V: The Next Chapter
J. Michael Straczynski, creator of the science-fiction series Babylon 5, was commissioned by Warner Bros. in 1989 to write a script for a proposed syndicated V revival. Six drafts later, the script, "Rebirth," was ultimately deemed too costly to produce, and the idea was scrapped in June 1991.
An article written by Lawrence V. Conley in Starlog #182 (Sept. 1992) detailed the basic plotline, and offered Straczynski's plans for the original characters, who, with one notable exception, would not have featured in the new project.
Quoted material is direct from the article.
Following the "truce" begun in the final episode of the original series, the Visitors launch a devastating assault against the celebrating humans. (This was also the premise for the unfilmed episode "The Attack.") During the action, Elias is killed (which is odd, since he already died midway through the weekly series), Willie is executed for his traitorous ways, and Donovan is wounded and taken to the Visitor Homeworld. Lydia's ship explodes, and while Diana appears to have been involved, she is merely transferred to a new command. Juliet assumes a new identity, and moves to Australia.
The fate of Elizabeth, the "Starchild," is particularly gruesome:
...she was taken to Homeworld...for "dissection and amusement." Unanesthetized, she detonated under the surgeon's knife (as her tremendous energy stores were suddenly released), taking a huge portion of the Visitor medical college and ruling council with her, and leaving behind a highly radioactive blast crater two miles wide.
Armies and resistance groups are defeated, and entire cities are vaporized. The Earth sues for surrender, and the TV movie opens five years later, with humanity still under Visitor rule.
A resistance group organizes in Chicago under the leadership of ex-army major Damon Mallory, and teams up with Ham Tyler (the lone holdover from the original series) on a mission to contact the alien enemies of the Visitors, who have finally responded to the humans' radioed cry for help.
The "Outsiders" at first appear human, but are also disguised members of the same reptilian race as the Visitors. They are a pacifistic and technologically-advanced faction that was exiled from the Homeworld centuries ago. The Visitors are locked in a war with them, and intend to use the Earth as a staging ground.
One of the Outsider ships is captured, and its male pilot, Danar, is taken to an Earth-based Visitor research facility. Aboard his vessel is a weapon of immense power--the Tachyon Globe--which is capable of destroying entire Motherships.
The resistance group meets the other Outsider, Danar's female "life-mate" Lorien. Together, they plan a rescue raid on the Visitor facility. Unfortunately, Danar dies first, and the Visitors load the Tachyon Globe aboard a shuttle bound for the Mothership. Ham Tyler overpowers its pilot, but the aliens' command ship snags the shuttle in a tractor beam. With Shocktroopers banging through the hatch, the wounded Tyler detonates the Outsider weapon, demolishing the Mothership.
So ends the pilot for "V": The Next Chapter, with a mothership destroyed, Earth's bruised morale boosted, the Visitors' arch-enemies aiding the humans and a new resistance group backed-up with Outsider firepower, ready to take the fight to the lizards.
Straczynski has kindly made the first three acts of his script available to Internet users.
:devil: 
