And the original V was ripping off "North by Northwest."
In fact the two themes were so close as to be INSANE.

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And I like both equally, TFB definitely had the better theme song.

Essentially, Johnson was forced out because he wanted the sequel to be just as cerebral as the original, while NBC wanted an action packed, no holds barred finale.

I'm not the fan of the original "V" that everyone else is. To me it looks incredibly cheesy and not just because of the low budget.
It PLAYS cheesy.
That being said, I am a fan of Kenneth Johnson. The pilot movie for THE INCREDIBLE HULK is still one of the two or three best and smartest superhero flicks I've ever seen.
So why was he forced off "V"?
It was a gargantuan ratings success the biggest in years and I'm shocked the network wouldn't have entrusted him to write and direct the follow ups.

TFB had indeed focused more on the thrill ride action, since the original established the intellectually- and morals-steeped setup. TFB could have benefited more than just throwaway convos about how precious the water was, which was all the depth it wanted to make. But TFB still managed to keep the threat and claustrophobic fear of the Visitors going. Not xenophobic but claustrophobic.
It is a shame Johnson was forced away. The original was great, his ideas of a sequel were also great. TFB had some great moments but all in all the original has more meat to the bone.
Conversely, the original did the setup and didn't need to repeat itself. The 1985 TV show, on the other hand, definitely needed to go back to its roots instead of ditching continuity and aiming aimlessly in all directions to scramble up a story that, by then, wouldn't have worked. By the time we see the "mask in a mask in a mask" trick in one of the latter episodes (a neat idea compounded and confounded by the glossed over fact it's Donovan and Julie for crying out loud), complete with the
second
time in the show's run when one can see the masking tape where the actors get to stand, all but the actors stopped caring and knew the show was toast. Then again, the same episode also had the scene of humans reacting to the Visitors' scientists' experiment and that is the sort of thing the Nazis did do
Would any tv show of today, since even the 2009 ill-conceived V remake, bother to have scenes of such depth like the transcript you quoted?

V had the slow build up
what's going on?
What do they want which turns into the propaganda machine and taking over
The Final Battle is further along, the set up and occupation had happened.
I honestly still view them as one long min series and yes I grew up with them and saw then as separate entities.