| Dark Skies | |
|---|---|
| Format | Science fiction |
| Created by | Brent V. Friedman Bryce Zabel |
| Starring | Eric Close Megan Ward J. T. Walsh Tim Kelleher Conor O'Farrell Charley Lang Jeri Ryan |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 20 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 44 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 21, 1996 – May 31, 1997 |
Dark Skies is an American UFO conspiracy theory-based sci-fi television series that aired from the 1996 to 1997 season for 18 episodes, plus a two-hour pilot episode. The success of The X-Files on Fox proved there was an audience for science fiction shows, resulting in NBC commissioning this proposed competitor following a pitch from producers Bryce Zabel and Brent Friedman. The series debuted September 21, 1996 on NBC, and was later rerun by the Sci-Fi Channel. Its tagline was "History as we know it is a lie."
Contents |
The series presents the idea that 20th century history as people know it is a lie. It depicts aliens having been among humans since the late 1940s, with a government cover-up concealing their existence from the public. As the series progresses, viewers follow John Loengard and Kim Sayers through the 1960s as they attempt to foil the plots of the alien "Hive". The Hive is an alien race that planned to invade Earth through a manipulation of historical events and famous figures, including most notably the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In addition, the pair must stay one step ahead of Majestic 12, a covert government agency that has mixed motives. The show depicted a number of real-life 1960s personalities in the plot, such as The Beatles, Robert Kennedy, Jim Morrison, and J. Edgar Hoover.
The series was cancelled before the end of the first season, due to low ratings. Although the last episode produced provides some form of closure for the series, with Kim Sayers becoming possessed by the Hive and the head of Majestic 12 being apparently assassinated, the show's creators had originally hoped to create five seasons, as indicated by the show's "Bible" or major planning document.[1] According to Zabel and Friedman's original plan, the pilot and first season (given the overall title "Official Denial") would cover the period from 1961 to 1969, the second season ("Progenitor") 1970 to 1976, the third season ("Cloak of Fear") 1977 to 1986, the fourth season ("New World Order") would cover 1987 to 1999, and the fifth and final season ("Stroke of Midnight") would break from the decade-spanning format to encompass the apocalyptic final conflict against the invaders, taking place from 2000 to 2001.
The series depicts The Hive as an alien species who are covertly invading Earth. They are a parasitic race of small multi-legged spider-like beings that can take control of host bodies, by attaching themselves to the brain. They do this by entering through orifices on the head, commonly the mouth, though they are also shown to enter by squeezing through the nose and ears, with great discomfort to the host. Due to the way they attach themselves to the brain's ganglion regions, the series' protagonists dub the creatures "Ganglions".
Various stages from Alpha to Delta occur which show varying degrees of the infection.[2] Initial symptoms of take-over include drastic mood swings, behavioral abnormalities, and nervous breakdowns, as the parasite adjusts to taking control of the person's mind. Past medical records of a nervous breakdown are a tell-tale sign that someone may have been taken over. The Gamma and Delta stages are where the Hive organism takes total control over the host which becomes nothing more than a shell for the invading organism.
Not all humans make acceptable hosts for the Ganglions. Due to certain genetic factors, a minority of humans are incompatible with the Ganglions' biology; these have been dubbed "Throwbacks". There are several cases where a group of people were abducted and taken over by Ganglion parasites, but a Throwback in the group wasn't infected and simply returned, often because it would be too conspicuous to kill them. Captured Ganglion parasites have been injected with the blood of Throwbacks, causing them to die in agony. The Hive is running various experiments to try to either eliminate Throwbacks or develop more humans who are easier to control, such as growing cloned human babies in cows.
Some time ago, the Ganglions invaded an advanced alien race, dubbed the "Greys" — the typical depiction of a Roswell Grey alien. The Greys were a race not unlike humans, though they possessed technology making them capable of interstellar travel. The Ganglion parasites invaded them in much the same way that they're trying to invade Earth now, and by the time they realized what was happening, it was too late. Thus, the "Grey aliens" seen abducting humans are really just as much a slave race or "shells" for the Ganglions as the infected humans are.
The Hive's language, Thhtmaa, was developed by Reed College linguistics professor Matt Pearson.[3]
When the Ganglions were evolving, apparently before they took over other animals as hosts, they had a natural predator — slug-like creatures called "buzz worms". They have actually brought samples of the buzz worms along with them with their ships, using them as a particularly gruesome means of executing their own kind.
Guest real-life 1960s characters
| # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Awakening (Part 1)" | Tobe Hooper | Brent V. Friedman & Bryce Zabel | September 21, 1996 |
| 2 | "The Awakening (Part 2)" | Tobe Hooper | Brent V. Friedman & Bryce Zabel | September 21, 1996 |
| 3 | "Moving Targets" | Thomas J. Wright | Brent V. Friedman & Bryce Zabel | September 28, 1996 |
| 4 | "Mercury Rising" | Tucker Gates | James D. Parriott | October 19, 1996 |
| 5 | "Dark Days Night" | Matthew Penn | Story by: Brent V. Friedman & Bryce Zabel Teleplay by: Brent V. Friedman & Brad Markowitz |
October 26, 1996 |
| 6 | "Dreamland" | Winrich Kolbe | Steve Apsis | November 2, 1996 |
| 7 | "Inhuman Nature" | Rodman Flender | Melissa Rosenberg | November 9, 1996 |
| 8 | "Ancient Future" | Lou Antonio | James D. Parriot & Gay Walch | November 16, 1996 |
| 9 | "Hostile Convergence" | David Jackson | Story by: Brent V. Friedman & Bryce Zabel Teleplay by: Javier Grillo-Marxuach |
December 7, 1996 |
| 10 | "We Shall Overcome" | Jim Charleston | Bryce Zabel | December 14, 1996 |
| 11 | "The Last Wave" | Perry Lang | Melissa Rosenberg | January 4, 1997 |
| 12 | "The Enemy Within" | Jim Charleston | Story by: Brent V. Friedman & Bryce Zabel Teleplay by: Brad Markowitz |
January 11, 1997 |
| 13 | "The Warren Omission" | Perry Lang | Brent V. Friedman & Bryce Zabel | January 18, 1997 |
| 14 | "White Rabbit" | James A. Contner | Brent V. Friedman | February 1, 1997 |
| 15 | "Shades of Gray" | Perry Lang | Brad Markowitz | February 8, 1997 |
| 16 | "Burn, Baby, Burn" | Steve Posey | James D. Parriott | March 1, 1997 |
| 17 | "Both Sides Now" | James A. Conter | Melissa Rosenberg | March 8, 1997 |
| 18 | "To Prey in Darkness" | Thomas J. Wright | Brent V. Friedman & Bryce Zabel | March 15, 1997 |
| 19 | "Strangers In the Night" | Michael Levine | Brad Markowitz | May 24, 1997 |
| 20 | "Bloodlines" | Perry Lang | Brent V. Friedman & Bryce Zabel | May 31, 1997 |
Following fan campaigns for many years, an announcement was made that Dark Skies would receive a complete series DVD boxset release in October 2007 (presumably for Region 1).[4] However Sony Entertainment subsequently cancelled the release, citing prohibitive music licensing costs.[5]
Executive producers Bryce Zabel and Brent Friedman received permission from Sony to find a DVD releasing partner to put the series on the market. However, three independent DVD firms, while initially extremely enthusiastic about doing so, also backed away after discovering the potential costs involved in licensing the period music. Zabel told fans on his blog:
"It doesn't mean the idea is dead but it does mean it's not going to be easy. I'm as committed as I've ever been to seeing the series released on DVD so that old fans and new fans can have an excellent quality viewing experience, the way we always intended. Or maybe the conspiracy we wrote about is real and they just don't want the truth to get out..."
On January 11, 2009, Zabel reported that "Brent and I aren't ready to say that's the end of it, but it's the end of the beginning. We're probably more disappointed than any fan out there."
Region 2 distribution rights have now been acquired by Mediumrare, with the full series being released on DVD in the United Kingdom on 18 October 2010.
On the August 9, 2010 episode of Coast to Coast AM, Zabel announced that the series would be released on Region 1 DVD by Shout! Factory on January 20, 2011.[6] The series has successfully been released in the US on 6 DVDs, including a number of special features (a "making of" featurette, and the never-before-seen pitch for the second season, among others) on the last disc.
To celebrate the show's tenth anniversary, a limited edition CD soundtrack was released on Perseverance Records in September 2006, featuring selections from the original television score composed by Michael Hoenig and a previously unreleased Pilot Suite arranged by The X-Files composer Mark Snow.