V for Vendetta (film)
Written and co-produced by the Wachowski brothers (known for their Matrix franchise) and directed by James McTeigue, the 2000 film adaptation of Alan Moore’s 1988-89 DC Comics graphic novel is set in the year 2020. A virus runs wild in the world, which has killed most Americans, and Britain is ruled by a fascist dictator. One man stands against this totalitarian state, a shadowy figure who moves through London like a wraith and calls himself only “V.” He wears a mask that depicts the face of Guy Fawkes, who in 1605 attempted to blow up the houses of Parliament. On November 5, Guy Fawkes Day, V saves a young TV reporter named Evey from rape at the hands of the police, forces her to join him, then blows up the Old Bailey courtrooms. The film follows his exploits for the next year, up to the night he has vowed to strike a crushing blow against the dictatorship. Much like the Phantom of the Opera, the masked V moves through subterranean spaces, control others through the leverage of their imaginations, and has a score to settle. The central theme of the film is illustrated by V’s proclamation that “People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” Though the film was initially successful, it has since been disowned by Moore, who also removed his name from the movie versions of his graphic novels From Hell and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
V for Vendetta (graphic novel)
In this version of 1997 England, our world has been drastically changed by war, famine and disease, inspiring the government to evolve into a fascist dictatorship, under which the people move about in a state of enforced contentment, making no effort to take back their freedom. A mysterious masked stranger who calls himself only “V” rescues Evey from a dangerous situation and takes her under his wing. While carrying out his vendetta against those that have oppressed him in previous years, he also tries to awaken the oppressed people in order to push them into action against the government. V exists to go after those responsible for an unjust imprisonment and system of torture which he suffered in the past. Meanwhile, with Evey in his charge, he does everything he can to educate her and pass along his message. Insistent on showing Evey how to live free from fear and injustice, he imprisons and tortures her, all the while keeping his identity hidden from her. At the end of it all, Evey overcomes her obstacles and learns a great deal from V, taking his place in the end as a hardened revolutionary determined to spark the people of England into action. Originally a 1988 DC Comics graphic novel series by Alan Moore, the tale has bee published in softcover book form, and was turned into a 2000 film written and co-produced by the Wachowski brothers (known for their Matrix franchise) and directed by James McTeigue.
V’Ger
A massive sentient entity which destroys all it encounters in space, and is on a direct course for Earth in the year 2271, on a mission to find its “Creator,” as depicted in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Over time, the entity had generated a powerful energy “cloud” about itself of over 22 astronomical units (AUs) in diameter (22 times the distance from the Earth to the sun, or roughly 3,300,000,000 kilometers), and as discovered by the crew of the starship Enterprise, appeared to have gained sentience and self-awareness. It was later learned by Capt. James T. Kirk and his crew that this phenomenon likely occurred after unknown aliens repaired a long-lost Earth space probe, Voyager 6, which formed its core and from which the corrupted probe took its name.
Vaguebook
An intentionally vague status update, particularly (as the name implies) on Facebook, which alludes to something much deeper. This could be posted as an inside joke, anything with a particular meaning for only a few people, or simply as a much shorter version of a rather wordy status. It can also be an intentional incentive for people to comment.
Val-Father
See Odin.
Valeris
Vulcan Starfleet officer and protégé of Spock who plotted with others to assassinate Klingon Chancellor Gorkon just before the Khitomer Peace Conference in 2293. As revealed in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Lt. Valeris had been the first Vulcan to graduate at the head of her Starfleet Academy class. Her involvement in the plot stemmed from a resistance to the potential changes brought by peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. After Spock deduces their shipboard mole and uses a Vulcan mind meld to force the truth from her, Valeris was arrested at the Khitomer Conference and later charged. Valeris was portrayed by Kim Cattrall.
Vampire
A legendary creature of European folklore that is believed to be a reanimated (also known as the undead) human corpse which can and must leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living, traditionally by biting their necks with elongated pointed teeth. Legendary features of the vampire include hunting at night since sunlight weakens and harms them, the ability to morph into other forms (such as bats and wolves), superhuman strength, and the lack of a shadow or a reflective image in any mirror.
Vampire superstition thrived during the Middle Ages. The Bubonic plague decimated entire European towns, often leaving victims with bleeding lesions on or near their lips. Afterward, it was not uncommon for anyone with an unfamiliar physical or emotional illness to be labeled a vampire. Porphyria, a blood disorder that can cause severe blisters when the skin is exposed to sunlight, may also have been linked to the vampire legend. Also, some symptoms of porphyria could be temporarily relieved by ingesting blood, which probably added to the folk tales. Other diseases blamed for promoting the vampire myth include rabies and goiter.
Though Bram Stoker’s epic novel Dracula brought vampires into mainstream culture when it was published in 1897, Dr. John Polidori, a member of Lord Byron’s entourage, had already written and published The Vampyre, which predated Dracula by 78 years.
van Dyne, Janet
Daughter of a wealthy scientist who was killed by invading aliens, with the help of her father’s assistant, Dr. Henry “Hank” Pym, Janet underwent an advanced biochemical process involving his “Pym Particles” that would allow a user to grow or shrink in size. Not only did they succeed in shrinking Janet down, but she was granted the abilities to grow wings and fire bioelectric bursts of energy (“wasp’s stings,” as she called them) from a wrist-worn device, and she became The Wasp. In Marvel Comics, The Wasp, along with her “partner” Pym (as Ant-Man), was one of the founding members of the superhero team The Avengers. She is credited with naming the superhero team, and would also be elected as the Avengers’ leader some time later. Originally taking on the role of “damsel in distress” in most Avenger tales, as the Wasp was incorporated into their mainstream monthly activities, her character evolved with the times to become that of a strong ally and loyal teammate. As comics aimed to become less light and to appeal to an older audience in the 1980s and ‘90s, her character underwent further changes to make her more realistic, as well as deal with modern social issues (in Janet’s case, domestic abuse).
Van Gelder, Dr. Simon
Administrator of the Tantalus V penal colony in 2266, when his sanity was impaired after testing an experimental neural neutralizer. Once recovered, Dr. Van Gelder replaced his deputy, Dr. Tristan Adams, whose exposure to the neural neutralizer had fatal results. Dr. Van Gelder, portrayed by Morgan Woodward, appeared in the original Star Trek episode “Dagger of the Mind,” which first aired on November 3, 1966.
Van Helsing, Abraham
A multi-talented Dutch professor and an expert in medicine (both modern and ancient), superstitions and religion, Van Helsing is a central character in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. As an expert in the occult, Van Helsing was called upon to offer advice and assistance when undead vampires appeared in the English countryside. As played by Edward van Sloan in the older Universal Studios Dracula cycle, he more or less followed this pattern, although his tendency in the novel to make grotesque demands upon the younger men working with him was somewhat toned down. Hugh Jackman took on the title role in the 2004 film Van Helsing.
van Pelt, Linus
Friend and confidant of Charlie Brown, brother to Lucy van Pelt, and devotee of his blue “security blanket,” Linus was a central character in Charles Schulz’s 1950-2000 comic strip Peanuts, which spawned many television specials. When Linus wasn’t explaining the story of the original Christmas or the wonder of the Great Pumpkin to Charlie Brown, he was avoiding the amorous attentions of Charlie Brown’s younger sister Sally.
van Pelt, Lucy
Adversary to Charlie Brown and older sister to Linus van Pelt in Charles Schulz’s 1950-2000 comic strip Peanuts, Lucy could typically be found antagonizing Charlie Brown or tempting him to kick a football which she would inevitably move, when she wasn’t leaning fawningly on Schroeder’s piano or serving as the strip’s “psychiatrist,” charging characters five cents per session at her rather lemonade-stand-looking office.
Vance, Jack
John Holbrook “Jack” Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. Most of his science fiction work, for which he is best remembered, was published under the name Jack Vance, but he did publish 11 mysteries as “John Holbrook Vance” and three mysteries as “Ellery Queen.” Other pen names (each used only once) included Alan Wade, Peter Held, John van See, and Jay Kavanse. Though he was legally blind since the 1980s, he continued to write with the aid of BigEd software that was written specially for him.
Among his awards are three Hugo Awards (1963 for The Dragon Masters, 1967 for The Last Castle, and 2010 for his memoir This is Me, Jack Vance!), a Nebula Award in 1966 for The Last Castle, the Jupiter Award in 1975, two World Fantasy Awards (1984 for life achievement and 1990 for Lyonesse: Madouc, and an Edgar (the mystery equivalent of the Nebula) for the best first mystery novel in 1961 for The Man in the Cage. In 1992, he was Guest of Honor at the WorldCon in Orlando, Florida, and in 1997 he was named an SFWA Grand Master. A 2009 profile in the New York Times Magazine described Vance as “one of American literature’s most distinctive and undervalued voices.”
Vaporware
A computer-related product that has been widely advertised but has not (and may never) become available to the public. This may be used as a marketing strategy to gauge potential customer interest, or it may be that the advertised product takes so long to develop that it becomes cost-effective for the manufacturer to simply cease production.
Vault Keeper, The
Appearing in and “hosting” 245 issues of The Vault of Horror (1950-55) and The Haunt of Fear (1950-54) series of comic books, The Vault Keeper was a precursor to Tales From the Crypt’s Crypt-Keeper, who eventually appeared in a TV series and a few Tales From the Crypt films.
Vault of Horror, The
Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear, one of three bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The Vault of Horror ran from the spring of 1950 to the winter of 1955, producing a total of 29 issues. The title, “hosted” by The Vault Keeper, was popular, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s, comic books came under attack from parents, clergymen, schoolteachers and others who believed the books contributed to illiteracy and juvenile delinquency. Congressional subcommittee hearings in 1954 on the effects of comic books on children left the comics industry shaken. Once the subsequent and highly restrictive Comics Code Authority was in place, EC Comics publisher William Maxwell Gaines canceled The Vault of Horror and its two companion titles in September 1954, though all three titles have been reprinted at various times since their demise and have been adapted for television and film.
VBScript
Visual Basic Script is a simple programming language executed by Windows Script Host that can be coded with Notepad or Notepad++. VBScript can be executed on any Windows computer, and the program is used in many applications. It is normally used for message or input boxes.
Ve
The Norse god of creation was a brother to the god Odin. He fought the Frost-Giants and started the new universe by recycling the body of the first giant Ymir. Leaving almost everything else up to Odin, Ve then took early retirement.
Velocibiology
Mentioned in the DC Comics , the science of how super-speed affects the human body, as in the cases of The Flash and Kid Flash.
Vendor trash
A derogatory term used in gaming to describe items which serve no purpose other than to be sold to in-game stores for money. Occurring mainly in role-playing games (RPGs) and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), the most common type of vendor trash is extremely poor quality equipment, dropped by enemies in low-level areas, such as a sword that actually does less damage than the swords that players start with at the beginning of a game. Although “vendor trash” is an inherently derogatory term, generally referring to broken equipment and animal body parts, some games feature items with no purpose other than as valuable trade commodities that take the form of rare and expensive items. For example, Resident Evil 4 and 5 feature valuable gems and treasures lying around its levels which can be sold at the store for more money to buy items.
Venom
The Marvel Comics character Venom is a member of the Klyntar, a race of alien symbiotes: beings that are formed from an organic liquid material. As their symbiotic nature suggests, the members of this race depend on other beings to help them sustain their life force. In exchange for this relationship, the symbiote offers great powers to its host. Unfortunately for the host, the symbiotes eventually start to consume their hosts in both mind and body. Removal of the symbiote is often only possible through the usage of the symbiote’s one weakness: strong sound waves produced from intensely loud and sustained noises.
After being whisked away to the Secret Wars, a battle on a faraway world between the Earth’s greatest heroes and villains orchestrated by the enigmatic Beyonder, Peter Parker’s Spider-Man costume was shredded. Parker thought he obtained a new black-and-white costume from a costume-making machine, but after returning home to Earth, he discovered his costume was actually a living entity, feeding off his adrenalin as it possessed his body while he slept. Thanks to The Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), the costume was removed by sonic blasts and the symbiote was captured. Still emotionally dependent on Spider-Man, it escaped and reattached itself. Spider-Man forced it off by the loud noise atop the bell-tower of a church. Later, the alien costume would attach itself to Eddie Brock, who would become Venom. As Venom, Brock’s strength allowed him to lift 25 tons. The symbiote allows the user shape-shifting abilities. Additionally, the symbiote is capable of healing injuries in the host at a faster-than-normal rate.
The idea for Venom came from Spider-Man fan Randy Schueller, and was bought by Marvel under the direction of then-editor in chief Jim Shooter. The character was designed by Mike Zeck and Todd McFarlane. Venom’s black costume was first published in Amazing Spider-Man # 252 (1984), but first appeared in the storyline chronologically in Secret Wars # 8 (1984). The malicious Venom made cinematic appearances in Spider-Man 3 (2007) and Venom (2018).
‘Verse, The
A colloquial abbreviation for “the universe” among the characters in Joss Whedon’s Firefly television series and its follow-up motion picture Serenity.
Vestal Virgins
In Roman religion, six priestesses who represented the daughters of the royal house, and tended the state cult of Vesta (counterpart to the Greek goddess Hestia), the goddess of the hearth. The cult is believed to date to the 7th century BC; like other non-Christian cults, it was banned in ad 394 by the Roman emperor Theodosius I. They were the only female priests within the Roman religious system. The discovery of a “House of the Vestals” in the buried city of Pompeii made the vestal virgins a popular subject in the 18th and 19th centuries.
A Roman man by the name of Numa Pompilius introduced the vestal virgins and assigned them salaries from the public treasury. He stole the first vestal virgin from her parents. More vestal virgins were added later. The women became a powerful and influential force in the Roman state. Chosen between the ages of 6 and 10 by the pontifex maximus (“chief priest”), Vestal Virgins served for 30 years (ten as students, ten in service, and ten as teachers), during which time they had to remain virgins. Afterward they could marry, but few did. Those chosen as Vestal Virgins had to be of the required age, be freeborn (that is, not slaves) of freeborn and respectable parents (though later the daughters of freedmen were eligible), have both parents alive, and be free from physical and mental defects. Vestals wore an infula (a long headdress that draped over the shoulders), a palla (a simple cloak) and a suffibulum (a brooch that clipped the palla together). They lived in the House of the Vestal Virgins on the Roman Forum, near the Temple of Vesta. Their duties included keeping their vow of chastity, fetching water from a sacred spring (Vesta would have no water from the city water-supply system), preparing ritual food, caring for objects in the temple’s inner sanctuary, officiating at the Vestalia, the period of public worship of Vesta, which took place annually on June 7–15, and tending the perpetual fire in the Temple of Vesta. Because a vestal’s virginity was thought to be directly correlated to the sacred burning of the fire, if the fire were extinguished it might be assumed that either the vestal had acted wrongly or that the vestal had simply neglected her duties. The final decision was the responsibility of the pontifex maximus, or the head of the pontifical college, as opposed to a judicial body. The vestals were put in charge of keeping safe the wills and testaments of various people such as Caesar and Mark Antony. In addition, the vestals also guarded some sacred objects, including the Palladium, and made a special kind of flour called mola salsawhich was sprinkled on all public offerings to a god.
Failure to attend to their duties was punished by a beating; allowing the sacred fire of Vesta to die out, suggesting that the goddess had withdrawn her protection from the city, was a serious offense and was punishable by scourging (being bound to a post and stretched over it, then beaten with a short wooden handle that had several 18- to 24-inch-long straps of leather protruding from it with sharp, rugged pieces of metal, wire, glass, and jagged fragments of bone at the end). Violation of the vow of chastity was punishable by being buried alive. But the Vestal Virgins also enjoyed many honors and privileges not open to married or single women of equivalent social status, including emancipation from their fathers’ rule and the ability to handle their own property.
They travelled in covered two-wheeled carriages and had the right-of-way. At public games and performances, they had a reserved place of honor. Unlike most Roman women, they were free to own property, make a will and vote. They were able to give evidence without the customary oath. Due to their incorruptible character, they were entrusted with important wills (as those of noted Romans like Marc Antony and Julius Caesar), as well as state documents like public treaties. Their physical bodies were sacrosanct, and death was the penalty for causing them physical harm. They could free condemned prisoners and slaves by touching them, and if a person who was sentenced to death saw a vestal virgin on his way to the execution, he was automatically pardoned.
The chastity of the vestal virgins was considered to have a direct bearing on the health of the Roman state. When they became vestal virgins, they left behind the authority of their fathers and became daughters of the state. Any sexual relationship with a citizen was therefore considered to be incest and an act of treason. The punishment for violating the oath of celibacy was to be buried alive in the Campus Sceleratus or “Evil Fields” (an underground chamber near the Colline gate) with a few days of food and water. Any man who had intercourse with a vestal virgin was whipped until dead. Ancient tradition required that a disobedient vestal virgin be buried within the city, that being the only way to kill her without spilling her blood, which was forbidden. However, this practice technically contradicted Roman law that no person may be buried within the city. To solve this problem, the Romans buried the offending priestess with a nominal quantity of food and other provisions, not to prolong her punishment, but so that the vestal would not technically die in the city, but instead descend into a “habitable room.”
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