From George Pal's classic 1953 thriller "War of the Worlds" to "Independence Day," Earth has been invaded by nasty extraterrestrials so many times, we ought to just paint a giant target on the North American continent.

Alien invasions are not a new storyline for movies and television, but Hollywood keeps turning back to them for a dramatic facelift.

Unfortunately, if you've seen one UFO takeover, you've pretty much seen them all, and ABC's new revision of the cult 1983 science fiction series "V" doesn't exactly rely on new strategies in world domination. It won't surprise, you, but it won't completely bore you, either.

The series debuts Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. on KTVX Channel 4.

Some say the devil comes in pleasing forms, and apparently that applies to alien visitors in "V" as well. A band of human-looking extraterrestrials arrive on Earth in massive spaceships, each hovering over a major city.

All of the visitors, or "V's," appear as perfect, modelesque humans -- including the group's beautiful leader, Anna (Morena Baccarin) -- probably because we'd be too sexually excited to notice they're about to melt our brains.

The visitors come with a message of peace, even though they apparently are hiding ray guns behind their backs. It seems inside their gorgeous exteriors are slimy reptilian creatures.

Oblivious to their true intentions, many Earthlings become devoted to the "V's" and are even invited to visit the motherships and join ambassadorship programs.

Yet a group of human resistance fighters gangs up to fight the visitors, claiming there is evidence that the aliens are here to kill people instead of befriend them.

The original "V" was a kitschy thriller that also served as a poorly hidden metaphor for fascism. There's hardly a hint of political allegory in this re-imagining -- save for a snarky comment about the aliens providing universal health care.

There's also little surprise or action in this alien invasion, and public reaction to such a monumental event seems rather tepid in the pilot episode. That results in a first episode that is far less epic or tense than, say, ABC's other science-fiction drama, "Flash Forward."

But like "Flash Foward," "V" will be judged on its payoff rather than its setup. Plenty of aliens have come to Earth and said, "Take us to your leader." What's truly the stuff of great science fiction is what happens after that.

Vince Horiuchi's column appears Fridays. He can be reached at vince@sltrib.com or 801-257-8607. For more television insights, visit Horiuchi's blog, "The Village Vidiot," at blogs.sltrib.com/tv/. Send comments about this column to livingeditor@sltrib.com.