Looking Back At "Dark Skies"

Over at Mysterious Universe I take a look back at the 1990s UFO/conspiracy-themed show, Dark Skies. Here's how it starts:

It was 20 years ago that NBC unleashed a much talked about and still widely remembered UFO-themed show: Dark Skies. It was the brainchild of Brent V. Friedman and Bryce Zabel. The show was not destined to last, however. It ran for just 20 episodes, from September 1996 to May 1997. The show focused on the world of two people caught up in a Cold War-era conspiracy of extraterrestrial proportions: John Loengard and his girlfriend, Kim Sayers (played by Eric Close and Megan Ward). When I first heard news of the series, of the nature of the show, and of the man-woman team, I thought: “X-Files rip-off.” It turns out that it wasn’t. And I was pleasantly surprised, too.

In The X-Files the extraterrestrial angle was always shrouded in ambiguity: were we really being visited by aliens? Was the UFO phenomenon just a cover for highly-classified experiments of a genetic- and mind-control-nature undertaken by top secret, “black budget” programs? Or, was it a strange and secret mixture of both? While ambiguity in a show like The X-Files worked, for me the ambiguity went on way too long – which is why I stopped watching the show around 1998. It’s for the very same reason that I stopped watching Lost – I felt like the story was being written with no real idea of where it was heading. A runaway train with no driver in sight.

Hollywood, MIB, and Dark Skies

Robbie Graham shares with us a fascinating story of the Men in Black, Hollywood, and the 1990s TV series, Dark Skies...

The Invaders and Indrid Cold - Synchronicities

My latest Mysterious Universe article is a 2-piece one on the 1960s TV show, The Invaders, Indrid Cold, Mothman, and a few strange synchronicities.

Part one starts like this:

"In January 1967, a new sci-fi series was launched on ABC. The brainchild of Larry Cohen and brought to life by QM Productions, it was titled The Invaders. It starred actor Roy Thinnes as a man named David Vincent. He finds himself plunged into a nightmarish, paranoia-filled world in which hostile aliens are secretly attempting to take over the Earth. Over the course of two seasons and 43 episodes, we see Vincent doing his utmost to thwart the invasion and warn the public, the media, the military, and the government of the growing extraterrestrial threat amongst us.

"Although I’m not much of a fan of sci-fi (horror and mystery movies are more my thing), I do like The Invaders, which comes across like a combination of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Fugitive, and with more than a few Cold War fears thrown in, for good measure. Plus, it’s clear to see how the show inspired the likes of The X-Files and the short-lived 1990s series, Dark Skies."

And here are the opening paragraphs of Part two:

"Part 1 of this article introduced you to two issues: (a) the 1967-1968 ABC show, The Invaders, which starred Roy Thinnes as a man doing his very best to thwart an alien invasion of the Earth; and (b) the matter of Mothman and a certain Indrid Cold – the latter being an alleged alien who changed the life of a West Virginian man, Woody Derenberger, in 1966. But that’s only the start of things.

"I also mentioned in Part 1 how, in 1967, a certain episode of The Invaders was aired. Its title: 'Panic.' It dealt with an alien (played by Robert Walker, Jr.) who is infected with a deadly virus. Anyone and everyone he touches is literally frozen to death in mere moments. It’s up to Vincent to try and bring the alien’s murderous reign to an end – which he does.