Taken

“Taken,” also known as “Steven Spielberg Presents Taken,” is a science fiction miniseries that premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2002 and earned an Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries. Shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the series was penned by Leslie Bohem and directed by a team including Breck Eisner, Félix Enríquez Alcalá, John Fawcett, Tobe Hooper, Jeremy Paul Kagan, Michael Katleman, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, Bryan Spicer, Jeff Woolnough, and Thomas J. Wright. Leslie Bohem and Steven Spielberg served as executive producers.

The narrative spans from 1944 to 2002, focusing on the intertwined lives of three families: the Crawfords, who aim to conceal the Roswell incident and the existence of extraterrestrials; the Keys, who are frequently subjected to alien experiments; and the Clarkes, who provide refuge to one of the surviving aliens from the crash. Due to the extensive timeline, no single actor or character appears in every episode. The series received positive reviews and won an Emmy Award.

Upon its release, the Sci-Fi Channel promoted the show by simultaneously launching the Coalition for Freedom of Information. Both the Sci-Fi Channel and the Coalition for Freedom of Information were clients of the Washington, D.C. public relations firm PodestaMattoon, a relationship that drew criticism. The Coalition for Freedom of Information advocates for the declassification of government UFO files and seeks to establish scientific, congressional, and media legitimacy for the study of UFOs.