Spielberg's alien tale is 'Taken' to cable

If you were assigned to make a fantastical 20-hour, 10-part series about alien encounters, you'd think you'd concoct the freakiest, funkiest extraterrestrials ever conceived.

Not if you're making "Taken," the alien-abduction saga that premieres at 9 tonight on cable's Sci Fi Channel.

"Steven said we had to respect the lore," says Jim Lima, the project's visual-effects supervisor. "We had to be faithful to what was said the most by people who had encounters."

Steven is Steven Spielberg. He is not only one of the most powerful people in entertainment, but also the man who gave the world "E.T." and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." The man who can green-light so many projects gave birth to this one four years ago. It's on cable because no network could commit such a massive chunk of its prime-time schedule.

Because of Spielberg's decree, the aliens in "Taken" are rather standard issue: gray, about 4 feet tall, long fingers, skinny bodies, oversized heads with huge black, almond-shaped eyes. Spielberg scored with the acclaimed World War II miniseries "Band of Brothers" on HBO, and now he's out to see if an audience will stay with 10 two-hour, movielike episodes over two weeks.

The series follows three American families - the Clarkes, Keys and Crawfords - over four generations, from 1945 to the present day and slightly beyond.

It pays homage to major alien encounters reported in America's postwar history, including the most pivotal event: the supposed crash of a spaceship near Roswell, N.M., in July 1947.

"It's the coolest thing that I've ever seen," says Tobe Hooper of the series. Hooper directed the pivotal first episode (each episode has its own director). Hooper knows about "cool," not to mention strange, having directed "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "Poltergeist" (co-written by Spielberg).

Although it was up to Hooper to integrate "the grays" into the story, it was the Earth-bound humans who received most of his attention. The director said he was hooked because the story was so character-driven.

"I liked that it wasn't sci-fi-y," he says on the phone from his home in Southern California. "It was like the real thing."

The real thing begins in the skies over Germany during World War II. Capt. Russell Keys (Steve Burton) is leading an Allied bombing mission. His bomber gets hit and is headed down in flames but is saved by some mysterious blasts of blue light. He and his crew are mysteriously healed and wake up in a field in France. But who really saved them and what was done to them after they were "taken"?

Keys returns home to a sepia-toned America to reunite with his parents and his best girl, something out of "The Best Years of Our Lives."

"I tried to give the characters that subtext, to give it that Norman Rockwell feel," says Hooper.

"We had 60 locations and more than 60 actors. I had every lens, every cinematic toy," he says. And he had Lima.

The visual-effects guru, who had worked previously with Spielberg in television on "SeaQuest DSV" and "The Others," also had created outer dimensions for films such as "Space Jam" (he also designed the Green Goblin for "Spider-Man.")

"It was like doing 10 movies," says Lima on the phone from his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. "We had 16 months of production. In my earliest discussions with Steven, he explained that science fiction is 'Minority Report.' Science mythology is UFO sightings, close encounters of the first kind." (Close encounters of the second kind are defined as physical evidence; close encounters of the third kind are alien sightings.)

Lima used a cavalcade of computer-generated digital tricks; there are no puppets or animatronics. But there is a human element. He took a digital photograph of his wife's eye, enlarged it, stretched it out, colored it and used that for the aliens' eyes.

"The iris is still in there," says Lima. "I wanted to show thought, to have these digital characters show emotion."

If "Taken" is groundbreaking for its length and visual effects, it also must set some sort of record for script-writing. Les Bohem wrote the entire 20 hours. A former member of the band Sparks, Bohem ("Dante's Peak") emphasizes the human relationships and family interplay.

The ensemble cast includes Catherine Dent, Joel Gretsch, Eric Close, Ryan Hurst, Matt Frewer and Michael Moriarty as the stern colonel who covers up the initial Roswell crash in tonight's episode. Some characters span several nights. Eight-year-old Dakota Fanning (the daughter in "I Am Sam") narrates all 10 episodes and appears in the final four.

"It's very much 'To Kill A Mockingbird,' " says Hooper. "It has that sensitivity, that kind of elegance."

As for the phenomenon itself - the long lists of people who claim to have been abducted, poked and prodded by aliens and returned to Earth - Hooper says he has studied it more than half his life. He finds it valid.

You are better versed on Speilberg than I. I did not see Close Encounters, nor did I see ET. In fact I think the only Speilberg epic I saw was Jaws. Regarding Crawford, I realize that not everybody in the military was in league with him, but when they arrested the kid as a spy I think it makes them seem like fellow travellers or enablers at least.
Having seen all episodes this far, I was disturbed by the fact that there was no retribution paid by Crawford for his heinous crimes and he died with his copybook unblemished. I realize it is only a fictional story, but if you are going to write a morality play, let's have some morality.

but if you are going to write a morality play, let's have some morality.

Well let's see... He lost his wife (several times), his job, his favorite son, and his life. And trust me, his other son is cruising down the wrong highway.

Although "natural justice" feels good, not every story has to include it. In fact, I would like the series better if they didn't feel compelled to include the Forest Gump, feel good civil rights hippy-dippy stuff. I know it sets the period, but it also rubs my behind the wrong way.

Okay js; This is my last word on the subject, but when watching this show I am reminded of an incident which happened back in the 70s.
A guy got together with some of his friends and asked them to help him write a soft-porn novel. He gave them all the outline of the story and asked each one to write a chapter quite separate from the other people.They did and the chapters were put in book form and it became quite a good seller. The name of the book was, "Naked Came The Stranger"
I never read the book, but I did read the reviews and to me watching Taken is like watching a story written by a group of people quite independent of each other. Perhaps it should be called. "Naked Came The Alien".

[Random thoughts about last night's episode]

East of Eden: yep, I see that. Definitely.

If you ever saw the opening montage for the Amazing Stories series, it's exactly like the opening montage for Taken.

The Alaska scenes started to intrigue me when they found the mummy. However, all that running around in the woods started to get tedious. But I will give them credit for finally showing the half-alien guy at the end.

I think it's a cop-out when the movie-makers say that the aliens can assume human form, because then they don't have to do any creative makeup. All they have to do is have the human-appearing 'alien' walk around stiffly, with an unemotional expression on his face.

I guess I'll stick with it too.....to the bitter end.

Nothing will escape your vast sci-fi knowledge, I'm counting on it, VC..grins.

And we thought Steven King plagerized his material. He's got a twin in Spieburg, me thinks :~)

About the Aliens being able to change forms. Did you catch the term "shape shifters"? I'm surprised they haven't spoken of the Reptilian Race, aka, "shape shifters". But the series is only half over. Uggh.

At one point in the first night, a woman drives around the same curve where the UFOs first appeared in Close Encounters.

I knew that stretch of road looked familiar.

Scoop. I think the reason I'm still watching, is because I expect some sort of a HUGE finish. Something different or unique that hasn't been thought of before.

Or maybe, when it's all said and done, I'll just throw a shoe at the TV and shout "Spielberg"!

I think the reason I'm still watching, is because I expect some sort of a HUGE finish. Something different or unique that hasn't been thought of before.

That's what I'm waiting for too. Dare we to dream? Let's see what we've got so far:

hovering flying saucer (been done before),
little green/gray men (done),
inside the spacecraft (nothing new that I remember),
strange alien language printed on piece of metal (sounds familiar),
victims of aliens being probed naked in spacecraft (done),
car turning off when spacecraft hoviering overhead (check)

Correct me if I'm wrong.....

You forgot to list the Alien implanting a human with it's seed. And the "lapse in time" amnesia.

Other than that, you pretty much summed it up.

I can hardly wait for tonights episode...The suspense is just killing me...sigh.

Hi Doc. Just read your post. I'm still crackin up over your fantasy of the beautiful Alien creature woman probing every orifice of yours. You certainly have a way with words, LOL.

When Crawford took out his drunk wife, if looks could have killed, HE would have been dead. What a jerk. Telling her he was sending her off to a nice, alcohol Rehab center and he killed her and his Aide instead.

WE could have written a better script...heck, we have!

The reason the car stalls... konks out... is because it's not maintained properly.

I've seen weird stuff in the sky and on my photos but I ain't saying they're from outer space!

Sure, I got a tiny little hole in the back of my neck that never seals but I don't call it a device!

The human eye is a lens... the brain is a computer. Between the two, what you see is what you get.

Question; How much do we know about light refraction in our atmosphere... or camera anomalies?

I would say little. When you can't explain something... the brain digs into the files for the closest thing. UFO, ghosts whatever.

Sorry I don't believe in UFO,s it's a fantasy, taken advantaged by hollywood as a propaganda.

Neither do I. But in the story, the government is the enemy.

By the way, apart from selling a story that makes them lots of money, what advantage does Hollywood have in promoting this propoganda (I assume you are saying they are promoting it as true, as opposed to just selling science fiction stories)?

It would be interesting, from a scientific point of view, if the visitors actually turned out to be bipedal, have two eyes, swing two arms, etc. Is there some imperative for this evolutionary outcome? Know what I mean?

That is something I have often thought. IF these 'grays' are for real, the similarities to humans is striking. Evolution or intelligent design, my vote is creation, the probability of two separate worlds evolving similar creatures light years apart is beyond remote.

What advantage does hollywood...... It's no secret that spielberg, like the clintons and most of his hollywood pals are leftist military hating liberals. Thus he uses his movies to get cheap shots at the military and conservatives. It's as simple as that. But it's extremely revolting to me. I hope some people in FR shares this openion.

The little girl's voiceover is quite insufferable. It's like a little girl Andy Rooney. "You know how it feels when you're crossing a dark room? And you're pretty sure you won't bump into anything as you're feeling your way in the darkness?...."

"Most people have faith that things will go well in their lives. That is, until something goes wrong....."

Thus he uses his movies to get cheap shots at the military and conservatives However, he did do "Saving Private Ryan," a great war movie. Credit where credit's due. You are right though, that in other movies, he makes little swipes at the military and law enforcement, like the 60s flower child that he is.

I've watched some of this series. At times, it's been pretty boring, and I've done other stuff while leaving it on in the background. I guess I'll continue to watch to see how it ends, although I wouldn't be surprised if the conclusion pushes a world government (either to fight the grays or in the name of 'world peace').

One thing I can't figure out in all these abduction movies is why the 'abductees' don't try to ambush the bastards. After all, there's nothing wrong with a space goblin that can't be fixed by a good security perimeter and a 12 guage shotgun.

At least in "V", there was lots of fighting and resistance. And they even had some hot babes in that one (Jane Badler as the alien leader and June Chatwick as her blonde bimbo sidekick). That alone was reason enough to watch "V".

Mulder!! How the heck are you? Have you signed that donor card yet?

After all, there's nothing wrong with a space goblin that can't be fixed by a good security perimeter and a 12 guage shotgun. LOL! Glad to know you haven't changed.

Yeah, everybody just stands around like statues whenever the aliens arrive. How exactly am I supposed to feel sorry for them if they don't DO something? Run, fight, kick, hide, scream, shoot.....man alive. These can't be Americans.

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