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* WhamShot: '''The guinea pig.''' The entire sequence--from Steven and Diana revealing what the Visitors are really up to, to Steven eating the mouse, to Diana eating the guinea pig, the Visitor guard revealing the slitted eyes and lizard tongue, and finally the reveal of the Visitors' ''real'' faces--is one long sequence of Wham Shots, but Diana swallowing the guinea pig is the corker. Today, one can [[SpecialEffectsFailure clearly see that it is an animatronic,]] but in 1983, [[OnceOriginalNowCommon no one noticed; the moment came completely out of the blue;]] '''nobody''' expected that. It was one of the more shocking things shown on scripted TV, and people were talking about it for days afterward.

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* VillainousBreakdown: Elias when his brother dies. An unusual variant in that Elias isn't the show's main antagonist, he's villainous in that he is a thief and black market trader.

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* VillainousBreakdown: Elias when his brother dies. An unusual variant in that Elias isn't the show's main antagonist, he's villainous in that he is a thief and black market trader.trader and partly blames for his brother's death because he refused to help the resistance with their illicit activities.
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* VillainousBreakdown: Elias when his brother dies. An unusual variant in that Elias isn't the show's main antagonist, he's villainous in that he is a thief and black market trader.
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Trope was cut/disambiguated due to cleanup


* CoolGuns: Ham Tyler's Ingram MAC-10. In the TV series, everyone seemed to have one.

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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/v_70s_series.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Should've gone to Specsavers.]]

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[[caption-width-right:300:Should've gone to Specsavers.]]
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** This mini also subverts the trope on a routine basis, but the nastiest example is with the character of Robin Maxwell. Long story short, she falls for one of the aliens, but it turns out she was only being manipulated into sleeping with him to conceive a hybrid child and their night together technically counts as rape[[note]]by fraud, both in that the appearance she was attracted to is not what he looks like, and that he has no care or concern for her, he was JustFollowingOrders[[/note]]. Robin utterly refuses to believe what everyone else says the Victor's look like,, and experiences extreme distress when confronted by it in a way she cannot deny or rationalize away. After she gives birth to two children, one mostly human and the other mostly reptilian, she murders the father with a bio-weapon engineered from the blood of the less human child.

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** This mini also subverts the trope on a routine basis, but the nastiest example is with the character of Robin Maxwell. Long story short, she falls for one of the aliens, but it turns out she was only being manipulated into sleeping with him to conceive a hybrid child and their night together technically counts as rape[[note]]by fraud, both in that the appearance she was attracted to is not what he looks like, and that he has no care or concern for her, he was JustFollowingOrders[[/note]]. Robin utterly refuses to believe what everyone else says the Victor's look like,, like, and experiences extreme distress when confronted by it in a way she cannot deny or rationalize away. After she gives birth to two children, one mostly human and the other mostly reptilian, she murders the father with a bio-weapon engineered from the blood of the less human child.

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* FullBodyDisguise: The alien lizards use human bodysuits to hide their true nature. It gets torn off ocassionally for the scare factor.

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* FreeRangeChildren: The kids living at the all versions of the rebels camp have free range to wander as much as they want, even though the camp is storing dangerous weapons, has active labs and are discussing secret plans...
* FullBodyDisguise: The alien lizards use human bodysuits to hide their true nature. It gets torn off ocassionally occasionally for the scare factor.
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** The Series ended on a cliffhanger episode. After this was filmed, the series was [[CutShort unceremoniously canceled]] and the cliffhanger never resolved (except [[TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised in a comic book adaptation]]).

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** The Series ended on a cliffhanger episode. After this was filmed, the series was [[CutShort unceremoniously canceled]] and the cliffhanger never resolved (except [[TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised [[ConclusionInAnotherMedium in a comic book adaptation]]).
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* ShoutOut: In a scene welcoming the Visitors, a high-school marching band plays the ''StarWars'' theme -- badly.

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* ShoutOut: In a scene welcoming the Visitors, a high-school marching band plays the ''StarWars'' ''Franchise/StarWars'' theme -- badly.
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Ass Pull is YMMV


Meanwhile, the bacteria which killed the reptile baby is developed into a biotoxic weapon that will poison the Earth to the Visitors without harm to humans or the ecology. The Resistance mounts a bold attack to spread the so-called "Red Dust" into the atmosphere, but the villainous Diana has an ace -- a thermonuclear device in her spaceship that will destroy Earth. And so, as the Visitors withdraw from all over the globe, the Resistance must take over the L.A. ship and fly it into space before the EarthShatteringKaboom. But Elizabeth deactivates the bomb with [[AssPull hitherto unreferenced magical powers]], [[DeusExMachina saving the day]].

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Meanwhile, the bacteria which killed the reptile baby is developed into a biotoxic weapon that will poison the Earth to the Visitors without harm to humans or the ecology. The Resistance mounts a bold attack to spread the so-called "Red Dust" into the atmosphere, but the villainous Diana has an ace -- a thermonuclear device in her spaceship that will destroy Earth. And so, as the Visitors withdraw from all over the globe, the Resistance must take over the L.A. ship and fly it into space before the EarthShatteringKaboom. But Elizabeth deactivates the bomb with [[AssPull [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands hitherto unreferenced magical powers]], [[DeusExMachina saving the day]].
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Not to be confused with ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' or its [[Film/VForVendetta 2006 film adaptation]] (although both works do involve the main protagonists fighting back against a tyrannical government). And it definitely shouldn't be confused with the novel by Creator/ThomasPynchon.

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Not to be confused with ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' or its [[Film/VForVendetta 2006 film adaptation]] (although both works do involve the main protagonists fighting back against a tyrannical government). And it definitely shouldn't be confused with [[Literature/{{V}} the novel novel]] by Creator/ThomasPynchon.
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** A big deal is made of the abduction and conversion of Donovan's son in the miniseries, and The Series revisits this in one episode. After this, [[BrotherChuck no follow-up is ever attempted]].

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** A big deal is made of the abduction and conversion of Donovan's son in the miniseries, and The Series revisits this in one episode. After this, [[BrotherChuck [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome no follow-up is ever attempted]].
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* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler: Diana becomes this. The Visitors are ultimately defeated by a bioweapon developed from the corpse of a human-Visitor hybrid. Diana's next plan, to use the ship to destroy Earth's biosphere, is thwarted by another human-Visitor hybrid. The only reason the hybrids were born in the first place? Diana ordered Brian to seduce Robin, supposedly in the interest of science but largely for her own perverse amusement.]]
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* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The Visitors are going to put all the water in Southern California into a three mile wide spaceship? Um... no?

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* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: The Visitors are going to put all the water in Southern California into a three mile wide spaceship? Um... no?no? The again, Martin did say the more ships were en route.
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*** It was actually not that senseless as Mark put up a good rearguard action, killing two of the aliens and delaying the others. Without the delaying action, the Resistance force probably would have taken some casualties in trying to escape. As it was, Donovan just barely made it out as he was shot at as he was climbing up the exit ladder.

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*** It was actually not that senseless as Mark put up a good rearguard action, killing two of the aliens Visitors and delaying the others. rest. Without the delaying action, not all of the Resistance force probably would others may have taken some casualties in trying to escape. made it out alive. As it was, Donovan just barely made it out survived as he was shot at as he was climbing up the exit ladder.
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**In Pascal's defense, it did appear that he was tortured to give the information, as he had a bloody face while on the Visitor mothership.
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Gives name of the character mentioned


* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: The Resistance recruit a criminal to forge an identify card, but he's captured and leads the Visitors to their hidden base. Fortunately that's when Ham Tyler first makes his appearance -- he sets off an explosive charge while the rebels escape through a hidden exit. As wounded Visitor soldiers stagger out of the rubble, their leader guns down the forger, either believing he led them into a trap or just as a gratuitous act of revenge against a human.

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* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: The Resistance recruit a criminal (Dan Pascal, played by Dick Miller) to forge an identify card, a pass to the medical center gala, but he's captured and leads the Visitors to their hidden base. Fortunately that's when Ham Tyler first makes his appearance -- he sets off an explosive charge while the rebels escape through a hidden exit. As wounded Visitor soldiers stagger out of the rubble, their leader guns down the forger, Pascal, either believing he led them into a trap or just as a gratuitous act of revenge against a human.
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*** It was actually not that senseless as Mark put up a good rearguard action, killing two of the aliens and delaying the others. Even with the delay, Donovan just barely made it out as he was shot at as he was climbing up the exit ladder.

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*** It was actually not that senseless as Mark put up a good rearguard action, killing two of the aliens and delaying the others. Even with Without the delay, delaying action, the Resistance force probably would have taken some casualties in trying to escape. As it was, Donovan just barely made it out as he was shot at as he was climbing up the exit ladder.
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***It was actually not that senseless as Mark put up a good rearguard action, killing two of the aliens and delaying the others. Even with the delay, Donovan just barely made it out as he was shot at as he was climbing up the exit ladder.
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** In a scene where the rebels are sabotaging the water facility, one of the rebels is wounded. The rebel's girlfriend comes back for him and insists she will stay with him. Two (fit) mercenaries come back, too. They pick up the perfectly fit woman and haul her away, leaving the wounded man behind to be killed. If they'd grabbed the wounded man instead, they would have all made it out alive.

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** In a scene where the rebels are sabotaging the water facility, one of the rebels (Mark) is wounded. The rebel's girlfriend Mark's fiance Maggie comes back for him and insists she will stay with him. Two (fit) mercenaries (Ham and Chris) come back, too. They pick up the perfectly fit woman Maggie and haul her away, leaving the wounded man Mark behind to be killed. If they'd grabbed the wounded man Mark instead, they would have all made it out alive.
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* ContrivedCoincidence: Donovan sneaks aboard the 3 mile wide ship and manages to find Diana and Steven discussing Diana's conversion process and the ruse against the scientists in great detail. Then Diana swallows a guinea pig whole...
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Hot Scientist is no longer a trope


* ProfessorGuineaPig: ''V: The Final Battle''. The dust used to kill the Visitors is tested on an alien prisoner. Then while the others are busy arguing about whether they should find a human collaborator to test it on, the HotScientist steps into the chamber instead, and survives.

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* ProfessorGuineaPig: ''V: The Final Battle''. The dust used to kill the Visitors is tested on an alien prisoner. Then while the others are busy arguing about whether they should find a human collaborator to test it on, the HotScientist scientist steps into the chamber instead, and survives.

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"Visitors" were never called "Vs" in the classic version, only in the 2000's remake, which has it's own page. Likewise, I don't recall any "Huge Holographic Heads" in the original, although if someone wants to cite an example and restore that trope, please be my guest.


** The humans have their stupid moments, too. When Donovan made a bargain for his son, he agreed to trade himself for his son. The aliens meet the humans in a canyon where the humans have a very nice ambush scenario set up. Donovan and his son trade places in a tunnel, but no one thinks that maybe Donovan should just turn around and run back to safety, even though the aliens are completely at their mercy and the humans have no reason to honor the bargain, except to advance the plot and get Donovan aboard the mother ship again. Instead, he just happily walks into the custody of the aliens and ends up blowing the cover of two Fifth Column agents. All it would have taken would be a line of dialogue about how the Vs have air support, which was their main advantage over the humans. It counts as a stupid moment for the Vs two, since the Resistance's other leader and their tactical mastermind-slash-weapons supplier is at the meeting too. They could have killed three birds with one stone and kill them too, thus decapitating the resistance in one blow.
* HugeHolographicHead

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** The humans have their stupid moments, too. When Donovan made a bargain for his son, he agreed to trade himself for his son. The aliens meet the humans in a canyon where the humans have a very nice ambush scenario set up. Donovan and his son trade places in a tunnel, but no one thinks that maybe Donovan should just turn around and run back to safety, even though the aliens are completely at their mercy and the humans have no reason to honor the bargain, except to advance the plot and get Donovan aboard the mother ship again. Instead, he just happily walks into the custody of the aliens and ends up blowing the cover of two Fifth Column agents. All it would have taken would be a line of dialogue about how the Vs Visitors have air support, which was their main advantage over the humans. It counts as a stupid moment for the Vs Visitors two, since the Resistance's other leader and their tactical mastermind-slash-weapons supplier is at the meeting too. They could have killed three birds with one stone and kill them too, thus decapitating the resistance in one blow.
* HugeHolographicHead
blow.



* IHaveYourWife: Robert is coerced into giving up the site of the rebel camp to the Visitors with a threat of harm against his daughter Robin, who they're holding prisoner. The V commander who makes the deal promises his wife and their second younger daughter (who are still there in the camp) will have a chance to leave before they attack (naturally, [[ILied he lied]]).

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* IHaveYourWife: Robert is coerced into giving up the site of the rebel camp to the Visitors with a threat of harm against his daughter Robin, who they're holding prisoner. The V Visitor commander who makes the deal promises his wife and their second younger daughter (who are still there in the camp) will have a chance to leave before they attack (naturally, [[ILied he lied]]).



* TheNeedsOfTheMany: Julie says that, if they have to kill the humans held prisoner on the V motherships, it's what they'll do because they must weigh that against the billions more the Visitors might harm if they're not destroyed.

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* TheNeedsOfTheMany: Julie says that, if they have to kill the humans held prisoner on the V Visitor motherships, it's what they'll do because they must weigh that against the billions more the Visitors might harm if they're not destroyed.

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* HateSink: You will grow to truly loath Daniel Bernstein, a despicable [[TheQuisling Quisling]] and petty bully whom you will hate with a burning fury.

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* HateSink: You will grow to truly loath loathe Daniel Bernstein, a despicable [[TheQuisling Quisling]] and petty bully whom you will hate with a burning fury.



* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The visitor's entire plan goes to hell all because Diana wanted Brian to impregnate Robin as part of some sick experiment, which resulted not only in Elizabeth, who has the power to disable the mothership's ultimate weapon, but the second reptilian child who was born with the fused anti-visitor virus. Without this one act that resulted in the perfect human-safe/anti-visitor germ warfare, the resistance would have arguably had no way to combat the visitors and eventually would have been wiped out over time.

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* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The visitor's visitors' entire plan goes to hell all because Diana wanted Brian to impregnate Robin as part of some sick experiment, which resulted not only in Elizabeth, who has the power to disable the mothership's ultimate weapon, but the second reptilian child who was born with the fused anti-visitor virus. Without this one act that resulted in the perfect human-safe/anti-visitor germ warfare, the resistance would have arguably had no way to combat the visitors and eventually would have been wiped out over time.


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* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: When Sarah Douglas she chose not to return for the series,[[note]](Douglas later regretted choosing a role on ''Falcon Crest'', telling ''Starburst'' she should have returned for the series, as ''V: The Series'' only had 3 bitches, while ''Falcon Crest'' had 27!)[[/note]] the role of [[EvilBrit British-accented alien]] was filled by June Chadwick as Lydia.
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* LyingInTheDirtTogether: Donovan didn't like Tyler, and Tyler didn't like Donovan. Things eventually come to a head in the last episode of the series where the two of them finally get into a fistfight. They manage to beat the snot out of each other with the result that both wind up lying on the ground next to one another. Somehow this generates respect for each other in the process.
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* SoHappyTogether: Brad and Maggie agree to get married right before going on a raid. Brad doesn't come back.

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* SoHappyTogether: Brad and Maggie and Mark agree to get married right before going on a raid. Brad Mark doesn't come back.
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-->Caleb: Are you gonna kill him?
-->Ham: As many times as I can!

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-->Caleb: -->'''Caleb:''' Are you gonna kill him?
-->Ham: -->'''Ham:''' As many times as I can!
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-->Caleb: What are you going to do, kill him?
-->Ham: As many times as I can.

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-->Caleb: What are Are you going to do, gonna kill him?
-->Ham: As many times as I can.can!

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