Visitors (V TV series)

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The Visitors is the name given to a fictional alien race from the miniseries V and the TV series derived from it. These "Visitors" are reptilian humanoids who disguise themselves to look human, and prefer to eat live prey.

All Visitors are given human names for the humans' convenience. They are never heard to use their home-world names.

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[edit] The Leader

The Leader (or commonly referred to by the Visitors as "Our Great Leader") is the head of a military dictatorship that controls the Sirian (Visitor) population on Sirius 4 and controls every resource and ship-of-the-line in the entire Sirian Fleet through his ministers. The Leader was constantly mentioned, but not seen, in the series.

Early in the Leader's military career, he was regarded as a military genius and quickly rose through the ranks, then the Visitors suffered a massive defeat in an interplanetary war with an un-named alien superpower that resulted in the destruction of several Visitor colony worlds. This was the only defeat he ever suffered and he vowed he would have his vengeance. He then left the military and joined the political sector of their society.

His rise to power began when Sirius 4 experienced several extreme environmental and economic disasters (natural and man-made) which left the planet critically short of food and water. He constantly blamed the weakness of their civilian leaders for lack of relief in the crisis and for their defeats in the war the Visitors were engaged in and used the populations' frustration at their current leaders to expand his powerbase. When the environmental and economic problems became critical, the Leader launched his coup and overthrew the original republic-based government and replaced it with a more military-favourable one.

He grew so powerful in his new status, eventually he became protected from all forms of reprisals and uprisings by shifting himself to another dimension, protecting him from all forms of attack, yet still able to lead his troops.

With the entire military at his command; he began his war of revenge on the un-named power, but his resources began to dwindle. His science officers discovered the planet Earth 8.7 lightyears away; which contained an abundance of resources. He planned to steal every drop of water (leaving the planet a wasteland) and humans themselves for food and cannon fodder in the war. He sent a total of 50 Motherships, led by Supreme Commander John and his personal envoy Diana, to conquer and complete the mission.

The Leader was "most disturbed" by the defeat of the military force sent to Earth following the Red Dust's deployment, but with so few remaining resources left in his war machine; he knew Earth was too valuable to abandon and he authorised Fleet Security Officer Lydia to lead another fleet back to Earth to recommence harvesting operations. He decided to keep a close watch on the invasion's progress, and sent several key military figures to Earth to assist in the invasion. This resulted in Charles' death and Inspector General Philip's defection to the Fifth Column (he remained unaware of the latter).

The Leader finally had enough of the constant stalemate and decided to personally come to Earth and lead the Final Invasion. To do so, he declared an Armistice with the Resistance and recalled all soldiers from the Earth's surface. Then he lured the Resistance leaders to the LA Mothership and attempted to convince the Starchild; Elizabeth Maxwell, to help him find the Anyx; an artifact hidden on Earth that could have the power to destroy either ther human species or the Visitor species completely. These efforts failed and she escaped, along with the Resistance, back to Earth and on the trail of the Anyx. However, the Armistice he enforced was a ruse to destroy the Resistance groups around the world and leave it open for occupation. This succeeded with catastrophic results.

It is also notable that in the original miniseries, the Final Battle, and The Series, the Leader is often referred to as a man. However, in The Second Generation, it is revealed that The Leader is a woman.

[edit] Supreme Commanders

[edit] John

John, played by Richard Herd, is introduced in V. The Supreme Commander of the fleet of Visitor ships, as known to both Visitors and humans alike, he is evidently well-trained or well-prompted in public relations. John is the first Visitor that humans see, showing that the Visitors are just like humans. However, John is either extremely busy touring the fleet attending to command issues, or reclusive when not needed to promote good will to the people of Earth. His appearance at the Los Angeles Medical Center on a worldwide broadcast to announce a cure for cancer is used by the Resistance to unmask him and show the people of Earth that the Visitors have been deceiving them. John is later persuaded by Pamela to restrict Diana's command responsibilities. John is later killed by Diana when he refuses to carry out the Leader's order to destroy Earth when the Resistance routs the Visitors.

[edit] Pamela

Pamela, played by Sarah Douglas, is introduced in V: The Final Battle. She is the squadron commander and Diana's superior. She takes over command of the L.A. Mothership. Pamela's ship arrives at Earth a year into the occupation and begins a project to speed up acquisition of Earth's water. Pamela scorns Diana's claim of the leader's special favour, pointing out that Diana's "lover" sent Diana 56 trillion miles away. Diana kills Pamela as she is not happy when she is ordered to work strictly in the scientific field. Diana wanted power and persisted on being a military leader.

[edit] Charles

Charles, played by Duncan Regehr, is introduced in V: The Series. Sent by The Leader to take over military operations from Diana and become the new Supreme Commander, Charles sets in motion the chain of events that lead to the death of Nathan Bates. Romantically attached to Lydia, he drops her in favor of Diana, whom he decides to marry in order to force her to return to the Homeworld. When he decides that he would rather keep Diana around, Lydia attempts to poison her, but ends up killing Charles instead.

[edit] Commanders

[edit] Diana

Diana, played by Jane Badler, is introduced in V. Second-in-command on the scene of the fleet of 50 Visitor ships, she is commander of the mother ship over Los Angeles (although for the first few days after arrival, she is aboard the New York mother ship). A year later, Pamela, her squadron commander, arrives, reminding Diana of her inferior rank; Pamela decides to discredit Diana and remove her from any operational duties.

Diana is a pioneer in the conversion of humans to aid the Visitors, has inoculated the Visitors against all known Earth diseases, and has developed a foolproof truth drug. She is determined, and Steven and Pamela see her as "on edge" when feeling threatened. Her ruthlessness and vengefulness is shown when she shows no respect for John's pragmatism on the verge of their defeat. She reacts badly when faced with losing power to the likes of Lydia and Philip.

She was briefly married to Charles before a botched assassination attempt against her lead to his untimely demise. She is obsessed with capturing Elizabeth, or creating a new hybrid through cloning or other methods. She (justifiably) distrusts Lydia and tried several times to either kill her or one of her close family members. When last seen, Diana has been placed under arrest by Philip, who does not know that Diana secretly planted a bomb on board the Leader's shuttle.

In the 2008 sequel to the orignal miniseries, V: The Second Generation, Diana has finally risen to the post of Supreme Commander, now known as Commandant Diana.

[edit] Lydia

Lydia, played by June Chadwick, is introduced in V: The Series. Blonde, British-accented commander of the fleet (when Diana isn't in charge). She is just as power-hungry as Diana, but less sadistic, Lydia is more likely to inform The Leader and overseers such as Philip and Charles of Diana's exploits.

She survives an assassination attempt by Diana. She later falls in love with Charles and experiences extreme jealousy when he decides to marry Diana, which leads Lydia to fill Diana's wedding cup full of poison. To her dismay, Charles drinks the poison instead and Lydia only narrowly escapes being convicted of killing him. Lydia is forced to beg for Philip's help when Diana tries to set her brother Nigel up for a sacrificial killing.

[edit] Officers

[edit] Brian

Brian, played by Peter Nelson, is introduced in V. A young Visitor officer who becomes a leader of the Friends of the Visitors youth corps. As Daniel Bernstein continues to prove his devotion and loyalty, he becomes Brian's second-in-command. Brian befriends Robin Maxwell, and when she becomes a prisoner on the mother ship, Diana enlists him in an experiment in inter-species reproduction. Daniel is set up to be seen by the Visitors as Brian's betrayer when Brian is captured and used as a test subject for the red dust. As he tries to manipulate Robin into setting him free by trying to appeal to her "love" for him, a vengeful Robin uses the Red Dust on Brian right after showing Brian their child, Elizabeth.

[edit] Jake

Jake, played by Stack Pierce, is introduced in V. The prosthetics used to make Visitors resemble humans, in Jake's case, cause him to resemble an African American man, thus implying to humans that the Visitors seem to have the same racial types as humans or it might be personal preference on the part of Jake. His unit captures both Robin and Robert Maxwell when they emerge from the downtown Resistance hideaway after curfew. He extracts the location of the mountain camp from Robert, but betrays Robert by leading an attack on the camp with Diana riding along. He is still serving in Diana’s command a year later.

[edit] James

James (Lt.), played by Judson Scott, is introduced in V: The Series. He is an opportunistic soldier and one of Diana's lovers. He is assigned to capture and destroy Resistance fighters no matter what the cost. He is loyal to Diana (though in fear of his life). He arranges an unsuccessful assassination attempt on The Leader and is last seen in custody alongside Diana.

[edit] Steven

Steven, played by Andrew Prine, is introduced in V. He is the security chief on board Diana's ship in Los Angeles. He establishes a relationship with Eleanor Dupres that he puts to use by bringing her into the fold as a collaborator and obtains information he feels is useful to his job. He engages in a power struggle with Diana. They differ in how they wish to handle the unexpected resilience of the Resistance. Steven apparently kills Eleanor when she attempts to flee the Visitor embassy and he is killed by Ham Tyler when he is prostrate by dumping a mass of red dust on his face and leaving him to die.

[edit] Cadets

[edit] Angela

Angela, played by Leslie Bevis, is introduced in V: The Series. A Visitor cadet, she killed another cadet during combat training and was dismissed by Philip for her sadism, thus preventing her from becoming an officer. Diana plays on Angela's resentment, assigning her as Philip's bodyguard on an assignment to capture Mike Donovan as part of her plan to have Philip killed. Angela is stopped from killing Philip when she is shot dead by Glenda.

[edit] Daniel

Daniel (Ensign), played by Robert Thaler, is introduced in V: The Series. He is a young officer who becomes Diana's lover. After the failure of one of her exploits, Diana kills him "because someone has to take the blame."

Due to the episodes being aired out of order, the episode in which Daniel dies aired before the episode in which he was introduced.

[edit] John Langley

John Langley, played by Bruce Davison, is introduced in V: The Series. He is the undercover agent assigned to infiltrate the Resistance and impregnate Robin Maxwell in hopes of creating a second Star Child, but he is killed by a Fifth Columnist before he can finish his mission.

[edit] Marta

Marta, played by Gela Jacobson, is introduced in V: The Series. She is mother ship's pharmacist. She provides Lydia with the cat poison used to kill Charles, and is later framed by both Diana and Lydia. Marta is sentenced to be shot into space alongside Charles' corpse; Diana orders Oswald to ensure she is alive and conscious, rather than being dead; Philip does not appear to care even though Marta is clearly awake before the crypt leaves the ceremony location.

[edit] Nigel

Nigel, played by Ken Olandt, is introduced in V: The Series. The brother of Lydia, he is brought to the Los Angeles Mothership as part of a scheme by Diana, who intends to have him sacrificed at a Visitor ceremony.

[edit] Oswald

Oswald, played by Peter Elbling, is introduced in V: The Series. He is an underling of Diana's who is a mortician and an interior decorator; Diana would also have him "procure" sexual partners for Diana's pleasure.

[edit] Visitors aboard other motherships

[edit] Mary Kruger

Mary, played by Sybil Danning, is introduced in V: The Series. A Dallas-based Visitor, Mary attends a convention in Los Angeles to display the Encapsulator, a device of her own invention that will revolutionise the way in which humans are harvested for food. The resistance succeeds in blowing up the house in which the convention is being held, destroying the Encapsulator. Mary is killed in the explosion.