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V
"The Wildcats"
Written by David Braff
Directed by John Florea
Original Airdate: February 15, 1985 |
The Resistance battles a
diphtheria epidemic; Diana and
Lydia
learn that as the only suspects in the murder of Charles, they
must accompany his body forever in a burial in space.
Read the summary of this episode at V: The Series Interactive
Website
Didja Notice?
At the very beginning of the episode, Willie and Elizabeth are
in a van being chased by a Visitor squad in a Jeep. The Jeep
appears to be following very closely behind the van and yet
their shots from the mounted laser cannon still miss!

The van is possibly a 1975-1978 model
Ford Econoline.
The opening chase scenes show the van with no front license
plate, but later in the episode, it has CA plate C73568Z.
At 2:39 on the DVD, Kyle is supposed to be firing his MAC-10
machine pistol at the Visitor Jeep that is pursuing Willie and
Elizabeth's van...but notice that his gun is angled down towards
the ground!
Kyle tells Julie that the latest casualty was picked up at
Angel's Crest. I'm unaware of a place with that name in
California.
Julie is leading a fight against a diphtheria epidemic in a
valley north of L.A. Diphtheria is a respiratory illness that is
highly contagious and can lead to death.
Julie asks for ampicillin for the patient. Ampicillin is a type
of penicillin that is effective against Gram-negative bacteria,
whereas traditional penicillin is effective only against
Gram-positive bacteria.
Near the beginning of the episode, Kyle mentions that Donovan is
on a refinery raid. Presumably this is a Visitor refinery...but
a refinery of what? Gasoline?
Widow's Canyon is mentioned as the home of the Wildcats gang.
I'm unaware of a place with that name in California.
At 6:00 on the DVD, Andy's car is an (aproximately) 1978 Pontiac
Trans Am.
At 7:52 on the DVD, there is Visitor writing on the monitor but
it is too far away to make out the characters.
At 7:58 on the DVD, there is some Visitor artwork on a wall
within a room of the mothership. Is the image meant to be of buildings
on the Visitor homeworld?

Philip's equipment has detected fingerprints on the bottle of
cat poison that was used to kill Charles and it eventually
incriminates Marta, the ship's pharmacist. But she and Lydia
(the purchaser of the poison) were both wearing the dermoplast skin
of their human disguises when they handled the bottle. Do the
dermoplast hand coverings have unique fingerprints of their own
on them? If so, the unique fingerprint design must be assigned
to a specific Visitor individual in order to identify them.
When the monitor screen of the fingerprint identifier brings up
the image of the possessor of the fingerprints, it shows a
reptilian face, which none of the assembled recognize. Philip
then asks if it can be brought more clearly into focus. But
instead of focus, the machine overlays the individual's human
likeness over the reptilian face.
At 9:30 on the DVD, the Visitor van is a Ford Econoline with CA
license plate 2E95794.
At 10:14 on the DVD, Ellen explains how she and her brother's
parents were rounded up by the Visitors one day and mentions the
same happened to Bart and Andy, adding, "They even got Andy's
little brother." This is a foreshadowing of the revelation to
come regarding Andy.
The Wildcats wield mostly Kalashnikov automatic rifles, but Andy
wields an M16 and Bart a MAC-10.
Julie is packing her usual
Heckler & Koch
P9S.
At about 12:12 on the DVD, when the Wildcats throw their two
grenades at the exit of the Visitor warehouse as Visitor
soldiers try to come out, the explosions do not occur where the
grenades landed!
At 12:19 on the DVD, there are several sheets of paper with
Visitor writing on them
but they are too far away to make out the characters.
James tells Philip that Julie Parrish has been spotted in the
Lassen Valley. This is possibly a reference to an area of Lassen
County in northern California.
At 16:04 on the DVD, there
is Visitor writing under Julie's
picture on the monitor. |
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Man, the Visitors are really pathetic in this episode! They have
traps set for the resistance twice and they still manage to lose
them!
At 24:30 on the DVD, Willie speaks Visitorese to distract the
lizard soldier who has grabbed Ellen. He seems to say, "Hilgah!
Relsap! Hyah!" The soldier possibly answers him in Visitorese as
well; it's hard to make out what he says. The strange thing is
the guard doesn't seem to know where the voice is coming from
even though Willie is only hiding behind the tree right next
him...I guess Willie knows how to throw his voice! Anyway,
listen:
Visitorese
Notice also that a big branch just happens to be leaning up
against the tree for Willie to use to brain the soldier; he
didn't carry it over there with him. What would he have done if
that branch weren't there?
At 26:31 on the DVD, Tony's dune buggy is seen to have a
Wesco
sticker near the left front tire.
An NGK
spark plug guide is seen on the door of the Wildcats clubhouse
at 27:22 on the DVD.
At 36:15-36:30 on the DVD, Elizabeth appears to be floating in a
standing position as she leads the others through the woods to
the missing Ellen. Her feet aren't seen from the camera's
position in the woods, but she seems to be moving too smoothly
to be walking, in contrast to those following her. I guess her
powers that are leading her to Ellen are floating her there.
During the final shootout with the Visitors, Ellen is armed with
an Ithaca
37 shotgun.
At 42:16 on the DVD, the edge of the microphone is briefly
visible at the top of the screen.
When Andy rams the Visitors' truck with his car, creating a
tremendous explosion, it's obvious the two vehicles haven't even
struck each other yet! Not only that but, apparently, the
explosion took out not just the truck but also the Visitor Jeep
and van following it. Unlikely, to say the least.
Donovan appears to set his plane on autopilot and, before bailing
out, says, "Give 'em a good chase, baby!" But then the plane
appears to nosedive and crash mere moments later!
Many of the Visitors present at
Charles' funeral are wearing
sashes that are almost Klingon
looking! |
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The muscled Visitor banging the gong at Charles' funeral has
strange tattoos on his chest, back, and arms. One of the tattoos on
his chest appears to be a snake, keeping with the Visitors'
reptile theme.
At 45:08 on the DVD, preparing to send Charles and Marta into
the void, Philip speaks Visitorese in an authoritative
voice...and the assemblage of Visitors mumbles half-heartedly in
response! It's rather amusing. Listen:
Philip and riveted audience