"Family legend" style mini drama

Marcella 2022-03-18 08:01:01

Battlestar Galactica (BSG) spin-off "Caprica" ​​launched, SyFy channel called it "the first family legend sci-fi TV series in the history of TV", in fact, SyFy's name was SciFi In 2002, it broadcasted a mini-drama of Spielberg's same "family legend" style, which is "Taken"

. Not too famous, not many sci-fi fans have seen it, and maybe not many like it. This drama probably belongs to the kind of "edge sci-fi" - a drama with a little sci-fi flavor. The previous year was 2001. At that time, Spielberg produced the brilliant "Band of Brothers", which overshadowed the "hijacking" a lot, and its "record" was nominated for the Golden Globe Award ("Band of Brothers" won the Golden Globe Award), plus 7 awards (Emmy Awards, etc.) and 18 nominations, IMDB rating of 7.8, once won the ratings, overall it is still a very good TV series, and it is also a boutique in science fiction.

From retro-flavored pictures and slow The opening title composed of the magnificent soundtrack shows that this is another deep and serious mini drama. The characteristics of the mini drama can be summarized as "the grandeur of the movie + the delicacy of the TV", which is the essence of the two. Spielberg, Lucas and others seem to be very optimistic about the mini-drama in recent years. The "hijacking" investment looks like 20 million pounds, but the special effects are relatively general, and of course there are not many places used, compared to one per episode. For half an hour. Also, the show is a bit like most episodes in the "Star Trek" series, it's "getting better" style, of course, the latter has an alarmingly large number of episodes, "hijacking" "There are 10 episodes in total, which can be divided into 2 parts, 1-6 episodes are about the "history" from the 1940s to the 1990sPart, episodes 7-10 are the "now" part where the protagonist Allie appears in person. This second part has a coherent and fascinating plot, which fully demonstrates another advantage of the mini drama - integrity, the whole plot and the life and death relationship of the characters are It's pre-determined, rather than taking one part and thinking about the next part from scratch.

It’s easier to make a TV series that counts as one season. It’s easier to end up unfinished. For example, “Battlestar Galactica” and “Lost” always revolve around the main story and the ending is basically planned in advance. The TV series is slightly better, but the middle part may also be more “water” , the limited number of mini dramas is that each episode has been carefully crafted, just like a series of movies, each episode has a clear theme, and the main story runs through.

Although "hijacking" is a bit "slow and hot", it is better to watch it from the beginning instead of Jumping to the back, the plot before and after is very coherent. If you just look at the back, you will not understand what kind of grievances and grievances the three families of Crawford, Keys, and Clarke have, and how everything returns to the center of Allie. . As the title says, this is actually a family legendary epic that appeared earlier than "Caprica". For 50 years, the love and hatred of the three families runs through, and the background is the 50 years of American society. Years of change (and changes in aliens and science fiction culture). In order to clarify the complex relationship between parents, uncles and aunts in the family, a foreign website specially produced a family map, which instantly reminded me of the "Star Wars" family Graph (see my blog for details)~

All the stories in "Hijacking" are caused by aliens, but aliens are always bystanders hiding in the corner in the play, which may be depressing for some sci-fi fans Place: Smell the smell of sci-fi, but never touch the cheese of sci-fi. The story is due to the visit of aliens. The pilot Keys was selected by the aliens in World War II, and the family has been shrouded in the shadow of nightmares from time to time. Kidnapped the male masters of the family, from great-grandfather to grandfather to Charlie (Allie's father). The legend of the Clarke family originated from the mating of Allie's great-grandmother with aliens. According to the generations, Allie has 1/8 aliens Humans of human blood, and all people with alien blood in this family have alien superpowers. Another family, Crawford, has been in possession of information about aliens since Mary's grandfather and has the ability to put aliens The ambition of being captured and researched is at the heart of the government's conspiracy against aliens,It is natural to pay special attention to Clarke/Keys, the two families favored by aliens.

Several alien visits in World War II and after the war tied the fate of the three families together, and the intricate saga of family members unfolded, until the son of the Keys family and the daughter of the Clarke family gave birth to the little girl Allie , everything finally became clear: it turned out that the aliens had been behind the scenes manipulation to bring about the birth of Allie, and Allie began her hard escape. On the one hand, the aliens wanted to take away the Allie they "made", on the other Mary of the Crawford family colluded with the government and the military to use Allie to attract aliens. In the end, Allie had to choose to leave her parents and go with the aliens, repeating a human version of the "ET" farewell scene.

"Hijacking" the family The legend has always been inseparable from the behind-the-scenes manipulation of aliens. It can be said that it is a drama with a very alien complex, in fact, it is more precisely the "Spielberg's Alien Complex" drama, the "Spielberg format" in the film. "There are many elements, first of all, the "child" complex. At the beginning of the show and in every episode thereafter, there is a monologue by the little girl Allie. The tone of the story is naive and the content is thought-provoking. In the last 4 episodes, it's like "ET" "Artificial Intelligence" and other films are child-centered. And the first few appearances of aliens almost reproduce the scenes in "Encounters of the Third Kind": the wind is blowing, the doors and windows that are not closed make a crash, and from time to time It flashes a strange light... This kind of plot that seems to be more old-fashioned now was a classic back then, and what is more interesting is that the incident in the "Third Contact" appeared in the film, and the human beings who were kidnapped by aliens Back on Earth, the show takes place right in the 1970s. And when the aliens kidnap Keys disguised as a circus, and before Keys was introduced to a fairy tale world as a child ("Encounters of the Third Kind) There are toys that suddenly have life in "artificial intelligence", robots in "artificial intelligence"). Another is the plump character description, Lao Si himself said that this is a "character drama".

"Hijacking" can be said to be a work that sums up the classic movies of Lao Si, piecing together the essence of Spielberg's alien movies in the past. Of course, there are many other elements in the film, such as superpower elements, and later After Allie's debut, the superpower elements have become more and more playful, but this is not an imitation of "HEROES", after all, the show came out in 2002. There is also an explanation of the background of the times. The method is similar to "Forrest Gump", but different. Different songs are popular in the era, and people's enthusiasm for UFOs also changes with the times, and the costumes, home decorations, cars and other props and sets are more characteristic of the times. "), the "X-Files" stuff is mentioned from time to time, and there's a freak out of a failed human-alien experiment that looks a bit like the Penguin in "Batman" XD

The cast is nothing special in this show It is worth noting that Dakota Fanning, the child star who plays Allie, is the biggest bright spot among the actors. This year's hottest Hollywood actress played a naive child similar to the previous Sci-Fi films in "Hidden", but she also It has both a mature side (it must be influenced by alien blood). Little Allie is the core of the whole play. There are so many conspiracies planned by aliens to cultivate Allie, who has both human love and alien ability. The next generation of life (have you noticed that Jacob, the first generation child born from the combination of humans and aliens, is very similar to his alien father, looks stupid like a Vulcan, full of logical thinking and lacks human elements, and then later The proportion of children’s human nature is higher than that of the next generation). This revealed mystery is quite old-fashioned to sci-fi fans. The aliens have evolved very advanced technology, but gradually lost their humanity. Re-injected into their society, they found those two families with excellent qualities, and then after many generations of cultivation, they finally got a perfect life. In short, the development of technology cannot abandon the warmth of human nature...

Since these 10 episodes of TV are directed by different directors, the styles are also different. Some of the whole episodes are a little scary, and some are slow-paced and full of sensational elements. Of course, in general, the first six episodes are It is relatively slow, and those who are used to watching fast-paced dramas may not be used to it. The last four episodes are relatively coherent and compact, and even the content of "extraordinary people evading certain evil organizations" is somewhat similar to the later "HEROES". , this change of style can attract different audiences, but generally speaking, it is about the relationship between family and family rather than the relationship between people and aliens.

The shapes of aliens and flying saucers in the film are very "standard", after all, they are related to The Roswell incident and other "historical facts" that have been reported in history are combined, and the gorgeous lighting on the flying saucer is obviously moved from the "Third Contact". Not much shows what the inside of the alien flying saucer looks like, in this show we have the opportunity to see what the inside of the "UFO" looks like, and then we are surprised to find out: "Battlestar Galactica" what happened to the inside of the Lyseon spaceship Like this? oO

The reviews for "hijacking" the show tend to be more polarized, which is also the case for "Caprica". The two shows are similar in many ways, the themes are dignified, and the rhythm is "stuck" "Brika" is relatively fast, while "Hijacking" uses slow-paced emotional rendering and plot "blank" in a literary and artistic manner. It is as romantic and loose as the early "Star Trek", and the background of the era exudes the fragrance of history. . In terms of content, "Caprica" ​​and "Hijacking" are more downplayed science fiction, the theme is character evolution rather than strange creativity, the camera is always facing the characters rather than spaceships or aliens, of course, most science fiction films are relatively "soft". "(Sci-fi is concerned with human beings after all), like "Firefly" spinning around the spaceship all day, it is still a Western-style "soft sci-fi", "hijacking" It is a "family legend" in the context of alien visits, just as "Caprica" ​​is a "family legend" in the context of the birth of the Cylons.

View more about Taken reviews

Extended Reading
  • Chase 2022-03-18 08:01:01

    A sci-fi TV series supervised by Spielberg, with a total of 10 episodes of 90 minutes each. The whole story is full of mystery. The alien theme is good~~The story begins with real events in Roseville

  • Yasmin 2022-03-19 09:01:11

    Speculation, the characteristics of our race

Taken quotes

  • Dr. Chet Wakeman: [to Allie Keys] Little girl, I love the way your mind works.

  • Allison Clarke: Even when we know we'll never find the answers, we have to keep on asking questions.