Let's just get the burning question out of the way: Is there going to be any rodent snacking in this version of V?

It's been more than two decades since the phenomenally successful -- and incredibly cheesy -- V miniseries popped on the screen. There's a lot of disco hair and bad special effects surrounding the original, the follow-up miniseries and short-lived TV show centering on a Nazi-like takeover of Earth by aliens.

The new version, which debuts Nov. 3 on ABC with a cast packed with sci fi credentials, follows the original quite closely, although the special effects have improved greatly. Those hovering spaceships hanging out over the major cities in the world look like they bolted right out of a big budget film like Independence Day.

At first the visitors seem all sweet and generous, but soon a few people noticed they were like bad house guests who parked themselves on our sofa and started making a big mess.

We're not giving anything away by saying instead of descending from mammals like the earthlings, this race evolved from reptiles. But they hide it really well, donning skins that make them appear incredibly beautiful. But even a scaly humanoid has to eat, and that might include mammals bigger than the caged variety. To hark back to an old Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man, they are talking cookbook not a humanitarian treatise.

"Whenever we talk to people who saw the original, they go, Oh my God. I love the original.' And we go, 'What do you love?' and they mention four or five things: The rat, the guinea pig, bunny, mouse. We get a lot of takes on (exactly what rodent it was)," says producer Jeffrey Bell (The X-Files, Angel, Alias). "We get a lot of takes on it, but that's one of the things that everyone mentions."

Morena Baccarin, who plays the role of top level alien in the new version, says she has no aversion to rodents or reptiles. But when she was asked by producers if she minded handling them, she didn't know she might have to act like she was consuming one.

Baccarin has captured the fan boy favor since she first appeared in Joss Whedon's space Western Firefly as beautiful courtesan Inara. Her Firefly co-star, Alan Tudyk, also pops up on V as a G-man with plenty to hide. And they aren't the only sci fi actors getting tapped for this series. There's also Joel Gretsch (The 4400) as a priest resisting the V force and Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost) as an FBI agent also trying to fight against the population's blind devotion to the aliens.

"We're trying to get every single science fiction fan who's ever lived to come and watch our show," proclaims producer Scott Peters (The 4400, The Outer Limits).

While the producers want to honor the original series, they also know they have to do something to get 2009 viewers invested in a show reflecting contemporary themes. So fascism and Nazis are out and the recession and the need for universal health care are in.

"The original series, to me, felt very much like a military show. It was a resistance and gun fights and a clear enemy. They wore uniforms, it was the Cold War, it was the Nazi, whoever and post 9/11, that's not who our enemy is anymore," Bell says. "It's terrorists and it's the guy across the street or the woman next door. Who do you trust? We're talking about the fears and the allegories here, and at a certain level I just want to remind people it's a show about spaceships on ABC at 8 p.m."

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