The '90s Sci-Fi Conspiracy Show About UFOs That Was Way Ahead Of Its Time

In Robert Zemeckis' classic film of Carl Sagan's science fiction novel "Contact," Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), a scientist working for the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), attempts to fire the imaginations of a group of schoolchildren as to the existence of alien species. The universe is a pretty big place," says Ellie. "It's bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before. So if it's just us... seems like an awful waste of space." It's a lovely sentiment, but there's a whole strain of sci-fi that suggests we should be grateful to be alone in the universe.

From H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" onward, humanity has known full well that our first contact with extraterrestrials might not be an awe-inspiring musical light show from the end of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Whatever is out there in the vast of space could very well mean us harm. In fact, some people speculate that we've already been invaded.

In terms of storytelling, it's fun to consider that human beings have been co-opted by aliens in an "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," pod people kind of way. In 1996, "Dark Skies" creators Brent V. Friedman and Bryce Zabel, wondered what would've happened if the 1947 Roswell incident was the beginning of an extraterrestrial incursion that altered the course of human history for the worse. The series was an expensive, heavily hyped sci-fi thriller that found malevolent aliens triggering or attempting to subvert major historical events like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Civil Rights Movement and, no joke, Beatlemania. It was an ambitious series, but it failed to catch on with television viewers and was cancelled in its first season.

The first and only season of "Dark Skies" opens in 1961, with U.S. Congressional aide John Loengard (Eric Close) and his fiancé Kim Sayers (Megan Ward) moving to Washington D.C. at the outset of Kennedy's first term. Loengard is assigned the task of defunding Project Bluebook, the government's study of UFO sightings, but as he investigates accounts of alien encounters, he begins to believe that further study is warranted. This draws him into the crosshairs of Majestic 12, a shadowy government organization that wants Project Bluebook shut down (and is led by Frank Bach, a no-nonsense agent played by the late, great character actor J.T. Walsh).

It doesn't take long for Loengard to discover that aliens not only exist, but they're hellbent on taking over the planet. They're a parasitic species that seeks to control the actions of host bodies, which isn't terribly original. What is cool is how the show weaves real-life folks like Howard Hughes, Jim Morrison and Colin Powell into its conspiracy-mad narrative.

Obviously, NBC was hoping to capture the enthusiasm for "The X-Files" with "Dark Skies," but they did the series no favors by airing it on Saturdays at 8 PM. For a show that was chasing a younger, genre-friendly demographic, this was a death sentence. It's a good show that's worth revisiting, but you'll have to splurge for the series' DVD set at the momen,t because it's currently unavailable to stream. Maybe the forthcoming release of Steven Spielberg's UFO thriller "Disclosure Day" will spark renewed interest in the show.