Taken

Taken took over my life for the past few days. It was as if I watched 10 movies in 4 days.

Taken is a mini-series produced by Steven Spielberg and aired on tv a few years ago and it won an Emmy award for Outstanding Miniseries. I saw a lot of commercials for it back then and I intended on watching it, but I missed it. I downloaded it over a year ago and it just sat on my computer and I almost deleted it to clear up space on my hard drive. I'm very glad that I didn't. I was procrastinating from work the other day and I had caught up in all my tv shows, when I remembered that I had Taken, so I started watching it.

It's 10 episodes, each 2 hours long, but without commercials only about 1 hour and 25 minutes. The basis of the show is the visit to Earth by aliens from the 1940's and onward. The cool part is that it mixes fact and fiction and is a multi-generation story that takes place across a period of over 50 years, with the real story about the people and the human side to everything. You follow people as they get older, and then you follow their children, and then the grandchildren and great grandchildren. It starts off slow (give it 2 episodes), but it's important b/c it builds up the family tree and the history behind the Roswell sightings, etc. It's also confusing at first b/c of all the characters and the next episode everyone looks different or there are different actors/actresses for the younger characters b/c the episode takes place in the next decade. But believe me, it gets really good.

The story is quite well written, the characters are well developed, the history elements are accurate, and it explores interesting aspects of humanity. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will probably re-watch at least the first episode now that I have more context for the characters. It's available for download, or you can buy it on DVD if you want to be legit. I recommend it even for those that aren't usually into sci fi, b/c it isn't hardcore sci fi.

I leave you with my favourite quote from the mini-series:

When you're a kid, anything can take you away. Soap bubbles, or a hose spraying a rainbow up over a new mowed lawn. I guess growing up means that it gets harder and harder to find your way back to that kind of place where you can be taken. The one time I see grown-ups with that same sort of look on their faces is when they are first falling in love.