V (franchise)

V is an American science fiction franchise created by American writer, producer and director Kenneth Johnson about a genocidal invading alien race known as the "Visitors"—reptilian humanoids disguised as human beings—trying to take over Earth, and the human reaction to this, including the Resistance group attempting to stop them, while others collaborate with the aliens for power and personal wealth.

The two-part television miniseries V aired in 1983, written and directed by Johnson. It had cost US$13 million to produce.^[1] It was followed in 1984 by a three-part miniseries, V: The Final Battle, and a nineteen-episode weekly television series, V (sometimes referred to as V: The Series) during the 1984–85 television season. ABC ran a remake series, produced by Warner Bros. Television, which ran for two seasons totalling 22 episodes from November 3, 2009, to March 15, 2011.

In the original series, the title refers to the "V for Victory" sign. In the 1983 V miniseries, a group of children are shown spray painting generic graffiti over the Visitors' propaganda posters, but are then shown how to spray the V over the posters by Abraham Bernstein, a Holocaust survivor, who explains the meaning of the sign to them as he defaces the first poster. In the 2009 reboot of the series, however, V is used within the show as an abbreviation for the Visitors.^[2][3][4]

A number of novels, comic books, video games and other media have been spun off from the franchise. Johnson's novel V: The Second Generation, an alternative sequel to the first miniseries which disregards V: The Final Battle and V: The Series because of his non-involvement with them, was released on February 5, 2008.^[5] Johnson stated he was in negotiations for a TV adaptation of his sequel novel, but Warner Bros. opted to do the 2009 remake series instead.