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Date sent: Sun, 1 Dec 2002 08:09:26 -0500
Send reply to: Discussions about UFOs and research for CURRENT ENCOUNTERS
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From: Steven Kaeser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: TAKEN article in the Washington Post
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Spielberg's 20 hour miniseries is being heavily promoted, and the
Science Fiction Channel has apparently put a lot of effort in getting
the public to watch:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43406-2002Nov26.html
A Tale of UFOs and Alien Abduction
By Alan James Frutkin
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, December 1, 2002; Page Y06
First-person accounts of alien abductions are still the stuff of
supermarket tabloids. But in the hands of Steven Spielberg, those
stories become a major TV event. At least, that's what the folks at
cable's Sci Fi Channel are hoping.
Beginning on Monday at 9 p.m., the cable network premieres "Taken," a
20-hour, 10-episode miniseries about UFO sightings, extraterrestrials,
and alien abductions. Spielberg is the executive producer.
The miniseries follows three families over the course of 60 years. It
begins during World War II, when U.S. bomber pilots flying over France
reported what may have been the first contemporary sightings of
unidentified flying objects. The action also centers on Roswell, N.M.,
where, legend has it, a UFO crashed in 1947.
In fact, "Taken's" storyline is based primarily on legends that have
emerged regarding the subject of extraterrestrials. "It's a modern
mythology," said Leslie Bohem (pronounced Bo-heem), the executive
producer who wrote the series. "If you say all of this is true, that's
amazing. If it's not true, it's even more incredible."
More incredible, Bohem added, because "for thousands of years, people
have been telling similar versions of the same story."
Bohem said he was drawn to the project because of its subject matter and
its scale. "Taken" was four years in the making and cost roughly $40
million. At 20 hours, it is the longest miniseries ever to air on TV.
But with the project spanning nearly six decades, and four generations
of families, "Taken's" size also proved daunting. Actors who figure
prominently in the early episodes soon move offscreen once their
characters' descendants come into view. Filmmaker Tobe Hooper
("Poltergeist"), who directed "Taken's" premiere episode, said that
during filming, he shot almost 300 screen tests for future roles in the
series.
"It was one of those situations where if you had examined it and asked
questions before you went into it, you may have found it overwhelming,"
the director added, chuckling. "So it was better to just put the
parachute on and jump. If it opens, it opens."
Size isn't "Taken's" only distinction. The Sci Fi Channel will air the
first five installments this week-- one two-hour episode Monday through
Friday at 9 p.m.--and five more installments next week, Monday through
Friday, as well. It's an unusual scheduling move, but Sci Fi President
Bonnie Hammer said it's worth the risk.
"To dilute this as a weekly series over ten weeks would take away some
of it specialness," she added. "It's an experiment, but we really
believe that high risk equals potentially high rewards."
Clearly, the reward Hammer is looking for is ratings--big enough, once
and for all, to put the oft-neglected cable network on the map.
"Unfortunately, many people over the years have believed that the Sci Fi
Channel is not necessarily for them," Hammer said. "Even if they enjoy
science fiction, they don't equate themselves with being science fiction
aficionados."
Sci Fi has tasted success in the past. In 2000, the cable network's
first miniseries, "Frank Herbert's Dune," drew its largest audience to
date, averaging approximately 4.5 million viewers.
With Spielberg's name attached to "Taken," Hammer said she hopes the
miniseries will reach an even larger audience, creating "an awareness
that we haven't had before about the bigness and the quality of what we
do."
And quality is the word most often tossed around when speaking of
"Taken." Hooper said that each installment of the special effects-laden
series looks more like a feature film than a typical TV show. He added
that the visual style of each episode also reflects the decade in which
it takes place. For example, the first show has a sepia-toned look, the
second highlights the Technicolor style of the 1950s, and the third has
more of a 1960s black-and-white TV look.
Despite all of its technical wizardry, Hooper said the strength of the
series still comes from its character-driven storylines. Rather than
have his actors mimic the cardboard-cutout style of many sci-fi films,
he said, "I wanted these people to be real, and to be responding to the
reality of their situations."
In creating realism out of what remains for many a surreal subject,
Bohem said he zeroed in on three different aspects of the so-called
mythology, represented by the show's three families. First, there are
the Keys, a typical American family torn apart after several of its
members are abducted. Young Allie Keys, played by Dakota Fanning, is the
series's narrator. Then there are the Crawfords, a military family.
But the Clarkes, Bohem said, reflect a traditionally under-represented
subject: debunkers. "It's one of my favorite parts of the mythology," he
said. "Guys who, for complex reasons, are dedicated to proving it was
all a bunch of hooey."
Of course, the subject of alien abductions is nothing new to television.
Bohem noted that for nine seasons, Fox's "The X-Files" covered that
subject matter admirably. So when it came time to portray the military's
purported role in the coverup of alien sightings, Bohem wanted to take a
different tack than that of "X-Files" creator Chris Carter.
Whereas Carter depicted a paranoid government afraid to let the public
know the truth even as officials cut deals in the back room with aliens,
Bohem said his portrayal of the government is a bit more humanistic.
"Even if they're vicious, ruthless and dangerous, they're trying as hard
as we are to figure out who the aliens are," he said.
Actor Joel Gretsch ("The Emperor's Club," "Minority Report") plays Capt.
Owen Crawford, an ambitious military man, and one of the most surprising
villains. And even though Crawford is seen only through episode four,
Gretsch said his storyline underscores the program's reliance on
dramatic storytelling rather than gimmickry.
"There is a Crawford legacy that's passed on to his children," he said
of Crawford's villainy. "And it just goes to show you that whatever
karma you put out there will come back to bite you in the butt."
Both Bohem and Hooper acknowledged that such intricate storylines are
the trademark of a Spielberg, whose feature résumé includes "E.T. the
Extra-Terrestrial" and "Back to the Future." Spielberg was unavailable
for an interview for this story, but Bohem said the filmmaker was
involved with the series every step of the way.
"If I was stuck on something, I always knew I was working with someone
who'd come up with something great," he said, adding that the initial
idea for the miniseries came from Spielberg himself. "Steven Spielberg
doesn't put his name on something if he doesn't believe in it."
Now, Sci Fi hopes viewers believe in it. And while airing the series
consecutively for two weeks might be asking a lot of the audience, the
network also has devised several back-up plans, among them, weekend
marathons. On Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 7 and 8, Sci Fi will air the
first five episodes on both days, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The following
weekend, it will air the first five shows on Saturday, Dec. 14, and the
second five on Sunday, Dec. 15, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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