# "V" — s1e2 — 11/10/09 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039 "2009-11-10T14:22:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/61 "2009-11-11T21:04:34Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Could that be a reference to the earlier series? I never really watched the V television show, so I don’t know if they’re trying to tie into that, but there was an earlier resistance about 20-odd years ago. 😉 The original miniseries had a Visitor 5th Column that was a remnant of the Visitors original democratic government (before The Leader established a fascist dictatorship). ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/62 "2009-11-11T22:13:46Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > That’s entirely consistent with BLG having been one of the advance troops in a V offensive _on another planet_, presumably with whatever skin type was in fashion there. But he specifically asked the guy leading the resistance if all the deaths from the last time he attempted it hadn’t been enough. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/63 "2009-11-11T22:14:49Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > The original miniseries had a Visitor 5th Column that was a remnant of the Visitors original democratic government (before The Leader established a fascist dictatorship). The Leader of the V ship or the Leader of the V planet? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/64 "2009-11-11T22:21:14Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The Leader of the V ship or the Leader of the V planet? [The Leader](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visitors_(V_TV_series)#The_Leader) of the entire Sirian race. The Supreme Commander of the Visitor Fleet assigned to Earth was named John. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/65 "2009-11-11T22:29:50Z")
> [@Todderbob](#): > > If you own multiple dogs, can you tell them apart? > > What about multiple cats? Right, there are animals that have so much diversity, it’s easy to tell, and I can conceede that us humans might have enough superficial diversity to tell us apart pretty easily for the aliens. However, When it comes to [lizards](http://www.wisenet-australia.org/issue72/images72/04_Jessica%20photo%203-67.JPG), [insects](http://pested.ifas.ufl.edu/newsletters/november2006/flies.jpg), [fish](http://www.duke.edu/web/nicholas/bio217/jrc25/fish-school.jpg), [birds](http://shutterbug4eu.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/pigeons.jpg), and yes, even some [mammals](http://joyceagojo.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/elephants_spreads021.jpg), among their same respective species, it can be very hard to tell individuals apart unless you come up with some recognition system. I imagine us humans might encounter a group of unskinned Vs and get ‘Sleestak Syndrome.’ ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/66 "2009-11-11T22:53:10Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > However, When it comes to [lizards](http://www.wisenet-australia.org/issue72/images72/04_Jessica%20photo%203-67.JPG), [insects](http://pested.ifas.ufl.edu/newsletters/november2006/flies.jpg), [fish](http://www.duke.edu/web/nicholas/bio217/jrc25/fish-school.jpg), [birds](http://shutterbug4eu.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/pigeons.jpg), and yes, even some [mammals](http://joyceagojo.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/elephants_spreads021.jpg), among their same respective species, it can be very hard to tell individuals apart unless you come up with some recognition system.’ If, however, you spend enough time around certain types of animals, you get an eye for telling them apart – even if their have only very, very minor physical difference. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/67 "2009-11-11T23:12:54Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > However, When it comes to [lizards](http://www.wisenet-australia.org/issue72/images72/04_Jessica%20photo%203-67.JPG), [insects](http://pested.ifas.ufl.edu/newsletters/november2006/flies.jpg), [fish](http://www.duke.edu/web/nicholas/bio217/jrc25/fish-school.jpg), [birds](http://shutterbug4eu.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/pigeons.jpg), and yes, even some [mammals](http://joyceagojo.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/elephants_spreads021.jpg), among their same respective species, it can be very hard to tell individuals apart unless you come up with some recognition system. Excellent use of images, to which I can only add [this](http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_04/penguinsDM2310_468x310.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/68 "2009-11-11T23:18:45Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > But he specifically asked the guy leading the resistance if all the deaths from the last time he attempted it hadn’t been enough. Hmm. Could Georgie be a traitor-lizard too? ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/69 "2009-11-11T23:43:08Z")
I think people are making too many assumptions about how things work with the Vs. As for telling us apart, maybe their visual systems are just more advanced, so that even the most minute differences in facial structure are glaringly obvious to them? Maybe they don’t rely on sight as much as on smell? Or detecting the electromagnetic field of a human body? Or something else entirely. And maybe their romantic attraction isn’t triggered so much by physical traits as by, I don’t know, pheromones humans just happen to produce as well? Perhaps it’s completely volitional – or they’ll just do anything available? Heck, there’s humans who get off on fucking trees, so it’s not really like _we’re_ all that discriminating. Or hey, maybe it’s true with them, and they really just go for a nice personality! Not to mention we don’t have the foggiest (and I hesitate to speculate) how the act itself is actually accomplished when you’re a reptile (or rather, a reptile-looking alien) wearing a man-suit – aliens on Star Trek generally had compatible plug-and-play equipment, I doubt that’s the case here, so maybe he’s just got some gadget built in, and perhaps it’s wired up to his cloaca so he gets something out of the deal, too. Might be useful to be ‘fully functional’ when undercover in the field, sometimes. Damn, now I _did_ speculate. Point being, there’s numerous possibilities to have it work just smoothly, though most of them are possibly not especially appetizing when considered in depth. And well, just ask yourself, if we were the technologically advanced species arriving on some backwater planet and encountering another sentient species – don’t you think we’d find a way to get busy with them? Heck, three weeks and there’s porn involving their farm animals somewhere on the galactic hypernet! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/70 "2009-11-12T02:04:37Z")
I think the poster who brought up Furries has an excellent point. Furries and Vs wear a big bulky suit. Except the V’s suit is far more advanced. If a Furry suit were sufficiently advanced and had working genitalia, there would be a non-zero number of humans who would go to a planet of sentient fur-covered creatures to get action. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/71 "2009-11-12T02:21:52Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Excellent use of images, to which I can only add [this](http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_04/penguinsDM2310_468x310.jpg). [Oh yeah?](http://www.owningpink.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/i-gotta-be-me.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/72 "2009-11-12T02:27:25Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Excellent use of images, to which I can only add [this](http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_04/penguinsDM2310_468x310.jpg). You want to know what we need around here? I’ll tell you what we need around here. We need some gawddam name tags around here! ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/73 "2009-11-12T07:30:10Z")
I have to say, I’ve been vastly underwhelmed by this series so far. Yeah, it’s only been two episodes (one of which was a terrible mess cut together from bits of two or three individual episodes) but it just feels incredibly bland somehow. Even the set design has too much off-white to it. Everything in the entire series seems just washed out and colorless, including the characters. Really the only thing holding my interest is my curiosity about how the show is going to do things differently from the original. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/74 "2009-11-12T15:17:16Z")
**open spoilers beyond this point —\>** ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/75 "2009-11-12T20:53:37Z")
Okay, I’m waiting… Where are they?!? (just kidding. being a smart @ss & subscribing, all at the same time) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/76 "2009-11-12T22:45:50Z")
Well, here’s some spoiler tidbits to tide you over, **Kath94** : Vs can apparently return from “death” like Cylons, but without the tub-o-goo. Tyler lied to his mother about quiting the Hitler Youth The Vs have Ryan (think that’s his name) and are torturing him, possibly with illusion/hallucination powers/tech. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/77 "2009-11-12T22:52:08Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Vs can apparently return from “death” like Cylons, but without the tub-o-goo. (a) Maybe not; we don’t know he was dead. She beaned him pretty good and went all Buffy-on-a-vampire on him, but we can’t know until we’re told that any of what she did to him was fatal to a V. (b) Not “like Cylons,” at any rate. This is the same [del]Wash[/del] Dale, not a copy with the same memory. You can see the scar on his head from where she tried to unzip his dude suit. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/78 "2009-11-13T02:38:58Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > (a) Maybe not; we don’t know he was dead. She beaned him pretty good and went all Buffy-on-a-vampire on him, but we can’t know until we’re told that any of what she did to him was fatal to a V. > > (b) Not “like Cylons,” at any rate. This is the same [del]Wash[/del] Dale, not a copy with the same memory. You can see the scar on his head from where she tried to unzip his dude suit. Exactly. Who’s to say where an alien space lizard’s heart is located? She might have given him the V equivalent of a TV shoulder wound. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/79 "2009-11-13T14:12:52Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Vs can apparently return from “death” like Cylons, but without the tub-o-goo. Erica seeing her partner again was a dream. > [@](#): > > The Vs have Ryan (think that’s his name) and are torturing him, possibly with illusion/hallucination powers/tech. Ryan is the black good-lizard guy. The one getting waterboarded (um, Diana called it “conversion” in the old series, IIRC) is some random they grabbed at the Maquis meeting. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039/80 "2009-11-13T14:16:20Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Erica seeing her partner again was a dream. Yes, she was. But we also saw him on the ‘operating’ table at the end of the episode. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-s1e2-11-10-09/517039.md?page=5)