V The new Series (spoilers)

[Rackhir]

As far as the water goes, I think that's simply a hold over from the original series. Don't forget that comets can be mostly water and you don't have to go into a gravity well to get it. So asking for water makes absolutely no sense for someone with their level of technology.

I'm waiting to see if it will wind up being as good as "Earth:Final Conflict" (the first season) was. Since that is essentially the same premise as "V" only done much better (than the original at least).

 

[Rykion]

We *know* they are lying, but the people in the series only see a highly evolved race that might have the power to decode human language in hours and find cures to 65 human diseases in days/weeks. Not that strange when you think about it, things like penicillin would cure a lot of sick people a few hundred years ago...

Yet the people in the series believe the Visitors aren't smart enough to figure parking 29 ginormous spaceships, that cause tremors and knock out electronics, over our world's most populated cities might cause problems. The damage in dollars would end up in at least the 100s of millions. Probably at least a couple dozen deaths were caused by the tremors alone. If one jumbo jet was too close, the death count just rose a couple hundred.

Yes, but together as water? Probably not as abundant. It probably uses a lot less energy to harvest water from an abundant planetary source than to make it via hydrogen and oxygen.

Right, but there have to be worlds without intelligent life to harvest it on. Who would give up water, which they can't replace, for a little technology?

 

[drothgery]

As far as the water goes, I think that's simply a hold over from the original series. Don't forget that comets can be mostly water and you don't have to go into a gravity well to get it. So asking for water makes absolutely no sense for someone with their level of technology.

Yeah, that's basically insane. Anything natural resource aliens might want from earth is easy to get elsewhere in the solar system where there are no humans to worry about annoying.

When Niven and Pournelle were asked to re-imagine the show once (nothing came of it), they threw the backstory out and decided the reason why the visitors wanted earth was because they were dinosaurs. Posit an intelligent species of dinosaur. They develop interstellar travel, set up colonies on other worlds. The dinosaur killer hits earth, wipes them out here, and millenia later they don't really remember where they're from. But when they stumble across us, earth feels right. The sun's the right color, the gravity is right, the length of day is right, things smell right, etc.

 

[Rackhir]

Yes, but together as water? Probably not as abundant. It probably uses a lot less energy to harvest water from an abundant planetary source than to make it via hydrogen and oxygen.

Well you can find it in comets. In fact there are theories that this is where we got some portion or even all of the water we have on earth.

Plus, if you can manage interstellar travel + anti-grav, then power is not really going to be an issue. The power requirements for moving object that large and negating gravity have to be vastly greater than anything putting H & O together would require.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I'm waiting to see if it will wind up being as good as "Earth:Final Conflict" (the first season) was. Since that is essentially the same premise as "V" only done much better (than the original at least).

Earth: Final Conflict was also on my mind. I think that show had a better start that made it more interesting to see where things would go.

I think one good reason to come to Earth would just be to get to learn the only other intelligent lifeform they discovered. They might not have wanted to say this (aside from any other reasons) to avoid the humans worrying about permanent settlement from aliens. As "Visitors", it's all nice and dandy.

Still, they could have come up with a better story. (For example, they could have said they were just hauling comets from the Oort Cloud and caught Earth radio transmissions, and thought: "Hey, let's take a look!"

 

[Krug]

Well water is kinda besides the point. And it's also a cover for their real agenda...

I thought it was all right. It didn't have the HUGE plot hole that I felt Flashforward had..

Spoiler

Just everyone get together for the 2.5 minutes ...

Aliens with social networking and cleavage? Hmm ok I'll keep watching.

 

[drothgery]

Well water is kinda besides the point. And it's also a cover for their real agenda...

A story that makes no sense isn't a cover. It would increase suspicion, not reduce it.

 

[Cergorach]

My point is rather that "might have the power" is really pretty bogus - Occam's Razor applies. What requires fewer amazing assumptions - fantastic powers, or just hanging out for a while and learning?

A couple of Billion people belief in a god in some form of another... That's a lot of amazing assumptions.

Sorry, but alien biology is... alien. They can know their own workings forwards and backwards, but that should not give them much insight into the details of ours.

They are not THAT alien, bipedal, use water and oxygen. Not to mention that analytical ability progresses with technology.

Well, it limits official asking of questions, which is not the same thing.

My point is that they can tell the truth (or at least more truth), and have it raise fewer questions. "We spent the last year in transit listening to your radio and TV broadcasts, learning your languages. We are so happy to finally meet you," rather than, "We only learned about your existence *today*", which just isn't very credible.

Quite simple - it is a bit of shoddyness in the writing. Not unexpected.

But it makes such a more impressive speech, something politicians use a lot. I'm also not convinced that we are the first species they've found, the number of ships gives me the impression of nomads, the kind that travels from food source to food source...

I have been avoiding spoilers for the series. I am not sure (or convinced) that they want humans as a food source. Humans take too long to mature to make good food animals anyway.

Oh, I'm not going by the old series, stopped doing that after Battlestar Galactica ;-) They are aliens and what's unique to and currently pretty abundant on earth? Yep, humans, yum-yum!

Yet the people in the series believe the Visitors aren't smart enough to figure parking 29 ginormous spaceships, that cause tremors and knock out electronics, over our world's most populated cities might cause problems. The damage in dollars would end up in at least the 100s of millions. Probably at least a couple dozen deaths were caused by the tremors alone. If one jumbo jet was too close, the death count just rose a couple hundred.

People tend to forget the bad when you hold up shiny trinkets like new technology and medical help that will probably save millions right away and billions in the next century...

As for the water, it's water AND a mineral. Think about it as oil and gold in the same place, pretty useful...

 

[Umbran]

A couple of Billion people belief in a god in some form of another... That's a lot of amazing assumptions.

Dude, you know quite well real-world religion is not something we should go into here.

They are not THAT alien, bipedal, use water and oxygen.

Which means pretty much nothing, in terms of the detailed biochemistry.

Not to mention that analytical ability progresses with technology.

Which actually hits to the crux of the matter - if they have that kind of analytical ability, and gravity control, they can darn well figure out of to synthesize "minerals" and get water without mucking about with the sentient population of Earth. That they are technological gods and that they need to come to Earth to resupply are not ideas that go well together.

 

[Rykion]

People tend to forget the bad when you hold up shiny trinkets like new technology and medical help that will probably save millions right away and billions in the next century...

Some would, but a lot wouldn't. I can't believe most governments wouldn't come to the conclusion that the Visitors are a threat. There isn't much they can do, but they would be covertly preparing for hostile action. I also believe they would be doing their best to limit direct contact with the Visitors.

As for the water, it's water AND a mineral. Think about it as oil and gold in the same place, pretty useful...

Water is more valuable in the longterm than oil and gold, but there is no reason to ever trade a resource from a populated world. Any spacefaring race that comes to a populated world and tries to take such resources in anything but minimal quantities is basically declaring war.