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Q: Why has it taken so long for V to show us what the Vs look like? I don’t remember the original series taking this long — and they didn’t even have CGI back then! — MAGPIE, Toronto, Canada

The Oracle Speaks:

If the network had had their way, it would’ve taken even longer still.

“When I took over the show [mid-way through the first season], there were some mandates from the people who pay my paycheck,” says V showrunner Scott Rosenbaum. “I was told I could not show what a visitor looked like, under any circumstances.”

Rosenbaum wasn’t happy.

“I reacted very negatively to that,” he says, “but I was put in a position where I couldn’t [show the Vs]. I fought that fight every day, every phone call, every [set of notes]. It was difficult for me, because I was reading this fan-stuff online [about the need to show the visitors], and I was thinking, ‘I agree with that!’”

Eventually, the network relented. “And it happened to coincide with what I think the fans wanted right from the start,” Rosenbaum says.

It’s hard to imagine what the suits were thinking, except to acknowledge that it had been a while since there’d been much sci-fi on broadcast television, and they may simply have been unfamiliar with what the audience wanted.

“Sometimes less is more, but this is a case where it definitely wasn’t,” Rosenbaum tells me. “I understood the fan frustration. Look, we know what they are [from the original]. It’s not a secret, so there’s no reason to hang onto it. There are a lot of other secrets to keep, but that was one that you owe it almost to show it to them. If it had been up to me, I would’ve showed them by the second episode.”

Q: Ever notice how Yoda’s words of wisdom are so often wrong?

The Oracle Speaks:

You have a point. Consider:

• “If you leave now, help them you could; but you would destroy all for which they have fought, and suffered.” [Not true: Luke saves them, but doesn't destroy all they have fought and suffered.]
• “Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.’ [Not true: with help from Luke, Darth Vadar turns away from the dark path in the end.]

And then there’s the fact that Yoda and Obi-Wan totally lie to Luke about the identify of his father, shrugging it off with the condescending, “Not ready for the burden were you.”

And I’m not even considering any Yoda dialogue from the prequel movies (which I’ve only seen once and am now basically pretending don’t exist).

On the other hand, Yoda is also right more than a few times:

• “No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.”
• “That is why you fail.”
• “No. There is another.”

The point is, when your wisdom is as wise as Yoda’s sometimes is (and when you’re performed by someone as bad-ass as Frank Oz!), you’re allowed a few blind spots here and there.

Plus, as Yoda himself points out, “When 900 years you reach, look as good you will not, hmm?”

I’d say the same thing also applies to his mental acuity.

Have a question about something fantasy-related? Please send an email to thetorchonlineoracle@gmail.com and be sure and include your city and state and/or country.

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Have a question about something fantasy-related? Please send an email to thetorchonlineoracle@gmail.com and be sure and include your city and state and/or country.

Q: I’m curious how Jane Badler, who played Diana in the original V, came to be involved with the V remake. It seems like such obvious stunt casting (although she’s terrific so far). Was it planned from the start — or did they bring her in once the ratings started to flag? — MAGPIE, Toronto, Canada

The Oracle Speaks:

Neither, according to V producer and showrunner Scott Rosenbaum. Despite some reports to the contrary, Rosenbaum tells TheTorchOnline.com that the new character of “Diana,” Anna’s mother, was conceived without Jane Badler in mind.

Mother, daughter, grandmother

“I had this idea at the end of last season about what season two was going to be, and I thought it would be interesting to do a little back-story of the Visitors,” Rosenbaum says. “I started with Anna, and I thought, ‘Does she have a mother?’ I spent some time figuring out who that mother was, why there was conflict between them.”

At this point, Rosenbaum says he still hadn’t even considered Jane Balder for the role, but that he got a message that she was in town and wanted to meet him. “But we hadn’t even started casting yet,” Rosenbaum says. “She didn’t even know there was a role.”

It wasn’t until they were actually chatting that Rosenbaum put two and two together. “She was talking about her kid in Australia, and I was completely zoning out, thinking, ‘She could be Diana!’”

Rosenbaum says Badler auditioned for the role — something Badler confirms.

“There were sixty or seventy very well-known actors who auditioned for that role,” he says. “I was shocked by the names that came in. I didn’t think we’d have such a pool of recognizable actors — some who’d had B+ TV roles. But I chose [Jane] because she was the best. I didn’t do it at all because she was from the original.”

Rosenbaum acknowledges that it turned out to be something of a publicity coup for the show.  “But I didn’t do it because I thought the fans would be excited,” he says. “The thing is, they could’ve reacted the opposite way. You have to just pick the best person.”

Rosenbaum’s story strains credibility a bit — I’m assuming the character wasn’t really named “Diana” from the beginning — but he seemed sincere to me. And he did take over as showrunner partway through the first season, so it’s possible that previous producers were working on casting Jane as well, and Rosenbaum simply wasn’t aware.

Incidentally, why did Rosenbaum decide to make the next series story-arc about three women — Anna, Diana, and Lisa — in conflict?

“I felt like there needed to be more pressure on Anna,” Rosenbaum says. “And there’s an expression I heard years ago that stuck with me. The reason why grandparents and grandchildren get along is because they share a common enemy: the mother! That’s all you need to know about this three-women dynamic.”

Q: I agree with your opinion that prequels are really, really hard to pull off (e.g. Star Wars). So is Spartacus going to do it? How? — E.J., Lake Hope, OH

The Oracle Speaks:

I’ve only seen the first episode, so I can’t say how they’ll do it. But the producers have talked about what they learned from the first season, acknowledging that their storytelling grew stronger as the season went on. Maybe it’s just spin, but what they say is so in sync with how I perceived the first season to be that they’ve convinced me that they really do know what they’re doing.

“From the first episode on, we ratchet up the tension and the stakes,” writer-producer Steven DeKnight tells us in an exclusive interview. “There’s a lot of things that happen in the prequel that inform season one. You don’t have to have seen season one to know what happens, but in true Spartacus fashion, a lot of characters won’t see in the end of the prequel.”

What does DeKnight think of the finished product?

“Honestly, it turned out better than I had ever hoped,” he says. “We really got a chance to go back and flesh out so many of the characters and tell a story that I don’t think we ever would’ve ever been able to tell otherwise.”

In fact, DeKnight says that the existence of the first season, the events of which still lie ahead in the time-line, gave them the major theme of the prequel.

“Your actions will decide your fate,” he says. “It’s something that Batiatus’s father will warn him of, and we draw directly between what happens in the prequel and where it leads him in season one.”

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According to Morena Baccarin, the actress who plays Anna, the evilly manipulative leader of a group of lizard-like aliens on the ABC show V, expect some almost Shakespearean-like drama in the weeks ahead — thanks, in part, to the introduction of the character of Anna’s mother Diana, played by Jane Badler, the actress who famously played a different character named Diana in the original 1980s incarnation of the show.

“She was so sweet,” Morena says of Badler, in an exclusive interview with TheTorchOnline.com. “I was opening my mouth to compliment her, and she said, ‘I love your show!’ These characters butt heads a lot, and I thought it was so great that even as a V, you get your butt kicked by your mother. No species escapes that! I thought that was awesome.”

Badler’s Diana, it seems, plays a pivotal role in upcoming episodes.

Morena Baccarin and Jane Badler

“She becomes very instrumental in the rebellion with Lisa,” Baccarin says. “I’ve imprisoned her for twenty years, which is why she’s still on the ship. Everyone thinks she’s dead, and she’s trying to get her queenship, her throne, back.”

Baccarin smiles. “Between her, Lisa, and myself, you’ve got three women fighting for the throne!”

Thirty-one-year-old Baccarin, born in Brazil, first became known to TV viewers as Inara Serra on Joss Whedon’s 2002 cult classic Firefly, famously canceled after only fourteen episodes (only eleven actually aired, though the characters did return in the feature film Serenity).

V’s ruthless Anna couldn’t be more of a polar opposite from the kind, serene character of Inara, but the fact that Baccarin seems to have been born to play both roles is a testament to her talent.

Does the viciousness of the character ever impact her behavior in real life — or affect the way people react to her? 

She laughs. “Do I order people around at Starbucks?” she says. “I definitely — I think! — keep a healthy separation between work and life. It’s not difficult for me, because when I put on that make-up and the clothes, I see that character right away. And the words — the way Anna speaks is very different from myself.”

Apart from the appearance of Badler, the most interesting thing about the most recent episodes of the show may be the indication that even Anna, the supreme leader of a lizard race that keeps its emotions tightly controlled, is starting to lose control of those emotions.

“The wonderful thing about playing this part is the challenge of maintaining that regal personality and laying in that new emotion,” Baccarin says. “And I think it’s great, because it humanizes her in such a way that I think people will be able to relate to her, to sympathize with her, which I think is really scary, to be able to relate to such a nasty person.”

Which brings up an interesting question: just how much emotion does Anna feel? Does she feel any of the kind and gentle emotions she’s projecting to Earth, or is it entirely an act she’s putting on?

“I think it’s an act,” Baccarin says. “I think she knows exactly what to do or say, to manipulate, to be adored by her people. I mean, she has a love for her species, and as leader, it is her job to ensure its survival, and she has a deep love for her people, but when it comes to humans, she’ll go to great lengths to get what she wants.”

With the appearance of Badler on the show, Baccarin pondered the differences between the old and new versions of V.

“The perils are different,” she says. Our show “is more about terrorism-fear, that fear and paranoia of not knowing who your neighbor is, and I anchored [my performance] on that. I feel like [the show's take] is a little more subtle and a scarier way in, because it’s not on the surface. You don’t know if you’re safe, ever.”

In fact, she says, Badler’s reappearance is a pretty good example of the show’s theme. “In the original show, it was a little more apparent [who was bad],” she says. “But here, you don’t know who’s on whose side, and people switch a lot.”

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• Okay, did anyone else watch the return of V? I confess I’m struck by how incredibly bad it is: every scene is so simple-minded without any nuance or subtext whatsoever, and don’t get me started on all the plot contrivances. They had eight months to retool, and this is the best they could do? On the plus side, however, it’s gotten so bad that it’s rapidly approaching “camp,” which means it’s almost so-bad-it’s good. (And at least they’re finally showing us what the Visitors look like! USA Today has a spoiler pic.)
  

• Speaking of “bad” projects, the buzz on Nic Cage’s Season of the Witch is that it’s a stink-o-rama. I was going to review it anyway, but I’ll be gone on Thursday and Friday (and they didn’t screen it for critics), so I won’t be able to. Damn!

• A look at SyFy’s American remake of Being Human. I’d say it looks stupid, but I’m afraid I’ve already used my “negative” quota for this Palantir:

• Hilarious: Tom Felton, who played Draco in the Harry Potter movies, says he’s now able to get a tan, after a ten-year ban. (But if he’s anything like me, and with his fair skin he is, he’s probably better with spray-on.)

• A Lord of the Rings-themed iPhone game app.

• A clever campaign by the folks at Save Our Seeker (who are trying to bring back the syndicated show Legend of the Seeker): they’re planning to all watch the season 1 episode “Deena” non-stop on Hulu (where it’s available for free viewing) in order to get it on a front-page spot and increase visibility. Join in between January 11th and 18th.

• Behind-the-scenes look at the underwater bedroom scene in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (one of the most interesting scenes in the movie, IMHO). Featurettes these days are a dime a dozen, but this one is worth watching:

• In terms of quality, how do sequel movies compare to the originals? Someone graphs it out. Fascinating, but not at all surprising.

• The Razzies (given to the worst films of the year) has a new category: worst eye-gouging misuse of 3-D. Brilliant!

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• Are you a man? Do you want to be evil? Here’s a list of 4 Evil Characters all men allegedly want to be, and I’m actually only including this list because of its mention of Ben Linus. Funny story: I was walking to my apartment in midtown Manhattan late one night, when who passes me on the street but Michael Emerson, the actor who plays Ben Linus. I guess he caught me gawking at him, because he glared angrily in my direction, causing me to almost wet myself. No amount of therapy will erase the day Ben Linus gave me the evil eye.

• This article has what is possibly the revamped version of the Ninja Turtles design. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not a fan. The turtles should be cute, not scary. Come on, dude. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Does that sound like it should be a dark, serious project to you?

• While we’re on the subject of creepy lizards, for those who were wondering if the new version of V will have a scary birth scene like the original series, the answer is … yes.

• Somehow, when I wasn’t looking, all of my friends started popping out babies, which means I’m now noticing toys aimed for young kids. Of course, after seeing this article about unintentionally, uh … objectionable … toys, I may just contribute to their college funds instead. (Just kidding, I’m way too cheap.) Warning: while hilarious, this list is most definitely NSFW. Like, at all.

• In honor of Kick-Ass, here’s a list of the 10 Nerdiest Superheroes! Does The Mask really count as a superhero?

• Here’s a few interviews from Comic Con about the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street movie. Two things stick out: 1, Jackie Earle Haley seems like an incredibly nice guy, which just seems weird given his turns as Rorschach and now  Freddy Kreuger, and 2, Thomas Dekker is absolutely right. That is annoying when dudes act way too tough and macho in supernatural horror movies. Good for you, T-Deks.

• Regular readers of TheTorchOnline.com know that if there’s one thing I hate more than anything in the world, it’s bugs. But what they may not know is that one species I’ve always absolutely loved is squirrels. Come on, they’re adorable! So little and twitchy, plus the ones in Central Park just come up to you and wait for you to feed them, making you feel like you’re in a Disney cartoon. But if it’s possible, I now love them even more after learning that in addition to being utterly cute, they’re also totally brave and heroic, defending their fallen brothers against disgusting carrion.

I know what you’re thinking … what does this have to do with a fantasy blog? Well, think of it as Mega-Squirrel versus Super Crows! If you’re curious what that sound is, it’s my Palantir-peer Ed Kennedy salivating.

It’s that time of the year again, when TV fans either set their faces to smug because their favorite shows have already been renewed, or they chew on their fingers and rock back-and-forth in a corner like Gollum because NBC handed out a renewal for the asinine Marriage Ref, but there is still no word on Chuck. (Maybe that second thing is just me. Maybe I’m the only one in clutching a picture of Yvonne Strahovski and whispering “Precious, my precious.”)

Here’s our quick run-down on what’s in, what’s out, and what’s on the bubble for fantasy TV next year.

ALREADY RENEWED

CW
Supernatural
Vampire Diaries
Smallville

Fox
Fringe

HBO
True Blood (Third season begins in June)

Starz
Spartacus: Blood and Sand

Syfy
Warehouse 13
Eureka
Stargate Universe

ON THE BUBBLE

NBC
Heroes (could go either way, according to Entertainment Weekly)
Chuck (could go either way, according to EW)

ABC
V (could go either way, according to EW)
FlashForward (a long shot, according to EW)

CBS
Medium (could go either way, according to EW)
Ghost Whisperer (a safe bet, according to EW)

Syfy
Caprica (could go either way, according to EW)

Syndicated
Legend of the Seeker (studio exploring options for third season)

ALREADY CANCELED

Fox
Past Life

Both Chuck and Heroes have made it into the final round of E! Online’s annual “Save One Show” competition.  So if you want to be proactive about bringing either one of them back, go vote! If your show is on the bubble and it didn’t make it to E!’s final round, I’ll make room for you in my corner — but don’t touch my photos of Agent Sarah Walker.

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Thanks to channels like SyFy and Starz, fantasy fans are spared the effects of the nonsensical “seasons” of network TV. Things like the “winter hiatus” find crime procedural fans rocking back-and-forth in a corner, humming the Law & Order theme over and over, while hospital drama fans stare at the wall and repeat “McDreamy, McDreamy, McDreamy” until they develop facial ticks.

Lucky for us, when Elizabeth Mitchell takes a break from fighting aliens and Joshua Jackson takes a time-out from the alternate universe, we can just flip over to another channel and pick up Spartacus or Caprica.

We’re not desperate for network TV shows to return, but we confess that we are excited.

Here’s a look at when our favorite fantasy shows are coming back, and what to expect when they land.

Warning: Mild spoilers below!

FlashForward (March 18, ABC) — The one future FlashForward can’t seem to predict is its own. Ratings haven’t been promising, and critics can’t decide if they love it, or if it’s a watered-down, island-less Lost. The show has been on hiatus since Christmas, which has given the writers a chance to rethink their strategy. Their plan is to stop asking so many questions and start answering the ones they’ve already posed. Plus, they’re adding Battlestar Galactica favorite James Callis to the mix, which is enough to get almost any fantasy fan’s heart thumping.

Supernatural (March 25, CW) — Supernatural’s 100th episode will air April 15th. There are rumblings that Jo, Ruby and Bela will return, but CW hasn’t confirmed it. Before that, though, Sam and Dean have got to figure out what’s happening in Bobby’s hometown. Or, more accurately, they’ve got to figure out how to deal with the zombie infestation going down in Bobby’s town (including Bobby’s wife). The apocalypse is nigh! Of course, the apocalypse has been nigh and the show has still managed to entertain for 100 episodes. We’re not expecting brimstone just yet.

Vampire Diaries (March 25, CW) — O.C. alum (and my all-time favorite TV mom) Melinda Clarke joins the cast as Matt’s mom when the show returns. She’s not crazy about Caroline — though to be fair, when has she ever been crazy about any of her TV children’s partners? (Except Luke, who she slept with.) In other news: Stefan will be vamp-napped by some revenge seekers, Damon will be auctioned off for love, and a stranger knows Elena’s secret.

V (March 30, ABC) — Executive producer Scott Rosenbaum has promised at least two or three reveals in every one of V’s final eight episodes. There’s going to be a showdown between Erica and Anna, too. In addition to driving the plot forward at breakneck speeds, Rosenbaum also insists that viewers will be rewarded with long-awaited backstory. ABC hopes the combo story-telling with reinvest viewers who are already familiar with the show, while hooking in a new audience. V is on the bubble, so we’re crossing our fingers the strategy works.

Fringe (April 1, Fox) — In their spring preview issue, Entertainment Weekly reported that the relationship between Peter and Olivia “will develop a lot” by the end of the season. The dichotomy between Walter Bishop’s past and present will become even more “moving and poignant.” And he and William will definitely meet up at the end of the season. We already know that Fox has greenlit a third season of Fringe, so we’re expecting nothing less than a delicious cliff-hanger in the two-part finale.

Smallville (April 2, CW) — CW has already granted Smallville a tenth season, making it one of the longest-running primetime shows ever. Unfortunately, most of the original cast has moved on, and there’s a good chance Erica Durance won’t be back next season. But for now, Clark’s got the Silver Banshee and Max Lord to deal with. Maybe Smallville’s producers can de-Kryptonite Lana and bring her back for season ten, now that Kristin Kreuk done messing with Chuck and Sarah’s true love on Chuck.

Also of (non-network) note Stargate Universe returns with five new episodes on SyFy on April 2nd. And Matt Smith’s Doctor Who is coming to BBC America on April 17.

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• Apparently not having had their fill of fantasy with Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the Starz network has obtained the rights to Pillars of the Earth, an “epic tale of good vs. evil told against the religious, social and political struggles of medieval Europe.” Man, Starz is becoming the place to be, isn’t it?

• Are people excited about the new V? I can’t seem to get my finger on that particular pulse. Well, if you are, we have promises from the powers that be that we’ll see more, more, more in the coming episodes. As for me, I just want to see mega-hottie Morena Baccarin rip her face off. Is that too much to ask?

• Okay, I thought the idea of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was genius. I freakin’ loved the title Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. So needless to say, I am super-stoked to learn that Tim Burton will be directing the upcoming film adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. A possibly risky move considering the novel was just released today.

• The part of Albus Dumbledore’s brother Aberforth has been cast, and it’s … Julius Caesar? Actually, it’s Ciaran Hinds, who played Julius Caesar on HBO’s Rome. From slain emperor to crazy old wizard. Not too shabby there, Ciaran.

• As a New Yorker, the Tribeca Film Festival has always held a special place in my heart. I love that in a city as commercial as New York there’s a festival that really honors the independent, artistic spirit of roll-up-your-sleeves filmmakers. And I’m proud that they’re honoring that tradition by opening the festical this year with … Shrek Forever After? Seriously? Wow, can’t wait till they open next year’s festival with that hard-hitting indie documentary, Transformers 3.

• I ain’t afraid o’ no spoilers. Bill Murray spills the beans on Letterman about the possibility of a new Ghostbusters movie. He doesn’t seem so into it.

• This is the kind of tweet that gets a big ol’ Marvel comics fan like me all in a tizzy. Hint: Anyone feel like assembling?

• While we’re on the subject of comics, here’s a great way to kill 20 minutes: a tour through the comic-book-cum-video-games of yesteryear.

• I have to confess, I never read any of Terry Brooks’ Shannara novels, even though they’ve called to me like sirens every time I pass them in the bookstore. Well, I should get crackin’, because he has three more on the way.

• Anyone else suffering from a little Hobbit rumor exhaustion? It’s cast, it’s not cast, it’s in 3D, it’s not in 3D, oh, wait, it might be in 3D. Just make the freakin’ movie already. (Incidentally, I’m currently reading The Hobbit again just for fun. Guess what? It’s just as awesome as you remember. Of course, the best part of the novel is not having to hear any rumors about the making of it.)

• After the more-successful-than-God run of Avatar, talk of a sequel is naturally in the works, but James Cameron doesn’t want to call it Avatar 2. He’s thinking he might call it Na’vi. I say he can call it whatever he wants, as long as we don’t have to hear rumors about it for years. Damn you, Hobbit.

• Daniel Radcliffe consistently proves he’s a bloody brilliant bloke, most recently for his work with The Trevor Project, a hotline to help LGBT teenagers in crisis. That’s right, a celebrity working for a cause that he’s not personally affected by and doesn’t tie in to a film he’s promoting. He’s just doing it because he knows he has a platform and he wants to use that opportunity for good. Wingardium levi-awesome.

• Finally, I’m trying to figure out an excuse I can come up with to post this next link … ooh, I got it. You all saw Look Who’s Talking, right? That was kind of fantasy … wasn’t it? Babies talking to each other? Yeah, that should work. Anyway, here’s 6 scientifically-proven facts that show that babies are completely evil, spiteful, petty A-holes.

Who doesn’t love a good man-lizard every now and then? Or a woman-lizard, for that matter.

If the new (and old) series V tells us anything, it’s that mankind has, well, a thing for mutant humanoid reptiles.

Reptile men have a long and celebrated history of interaction with his mammalian brothers, and it’s usually not one of cooperation and mutual benefit. Possibly the very first reptile man to chillax with his primate brethren was Sobek, the Egyptian god of water, specifically, the waters of the Nile which allowed their crops to be bountiful. He was joined by his reptilian cousin Apep, the snake god (occasionally seen as a crocodile, as well), who was a lot nastier than the benevolent Sobek.

And who can forget the story told in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, in which Eve is tempted by none other than the serpent?

Shoot forward to the ’80s, and there was a veritable lizard man explosion!

First, you had the original V, in which Nazi-esque alien lizards descended upon humanity. Simultaneously, on Third Earth, the heroic Thundercats were dealing with some nasty mutant enemies, among them S-s-slithe, the reptilian leader (and yes, his name had hyphens. Hey, mine has an apostrophe, who am I to judge?). There was also the scaly presence of Cobra Commander in the world of G.I. Joe.

Meanwhile, on the big screen, a bizarre and touching friendship occurred between a human and a reptile being in an obscure but fascinating sci-fi film called Enemy Mine, and down here on Earth, James Earl Jones gamely turned into a giant snake in Conan the Barbarian.

In the ’90s, the world of video games brought us both Mortal Kombat’s Reptile and Soul Calibur’s Lizard Man.

And there’s my favorite bat-crap crazy philosopher, David Icke, who really believes that many of our world leaders are actually hybrids of humans and reptile-aliens (in other words, the exact plot of V), spanning the political spectrum from the first George Bush to Hillary Clinton, and belong to the shady institution known as the Illuminati. The man is insane with a capital WTF, so naturally I love him.

But the question has to be asked, what’s up with our fondness for these reptilians? What’s the dilly-yo?

It could be that we have that very human characteristic of being inexorably drawn to the other, the bizarre, that which is unlike us, and as mammals, a reptilian creature fits that mold. When in the shape of a man, it sort of looks like us, but is actually a funhouse mirror image, a bastardization of humanity, a representation of what we might have been had evolution taken a slightly different course. Reptile men are us, when seen through a glass darkly.

Or it could be that scales are just, you know, awesome.

Suffice it to say, with the new series V doing quite well for itself in the ratings, it would seem that lizard men are here to stay, at least until we find a new animal-man hybrid upon which to languish our affection. Personally, I’m leaning in favor of Bird Men. What do you think?

An attractive, telegenic, charismatic leader shows up out of nowhere, promising change for the better and universal health care, and charms millions of Americans, while others refuse to jump on board the love train, and some even go so far as accusing the new leader of being a covert terrorist.

Sound familiar?

It should, because it it’s a fairly accurate (if overly-concise) account of President Obama’s campaign. It also happens to be the plot of the new show V, minus a little tidbit about reptilian aliens.

According to this article, the similarity is a little too perfect to be ignored. The author states his opinion that the show is a “barbed critique on Obamamania that will infuriate the president’s supporters and delight his detractors.” If that’s true, than we have a high-profile primetime series being used as an outlet for seething anger towards the president, not only taking aim at his supposedly specious ability to charm people, but also putting forward the belief that he is truly here to harm good, upstanding American citizens.

So, is it true?

Nope. The show obviously uses the political language of the day — a character directly, without coding, says that the aliens can offer “universal health care” — but that’s because television dialogue always reflects the language of the present culture. V doesn’t strike any eerie realistic chords with its political rhetoric anymore than The West Wing did.

Thanks to 24-hour news channels, which have made celebrities out of partisan political commentators like Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann, politics have infiltrated pop culture like never before, and have become completely infused with entertainment. Given this merge, is it any surprise that pure entertainment is based on political secrecy?

V’s source material — the 1980s mini-series and series — used similar references — and it was obviously created decades before anyone even knew Obama’s name.

Liberal or conservative, whatever your stance may be, feel free to enjoy V as a fun, if slightly silly, bit of escapist television, and leave the politicking to the professionals. Sometimes science fiction and fantasy can be used more effectively than any other genre to make social criticisms, because they allow us to step away from naming names and speak clearly, if through the lens of metaphor.

But sometimes it’s just for fun. And such is the case with V.

Two and a Half Torches (Out of Five)

Okay, I’m kinda bummed. After last week’s terrific premiere of V, last night’s episode was decidedly underwhelming.

Sure, the “plot thickened” more or less, but I’m having a hard time remembering anything particularly memorable about the episode (and I took notes!).

Ironically, the episode was titled “There Is No Normal Anymore,” but except for an occasional picket sign, things are actually seeming pretty darn normal.

From interviews with the producers, I know that they were worried that since the story is a remake and most people are familiar with its basic plot elements, they were determined to get to the establishment of the “resistance movement” as quickly as possible.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I wonder if it really was. The series now seems both rushed and superficial — like the producers are just going through the plot-motions. Or maybe it’s just that there aren’t enough thrills.

But it’s a show about frickin’ lizard aliens! How can there not be enough thrills?!

Anyway, this poor episode, coupled with the fact that ABC has announced that it will air just two more episodes, then pull the show for “retooling” until March, has me worried that they don’t quite know what they’re doing here.

Still, I continue to be impressed by Morena Baccarin, who I think is absolutely sensational as Anna.

But everything else felt pretty by-the-numbers to me.