From none other than visionary Steven Spielberg comes TAKEN (2002), which I first saw during it's initial 2-week run on the Sci-Fi (now called Syfy) channel. I admire the scope, ambition, and emotion attached to this entertaining, if at times meandering, miniseries. Week 1 is definitely the stronger of the two, brilliantly setting up the premise and featuring some very strong acting and storytelling. The Week 1 actors and writing really SOLD me on this story and had Week 2 been as strong, I'd probably rate TAKEN as one of the best long-running miniseries of all time!
Week 1 starts off in 1944, with Russell Keys (strong performance by "General Hospital's" Steve Burton), along with his bomber crew, being 'taken' by an alien spacecraft during their WWII mission. The crew is experimented on, but Keys is essentially the lone survivor. Keys returns home with PTSD, not due to war, but due to the alien experience. This compels him to leave his wife and child to solve the mystery. Eventually, the aliens take Russell's teen son Jesse Keys (very solid performance by James Kirk). The aliens obviously see an internal resolve in the Keys' men that distinguishes them from the rest of the human race.
A second parallel story starts around 1947, and involves the lone survivor of a downed alien spacecraft that manages to take human form as "John" (Eric Close in a convincing performance), who seeks refuge on a Texas farm owned by Sally Clarke (the engaging Catherine Dent in a strong performance), a hard-working waitress and single mother of two. John and Sally bond and she is impregnated, leading to a human-alien hybrid Jacob Clarke (superbly played by then-newcomer Anton Yelchin, now known for being the new Chekhov in the re-booted Star Trek franchise).
The final parallel story also starts in 1947 in the infamous Roswell, New Mexico, where the local Air Force has found John's downed ship and his 4 alien compadres who did not survive. Backed by the government, the military takes over the super-secret project, which starts off being briefly led by Colonel Campbell (fine performance by the veteran Michael Moriarty) and is soon taken over by his ambitious son-in-law Captain Owen Crawford (brilliantly played by Joel Gretsch), military intelligence officer. Gretsch perfectly essays the role of megalomaniacal Crawford, who runs the project with unapologetic brio. I really felt that Gretsch's character carried the first week (spanning 1947 to 1962) with strong support from the other actors.
The first week's storytelling is strong, a perfect balance of science fiction, politics, speculation, and drama. One really buys into the premise that these goings-on could have actually happened. It's definitely not fiction that many an American have reported UFO sightings and alien experiences over the years, and this miniseries is one of the better attempts at relaying this message to the viewer.
It's really Week 2 (spanning from 1970 to 2002) where TAKEN goes a bit South! Although the puzzle pieces finally start to come together to an interesting, if predictable, conclusion, it's the getting there that's tedious at times, with noticeably weaker acting and writing and repetitive storytelling that piggy backs off of Week 1. The biggest plot point misfire for me was the far-fetched premise that Crawford's "successors", his son Eric and granddaughter Mary would actually INHERIT his position and power over the project. It makes absolutely zero sense for Crawford's offspring to even be involved or to take over a top-secret MILITARY project, given they had neither military nor intelligence experience like their predecessors had. Plus, neither of them had Owen Crawford's finesse or presence. He had a charming sublime machismo that radiated off the screen, while Eric was rather lifeless and Mary was too over-the-top. And Mary (played by Heather Donahue) was essentially the main character in Week 2. I also immensely disliked the usually reliable Matt Frewer's odd performance as Eric and Mary's right-hand man Dr. Chet Wakeman. Frewer's antics threw me off much too often during the last week. I found his character to be the most out of place of the entire cast.
While Emily Burgl (as Lisa Clarke) and Andy Kaufman (as Charlie Keys) were commendable as the adult versions of the last respective offspring of the Clarke-Keys clans, the main saving grace of Week 2 was the performance of newcomer Dakota Fanning (who plays Allie) whose wonderful narration is a key to the series overall success. This little girl basically stole the show from all of her adult counterparts in Week 2! Also, Week 2 definitely had a couple of entertaining episodes, but it just didn't have the overall tight feel of Week 1. But things definitely got more interesting in the last couple of episodes when all things come together!
Another issue I had with the series is the aging of the characters. At times, characters' looks based on their supposed ages didn't add up. They either looked too young or too old. Sometimes, characters looked the same age even though the time period was a good 10 to 15 years apart, while other characters looked much older than they should at that period. Ignoring that, though, there is some good dialogue and intense scenes that make up for the rather poor makeup!
So I would definitely recommend the miniseries based on ambition and overall scope and the tightly woven storytelling of Week 1. In a way, TAKEN is really among the last of a dying breed, the long-term ambitious epic network miniseries. I know Sci-Fi was never really a major network, but back then, it had vision. Now it's just the Syfy network with super low-budget sci-fi fluff! TAKEN, even though it's on Sci-Fi, reminds me more of those great, long-running miniseries that I used to watch in the 80s on the major networks. On that note alone, I say give it a try!
Week 1 starts off in 1944, with Russell Keys (strong performance by "General Hospital's" Steve Burton), along with his bomber crew, being 'taken' by an alien spacecraft during their WWII mission. The crew is experimented on, but Keys is essentially the lone survivor. Keys returns home with PTSD, not due to war, but due to the alien experience. This compels him to leave his wife and child to solve the mystery. Eventually, the aliens take Russell's teen son Jesse Keys (very solid performance by James Kirk). The aliens obviously see an internal resolve in the Keys' men that distinguishes them from the rest of the human race.
A second parallel story starts around 1947, and involves the lone survivor of a downed alien spacecraft that manages to take human form as "John" (Eric Close in a convincing performance), who seeks refuge on a Texas farm owned by Sally Clarke (the engaging Catherine Dent in a strong performance), a hard-working waitress and single mother of two. John and Sally bond and she is impregnated, leading to a human-alien hybrid Jacob Clarke (superbly played by then-newcomer Anton Yelchin, now known for being the new Chekhov in the re-booted Star Trek franchise).
The final parallel story also starts in 1947 in the infamous Roswell, New Mexico, where the local Air Force has found John's downed ship and his 4 alien compadres who did not survive. Backed by the government, the military takes over the super-secret project, which starts off being briefly led by Colonel Campbell (fine performance by the veteran Michael Moriarty) and is soon taken over by his ambitious son-in-law Captain Owen Crawford (brilliantly played by Joel Gretsch), military intelligence officer. Gretsch perfectly essays the role of megalomaniacal Crawford, who runs the project with unapologetic brio. I really felt that Gretsch's character carried the first week (spanning 1947 to 1962) with strong support from the other actors.
The first week's storytelling is strong, a perfect balance of science fiction, politics, speculation, and drama. One really buys into the premise that these goings-on could have actually happened. It's definitely not fiction that many an American have reported UFO sightings and alien experiences over the years, and this miniseries is one of the better attempts at relaying this message to the viewer.
It's really Week 2 (spanning from 1970 to 2002) where TAKEN goes a bit South! Although the puzzle pieces finally start to come together to an interesting, if predictable, conclusion, it's the getting there that's tedious at times, with noticeably weaker acting and writing and repetitive storytelling that piggy backs off of Week 1. The biggest plot point misfire for me was the far-fetched premise that Crawford's "successors", his son Eric and granddaughter Mary would actually INHERIT his position and power over the project. It makes absolutely zero sense for Crawford's offspring to even be involved or to take over a top-secret MILITARY project, given they had neither military nor intelligence experience like their predecessors had. Plus, neither of them had Owen Crawford's finesse or presence. He had a charming sublime machismo that radiated off the screen, while Eric was rather lifeless and Mary was too over-the-top. And Mary (played by Heather Donahue) was essentially the main character in Week 2. I also immensely disliked the usually reliable Matt Frewer's odd performance as Eric and Mary's right-hand man Dr. Chet Wakeman. Frewer's antics threw me off much too often during the last week. I found his character to be the most out of place of the entire cast.
While Emily Burgl (as Lisa Clarke) and Andy Kaufman (as Charlie Keys) were commendable as the adult versions of the last respective offspring of the Clarke-Keys clans, the main saving grace of Week 2 was the performance of newcomer Dakota Fanning (who plays Allie) whose wonderful narration is a key to the series overall success. This little girl basically stole the show from all of her adult counterparts in Week 2! Also, Week 2 definitely had a couple of entertaining episodes, but it just didn't have the overall tight feel of Week 1. But things definitely got more interesting in the last couple of episodes when all things come together!
Another issue I had with the series is the aging of the characters. At times, characters' looks based on their supposed ages didn't add up. They either looked too young or too old. Sometimes, characters looked the same age even though the time period was a good 10 to 15 years apart, while other characters looked much older than they should at that period. Ignoring that, though, there is some good dialogue and intense scenes that make up for the rather poor makeup!
So I would definitely recommend the miniseries based on ambition and overall scope and the tightly woven storytelling of Week 1. In a way, TAKEN is really among the last of a dying breed, the long-term ambitious epic network miniseries. I know Sci-Fi was never really a major network, but back then, it had vision. Now it's just the Syfy network with super low-budget sci-fi fluff! TAKEN, even though it's on Sci-Fi, reminds me more of those great, long-running miniseries that I used to watch in the 80s on the major networks. On that note alone, I say give it a try!