TV: "V" on ABC

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Does anyone have any ideas on why this TV show had to include Catholicism? They showed a space ship hovering below that one Jesus statue in Brazil, and they had a man, who constantly went to church, healed by the aliens.

Did anyone see this? Is it anti-religion???
 
I don’t know, but I enjoyed the original 80s mini series. It’s a pity that we are deluged with remake after remake after remake. No creativity.
 
I don’t know but I thought it was laughable how the man comes to die in Church and the priest doesn’t even give him last rites! The priest just walks out and let the man die in Church.

I think the old priest will turn out to be a Visitor.

I do like the original one better–the original one seemed to build suspense and horror a lot better. They did have a priest in the old series. He was the chaplain to the Resistance but then he left the Resistance and tried to bring Catholicism to the Visitors. Dianna killed him.

I did like how they showed the “negative” side of trying to spin everything positive.
 
I don’t know, Fringe, Heroes, Lost and Flashforward are all good (in my opinion) science fiction t.v. shows, and none of them are remakes.
 
I don’t think its anti religous to have the ship hovering above the statue of Jesus. I don’t know about the whole preist leaving the man to die stuff though. I loved the original series though. Remakes of old shows rarely do well though. Battlestar galatica (sp) was my fav show as a kid. But i couldn’t get into the new one. too p.c. But i suppose the op has a point though. Why does it have to be above a Christian figure, why not the dome on the rock or some other religous symbol? Look at 2012. They destroy the vatican and the statue of jesus (the one in brazil) but all other religous “icons” are left untouched. I don’t think hollywood sees the irony. In 99% of their movies if a religion is to be bashed its christianity.And its normaly portrayed as a intolerant religon full of crazed nut jobs. Yet its the only religion that they can make fun of because its the only religion where they wont get violence and death threats from.
 
Does anyone have any ideas on why this TV show had to include Catholicism? They showed a space ship hovering below that one Jesus statue in Brazil, and they had a man, who constantly went to church, healed by the aliens.
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Did anyone see this? Is it anti-religion???
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Relax, there’s no need to write off the show just yet. That they’re willing to show Catholic priests as good guys already sets it apart from most shows on TV these days.

As for why they’re including Catholicism: as mentioned a couple of times in the pilot, there’s a big emphasis on devotion/worship, and how if used wrongly this can become dangerous. This is mainly aimed toward the reverence given the aliens; faith in God appears to be opposite to that. The show has already pointed out the deep spiritual void people feel when their worlds turn upside down… I’m sure crowds of people will turn to the aliens in a mistaken form of worship. Which is of course the bad way to go. As for the miracle of the man standing up- well that wasn’t really a miracle now, was it? While it is true that the younger priest was initially baffled by how aliens could fit in God’s plan, the older priest was there to counter his claims with a steady reliance on God’s will.

I don’t believe the show will end up dissing faith or religion in general (a la 2012), given how well the priests have been presented- so far anyway.

Will this show become anti-Catholic in future episodes? It’s possible… but based on the pilot I can’t say there is anything in particular to worry about so far.

Also, take note: We’ve got aliens promising “Hope” and “Change” and universal peace- even universal health care! Ahem… I don’t think it’s too much to assume that this show tilts to the right somewhat. And while being politically conservative should not necessarily be regarded as synonymous to being religious, or being kind to religion, I’d say that there’s a better chance that Catholicism will get a better representation than if this were a typical liberal show.
I don’t know but I thought it was laughable how the man comes to die in Church and the priest doesn’t even give him last rites! The priest just walks out and let the man die in Church.
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Oh lol, I completely forgot about last rites when it came to that scene. I think the writers just overlooked that, so the priest could leave to get medical help… which is how your typical messenger-death scenes usually go.
 
latin_rite said:
Battlestar galatica (sp) was my fav show as a kid. But i couldn’t get into the new one. too p.c. .
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Not to derail the thread, but the new Battlestar Galactica was about as far from PC as you can get.
 
Ducard said:
We’ve got aliens promising “Hope” and “Change” and universal peace- even universal health care!
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Not only that, but the Visitors wouldn’t allow Chad, the reporter, to ask any tough questions. It would have been great if he’d called Major Garrett in the following scene, saying “Wow, now I know how it feels!” 😃
 
I’m just really surprised this is coming out of Hollywood. The similarities between Obama’s campaign and administration and the visitors are astounding. Someone is having a good time…😃
 
magdelaine said:
I’m just really surprised this is coming out of Hollywood. The similarities between Obama’s campaign and administration and the visitors are astounding. Someone is having a good time…😃
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Well the original V mini series did the same to Reagan. While they used Shoah imagery instead of terrorist the openning scene was of a generic Latin American freedom fighter, read Sandanista or Salvadorian rebel standing up to fight. The closing battle at the rebels mountain camp was shown to look exactly like it.

With the Aliens using give aways to earn the peoples love and devotion of course we see the give away political party as being the parrallel.
 
I watched the V pilot. Although I hardly ever watch TV anymore, my curiosity was piqued by the reports that it mirrored the Obama phenomenon. There are remarkable similarities, and I was chalking it up to coincidence until the reporter doing the interview remarked, “Universal health care!” Hmmm. Perhaps ABC knows airing something actually relevant and thought provoking might help ratings, especially with the virtually untapped conservative audience.

I also thought it absolutely ridiculous that the priest ran away from a dying man without administering Last Rights. What kind of priest would do that? That’s just Hollywood being ignorant. I was also very disturbed by the scene of the large crucifix falling and shattering when the aliens arrived…a metaphor for the Catholic Church? We’ll see. The priest was briefly holding hands with the female protagonist later on, so I have to wonder where this is all going. I’ll keep watching for now.
 
I’m curious as to whether the reporter character, Chad Decker (Scott Wolf), is going to end up like the female reporter in the original series who served the Visitors until it was too late, or if he’ll end up joining the resistance.

He’s already showed that he has some spine and conscience… even though went along with them, he’s expressed criticism and reservations about their “rules” already.
 
A good sci-fi series will give misleading information in the first couple of episodes. The “anti-Obama” image may be one such example of misleading information. To take what the first episode says, and take that as indicating the political stance of the producers, or the show as a whole, is a bit naive.

For instance, “universal healthcare” in the first episode is now associated with the “evil” Anna. But remember, there are other “good” Visitors, who support human freedom, and who may also support “universal healthcare”.
 
Well, the similarities could be taken as a lighthearted jab at the current administration, not a statement on the issues themselves. One doesn’t have to be a critic of the President to be able to make fun of him!
 
turtle18 said:
I don’t know but I thought it was laughable how the man comes to die in Church and the priest doesn’t even give him last rites! The priest just walks out and let the man die in Church.
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Yeah, and this same priest tells the older priest he disagrees with the Vatican b/c Scripture says nothing about aliens. Like a Catholic priest is going to use scripture against the Vatican (or be sola scriptura at that).
 
magdelaine said:
I’m just really surprised this is coming out of Hollywood. The similarities between Obama’s campaign and administration and the visitors are astounding. Someone is having a good time…😃
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I know, I caught that too, I thought it was hilarious!
 
catholic1seeks said:
Does anyone have any ideas on why this TV show had to include Catholicism? They showed a space ship hovering below that one Jesus statue in Brazil, and they had a man, who constantly went to church, healed by the aliens.

Did anyone see this? Is it anti-religion???
Click to expand...
No I didn’t see it as anti-religion. This show is in many ways following in the foot steps of the original series. It speaks to the dangers of giving blind devotion to powers just because they’re giving you what you want. In the 80’s this was Reagan, and now its Obama. There is a definite level of devotion to both for really transitory gains.

Also the original series also touched on cold war, and nazi themes. It will interesting to see where this one goes.

You are right though the writers don’t really know Catholic practice or teaching though. The Vatican has already said the belief in aliens is OK, and as you say no priest would leave before giving the last rights. But over all I think that the priest was displayed in a positive light, and in a way I think he is an important symbol for the show. He represents a man who has both faith and hope, but he has both of these without blind devotion. As he said in his homily, some things have to earned.

Really my only complaint with the show, is that their giving it all away to early. I assume though they’re hoping to build an ongoing series, and they’re just hoping to hook everyone up front. Also there is not enough Jane Badler lol.
 
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