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Spielberg's alien tale is 'Taken' to cable
cleveland.com ^ | 12/02/02 | Clint O'Connor

Posted on 12/02/2002 11:04:08 PM PST by vikingchick

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 so.

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.

Hooper said no expense was spared.

"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."

The grays also can take human form and read minds.

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.

Her voice is at once innocent and filled with wisdom.

"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.

"I'm definitely a believer," says Hooper. "There's something out there."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

coconnor@plaind.com, 216-999-4456


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: abduction; alien; boring; spielberg; taken; ufo
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To: AFreeBird
Funny you should say that People do change over time. Perhaps becoming one of the "Flower Children" in the 60s may have something to do with his adult poltics? I can't deconvolute being anti military from being anti war at all costs. I see spielberg as being anti war at all cost. Please see my post #167 on this thread. Regards, Desertcry
201 posted on 12/09/2002 10:39:20 AM PST by desertcry
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To: AFreeBird
Take this for what it's worth, if anything: A old friend of mines cousin claims to have met Spielberg in Vegas around the time Jaws made the screen; he was well known but not that famous yet. She was a trucker and he road around with her for a short period for stories, etc.

They both were out west somewhere when they were taken by aliens and tested, et al. This was before all his alien flicks.

My friends cousins story was Lots longer, but that's the summary. No reason for my friend to lie and he says the same about his cus.

Anyway, for what it's worth, 3rd party info...
202 posted on 12/09/2002 10:42:46 AM PST by KillTime
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To: mil-vet
You know...I fell asleep during the 5th episode (I was really tired, school/ work and all)...but I caught the re-run last night. I despised Eric Crawford because I thought he was exactly like his father but it was interesting seeing his character interact with Rebecca Clarke...Can't wait for tonight's episode.

Best Regards,

203 posted on 12/09/2002 10:47:24 AM PST by scoopscandal
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To: KillTime
Your friend was WITH Spielberg and they both were taken by aliens? Did I read that right?

Just for your information, there is no "before the alien flicks". Spielberg made alien flicks as a kid with his parent's 8mm camera. He invented the key "Close Encounters" special effects as a teenager. I think he really does believe in aliens, however.

204 posted on 12/09/2002 10:50:31 AM PST by js1138
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To: stands2reason
It was great...I watched about 12 hours of it (I only had mash-potato duty)...check out the SciFi channel's website, maybe they're planning on doing it again :-)

Best Regards,

205 posted on 12/09/2002 10:53:02 AM PST by scoopscandal
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To: spectre
To spectre's wife: well? It starts here in 10 minutes. How is it? guffaw
206 posted on 12/09/2002 7:57:02 PM PST by vikingchick
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To: vikingchick
The last 10 minutes are major-league 'yuck'.

Tonight's episode was one of the better ones, but it still lacked the violence against the space goblins that I was hoping for.

207 posted on 12/09/2002 8:01:27 PM PST by Mulder
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To: Mulder
Oh no, my cable's down. You guys will have to fill me in if it doesn't come back soon.
208 posted on 12/09/2002 8:06:59 PM PST by vikingchick
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To: Mulder
Yeah, I would like to see what a few 12 gauge slugs would do to one of those little walking mushrooms. They don't seem too impervious to Thompson submachine guns.
209 posted on 12/09/2002 8:10:19 PM PST by fish70
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To: fish70
So far I'm liking this miniseries. To bad my favorite character Col Crawford is dead.
210 posted on 12/09/2002 8:22:35 PM PST by KevinDavis
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To: fish70
Yeah, I would like to see what a few 12 gauge slugs would do to one of those little walking mushrooms

That would be cool.

Nothing says "no" to a space goblin quite like a 12 guage shotgun.

211 posted on 12/09/2002 8:28:57 PM PST by Mulder
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To: KevinDavis
To bad my favorite character Col Crawford is dead.

Tonight's episode introduced another "bad character" which will likely be much worse than the Colonel.

212 posted on 12/09/2002 8:37:18 PM PST by Mulder
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To: Mulder
I don't think they'll be shooting the aliens because they all seem to be liberals who would rather be probed by the aliens than fight back.
213 posted on 12/09/2002 8:44:25 PM PST by vikingchick
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To: vikingchick
I don't think they'll be shooting the aliens because they all seem to be liberals who would rather be probed by the aliens than fight back.

LOL! Liberals do seem to enjoy taking it up the butt in disproportinate numbers.

Nonetheless, I'm going to be bummed if someone doesn't open up a can of whoop-ass on the space goblins before the series ends.

214 posted on 12/09/2002 9:05:38 PM PST by Mulder
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To: Mulder
Did that drummer girl just get naked with her brother and kiss him in the stratosphere, or did I imagine that?

And I'm offended because all the evil people in the movie are blondes. Or rather, all the blonde people in this movie are evil.
215 posted on 12/09/2002 9:09:00 PM PST by vikingchick
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To: vikingchick
I dozed off again while watching it tonight. It was okay, but I was tired.
216 posted on 12/09/2002 9:11:22 PM PST by Fred Mertz
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To: Fred Mertz
It's better tonight. I liked the lighted board where they track all the people with implants, and they're moving implants from person to person. The Mad Scientist is a bit over the top, but he's pretty interesting anyway.
217 posted on 12/09/2002 9:15:29 PM PST by vikingchick
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To: vikingchick
Did that drummer girl just get naked with her brother and kiss him in the stratosphere, or did I imagine that?

Separate families, I think. You weren't imagining the naked part though ;-)

If you think that scene was bad, just wait till the last ten minutes.

218 posted on 12/09/2002 9:18:32 PM PST by Mulder
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To: Mulder
If you think that scene was bad, just wait till the last ten minutes. -- ah, cmon. Gimme a hint!
219 posted on 12/09/2002 9:24:56 PM PST by vikingchick
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To: vikingchick
Gimme a hint!

Well..... it involves your "Mad Scientist" ....

220 posted on 12/09/2002 9:29:52 PM PST by Mulder
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