For the Adherent of Pop Culture
Adventures of Jack Burton ] Back to the Future ] Battlestar Galactica ] Buckaroo Banzai ] Cliffhangers! ] Earth 2 ] The Expendables ] Firefly/Serenity ] The Fly ] Galaxy Quest ] Indiana Jones ] Jurassic Park ] Land of the Lost ] Lost in Space ] The Matrix ] The Mummy/The Scorpion King ] The Prisoner ] Sapphire & Steel ] Snake Plissken Chronicles ] Star Trek ] Terminator ] The Thing ] Total Recall ] Tron ] Twin Peaks ] UFO ] V the series ] Valley of the Dinosaurs ] Waterworld ] PopApostle Home ] Links ] Privacy ]


Episode Studies by Clayton Barr
enik1138 at popapostle dot com
V: The Rescue V
"The Rescue"
TV episode
Written by Garner Simmons
Directed by Kevin Hooks
Original airdate: February 1, 1985

With the death of Nathan Bates, the Visitors brutally take over Los Angeles; Charles announces his intention to marry Diana.

Read the summary of this episode at V: The Series Interactive Website

Notes from the V Chronology

On the Freedom Network report at the beginning of the episode, Howard K. Smith notes that Nathan Bates has died three weeks after being gunned down. This indicates that this episode takes place three weeks after the end of "The Conversion", in which Bates was shot.

Didja Notice?

    On the Freedom Network report, Howard K. Smith tells us that an unprecedented union of blacks and whites in Johannesburg, South Africa hit the Visitors' processing plant there with over 200 humans rescued; Stuart Kaminsky is awarded the Freedom Network Medal of Valor for operating an underground railroad between Atlanta, Georgia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, saving over 300 people from the Georgia work camps; Nathan Bates has died, three weeks after being gunned down.
   Johannesburg is a large city in the country of South Africa. During the time of V, apartheid, the legal segregation of blacks and whites, was still in force in that nation. Apartheid did not end there until 1990.
   The name of the Medal of Valor winner, Stuart Kaminsky, is also the name of a well-known mystery writer. However, there are no indications this was an intentional homage.
   It seems odd that the death of Nathan Bates and the fall of the open city of Los Angeles would be the last item brought up in the news report, especially considering the Freedom Network report seems to originate in the United States, it would be probably the major news story!

At 1:48 on the DVD, during the Freedom Network report, a cut can be seen indicating that part of the report has been cut out. And after reporting on this week's Medal of Valor recipient, Howard K. Smith says, "Here at home in the U.S..." The Medal of Valor story takes place in the U.S. so no need to suddenly say "here at home"! The report also ends abruptly, without the usual closing line by Howard K. Smith, "From the Freedom Network in New York, our hopes are with you. Good night." It seems that a few of the segments were cut from the Freedom Network broadcast this week. This is also the final Freedom Network broadcast we see in the series (with the exception of a few panels of the broadcast in issue 9 of the comic book, "The Poison in the Apple").

At the beginning of the episode, with the death of Nathan Bates in "The Betrayal", we see now shots of Los Angeles in flames as the Visitors mercilessly move in. A number of the shots are stolen from scenes of the Visitors' aborted initial invasion of the city in "Dreadnought" before Bates asserted control.

At 2:56 on the DVD, there is a scorched Visitor propaganda poster of the type seen throughout the original two mini-series with the slogan "The Future Together".
The Future Together

I never noticed before, but there is a high catwalk in the command center of the mothership, in front of the window bay, as evidenced by the Visitor crewman walking across at 4:04 on the DVD.
catwalk

At 4:09 on the DVD, the production microphone pokes down from the top of the screen.

At 5:30 on the DVD, Willie walks past Hewitt Real Estate and H. Alston Accounting Service. These appear to be fictitious businesses, though there is currently a business named Hewitt Real Estate in Pennsylvania.

At 5:46 on the DVD, Kyle confronts Alan armed with a MAC-10 and Willie pulls out an M1911A1 handgun. These two weapons types are normally wielded by Tyler and Donovan repectively. Maybe Kyle and Willie borrowed them from the pair!

At 6:10 on the DVD, Donovan picks up a stack of M-16 rifles stored in the old speakeasy headquarters.

At 6:44 on the DVD, a crate labeled "SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT" is seen against a wall in the speakeasy headquarters.

At 8:31 on the DVD, there is Visitor writing on the monitor screen on the console, but it is too blurry to make out.
V writing

Charles reveals that he is a member of the House of R'Man, in the direct line of descent, and, as such, he can take any woman he chooses as his wife, and, by law, she cannot refuse. He chooses Diana partly so he can keep her under his thumb and partly because she is undeniably attractive to virtually any male.

Lydia refers to the recently-installed stone bed in Charles' quarters as "the best bed in the fleet." I guess lizards do like sunning themselves on rocks!

When recalling specific past events, Elizabeth is able to speak in the voice of other people, even men.

As the resistance members flee the speakeasy headquarters of the former Club Creole, Donovan tells them to rendezvous at Griffith Park. Griffith Park is the largest park in Los Angeles and is to the city what Central Park is to New York. 

Twice, when Willie is helping Elizabeth to stimulate her photographic memory, he places the tips of his fingers at her temples. Is this a common gesture among the Visitors to help stimulate or focus another of their species? (At 19:24 on the DVD, from one angle, Willie has his fingers placed at her temples, but from the profile angle his thumbs are at her temples instead.)
focusing focusing

Alan says that his pregnant wife and son are hiding in a bombed-out store at 4th and Highland. In the real world though, the intersection of 4th and Highland in L.A. is a residential neighborhood with no businesses in the immediate vicinity. Later, Donovan says 4th and Highland is about 5 miles from where they are in Griffith Park; this is about right, the park is located NE of 4th and Highland, 4-5 miles away.

For some reason there is a fake cactus stuck in the corner of the room Alan's family is hiding in at 14:48 on the DVD.

Donovan says "Well" twice in a row as we see two different angles of him pulling a map out of his jacket pocket at about 20:24 on the DVD.

Donovan says he has marked a trail through the Cahuenga Pass to an abandoned movie studio he wants to use as the new resistance headquarters. The Cahuenga Pass is a pass through the Santa Monica Mountains connecting Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley. It runs through Hollywood, so there are a number of movie studios in the area Donovan could be referring to.

At 21:44 on the DVD, Lydia refers to the Leader as "he". Twenty years later in The Second Generation, the Leader is revealed as female, though it possibly could be argued that the Leader at the time of the Visitors' arrival on Earth was a male and a new one came into power during the intervening 20 years.

Prior to the wedding, Charles sends a couple of assistants to prep Diana for the big event. The man pictured below has been sent to shave Diana's body. Shave it of what? Since she is still wearing her dermoplast skin for the ceremony, what would need to be shaved off? Does she have synthetic hair in unmentionable places? And even if the shaving were referring to her own reptilian skin, again, what is to be shaved? Scales? Or do the Visitors have hair-like growths as well as scales? (Recall the image of Amon in "The Overlord" that appears as if it might have a beard.) Meanwhile, the woman pictured is there to fit Diana for her "wedding skin". Perhaps the fabric of the gown she is holding, and which we later see Diana wearing, is meant to be the scaled skin of some animal? Lydia even seems to suggest that while fingering the gown, saying, "You'll look lovely in scales." Later we see that Charles is wearing similar fabric/skin in his wedding outfit.
Diana's wedding skin

At the abandoned movie studio, two presumably fake business names are seen on the filming lot. One, a portable tropical bar has a name that cannot be made out. The other is Kev's Golden Palace Saloon.

Wow! A big, ugly head! This is one of the leftover props at the abandoned movie studio. It just struck my interest. Anyone recognize it from a particular movie or series? Email me.
big, ugly head

The resistance has apparently acquired a mascot, a lost dog named Ramsey they encounter at their new base.
Resistance mascot Ramsey

Willie displays a lot more than the usual number of Willieisms in this episode. Perhaps it's due to stress from the Visitor invasion of Los Angeles?

Diana's assistant, Louis, betrays her to Charles when she tries to flee before the nuptials. I would imagine that after Charles' death, he pays a high price! 

At 26:40 on the DVD, there is some spray-painted graffiti on 4th Street, "Long Live Hoven". I am unaware of any significance to the phrase, but it seems to stick out a bit in the scene. I am reminded of the "John May Lives" graffiti that has appeared in V 2000! Long Live Hoven!   John May Lives

As the bowl of ceremonial eels is being brought in to Diana for her bath, we get a shot of the bowl at 27:42 on the DVD in which we see a goldfish swimming around in there as well and one of the eels suddenly grabs and swallows it!
ceremonial eels

As she brings the ceremonial eels in to Diana, the female ritual assistant says, "Kon bi loki, Diana." Before she dumps the eels into the bath, she says, "Evok nor lor pat." Presumably this is in the Visitors' language, but we don't get a translation. In English she says, "May their venom give you strength and their bodies make you fertile." Do the eels actually bite her and deliver a venom that is actually beneficial to the Visitors? And what does she mean by their bodies making her fertile? Is Diana meant to later eat them to gain some kind of fertility boost? Another question that is not answered is whether these eels are from Earth, the Visitors' homeworld, or another world.

At 28:48 on the DVD, it can be seen that Jane Badler is wearing something over herself even though Diana is supposed to be nude in the bath.
Diana in the bath

In Charles' newly decorated quarters, an art object is seen hanging on the wall at 29:26 on the DVD. Why does it appear to have a human face on it instead of a Sirian one? Did he obtain it on Earth? art in Charles' quarters

At 31:20 on the DVD, there is some kind of wall-hanging of the planets of our solar system mounted in Marta's shop on the mothership. It has Visitor writing on it, but it is mostly too blurry to make out. There also may be some English printed on it in the bottom left and elsewhere, as if from a printed poster.
Planets of the solar system poster 

Speaking of Marta, she wears a bunch of gaudy rings on her fingers!
Marta's rings Marta's rings
   
At 36:04 on the DVD, there is a framed poster on the wall of the bombed-out store in which Alan's family is hiding. The name on it says Raul del Rio and the poster pictured appears to be this one, Macaw Jungle, I found on the artist's delrioproductions.com website. Raul del Rio poster

At 37:18 on the DVD, Kyle mentions Isaac Newton and the quote, "What goes up must come down." Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was a key player in the Scientific Revolution and is best known for his mathematical theorems on the nature of gravity. "What goes up must come down," is a quote attributed to Newton in regards to gravity.

The van with CA license plate 8M7Q86 that Kyle drives to pick up Donovan looks to be a 1975-78 series Ford Econoline.

Why do a couple of the Visitors in the wedding party have mohawks?!
Visitor mohawks

When the priest marries Charles and Diana, some Visitor words are spoken.
Priest: Are you ready?
Charles: Mahone.
Diana: Kruga.
Priest: Charles, do you promise to be the stone that crushes the Leader's enemies?
Charles: Gra'tal.
Priest: Diana, do you promise to bear Charles, in the ripeness of your years, a multitude of fearless warriors?
Diana: Gra'tal.
And later...
Priest: Then in the name of our glorious Leader, I declare you mated! Eekay laxton foia may!

This episode was written by Supervising Producer Garner Simmons. According to an interview with Simmons for the book Fascist Lizards from Outer Space: The Politics, Literary Influences and Cultural History of Kenneth Johnson's V (Dan Copp, 2017), he wrote the Visitor "I do" terms pogue and mahone from the Gaelic language and taken together (pogue mahone) they mean "kiss my ass" (in the episode pogue sound more like kruga and the two words are reversed from his script; possibly the meaning of the words and order was noticed by someone and changed during shooting?). Simmons did this because the network, NBC, had informed him they were replacing him as Supervising Producer for the last handful of episodes but wanted him to remain onboard until the new one (Donald R. Boyle) was in place and up to speed.

Near the end of the wedding ceremony, the priest presents the ceremonial mouse. Are there mice on the Visitors' homeworld? It appears to be a normal white Earth mouse used in the ceremony. Presumably they would have used a Sirian rodent if the ceremony were taking place on the homeworld. 

The bottle of cat poison that Lydia uses appears to have a "no cats" symbol on the label! cat poison

When the priest says, "You may kiss the bride," he uses a sibilant, reptilian hiss as he says "kiss". Listen: you may kiss the bride

Quite a smorgasbord has been laid out for the wedding guests: both live and dead birds, mice, goldfish, tarantulas, worms. The table is decorated with several small lizard statues...and even a white-painted statue (or toy) of Godzilla! Godzilla at the wedding Godzilla at the wedding

The idea of the wedding of Charles and Diana was probably at least partially inspired by the famous real life royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana of Britain which had taken place only a few years before the production of V.

As a gift, Lydia gives Charles and Diana cups engraved with their names for the drinking of the ceremonial wedding potion in their private chambers. The engraved names are presumably their actual Sirian names. Charles' cup Diana's cup
Charles' cup Diana's cup

Cat poison appears to have quite a negative effect on Visitor physiology! Not only is Charles killed by it, but it shrivels his skin almost to the bone and even seems to have disintegrated his human dermoplast skin! It does, however, leave his reptilian eyes alone.
Charles' body

Memorable Dialog

I am insolent.wav
resistors and collaborators.wav
I'll take care of him.wav
I take charge.wav
I'm going to marry Diana.wav
strange bedfellows.wav
married with lizard.wav
jump to contusions.wav
who grows there.wav
pornographic memory.wav
I'll put a box outside the door.wav
by far the most beautiful woman in the fleet.wav
cat poison.wav
essence of rodent musk.wav
you may kiss the bride.wav
it fits you to a tee.wav

Back to Episode Studies