Creators Of New V TV Series Prematurely Emancipate Their Lizards

ABC has gone with a novel marketing tactic for the season two premiere of V - they’ve revealed their season finale money shot.

USA Today got the scoop, offering patient but weary viewers of the sci-fi update their first look at the Vistors’ true form, some ten weeks ahead of schedule. And what they’re showing is actually kind of refreshing; instead of an updated Sleestak cousin evoking the 1980s original, they’ve gone full-on pulp: this piranha-faced, segmented lizard/insect hybrid would look right at home on a vintage sci-fi magazine cover.

Questions linger: given the show’s shaky cgi, how exactly is this ugly bastard going to be realized onscreen? I can picture it skittering to and fro and giving me a severe case of the willies, but can V‘s FX team render it? And most importantly, how’s this thing fit inside Morena Baccarin?

Exec producer Scott Rosenbaum promises he’s got it all worked out, but V‘s dodgy CGI history aside, dumping the big season finale monster reveal on the day of the premiere seems a less than confident move. Season one took forever (and a few changes in showrunner) to get moving; word is season two starts off at full speed, but the show’s producers might have wisely guessed that its audience’s patience is dwindling. This move, along with the fan-pandering casting of original baddie Jane Badler as Anna’s mother, indicates the current showrunners are taking a “by any means necessary” approach to the show’s second season ratings.