Spielberg's alien tale is 'Taken' to cable

cleveland.com ^ | 12/02/02 | Clint O'Connor

[2sheep]

There sure is a lot of media hype lately for aliens and Roswell.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

It was slick for the first few minutes (the B-17 scenes) but went downhill after that. The previews remind me of the show "Dark Skies". This movie will confirm to all that Spielberg has lost it (we already knew that).


Sorry to see that about "Farscape". Sci fi is going to show the last 11 episodes already in the can then it's over. I was mad that they also cancelled "Lexx". It wasn't for everyone but it was still a fun ride.

[chilepepper]

I'd say Spielberg's science fiction tend to be his worst:

i found 'Close Encounters" and "E.T." to be rather boring and suspect these are in the same league...

for alien abduction movies, i can't think anyone can top the movie Fire in the Sky which i found terrifyingly believable and nightmarish...

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Dull, slow, cliched.

Home Shopping had a more lively lineup.

[Paul C. Jesup]

I got some good news about Farscape, see my last post, post 14, on this thread.

[2sheep]

Remember "Outer Limits?" Looking back...if the man's voice says, "We are in control of your television set" ...that is more MIND CONTROL than you need. Turn the TV off!

[bribriagain]

I agree. When the opening scene looked like a shameless rip off of Close Encounters, I just switched channels.

[mgc1122]

Boring is an understatement. It was deadly dull.

[Publius6961]

But I'll tune in tomorrow for the next episode, just in case this first episode's snoozefest is a fluke.

Definitely a slow start.
The editing is jarring... and they will "character develop" the audience right to sleep.

[scoopscandal]

Gosh...I guess I'm the only one who liked it.

It's definately slow, epics don't usually take off running. I'm going to save my judgement until the end.

Best Regards,

[spectre]

"shameless ripoff of Close Encounters"

"Taken" is a "shameless ripoff" combination of most scifi ET and UFO movies. I found myself thinking "hummm, where did I see THAT little scene before?"..was it Close Encounters...was it Independence Day? How about the Outer Limits?

Spielburg isn't original anymore. Especially when he has to plagerize his own movies.

sw

[Just another Joe]

You're not the only one.
I agree, epic mini-series don't normally take off with a zoom. If you're expecting a two hour adrenalin rush, this isn't it.
I'll give it the first three days to develop. If it doesn't go somewhere by then I'll fall back on my books.

[js1138]

You aren't the only one who liked it. I wouldm't give it an "A", but it is well done. I guess I'm just different, because I haven't found any sci-fi television worth watching in the last ten years.

Of course now the sci-fi channel has both John Edwards and Steven Speilberg -- a double dose.

[scoopscandal]

I should have added...did you get a chance to catch any of the alien X-Files episodes on Thanksgiving?

I thought only running the alien episodes was fabulous.

This whole alien/ human hybrid concept is fascinating. If I'm not mistaken, this same thread is going to run through Taken...and I'm very interested to see where Speilberg takes it.

I thought the sepia tone cinematography was beautiful...when that girl was at the crash site among all the burning debris, where she recovered that unknown alloy...that huge tree in the background, where the alien was hiding, with the smoke all around it, the color was so rich, it was beautiful, I thought. Then again, I sometimes am impressed by the strangest things.

I also found that the male characters are much more handsome than the women...that was odd, I thought.

Best Regards,

[Fred Mertz]

I dozed off in the chair last night too while watching. Not a good sign. I was actually looking forward to it.

[scoopscandal]

Oh good, I've found company. We'll have to check in to critique the next couple of episodes :-)

Best Regards,

[vikingchick]

This whole alien/ human hybrid concept is fascinating. If I'm not mistaken, this same thread is going to run through Taken...and I'm very interested to see where Speilberg takes it.

Most probably he'll turn the hybrid into a hunted victim, chased all over the world by the mean old humans. :)

[js1138]

I suppose I'll watch the next few episodes. Entertainment Weekly has a day-by-day rating of the episodes. Tonight's gets the lowest score of the week.

Each episode gets a different director, so there's no use trying to guess what's coming.

[dljordan]

Like yourself, I'll tune in one more time. I think most people who weren't familiar with the story would be confused about what's going on when. I kept switching to the Wings channel more and more because I was bored.