Logan Kelly is a professional author, screenwriter, and proud cinemaphile. He studied screenwriting and film history while attending Valencia College, before moving to the New York Metro Area. Logan's first publication came with his book, Brighter Stars. The LGBTQ+ Historical-Romance garnered praise, and kicked off his professional writing career.
It’s been nearly four decades since Kenneth Johnson’s epic miniseries, V, premiered on NBC, and yet, the show remains one of the most influential sagas in television history. Debuting on May 1, 1983, the show was truly a first-of-its-kind venture for television, combining deeply political sensibilities with terrifying sci-fi action and unforgettable characters, such as Marc Singer’s Mike Donovan and Jane Badler’s iconic villain, Diana.
The miniseries inspired the 1984 sequel, V: The Final Battle, a weekly series, and a short-lived 2009 reboot on ABC. For all its merits, however, V, as a franchise, was never given a chance to reach its full potential. That has not been for lack of trying, but in this day and age, it’s time to bring V back for a definitive franchise. The timing has never been better. From political relevancy to proven story potential, we’re eager to revisit the franchise! ‘V’ Was Never Given the Chance to Reach Its Full Potential In the age of streaming, there are an endless number of epic sci-fi shows from which viewers and fans of the genre can choose. In 1983, however, the genre was rarely attempted on television, and V was truly groundbreaking. The show was naturally filled with all the action that makes for good sci-fi, but it is filled with gripping nuances and biting storylines. Johnson loosely based the series on Sinclair Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here, with the alien visitors who come to earth promising to help solve humanity’s woes whilst hiding more sinister motives, being a metaphor for the potential for fascism in America. Though the series features a defined group of heroes, “the resistance,” and a set of villains in the visitors and their allies, the show also blurred the lines between good and evil, with the resistance often having to make tough choices in battle. And, at its heart, it was a show about victory, citing WWII’s famous “V for victory” campaign as its powerful thesis. Yet, for all its attributes, the show never reached the heights it could have.Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Ten questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive. 💊The Matrix 🔥Mad Max 🌧️Blade Runner 🏜️Dune 🚀Star Wars TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → QUESTION 1 / 10INSTINCT 01 You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one. APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 2 / 10RESOURCE 02 In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires. AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 3 / 10THREAT 03 What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of. AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 4 / 10SKILL 04 Which of these comes most naturally to you? Your strongest skill is your best survival asset — use it accordingly. AHacking, pattern recognition, finding the exploit in any system — digital or human. BMechanical skill — I can strip an engine, rig a weapon, or fix anything with whatever's around. CReading people — knowing when someone's lying, hiding something, or about to run. DDiscipline and endurance — mental and physical. I outlast things rather than overpower them. EPiloting, navigation, knowing how to get from A to B when every route is dangerous. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 5 / 10AUTHORITY 05 How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything. ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 6 / 10ENVIRONMENT 06 Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are. AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 7 / 10ALLIANCE 07 Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are. AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 8 / 10TRUTH 08 A comfortable lie or a devastating truth — which can you actually live with? Some worlds offer one. Some offer the other. Very few offer both. AThe truth, no matter the cost. I'd rather live in a brutal reality than a beautiful cage. BNeither — truth and lies are luxuries. What matters is surviving the next hour. CI've learned to live with ambiguity. Some truths don't have clean answers. DThe truth — but deployed strategically. Knowing something others don't is power. EThe truth. Even when it means confronting something in yourself you'd rather leave buried. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 9 / 10MORALITY 09 Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of. AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 10 / 10PURPOSE 10 What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another. AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot. REVEAL MY WORLD → Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In… Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. Read all five — your result is the one that resonates most deeply. YOUR WORLD The Matrix You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things, the places where the official version doesn't quite line up. In the Matrix, that instinct is the difference between life and permanent digital sedation. You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you. The machines built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door. YOUR WORLD Mad Max The wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you. You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon. You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it. You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider. YOUR WORLD Blade Runner You'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely. You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer. In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional. You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either. In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything. YOUR WORLD Dune Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards. Patience, discipline, pattern recognition, political awareness, and an understanding that the long game matters more than any single victory. Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic, earn its respect, and perhaps, in time, reshape it entirely. YOUR WORLD Star Wars The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way. You're someone who finds meaning in being part of something larger than yourself. You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken. Whatever you are, you fight. And in Star Wars, that willingness is what makes the difference. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ Johnson remains an ambitious filmmaker, and that’s evident while watching V. According to Johnson’s audio commentary, released on the home media version, the original plan was to follow the miniseries up with a weekly series version. However, there were budgetary disagreements with Warner Bros., and it was decided to follow the show with V: The Final Battle. Though initially involved, Johnson was unhappy with the direction the sequel was taking and departed. NBC did eventually go forward with a weekly series, but without Johnson’s involvement, the quality quickly deteriorated. Watching the spin-off today, it more often than not feels like a soap opera dressed like a sci-fi series, moving further away from the intense themes of the original. Badler’s Diana was often tasked with carrying the show, and she certainly delivered. But it’s hard to ignore how disjointed the series became. It was cancelled after only one season. As for the ABC reboot, it didn’t fare much better. The show avoided the themes of fascism and only lightly played with the politics of the time, leading to a largely inconsistent show. While there are some fantastic performances from actors like Elizabeth Mitchell and some exciting drama, the series often missed what made the original so special and ultimately suffered due to equally poor planning from ABC. Though it premiered to high ratings, a multi-month hiatus followed after just four episodes, leading the series to ultimately be cancelled after two seasons. After so much mishandling, however, the show is in the perfect position to make a comeback. Now Is the Right Time To Reboot ‘V’ Despite the 2009 attempt ultimately failing, the time has never been better for a V reboot. While the original series is an icon, special effects have come a very long way. Sure, the famous gerbil scene was the stuff of nightmares back in 1983, but it hasn’t exactly aged well. With what can be achieved now, these sequences can once again be made terrifying. Considering how strong the story itself is, a remake could easily balance out many of the genre complaints we see today. Yes, it will be effects-heavy, but it’s so much more than just spectacle. When one considers the political unease and unrest of the last few years, the thesis of the show has never been more relevant. But perhaps the strongest argument for rebooting the series now is the fact that we already have the perfect candidate to helm it. Kenneth Johnson is Eager to Reboot ‘V’ It’s rare that a creator gets to reboot their own creation, but Johnson has long sought to do so with V. When speaking with RadioTimes, Johnson talked about his protectiveness when it comes to remaking the show, saying, “I have not really licensed anybody else to do anything with V, because I've been concerned that they would botch it up.” Johnson has a right to be protective. The original creator of The Bionic Woman, Johnson, was unhappy with the 2007 remake, as well as the 2009 version of V. While Johnson said he may not want to necessarily direct the reboot, he is still actively working on bringing V back in a big way. What’s more, he’s already proven he can helm it as a full-fledged franchise. Related Stephen King’s All-Time Favorite Series Is This 16-Episode Sci-Fi Thriller Masterpiece To the surprise of no one, King has incredible taste in TV. Posts 6 By Kelcie Mattson Published in 2008, Johnson returned to the world of V with V: The Second Generation. The massive novel is an alternative sequel to the original miniseries, ignoring the events of V: The Final Battle and the weekly series. While sequels that retcon past events are often risky, the book is truly remarkable. Though it’s set 20 years after the original, Johnson doesn’t miss a beat. The politics are as biting as ever, and the characters, both new and old, are absolutely fascinating. Above all, it’s an epic story filled with surprises, action, and an ending that is deeply satisfying. Reading it, one can’t help but feel that it absolutely belongs on the screen. Given how close to perfect V: The Second Generation feels, it’s clear that Johnson is the man to finally give the franchise the chance it deserves. Subscribe to the newsletter for V reboot insights Discover why subscribing to the newsletter unlocks deeper coverage of V, franchise revivals, and creator perspectives—detailed analysis and context that help fans understand what a modern reboot could meaningfully explore. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. V is available to stream on Prime Video. V Like TV-PG Action Science Fiction Drama Release Date 1983 - 1983-00-00 Network NBC Directors Kenneth Johnson Cast See All
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