Feeds
The Cause: V
For a time, lizards were the 'in thing' amongst upper middle class suburbanites in search of an exotic pet to impress their neighbours with. Goodbye to the goldfish and hello to flickering tongues, many thought. But soon, the advent of a new cult show called V in the mid-eighties made people shudder at the prospect of sharing a roof with anything remotely reptilian...
Hitting our screens in the summer of 1984 , V revolved around the visitation to our planet of seemingly friendly aliens who looked, spoke and dressed just like us. The friendly visitors simply wanted to share some of their technology and use some of our resources to save their dying planet. But these supposed benefactors are hiding a scaly secret beneath their exterior - namely the fact they're evil reptiles who have come to process humans into food and suck our oceans dry!
The cretins were first undercovered by sceptical cameraman Mike Donovan (Marc Singer) when he snuck aboard their mothership to discreetly film some footage. He - and we - were shocked as a seemingly humanoid alien grabbed a live rat, tilted her head back, opened her jaw wide to snake-like proportions and dropped the poor feral creature right down the hatch. As a gulp ensued, we saw the meal slide down her throat as a big lump.
More similar encounters followed, with even a half human, half-alien lizard baby being born after an indiscretion by a hormonally-charged female resistance fighter. Admittedly, a few of the Visitors were friendly, particularly Willie who was sympathetically played by Robert Englund - aka Freddie Kruger - of all people.
Yet the revulsion reptilian impression still remains. You can put the earth-dwelling versions into a tank or cage, but beware - they may have a more sinister agenda if their extraterrestrial counterparts are anything to go by....
To read previous editions of Phobia Corner, click here.
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