Dark Angel
One of TV's more interesting tough-girl action shows, Dark Angel is a distinctive blend of the personal, the adventurous and the politically aware. Cocreators James Cameron (yes, that James Cameron) and Charles Eglee present a complex scenario of biological super-science and social collapse in which their gene-manipulated heroine and hacker/journalist hero can genuinely make a difference. In this first series they also provide an adversary who is a lot more than just a conventional villain.
Jessica Alba is impressive as Max, bred and trained as a super-soldier but reclaiming her individual humanity; Michael Weatherly is scruffily attractive as Eyes Only, who sits semi-paralysed in his eyrie above Seattle uncovering crime, corruption and other skulduggeries and sending the woman whom he hopelessly loves out on deadly errands. Jon Savage has real authority as Lydeker, a man who has stretched his conscience to breaking point, but is not personally corrupt. Some of the best episodes here--"Prodigy" for example--are ones in which Lydeker and Max are forced into temporary alliance. Early on the relationship between Max and the other workers at Jam Pony--the courier firm that provides her with a cover identity--is a little forced, but later on the two parts of Max's life are more successfully integrated: "Shorties in Love", for example, is a genuinely touching tale about Diamond, the doomed criminal ex-lover of Max's lesbian roommate. Dark Angel was never a perfect show, but at its occasional best it manages to be simultaneously funny and dramatic.
On the DVD: Dark Angel, Series 1's Region 2 DVD is ungenerous with special features, providing only short interviews with James Cameron and Charles Eglee and with the stars, and giving us a preview of the Dark Angel computer game. The episodes are presented in widescreen and have excellent Dolby Digital sound which gives vivid presence to both the dialogue and the hard-driving contemporary rock score that is part of the show's style. --Roz Kaveney
12 genetically enhanced childern escape from a military base that created them. 10 years later, after The Pulse, a magnetic bomb that destroyed every computer in USA, has struck, Max Guevara, one of the 12 escapees, is a bike messenger in (what's left of) Seattle and with cyberjournalist, Logan Cale, she tries to rid the world of crime and corruption, avoid her creators and uncover her past.
In a post apocalyptic world genetically enhanced female (transgenic) Max Gueverra tries to stay ahead of the law while looking for links to her past. Max does a job for Logan (the last good man on Earth; and cyber journalist Eyes Only) while trying to keep a handle on her revved up hormones, thanks to Manticore. Logan manages to turn up some information on a friend from Max's past.
Max needs her pills to keep her seizures at bay but her friends believe that she's an addict. Max is feeling the serious side effects from the alterations to her biochemistry. After her friends flush her pills she tries to steal some from the local hospital but get's caught and lands up in jail.
Alina Herrero contacts Eyes Only and asks him to help her find out the truth about her father's disappearance years ago. Max breaks in to the police department to steal information about her father, who also happens to be Logan's mentor. At the same time, Sketchy loses the mob's money and has to return the full amount in 36 hours. Max uses her super skills to win the money through poker.
Max hires a private detective to help her track down a fellow X-5 called Zack. She is about to receive vital information when the detective is found dead. Back at Logan's place, his ex-wife Valerie shows up unexpectedly with an obvious hidden agenda. Max decides to find out the truth about her.
Max and Donald Lydecker are taken hostages at a convention. Logan decides to trade himself as a hostage for all the women. Max decides to stay and ends up helping Logan when the terrorists push him off the roof of the building. She also does the unexpected when she saves Lydecker from being shot in the head.
Brin contacts Zack before she is captured. Max and Zach has no choice but to force Lydecker to tell her whereabouts. They teamed up and follow Brin to a military facility where Brin is to be sold to the highest bidder. Once there, Lydecker double crosses the two X-5s and decides to be in on the sale. Max and Zack manage to escape from captivity with Brin who is suffering from a condition that speeds up aging. She has no choice but to receive help from Lydecker. Max and Zack accept Brin's decision and leave her to be picked up by the man who made them.
Now that Lydecker has seen her face, Max is on a Wanted poster all over town for a murder she didn't commit. The temptation of the big reward leads even her own boss, Normal, to give her up to the police. Zack and Logan help her escape to Logan's cabin located outside of Seattle. However, when Max learns that Logan's condition has worsened and that he's undergoing a very dangerous surgery, she risks her life to come to the hospital. Logan has lost a lot of blood and the blood bank runs out of AB negative blood. Max gives Logan a transfusion as she is a universal donor, something Manticore had given her and the rest of her brothers and sisters. The transfusion works but she is soon captured by authority. Just as all hope seems lost, Zack shows up and takes responsibility for the murder. She is freed but he is taken back to Manticore.
Max invites Logan to a dinner at her place but instead of having a good time together, Logan is set on investigating a suspicious transportation of what he thinks is medical supply. Max begrudging agrees to help him survey the scene. Later, Logan is captured by the very person he is pursuing and kidnapped. He is demanded to give up the identity of Eyes-Only just as Max impersonates him on TV, saving him in the process. Back at Jam Pony, Normal has a date with a woman who is actually transgender. After he finds out, he decides that he doesn't care about her past, only to discover that Louise is a lesbian.
Logan asks Max to keep a vital witness to a case for 24 hours, which turns out to be a very long 24 hours for Max. What they did not know is that this witness is the reason Logan is in his wheelchair. Killers are sent in to kill the witness and Max is able to overcome them. However, a second set of killers show up. They are unusually strong and their target is Max.
Logan asks Max to be his date for a cousin's wedding where she meets his snobbish uncle and aunt. She also gets to meet Logan's ex-fiancée. Back at Jam Pony, Normal is taken by the mob when there is a delivery mix-up. Original Cindy and Max decide to help him retrieve the right painting to save their boss' life.
A group of South Africans known as the Red Series is after Max's DNA in an attempt to improve their enhanced soldier. They take Original Cindy hostage to lure Max out. The rescue reveals Max's true identity to her best friend.
Zack manages to escape from Manticore and calls Max, she comes to his rescue. What they do not know is that this is planned by Lydecker in an attempt to find the escaped X5's. Once Max and Zack find this out, they have to find a way to warn their siblings without exposing them.
Logan Cale's legs are failing him and he secretly contacts an ex-Manticore scientist in an attempt to get back on his feet. He tries to avoid the suspicious Max from knowing. Max's curiosity leads her to follow Logan on one of his trips when she is attacked by Jace, one of her X5's siblings who refused to escape.
Max and Logan are out for a holiday. Unbeknownst to Max, Logan is also planning to investigate an old crime. Once there, Max befriends a small boy with a secret. Stirring his past brings troubles from the town's gangster to Logan and Max. Meanwhile, a powerful seizure takes over Max.
Original Cindy reunites with her ex-lover, Diamond, who is recently out of prison. Max is suspicious of Diamond which causes her to have a fight with her best friend.
A body with a barcode tattooed at the neck is sent to the morgue. Logan pulls some strings and Max gets to examine the body. Although the barcode matches that of Ben, one of the 12 escapees, the man is not an X5. More bodies with the same tattoo surface and Max is determine to find Ben to find out the truth.
A suspicious-looking man takes pictures of Max. She follows him and is surprised that he seems to possess supernatural strength. Finding out that he is actually a good guy, the two team up with Logan and investigate the deaths of recently released prisoners. This leads to shocking discoveries about Logan's family business. Logan is left with a dilemma. If Eyes Only goes public about this finding, he would lose his source of income.
Tinga, who escaped to Canada with other X5s, when Eyes Only warned them their locations were compromised, comes back in town to save her husband and son. With Max and Zack's help, the family is reunited, but not before the son is given a deadly pathogen. Lydecker agrees to cure the boy in exchange for Tinga. Unbeknownst to him, Madame X has already arranged for Brin to double cross Lydecker. She captures Tinga, who is able to pass her special traits to her children, to study her.
Max is in heat again, ready to jump at any men, even Normal! She hates her condition and is ashamed of it. Meanwhile, she is avoiding Logan at all cost and decides to cancel their anniversary dinner. After the day is over, she confronts the still-confused Logan about her condition and the two finally admit their feelings towards each other. Just as they are kissing, Zack interrupts with bad news about Tinga. They must go rescue her from a secret government facility.
Lydecker realizes that he has lost control over Manticore, as Madame X is now clearly running the show. He would rather see the project destroyed than see it abused by others. He asks Max for help in bringing Manticore down. Together with Zack and other X5's, they storm the facility and destroy the DNA lab.
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Jessica Alba | Max Guevera |
|
J.C. MacKenzie | Reagan 'Normal' Ronald |
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John Savage | Donald Lydecker |
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Michael Weatherly | Logan Cale |
|
Alimi Ballard | Herbal Thought |
|
Valarie Rae Miller | Cynthia 'Original Cindy' McEachin |
|
Richard Gunn | Calvin 'Sketchy' Theodore |
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Melique Berger | Max Guevera |
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Jennifer Blanc | Kendra Maibaum |
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Peter Bryant | Bling |
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William Gregory Lee | Zack |
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Geneva Locke | Young Max |
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Fulvio Cecere | Sandoval |
|
Chris Lazar | Young Zack |
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Rob Freeman | Lieutenant |
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Alessandro Juliani | Bike Messenger |
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Byron Mann | Det. Matt Sung |
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Lauren Lee Smith | Natalie |
|
Stephen Lee | Dan Vogelsang |
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Ron Blecker | Drill Instructor |
|
Gary Chalk | Lt. Walter Eastep |
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Nana Visitor | Dr. Elizabeth Renfro |
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Kimberly Hawthorne | Jacinda Katsuno |
|
Robert Lewis | Dochnovich |
|
Dylan Pearson | Blonde Boy |
| Packaging | Custom Case |
|---|---|
| Nr Discs | 6 |
| Screen Ratios | Widescreen (1.78:1) |
| Audio Tracks | Dolby Digital Stereo [French] |
| Subtitles | English (Closed Captioned) |
| Distributor | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment |
| Layers | Single side, Dual layer |
| Edition Release Date | Feb 24, 2003 |
| Regions | Region 2 | Region 3 |