COME DINE WITH ME? "HANNIBAL' IS WELL PREPARED!

Gourmet delights!  Mads Mikkelsen is the new HANNIBAL. Image: NBC.

To millions of fans worldwide, Anthony Hopkins will forever more be remembered, even admired, for his humorously chilling performance as the intelligent, intuitive, yet ultimately murderous cannibal Doctor Hannibal Lecter in three enjoyable (one classic) adaptations of iconic author's Thomas Harris's literary creation/horror-thriller sensation of the nineties.

But with this new "re-imagining" of the character, now played with sharp-suited, creepily understated menace by the terrific Dutch actor Mads Mikkelsen, best known for his performance as the card playing, bloody tear-drop eyed villain Le Chiffre in Daniel Craig's first James Bond outing: Casino Royale, it looks like fresh blood may be just what the doctor ordered in our land of TV ratings and series format fatigue, as HEROES writer Brian Fuller brings us his new thirteen episode perspective of horror and very dark humour with HANNIBAL, set before Lecter's ultimate capture and eventual escape witnessed in Harris's RED DRAGON and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Already on the path of personal discovery regarding human cuisine, Lecter's pre-incarceration reputation as a top forensics psychiatrist proves considerable, especially when he's called on to help the FBI and its top agents find serial killers of a similar nature to him, if not quite so erudite and clever at keeping their identities and nightmare desires so secret. It's all becomes a twisted game within a game for the Doctor, enjoying the thrill of the chase, and discovering what makes his new work colleagues tick in order to destroy them in the future, should the need arise.

Hannibal TV Series - Full Length Trailer - YouTube

With a strong regular series cast including Brit-star Hugh Dancy as Lecter's crime fighting colleague/ profiler Will Graham - the man who ultimately discovers the truth about Lecter, and ex-CSI'er Laurence Fishburne as his boss, Jack Crawford, plus later guest stars including Gillian Anderson, the series looks glossy and well-paced, with Mikkelsen surely a brilliant piece of casting. I'm not the greatest fan of modern Hollywood's continuing fascination, often desperation, in recycling classic films and TV series with re-imaginings, but I will at least be watching the premiere episode of HANNIBAL on SKY LIVING HD next Tuesday in the hope that this has a chance of becoming something special on a weekly basis, alongside my dining of favva Beans and a nice chianti!

LIZARD REALM! THE ORIGINAL 'V' RETURNS...

Not our friends! The alien Visitors of V. Images: WARNER BROTHERS.

Humanity is back on the menu with the return of those reptilian outer space Nazi's from creator Kenneth Johnson's beloved ensemble cast sci-fi action adventure saga with a moral heart: V, the modern granddaddy/re-invention of major league alien invasion of Earth sagas, of which the original two-part, four hour mini-series gets a welcome re-run in stripped one hour episodes from today on the UK's CBS ACTION CHANNEL (followed by the inferior, but still enjoyable, serialised comic book-esque one season only weekly series). Unable to get his original mini-series idea for a character drama, based on the story IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE (which postulated a What if? scenario involving America becoming a dictator run, Nazi-esque state), off the ground in 1982/83, Johnson literally re-worked it within a strong sci-fi motif instead- with seemingly friendly aliens asking for our help, but soon turning human against human and taking control of our society and its resources- that proved too delicious and intriguing to pass up and which immediately proved popular with the NBC network and viewers, within a genre type exploration that had never been done as well either before or since, really, and despite all the even bigger budgeted grandeur, monsters, space battles and explosions that have followed it with the likes of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, INDEPENDENCE DAY, FALLING SKIES, etc.

Skin-deep. Beautiful but deadly Diana (Jane Badler).

Johnson crafts an intelligent and character gripping script, of which his capable TV ambitious direction soon kicks into high gear after a slow but sure first hour building up the arrival of the aliens and the beginning of their integration into our society. Once the alien agenda and their true reptilian visages are revealed by determined news cameraman Mike Donovan (the sturdy Marc Singer), the fight for humanity begins and you're quickly hooked into what will happen next, as a small resistance force led by young and inexperienced Dr. Juliet Parrish (petite Faye Grant) begins its first might battle against superior Visitor resources, technology and firepower, ultimately led by the wickedly cruel super bitch scientist, Diana (played by the still gorgeous Jane Badler). Overall, the first mini-series has held up well as it approaches it's thirtieth anniversary: the central idea is terrific (with its strong allusions to the start of World War II and the Jewish holocaust), the casting of our ensemble characters (a concept so popular at the time with hit series like HILL STREET BLUES and ST. ELSEWHERE) is effectively handled and doesn't feel too soapy, the action is well staged and the filmed effects and optical work prove very good for their time. Jane Badler's famous eating of a gerbil now looks as fake as hell but it certainly has made a lingering impression with audiences/fans, and the overall lizard make-up effects still have the urgghhh factor! If you've never seen it before, V is well worth a look.

True hero: Mike Donovan (Marc Singer) fights back.

The first Earth Resistance: Juliet Parrish (Faye Grant) and Donovan.

Mini-series clips: V The Original Miniseries NBC Narrated Recap of Part One (Widescreen, Remastered) - YouTube

GAME OF THRONES may be the addictive and ground-breaking mini-series everyone is watching today, but back in its early eighties heyday, there had been nothing like V on television before. One of the most expensive and thought-provoking series of its time, the original first mini-series has an enduring populist quality legacy and classic moments that deservedly continue to exist in the minds of classic TV audiences right up to today.

Jane Badler will be meeting UK V fans at the LONDON FILM AND COMIC CON next month. Details here: London Film and Comic Con | 6 - 8 July 2012 | Olympia Grand Hall | The Film and Comic Con for London


The original V mini-series, it's sequel and the one-off weekly series are available on DVD.

KOOL TV CLASSIC IMAGE: 'MIAMI VICE'

Guns blazing! Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) and Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) take the heat in MIAMI VICE. Image: UNIVERSAL.

Before CSI boss Horatio Caine fought sun-soaked crime and murder with his pithy comebacks and gun toting sun-glasses wearing charisma, there were Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, principal heroic custodians of the hit TV series MIAMI VICE, an altogether different interpretation of the sun and sand of Miami: a seedy and crime ridden noir version of the popular beach and commerce resort more akin to New Wave chic meets SCARFACE than the high production valued colourful travel brochures of the kind now seen with the state in Anthony Zuiker's forensics adventures. As created and realised by show creator Michael Mann's this stylish 1980's drama meets pop video world pulled in the money and the kudos for NBC TV and UNIVERSAL for its five season running duration, capturing the imagination of the rising MTV style youth audience and launching the careers of street-smart, Armani suited stars Don Johnson (who is probably the only on-screen tough guy who could actually get away with wearing a pink T-shirt whilst chasing bad guys!) as Sonny Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, whose characters, despite an uneasy pairing at first, soon became a formidable, and fashion inspiring, action duo, taking on a world of eighties glamour-shoulder pads, big hair and make-up- mixed with a high octane world of hookers, pimps, drug dealers, big time robbers and gun runners-just your average scum of the Earth types to be sorted out in the under resourced world of the MIAMI-DADE PD, as led by the duo's charismatic boss, Castille (played by BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's Commander Adama to-be Edward James Olmos).

One of the most expensive series then realised for television, backed up with high quality cinematography and very commercial music scores by Jan Hammer (whose Crockett's Theme, used on and off throughout the series, would become a European success in the singles music charts of the late eighties), MIAMI VICE's early years as a raw, breakout hit would ultimately be the best-where the gritty and often compelling, sometimes quite gloomy, fast paced storytelling, fine lead series pairing and visuals were a potent and memorable mix, before eventually being swallowed up by ultimately ridiculous and very thin plots, stars egos and inflated guest star cameo appearances got in the way of it all. (Starting off well with quality talent the likes of Pam Grier, Bruce Willis, Larry Fishburne and Liam Neeson, before descending to not quite believable pop star gimmick acting inclusions like Sheena Easton and Phil Collins.). At least Crockett's pet alligator, the charmingly named Elvis, was able to stay in his master's yacht home and keep his head down whilst eating the odd discarded limb or too!

Miami Vice - Opening Titles (Season 2) - YouTube
Jan Hammer - Crockett's Theme (Miami Vice) - YouTube

Seeing continued potential in the show after its 1989 demise, Michael Mann, now a hit features director, resurrected Crockett and Tubbs, now played by Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx (the latter having helped launch the idea of a MIAMI VICE re-make in the first place), for an all-new original movie in 2006. Die-hard fans of the show may have been disappointed that the original TV series stars were no longer involved, but the finished product did keep the same kind of tough and stylish visual techniques that had made the original weekly show so successful. Swamped under press reports of an alleged friction between the two lead stars, an escalating budget and continued script changes, the movie was ultimately only a mild success and received mixed comments from critics. If you haven't seen it, I personally think it's quite under-rated and well worth a look.

MIAMI VICE seasons are available on DVD from UNIVERSAL PLAYBACK.