Let me hip you to something about roundtables: you rarely get the chance to ask the questions you want and hear the answers you need.  Thankfully, that was not the case when I got the chance to sit down with Executive Producers Jeffrey Bell and then Scott Peters and Jace Hall and learn their thoughts on the upcoming series.  While I didn't walk into the room as skeptical as some others, after speaking with the trio, I felt like V is in very capable hands. More after the jump -

*Prep starts next Friday on the series with an August 10th shooting start and a November airdate on ABC.

*The first season will focus on fact-finding. They have tentpole events that they plan on writing around as well as an overall end game, but maintain the flexibility to let the characters dictate the story.

*Firefly/Serenity fans will appreciate that the pilot includes both Morena Baccarin and Alan Tudyk.  Losties will love to see Elizabeth Mitchell.  (Slight spoiler, this DOES NOT mean you won't see her on Lost as well.)

*The Pilot speeds through arrival to the "we come in peace and friendship" and closes with the beginnings of resistance -- basically, they wanted to address and move beyond the miniseries.

*For those expecting the same allegorical relationship to the Nazis, that is one of the things that will be different.  The overall question for the series will be "blind faith/devotion."

*Line from Pilot -- "Dude, this is just like Independence Day which was a ripoff of any number of alien invasion predecessors."  Scott Peters had to fight to include it.  This alone should show his V and science fiction street cred.  That and he did create The 4400.

*Jace Hall's background was in videogames.  Games he was involved with include:  Fear, Fear 2, Condemned, AvP 2, Matrix games, Harry Potter games, No One Lives Forever.  Hall came to the project in the hope to create a TV show that appealed to both traditional viewers as well as gamers.

*Jeffrey Bell, not to be outdone, spent time writing on The X-Files, Alias and Angel.

*Both Scott Peters and Jace Hall wanted to make sure that ABC Executive Brian Morowitz, who championed the project, gets the proper kudos.

*When will we see the aliens fully revealed?  When the creatives behind the show know they have the look down 100%.  They refuse to disappoint or come across as cheesy.