Synopsis: London. Present Day. Earth experiences a visitation by aliens, bringing peace and prosperity. However, their intentions are not benevolent. Soon, the world is under occupation. While some choose to collaborate with the Visitors, others decide to fight back.
Review: I finished listening to V UK: Visitation, and I wept. It’s been forty years since I first watched the original series, and the allegory isn’t allegory anymore.
Story
Kenneth Johnson’s original vision was highjacked by the 1980’s. However, that flawed effort was Shakespeare compared to the most recent television reboot attempt.
For his part, writer Jonathan Morris stripped away the cheese and the soap tropes. Instead, he crafted a storyline that was closer to what Johnson had intended.
Indeed, Morris collaborated with Johnson. As a result, he was able to retain and strengthen fan-favorite elements from Johnson’s original script within a contemporary setting.
For example, Abraham became a black South African scarred by Apartheid. Morris wrote an even more unflinching subplot around othering using most of Johnson’s original dialogue.
That said, there was one character I missed dearly. By the end of V UK: Visitation, there’s no sign of Willie.
Subjectively, it’s a flaw. Objectively, though, Big Finish probably found it too difficult to recast, considering what Robert Englund brought to the role.
Hopefully, I’m wrong, and Willie will be introduced in the next box set. In the meantime, the characters and cast we have are excellent.
Acting
All of the actors put memorable spins on the established performances. That said, I must give kudos to several standouts.
First, Jack Myers completely sold me on his version of Mike Donovan. He added some interesting layers to Marc Singer’s original leading man template.
For her part, Janie Dee is off to a marvelous start as Diana. In her case, I think it actually helped that she wasn’t familiar with the original series.
For me, though, Geoffrey Aymer gave the most affecting performance as Abraham Mabaso. I’m still shedding tears over his turn as I write this.
Overall
Thank you, Big Finish, for proving worthy of Kenneth Johnson’s trust. I can’t wait for more of this superb adaptation.
You can purchase V UK: Visitation here.
- Story8.5
- Performances10
- Audio Production10
Dear Raissa… This is Kenneth Johnson saying thanks for your lovely review and also letting you know not worry: I would never have done the project without Willy!
He is an important part of the Big Finish production. Jonathan Morris the BF producer/writer and I realized that on audio we couldn’t interweave all the different characters and their stories simultaneously as I did in my 1983 original. Willy and numerous others you remember fondly will be coming along soon. — Cheers!
Thank you so much! I can’t wait for all the great characters and stories to come.