Dark Angel (TV series)

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Dark Angel
Genre	Action, Science fiction
Creator(s)	James Cameron Charles H. Eglee
Starring	Jessica Alba Michael Weatherly John Savage Valarie Rae Miller Richard Gunn J. C. MacKenzie Jensen Ackles William Gregory Lee Ashley Scott
Country of origin	United States, Canada
No. of episodes	42 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 45 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	FOX
Original run	October 3, 2000 – May 3, 2002
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Dark Angel is an American cyberpunk science fiction television program, created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee, which ran from 2000 to 2002 on the FOX network. The show starred Jessica Alba as Max, a genetically-enhanced supersoldier spliced with feline DNA who searches for others of her kind, while trying to lead some semblance of a normal life.

The program was set in Seattle, Washington, but actually filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at Lions Gate Studios.

Contents 1 Setting 2 Episodes 3 Cancellation 3.1 Possible renewal 4 Plot synopsis 4.1 Season one 4.2 Season two 5 Cast and characters 6 DVD Releases 6.1 Region 1 6.2 Region 2 7 Trivia 8 Awards 9 Spinoffs 10 External links

[edit] Setting

In the year 2009, a genetically enhanced female child (whom creator James Cameron refers to as "transgenic") super-soldier who calls herself Max Guevara (also known as X5-452), escapes along with 11 others like her, from a secret government institution. At the institution, codenamed Manticore (which lies near Gillette, Wyoming, according to captioning in the pilot and opening credits of the earlier episodes, although the semi-mountainous terrain and dense pine trees shown in the series suggest that it may have been located up to 30 miles from that western plains city), they were created and subsequently raised and trained to be soldiers and assassins. Months after Max's escape, terrorists detonate an electromagnetic pulse weapon in the atmosphere over the U.S., which destroys the vast majority of computer and communication systems, throwing the country into utter chaos.

The first season begins ten years later in 2019. It follows the life of the now 19-year-old Max as she struggles to search for her Manticore brothers and sisters. In a United States which is now barely more than a Third World nation (a concept largely dropped from the show after 9/11), she tries to live her life, to evade capture, and to learn to trust and love. She is aided by Logan Cale, an underground cyber-journalist with the alias Eyes Only, and her friends Original Cindy and Sketchy at Jam Pony, a courier company where she works as a bicycle messenger. Other X-5s are periodically introduced as well.

In the second season of the show, the tone changes as Max brings down Manticore, and frees the soldiers. She is helped in her escape by Joshua, a transgenic with canine DNA, and later learns that he was the first of them made by Manticore's founder Sandeman. Max also finds out that Manticore produced soldiers for speciality environments such as desert and arctic conditions and consequently look vastly different from normal humans. A major theme in the second season is the discovery of an even more deadly enemy in a millennia-old breeding cult with similar structure to the Illuminati. This has resulted in humans even more formidable than the Manticore-produced transgenics, and even some with strong telekinetic powers. Ames White, a Government Agent met early in the second season trying to eliminate the loose transgenics, is found to be a member of the cult. When a strange message written in Max's genetic code make an appearance on her skin, it is found that Sandeman was a renegade from the breeding cult. Ames White is Sandeman's son, which essentially makes him Max's brother. The series was cancelled before the producers could really play with this dynamic, however.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Dark Angel episodes

[edit] Cancellation

Despite a strong fan base (and a second season finale directed by James Cameron), Dark Angel was cancelled in 2002 after just two seasons due to budget costs and low second season ratings. Avid fans of the show attribute the loss of ratings to a misjudgement on the part of FOX Network for airing the second season on Friday evenings instead of Tuesday evenings. In addition, changes to the format and tone of the series in the second year are also cited as contributing factors to its demise. Many of these changes were unavoidable due to budgetary concerns, departing actors, and 9/11, which forced the show to downplay its post-apocalyptic setting. Initially, a third season appeared to be greenlit, but when Joss Whedon reworked his Firefly pilot, Fox chose Firefly for a Fall slot at the expense of Dark Angel.

Dark Angel, though cancelled, has high availability with on-demand services, and as of July 10, 2006, Sci-Fi Channel has started airing repeats of the two seasons.

[edit] Possible renewal

During April of 2006, Fox held a poll on their broadcasting website asking, "Now we've brought back Family Guy for another series, which of these would you like to see resurrected for another series?" Among the choices were Dark Angel, Tru Calling, Angel, Futurama, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The poll started mid-April, and ended during the beginning of May.

At the conclusion of Fox's poll, Dark Angel ended up winning with 34.5% votes, with Tru Calling at 28.1% behind it. No word as of yet has been announced by Fox whether they will renew the series or not. If it is renewed, however, there is no telling whether or not Jessica Alba would reclaim the role of Max.

[edit] Plot synopsis

This section talks about the plot of Dark Angel.

[edit] Season one

In the first season, per James Cameron’s directing, the show revolves more around Max’s super-human abilities as a transgenic and revved-up soldier. While Max is still portrayed as a “different” young woman trying to lead some semblance of a normal life, viewers get more of a sense of Max’s Manticore-endowed, superior abilities (i.e. the abilities to see objects and hear conversations from afar, leap very high, outrun enemies, overpower most other human beings, etc.) and to some extent, her transgenic burdens (the constant need for tryptophan pills and the uncontrollable feline behavior related to going into heat). Also, Max’s main priority is to find her other eleven siblings, with whom she escaped as a child in 2009, and evade capture by her Manticore enemies. Season one has more of a run-and-hide tone to it than season two. Season one focuses on all of Max’s unique abilities (and strongly emphasizes them) as a genetically engineered powerhouse because she is only one of twelve Manticore escapees and also because Dark Angel was trying to establish itself in the TV Sci-Fi world in its infancy and used Max’s abilities to reel in the attention. In addition to the aforementioned features, Dark Angel Season One concerns Manticore’s use of super soldiers that resembled normal human beings. There are some characters stronger than or as strong as Max, but these characters look and act (somewhat) just like normal human beings. Max only has to worry about one party that wants her ensnared for good – Lydecker, who represents the Manticore Corporation as a whole. However, Max did occasionally have to contend with a Manticore competitor, Red Series, that also sought to capture her. In regards to the setting, there is much more of a Third World Country feel to the show and it is easy to ascertain the daily struggles that most post-pulse Seattle-dwellers encounter, especially when Walter (the corrupt police officer and secret boyfriend of Kendra’s) puts a strain on Max and Kendra’s living situation in regards to the bribes he requires to not report their squatting.

[edit] Season two

With the destruction of the Manticore facility, escapees are resurfacing in large numbers. Going beyond the transgenic soldiers seen before (with enhanced speed, strength, and reflexes, and combat training), new soldiers are seen with other abilities, somewhat similar to those seen in superhero comics. This leads to a "freak of the week" premise, where soldiers bred for more specific purposes make appearances, which includes a character specializing in heuristics (although his abilities are more akin to precognition), characters bred for aquatic missions (they have gills and can breathe underwater). Max also meets Joshua, the first transgenic ever created, who has dog-like facial features, strength enormous even by transgenic standards, and is the only one who lacks a barcode. He also becomes a recurring character. This leads to much more comic situations and a much lighter hearted feel, coupled with the addition of Alec, the wisecracking supersoldier and comic foil to the level-headed Max. Other main characters undergo fairly drastic changes, such as Logan losing some of the angst related to his condition (he can now walk with mechanical assistance) and Max's no longer needing tryptophan, and Max can no longer touch Logan without killing him because when she was back at Manticore they injected her with a virus which was genetically engineered to Eyes Only's (Logan's) DNA. The show also adds elements of a mysterious cult and prophecies, which remain unresolved with the conclusion of the series.

[edit] Cast and characters

See also: List of Dark Angel characters

[edit] DVD Releases

[edit] Region 1

On May 20, 2003, 20th Century Fox released Season 1 of Dark Angel on DVD. Season 2 was released on October 21, 2003. Both seasons will be re-released with slim packaging on June 5, 2007. [1]

Cover Art	DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
	Season 1	21	May 20, 2003	Audio Commentary On Selected Episodes 3 Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes Audition Tapes Blooper Reel James Cameron's Dark Angel Video Game Trailer
	Season 2	21	October 21, 2003	Audio Commentary on Selected episodes Max Resurrected featurette Making the Manticore Monsters featurette Manticore on the Loose featurette Deleted scenes Gag reel & Bloopers

[edit] Region 2

Seasons 1 and 2 were released in the UK on February 24, 2003 and June 2, 2003 respectively. However, the majority of the extras included on the Region 1 releases were omitted.

[edit] Trivia

• Jensen Ackles got the part of Alec, after playing Ben in Season 1, with no audition for the character of Alec. The producers had no idea at that point if he could play a comedic character when he was cast.
• In the various Dark Angel novels, the three remaining '09 escapees (of which there were twelve), were named to be Vada, Kavi, and Seth. All three of them were killed off in the years before Max joined up with Logan Cale. Vada was hunted by Col. Donald Lydecker and shot down in the desert. Kavi blew his cover playing baseball and threw the ball far more accurately than a normal human would, right in front of a Manticore official. He was subsequently captured and/or killed by Manticore. Seth had been working as an Eyes Only operative and just days before the start of the series, he ran into Max on the Space Needle and fell to his death to give Max a chance to escape from Manticore officials who were after them. The three transgenics were never named in the series, nor are they considered canon as per the fact that while Lydecker was in his office he would always have twelve pictures of the escapees on the wall and only took pictures down after Brin and later Ben were captured/killed.

[edit] Awards

• 2000: Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television — Jessica Alba in Dark Angel
• 2001: People's Choice Award for Favorite Television New Dramatic Series
• 2001: TV Guide Awards for Breakout Star of the Year — Jessica Alba in Dark Angel
• 2001: Teen Choice Awards for Choice Actress — Jessica Alba in Dark Angel
• 2001: Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards for Best Cinematography in a TV Series

[edit] Spinoffs

See also: Dark Angel (video game)

Written by Max Allan Collins, a trilogy of novels expands upon the Dark Angel television series.

• Dark Angel: Before the Dawn (2002) is a prequel to the television series, taking a detailed look at Max's past between 2009 and 2019. It introduced a 13th escapee, Seth. After Max and her siblings had escaped, Seth slipped out in the confusion and eventually ended up in Seattle, where he worked for Logan as a personal agent.
• Dark Angel: Skin Game (2003) immediately follows the events of "Freak Nation," the final episode of Season 2, describing the days between March and May 2021. Skin Game focuses on a killer terrorising the streets of Seattle and the growing suspicion and evidence that the killer could possibly be a transgenic. As the killings escalate, the US Army and National Guard prepare themselves for an invasion of Terminal City.
• Dark Angel: After the Dark (2003) follows Skin Game, describing the days in December 2021. Relationships are torn apart after Logan reveals a shattering truth about his past to Max, but when Logan is kidnapped, questions are set aside as Max's investigation into the capture leads to an old enemy...The Breeding Cult members of the Conclave. With the aid of a team of Transgenics, Max vows to find those responsible for the kidnapping, unaware that the Conclave are not only anticipating her arrival, but the arrival of The Coming. After the Dark answers many questions raised in the second season; The curing of Max's virus, the Conclave's agenda, the return of Lydecker and C.J Sandeman, and Max and Logan finally getting together.
• Dark Angel: The Eyes Only Dossier (2003) describes Logan's various adventures and happenings from the days of the EMP (Pulse) to the current days in 2021.

[edit] External links

• Fansite
• Dark Angel Articles
• Dark Angel fansite, Eyes-Only-Online.net
• Dark Angel Forum and Community
• Boston.com's Top 50 Science Fiction Television Shows of All Time