Steven Spielberg is convinced that we are not alone.
"I know there is life off this planet," said Spielberg, who is the executive producer of the Sci Fi Channel's massive 10-part, 20-hour miniseries "Taken," a multigenerational tale of alien abductions over half a century. "I don't really know in my heart whether or not we've been visited before in our long evolution, but I do believe somewhere in the infinite reaches of these galaxies there must be, mathematically, there must be life forms far more intelligent and technologically advanced than we are. So it's something that motivates me to tell stories like this, because it's based on things I believe."
Not that everyone involved in "Taken" is as convinced. Executive producer/writer Les Bohem is as obsessed with the thought of alien abductions as anyone alive, but he has a somewhat different take on it.
"In our first conversation, Steven said, 'I've got 20 hours. I want to do alien abduction,' " Bohem said. Spielberg, whose films include "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," went on to say that he believes the stories have become part of American mythology and that he wanted the miniseries to be "very real" — because he believes at least some of the stories are true.
"Steven said to me, 'Well, if it's not true, why do you think all these stories are so similar?' " Bohem said. "And I said, 'Your movies?' "
It really doesn't matter if you believe any of this or not. "Taken" is the best miniseries to hit TV in years. It's the sort of massive event that once dominated the airwaves and had become all but extinct — the kind of narrative that, if you start watching, you'll get sucked in and carried along.
("Taken" debuts Monday at 7 and 9 p.m. on Sci Fi. Two-hour episodes air Monday-Friday next week and the week after.)
Within the miniseries' reality, there's no doubt that alien abductions are real. In Monday's premiere, a saucer crashes in Roswell, N.M., and one survivor (Eric Close) takes on human form to escape. He's taken in by a lonely woman, Sally Clarke (Catherine Dent), who falls in love with him — and bears his child.
Elsewhere, WWII pilot Russell Keys (Steve Burton) begins to realize that he was abducted by aliens — and they're coming back to get him again. And obsessed Army Capt. Owen Crawford (Joel Gretsch) will do anything to unlock the secrets of the recovered saucer — while, at the same time, keeping them hidden.
What unfolds is a 50-year epic tying the Clarkes, the Keys and the Crawfords to the terror and wonder of alien life. It's an amazing story — well-written, nicely acted and directed, and handsomely mounted in a manner that's as good as anything on TV.
Twenty hours is a lot to invest in a TV show, but "Taken" is at least worth taping and watching when you've got time.
"I've always been interested in the genre, and I thought I couldn't acquit this genre in a two-hour or two-hour-and-fifteen-minute-long movie," Spielberg said. "We would all need a lot more patience and a lot more time to really do the history of alien abductions starting back in 1947 right to today, which is what 'Taken's' about."
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com