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V
"War of Illusions"
Written by John Simmons
Directed by Earl Bellamy
Original air date: March 08, 1985 |
The Leader sends the Battlesphere
device to coordinate a massive blitzkrieg attack on the American
Southwest.
Read the summary of this episode at V: The Series Interactive
Website
Didja Notice?
At 4:12 on the DVD, a dumpster appears to have Tolliver
Construction Co. stenciled on the front. I've been unable to
confirm if this was an actual business at the time.
While lying in bed with James, Diana asks if she can peel him
another goldfish! No, it's not a sex term, there is a bowl of
goldfish sitting next to the bed.
Donovan mentions that Julie is in Fresno and thus not able to
help them operate the sophisticated computer at Science
Frontiers to stop the Visitors' Battlesphere.
Fresno is a city in
central California. Perhaps Julie is still making her way back
from northern California after the
diphtheria epidemic in
"The Wildcats" and her continued
presence up north, with Elizabeth, as mentioned in
"The Littlest Dragon".
Obviously, Elizabeth came on ahead of her, as she has a
prominent role in this episode.
At 7:01 on the DVD, the producers have reused the
same scene of Lt. James ordering a trooper to check out the van
from "The Rescue" here!
The van Visitor trooper checks out is a
Ford Econoline
van with CA license plate 8M7Q86, the van Kyle was driving in
that earlier episode!
The Visitors' Battlesphere allows the Leader to transmit his own
battle plan directly to the combat craft remotely and assume
all control. The Battlesphere seems to be just a common
Earth-style plasma ball plugged into a computer!
At a party on the mothership, Diana says that they are
celebrating the day of Sluta, the annual perigee of their
sun-star. The perigee is the closest approach of a celestial
object in relation to the orbit of another. Presumably the day
of Sluta is the perigee of their sun to their world (said to be
Sirius IV in The
Chicago Conversion) or, since Sirius is a binary star
system, the perigee of the two suns to each other. Is "Sluta"
the Visitors' name for their sun? Or their planet? Neither?
Apparently Lydia has picked up some human slang. In response to
one of Diana's pronouncements she says, "Well, la-dee-da."
At 9:41 on the DVD, there is some weird...thing...having a
conversation at Diana's party! It's someone or something tall
with some kind of contraption of pipes and lights on its head!
Is it an alien not seen on the series before?
At 9:45 on the DVD, a drunk Lydia appears to be putting the
moves on Philip! He takes the first excuse he can to break away from
her.
As the Leader's battle plans are being transmitted to the
Battlesphere, the noises it makes are the same kind of sounds
made by Pascal's counterfeiting device in
"Unity" and stolen from the Enterprise bridge
sounds of the original
Star Trek! Within the context of
V, perhaps the similarity
of the sounds means Pascal's counterfeiting device contained
Visitor technology? Maybe that's partly how he gained his
reputation as such a good forger!
At 10:48 on the DVD, Visitor
writing appears on the computer
screen
as a technician monitors the
hacker interference while the
Leader's battle plans are being
transmitted to the Battlesphere. |
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A sign for Buzzelli Construction is seen on the bulletion board
at Atkins Market. This appears to be a fictititous business.
At 12:29 on the DVD, the Atkins' break into the mothership's
master computer with their portable patch-in unit. Are the
characters appearing on the small display supposed to be the
PC's attempt to interpret Visitor characters?
At 13:02 on the DVD, we see what appears to be a nearly empty
magazine rack in Atkins Deluxe Market. I guess it makes sense
that with the Visitor occupation of large parts of the world,
there would not be a lot of publications being produced.
Atkins Deluxe Market is, of course, a fictitious business.
There appear to be sale ads for
Kellogg's Rice Krispies and Corn
Flakes on the walls of Atkins
Deluxe Market, but the Kellogg's
brand name is somewhat distorted
out, probably for legal reasons
since these are both real
products made by the
Kellogg Company. |
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At 13:29 on the DVD, two
"advertising signs" on the wall
of the market in the background
appear to be nothing more than
flattened boxes for some kind of
frozen food product!
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At 15:15 on the DVD, there is a
sign quickly seen in the
background that says "USA Work
Program". These signs were
originally associated with the
Works Progress Administration,
created by the U.S. government
during the Great Depression and
which ran from 1935-1943. It's
appearance here may be
an indication that the Visitors
have allowed some limited form
of human government to exist in
the occupied states. |
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At 17:10 on the DVD, there
is Visitor writing on a monitor
in the Command Center, but it is
too blurry to really make out. |
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I haven't noticed previously if she consistently does so, but
here Lydia pronounces "lieutenant" as the British often do, as "lef-tenant".
This is common in the U.K. and its current or former
Commonwealth. Since actress June Chadwick is British, it is
likely to be her normal pronunciation. Also,
Death Tide reveals that Lydia
was originally assigned to work in Great Britain (hence her
British accent) but was reassigned to southern California.
At 18:15 on the DVD, Oswald introduces three hunks for Diana's
consideration, calling them Eenie, Meenie, and Miny, "...but I'm
afraid there's no Moe." It seems a bit odd that he would be
using an Earth childrens counting rhyme, but the series was
heading further and further into camp as it neared its end.
Diana has a jar full of living cockroaches which she apparently
considers sweets.
Diana says that Dr. Atkins was a cybernetics professor at
Caltech.
This is the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA
known for its strong sciences and engineering curriculum.
Diana straps Dr. Atkins into a contraption that is similar to
the conversion apparatus used on Jacob in
"The Dissident", but
here there is a conductor strap placed around Atkins' head. In
viewing the scene, this apparatus seems to be less a conversion
device and more of a mind-reading one.
From 20:46-22:27 on the DVD, we
several instances of Visitor
writing on the monitor screen as
Dr. Atkins attempts to prove to
Diana that he is the hacker for
whom they're searching. |
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At 23:57 on the DVD, there are
some strange markings on a crate
sitting next to Donovan. When
Donovan pulls the planks off of
the boarded up storefront, he
bumps the crate so that the top
is visible for a second and more
markings appear there. They
don't appear to be Visitor
characters though. Perhaps an
Oriental language? |
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At 24:56 on the DVD, an ad for what appears to be Hefty Stemware
is on the wall of Atkins Deluxe Market. I'm not aware of the
Hefty
brand having made stemware though!
The gun that young Henry Atkins
points at Donovan appears to be
nothing more than a toy laser
gun (or maybe a bar-code
scanning gun, since the scene
does take place in the Atkins Deluxe Market?)! This is further
evidenced by the fact that
Donovan picks it up and looks at
it for a few seconds before
chucking into the debris of the
vandalized store. |
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Kyle is carrying his usual MAC-10 machine pistol.
When the Visitor troops pull up again to the Atkins Market at
26:62 on the DVD, suddenly it's not all boarded up anymore and
the crates are missing! The scene was obviously shot at the same
time as the earlier scene
from "The Rescue"
mentioned above.
At 27:40 on the DVD, Henry and Willie are playing an arcade
video game called Canyon Commando. This appears to be a
ficitious game.
Donovan thinks he's discovered where Dr. Atkins is being held,
at an abandoned maintenance shed near Hansen Air Field. He may
be referring to Hansen Airport, a small private airport in the
desert community of Adelanto, northeast of L.A.
At 31:32 on the DVD, the car used by Donovan and Kyle appears to
be a 1982 Ford LTD.
During the standoff with the James and his troopers at Science
Frontiers, Donovan is armed with his M1911A1 pistol.
As Henry taps into the
Visitor master computer at 39:15
on the DVD, there is Visitor
writing on the monitor. The
monitor brand is
NEC. |
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Immediately after Diana and Lydia make a veiled insinuation of
Philip being part of the fifth column, Philip says, "I've
ordered a full inquiry into this blatant disregard for military
procedure." But how could he have ordered it already when he
just learned of their suspicions seconds ago? It would have made more
sense for him say he's ordering a full inquiry.
There is a strange piece of
sculpture behind Henry's head at
the Science Frontiers annex at
41:09 on the DVD. From the
horns, it looks like it might be
intended as the head of a
gazelle. Notice how the horns
also form a shape very similar
to the narrow version of the
painted V logo, especially the
horns' shadows cast on the wall. |
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Henry seems to obey Elizabeth more than Kyle or Donovan. He must
either have a crush on her or, seemingly being without a mom,
has mother issues!
While helping Dr. Atkins escape from the mothership, Philip for
the first time describes himself as a member of the fifth
column.
Visitor writing appears on Henry's portable computer display at
42:44 on the DVD.
And some more on the monitor
itself. |
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At 43:47 on the DVD, Henry is
able to redirect the skyfighter
attack simply by talking to the
Battlesphere. The chevron of
lights is intended to represent
the attacking squadron of
skyfighters. |
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The scenes of a skyfighter crashing above the mouth of a tunnel
and a smoking skyfighter crashing in the hills are stolen from
"Plan for Resistance".
At 46:10 on the DVD, it appears that a red laser beam from below
blows up a skyfighter. Where did the laser come from? The
skyfighters' laser bolts are always blue, so it doesn't seem to
be from one of Henry's redirected fighters.
The final scene of the episode, with Diana fuming over the
escape of Donovan and Tyler and Lydia saying "Better luck next
time," is stolen from "Breakout"! Lydia is even wearing the
early version of her uniform with the
'80s-looking puffy shoulder decorations.