V "The Littlest Dragon" Written by David Abramowitz Directed by Cliff Bole February 22, 1985

The Resistance helps a pregnant Fifth Columnist; Phillip confronts Donovan.

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

Didja Know?

Starting with this episode the "Science Fiction Consultants" credit in the end titles is changed to simply "Consultants". The same three men are still listed.

Didja Notice? 

At 2:54 on the DVD, there is Visitor writing scrolling on the monitor screen on the command center console, but it is too far away to make out clearly.

This episode mentions a Visitor weapon called the Mentamorph. Willie says it is a sort of mind-control device that destroys the will to live and to fight. It is unclear if there is more than one of the devices. It appears to be made up of a number of huge crystals in a stone base, looking almost like a natural formation that has been carved out of its geologic home. However, the one we see in this episode turns out to be a fake, designed to lure the resistance into a trap. So, where is the genuine article? Wouldn't it make sense for the Visitors to use it on the stubborn human fighters of Earth? Perhaps, if there is only one, it is currently in use against one of the Leader's other foes in the galaxy?

This is a crystal-heavy episode. We also see for the first time that the motherships' laser weapons are powered by some kind of beryllium crystals. Beryllium is a real element which can be found in a crystalline structure.

After the Mentamorph blows up, Willie knows immediately it was a fake because "the real Mentamorph would never shatter." 

The fifth columnist Robert appears to have the same luggage bag as Diana did in "The Rescue"! I guess it's standard Visitor military issue. Looks stylin' though.
Robert in "The Littlest Dragon"	Diana in "The Rescue"

After barely escaping the Visitors' trap, Willie blames himself for the setup and laments that Elizabeth wasn't there to sense the danger beforehand. Kyle tries to reassure him it wasn't his fault and mentions that Elizabeth is up north with Julie at the research center. What research center is he referring to? Is it in the area of Lassen Valley of northern California where they were in the previous episode ("The Wildcats") and have the two of them just not returned yet?

Still feeling guilty, Willie says he should leave before he gets the others killed and that he'd find a cave somewhere to live. The remark reminds me of the Visitor character of Hadad who goes awol from his post and soon begins living in a cave in Oregon in the novel The Oregon Invasion.

Willie goes on to say he's not one of them (the humans), he's alone, a cast out, he bleeds green. You'd think he'd be feeling a bit happier considering his encounter with Ellen up north in "The Wildcats". But, then again, we never do see the ultimate resolution to that relationship. Although she forgave him at the end of the episode for hiding the fact that he was a Visitor, it's not clear that she would necessarily have the same feelings of attraction she had earlier. So Willie may be feeling somewhat rebuffed now.

Aboard the L.A. mothership, Visitors are seen sparring in martial arts. Are they practicing ravach, the Visitor style of martial art seen previously in "The Sanction"?

When Angela defeats her large opponent, green blood trickles out of his mouth at 12:41 on the DVD.

Angela climbs out of Robert and Glenda's crashed and abandoned skyfighter and reports to Philip that the photo drive unit is still warm. What is a photo drive unit? Is it a reference to the engine?

In the course of their conversation during the hunt for Robert and Glenda, Philip reveals he found Angela as a "bloodthirsty little orphan" on Andromeda's moon. And she responds to him that he should have killed her when his armies killed the rest of her people. Who are her people? Seemingly she is still of the same reptilian species as the rest of the Visitors, for we see her swallow a mouse in Diana's quarters. Later, she refers to her "tribe". It is unclear which Andromeda Philip is referring to as it is the Earth name of both a constellation and a galaxy. Presumably he is referring to a planet within the Andromeda constellation; it may have been a colony world of the Sirians that at some point declared its independence from the rule of the Leader and was reconquered by him.

In this episode, Philip wears a similar vision enhancement device on his sunglasses to that worn by the tracker Laird in "Reflections in Terror". Also, notice that the "Predator vision" image he sees while tracking Robert and his wife is just a horizontal flip of the image seen by Laird in that earlier episode!
Philip in "The Littlest Dragon"	Laird in "Reflections in Terror"
Philip vision	Laird vision

As Glenda is about to give birth in the warehouse, Kyle nervously asks if somebody should boil some water or something. Willie emphatically says, "No! No, no, no! No water!" Would water actually be somehow harmful to the newborn Sirian (or the egg it hatches from)?

At 19:55 on the DVD, notice that Glenda's neck has a green band forming on the skin. This is a callback to the green band Robin experienced during her half-Visitor pregnancy in "Unmasked". But Glenda is a Visitor wearing a human disguise of dermaplast skin...why would it turn green? I have speculated in previous studies that dermaplast may have an organic component that allows it to interact with the Visitors actual skin underneath.

Willie is named as the new child's wantu. A wantu is a Visitor term similar to godfather or uncle.

At 20:24 on the DVD, Willie and Robert share the same type of Visitor "handshake" as witnessed in "The Betrayal" between Willie and Simon.

It seems odd that Visitors give birth to eggs that hatch almost immediately. Normally the biological reason for creatures to lay hard-shelled eggs is to protect the embryo as it continues developing outside of the mother's body for a somewhat lengthy period of time.

At 24:01 on the DVD, we can see that Glenda's neck is already losing the green band on her neck, about a minute after the birth of the egg!

This episode reveals that Philip was one of the greatest warriors of the Sirians until he became a man of peace and law.

Donovan and Kyle fire back against the Visitors with an M1911A1 and MAC-10. The gun used by Robert is unidentifiable from a distance.

At 35:33 on the DVD, Willie is singing in Visitorese to the baby.

When Philip runs out from his cover to grab the beryllium crystals dropped by Robert, a small piece of one of the crystals seems to fall off in his hand and drop to the pavement. Probably the prop crystals were just fragile hunks of rock candy.

Philip believes that Donovan killed his brother Martin, but Donovan informs him that "Diana had him killed". It's not quite accurate to say that Diana had Martin killed...that would imply she ordered it to be done by someone else. Diana shot Martin herself in "Liberation Day".

Kyle says that Philip's shuttle is going to take Robert and Glenda and their child to an island in the South Pacific where they will never be found. It would be interesting to learn where exactly they went and what became of the family.

Willie gives the newborn a bath of motor oil and rock salt, saying it is very soothing and will help to keep the child's scales moist. Does this unusual bath have anything to do with his not wanting any water around the baby? And do adult Visitors regularly bathe in this way as well?

After Willie places the baby in the bath, Glenda says, "Your wantu will always protect you. You will never be alone." And Willie says, "Neither will I." Uh, unless Willie's planning to get on the shuttle to that South Pacific island, he and the boy are not likely to see each other for a long time!

The scene of a Visitor "golf cart" driving through the hangar bay at 45:18 on the DVD, is borrowed from "Unity".