Its debut on NBC in 1983 initiated the science-fiction franchise concerning reptilian aliens known as the Visitors trying to gain control of Earth, and of the reaction by the human populace.

They reveal themselves on the roof of the United Nations building in New York City, appearing human, but requiring special glasses to protect their eyes and having a distinctive resonance to their voices.

Referred to as the Visitors, they reach out in friendship, ostensibly seeking the help of humans to obtain chemicals and minerals needed to aid their ailing world, which is revealed to be a planet orbiting the star Sirius.

The governments of Earth accept the arrangement, and the Visitors, commanded by their leader John and his deputy Diana, begin to gain considerable influence with human authorities.

Noted scientists confess to subversive activities; some of them exhibit other unusual behaviors, such as suddenly demonstrating hand preference opposite to the one they were known to have.

Donovan, who first took footage of one of the alien ships flying overhead while on duty in El Salvador, records some of his findings on videotape and escapes from the mothership with the evidence.

Key human individuals are subjected to Diana's special mind-control process called "conversion", which turns them into the Visitors' pawns, leaving only subtle behavioral clues to this manipulation.

Daniel Bernstein, a grandson of a Jewish Holocaust survivor, joins the Visitor Youth and reveals the location of a scientist family, his neighbors the Maxwells, to the alien cause.

One teenager, Robin Maxwell, the daughter of a well-known scientist who went into hiding, is seduced by a male Visitor named Brian, who impregnates her as one of Diana's "medical experiments".

The Resistance strikes its first blows against the Visitors, procuring laboratory equipment and modern military weapons from National Guard armories to carry on the fight.

The miniseries ends with the Visitors now virtually controlling the Earth, and Julie and Elias sending a transmission into space to ask other alien races for help in defeating the occupiers.

[1]: 35  The human interaction with the Visitors resembles occupied Europe during World War II, with some citizens choosing collaboration while others join underground resistance movements.

[7] Production was halted for two weeks when Dominique Dunne, the 22-year-old actress originally cast to play the part of Robin Maxwell, was murdered outside her apartment by her ex-boyfriend while rehearsing with actor David Packer.

Posters appeared in train stations of a smiling man behind wraparound sunglasses, others grinning along with him, with only a motto "The Visitors are our friends" to explain it.

The miniseries was originally filmed in open matte format, with director Kenneth Johnson stating he had also composed the picture to be more or less "widescreen-safe" in the event that it got an overseas theatrical release, which it did not.

[13]) In December 2008, Entertainment Weekly put V on its list "The Sci-Fi 25: The Genre's Best Since 1982", and called Visitor leader Diana's devouring a guinea pig "one of the best TV reveals ever".