The FOX network offers its own edgy cyberpunk series with Dark Angel, which tackles the thrilling story of Max Guevara (Jessica Alba), a genetically enhanced super soldier trying to survive in a cruel time.

At the age of nine, she and eleven others escaped from a government institution known as Manticore.  While there, they were created, marked with barcodes and raised as soldiers and assassins until terrorists threatened their existence.  An electromagnetic pulse was released over the United States' atmosphere, destroying its vast majority of electronic systems.  This resulted in a complete wiping out of all electronic data, as well as utter anarchy throughout the country.  Corruption reigned, and crime caused a stricter form of martial control to be enforced.

The series takes off ten years after the event.  It is 2019, a period where chaos dominates the country.  Max is 19 and has embarked on the perilous search for her missing brothers and sisters.  She continues attempts to live a normal life, evading capture and learning to trust those around her.  Accompanying Max is the idealistic cyber-journalist Logan Cale (Michael Weatherly), who wields the alias “Eyes Only” as a shield against corruption in the declining world.  Max is also joined by Zack (William Gregory Lee), a fellow Manticore renegade, and friends Original Cindy (Valerie Rae Miller) and Sketchy (Richard Gunn). 

Upon being reunited with a handful of her siblings, Max teams up with them to overtake and eventually bring down Manticore.  However, they are perpetually hunted down by the government, forcing them to take extreme precaution in their actions.

Dark Angel premiered on FOX in October 3, 2000 and was created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee.  Despite initial success, it was canceled after two seasons.  Nevertheless, the Sci Fi Channel continued to air reruns of Dark Angel, and there have been DVDs of both seasons previously released.  A trilogy of novels written by Max Allan Collins followed, though they are not considered officially within the Dark Angel universe.  During its run, however, the series garnered several accolades and merits from the Saturn Awards, the People's Choice Awards, and the Teen Choice Awards.


-Maria Gonzalez, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: FOX, Sci Fi Channel
(Image Courtesy of Sci Fi Channel)