V - The Final Battle

Amazon.com

Though followers of current science fiction television series may dismiss V: The Final Battle as a quaint relic from the pre-computer animation days, the six-hour miniseries about an alien invasion of Earth was a ratings juggernaut for NBC in 1984 and should still provide some entertainment for hard-bitten devotees and fans of '50s-style sci-fi. The Final Battle picks up four months after the shock conclusion of the 1983 prequel miniseries, with a small group of humans known as the Resistance struggling to convince their fellow humans that a fleet of seemingly friendly visitors from space are in fact bent on world domination.

Executive producer Kenneth Johnson (who oversaw most aspects of the first series) only supervised the sequel's script (which underwent several changes before its airing), and the writing occasionally suffers due to the lack of his attention. But the series still delivers its share of action and intrigue, as well as one showstopping gruesome moment involving the birth of interspecies twins. Acting is again a stumbling block, with leads Marc Singer and Faye Grant as bland as any performers from the American International Pictures stable; character actor Michael Ironside makes the strongest impression as a tough Resistance member, and a pre-Freddy Krueger Robert Englund is amusing as a kind-hearted alien. The miniseries was followed by an inevitable weekly series featuring most of the same cast, which was demolished in the ratings by Dallas, but a faithful Resistance-like following remains to this day. --Paul Gaita

Description

Marc Singer, Robert Englund and Michael Ironside in the thrilling sequel miniseries about human resistance to alien invaders - from the birth of the first interspecies child to a harrowing countdown to nuclear doomsday.

DVD Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access

Customer Reviews:

The Struggle Continues.......2007-07-19

By the end of the original miniseries, the Visitors had taken over the world the Nazi way and were well on their way in their plan to harvest the planet's recources: water and humans. The only voice of dissent was a small but growing resistance movement aided by Visitor 5th columnists. The Last Battle continues the story up to the point of the human's first major victory in getting the Visitors to leave and stay gone. In total, the two series are basically one long eight hour mininseries composed of five 90-100 minute parts.
The Last Battle isn't nearly as well made as the original series but is still extremely enjoyable. Plot holes, editing mistakes, leaps in logic and loose threads abound. The pace slows down considerably as the story settles into a series of hit and run resistance assaults culminating in the final two pronged "red dust" assault. The fascinating ideas concerning freedom and resistance discussed in the first series are replaced for the most part with a bunch of fairly competently staged action scenes, each culminating in the death and or capture of at least one resistance fighter.
The most interesting plot thread involves the pregnancy and birth of the first ever interstellar babies and moral and ethical questions it raises. Also, the dilemma over what to do with the Visitor fifth columnists was intriguing to me and I wish the series had discussed it to greater detail. They aren't human and they betrayed their own people (for the right reason) but the question remains how they will fit into a postwar human society that will, most likely, want them dead, friend or foe.
Unfortunately, slowing down the pace exposes the bad acting for what it is. You know you're in trouble when Michael Ironside qualifies as "the talent". Out of the five story parts, he is in only the last two and he plays a stereotypical macho hardliner. Otherwise, we are stuck with good looking second tier talents like Marc Singer, Jane Badler and Faye Grant. Their spirits are willing but the acting is weak.
All in all, The Last Battle is very enjoyable but with several caveats.

Alien Appetite.......2007-06-29

I remember seeing V back in the 80's. I thought that the premise was excellent. At that time we were all caught up with Star Wars, ET, Star Trek and more. The Final Battle brings all of the characters together. There is a lot of action here. I liked it better than the series. Special effects by todays standards is bad. But for the 80's it was fine. Enjoyed the story because it can take place anywhere and at any time. I WOULD DEFINATLY BUY IT.

V-The Final Battle.......2007-05-26

I liked this show very much when it first came out on TV. I was very excited when I saw that it was on DVD. I am glad that Amazon had it. I looked on other sites and they did not have this movie. I was impressed with the quality of the DVD. The story plot is typlical of a show from the 70's but it was still very good. I am glad I bought it.

A lot of fun!!!.......2007-01-12

I'm a big fan at the serie and I enjoyed it again

I recommend that you read the other reviews.. .......2007-01-09

However, noone has commented on one interesting fact..

Theres a episode MISSING!

The orginal miniseries is 10 hours long.. theres 2 hours missing.. and the part where they attack the processing plant is "too soon".. unfortunately, I don't remember whats missing.. but it seems that it belongs before the first ep presented on this DVD set!

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