On Aliens...

Okay, going to show my age here, but with ABCs re-telling of the 1983 miniseries "V", I feel compelled to post about this.

I loved the original miniseries.  To a young kid like myself who was already wise to what was going on in our country at the time, the show was a perfect metaphor for our political climate.  The story line was provocative and edgy.  The imagery, though appearing dated now, was incredible.  I was completely hooked, though not so much with the second miniseries or the abysmal regular series.  So when I heard that the series was coming back, I was hesitant, but reluctantly began to watch it courtesy of Hulu.

I have now watched all eight episodes of the new series.  It's a huge failure to me.  I think the whole "regular people forming militas to fight the tyranny" hits a little too close to home for me now, given the stories coming out of Oklahoma these days.  And the idea (spoilers ahead if you haven't watched!!!!!) of being able to tell if someone is a "terrorist" by their ability to have human emotion is slightly disturbing as well.  Yes, I know these are aliens and not human beings, but still.  It seems to me that the people writing the show have taken the best parts of the original miniseries and left them on the cutting room floor.  I think that the success of shows like Lost and Heroes have made the "mysterious group with a sinister agenda" the trendy thing right now.  The problem is, V is nowhere near as good as Lost or Heroes (at least the first season).

It's also interesting, in news this week, the interview with Dr. Stephen Hawking about his new documentary series.  My favorite quote from the interview?   “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.”

I'm not sure that I like the idea of Earth closing itself off from the rest of the universe.  If there is indeed intelligent life out there, I'd like to know about it and meet them.  It would be interesting to see if they were more advanced than us or if we can expect many more generations of our current issues.  Of course, there's always the possibility, promoted by Dr. Hawking, that any aliens we meet could turn out like this: