Dakota Fanning had been a talent to watch out for since her early roles in I Am Sam and Uptown Girls, but fans may be missing out on a highly underrated miniseries early on in the performer’s career. Before she and her younger sister, Elle Fanning, broke out as equally fascinating actors to watch, the two starred in Steven Spielberg’s overlooked and forgotten sci-fi series, Taken. The acclaimed director has made a lucrative career out of alien visitation plots, but this was the most ambitious.
Premiering in 2002, the story was created by Leslie Bohem and unfolded over 10 episodes, following the saga of three different families starting in 1944 and ending in 2002. Taken explores how the Crawford, the Clarke, and the Keys families were all wrapped up in the world of alien abductions before the grand design of the extraterrestrials came to fruition. Dakota Fanning narrates all the episodes before she finally makes her appearance in the last four episodes as Allie Keys, an alien-human hybrid that was the product of the aliens’ hard work. The series leads up to the birth of this miracle child, first portrayed by Elle Fanning as Allie at the age of three.
Fanning would then take over the role of Allie at 10 years old when the bulk of the series takes place. The resemblance between the sisters was obviously a main draw for casting them together. However, this series was a jumping-off point for both of their journeys in Hollywood. Both sisters would lead successful careers, while also differentiating themselves from each other. It all started with a compelling character drama that just happened to be about aliens.
Aliens In ‘Taken’ Were Never the True Villains
Dakota Fanning would go on to be a significant part of 2005’s War of the Worlds, the definitive story about fears surrounding aliens. Before that, however, she was in a much different alien story. Taken wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill exploration about the phenomena of abductions, but a heartfelt piece about human nature. It would have been easy to create a series about the evil alien agenda, but Leslie Bohem flipped the script. The series starts with Owen Crawford (Joel Gretsch), a government official, Russell Keys (Steve Burton), a World War II vet, and a housewife, Sally Clarke (Catherine Dent). All became connected following the infamous Roswell crash in New Mexico.
Taken posits that this event was authentic and follows the ramifications of it. Each generation of the men of the Keys family gets abducted, enduring what they believe to be torture. The Clarkes have a different experience after Sally conceives a child with one of the alien survivors of the crash. At first, it is unclear what the aliens want with these abductions until generations later, when Allie is conceived by Lisa Clarke (Emily Bergl) and Charlie Keys (Adam Kaufman). Aliens abducted both of them with the sole purpose of creating the perfect hybrid of alien DNA and human. It turns out it was never their intent to harm humans but to make a better world. Taken makes a point to show that humans are always the worst-case scenario and do terrible things to each other. The aliens of this universe are closer to scientists who want to find a better way.
Upon the final episodes of Taken, the real antagonist of the series becomes the Crawfords, who were driven to evil because of their obsession with aliens. Mary (Heather Donahue), the youngest of them, was perhaps the most radicalized in her obsession with finding alien life, willing to do anything to get it. She took on the sins of her grandfather, Owen, and continued his work to devastating consequences. She had become a monster before her father’s very eyes because of the culture in their family.
This subverted expectations that aliens abducted people for some nefarious purpose. The actions of the aliens were only intended to help the human race. The real villains were people who became twisted through the harsh realities of the world. In typical Steven Spielberg fashion, Taken found beauty in even the harshest of circumstances. Allie’s precocious and wise nature brought out the best in people, even if they didn’t know it was there themselves. Her own theory is that when people get scared, they get mean. This could relate to the Crawfords, who were terrified of something they couldn’t understand. Allie even pacifies a troubled man who takes her and a group of hostages. She helps him through his pain, an example of goodness in people. This was their goal for the humans and the reason why aliens went through so much trouble to orchestrate her birth.
Spielberg always seems to fire on all cylinders when it comes to his limited series. Just like Band of Brothers showed the relationships forged between men in combat, Taken also demonstrated the optimism that can come in the darkest of times. The Fanning sisters were an amazing talent to be tapped for such a project, specifically Dakota, who had more screen time and a forceful screen presence. Viewers can stream Taken in its entirety on YouTube.
- Release Date
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2002 – 2001
- Directors
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Thomas J. Wright, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, Tobe Hooper, Breck Eisner, Bryan Spicer, Félix Enríquez Alcalá, Jeff Woolnough, Jeremy Kagan, John Fawcett
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Andy Powers
Eric Crawford
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