The two original V miniseries still rank, 20 years later, among the most beloved of small screen productions by science-fiction fans, with their adventure- and metaphor-laden tales of alien invasion and human resistance, featuring enormous, city-sized spaceships and ruthless reptilian extraterrestrials who've come to chow down. The short-lived TV series spin-off is not so well remembered, however, and viewers sitting down for all 19 episodes collected here will quickly see why. The story picks up a year after the aliens have been sent packing, with the lizards returning not only for human flesh but also for the Starchild, Elizabeth, half-human/half-alien, who has matured literally overnight from a five-year-old kid into a foxy blonde (Jennifer Cooke). Still, there is some fine campiness to be had here: watching Elizabeth dressed in tinfoil and channeling a mysterious alien overlord; witnessing the claws-bared, Falcon Crest-esque machinations of rival alien commanders Diana (Jane Badler) and Lydia (June Chadwick); and, of course, seeing Marc Singer, as resistance leader Mike Donovan, striving for the title of Worst Actor Ever. One also can't help but notice how much cheaper and chintzier these weekly episodes were compared to the pair of miniseries (the alien soldiers drive around in Jeeps instead of flying around in shuttlecraft!). There are no extras whatsoever on this triple-disc package, but who needs extras when you have a coupla big-'80s-haired alien lizard babes? Optional. (M. Johanson)
V: The Complete Series
Warner, 3 discs, 897 min., not rated, DVD: $39.98 October 4, 2004
V: The Complete Series
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