Lower Decks

There’s another anniversary to celebrate before 2009 is through. This one’s a little more obscure, unless you happen to have been a fan. ‘Dark Angel,’ which ran from 2000-2002, was one of those classic Fox genre series cancelled too soon, was set in the future…which happened to be 2009. It was one of my favorite series at the time, and remains a cherished experience.

If it’s remembered at all today, it’s for having launched Jessica Alba’s adult career, or perhaps more accurately, her status as a sex symbol, a Paris Hilton who had a legitimate claim to fame, but was mostly known as celebrated for her looks. Alternately, those anticipating ‘Avatar’ might also consider it to be James Cameron’s last effort at pop entertainment, another big idea in a string of big ideas (though at the time, people were mostly still in awe of ‘Titanic,’ which didn’t resemble the rest of his career, much less ‘Dark Angel’), from ‘Terminator’ to ‘The Abyss.’

At the time, it had to put up with being famous for those two elements, and also as direct competition for cult and critical favorite ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ because it also featured a tough female lead at war with a world that only she and her circle of friends were aware of. Alba’s Max was a genetically engineered soldier who escaped as a child from her oppressive conditioning and ended up settling in Seattle. There was a worldwide disaster that devastated the economy, and the best she could do to make a living was put her abilities to use as a burglar, and ride a bicycle for the Jam Pony Express package delivery service, where assorted characters included good friend Original Cindy (still one of my all-time favorites) and curt boss Normal. Then there was Logan (portrayed by current ‘NCIS’ smart mouth Michael Weatherly), who ran the Eyes Only underground journalist hacker feed, and who quickly became Max’s love interest. The government program Manticore, where Max came from, provided the villainous Lydecker (John Savage), who ended up being a version of ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ foil Dukat, eventually working alongside our heroes as a multifaceted paternal figure.

Why it never caught on might be explained any number of ways. There’s the ‘Buffy’ angle, which I always subscribed to, and then there’s the increased adversity that the show faced at the start of its second season, smack in the aftermath of 9/11, when viewers might not have been as sympathetic to a series set in a traumatic future. ‘Alias’ launched at the same time, and featured a strong female lead, portrayed by an actress (Jennifer Garner, for the record) who quickly became almost as famous (if not moreso) as the show that made her a household name. If genre fans weren’t paying attention and Jessica Alba’s admirers weren’t actually watching, it was only a matter of time before Fox pulled the same plug it had many times before, and after (hey, heard that ‘Dollhouse’ was cancelled, by the way).

‘Dark Angel’ was, however, more than just the sum of appearances. It was, among other things, part of a long line of efforts by the Fox network to build a successful show out of a central character of extraordinary ability. ‘John Doe’ featured a man caught up in another conspiracy, with an augmented mind that allowed him to become the perfect police consultant. ‘Prison Break’ (the show Fox actually made a star of Dominic Purcell with) showcased another brilliant mind. ‘House’ was built around a testy yet exceptional doctor. ‘Fringe,’ featuring Walter Bishop, brilliant mind. Max was the same, but the viewer could be forgiven if they overlooked it.

The show might also posthumously be considered a test run for the kind of premise ‘Heroes’ would have a limited amount of success with, a group of special humans whose existence was shrouded in controversy and were constantly forced to live a subdued life, or even ‘Lost,’ which would eventually feature a group of scientists engaged in questionable research. It might also have been considered, at the time, to be a more direct version of ‘The X-Files,’ where the government could not be trusted and odd creatures went bump in the night (which was the running theme of the second season, featuring a dog/human hybrid named Joshua as part of the regular cast…could you say another source of alienation for the casual viewer?).

Clearing away all the clutter, ‘Dark Angel’ can be appreciated for its rich cast, its continuing arc that was always developing, and a terrific sense of itself that never flagged. It’s always worth revisiting.