To make a comment about remakes would be to tread upon ground that is walked all too regularly, so let us generously not mention that of the new V - which is, yes... a remake of the classic 80s TV miniseries. So, anyway - the basic story can be summed up (and the show even makes the reference) as the start of Independence Day with giant ships showing up over all the major cities on Earth. The big difference being that they don't explode monuments, they're all smiles and sunshine... OR ARE THEY?!

Naturally, too good to be true! As if good natured aliens would ever stop by Earth to give us something for nothing - because naturally, the space hooker from Firefly (their leader) tells us that they're just stopping here for a weekend break but they'll give us technology and stuff to cover the inconvenience... and this is in the first five minutes, including an entirely gratuitous and unnecessary jet fighter falling out of the sky and exploding.

The show doesn't waste much time in showing us that the aliens are plotting against us. In fact, it's pretty telegraphed by the way they behave - even if the end of the first episode didn't pull any punches in that regards... which kind of kills the suspense, beyond how. Oh, wait - no. They want to infiltrate human society. They don't really say WHAT they want... but yeah, then... if they're so technologically advanced - they could have tossed an asteroid at us and wiped us out to harvest everything.

Just the usual failing.