Review for Dark Skies: The Complete Series

Introduction

The nineties was the decade of all things paranormal, and following the trend, I became a religious convert to the faith of the X Files, tuning in to my weekly worship of the prophets Mulder and Scully without fail. And like all religions, I didn't let competing dogma interrupt my faith. I was genuinely monogamous for all nine years of its run, not even venturing as far as its stable mates, Millennium and The Lone Gunmen, let alone further afield to the offerings of rival studios. I barely recognise that zealot now, as I'm more of a slut when it comes to TV, dipping my toes into all and sundry in the hope of finding a hit of entertainment. Back in the nineties, one of the shows that I shunned was Dark Skies. On the face of it, you probably wouldn't blame me, after all, young attractive male and female leads, UFOs, government conspiracies… An X File by any other name would smell as sweet… But, Dark Skies had a twist. It was a period piece set in the sixties, purporting to tell the true history of the period as opposed to that written in the history books. Of course the X Files did it in Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man. Listen to me preaching the true faith once more, even after the most recent X Files movie. But if I had known then what I learned when I placed the first disc of Dark Skies into the DVD player, perhaps I would have been a little more open-minded to other possibilities. Dark Skies stars the inimitable J.T. Walsh!


Dark Skies apparently was going to be a five-season show, with each season tackling another decade of history, before taking us to the Millennium and the conclusion of the story. Alas, cancellation at the end of season 1 scuppered that idea. So Mediumrare present Dark Skies in its entirety on five discs, all eighteen episodes, plus the reedited to feature-length pilot (it was originally two episodes), which for some daft reason is tucked away in the extras on disc 5, instead of at the start of disc 1. But we in the UK really ought to count our blessings. We actually have a marginally more enlightened set of copyright laws that have allowed this show to get a UK DVD release. For years fans in the US have campaigned for its release there, but their hideously unbalanced copyright laws demand that those involved in Dark Skies pay the copyright holders of all the period music (of which there is plenty) in the show gazillions of dollars, or donate vital parts of their anatomy. It may be that Dark Skies never gets a US release. So a lapsed X Files fan, and a lapsed paranormal nut finally gets to watch Dark Skies 14 years after it was first broadcast on TV. Have I left it too late?

The episode synopses are on Page 2, and that's also where the majority of the spoilers will be…

Picture

Dark Skies gets a 4:3 regular transfer that is typical of television from the period. It's pretty soft to look at, from a video source primarily tailored for the US NTSC standard. That means that it is of lower resolution that SD television in the UK, but fortunately it is a PAL transfer, so there's no blurring or judder from artefacts connected with standards conversion. The look of the show is pretty well thought out, with the show benefiting from high production values, and an attention to detail in getting the period features right. It also has a slight sepia look to it that sells the sixties setting. Another nice touch is the way that period newsreel footage of actual events is worked into the story, adding a touch of authenticity, although it does mean that on occasion the show does drift from colour to monochrome and back. However, the CGI is most certainly looking dated and very obvious now.

Sound

Dark Skies gets a fairly standard DD 2.0 English track. Unfortunately, subtitles are absent, and I did find a couple of 'What did he just say?' moments that couldn't be resolved by skipping back and turning the volume up. Fortunately this was a rare exception to a more constant clarity of dialogue. What's more notable about the show is the amount of period music in the episodes. It's no surprise that a US release is so difficult to achieve.

The Episodes

Pilot: The Awakening (89 mins)
Everyone knows that on May 1st 1960, U2 pilot Gary Powers came down in Russian territory, provoking a major international incident. What no one knows is that he was chasing a UFO at the time. It's just one small piece in a bigger puzzle that has been slowly coalescing since Roswell in 1947. It's a puzzle that newcomers to Washington John Loengard and girlfriend Kimberly Sayers will be putting together, when John's political ambitions take him in completely unexpected directions. The new assistant on Capitol Hill is quickly bored, and looking for something to light a flame under his career. That something is a review of government projects to see what are worth funding, and what should be cancelled. As Congressional Investigator, one of his targets is Project Blue Book, the government study into UFO sightings and phenomena. But when John's investigations get too deep, he's first warned off by a group called Majestic, and then actively recruited. Captain Frank Bach, a ruthless individual who doesn't even answer to the president, runs Majestic, and he'd rather use John than silence him. What John learns is chilling. Alien parasites that invade, and then control the human host have been slowly infiltrating the populace, and a method of extracting the parasite while leaving the host alive is yet to be perfected. It's an insidious invasion, but one that John feels oughtn't be covered up. When Kim is targeted by the aliens, and infected by a Ganglion parasite, John realises that he'll have to go straight to the top. The trouble is that not even the top is off limits for Majestic.


1. Moving Targets
Following the Kennedy assassination, the small piece of alien technology that John Loengard had stolen from Frank Bach has vanished, and everyone wants it back. It had last been in the possession of the President, who John had approached with hopes of blowing the conspiracy wide open. Now John has to find it before Majestic 12 does, and that means retracing the final footsteps of John F. Kennedy, in a town full of Federal investigators, and beneath the noses of the men who are responsible for the assassination. But Majestic 12 and Frank Bach actually had nothing to do with the assassination, and they have a far deeper problem than just one rogue agent.

2. Mercury Rising
John and Kim are heading for Florida, all on the strength of a dream. Following her abduction, Kim has been experiencing odd dreams, recollections of sharing an ordeal with an astronaut. But the man in her vision is no astronaut on NASA's payroll. It turns out that the space program is far more advanced than the general public realise, and that there is a whole cadre of astronauts who do their work out of the media spotlight for Majestic 12. What people think is the forthcoming unmanned test of a Saturn rocket, is actually a spy mission to the moon. But the man flying that mission is the man from Kim's vision. And if she was infected with a Ganglion during her abduction, maybe he was too.

3. Dark Days Night
In the sixties, people used ham radio instead of mobile phones, and for the Hive, the radio transmissions were an ideal way to plan and coordinate their activities. But for John and Kim listening in to the ham transmissions, it's also one way to keep apace of their enemy. But when a transmission leads to the Ed Sullivan show in New York, it doesn't seem to scream world domination. Even if it is February 1964, and the guest stars of the next Ed Sullivan show are bigger than Jesus. What can the Hive do to the Beatles?


4. Dreamland
A handful of poker chips taken from New York lead John and Kim to Las Vegas. They may be broke, and Kim may be thinking of getting a job as a waitress at the Desert Inn, but the poker chips belonged to an alien infiltrator, and suddenly, a group of gamblers is winning big at the blackjack tables. But even as John and Kim spy on the aliens, their own actions are being spied upon in turn. And it all has something to do with a secret Nevada military base, Dreamland… a.k.a. Area 51.

5. Inhuman Nature
These would be pretty poor excuses for aliens if they didn't indulge in a little cattle mutilation, and sure enough, supremely skilled bovine butchery has been taking place in Wisconsin. Their life on the road, one step ahead of Majestic 12 is taking its toll on John and Kim, especially given that it has scuppered their plans for a normal life and a family. That makes this trip more poignant, as one farmer's cattle have been left alive, but not unaffected. One cow has been implanted, implanted with something with a heartbeat.

6. Ancient Future
There is an isolated tribe in Alaska that has a legend of a fallen star, which came to Earth 2000 years previously. The 'father' that came with the star told the tribe before he died, that they must guard the star, and that one day, it will awaken again, the rocks will rise into the air, and the ground will shake. Should that happen, then it must remain in the chasm in which it rests at all costs. March 1964 is the date of the Alaskan Earthquake. While John and Kim are just following up on the legend, Majestic 12 sees a chance to obtain a working UFO.


7. Hostile Convergence
Genuine, incontrovertible proof! Finally, undeniable evidence of a UFO sighting has emerged in New Mexico, as surely no one will argue with the testimony of a law enforcement official. But it couldn't have come at a worse time. John and Kim's relationship, after all this time on the run, is getting strained, and when Kim's sister Andrea invites her to her wedding, it seems like a parting of the ways is inevitable.

8. We Shall Overcome
June 1964, and the civil rights movement erupts into outright confrontation in the deeply divided South, and three civil rights workers in Mississippi working on voter registration vanish. But when John's former colleague at Congress gets in touch with a rather different perspective on the disappearances, it becomes apparent that this racial hotbed is a centre of Hive activity. To the aliens, all these humans may look alike, but alien mind control may not be enough to defeat deeply held racist views.

9. The Last Wave
Returning to Los Angeles, where Kim and John went to college is a little bittersweet given their current circumstances, and that isn't helped with the visit being motivated by the death of a college friend. It's a suspicious suicide verdict, but even more suspect is that roommate Nat Heller is behaving pretty oddly, having dropped out of college to become a lifeguard, vacillating on marrying his long term girlfriend, and throwing a wild party as a wake. There must be something odd in the water, and a dark enigmatic figure spies on John and Kim.


10. The Enemy Within
Another cash flow crisis persuades John to go home to his family, although it's something of an ambiguous homecoming. He doesn't exactly want to involve his family in the path his life has taken, and his father is initially trusting at least. But relations with his brother Ray are even more strained then before and trouble is coming their way. The Hive is trying to infiltrate Majestic 12 once more, this time to obtain the evidence concerning the Kennedy assassination, and just behind the Kennedy files, are John Loengard's files.

11. The Warren Omission
It looks as if the Warren Commission is going to go with the lone gunman theory, and quickly put the Kennedy assassination investigation to bed. Not surprising when they have one of the Majestic 12 directors on the board. Robert Kennedy isn't going to let this pass, and he insists that John Loengard testifies. How useful that will be without actual evidence will be questionable. Besides, Majestic 12 has no intention of letting John have his say, and when their new enforcer, the blonde and lethal Juliet doesn't dissuade him, John faces Frank Bach at the enquiry.

12. White Rabbit
It turns out that the Vietnam War was started as a smokescreen to attack a Hive Base in the Bay of Tonkin, and that Russia has its own Aura-Z group to rival Majestic 12, and that the two groups are friendlier towards each other than their respective governments. It's understandable when they have a mutual enemy. But now a saucer has crashed in Vietnam, and friendly they may be, Frank Bach isn't about to let the Russians get their hands on Hive technology. He's going to take John with him to Vietnam to retrieve the UFO, whether John wants to go or not.


13. Shades of Gray
In a sudden reversal, John and Kim want to work with Majestic 12 once more, realising that the powers and resources of the organisation outweigh its liability as a force of secrecy operating above the law. Besides, if they can't fight Majestic 12, maybe they can change it from within. John needs Majestic 12 though, as he has a plan to bring down an alien spaceship. But more importantly, he has a plan for the Gray aliens aboard the ship. This isn't the best time for Kim to be going through changes.

14. Burn, Baby Burn
Over 9 months have passed, and they have begun to communicate with the Gray, although it's only Kim who can read the alien's thoughts. But the time for communication is past, as Kim has to go to California, driven by an odd impulse in her mind, and visions of a DNA helix. It's also convenient that there is a doctor there who is working on examining abductees in Kim's condition. But as they are in Los Angeles, the Watts Riots break out. It's the worst possible time for Kim to be abducted by aliens again.

15. Both Sides Now
John is recklessly interrogating some Hive suspects when Kim is spotted in Berkeley, California, working as an anti-war protestor. Frank stops him from going down there, as he's too irrational to deal with the situation. So John joins Juliet anyway. It turns out that the Hive is using Kim to try and stop the Vietnam War through peaceful protest. Majestic 12 needs the war to continue as that's where most of its funding comes from. Just who are the bad guys again?


16. To Prey In Darkness
Majestic 12 has a problem. A disgruntled employee has made off with very incriminating footage of the Roswell encounter. Worse, it's got into the hands of a radio game show host who wants to hit the big time and make it on TV. Neither Majestic, nor the Hive wants this particular film to hit prime time. It might just make bedfellows of enemies. But for John, this might just be his one chance of blowing the lid off the whole conspiracy.

17. Strangers in the Night
A distress call comes in from Aura-Z, the Soviet equivalent of Majestic 12. They are under attack and in danger of being overwhelmed. Given that their status in Russia is the same as Majestic's in the US, it's actually wiser for Majestic to conduct the search and recovery mission. Aura-Z's data simply cannot fall into the wrong hands. While Juliet and John join the mission, Majestic-12 has a new recruit, one Doctor Carl Sagan.

18. Bloodlines
The summer of love is in full swing, with a new drug on the streets causing 'trips' straight into the Hive. The board of Majestic are putting Bach under pressure following some of his questionable decisions. John wants to get himself abducted and beamed aboard the alien mothership. There's a whopping great Mars-sized object heading straight for a collision with Earth around the turn of the Millennium, and there is a traitor stalking the corridors of Majestic.

Extras

Dark Skies gets a very pleasant presentation across five discs, with atmospheric animated menus presenting the episodes. You do get episode synopses, but in a counterintuitive bit of menu design, you have to go to Scene Select, then select the episode, and then click on synopsis to read it. It's a little too much work when you can just select play all, and find out what happens in the episodes that way.

Otherwise, all of the extras are squirreled away on disc 5, including the pilot episode that starts the story off.

Also on this final disc is an 8-minute long slideshow Stills Gallery, and a fairly comprehensive A-Z of Dark Skies text-page glossary, which includes some additional story background that I didn't notice in the episodes.

The PR material that came with the check discs did mention an audio commentary and behind the scenes interviews, but apparently there wasn't time to include them on the retail release, which is a shame.

Conclusion

On the surface, Dark Skies does seem to be another X-Files clone, with its attractive male and female leads, the government conspiracies, and the alien invasion storyline, with just the period setting to set it apart. But it's really nothing of the sort. For more than the first half of its run, it's nowhere close to the X-Files, as by establishing it's leads as a romantic couple, it lacks that essential chemistry that so set the X-Files apart. Its conspiracy is nowhere near as convoluted or complex, and it lays its alien invasion credentials out pretty early, with none of the obfuscation and red herrings, blind alleys, or complications that the X-Files would eventually pursue. It also lacks the variety in storytelling, the smart writing that would make the X-Files so popular. It's a very simple story, with Kim and John stumbling into something beyond their understanding, getting involved in a global conspiracy, and winding up on the run, trying to uphold their libertarian principles against a monolithic organisation that uses draconian and totalitarian measures to hold onto its secrets, while at the same time waging their own battle against the alien menace. In other words, it's a chase movie, and it reminds me more of the first War of the Worlds series from the same period, than it does the X-Files.


What holds the attention during the first half of the series is the period setting, the rewriting of history, and the little kisses with the past, which given that I had so recently watched Quantum Leap, felt more than a little familiar and easy to appreciate. They even cover some of the same periods and events in history, albeit from a darker, more sinister perspective. It's fun at times to see major historical personages, recast as players in the battle against the aliens, while the series makes good use of UFO lore to drive its storyline, with gray aliens, flying saucers, cattle mutilations and crop circles all making appearances. There does seem to be some story missing between the pilot episode and the series, which may explain why it's in the extra features and not on disc 1. Certainly, the first episode of the series proper presents us with terminology and back-story that is absent from the pilot, and it hints at events that occurred in the interim.


But there really is a wearying routine and episodic familiarity that is quickly established with the show. You have the aliens (parasites that take over human hosts, which were so reminiscent of Star Trek, and probably half a dozen other sci-fi tales that they actually seem cheesy and clichéd here), up to no good in another part of sixties America. You have John and Kim showing up, trying to gather evidence to blow the whole conspiracy open, and trying to defeat the alien menace at the same time. You have Majestic 12 also fighting the alien menace, but trying to keep the whole thing secret. And despite their various differences in approach, the good guys and the not so good guys wind up working together against the aliens anyway. Despite the ongoing plot threads, it speaks of a rinse and repeat approach to storytelling that harks back to the television of the eighties, more than it does the nineties.


Then around episode 10, the game changes completely, and Dark Skies suddenly becomes utterly compelling, un-missable television. The alien menace takes on a more personal, immediate threat when John pays a visit home to his family, the John versus Majestic storyline practically comes to a conclusion when he tries testifying about all he has seen, and the extent of the conspiracy becomes clear. That's underlined when Majestic's reach and influence, even when it comes to the Vietnam War is revealed, as is the existence of other nations' efforts against the Hive. The happy couple is torn apart when the initial implant in Kim regenerates, and the Hive exert an influence on her once more, and with the introduction of Juliet, who introduces herself by kicking John in the fork, there is that hint of chemistry added to the show. The scope of the alien conspiracy broadens too, when Majestic manages to capture a Gray, and free it from the Hive influence, while Hive activities start going beyond the small-scale infiltrations of before. The series concludes with the mother of all cliffhangers.


Like all serial television series, Dark Skies is a little variable, and taken in the modern context, the production values and CGI effects seem limited. After a strong and distinctive start, the show does wind down to a rather mundane familiarity, before a mid-season renaissance infuses it with its own distinctive style and a revitalised sense of purpose and energy. It may be that a perceived similarity to the X-Files is what finally got it cancelled, but the distinctions between the two couldn't be greater. This was a show that had a unique story, bolstered by a very fascinating, and imaginative alternate history, and it had a distinct direction and destination in store. It may have initially faltered, but it left our screens with a lot of promise. My preference will probably still be for the X-Files, which had some seriously smart writing behind it, and some great characterisations, especially in the first half of its run. But I'd stack Dark Skies up against X-Files seasons 7 and 8 any day. I can't believe that I'm talking about nostalgia for nineties television, but there you go. Dark Skies is well worth a trip down memory lane for.