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Episodes
Volume One: Roswell: The Landing: “Beyond The Sky”, “Jacob And Jesse”
Episodes
Volume Two: A New Generation: “High Hopes”, “Acid Tests”
Episodes
Volume Three: Abductions And Government Conspiracies: “Maintenance”,
“Charlie And Lisa”
Episodes
Volume Four: Alien Contact: “God’s Equation”, “Dropping The Dishes”
Episodes Volume Five: The Gift: “John”, “Taken”
Stars:
Steve Burton, Joel Gretsch, Catherine Dent, James Kirk, Anton Yelchin, Andy
Powers, Desmond Harrington, Andy Powers, Chad Donella, Ryan Hurst, Matt Frewer,
Adam Kaufman, Emily Bergl, Heather Donahue, Dakota Fanning, James McDaniel, Ryan
Merriman, Eric Close, and Chad Morgan
Writer:
Leslie Bohem
Directors:
Tobe Hooper, Breck Eisner, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, Bryan Spicer, Felix Alcala,
Thomas J. Wright, Jeremy Kagan, Jeff Woolnough, John Fawcett, and Michael
Katleman
Created
By: Leslie Bohem
Executive
Producers: Steven Spielberg and Leslie Bohem
Feature
length: 14 hours and 45 minutes
Extras:
“Inside Taken”, “The Cast Of
Taken”, “A New Reality: The Visual Effects Team”, “A Singular Vision:
The Directors”, “Time Warp”
Languages:
English and French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Six-Disc Digipack Gatefold Within A Glossy Cardboard Slipcase
Chapter
Stops: 9 Per Episode
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Television Broadcast: 2002/DVD Release: 2003
Home
Video Distributor: DreamWorks Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“Steven Spielberg Presents Taken” is probably the most ambitious science fiction miniseries ever produced. It is also one of the longest with a total of ten episodes that premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel on Monday, December 2, 2003 and aired weekdays for two weeks. Not since the 1970s or maybe the early 1980s has their been a network miniseries of this length and scope. The story chronicles 50 years in the lives of three different families that are somehow connected to the UFO phenomenon. The Crawfords tend to be self-serving and relentless people who over the course of the series will do anything to find out the secret behind the alien visitations and abductions, including murder. The Keys are the unwilling victims of generations of alien abduction and experimentation while the Clarkes are a family that becomes embroiled in the entire extraterrestrial agenda when their lonely mother conceives a human child with alien DNA. The results lead to the culmination of all three families eventually confronting the truth about their experiences through an enlightened young girl that may provide the ultimate answer in developing an understanding between our race and the extraterrestrials.
Now fans of the miniseries can finally take the entire series home with this six-disc box set that features two episodes per each of the first five discs and a five part promotional documentary on the sixth disc. The episodes tend to run between 87 and 89 minutes each and are presented in an anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) aspect ratio with a slightly grainy picture quality that seems to serve the miniseries well because at times it helps to set the period scenes better and almost brings a pseudo documentary feel in some parts. A well-rounded and ambient English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is provided along with a French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired coupled with French and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto the discs as options.
Unfortunately the extra features provided on disc six are nothing more than the same Sci-Fi Channel promotional special that aired back in December of 2002 and is divided into five parts that can be viewed individually or as one reel (38:56). They cover the development of the miniseries, the casting, special effects, Directors’ visions, and makeup and period production design. Unfortunately some of the interview clips seem rather superficial and the extreme close-up style in which the participants talk at the camera makes them all look rather unflattering. Considering this was both an Emmy Award winning miniseries and flagship production for both DreamWorks Television and the Sci-Fi Channel, I really expected a lot more than just the same fluffy EPK like material that was shown a bit too often on the Sci-Fi Channel to begin with. I also think DreamWorks and the Sci-Fi Channel waited too long to release the North American Region One DVD set. With the miniseries still being run on Sci-Fi, I felt a bit like the thunder had long past on this show and although I am very grateful to have it on DVD, I think they should have released it sooner rather than later. May would have been a good month in my opinion.
As
it is, “Steven Spielberg Presents Taken” is a great science fiction
miniseries well worth owning on DVD, but the extra features are disappointing.
“Steven Spielberg Presents Taken” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers
on and offline from DreamWorks Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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