a resourceful Wolf Lieutenant who readers quickly come to like. He's a Minnesota boy, which gets me rooting for the home team right off the bat. He was raised by a priest after the Kurians killed his parents, and he went into Southern Command to protect others from similar experiences. Though in this book he's a new Wolf, he shows a lot of promise, and seems to be a natural leader. His ability to sense Reapers, the life-sucking minions of the Kurians, also gives him an edge.
In this book, he is separated from his unit when he goes out on a covert operation into Kurian-controlled Wisconsin. He finds himself posing a Kurian supporter while caring for a badly wounded comrade in secret. With the help of a Wisconsin farming family named the Carlsons, he is able to hide his friend, and maintain his cover. But when the family that has been so gracious to him is in danger, he finds it impossible to just stand by and watch.
I loved this book, and the entire series after it. EE Knight's writing is superb, and every story is so gripping I read it in just a few days. I have recomended this book to two other friends and they both love it just as much as I do. This book is unlike anything I've ever read before. Knight places you in a dark future, but with a character who won't allow that darkness to get through to the reader. It speaks volumes about the indomitable human spirit, and our will to fight and survive no matter how bad things get.
Every book of this series is excellent, but I have to warn you of its one drawback: after book 2, (Choice of the Cat), the books no longer have endings which will allow you to stop reading the series. While they do wrap up almost everything that happens in the book, they don't leave you satisfied. You will always think to yourself, "I need the next book RIGHT NOW!" or "I have to find out what happens next!" Even at book eight, there is no end in sight for the series as of yet. So unless you're in it for the long haul, you better just quit after Choice of the Cat. If you can, that is.
ISBN# 0-451-45973-3
Way of the Wolf on Amazon.com
Friday, July 16, 2010
Childhood’s End: Biggest Letdown in History
Few books leave me disgusted and angry after reading them. Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke did both of those. The back cover of the book makes some lofty claims:
Ok, this sounds pretty good. Granted, I was hoping it would be like V since the cover does feature a ship almost exactly like the ones seen in V hovering above what is obviously New York. Also, it promises the end of mankind on Earth. Maybe through destruction? Let’s find out!
The reason this book is so disappointing is because it stretches reality until it breaks. It sounds like the massive ships showed up above fifty cities on Earth, started giving orders, and humanity bent over and obeyed the orders. Humans wouldn’t do that. Humans need incentives to do things, and it sounds like the overlords don’t give them any, not right away anyway. After a while they do (at a bullfight in Spain, the entire crowd feels the pain of the bull as it is killed in the Overlords effort to end animal cruelty). Eventually, the Earth is a perfect utopia: there is no crime, everyone goes to college, and there are no problems. Clarke admits that some people think it’s boring (I agree that it would be), but says that most people really like it.
Then comes the nefarious and sinister plot that ends mankind, right? When we’re defenseless because we lost the need for guns and armies, the overlords enslave us and start eating us, right? Then a resistance forms and there’s action and it’s great. Nope. The last generation of mankind that the back cover talks about? It’s the last generation because their children evolve into something else. They develop mental powers and stop communicating verbally. One human remains on earth to observe them, and he describes how they start turning the moon around with their mental powers. Eventually the Earth disappears. That’s how it ends. I just saved you 218 pages of disappointment.
Another problem I have with this book is that Clarke wastes a lot of time. The book seems to be going nowhere, and Clarke must have realized that, because it abruptly shifts directions and starts describing an island called “New Athens.” Humans have lost the drive to create any new forms of art, since there are no problems and no frustration to inspire art. So a group of people form a new city in the Mediterranean Sea where they can have theater troupes and create art and all that fun stuff. What does that have to do with anything? It doesn’t. Clarke just wanted to waste 30 pages describing it. All that is pertinent to the story is that the character ‘s the book is following at that point lived near the sea, and their child is almost killed by a giant wave but the Overlords save him so that evolution can still happen. It’s not clear why that specific child is needed, since after he evolves, the rest of them do.
Another problem I have with the book is that it doesn’t focus on a single main character the whole time. Granted I did read this book about a month ago, but I don’t remember any of the characters names (I read Slaughterhouse-Five at least eight months ago, and I remember Billy Pilgrim’s name quite easily. That book is focused). I had to look up the main Overlord’s name because all I remember about it is that it had a K in it, I think (it is Karellen, but I had to look that up). Because of the lack of focus, it is impossible to care about any of the characters, since the book spends little to no time effectively showing who they are, and when it does show a little bit about their likes and dislikes, it made me dislike them more (I found the guy who moved his family to New Athens very unlikeable because he just up and moved his family there. It didn’t sound like he gave them much choice, so they had to uproot and go there just for him). Overall, there are Zero likeable characters, there is Zero action. This book makes some exciting promises, and delivers on them, just in a really boring and stupid way.
Childhood's End on Amazon.com
ISBN# 0-345-24937-2-150
THE LAST GENERATION ON MANKIND ON EARTH
Without warning, giant silver ships from deep space appear in the skies above every major city on Earth.
They are manned by the Overlords…mysterious creatures from an alien race who soon take over control of the world.
Within fifty years, these brilliant masters have all but eliminated ignorance, disease, poverty and fear.
Then suddenly this golden age ends…and the end of Mankind begins!
Ok, this sounds pretty good. Granted, I was hoping it would be like V since the cover does feature a ship almost exactly like the ones seen in V hovering above what is obviously New York. Also, it promises the end of mankind on Earth. Maybe through destruction? Let’s find out!
The reason this book is so disappointing is because it stretches reality until it breaks. It sounds like the massive ships showed up above fifty cities on Earth, started giving orders, and humanity bent over and obeyed the orders. Humans wouldn’t do that. Humans need incentives to do things, and it sounds like the overlords don’t give them any, not right away anyway. After a while they do (at a bullfight in Spain, the entire crowd feels the pain of the bull as it is killed in the Overlords effort to end animal cruelty). Eventually, the Earth is a perfect utopia: there is no crime, everyone goes to college, and there are no problems. Clarke admits that some people think it’s boring (I agree that it would be), but says that most people really like it.
Then comes the nefarious and sinister plot that ends mankind, right? When we’re defenseless because we lost the need for guns and armies, the overlords enslave us and start eating us, right? Then a resistance forms and there’s action and it’s great. Nope. The last generation of mankind that the back cover talks about? It’s the last generation because their children evolve into something else. They develop mental powers and stop communicating verbally. One human remains on earth to observe them, and he describes how they start turning the moon around with their mental powers. Eventually the Earth disappears. That’s how it ends. I just saved you 218 pages of disappointment.
Another problem I have with this book is that Clarke wastes a lot of time. The book seems to be going nowhere, and Clarke must have realized that, because it abruptly shifts directions and starts describing an island called “New Athens.” Humans have lost the drive to create any new forms of art, since there are no problems and no frustration to inspire art. So a group of people form a new city in the Mediterranean Sea where they can have theater troupes and create art and all that fun stuff. What does that have to do with anything? It doesn’t. Clarke just wanted to waste 30 pages describing it. All that is pertinent to the story is that the character ‘s the book is following at that point lived near the sea, and their child is almost killed by a giant wave but the Overlords save him so that evolution can still happen. It’s not clear why that specific child is needed, since after he evolves, the rest of them do.
Another problem I have with the book is that it doesn’t focus on a single main character the whole time. Granted I did read this book about a month ago, but I don’t remember any of the characters names (I read Slaughterhouse-Five at least eight months ago, and I remember Billy Pilgrim’s name quite easily. That book is focused). I had to look up the main Overlord’s name because all I remember about it is that it had a K in it, I think (it is Karellen, but I had to look that up). Because of the lack of focus, it is impossible to care about any of the characters, since the book spends little to no time effectively showing who they are, and when it does show a little bit about their likes and dislikes, it made me dislike them more (I found the guy who moved his family to New Athens very unlikeable because he just up and moved his family there. It didn’t sound like he gave them much choice, so they had to uproot and go there just for him). Overall, there are Zero likeable characters, there is Zero action. This book makes some exciting promises, and delivers on them, just in a really boring and stupid way.
Childhood's End on Amazon.com
ISBN# 0-345-24937-2-150
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