Reborn Desilu Studios to reboot V as a feature film
by Doc on Feb.13, 2018, under Movies
The 1983 NBC mini-series V is getting another reboot – and the studio behind it is rebooting as well.
Desilu Studios – a revival of the name of the studio created by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz that was one of the largest independent studios in the 50s and 60s and later became the television division of Paramount, announced a feature film version of the show to be written by original creator Kenneth Johnson, and currently using the title V: The Movie.
The original 1983 mini-series starring Marc Singer, Faye Grant and Jane Badler (and who could forget a pre-Freddy Robert Englund as the meek Willie) told the take of the arrival of the Visitors, seemingly friendly humanoid aliens looking for some resources for their ailing world and in return would share their advanced technology with the people of Earth. However, it turns out that they are reptilians in disguise, and really plan to take all of Earth’s fresh water supplies – and use the humans themselves as a food source. A resistance gains momentum to fight the Visitors.
The mini-series proved popular and spawned a sequel mini-series in V: The Final Battle, which concluded the main storyline, and a TV series that was (mercifully – I swear I did a review but now I can’t find it) canceled after 13 episodes. These productions were very 80s in style, with a thinly veiled (and later more explicit) Nazi allusion. In 2009, a reboot of the series aired on ABC for two seasons.
The new Desilu Studios was formed by Charles B. Hensley when he acquired the name. All the original Desilu productions were owned by Paramount and now CBS, including the original Star Trek.