tek's rating: ½

Taken, on Sci-Fi
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Caution: potential spoilers.

An epic 10-part miniseries, executive produced by Steven Spielberg, which aired over the course of two weeks in December of 2002 (and which is one of the earliest entries in what I have since come to see as a tradition of SFC airing major miniseries events almost every December, though this one remains by far the most epic in length, scope, and as far as I'm concerned pure awesomeness). The story begins in the 1940s, and continues through contemporary days. Back in World War II, UFO's (or Foo Fighters) would fly alongside fighter planes. Apparently, the aliens found that when they abducted humans, the subjects would eventually die. But one pilot didn't, and so they spent a few generations abducting him and his descendants, trying to discover what made him different. Meanwhile, in 1947, a flying saucer collided with a weather balloon and crashed outside Roswell, NM. Some aliens died; one was taken alive by the military, and studied for a time. One alien eluded them, and appeared in human guise to a lonely housewife in Texas, whose husband was a traveling salesman, and was away. Or had left her, or something, I forget. Anyway, this alien stayed with her and her kids for awhile, and ended up impregnating her before leaving. The aliens would watch the offspring and his descendants for a few generations.

There was also a young intelligence officer in the Air Force who was involved in the project to study aliens and cover up the truth. He married the daughter of the colonel who was in charge of the project, and eventually usurped it from him. The story would also follow him and his descendants for a few generations of their involvement in the project. It all ultimately led to the aliens abducting a descendant of the WWII pilot and a descendant of the alien, and having them conceive a child together. A precocious little girl named Allie.

She didn't actually arrive on the scene until half way through the series, but she narrated it from the beginning. She was a really great character, seamlessly blending wisdom beyond her years with a childlike innocence which was most appropriate, what with her being a child, and all. And that's what she wanted to be, just a normal kid, but ultimately she realized she didn't really have a choice. She had powers, and she was wanted by both the aliens and the government project (which was eventually taken over by the Army). Allie was played brilliantly by Dakota Fanning, who quickly became one of my favorite actors. Anyway... the series ended sort of predictably, something of a letdown, I felt, but still... I don't really see that there was much of any other way it could have ended. Not and be both for the better, and believable, anyway. Well, a pretty good story, all in all. Bit hard to follow early on, but after the first few episodes it really started to gel, and then the earlier episodes made more sense in retrospect, I thought. Someday I definitely need to get it on DVD, watch it again, and hopefully write a better review.