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TAKEN SERIES . . .

WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL I should know by now that I'm going to be disappointed regardless of how well or how terrible such movies are.

I am not at the moment aware of any significant hint of anything that might be real beyond what was already well known.

IT REALLY SEEMS LIKE a pure entertainment/money making sort of thing.

It still leaves the ET=good/bad issue up in the air though it overtly came down on the side of ET=Good. I think there were enough other fear messages in the whole thing that it could be taken the other direction without too much trouble.

On the other hand, there did seem to be a lot of warm ooooey gooooey NEW AGEY SPACE BROTHERS values junk in it.

Maybe I've missed something but I think it's not that significant in terms of the over all field--except that so much time was devoted to it--maybe that was the big deal--legetimizing the subject much more with so much screen time.

Any other thoughts?

In the movie, Contact, the notion that there is nothing beyond us (we and the other civilizations out there) came through as central. Given that Carl Sagan was a determined agnostic if not so arrogant as to present himself as an atheist, that's to be expected. In Taken, the same theme wafts through, piecing together what the little girl character said and what her great granfather, John, said regarding his race having evolved to a point where they lack a sense of good and evil, right and wrong. But it was unsettling that this notion be presented absent a notion of a Creator of us all!

Sadly, the beliefs espoused through this series appear to fit a 'new age' religious perspective, fostered strongly by a reliance upon science and the lack of gentility to exercise faith on a personal level; faith not as the faith we exercise when using a money changing machine or seating our big behinds in a chair, but faith in the spiritual things hoped for, the spiritual things not seen.

I'm firmly convinced that the vast universe of stars beyond our own is there for a purpose ... more than as a light show for our enjoyment. Exactly what that purpose is, well, I have a few notions, conjectures, but nothing to offer for scientists to poke and prod, as yet. I've explored in earlier writings the notion of we humans being something special in this unverse, something really important to the evolving universe. Spielberg and his team have done the same thing, but it saddens me that they tried so desperately to remain religiously void in the effort. There was a way to inject the religious nature of humankind, without playing favorite to a particular religion. That Spielberg chose to do this project this way, absent God, I find too hollywoodesque, to damn PC to 'new age' beliefs. Perhaps that's what the writer and his sponsor had in mind, a dry vessel after lowering it into the well. Empty men write empty works, yet in today's shallow culture, such is considered depth of soul. Isn't Sartre dead yet? When will Hollyweird stop trying so hard for the existential, to be meaningful?

Early on I wanted to believe the series would be good because I needed to be motivated to watch it all.

My final assesment is that I did not like it. It was not science fiction. It was merely fiction that took many loose ends and wrapped them into a mass.

The alien scientist John came to earth to study our branch of the space inhabiting species. He learned that humans were touchy feely and began an experiment involving taking humans into space ships for reasons never stated.

Over a period of generations, one of those taken, Charlie, was bred to an alien/earth native cross to produce the ultimate. That product was Allie.

Even though Charlie was third generation Taken, there was no indication as to why he was any different than his grand father. At the end when Allie removed the markers from all of the Taken assembled on the lawn, Charlie did not produce a shiny pellet from his head.

There was never a reason given as to why the cross between a taken and an alien/earth was any different from a cross between an ordinary earth person and alien/earth person.

Lastly, the whole question of genetics was botched. The failure to extrapolate good science makes the production merely fiction. The qualities the John wanted to breed into the alien stock ane not genetic and are not subject to selection. The qualities stated by John are the product of cultural evolution and are social, not biological.

As always, Hollywood missed the point to tell what it thought was a good story. There are no redeaming qualities.

I liked "Taken". I watched it all the way through and it was very entertaining.

One thing that REALLY pissed-me-off was the General's comment in the 9th episode...He was supposedly on the phone with President Bush and when he hung-up, he bashed him.

The General's character was simply unbelievable overall...He even had nice things to say about Crawford's grand daughter AFTER she had shot her boyfriend/the doctor in the BACK!!!???? He would have been court-marshalled after the way he ran his military operation. He told Crawford's crand daughter and the other scientist to just "Keep in touch" after they lost the little girl??? He didn't try to find her himself????? He just GAVE UP??? Please...

And Crawford's grand daughter was just HORRIBLE! That was the chick from "The Blair Witch Project". I liked her in that film but in this one, she was a HORRID actress. No wonder this is the best part she's gotten since then. She should be black-balled after this. She's WORTHLESS!!!

As for the Aliens...I don't know if the came-off as good guys or not. Remember the original surviving alien...The one who got the whole ball rolling? He got pretty nasty with his kid's half-siblings when they found that comic book with the picture of him on the cover.

And they way the loyal listeners of that Art Bell like guy were the ONLY ones to show-up at the farm was just IDIOTIC! He broadcast their intentions ALL OVER THE WORLD!!! The military wasn't monitoring that show? Please...

The confrontation between all the radio listeners and the military was horrible too. The listeners went and grabed guns but when they clashed not a single shot was fired???

The military's roll over the last few nights was just PATHETIC. VERY, VERY bad...They were all a bunch of CLOWNS! Breaches of security ALL OVER THE PLACE!! It could have ruined the entire mini-series but I guess I just didn't allow it too. Although they provided most of the "Eye Rolling" moments...Too many to list here.

The little girl got bashed in the reviews but I think she was head and sholders the best actor in the entire thing...And her character was the best too. A close second goes to the scientist...That guy who played Max Headroom.

Overall, I give it a 4 out of 5 stars. The JOKE of a military through the whole thing could have EASILY brought it down to a 2 out of 5 (ESPECIALLY the later-day military and all their security breaches) but the little girl saved it. I thought she was tremndous all around.

By the way...Can anyone find the Taken thread that's on Free Republic? I looked for it all last night and came up with nothing. Free Republic is great but the search feature sucks.