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: Reflections in Terror V
"Reflections in Terror"
TV episode
Written by Chris Manheim
Directed by Kevin Hooks
Original air date December 21, 1984

Diana creates a clone of the Starchild; the Resistance smuggles children from occupied territory into the open city; Bates prepares to wipe out the Resistance members at the Club Creole and sets a trap for Julie.

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

Didja Know?

This episode takes place near the Christmas holiday.

Didja Notice?

On the Freedom Network report we learn that on the Philippine island of Mindanao, resistance guerillas have surprised and annihilated a Visitor regiment moving to occupy the island; in Brazil several resistance leaders of the Mato Grosso battalion were executed by the Visitors; U.S. resistance guerillas were successful in overrunning and destroying several Visitor outposts along the Santa Fe Trail in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico. The Freedom Network medal of honor goes to Biloxi, MS housewife Marilyn McGeorge who spotted the Visitor patrol boat, Vargan, off the Gulf Coast and rammed it with her husband's fishing boat, sinking both vessels (she was found clinging to debris in the water and rescued).

The "Mato Grosso" mentioned in the Freedom Network report is a state in Brazil. And the Santa Fe Trail is a National Historic Trail in Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico.

There is Visitor writing on the image device held by the old woman at 3:00 on the DVD.
Visitor PDA

How did the old woman know that Elizabeth would stop by her sidewalk Christmas donation pot? Luckily for the old woman, Elizabeth did, so the blood sample from the girl's pricked finger could be collected. Though Diana's conspirator does say later, "I knew one of them would find her," so I suppose we could argue that he and Diana had a number of conspirators searching for the Star Child and it would just be a matter of time until one found her or, she, them.

The chemical compound dioxin used to preserve and thin Elizabeth's blood is a real compound, C4H4O2.

At 4:20 on the DVD, we see a Jeep-mounted laser gun that harkens back to the style seen in "Visitors' Choice" and not the smaller mounted gun seen in "The Overlord". Also, why are the Visitors in the Jeep wearing motorcycle helmets?

Donovan and Tyler smuggle the orphan children into the open city in a Ford Econoline van.

At 5:15 on the DVD, an L.A. city limits sign with Visitor writing is seen.
L.A. sign

From the dialog during Chris Faber's reintroduction, apparently after spending some time with our regular resistance group in the novels Prisoners and Pawns and Death Tide and V comic books 1-6, he spent some time with a resistance group in the desert until they were obliterated.

The church which acts as a sanctuary for the orphans is St. Anne's Catholic Church, led by Father Joseph Turney.

Kyle apparently buys a new house in this episode. But then, what was the house seen in "The Dissident"? Was it just a friend's house he and his two Maxwell women were staying in?

Willie has slightly learned how to play "Deck the Halls" on the piano at Club Creole...but not how to sing or even the correct lyrics! Listen: "Deck the Halls"

And a Visitor soldier has apparently also learned to play the piano, as he plays what Willie refers to as the Visitors' national anthem.

The scene beginning at 13:01 on the DVD, in which Julie leads the Club Creole patrons in singing "America the Beautiful" to drown out the Visitor music, is an homage to a similar scene in the classic film Casablanca, in which Nazi Major Strasser leads his men in a rendition of the patriotic German song "Die Wacht am Rhein," but resistance leader Laszlo begins to sing "La Marseillaise", the national anthem of France. Here are the first 43 seconds of the Visitor anthem: Visitor anthem

At 13:56 on the DVD, Chris jabs Tyler in the ribs with his elbow to get him to sing "America the Beautiful" along with the rest of them.

There is a Visitor sign in the embassy at 16:34 on the DVD.
V writing V writing

At 17:09 on the DVD, a Visitor guard screams and we see he apparently has a human tongue and human teeth...with fillings no less!
Visitor with human tongue and fillings

Diana's manipulation of the Star Child clone's DNA has made it grow even faster than Elizabeth herself did, physically maturing to the point of a teenager's body in less than a day.

At 24:09 on the DVD, the name badge of the police officer who tells Robin and Elizabeth that the park is off limits after 4 p.m. can be seen to read Mayburn. The car Robin and Elizabeth drive away in appears to be a Fiat X1/9.

At 24:27 on the DVD, the young actress Jenny Beck, who played young Elizabeth in V: The Final Battle and "Liberation Day", returns for a cameo as the Star Child's clone. But where did the clone get the clothes she's wearing?

When Elizabeth was going through her metamorphosis in "Dreadnought", there was a green glow emanating from the cave she was in. Here, as the clone goes through the metamorphosis, a red glow is emanating, perhaps indicating her darker nature. Notice also, that the cocoon footage appears to have been borrowed from Elizabeth's metamorphosis in "Dreadnought" (note the rocks and cave wall in the background instead of the concrete drainage tunnel that the clone cocoon is actually in).

The flip-down lens on Laird's sunglasses seem to give him "Predator vision"!
Visitor Predator vision

It's a little hard to identify in the moving image, but at 27:14 on the DVD, we can see that the clone's feet are cut up from running around in the scrub barefoot.
Clone's feet

At 27:52 on the DVD, Julie is watching The Valley of Gwangi on TV. This same movie is seen playing in "Visitors, Victims and Victory" in the director's booth as the news crew prepares to break into the broadcast for Donovan's video of a Visitor unmasked.

At 28:21 on the DVD, a special news bulletin breaks into the airing of The Valley of Gwangi and is presented by Tawny Schneider who was a real L.A. anchorwoman around the time of V. At the time, she was married to actor John Schneider.

At 32:31 on the DVD, Kyle is driving a GMC pickup truck

Chris reveals in this episode that Tyler had married and had a daughter with a local woman in Vietnam. But they were never seen again after the fall of Saigon (in 1975), despite Tyler's repeated attempts to slip into the communist country and search for them. From Chris' comments, they are presumed dead.

At 34:02 on the DVD, a store called Angela's is seen across the street from Club Creole.

At 33:36 on the DVD, Donovan and Chris realize something's up when they see a telephone repairman, water and power men, and window washers all working the street at the same time across from Club Creole. But the street view that is shown doesn't reveal any of those, it's just a normal street view!

At 34:50 on the DVD, it appears that Chaing says something to Bates, but it has been dubbed out.

Julie makes her escape unaided from Science Frontiers after blowing her cover, but it seems unlikely that she would be able to do so when Chaing and Bates had already set her up to take a fall.

Weapons used during the assault on Club Creole include: Heckler & Koch HK94, Tyler's MAC-10, Uzi, Kalashnikov rifles, M16s,

Sitting in his car outside the Club Creole when it blows up, Chaing seems pleased that his attack has worked so well and ended the resistance in the city. But all he did was send in some gunmen to shoot the place up and, presumably, kill the people inside. The bombs were set by Chris to catch the attackers unaware and kill them. Instead of instantly celebrating, Chaing should be wondering what caused the explosion and was it a trap set by the resistance to cover their escape.

At 40:19 on the DVD, two government vehicles are seen in front of the blown-out remains of Club Creole. They appear to be a Plymouth Fury (approx. 1978) and an AMC Gremlin.

At 41:42 on the DVD, there is a quick glimpse of the stand-in for the clone when Elizabeth whirls around to confront Laird. You can tell the clone's face (to the right) is not Jennifer Cooke's (who plays Elizabeth).
Elizabeth's clone 

Kyle has a similar picture of fish in his new house as Donovan had in his! Donovan probably had to abandon his house after the events of "The Deception"...maybe he gave his fish pictures to Kyle!
Kyle's fish picture Donovan's fish picture
Kyle's fish Donovan's fish

At 44:30 on the DVD, Willie is carrying a box of Holly brand Christmas ornaments. This was a real ornament manufacturer at the time.

Now that the Club Creole itself has been destroyed, Kyle comments that the only way to reach the speakeasy is through the alley or the sewers. His comment about sewer access may be what is meant by "a maze of passageways under the streets" leading to the location in the novel Prisoners and Pawns.

Memorable Dialog

our Christmas dinner.wav
humans take holidays so seriously.wav
what a surprise.wav
look so grumpy.wav
sounds like a sandwich.wav
faith in his fellow man.wav
he only injured my prize.wav
if you have to ask.wav
perhaps you miss my point.wav
Merry Christmas.wav

Back to Episode Studies