ABC debuts “V”: How does it stack up to the original?

Tuesday night, ABC debuted V, a revamp of the ’80s mini-series/television series that aired on NBC.  While the original mini-series paralleled the alien Visitors plot to destroy humans to the spread of fascism in Nazi Germany, the 1984-85 run of the show was more of a straight-forward sci-fi drama. 

The new version of V adds new versions of old characters and employs a lot more of the socio-political allegory that the 1980s franchise’s mini-series (V and V: The Final Battle) had contained.  In place of Nazis, the relaunched V taps into current social phobias such as terrorism, religious extremism, and apocalyptic mania (Have the Mayans ever been so popular?!) as well as the zeitgeist of optimismistic change. 

The story is still the same: Visitors from another planet zero in on Earth to use its inhabitants for some as-yet-to-be-revealed nefarious plot and commit genocide.  They wear the guise of uber-attractive humans and initially come across as peaceful and helpful allies to humanity, but are actually calculating, scaly reptillian creatures beneath their cloned, human skin.  An underground collective of humans has been tracking the Visitors and have known they had implanted some of their own to rise through the ranks in all walks of life, making their transition and sudden, near-miraculous appearance on Earth a smooth one.