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V
"The Sanction"
Written by Brian Taggert
Directed by Bruce Seth Green
Original air date: November 16, 1984 |
Donovan rescues his son from the
Visitor Youth Corps…but the boy doesn’t seem to want rescuing.
Didja Know?
Considering the martial arts skills of Klaus, I wonder if he was
acquainted with the Visitor commander Fieh Chan from the V novels
The Alien Swordmaster
and Symphony of Terror?
Didja Notice?
During the Freedom Network broadcast, Howard K. Smith reports
that the South China Peoples' Resistance is fighting the Visitor
Third Corps along the Great Wall in China; an American
resistance group is holding its ground against Visitor forces
along the Gila River in Arizona; and a group of Grey Panthers
smashes up the controls of 16 Visitors skyfighters in
Charleston, South Carolina. These are all real world locations. (At the
Database of Movie Dialogs, you
can find a transcription of all the subtitles from
V and other
TV shows and movies. There I found some Freedom Network dialog
that was apparently cut from the episode: "Meanwhile, heavy
fighting is also being reported from
Caracas, Venezuela over
control of Lake Maracaibo and the many oil refineries there.")
| The
same Visitor writing is on a few
signs in the basement of the
Visitor L.A. embassy at
the beginning of the episode. |
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After bringing down the female Visitor in the basement of the
embassy, Klaus rips off the false human skin of her face. As her
reptilian mouth moves in pain, small, sharp teeth can be seen.
It seems odd that Klaus would have a big scar running down his
fake human skin when the dermoplast can be cast with perfect
features. I suppose he decided it would make him look that much
more intimidating to humans and it's possible it is meant to
reflect a real scar on his lizard face that he feels is a badge
of honor.
Nathan Bates actually comes across somewhat likeably in his
argument with Diana at the embassy in that he is disgusted at
the Visitors' willingness to kill one of their own simply as a
show of Klaus' prowess, leading Bates to balk at Diana's
suggestion of a "discreet" security officer of theirs to track
down resistance members in the city. He says, "I've seen
enough discretion for one evening."
Tyler points out that Klaus is also known as the Exterminator by
the Visitors. Tyler had experience with the killer before when he
had business in Berlin before joining the L.A. group during the
first Visitor invasion.
At 6:49 on the DVD, cans of
Maxwell House coffee can be seen on the shelf behind Donovan at Club Creole.
At 7:40 on the DVD, Elizabeth is disappointed that Julie is not going to take her outside as promised, remarking she has been cooped up (in Club Creole) for weeks. She must not be accounting for her sojourn out into the world when the Resistance attempted to get her flown out of L.A. to New York in the previous episode
"The Deception".
When Kyle rides up to Club Creole on his motorcycle, he is wearing a different helmet than he did in
"The Deception" and is carrying a different passenger helmet as well.
When Kyle takes off from the club on his motorcycle with Elizabeth on the back, her helmet visor is still up. But a split-second later, it's down as he peels out into the street!
The van Donovan drives to the Visitor legation looks to be a
Ford Econoline 150 series.
At 10:46 on the DVD, the Visitor gate guard bites the head off a
mouse and chews it and then wolfs down the rest of the body
rather than swallow the rodent whole. This was probably due to
the producers wanting to avoid the expense of recreating the
impressive swallowing effect scene in the original mini-series.
At 11:06 on the DVD, Classic Cinema and a place called Hurley's can be seen across the street from Club Creole.
Mr. Chiang later refers to the cinema as Sixth Street Cinema.
During the shots of Elizabeth inside the cinema lobby, a number of celebrity photos and posters can be seen. At 11:52, a full-figure poster of Humphrey Bogart is seen.
At 12:15, as the cinema manager is thrown against the wall by Elizabeth's telekinesis, a photo of Gary Cooper is seen, as well as some other stars not quite identifiable.
At 11:55 on the DVD, a store called Schroeppel's is seen across the street
from the cinema.
As Kyle jumps back on his bike to rescue Elizabeth at the cinema, her helmet falls off the handlebar and is left behind.
| There
is Visitor writing painted on
either side of the double doors
leading into Klaus' martial arts
classroom in the embassy
basement at 13:23 on the DVD. |
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The Visitor martial arts style taught by Klaus is called ravach.
All of the boys in Klaus' ravach class are seen to have a small
metal tag pinned on their left ear, including Sean. Later we
learn from him that it's a Visitor Youth Corp pin.
At the end of Klaus' ravach class, it sure is lucky for Donovan
that Sean just happens to be the last one out the door so
Donovan has a chance to grab and speak to his son with no one noticing.
| There
is Visitor writing next to the
embassy main entrance at 15:13
on the DVD. |
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One of the Visitor motorcycles has CA license plate 155216.
At 16:13 on the DVD, a
Budget Rent-a-Truck is seen parked on the street during the Visitors' chase of Donovan. At 16:32 on the DVD, a Donovan speeds past a
Westransco truck
parked on the street. Seconds later, he passes a
Salvation Army truck parked in an alley.
At 16:38 on the DVD, Donovan zooms past a Shoes 4 Less store. There are several of these stores in the L.A. area, but I've not been able to nail down where this one is/was located.
In a Bondian twist, Donovan has a van with a lever rigged next
to the driver's seat which sprays motor oil out behind the
moving vehicle to cause pursuers to lose control!
|
At 16:20 on the DVD, the license
plate number on Donovan's van
clearly reads 1H72820. But at
17:19, for a close up of the oil
spraying out the back of the
vehicle, the number now reads
8M7086! As if that's not bad
enough, the same license plate
of 8M7086 shows up seconds later
on the parked vehicle that one
of his Visitor motorcycle
pursuers crashes into! |
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 |
 |
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In this episode we are introduced to Bates' new head of
security, Mr. Chiang. We are left without explanation as to what
happened to Bates' previous security head, Roller, except for
this ominous-sounding exchange:
Bates: Any problem with Roller?
Chiang: None, sir. He went peacefully.
Did Bates have Roller killed? If so, why? For failing to find
Elizabeth as he'd been instructed? And if Bates did have him
killed, it seems to make him a hypocrite in his earlier exchange
with Diana when he witnesses Klaus kill the Visitor female at
the beginning of the episode:
Bates: This was supposed to be a test.
Diana: It was. She failed. [...]Don't be put off, Nathan. It was
just a drone. A conscript for our personal security. You have
basic training for your army, don't you?
Bates: We don't kill them if they don't make it.
For God's sake, I wish the writers would make up their minds
where the Club Creole is located! In
"Dreadnought", Tyler says it is on 4th Street. In
"The Deception", the fighter
pilot tells Kyle to take the WLF pouch to the Club Creole on
Main Street. And now, here, Mr. Chiang refers to trouble that
took place at the Sixth Street Cinema...which was shown to be
right across the street from the Club Creole! Yeesh.
Mr. Chiang refers to Elizabeth as being perhaps 16. How old is
Kyle? It seems as if he's robbing the cradle just a little bit
(and that's if you ignore the fact that only her accelerated
growth spurts have made her look about 16...she's really less
than 2 years old!).
At 19:14-20:04 on the DVD, while Elias is talking on the phone, behind
him, Willie is pouring ingredients into a blender to make a
smoothie. He puts in what appears to be cranberry juice, one raw
egg, Tabasco sauce, and a jar of pickled peppers! Which he then
blends and gulps down himself. After the drink he almost appears
inebriated!
What are Julie and Bates discussing as the scene at Science
Frontiers begins at 23:22 on the DVD? Julie is showing Bates a
text printout and saying, "...you can see the difference here. I
altered the DNA pattern just a little bit and the results remain
the same." Is she talking about research on a new type of red
dust? Recall that Bates promoted her to a position as head of a
research team to develop a new form of the bacteria to use
against the Visitors that will not have the harmful side-effects
to Earth life that have been discovered (and possibly also able
to survive long-term in temperate environments) in the episode
"Breakout". Notice that
Julie suddenly tells Bates "this can wait" when Diana
unexpectedly enters the office.
At 23:45 on the DVD, it can be seen that Julie is wearing a
Science Frontiers symbol pin on the collar of her
lab coat.
At 25:02 on the DVD, Klaus removes his right hand. Was it a
bionic hand? He replaces it with a sort of electro-whip, so it
seems there is a power source available through the metallic
stump of his arm.
At 25:54 on the DVD, Donovan shows Sean a photo of them together
with Sean's mother. The woman in the photo is Joanna Kerns, who
played Donovan's ex-wife in the original mini-series.
If Klaus is the martial arts master claimed by the Visitors, it
seems unlikely that Donovan could defeat him as easily as he
does (twice!). Donovan's athletic enough to be good in a brawl,
but we never get an indication that he could really stand up to
a skilled martial artist. And later, Sean, a mere short-time
student of Klaus' (and only 15 years old), is able to take down
Ham Tyler with one punch!
At 27:22 on the DVD, Tyler picks up Sean in a '70s era Chevy Big Ugly Sedan.
In the morning, having apparently spent the night in the wilderness in hiding from Visitor patrols, Kyle brings Elizabeth something to eat, wrapped in a handkerchief, saying he thought she might like some breakfast. We don't really see what it is, but at 29:23 on the DVD, it appears that Elizabeth's is rolling a berry between her fingers, but it's subtle.
At 32:20 on the DVD, a worker from the Equestrian Center drives
Kyle and Elizabeth to a drop-off near Kyle's hidden motorcycle in what looks to be a '70s era Chevy pick-up.
| There is Visitor writing on
the outer wall of the main gate
to the Visitor embassy at 34:46
on the DVD. |
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There is also Visitor writing on
the inner wall of the main gate
to the Visitor embassy at 37:41
on the DVD. |
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Ham Tyler seems to have a habit of lying to cover his
shortcomings and mistakes. In earlier episodes he's omitted the
fact that he was responsible for faking Diana's assassination
and abducting her (which eventually led to her escape and the
return of the Visitors to Earth). Now, here he tells Donovan that
after he found Sean near the safe house the boy hit him with
something to escape...omitting that he was merely hit with the
boy's fist!
There is a Visitor sign in the basement of the embassy from
35:47-35:53 on the DVD, but it is always obstructed or blurry.
The van Tyler drives as he gas grenades the Visitor legation is
a very beat up
Dodge A100 Custom Sportsman (possibly 1965).
After Donovan sneaks onto the grounds of the Visitor embassy, at
37:31 on the DVD he is startled by a small dog's head sculpture
on a courtyard wall! It happens so quickly you could miss it,
but once you see it it's a pretty amusing moment.
Despite the procol drug that keeps Sean loyal to the Visitors,
he does seem to be torn between his loyalty and respect for both
his father and Klaus. Notice that when Donovan and Klaus
confront each other in the ravach room at 37:53 on the DVD, Sean
tries to grab/push both of them away from each before they can
use their weapons against each other.
| There
is Visitor writing on a Visitor
Youth Corps poster at 38:13 on
the DVD. |
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Due to the low budget of the weekly series, most of the
depictions of the Visitors' reptilian faces are not nearly as
impressive as what was seen in the two mini-series. But Klaus'
charred face after Donovan electrocutes him looks pretty good.
When Diana appears at 39:30 on the DVD, she is already carrying a laser pistol in her hand as Sean and his father suddenly come running into the corridor and see her. Why is it already in her hand? Why was she already prepared for a confrontation?
| There
is a Visitor sign at 39:33 on
the DVD. Notice that this sign
is only slightly different than
the ones seen earlier at the
beginning of the episode. |
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| As Donovan escapes from the
embassy, there are a couple of
Visitor signs visible at 39:45
and 39:54 on the DVD. Notice
that the first sign here is an
upside-down version of the one
above, minus the black
character. |
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At 40:19 on the DVD, the address of the Club Creole appears to
be 720. So, it's located at 720 4th Street or Main Street or 6th Street!
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