Taken (2002– )

Taken spans 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 ... See full summary »

Writer:

Leslie Bohem (creator)

Stars:

Dakota Fanning, Matt Frewer, Emily Bergl

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 7 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Dakota Fanning	...	Allie Keys (10 episodes, 2002)
Matt Frewer	...	Dr. Chet Wakeman (6 episodes, 2002)
Emily Bergl	...	Lisa Clarke - Adult (5 episodes, 2002)
Heather Donahue	...	Mary Crawford - Adult (5 episodes, 2002)
Joel Gretsch	...	Colonel Owen Crawford (5 episodes, 2002)
Adam Kaufman	...	Charlie Keys - Adult (5 episodes, 2002)
John Hawkes	...	Captain Marty Erickson (5 episodes, 2002)
Ryan Hurst	...	Tom Clarke - Adult (5 episodes, 2002)
Camille Sullivan	...	Nina Toth - Adult (5 episodes, 2002)

Storyline

Taken spans 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 aliens during the war; the Roswell incident transforms Owen Crawford from ambitious Air Force captain to evil 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.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | roswell | secret development | alternative history | conspiracy | 

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Taglines:

Three families. Four generations. Fifty years of secrets.

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Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

BBC [United Kingdom] Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 December 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Steven Spielberg Presents Taken

Filming Locations:

Britannia Beach, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

877 min 877 min (10 parts)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The WW2 bombing sequence in episode one was created using NewTek's "Lightwave 3D". The image of Germany was actually a spy photo taken from WW2.

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Goofs

In the episode "Maintenance," Jesse looks at a newspaper that has a headline "Ambassador to El Salvador disagrees with Pentagon". However, the story carries a byline of "New Delhi" and talks about a meeting between the prime ministers of India and Pakistan. It also mentions "Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee", even though the scene takes place in 1980 and Vajpayee would not become PM of India until 20 years later.

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Quotes

Allison Clarke: My grandfather used to tell my mom that kids should never have to worry about anything more serious than baseball. Everything you need to know is there. It has success and failure, moments when you come together and moments where you stand alone. And it has an ending. Not a clock, like in other sports, but an ending. And that, my grandfather said to my mom, is as close as a kid should have to come to that sort of thing.

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Connections

References The Bridges of Madison County (1995)

User Reviews

Fantastic exploration of ourselves in this time.

I've seen all but the last segment of this mini-series and think it is great. Heather Donahue wonderfully portrays the evil investigator in hot pursuit, free of any scruples. Dakota Fanning is a star as she portrays the series hero, Ally, and narrates the story. The story itself draws on the current belief in Alien abduction, but in fact the real threat of being "taken" comes more from the scientists and military investigators who doggedly pursue their prey without any regard for the humanity of those they come into contact with, including the alien hybrids. Conversely, the alien hybrids have achieved a greater humanity than most of us ever will, culminating in Ally who not only feels intense sensitivity and compassion for people but has the power to act on it in ways impossible for us. Interestly, we identify with the hybrids as the pursued and as a those beings possessing those human qualities that we would most like to possess. That is what the series intended and is similar to "AI" in that regard. The film deals with our current mythology, which like all great and timeless mythologies explores our nature through an examination of the Gods and man and their interactions. Mythology changes though as it adapts to the conflicts human beings face in a particular moment in time. Spielberg is extremely important in that he has chronicled this changing mythology and our changing sense or ourselves beginning with "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" followed by "E.T." "Taken" is far darker, but so are we. It serves the purpose of all great mythology however by providing us the opportunity of self-examination.