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When I was a kid, there was no TV series I'd loved more than V. From the original 1983 miniseries, to the sequel (the arguably better) V: The Final Battle in 1984, to the series which ran for a single season after Final Battle in 1984, I was a complete V-maniac.

I remember being in school and arguing with Ami Thorpe about who was uglier, and we'd hit below the belt when we called each other V's. In a way, I almost WANTED to be one of those lizards-on-the-DL. Diana the head lizard, Mike Donovan, Ham Tyler...those were my peeps.

When it was cancelled after the second season, I my childhood naivete came crumbling around me. "You mean, they just took it OFF?" I remember asking my father. I learned about cancellation of TV shows. I cried. Oh, the trauma!

DIANA: Who have they got that's badder than this?I know. I needed friends. But that ship has sailed....

So you'd think I'd be happy that ABC is bringing a - what? - a NEW V?

Hmmm....

I'm resisting the urge to sound curmodgeonly increasingly more often these days. (It ain't sexy.) And what could possibly sound more curmodgeonly than complaining about remakes of things because they were moments in time that "should be left alone." My recent beefs: the Dreamgirls film, the remake of Fame, all the damned Disney cartoon theatrical productions on Broadway, not to mention the CEASELESS Broadway dust-offs of 50-year old shows in lieu of exciting new theatrical properties...I could go on and on.... But again, don't want to sound curmodgeonly.

In the name of not being curmudgeonly, being "open" and all that jazz, I will watch the "new" V and give it a fair shot. But I will say this ahead of time: it'd BETTER BE GOOD.

Yes, the special effects in the 80s were hokey and somewhat primitive, and that advances in CGI and digital effects make it possible to do an extraordinary update of V. That would be the case with any of the aforementioned remakes as well. But for whatever reason, it appears that the greenlight guys and creative teams appear to rest on a misguided notion that the technology will carry it, without imagination and stories. That's when we get into trouble. It's also a bad idea to be so (perhaps arrogantly) enamored with the "newness" of their production that they fail to draw upon legacy characters from preceding productions which would only add dimension to the "continuation" of the story which they are building upon.  (In this case, the "new" V, Diana should be a Leader Emeritus a'la' Joan Collins.)

If you're going to mine history because (perhaps) there is a dearth of new ideas in today's dumbed-down talent pool, it would be unwise to insult the original audience (whose memory of the original remains intact) with the attitude that the story in which they became invested is as good as never having happened, and that now they should become invested in your version because...well...it's new. Hopefully one day one of these remake producers will absorb that simple lesson.

But don't let me be the judge. (at least not solely.)

Take a look at the "new," and then the old. Improvement? Bastardization of the past? Guess I'll find out Tuesday at 8.

THE NEW ABC V TRAILER

THE ORIGINAL RECAP FOR NBC's V: THE FINAL BATTLE