V: Pilot

"Pilot" is the series premiere of the 2009 reimagining of the 1983 miniseries V created by Kenneth Johnson. The episode's teleplay was written by Scott Peters, with story credit going to Johnson and Peters. Yves Simoneau directed the episode, which originally aired in the United States on ABC on November 3, 2009. The episode sees spaceships appear over 29 of the world's major cities. Though the alien "Visitors" claim to come in peace, it transpires that they have been infiltrating the planet for decades, and are planning on enslaving the human species. Parallels have been drawn between the Visitors and US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, though Peters and co-producer Jeffrey Bell refute that they were intentional. Bell feels that while the original series was more of a military show with a clear enemy, the reimagining focuses more on the paranoia of not knowing who can be trusted. The episode incorporates aspects of the original series, including the Visitors' giant spaceships, but is quick to reveal the Visitors' true motivations, as Peters felt awareness of the original story was already high. The episode was watched by 14.3 million US viewers, and received generally positive reviews. USA Today's Robert Bianco praised it for "quickly establishing its own identity" independent of the original series, while E! Online named it the best pilot episode in "forever". In contrast, The New York Times's Mike Hale called the episode "slapdash and formulaic", while David Hinckley of the Daily News deemed it "an elaborately costumed popcorn flick".