Dark Angel is an American
cyberpunk science fiction television program, created by
James Cameron and
Charles H. Eglee, which ran from 2000 to 2002 on the
FOX network.
Dark Angel chronicles the life of
Max Guevara (X5-452), a
genetically enhanced super-soldier, portrayed by
Jessica Alba as an adult, and
Geneva Locke as a child.
The program is set in
Seattle, Washington, but was actually filmed in
Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada at
Lions Gate Studios.
OverviewIn the year 2009, a genetically enhanced, 9-year-old female (to whom creator James Cameron refers as "transgenic")
super-soldier who calls herself Max Guevara, (also known as X5-452, a truncation of her
barcode tattooon the back of her neck 332960073452), escapes along with eleven others
like her from a secret government institution. At the institution,
codenamed
Manticore, they were created and subsequently raised and trained to be
soldiers and
assassins. On
June 1,
2009, months after Max's escape,
terrorists detonate an
electromagnetic pulse weapon in the atmosphere over the
U.S., which destroys the vast majority of
computer and
communication systems, throwing the country into utter chaos.
The first season begins ten years later in 2019, as it follows the
life of the now 19-year-old Max as she struggles to search for her
Manticore brothers and sisters. In a United States which is now barely more than a
Third World nation (a concept largely dropped from the show after
9/11), she tries to live her life, evade capture, and learn to trust and love. She is aided by
Logan Cale, an underground cyber-journalist with the alias Eyes Only;
Zack, a fellow X-5; and her friends
Original Cindy and
Sketchy at Jam Pony, a
courier company where she works as a
bicycle messenger. Other X-5s are periodically introduced as well.
In the second season of the show, the tone changes as Max brings down
Manticore and frees the soldiers. She is helped in her escape by
Alec, in an attempt to facilitate the assassination and capture of
Eyes Only, and
Joshua, a transgenic with
canine DNA. She later learns that Joshua was the first transgenic created by Manticore's founder
Sandeman. Max also finds out that Manticore produced soldiers for speciality environments such as
desert and
Arcticconditions and consequently look vastly different from normal humans. A
major theme in the second season is the discovery of an even more
deadly enemy in a millennia-old breeding cult similar in structure to
the
Illuminati. This has resulted in humans even more formidable than the Manticore-produced transgenics, and even some with strong
telekinetic powers.
Ames White,
a government agent introduced early in the second season trying to
eliminate the loose transgenics, is revealed to be a member of the
cult. When a strange message written in Max's genetic code makes an
appearance on her skin, it is revealed that Sandeman is a renegade from
the breeding cult. Ames White is Sandeman's son, which essentially
makes him "related" to Max and her transgenic brethren. However, the
series was cancelled before the producers could play with this dynamic.
SynopsisMax was bio-engineered in a government lab, at a facility called
Manticore, sometime around the turn of the 21st century located in
Gillette, Wyoming. As with all of their creations (exception of
Joshua),
Max has a barcode on the back of her neck, with her identifying number
sequence (332960013452). This number is as stated on the official
website, but is stated in the show as (332960073452). The latter is
accurate. She is an X-5 model and is thus referred to as X5-452. Max
and her unit, her "brothers and sisters," named themselves back at
Manticore, and sometime after she escapes, she assumes the surname
Guevara.
Max and her unit were trained to be soldiers using harsh and brutal techniques, supervised by Colonel
Lydecker (
John Savage) designed for their special abilities. The genetically engineered
supersoldiershad a design flaw though. They were missing an essential chemical in
the brain resulting in seizures. This led to the removal and death of
some of their unit. When they learned this, and Max began to get the
shakes, their protective unit leader,
Zack (X5-599) (
William Gregory Lee)
decided they should escape, and led them through a snow-filled forest
as they were being chased by Lydecker's men. Max got separated from her
unit when she fell into a frozen pond (having been trained to hold her
breath underwater for long periods of time) allowing her to avoid the
search party.
Several months after her escape, terrorists detonated an electromagnetic pulse in the atmosphere over the U.S., on
June 1,
2009.
This destroyed the vast majority of electrical systems, throwing the
United States into chaos, and making it a third world country over
night, which let corruption and crime flourish and eventually leading
to a stricter martial control of the population.
By the year 2019, Max is living in Seattle, Washington, illegally squatting in an abandoned building, first with Kendra (
Jennifer Blanc) and later with
Original Cindy (
Valarie Rae Miller)
her best friend that she works with at Jam Pony (a bicycle messenger
service). Other friends from there include Herbal Thought (
Alimi Ballard) and Sketchy (a.k.a. Calvin Theodore) (
Richard Gunn).
She works at Jam Pony in order to be allowed to move around the city,
so she can scout locations to steal from. She lives her secret life as
a cat burglar, in order to fund the expensive search for her 11 escaped
"brothers and sisters."
It is during one of these burglaries that she meets Logan Cale (
Michael Weatherly),
and realizes that he's the cyber-journalist "Eyes Only." Interested in
finding more about his highly skilled mystery visitor, he discovers who
she is using security footage, and invites Max back to his apartment.
Once there, and being well versed on his government conspiracies, he
confirms his suspicions (sees her barcode) that she is one of the
escaped X-5s from Manticore. Max and Logan make a pact: he will help
her find her missing siblings, if she will help him take down bad guys.
Logan also helps to protect Max from Lydecker, who's been looking for
the escapees since their breakout.
Soon into the series (10 years after the escape), Max meets up with
Zack. More siblings are found, and often with tragic consequences. By
the end of the first season, a plan is developed to take down
Manticore, one with Lydecker who defects from Manticore after an
attempt to assassinate him, and the death of
Tinga,
one of "his kids." The plan is to destroy the genetics lab, crippling
Manticore's ability to produce more soldiers. During their raid, Max
gets critically injured, and is assumed dead. But she is actually
recaptured.
The plan while successfully executed, fails to destroy Manticore.
Instead, a new, larger Manticore facility gets set up an hour outside
of Seattle, Washington. Eventually, Max escapes, but not before
destroying Manticore, allowing numerous transgenics to escape, creating
the eventual public knowledge of their existence. Max reunites with
Logan, only to discover that she's become a carrier to a deadly virus
which was genetically targeted for Eyes Only.
Max's problems are further compounded when the government starts
hunting down and destroying the escaped Manticore soldiers, led by Ames
White. White is both a government agent, and a member of a secret
ancient breeding cult similar in structure to the
Illuminatiwhich spans millennia. He's particularly focused on Max, who is
revealed to have been created without junk DNA and for a special
purpose.
Max befriends one of the new escapees, the first Manticore creation,
Joshua (
Kevin Durand) who seeks his "father" Sandeman, their mysterious creator, and a renegade member of the breeding cult. Max also teams up with
Alec (
Jensen Ackles), an X-5 who's genetically identical to her dead unit-mate
Ben,
and a magnet for trouble. They spend a lot of time covering up, taking
out, or protecting the more odd of the Manticore Alumni. Eventually,
they join the other transgenics in the toxic section of Seattle, called
Terminal City, and make a stand for their rights against the hostile
humans.