We saw STAR WARS: IN CONCERT in Charlotte this past weekend!

The Force was with us on Saturday night! Along with lifelong friends Chad Austin and Eric Wilson, I got to see Star Wars: In Concert when it came to Charlotte.

Chad and I hooked up in Burlington, and then high-tailed it down I-85 to rendezvous with Eric at his impregnable fortress. We wasted a few hours at Concord Mills Mall (which according to Eric is now the most visited attraction in the entire state of North Carolina), got some grub to eat and then went back to the Wilson homestead real quick so I could "get dressed" for the show. Then we headed out for the evening.

Here's the Time-Warner Cable Arena in downtown Charlotte, where the concert took place...

And here I am in my Jedi attire for a night at the Coruscant Operahou... errr... Charlotte's biggest indoor venue...

I hadn't seen this many people in Star Wars garb since Star Wars Celebration III in 2005! Granted, most of 'em Saturday night were kiddies, but there was at least one other guy there in full Jedi uniform. My getup aroused plenty of oggling, as you'll soon see.

Inside the arena before the show we got to check out a bunch of props, costumes and other artifacts from the Star Wars movies. And I wish my sister could have come (she was off running a half-marathon elsewhere during the weekend) 'cuz Chik-Fil-A was one of the show's sponsors and they had a bunch of their famous cows walking around in Star Wars costumes! Here's Eric and I with "Obi-Wan Cow-nobi"...

Chik-Fil-A also had a cow as Princess Leia (complete with hair buns) and Darth Vader walking around.

This being a major Star Wars event, the 501st Legion was well represented. Several stormtroopers (in both standard and scout armor) stalked the promenade and posing for photos. Here's Chad getting "taken into custody" by the 501st...

And then, right as Eric and I were getting this photo of Chad, something very neat started happening: people began coming to me to get their photos taken with!

And it only got better once we got to this big backdrop of the Coruscant skyline set up for photos...

Offhand, I think I posed for about 15 or 20 pictures: with children and not a few adults!

We stuck around for awhile and during a break in the "photography session" and with ten minutes before showtime we headed on in to our seats. Here's Eric, Chad and me awaiting the start of the concert...

So, what is Star Wars: In Concert like?

It's a musical and multimedia celebration of George Lucas's beloved film saga. Conducted by Belgian composer Dirk Brosse and narrated by Anthony Daniels (who portrayed C-3PO in each of the Star Wars films) and specially pre-recorded voiceovers by James Earl Jones, Star Wars: In Concert conveys the entire mythic arc of the Skywalker family - and particularly Anakin Skywalker's rise, fall and redemption - through the medium of John Williams' amazing score, accompanied by select scenes from the movies playing out on a gigantic screen behind the orchestra.

In fitting Star Wars fashion, the concert began with the THX brand's theme blaring out of the speakers ("the audience IS listening" y'all) followed by the 20th Century Fox fanfare as the arena darkened. And then the Star Wars logo burst onto the screen as the orchestra began to play as a montage of clips from the movies reeled away.

Anthony Daniels took to the stage, introduced Dirk Brosse and began his narrative of the story: how the Republic had stood for thousands of years but that a darkness was growing. And so began "Duel of the Fates". I have enjoyed this piece three times now in live performance. This was probably the best one I've heard yet.

The story then shifted to the events on Tatooine circa 33 years before the Battle of Yavin, where a nine-year old slave boy named Anakin Skywalker was dreaming of freedom and adventure. "Anakin's Theme", "Moisture Farm" and "The Flag Parade" were the next pieces of the set, showing us everything from young Anakin's home life (including his building C-3PO) on through the Boonta Eve podrace.

And then came "Across the Stars". I had been waiting since 2002 to hear this performed live. This has become one of my all-time favorite pieces of Star Wars music and the orchestra did not disappoint! Anakin and Padme's growing love for each other even as the galaxy teeters on the brink of war had never sounded so beautiful.

I have to say something here: Star Wars: In Concert engenders a whole new appreciation for George Lucas's movies. In two hours' time we saw the story of six full-length features presented as a single cohesive and compelling story. Call me crazy for saying this if you wish, but Star Wars: In Concert reinforced something that I have believed for years: that in decades still to come, the Star Wars saga will be held up as classical opera on the same level as Wagner's Ring cycle or Parsifal.

(Something else too: for the first time since all of the movies have been released, at last I see it as one story of equal parts, instead of thinking that Episode I is the weakest and The Empire Strikes Back the best installment of the series. Star Wars: In Concert... did something for me as a fan, that I'm still trying to articulate.)

Daniels continued with his narration: about how Anakin's lust for power to save the ones that he loved ultimately and ironically led him toward the Dark Side. Palpatine completes the young Jedi's seduction even as he finishes the master stroke of his takeover of the galaxy. So it is that an Empire is born and with it, Darth Vader. "Battle of the Heroes" - another of my very favorite Star Wars pieces - began, and was then followed by "The Imperial March".

Following a twenty minute intermission the concert began again. "The Asteroid Field" and "Princess Leia's Theme" were next. Then it was the haunting and reflective "Tales of a Jedi Knight", which quickly segued into "Cantina Band".

The diminutive green Jedi Master was the next to receive musical attention as the orchestra played "Yoda's Theme", the screen showing us every aspect of Yoda's career: from his mentorship to his swordsmanship!

Next up, spaceborne combat erupted to the strains of "TIE Fighter Attack". And then it was "Luke and Leia", as the relationship between the brother and sister was chronicled from birth on through their first meeting on the Death Star and then the revelation that Luke and Leia were the offspring of the very man they had been leading a war against.

If you love Ewoks (and who doesn't? Okay, forget I asked that...) then you'll thrill to hearing "Forest Battle" performed live. We certainly did!

Winding down the mythic narration, Daniels spoke of how Anakin Skywalker finally threw off the chains of hate and rage that had bound him to Darth Sidious for so very long, and through love for his only son found redemption at the cost of his own life. The orchestra performed "Light of the Force". And wrapping up the main show, they played "Throne Room/End Titles" for the finale.

But what is a magnificent concert such as this without an encore? "I get the feeling that you don't want to go home yet!" Anthony Daniels told the crowd. "Yeah!!" everyone screamed. The lights went down again and the orchestra did another performance of "The Imperial March".

And then the show was over. The credits rolled on the screen, while David Bowie's song "Ground Control to Major Tom" played over the speakers. How geeky cool is that? :-)

It was a heckuva grand evening: probably one of the best that I've had in awhile. Getting to share it with two good friends, and being able to entertain quite a few folks with my Jedi getup, made it even more special.

Star Wars: In Concert is touring the United States and Canada right now and is scheduled to begin a worldwide tour later on. I absolutely recommend going to this if it's at all possible. And I would love to see a DVD of this concert be made available at some point. PBS has been running a special about it lately, so I know they've already done filming for it. This is the kind of experience that more than deserves preserving for the ages.

But don't let that possibility deter you from seeing it now if you can, folks. Star Wars: In Concert is a performance you will remember for all time!

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Johnny Robertson DOESN'T know the Bible... again!

I must confess: it's entered my mind that the more local cult leader Johnny Robertson harasses others and tries to destroy lives and congregations, the more opportunity he's providing for others to seriously present what the Bible really says about Christ and salvation because of His grace.

There was much to observe from last night's What Does the Bible Say? on WGSR. For openers, Robertson validated something that I noted about him last week: that he not only insists upon baptism for the wrong reasons and damns those who don't subscribe to his belief, but that Robertson also think he controls baptism! It came when a woman called and asked to be baptized and Robertson expressed great hesitancy about it because Robertson suggested that the woman didn't "understand" why she wanted baptism. He claimed to take her phone number so that he could call her later, so that she wouldn't "die in" her sins... because Robertson demands that salvation is in the water and not in the Blood.

Kinda makes you wonder if Robertson and his cult actually worship H20, as much as they talk about it more than they ever talk about Jesus Christ.

Other things from last night's show, in no particular order...

- Robertson once again condemned dancing as sin, without any scriptural basis for it (other than a bizarre use of the story about John the Baptist and Herod).

- Robertson likened himself to John the Baptist and Malcolm X (?!?!?).

- Robertson continued to vent his unwholesome jealousy and hatred toward Martinsville-based television station BTW.

But it was Robertson's long tirade against Jonathan Falwell and comedian Steve Harvey that raised my eyebrows the most, and convinced me anew that for all his boasting, Johnny Robertson does NOT understand the Bible at all.

Robertson ran a clip of Harvey on some Christian talk show, talking about his born-again experience. And Steve Harvey was very up-front about his shortcomings in life, like being a divorced man. Some of the things he discussed in the clip elicited hearty laughter from the audience.

The gist of what Steve Harvey and Jonathan Falwell were saying is that God accepts us just as we are. But that's not good enough for Johnny Robertson. During last night's show Robertson declared and insisted many times that we can't "come as we are" before Christ. We have to be "good enough" for God before He can accept us, Robertson said.

Really?

Because I have read the New Testament, and if there's one thing that it says more than anything else it is that we can't merit salvation by any work we attempt on our own behalf. That the only thing that saves us is the finished work of Christ on the cross. And that to try to "add on" to that work - as Robertson and his cult insist - is to not have salvation at all!

So Mr. Robertson, God doesn't want us to come just as we are?

Well, Jesus Himself repudiates that notion in the parable of the wedding guest, as is recorded in Matthew 22, verses 2 through 14 (from the New International Version):

"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

"Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'

"But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

"But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.

"Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

"For many are invited, but few are chosen."

A somewhat bizarre tale rife with hyperbole... but typical of Jesus and nobody before or since has ever mastered such metanoia-inducing metaphor.

Most of the parable is easy enough to understand. Then we get to the king's second invitation: he dispatches his servants to invite everybody that they can find, "both good and bad", to come and enjoy the wedding banquet.

How much more clearer than this must it be: that God does accept us wherever we are or however we are?

But then we arrive at the part about the guest who was "not wearing wedding clothes" and the king assails him for his lack of proper garment. And were Johnny Robertson or some of his followers to feign earnest discussion of this passage, they would no doubt interpret that it means we must be rightly "clothed" of our own accord in order to approach God. And they would not possibly be more spectacularly wrong in such insistence!

Because it was the custom in those days, in that part of the world, that the wealthy would not only provide food at a wedding banquet but also special clothes - usually some kind of robe - to each of his guests to wear for the occasion. Such attire masked social status or personal standing. At the banquet for the king's son, all were equal regardless of earthly position.

And then there is that one "guest" who just had to be different. We aren't told if beyond the palace walls he were rich or poor. I tend to believe that he was of considerable wealth and affluence. Why do I think that? Because a poorer person in those days would no doubt be thrilled to receive some new clothes for free and from the king... just for attending a banquet!

But not this one guy. He came alright. But he thought that he was too good than to accept the king's favor. That was for people who were "beneath" him. He trusted in his own righteousness to justify his presence at the banquet. This "guest" thought that he could get away with his own works and reject the complete and unconditional grace of the king. All he had to do was accept it "just as" he was.

No wonder the king became so furious! He had provided a sumptuous feast and wonderful new clothes for every guest, so that his son's wedding would be celebrated. This alleged "guest" tried to steal the spotlight by showing himself off.

Now, who does that sound like?

No doubt that many of you are expecting me to automatically ascribe Johnny Robertson as being like this miscreant wedding guest. But honestly, this could be anyone. And each of us would be cast out from the sight of the King for trusting in our own efforts more than trusting in His grace and provenance. It just happens that for sake of this discussion, Johnny Robertson and his followers clothe themselves with the name "Church of Christ" and boast that this alone will get them into Heaven to the exclusion of all others.

To the credit of the guest in the parable, at least he apparently didn't try to throw anyone else out of the party because he might have sneered at them.

Johnny Robertson can't even claim that much for himself.

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The Berlin Wall came tumbling down twenty years ago today

It was built by the East German government in 1961.

It completely encircled what was then West Berlin.

It was one of the most tangible symbols of the Cold War.

It was declared by communists throughout the world that the wall would last forever.

I know of no better additional commentary that can possibly be made besides this picture of the chunk of the Berlin Wall that I have owned since 1993...

Read more about the Berlin Wall on Wikipedia.

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Adult cells can be "reset" to form stem cells

Stem cells hold great promise for medical research, but their use are very controversial because of their primary source: cell lines cultivated from fetal tissue.

But now there may be another route opening up. Researchers have discovered a method for "reprogramming" adult differentiated cells into a condition very much like stem cells. The team, working at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts and led by Rudolf Jaenisch, detail in the journal Nature how they achieved induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells...

In the first in a series of experiments, the researchers grew individual immune cells, switched on their reprogramming genes and allowed them to continue growing and dividing. The team monitored how quickly the cells divided, and at what stage they began to produce a chemical signal that indicated they had become iPS cells. From time to time, the authors also checked some of the cells to make sure they really were pluripotent — for example, checking whether they could form teratomas, a type of tumour made up of many different kinds of cell.

Some of the cell populations began to signal after just two weeks. Others took longer — up to 18 weeks — but only 8% of the populations failed to generate iPS cells by this time. "Essentially, all cells have the potential to become pluripotent," Jaenisch says.

That's a huge milestone that has been reached, folks. And one that should please just about everybody. I ain't been too keen on a lot of stem cell-based research either, on grounds of where most of the material has been coming from.

Based on these findings, there could be some incredible medicine heading our way.

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"Health care reform" bill passes in House, BUT...

...it MIGHT not have enough votes to pass in the Senate.

All the same, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it wound up clearing through there as well. And I have never been more supremely disappointed in the House of Representatives than this past weekend for passing this.

These are supposed to be men and women of sound mind, great wisdom and far-reaching vision. With very little exception, they are short-sighted and sold out on principle utterly.

Leadership entails having the resolve to say "no" to your own goals and appetites when the world tempts you to say "yes". As it is, there is damned little leadership in American government... and it's an open question as to whether we have any leadership at all, or have in quite a long time.

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Keeping an eye on Hurricane Ida

Hurricanes are horribly fascinating in my mind (maybe too fascinating, as anyone who followed this blog prior to and following Katrina will probably attest). They're right up there with tornadoes and freak blizzards on my list of favorite meteorological events. And even though each of those things devastates property and can rack up a priceless loss in human life, hurricanes are a whole 'nother thing psychologically.

I can't put it any other way than this: To be in the path of an oncoming hurricane is like looking down the barrel of God's shotgun.

So this late in the 2009 hurricane season, the states around the Gulf of Mexico are bracing to get hit by Ida sometime tomorrow...

Hopefully the Gulf waters will have cooled off this time of year and take a lot of the strength out of it before Ida makes landfall.

On another note, the current track looks to bring some still much-needed rain to this part of North Carolina later in the week.

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Cellphones adapted into microscopes (Is there an app for that?)

Using software he developed and about $10 of standard off-the-shelf parts, a solid-thinkin' dude named Aydogan Ozcan has converted camera-equipped cellphones into rather powerful microscopes.

When set up with the package, a cellphone like the Samsung model in the photo can image blood cells and bacteria. The phones can then send the data over a wireless network or be connected via USB to laptop computers. The potential for such devices are vast, considering that a doctor equipped with such a cellphone could diagnose malaria or other illnesses in very remote locations. What's particularly interesting from a technical perspective is that Ozcan's 'scope does NOT use lenses for magnification at all! It achieves microscopy by using the phone's camera to measure the scattering/interference pattern from light-emitting diodes shining on the sample. In other words, the package creates a magnified hologram of the sample being studied.

Very, very cool. Aydogan Ozcan has already started a company to further develop and market his work. No doubt it will be successful.

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Comic books found to increase childhood literacy

Comic books and graphic novels - once derided by "experts" as being the bane of adolescence and moral society in general - are now receiving praise for encouraging a love of reading while also greatly increasing the range of vocabulary in children.

According to a new study published in the journal School Library Monthly, comic books are just another form of literature that demands the same amount of reading comprehension as traditional novels or any other written material. Professor Carol Tilley of the University of Illinois notes that...

"Although they've long embraced picture books as appropriate children's literature, many adults – even teachers and librarians who willingly add comics to their collections – are too quick to dismiss the suitability of comics as texts for young readers. Any book can be good and any book can be bad, to some extent. It's up to the reader's personality and intellect. As a whole, comics are just another medium, another genre. If reading is to lead to any meaningful knowledge or comprehension, readers must approach a text with an understanding of the relevant social, linguistic and cultural conventions. And if you really consider how the pictures and words work together to tell a story, you can make the case that comics are just as complex as any other kind of literature."

I've written here before about how I grew up reading Marvel Comics' G.I. Joe. And there's no doubt that my own vocabulary was greatly enriched by reading that and other comic books (I should credit Larry Hama for being one of my favorite writers!) as well as starting off my interest in modern world history at an early age.

When you consider that much of written literature is description and exposition, adapting it into a visually-driven story that retains the depth of dialogue does make a lot of sense. And I've of the mind that it makes for much more compelling absorption than watching a movie version of the same material. Marvel's current adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand, f'rinstance. While I'll always be fond of the 1994 television miniseries, the comic version is vastly superior in so many ways. If it had been around when I first read The Stand, I'd likely be that much more enticed to read the original novel afterward.

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Nancy Pelosi attempting to bring back debtors prisons!

Well, when the Speaker of the House is pushing "health care reform" that obligates people to purchase $15,000 of medical insurance or GO TO JAIL FOR FIVE YEARS, what the hell else are we supposed to call it?

Click here to read the report from Representative Dave Camp of the House Ways and Means Committee.

The House vote on this... thing... may come as early as today.

If this succeeds where everything else has not in honking off the citizenry into outraged action, I've got plenty of rope. And I can get a good deal on feathers too.

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If you haven't stopped by Sci-Fi Genre in Durham lately...

...then you really oughtta should check them out anew. I first wrote about this place a few months ago. Well, they're at the same location - 3215 Old Chapel Hill Road in Durham, North Carolina - but since then the store has expanded in size! There's now about twice the space as before, all of it devoted to more games, comic books, action figures and other collectibles. There's also a massive game room to meet and greet your fellow players in.

But don't take my word for how awesome a place Sci-Fi Genre is. Look who else thinks so too:

Yup, Robin Williams himself, who word on the street has it is not only an avid Warhammer 40,000 player but that he also collects and plays a wicked kewl Eldar army! Maybe someday he'll show up again and I can play him with my Orks (and I've heard Will Smith and Billy Crystal are also into Warhammer 40,000: maybe Sci-Fi Genre could host a celebrity tournament or something...)

Their website is at scifigenre.com. Tell 'em you heard about 'em on The Knight Shift!

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Alliterative observation

The prostitution of persona in the pursuit of power is the perishing of progress.

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A prayer from the heart

Dear Lord,

I know that it rains on the just and the unjust alike.

I'm trying hard not to doubt Your will, and Your timing.

Lord, all I'm asking is that You please let it fall not so hard for awhile on really good people who are going through a very hard time right now.

(And for all of you reading this blog, I'd really appreciate it if y'all would keep the McCollum and Webster families in your thoughts and prayers.)

The peace of Christ surpasses all understanding. Let it come now to they who need it most.

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Because there aren't enough movies based on board games getting made lately...

Sony Pictures has now bought up the rights to develop Parker Brothers' classic strategy game Risk into a feature film.

Read all about it here.

Unlike other properties like Monopoly (being adapted by Ridley Scott) and Candyland and Battleship, I can envision Risk being a kick-butt motion picture. It'll basically be World War III.

And every country on Earth fighting to control Australia, 'course...

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It's 5 o'clock in the morning

So what is your intrepid blogger doing at this wee hour?

Already working on a long-term project... while the TV is tuned to Encore.

And what's playing? Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.

This is gonna be one screwed-up day, I can tell already.

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Off-year post-election ponderance

Reflecting on something that I wrote the other day, in light of yesterday's elections in a number of places...

I can understand being happy that an individual candidate has won election.

I cannot understand being happy about a political party winning several elections.

Maybe it's just my cynical nature about such matters. Or that I've seen "control" flip back and forth between the Democrats and Republicans for many years now and there being no discernible difference between their respective collective performances.

What to call that? Enlightened? Disaffected? World-weary? Or just plain sick and tired of what must be called either mass ignorance or mass apathy?

If it weren't for knowing too much about history, I would probably be proud to be an apathetic voter. As it is, I'm bound to no party. Loyal to none but God and my own conscience. Granted, that doesn't tend to shift the polls appreciably much in an election...

...but as Martin Luther said at Worms: "Here I stand, I can do no other."

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Johnny Robertson: "God" by any other name...

Hasn't been much to report about local cult leader Johnny Robertson lately. In recent weeks he's been obsessed with attacking BTW, a competitor television station to WGSR in the Martinsville, Virginia market. Among other things Robertson has been blasting them for promoting shag dancing and "R-rated movies".

(I for one would like to know where in the Bible does Robertson find a proscription against R-rated movies. 'Tis a silly thing to fixate upon and it only demonstrates that Robertson is completely ignorant of the movie rating system to begin with, and why it was first implemented.)

Anyhoo, a few things about Robertson and his cult have crossed my virtual desk that I've been following up on. Nothing I can tip my hand to at the moment though. However, tonight I did receive the following observation in an e-mail. It's a very brilliant point, and one that I had not considered before.

Here's what another citizen of these parts has to say about the so-called "Church of Christ"...

"Johnny Robertson and his followers say that anyone not baptized into their Church Of Christ is damned to hell, and that means that Johnny Robertson has taken it upon himself to decide who gets into Heaven and who doesn't. If Johnny refuses to baptize someone because he hates that person then Johnny has made himself God."

Whoa whoa whoa now... That is absolutely true!

Let's break this down logically: Johnny Robertson declares that everyone not a part of his own twisted brand of "Church of Christ" is going to Hell. To be in the "Church of Christ" you must be water baptized. Water baptism is a requirement to get into Heaven, according to Johnny Robertson. And said water baptism is only performed by a "Church of Christ" minister.

That means that in the entire Reidsville/Martinsville/Danville area that there are only THREE OR FOUR individuals who are given the authority to baptize a person so that one can join the "Church of Christ" and get into Heaven! And everyone around here knows that Johnny Robertson controls the "Church of Christ" like a dictator.

So it only follows then that Robertson will control baptism like everything else in his cult.

So let's take lil' ol' me for sake of argument. Yours Truly has been called "devilish", "hellish", "the Antichrist", and many other things by Johnny Robertson. I also have it on strong authority that Robertson has prayed for my death and that he has said "I'm happy" about me "going to Hell" when I die.

I'll wager an RC Cola and a Moon Pie that I'm not on Johnny Robertson's list of "must baptize".

(Incidentally, my baptism was a little over ten years ago and was a very joyful and happy event. Robertson once told me that his own baptism was "miserable" and "wretched". What kind of person could possibly want to be baptized and have it remembered as a tragic event? I still can't figure that one out...)

Several witnesses have reported that Johnny Robertson has declared himself to be "God", even to his congregation in the Martinsville Church of Christ. If he actually believes that he has been empowered to decide who will be saved and who will not on the basis of his control of a temporal act, then I supposed in his dark and demented mind Robertson does believe he is God.

Sorta makes Johnny Robertson the Nazi-ish kommandant of a spiritual concentration camp, when you think about it...

(Would that make Charles Roark the equivalent to Joseph Goebbels? Probably.)

Thankfully however, not my salvation or anyone else's for that matter is in the hands of any other person on this earth. Thirteen years ago yesterday I found life abundant and free in Christ. A life that is not bound and shackled to legalism and "obeying the rules". I follow Christ because I want to, not because I have to.

And that is the life that awaits any one of us, at any time, and without having to first merit the approval of men who are just as fallen and in need of God's mercy as everyone else!

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ABC's revamp of V premiered tonight

Giant alien spacecraft arrive over dozens of major cities around the world and their leader - a sexy brunette in a revealing skirt and high heels - broadcasts a greeting in perfect English and all these other languages in 100,800,000 progressive high-def television, says her name is "Anna" and that humanity is the first sentient life they have ever encountered... and nobody on Earth is bothering to ask HOW the hell any of this is possible?!

Well, other than that...

(I'll interject that all of those previous plotholes were quickly forgotten just before the final commercial break, when Elizabeth Mitchell's character peeled back the skin and I screamed out "OH HELL YES!!")

I watched the premiere episode of V tonight on ABC and thought it was wildly and surprisingly good. I loved the original V miniseries from 1983, thought the following year's V: The Final Battle stank on ice and that the regular series that ran for one season was science fiction with an identity crisis: "Dallas in outer space" was nobody's idea of fun.

So what did we get tonight? A deftly produced update that sharply refocuses on Kenneth Johnson's original concept... which is what a lot of people wanted to see more of following the original miniseries to begin with.

Specifics? The first half was a tad bit slow, but everything ramped up like crazy in the folowing thirty minutes. In one hour we got just about all of the major elements of the classic V mythology: the Visitors, their real nature, their propaganda and how humans buy into it, the resistance, the "traitors"... all of it smartly overhauled and made meaner for a modern audience that after Lost and Battlestar Galactica is demanding more. I think V stands a good chance at delivering.

Other things: I thought Scott Wolf's character of Chad the journalist made for a far more convincing example of "situational ethics" than did the thing between the Visitors and Christine Walsh in the original. Looking back, Walsh caved way too early. Chad is a reporter who is all too aware of his career and his professional morals... and that cries out pending conflict. Elizabeth Mitchell, who has become one of my favorite players on Lost, is a treat here too: maybe a bit shallow in this initial act, but I thought the same of her Juliet character from Lost at first too, so I'm thinking she'll continue to impress as time goes on. My favorite character of the new V so far though has to be that Catholic priest played by Joel Gretsch: the sermon he gives about how trust has to be earned, not given away freely... that was a dimension that I never saw in V's original incarnation.

Overall, I thought that this promises to use extraordinarily inhuman catalysts to explore some very human conditions. So long as it remains true to character and doesn't spin out of control into a special-effects schlockfest (and keeping the rodent digestion to a minimum) I think ABC's V could develop into an exceptionally fine series.

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