Taken
721481
222552589
2008-06-29T23:24:26Z
Mjrmtg
1995307
fix typos - otherwise thanks for the good job fleshing out the synopses :)
{{redirect|Taken}}
{{Copyedit|date=October 2007}}
{{Infobox Television Film
| name = Taken
| image = [[Image:Taken spielberg.jpg|200px]]
| format = [[Drama]], [[Science fiction]]
| camera =
| picture_format =
| audio_format =
| runtime = 88 minutes
| creator = [[Leslie Bohem]]
| developer =
| executive_producer =
| starring = [[Dakota Fanning]]<br />[[Elle Fanning]]<br />[[Desmond Harrington]]<br />[[Joel Gretsch]]<br />[[Terry Chen]]<br />[[Matt Frewer]]<br />[[Adam Kaufman]]<br />[[James McDaniel]]<br />[[Heather Donahue]]<br />[[Emily Bergl]]<br />[[Gabrielle Rose (actress)|Gabrielle Rose]]<br />[[Eric Close]]<br />[[Michael Moriarty]]<br />[[Julie Benz]]<br />[[Jason Gray-Stanford]]<br />Andy Powers
| narrated =
| opentheme =
| endtheme =
| country = {{USA}}
| language = [[English language|English]]
| network = [[Sci Fi Channel (United States)|Sci-Fi Channel]]
| first_aired = [[December 2]], [[2002]]
| last_aired = [[December 13]], [[2002]]
| num_episodes = 10
| list_episodes =
| website = http://www.scifi.com/taken
| imdb_id = 0289830
| tv_com_id = 8212
| amg_id = 278437
| bgcolour = #99CCFF
|}}
'''''Taken''''', also known as '''''Steven Spielberg Presents Taken''''' is a [[science fiction]] [[miniseries]] which first aired on the [[Sci Fi Channel (United States)|Sci-Fi Channel]] in [[2002]] and won an [[Emmy award]] for Outstanding Miniseries. Filmed in [[Vancouver]], [[British Columbia]], [[Canada]], it was written by [[Leslie Bohem]], and directed by [[Breck Eisner]], [[Félix Enríquez Alcalá]], [[John Fawcett (director)|John Fawcett]], [[Tobe Hooper]], [[Jeremy Paul Kagan]], [[Michael Katleman]], Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, [[Bryan Spicer]], Jeff Woolnough and Thomas J. Wright. The executive producers were [[Leslie Bohem]] and [[Steven Spielberg]].
Actors appearing in the program include [[Julie Benz]], [[Emily Bergl]], [[Terry Chen]], [[Steve Burton]], [[Eric Close]], [[Heather Donahue]], [[Dakota Fanning]] (who narrates, as well as starring as Allie Keys), [[Matt Frewer]], [[Joel Gretsch]], [[Ryan Hurst]], Adam Kaufman, [[Ryan Merriman]], [[Michael Moriarty]] and [[Anton Yelchin]].
==Characters==
{{Main|List of characters in Taken}}
==Synopsis==
''Taken'' is a multi-generational story spanning five decades and four generations, centering on three families: the Keys, Crawfords, and Clarkes. [[World War II]] veteran Russell Keys is plagued by nightmares of his [[abduction]] by [[Extraterrestrial life in popular culture|extraterrestrials]] during the war; the [[Roswell incident]] transforms Owen Crawford from ambitious Air Force captain to amoral shadow government conspirator; the unhappily married Sally Clarke is impregnated by an alien visitor. As the decades go by, the heirs of each are affected by the machinations of the aliens, culminating with the birth of Allie Keys, who is the final product of the aliens' experimentation and holds the key to their future.
==The Artifact==
<b>The "Artifact"<b> is a mysterious device connected to the aliens. The Artifact was initially kept on one of the alien ships flying over Earth in [[1947]], but for unknown technical reasons, the ship [[Roswell UFO incident|crashed]] and most of its crew died. The Artifact itself was thrown clear of the crashing ship and left half-buried in the ground in an area of ground scorched by the ship as it crashed. It was found and retrieved by Sue, a local young woman who was the estranged girlfriend of an ambitious Air Force Captain named Owen Crawford, when she investigated the nearby wreckage, all while being watched by the sole-surviving alien scientist (later known as "John").
Sue, recognizing the small scrap of metal had alien writing on it, and hoping it would rekindle her relationship with Owen, took it to him. Owen, who at the time was being phased out of the investigation into the crashed alien spaceship (which itself was retrieved), proceeded to brutally murder Sue and take the Artifact. Owen then presented the Artifact to his superior; Colonel Thomas Campbell, and used it to make him a Major and lead the Roswell UFO Investigation Project.
Over the next 60 years, the Artifact remains in the possession of the Crawford family, with it being the guide of each of its members' efforts of investigation into the alien's mission on Earth.
The Artifact's true nature wasn't revealed until [[2001]], when the latest member and head of the Project, Mary Crawford, discovered new writing was still being formed on the Artifact's surface. This reveals to the government that the Artifact is the recording device of the aliens' greatest genetic experiment (to create a hybrid being possessing the alien's powers and more evolved consciousness, and humankind's emotional core, which they want to use to lead them to the next step in their evolution), and has been continuously recording the events of the alien's experiment over the many decades since its arrival on Earth.
When the hybrid, Allie Keys, departed with the aliens, the Artifact was teleported away by the aliens as well.
==Implants==
As part of their experiment, the aliens abducted thousands upon thousands of innocent humans (numbering exactly 46367 at its height), mostly at night or while they were in the air, in order to find humans properly compatible with their DNA, and suitable breeding pairs, to begin the process of creating the ultimate hybrid of human and alien. The implants also served as tracking devices, to allow the aliens to track down and abduct their human test subjects wherever they go. The implant was placed in a specific area of the brain that made it impossible to remove without killing or inflicting critical brain-damage on the person (at least by the standards of human science). The implants also (most likely) had a hand in manipulation of a human's memories following their abductions.
The implants remained undiscovered, until [[1962]], when two of the implantees, Russell and Jesse Keys, discovered the implants, after the former had a head x-ray to determine the cause of a seizure he suffered. The doctors attending to the two men initially believed it was a tumor, but Jesse, suspecting it might be related to the aliens (who repeatedly abducted them), demanded he have the same x-ray, and a similar implant was discovered.
Hoping to find a way to neutralize the implants and be finally free of the aliens' interference, Russell and Jesse arranged a meeting with Colonel Owen Crawford, knowing he was head of the UFO investigation project. Russell, in private, offered up his implant, despite knowing it would most likely lead to his death. Owen accepted, and Russell was escorted to a secret surgery. Upon arrival, Russell realized Owen, who at the time was desperate for physical evidence of the alien's manipulation of humankind, had betrayed him, but was physically over-powered by the guards and sedated. The project's head scientist; Doctor Kreutz, performed the procedure, and successfully removed the implant from Russell's brain. Though mere seconds later it was revealed the implant exerts some form of negative psychic effect on human minds; most likely the signal broadcasting a human's location to the alien ships in orbit, but greatly amplified now freed of the confines of a human brain and skull. The scientists and guards were driven insane and killed each other, with one guard firing his machine gun randomly at nearby oxygen tanks, causing the entire trailer to explode, killing Russell, Kreutz and all others within.
Learning from their mistakes, the UFO Project took precautions while retrieving and analyzing more implants from other test subjects or from their corpses. Eventually, a sophisticated tracking system was created by Doctor Chet Wakeman, which was used to great effect in tracking down taken humans.
The aliens also kept using them as part of the experiment, ultimately using them to bring the Clarke and Keys families together, in the form of Allie Keys.
When it was confirmed by the aliens that Allie possessed, and could handle, their abilities, they realized their experiment was "an unqualified success", and began preparations for retrieving her, and commanded all the other implants in other humans to deactivate and leave the abducted humans' bodies through nosebleeds, as they no longer saw any use for them.
===Plot similarity===
The plot of the central story bears striking similarity to the plot of 2001 British short animated film, ''Daddy''.<ref>[http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/M/mesh/ channel4.com - home<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==Episodes==
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#EFEFEF";
!Episode
!width="150"|Title
!Synopsis
|-
|align="center" |1
|"Beyond the Sky"
|A mysterious extraterrestrial race; simply referred to as the Alien Visitors, come to Earth to perform a genetic experiment of monumental proportions upon its primitive human population. Upon their arrival, the Aliens arrive in an air battle during World War 2 over the skies of Germany; abducting B-17 Bomber Captain Russell Keys and his entire crew. Russell loses all memory of the incident, and goes on with his life, retiring a highly-distinguished war hero, settling down with his childhood sweetheart Kate and having a son; Jesse. Eventually, Russell realizes he is still being abducted and, desperate for answers, tracks down the sole-surviving member of his bomber crew (all others having died under mysterious circumstances); Lieutenant Lou Johnson, who in his final moments makes him realize the "German doctors" experimenting on them and subsequently killed by the resisting Russell were Alien's using their abilities to disguise themselves. Not wanting to bring the Alien's down upon his family, he abandons them altogether and flees for his life. Meanwhile in Roswell, Mexico, Captain Owen Crawford discovers one of the Alien Visitor's crashed ships, which is soon retrieved and becomes the initial subject of a new "Project" into discovering the Alien Visitors' purpose on Earth. When Owen is frozen out of the investigation, he discovers a mysterious Alien Artifact, seduces and marries his superior's daughter Anne, and uses both to blackmail the Project's leader and Anne's father Colonel Thomas Campbell for a promotion to Major and leadership of the Project. Owen also attempts to locate the fifth member of the Alien's spaceship crew, with the former-four all dead from the crash, though fails to locate the last one; named "John", before he departs, after having enjoyed a relationship with the lonely Sally Clarke, who sheltered the injured Alien (despite learning of his true nature later on), and ended up pregnant by him.
|-
|align="center" |2
|"Jacob and Jesse"
|12 years have passed since the initial encounters between the Clarke and Keys families' and the Alien Visitors, whose experiments on Earth are just as mysterious as ever. Russell, hoping to eventually find a successful way of evading the Alien Visitors' countless intrusions upon his life, eekes out a meager lifestyle as a drifter, and his efforts are soon proven to be in vain. On one of his many abductions, he notices, out of the corner of his eye, the Alien Visitors are abducting another; his teenage son Jesse. Russell later approaches Jesse, much to the chagrin and outrage of Kate and her new husband and Russell's former-best friend Bill Walker, and eventually escape together, only for Jesse to be captured not long after that by the Alien Visitors, and Russell, having apparently fulfilled his purpose to them, left at the mercy of Bill and his police squad. Owen Crawford, meanwhile has ascended to the rank of Colonel and continues being overall head of the Project, and is pursuing increasingly amoral methods and teaming up with unscrupulous characters in his mission to discover the secret's of the Alien Visitor's experiments on Earth. His research centers on the captured Alien Visitor spaceship, though all attempts to make the vessel fly fail leaving him in dire straits with the current administration unless he can find someone to fly it. Meanwhile, Sally is alone with her half-Human half-Alien Visitor son Jacob, Tom and Becky having since left the nest, and desperately searches for a way to contact John. Her efforts are soon found out by Owen, who, after realizing Jacob's nature, goes undercover, schemes and worms his way into Sally's confidence in order to enlist Jacob's aid before the Project is shut down. Jacob, however, possesses Alien Visitor abilities, and instantly realizes Owen's intentions for him. When Owen indeed makes his move, Jacob uses his abilities to send Owen into a horror-induced panic attack, driving him away. Tom and Becky, upon retrieving Jacob, agree with Sally to send him away for his own safety, and fake his death in case Project agents return for him.
|-
|align="center" |3
|"High Hopes"
|New-President John F. Kennedy is threatening to shut down the Project, due to his beliefs that the Aliens are not as big a danger to the United States as Owen Crawford is making them out to be. With 30 days to prove otherwise, and having failed to previously recruit Jacob Clarke in his attempts to activate the crashed Alien Visitor ship, the pressure is beginning to mount, especially when Anne, Owen's wife, becomes increasingly unstable and threatening to expose his Project secrets. Hoping to give their superior some peace of mind, Marty Erickson and Howard Bowen, Owen's subordinates and lackeys, go in search of Jacob, despite his faked death. In the end they fail because of Jacob's abilities (which he uses despite warnings by the Alien Visitor's warnings to avoid using them or they may degrade his health), and, irate the Project is instead relegated to an office-based department by Kennedy for failing, and hoping to silence his wife, Owen arranges the death of Bowen and Anne by his own hands.. Meanwhile, Jesse, still being abducted by the Alien Visitors, reunites with his father Russell, and talks him into finding and approaching Owen for help in making the Alien Visitors stop interfering with their lives, but, with Owen's desperation for proof of the Alien's "true" intentions, it results in fatal consequences for Russell. This episode marks the death of Russell Keys.
|-
|align="center" |4
|"Acid Tests"
|When Owen Crawford is finally ruined by Tom Clarke's revenge efforts, his legacy passes onto his sons Eric and Sam. While Eric is a staunch believer in his father's activities and already holds a leadership position on the Project, Sam believes the "Alien Visitors" are merely a cover story for the government's own illicit activities on the unsuspecting population, and as such the two brothers find themselves in opposite positions. When Sam finds the Artifact, however, he learns and accepts the truth, but believes entirely the opposite of Eric and their father; that the existence of the Alien Visitors should be known by the entire world. Upon noticing in an newspaper that symbols found in a newly-discovered, yet mysterious, Native American-based mummy tomb match those on the surface of the Artifact, Sam immediately journeys to Alaska, to find out additional information on the Alien Visitors. While he succeeds, it has dangerous consequences for some involved. Meanwhile, Jesse Keys, now an adult and hardened Vietnam war veteran, returns home but has since become addicted to heroin, and is haunted by his Alien Visitor-manipulated past and military career, eventually finding peace with the nurse who helps him get over his addiction; Amelia. This episode marks the deaths of Owen Crawford, Sam Crawford and the birth of Mary Crawford.
|-
|align="center" |5
|"Maintenance"
|Eric Crawford, true to his nature as his father's son, manipulate and blackmails his way into the head office of the Project, and continues investigations into the Alien Visitor's activities on Earth. To this end, Eric continues his pursuit of Jacob Clarke and Jesse Keys, hoping for answers about the Alien Visitors, and achieves this by enlisting the aid, and befriending eccentric scientist Dr. Chet Wakeman and seduces Becky Clarke. Meanwhile, Jesse realizes the Alien Visitors are still taking him, and seeks aid in finding a way to escape their manipulation before they come for his son by Amelia; Charlie. His efforts not only prove futile, but attract the attention of the Project, and his efforts to defend his son from the Aliens leads them to drive him completely insane, and so Charlie and Amelia are forced to hide from the Project and leave him behind. This episde marks the death of Sally Clarke, the last of the three original major characters (Russell and Owen being the other two).
|-
|align="center" |6
|"Charlie and Lisa"
|Over the space of the next 16 years, Charlie Keys and Lisa Clarke, the latest generation of their respective families, gradually come into play as they, as the children of Jacob Clarke and Jesse Keys (who respectively die of natural causes related to the Alien Visitors) become increasingly important in the Alien Visitors' plans, and soon attract the attention of the Project; which itself is resurrected when the government, who had previously shut it down after all of its' evidence, including the crashed ship and bodies, were taken back by the Aliens during a failed transportation to a newer facility, realizes the Aliens are a true danger. Eventually the Alien Visitors bring Charlie and Lisa together during their abductions, and conclude their part in the experiment. This episode marks the deaths of Jacob Clarke and Jesse Keys, and birth of Allie Keys.
|-
|align="center" |7
|"God's Equation"
|Charlie Keys and Lisa Clarke, having fulfilled their part of the Alien Visitor's experiment by being forced to merge and conceive a child, are finally free of their manipulation, and continue with their respective lives; with the former desperately seeking answers to his families' manipulation by the Alien Visitors, while the latter enjoys a musician lifestyle with her friends and shares a special bond with her daughter by Charlie; Allie. All are unaware that they are under surveillance by the Project, with it being centered around Allie, as Mary Crawford, now in a leadership position in the Project under her father (who she gradually sees as weak and not up to the job), correctly believes her to be the centerpiece and reason behind the Alien Visitors' experiments, as she displays near-God like abilities, and Mary eventually lays the groundwork to capture Allie for government research. Eventually the truth is learned by Charlie and Lisa, but they are unable to dwell on this as they find themselves trapped in a hostage situation, along with Allie, and later by Project agents. In the end, Allie uses her above-Human intelligence and inherited calming abilities to solve the crisis, and, after sending her parents and their respective comrades to safety with her abilities, she surrenders herself to Mary and Wakeman's custody, in exchange for her parents' lives. This episode marks the death of Eric Crawford (the last of the three major characters of the second generation, the others being Jacob Clarke and Jesse Keys).
|-
|align="center" |8
|"Dropping the Dishes"
|With Allie in the hands of the Project leaders Chet Wakeman and Mary Crawford, the military, at the direction of the imperious and Alien Visitor-xenophobic Army General Beers, arrive and claim custody of the child and set up a trap on an abandoned North Dakota farm for the aliens, intending to bring one of their ship's down and interrogate the Alien Visitors for information on their experiments. While Wakeman is allowed to travel with the military, Mary is effectively frozen out, but resolves to use the Artifact to work her way back in. Meanwhile, Charlie and Lisa frantically search for their daughter across the state, evading Project agents intending to "tie up loose ends". They eventually succeed in tracking down Allie, though not before Allie's contact with the Artifact summons an Alien Visitor ship which is promptly shot down.
|-
|align="center" |9
|"John"
|Mary and a group of soldiers are dispatched into the crashed Alien Visitor Mothership to seek an audience with the aliens; with the latter being approached by their happiest memories and worst fears, and the former seeking answers to the Alien Visitor's activities on Earth from an unlikely source...the ghost of Owen Crawford. Nothing is achieved, as the ship apparently re-activates and, upon dispatching it's human guests, departs, taking Allie with them. But just as it seems the military has failed their mission, the next day it is discovered that Allie had used her powers to deceive them. On the run with her parents from the military and their civilian aides, Allie is approached by an old acquaintance of the Clarke family, who offers his help...John.
|-
|align="center" |10
|"Taken"
|With the military in hot pursuit, Charlie, Lisa and Allie eventually rendezvous with Tom for aid in escaping the United States altogether, with John providing much-needed assistance to evade the Project agents, and answers to their purpose on Earth. While awaiting transportation to Buenos Aires, the fugitives seek sanctuary in the old Clarke farmhouse, the place where the experiment began, and John is forced to depart to give Allie the chance to live a normal life. Unfortunately, the military tracks them down, and surround the farmhouse, though are impaired when a large collection of the "Taken" and other people associated to the Clarkes and Keys families, arrive to defend Allie, who in turn provides them with the peace of mind they have been long seeking. That evening, when the escape opportunity arrives, the military launches an attack, and soon blood is shed. Allie is forced to forsake her place with her parents and any chance of life on Earth, and uses her abilities to summon the Alien Visitors, whose entire armada of Motherships arrive and teleport her away, their experiment on Earth concluded. The Project disbands, the military retreats their mission failed, Mary Crawford is arrested and imprisoned for life for her crimes and Charlie and Lisa mourn the loss of their daughter until they find one of the Clarke star-earrings in the field where Allie vanished, heartening them with the prospect that Allie has promised to return one day. This episode marks the death of Chet Wakeman, and is the series finale.
|-
|}
==References==
<references />
==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*{{imdb title|0289830}}
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/taken/ Official website] hosted by the [[BBC]]
*[http://www.cbc.ca/taken/ Official website] hosted by [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]
*[http://www.scifi.com/taken/index_main.html Official website] hosted by the [[Sci Fi Channel (United States)|SciFi Channel]]
{{EmmyAward Miniseries 2001-2025}}
[[Category:2000s American television series]]
[[Category:American television miniseries]]
[[Category:Sci Fi Channel shows]]
[[Category:Science fiction television series]]
[[Category:Vancouver television series]]
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