I must have watched V: The Final Battle so many times, but I only caught onto it after friends mentioned the mouse eating scene in V the original mini-series. One friend openly wondered why aliens always aimed their mouth upwards when swallowing a mouse, rat or hamster but I guess whatever method it would do much to solve the New York City rat problem, and would no doubt be an election winner for any mayoral candidate.

One of my favorite characters was Ham Tyler played by one of my favorite actors, Michael "Total Recall" Ironside. He put a lot of spine into the Resistance and played an instrumental role in the downfall of the aliens. Ham was the Man and it was good to see him continue in V: The Series.

Also when I saw Robert Englund's name in the credits, I wondered if that was the same Robert Englund in Nightmare on Elm Street, released the same year???!!! It was!!! Willy was so different to Freddie big time, but that's a testament to Robert's incredible acting skills. I remember seeing an interview with Robert when he said that at an autograph session, many eager V fans turned up to meet him, and then a bunch of leather clad bike club type folks turned up and asked him to autograph their gear...they were Nightmare on Elm Street fans!!!

Investigative reporter Mike Donovan (Marc Singer) and Juliet Parish (Faye Grant) lead a group of resisters in L.A. Guerilla tactics are failing. The authorities have declared them Fake News. The aliens have Mike's son taken captive along with many humans prepared as food. They plan to steal the planet's water. The Fifth Column within the alien ranks remain small and in fear of discovery. In the second part, the rebels are joined by Ham Tyler (Michael Ironside),an American intelligence operative who had many interactions with Mike over the years.

This is a 3 part mini-series which follows the original V (1983 miniseries) and is followed by a 19 episode season. It's been almost four decades since I first saw this on network TV. It all comes flooding to me after watching it again recently. I had forgotten about the lizard babies and the balloon barrage. I love the overall premise but there are many issues with the individual parts. First, the show could never achieve the worldwide grand epic that the premise promises at the outset. While there are some big sets for a TV show, it's not enough to reach full liftoff. This also goes for the story. It's hard to portray a worldwide alien takeover.

As for these 3 movie length shows, the writing is simplistic, problematic, and the difficulty is high. It's unrealistic that these humans keep escaping especially from the alien ship. There are a lot of unrealistic situations. One of the problems I had back in the day is the mass delusion which treated Mike as Fake News. With recent observations, that is less unrealistic. The world teaches how stupid some people can get. As for the lizard babies, it still looks more camp than real. It's funny that the little girl isn't allowed to open her mouth and it's outright stupid that she starts glowing to control the ship. Talking about stupid, I wonder who had the bright idea for the balloons. It's a silly premise written by little kids. All in all, there is something very compelling about the premise which reaches deep inside the psyche. The execution is ambitious and falters due to the ambition.

A nice continuation of the original mini-series, which left the viewers with a big cliffhanger. And without giving away anything "V: The Final Battle" leaves us with an equally big cliffhanger which is nicely picked up in the following regular "V" series.

You should, nay, strike that, you must watch the original mini-series before watching "V: The Final Battle" to fully get everything out of it. And if you enjoyed the 1983 mini-series then you will equally enjoy this 1984 continuation.

As a direct continuation then it is the same characters and actors, as well as the same storyline that continues.

I will say that "V: The Final Battle" is most fulfilling and does wrap up everything you wanted to know from the 1983 mini-series and then some. And it does come full circle in a very satisfactory manner.

And with "V: The Final Battle" at an end, I am more than thrilled to sit down and watch the TV series that followed in its wake.

If you enjoy Sci-Fi then the "V" series is a definite must watch, as it has a good story, good acting and a very captivating atmosphere.