RW517 - Bonus - Strange Days

 

In this New Years episode of The Rewatch Podcast, Cory and Eoghan playback, hijack, and jack in as they discuss Strange Days.

Trailer:

Our Favourite Trivia:

Director Kathryn Bigelow found that no existing camera system could accomplish the shots necessary for the point-of-view sequences, so the research division of Lightstorm Entertainment (the company of writer/producer James Cameron, who was Bigelow's husband at the time) spent a full year designing and fabricating a special camera for the production. Weighing only 8 pounds, the 35mm camera literally fit in the palm of the hand and featured interchangeable lenses, remote follow focus, and video assist (necessary since the camera had no viewfinder). The camera was then mounted on a SteadiCam-style portable rig, which gave the camera stability and mobility similar to the human eye.

The opening sequence of the film was shot at four separate locations, as one contiguous location could not be found. The cuts between shots were disguised by rapidly panning the camera around. Due to the pace of the scene, the sound men could not effectively record any of the actual sound on the set. All of the sound and dialogue in the sequence had to be overdubbed during post production.

The character of LAPD Chief Strickland is likely inspired by real-life LAPD Chief Daryl Gates who became notorious for his mishandling of the Rodney King beating of 1991 and the Los Angeles Riots of 1992, which occurred when the officers who had beaten King - an event captured on video by a bystander - were acquitted by an all-white jury. Much of this film takes its themes from those two events.

The cartridges used for the "clips" are Sony MiniDiscs while "SQUID" decks are retrofitted Sony MiniDisc players, a new technology introduced to the public in 1994. Discs were engineered to be recordable and re-recordable but sales of the technology, which came with a high list price, were poor and the line was abandoned by the company.

In one scene (around 1 hour 43 mins) Angela Bassett yells at Ralph Fiennes, "This is your life, right here, right now". The dialogue was sampled by British DJ Fatboy Slim and used in the hit song, "Right Here, Right Now" (1999).

Judging by his birth and death year listed in the news report about his murder, Jeriko One is a member of the "27 Club", a collective of entertainers who have passed away at the age of 27. Other members of this club include Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison. The latter is the frontman of The Doors, whose second album is entitled "Strange Days".

What's Up Next?

Watch this space while we get our 2023 organised! 

Contact Us:

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Support the Show:

Head over to our TeePublic and/or Redbubble stores today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us, and covers our hosting costs. We appreciate every purchase. 

Resources:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114558/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Days_(film)

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0114558/?ref_=bo_se_r_1

RW516 - Dark Skies S01E15-16 - Gray Burn

 

In this weeks episode of The Dark Skies Rewatch, Cory and Tom lure in their enemy and make a quick getaway as they discuss season 1 episodes 15 & 16, Shades of Gray and Burn, Baby, Burn.

Redacted Notes:

Just recently, the National Archives has released thousands of JFK assassination documents. Learn more here.

Shades of Gray:

Written by: Brad Markowitz

Directed by: Perry Lang

Original airdate: February 8, 1997

Synopsis:

A young Juliet chases a ball into the woods of Gorky Park, Moscow, where she encounters a Gray Alien that uses his telekinetic powers to pull the ball towards him. 

At Majestic, John checks out a gun so he can do some weapons practice. Albano reprimands John and complains to Bach about them being there, leaving Bach to wonder why he does in fact let him live. John challenges Bach and plays his only bargaining chip, the decoder disc Juliet found in her husband’s diary. With Halligan's help, they realize they can summon an alien ship by using the decoder to create a new crop circle.

While making the crop circle, they find the farmer’s young daughter, named Monica, in the woods. John and Kim get her safely back to her home, while Monica mentions her mother recently left and became an angel.

Back at the crop circle, John requests the gold plate he found during his first crop circle mission, and Kim uses her newfound extra sensory perception to place it at the correct place within the circle. While they wait at night for a ship, Kim wonders why they’re working with Majestic, and John tells her his plan of working with Majestic in order to take it over from the inside. 

The circle works and a Gray ship appears, with one of the aliens beaming down. Albano and company immediately capture the alien, but the ship shines a beam and flips their vehicle, allowing the Gray to run away. John shoots at it, getting a hit in before it escapes. Kim convinces Bach to let her and John find the Gray, using her abilities. 

Meanwhile, Monica finds the injured Gray who communicates with her, telling her that he is an angel, and fooling the girl into wanting to help by saying he can take her to her mother if they find the gold plate. She finds the plate and begins carrying it back, but is interrupted by John and Kim who recapture the alien despite Monica’s cries to stop and attempt to burn down the barn.

Halligan begins working on the Gray, extracting the Ganglion and nursing the alien back to health, noticing a glow from the head, possibly a healing effect. Within minutes, Halligan notices that the incisions he made has healed, and Kim has a vision that shows the Grays playing with children, gaining their trust so they will willingly go with them when the Singularity happens. Kim see’s Monica in her vision, prompting John, and a visibly shaken Juliet, to head back to the farm. As they drive, John confronts Juliet about her reaction and she reveals her past of being taken by the Grays to play with other children. 

Upon arriving at the farm, they discover that Monica is no longer in bed. They track her down in the field, running towards the crop circle where a Hive ship awaits. John and Juliet tackle her, saving her from beaming up. Monica pleads with them to let her go so she can be with her mother. Juliet explains that her mother is always with her, and Monica’s father apologizes for not being there for her.

Returning to Majestic, Kim reveals what she’s learned from the Gray that they had a society similar to humans, and lost to the Hive. They wonder why the alien is communicating with her, and John theorizes that it’s because they both went through the same ordeal. Kim senses however that there is something else the alien is hiding, and it reveals to Kim that she is pregnant.

History As We Know It:

Jamie Renee Smith played Monica. She’s had quite a few roles (about 60), and the majority of them one offs and lower cast list credits. She did star in Children of the Corn: The Gathering (straight to video in 1996), and was a supporting cast member of a one season show called Ask Harriet. She was also a lead in Magic in the Mirror, and Magic in the Mirror: Fowl Play (an Alice in Wonderland style adventure). 

Burn, Baby, Burn:

Written by: James D. Parriott

Directed by: Steve Posey

Original airdate: March 1, 1997 (3 week break)

Synopsis:

In Los Angeles, 1921, a young construction worker named Simon Rodia is attracted by a glowing red light, and discovers aliens working in an old building. He then sees a Hive ship overhead, and experiences a vision of a double helix. The man seems to become possessed and begins obsessively building something. 

Ten months have passed in the present time, as Kim reflects on her pregnancy. She tells John she wants her baby to be born in California, an off the cuff comment that surprises even herself. 

Halligan talks with Bach about Kim’s health status, and shows him a picture that she has been drawing all week, a sketch of the Watts Towers, built by Simon Rodia, that look similar to a DNA double helix. Bach pushes John to get Kim to California, where a specialist doctor named Merrick can oversee the birth. Merrick is described as the best of the best, and will be prepared to see any abnormalities that may show up during the long overdue delivery. 

Meanwhile in Watts, California, a young African American man named Marquette Fry is pulled over on suspicion of drinking and driving. He’s arrested by officer Lee Minikus, resulting in members of the community pushing back against the police. Anger boils over on both sides, and within hours the entire community mobilizes and begins rioting in protest.

Steele, also in Watts, heads to the facility built by Simon Rodia, and tells Hive doctors that Kim has arrived. 

Back at Majestic, the Gray, having lain dormant the last ten months, suddenly wakes, escapes its hyperbaric chamber, and starts to destroy the lab. 

As Kim and Juliet talk, a light shines from outside the hospital window. Juliet is thrown across the room, and Kim is enveloped in the light and once again abducted.

John is adamant that they use the Roswell translation device to try and communicate with the Gray, leading Bach to send in Albano. The alien communicates his frustration, feeling that Kim betrayed him somehow. The Gray also shows Albano a picture of the double helix that Kim had been drawing.

John talks with a man named George, whose wife was also abducted by the Grays, and is in the hospital for their pregnancy as well. George recognizes Kim’s drawing as the Watts Towers, and offers to take John and Juliet there, given that he is known in that community. However, upon seeing John and Juliet, their car is attacked by rioters, leading them to escape on foot and take refuge with George’s brother-in-law.

Meanwhile, Steele approaches Kim, who appears unaware of where she is, and the doctors begin their procedures on her and the baby. 

John and crew make it to the towers at night, and spot Steele. John tries to stop a man from burning down the building Kim is in, but they rip off his mask and find out he is white. Before he can be beaten, John wrestles himself free and runs into the burning building, fighting off the Hive agents, and eventually finding Kim. Her baby is gone and she seems unfazed, saying that “we” had to take him, indicating she’s again been taken over by the Hive, as she and Steele are beamed away.

Eventually, John manages to communicate with the Gray and they both mourn the loss of Kim.

History As We Know It:

Director Stephen L. Posey did a lot of one-off episode directing on series such as Babylon 5, Xena, Hercules, Space: Above and Beyond, Buffy, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and many more. He’s mostly known for his work as a cinematographer, and amongst his many credits are some real standout horror classics, including Bloody Birthday, The Slumber Party Massacre, and Friday the 13th: A New Beginning.

The Watts Riots had been building up for years due to the treatment of African American citizens in the LA area and started after a policeman arrested a young man named Marquette Frye on suspicion of drunk driving. Frye’s mother came to the scene and scolded the boy for his actions but things escalated and resulted in the riots beginning. They lasted six days and caused more than 40 million dollars in property damage. Lee Minikus was the arresting officer and was represented in the episode. 

Sabato Simon Rodia (Sam) was an Italian immigrant who created the Watts Towers because he wanted to create something “big” using junk and things that he happened to find. It is the world's largest single construction created by one individual, and was his obsession for 33 years, finishing them in 1954. He called it “Nuestro Pueblo” or “Our Town”.

They were made of steel covered with mortar and embellished by the decorative finishings of mosaic tiles, glass, clay, shells and rock. There is no welded inner armature. Rodia wired rebars together then wrapped this joint with wire mesh and hand packed it with mortar and his mosaic surface.

 

In 1959, the International Conference of Museum Curators resolved that “Rodia’s Towers are a unique combination of sculpture and architecture and the paramount work of folk art of the 20th century in the United States.” The Towers are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, are a National Historic Landmark, a State of California Historic Monument, a State of California Historic Park and, in March 1965, the Watts Towers were officially designated as Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Monument Number 15.

Resources:

For more information on Dark Skies, please check out these great resources of information. 

Dark Skies IMDb

https://needtoknow.today

Dark Skies Wiki

There is a full playlist of Dark Skies episodes. Account is active as of Dec 2022.

Contact Us:

Send in your feedback to TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com
Follow the show on Facebook or Instagram

Support the Show:

Head over to our TeePublic and/or Redbubble stores today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us, and covers our hosting costs. We appreciate every purchase.

RW515 - Bonus - The Night Before

 

In this Christmas episode of The Rewatch Podcast, Cory and Eoghan have big plans for an all out party. Merry Christmas to all, and to all The Night Before.

Trailer:

Our Favourite Trivia:

This was Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's second collaboration with director Jonathan Levine. The first was 50/50 (2011).

This was Seth Rogen and Lizzy Caplan's third collaboration. They worked together in Freaks and Geeks (1999) and The Interview (2014).

This is the second collaboration between Anthony Mackie and Michael Shannon, the first being 8 Mile (2002).

This was Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Shannon's second collaboration. They previously worked together in Premium Rush (2012).

Director Jonathan Levine revealed on Collider that a lot of the film's comedy was improvised, and the dramatic moments were per the written script, which he admitted was more like an outline guide.

What's Up Next?

While the world (I assume) is queuing to see the James Cameron's epic Avatar 2, we're going to watch something else that he wrote, and Katryn Bigelow directed, Strange Days!

Contact Us:

Send us an email! TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com

Follow the show on Facebook or Instagram 

Visit the WEBSITE

Support the Show:

Head over to our TeePublic and/or Redbubble stores today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us, and covers our hosting costs. We appreciate every purchase. 

Resources:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3530002/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Before_(2015_film)

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt3530002/?ref_=bo_se_r_1

RW514 - Dark Skies S01E13-14 - Omission Rabbit

 

In this weeks episode of The Dark Skies Rewatch, Cory and Tom tell the truth with hand to hand combat as they discuss season 1 episodes 13 & 14, The Warren Omission and White Rabbit.

The Warren Omission:

Written by: Brent V. Friedman & Bryce Zabel

Directed by: Perry Lang

Original airdate: January 18, 1997

Synopsis: 

Sequestered away by Kennedy’s men, the Attorney General arrives to ask John to testify to the Warren Commission in order to get them to investigate the assassination even further. John and Kim are hesitant but eventually agree, however, the next morning a woman (later revealed as Juliet Stewart) finds their hideout and attacks them all. She holds John at gunpoint, threatening him to not testify or be killed the next time they meet. She gasses him and escapes. Despite this, John goes ahead with his testimony as the episode becomes a good ol’ fashioned clip show, while Bach begins gathering all the information they can find on Loengard to discredit him as a witness.

Bach is sworn in and starts calling into question John’s sanity, including false accounts of John blackmailing his way into Majestic, being behind Congressman Pratt’s death, and twisting actual events to fit the narrative that John had a part in the JFK assassination. The Commission, desperate to close up their report under pressure from the President, and under Allan Dulles’s manipulation, demands that John bring forth hard evidence of any kind or he will be charged with perjury.

As Bach and John trade quips in their holding cells, a group under the direction of Kennedy breaks into Majestic’s headquarters and begins searching for the classified material. They even pressure a young captain named Schwarzkopf, as Albano and Juliet begin shredding their top secret documents. 

Kennedy and crew view some of Majestic’s film of the assassination, berating Albano into giving up names and information about Majestic, which he steadfastly denies to do. Juliet shows up with her own film, one of Kennedy with Marilyn Monroe. The footage would cause Monroe’s reputation to be dragged through the mud, and would call into question his role in her suicide. Albano and Juliet persuade him to step down and run for senate instead, offering him their support and some property in New York. His assistant George is appalled, but Kennedy takes their offer, leaving George to sadly deliver a statement to the Warren Commission that Kennedy is withdrawing his sponsorship of John’s testimony. 

John addresses the commission, trying to raise them into doing something, calling back to John F Kennedy’s commitment to the people, before leaving. Several members demand that Bach needs to divulge the secrets of Majestic, but Bach instead approaches Warren and says he has the authority to divulge information on a case by case basis and offers to do that to Warren only. The information Bach gives him is still skewed, as he paints the history of Majestic and Roswell as being part of the Cold War, convincing him to not release the information so that the war doesn’t escalate any further. 

George drops off John and Kim and gives them money from Kennedy, apologizing for everything. Their spirits crushed, the two drive off as the Warren Commission releases their report that Oswald acted alone in his assassination of JFK. 

History As We Know It:

Earl Warren is played by Gary Lockwood. He began his career as a movie stuntman, and a stand-in for Anthony Perkins, prior to his acting debut in 1959 in an uncredited bit role in Warlock. He starred as a young U.S. Marine lieutenant in the NBC series The Lieutenant, and then starred in another NBC television series Kraft Mystery Theater, opposite Sally Kellerman (with whom he would later appear in the second Star Trek pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before”). They played Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell, and the ship's psychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, who both develop destructive superpowers. He was also cast as the co-star in director Stanley Kubrick's legendary 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), playing Dr. Frank Poole. Between 1959 and 2004, he had roles in some forty theatrical and made-for-TV features and made almost eighty TV guest appearances.

George Barrett is played by Arthur Taxier. He’s a “That Guy” with 100 roles to his name, including the often named Late Shift, X-Files, Donnie Darko, 21 Jump Street,  LA Law, Misfits of Science, Cheers, and The A Team, amongst many others.

The biggest guest star, and now recurring role for the rest of the series, Jeri Ryan is here! We’ve seen her in an episode of Flash 90 (Deadly Nightshade), but aside from a few handfuls of one off roles, Dark Skies was her first time as a series regular. She would, of course, go on to portray Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Voyager until present day when the character was brought into Star Trek: Picard as well. One of her early one off roles was the pilot of Just Deserts (not Desserts), in which a womanizer is made female as punishment. The trailer and website description doesn’t reveal how Jeri is used in the pilot but she was listed as a lead. She also had a main role in Boston Public (school drama) for seasons 2-4, James Woods’ series Shark (lawyer drama), and Body of Proof (medical examiner drama). She’s also been a lead in a number of lesser known movies such as Secrets in the Walls, Dead Lines, and The Last Man (some of which are available on Crackle and Tubi for free).

http://www.rickspringfield.us/library/roles/tvguest/just.html

White Rabbit:

Written by: Brent V. Friedman

Directed by: James A. Contner

Original airdate: February 1, 1997

Synopsis:

A group of Soviet soldiers at the Gulf of Tonkin scan the area, and end up seeing a Hive ship emerge from the waters. The soldiers shoot at the craft but it escapes unharmed. 

At Majestic, Albano reports that one of the US warships has reported it was fired upon and Bach suggests that the North Vietnamese are looking to escalate to a war with the United States. 

John attempts to celebrate Kim’s birthday, but while gathering items for her big day he is grabbed by Albano and company. Juliet briefs Bach and generals from both the Army and Air Force on what they believe are the locations of several underwater Hive bases, commenting that they seem to have now been destroyed. Bach states that several Air Force missions are responsible for their destruction, but in the aftermath of those battles, several Hive crafts escaped, with one being tracked somewhere in Vietnam. A group of Russian soldiers went after it, but have since gone missing, and their superiors have agreed to allow the US to assist in their rescue. Bach tells Loengard that he has been drafted to go on the mission because he is expendable, refusing to let him tell Kim what is going on. John won’t be alone however because Bach wants to go along to be sure the alien tech doesn’t get into the wrong hands. Bach also states that he’ll only be sitting by the radio while John does the actual rescuing.

Upon arriving in Vietnam, they are met by American soldier Kellogg. A guide named Tay Ma tries to help John find the ship, but they come upon an American soldier who has gone crazy after fighting the Grays that survived the crash. John and Tay Ma find the spiked head of a Gray and the crash site, but all that is left of the ship is the power core, which is highly magnetic, ripping their guns from their hands. Bach orders John to destroy the core but also contacts Albano, telling him to send an airstrike in order to destroy the whole area, himself included. Juliet later confronts Albano about being included on the mission to Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Kim does her own investigating and learns of John being taken by Bach and decides to kidnap Bach’s wife as leverage, contacting Albano and telling him her demands. Kim then tells Bach’s wife all about what her husband actually does, which she has trouble believing but comes to understand. 

Bach arrives at the crash site and tells John they’re looking for three more Grays, explaining that it takes four of them to fly their ships. They end up finding 2 more dead Grays, and like the head they found earlier, they burn them. Tay Ma finds a tunnel in the ground, and Bach tries to smoke out another Gray but eventually orders Tay Ma into the tunnel. Following the Gray’s blood trail, Tay Ma comes upon it in a cavern. John tries to jump into the tunnel to save Tay Ma but Bach pulls him back and tosses a grenade into the tunnel instead. John yells at Bach but suddenly stops as Bach stares behind him at the Viet Cong, who then take them prisoner. 

Juliet finds Kim’s hotel room where she’s holding Bach’s wife, and explains to her that what Kim told her was true. Juliet says that they all want the truth, and they decide to work together. The three women get inside Majestic and threaten Albano for the truth at gunpoint, telling him they want their boyfriend and husband back. Albano explains that it’s too late to call back the airstrike. 

The VC tries to get information about the alien ship’s material, and Bach tells them that he’s in charge while John knows nothing. Another prisoner, Lev, talks with John and together they come up with a plan for escape. They launch their attack, but Lev is killed during the escape.

Juliet calls in help from Russia, asking them to shoot down the American planes. Kim and Mrs. Bach tells her not to do it, saying that enough people have died in this war. The planes arrive and begin dropping bombs on the area, but John manages to call back to Kellogg in order to get a flight out, barely escaping.

A VC soldier heads deep into a tunnel looking for John, but meets his end as the Gray attacks him, and John sends another grenade down the hole, presumably killing the final Gray.

John gives Juliet Lev’s diary, revealing him to be her husband. As she looks through the pages, she finds an alien disc hidden inside. 

History As We Know It:

We’ve seen director James A Contner a lot! He directed an episode of The Flash (Twin Streaks), Lois and Clark (Honeymoon in Metropolis), Seaquest (Greed for a Pirates Dream), and Firefly (War Stories). You may remember we talked about him directing the Lea Thompson film series Jane Doe.

The Gulf of Tonkin incident refers to a time when two US destroyers reported they were fired upon by the North Vietnamese. The two separate incidents lead to the US Congress granting the President the power to take any measure necessary to insure peace and security in that region, namely increasing their military presence and retaliating. The north of Vietnam was communists so the US had previously sided with the south under JFK’s leadership, but the south was less organized and its leader was eventually overthrown. Shortly after that, JFK was assassinated. The hostilities continued between the north and the south under new leadership in both countries. 

The VC (Viet Cong) comes from the phrase "cong san Viet Nam," meaning "Vietnamese communist." The term is rather derogatory, however, so perhaps a better translation would be "Vietnamese commie.”

The tunnels were used by Viet Cong soldiers as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters.

Resources:

For more information on Dark Skies, please check out these great resources of information. 

Dark Skies IMDb

https://needtoknow.today

Dark Skies Wiki

There is a full playlist of Dark Skies episodes. Account is active as of Dec 2022.

Contact Us:

Send in your feedback to TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com
Follow the show on Facebook or Instagram

Support the Show:

Head over to our TeePublic and/or Redbubble stores today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us, and covers our hosting costs. We appreciate every purchase.

RW513 - Dark Skies S01E11-12 - Wave Within

 

In this weeks episode of The Dark Skies Rewatch, Cory and Tom are riding the rapids as they discuss season 1 episodes 11 & 12, The Last Wave and The Enemy Within.

The Last Wave:

Written by: Melissa Rosenberg

Directed by: Steve Beers

Original airdate: January 4, 1997

Synopsis: 

A surfer named Nat dances with his girlfriend, Gina, but when he notices the waves rising, he instantly wants to surf, instead of talking about his future with her. He rushes to get his friend Dewey but Dewey is desperately pouring lotion all over his body and scratching at his skin, trying to get rid of something that isn’t there in reality, but rather only in his mind. As he collapses to the floor after ingesting insecticide, Nat finds him and goes for help.

John and Kim arrive in LA after hearing about what happened to Dewey, an old friend of theirs from their younger days and are shocked to see their other old friend Nat had dropped out of marine biology to become a lifeguard. While John and Nat go to catch up, Kim answers Nat’s phone, talking with the funeral home director saying that men from the coroner’s office want to take Dewey’s body.  Kim goes to investigate, unknowingly watched from afar, and discovers that the men were not from the coroner's office but from Majestic. As she leaves, she notices a man in her rear view mirror watching her with a camera, but doubles back around and confronts him at gunpoint. He reveals his name as Jim, a film student making a film about the truth, indicating he has footage of the men who arrived to take Dewey’s body. 

John tries talking with Nat about Dewey but he doesn’t have a whole lot to offer besides being busy with school.

While John and Kim walk along the beach at night. Discussing the day's events, they are shocked to see the beach covered in dead and dying fish. The beach is closed down, with the official story being the fish died from overflow sewage from the treatment plant being dumped into the ocean. Gina is upset by this news, since they are always out there in the ocean, but Nat seems unconcerned, with John backing her up. 

Jim shows Kim his film, which shows shots of men in a boat extracting something from fish and Dewey being taken into an ambulance. When the shots of Dewey being taken from the morgue appear, Kim recognizes the fake coroners as the men on the boat from the earlier shot, with Jim commenting that he found out the boat is registered to the treatment plant. 

Nat agrees to look at one of the fish that John found, but he concludes that it’s simply a dead fish. Kim arrives home and talks with Gina and she shares her feelings about her and Nat, and his refusal to grow up. 

John and Kim go to investigate the treatment plant with Jim accidentally scaring them when he shows up to join them and together they break in, breaking on through, to the other side, so to speak. Once in, they hear some men talking in the Hive language before realizing that a huge wave of sewage is being released and they run, but are eventually washed out with it.

After Gina walks out on Nat the next morning, he looks at the water samples John and Kim obtained and finds the water contains a synthetic living cell feeding on bacteria, and they realize that human bodies contain water and natural bacteria. They theorize that this could be an experimental new way of implantation. As they drive to Jim’s, Gina is seen in the background, scratching at her skin. Jim shows them more footage of a tour he took at the sewage plant and they see that it seems like the plant is sending shipments all around the world. 

Meanwhile, on the beach, Dewey’s body washes ashore, and Nat finds it, seeing that the kidneys were cut out. He demands to know what is going on, finding out that Kim knew about what happened at the funeral home. Their conversation is cut short when they hear Gina screaming and rush inside to see her trying to cut her skin, to get out the maggots she believes to be under it. 

Nat says that the cell he found in the water will die out with exposure to DDT, being removed from salt water, or being starved by removing all the bacteria via antibiotics. Nat is adamant that he can’t save Gina, preferring to send her to the hospital, but John convinces him to do something because the hospital won’t help in time. He instead calls a friend who has more doctors knowledge than him and they manage to stabilize Gina.

John, Kim, and Jim sneak back into the plant, and while attempting to find the controls, are attacked by Hive agents. The group fights, eventually subduing the agents and managing to turn on the plants’ controls. 

As the trio heads out to stop the trucks, they find themselves facing Albano who raises his gun and shoots one of the plant men behind them. He tells them that the Hive was trying to change human body chemistry to make them part of their food chain. 

Nat tells John the next day that he is going to go back to school, determined to better himself and keep an eye on the ocean, especially after hearing that Majestic poured a ton of DDT into the ocean to kill the Hive cells, blaming it on a chemical company, as part of their cover story. Meanwhile, Jim finds himself forced by Majestic to give them his camera, exposing his film to light, ruining the footage of all he had captured at the plant.

History As We Know It:

Director Steve Beers also directed on Seaquest 2032, episode “Weapons of War.”

Jim Morrison, of the Doors, was indeed a film student and was described by one of his teachers, as narcissistic, and already possessing the laid back, neck cinched swagger that he became known for. He did make several short films, but all of them were lost, save for one silent movie which starred his girlfriend at the time, mainly consisting of just various shots of her. 

Officials from The US Environmental Protection Agency determined that acid waste from the nation's largest manufacturer of DDT—a pesticide so powerful it poisoned birds and fish—had not been contained in hundreds of thousands of sealed barrels. Most of the waste, according to newly unearthed information, had been poured directly into the ocean from massive tank barges.

Regulators discovered that from the 1930s to the early 1970s, 13 other areas off the Southern California coast had also been approved for dumping of military explosives, radioactive waste, and various chemical and refinery byproducts—including 3 million metric tons of petroleum waste

Montrose Chemical was the nation’s largest manufacturer of DDT, located in Los Angeles. Starting in 1947 and continuing through 1961 (and perhaps even later), the company instructed its employees to transport barrels of DDT and acid sludge waste and dump them into the ocean. 

The Enemy Within:

Written by: 

Story by: Bryce Zabel and Brent V. Friedman

Teleplay by : Brad Markowitz

Directed by: Jim Charleston

Original airdate: January 11, 1997

Synopsis: 

A man, later revealed to be Ray Loengard, John’s brother, camping in a tent, awakens to a strong wind around him, and a shadow of a Grey approaching his tent. Suddenly a light from a  hovering hive ship pulls aside his tent and the grey approaches the man holding out a ganglion. 

As the Warren Commision gets underway, John and Kim head to his childhood home to gather up some savings bonds he had saved. 

Elsewhere, Steele hijacks an agent who gets him into the Majestic headquarters. Inside, Allen Dulles and Bach watch the Oswald assassination footage and Dulles wants to know why he wasn’t told about Steele’s involvement earlier, with Bach telling him that it’s his job to keep the commission from asking questions about Majestic and staying focused on the Oswald as the single shooter theory. Meanwhile, Steele goes to retrieve documents in the JFK assassination but is interrupted by Albano. A fight ensues with Albano getting shot and Steele running off before Albano can sound the alarm. 

Upon arriving home, John and Kim are welcomed warmly, save for his father, Dick, who is slightly cold, explaining it away as just not expecting them, while Ray seems nervous and distracted. The family asks them what is going on, but they tell them they just have to trust them for now, leaving Ray cold to them. John’s sister Lucy later explains to Kim that John saved his older brother long ago from drowning and became a hero, and reasons that Ray felt bad about that, that John was suddenly the favorite and number one son, in turn building up resentment. 

Bach and Albano wonder why Steele would be here to retrieve documents, with Bach reasoning that the Hive is as worried as them about what the Warren Commission may know and says it’s time to get Loengard back. Bach tries to appeal to Steele over the intercom, as he hides in a restroom, sewing up his own gunshot wounds. Majestic begins canvassing the building in a game of cat and mouse but as usual, Steele escapes. 

John catches Ray in his car who explains he was looking for a key to the trunk and the two end up arguing. Later John tries to bond with Ray but he leaves to hang out by the river, thinking back to when he was saved. John tries to talk with him, hoping they can make up and move forward, telling him they may not get another chance. As John starts to walk away, Ray talks about himself in the third person, revealing that he’s been implanted. 

John and Kim sneak up on Ray and overhear an agent telling him to not let John leave. Kim tells him what she remembers from her abduction in hopes of getting him to submit to the ART but he tries to get away, leading to a fight with John that is broken up by their father. John talks with his father and explains what has been going on. His father seemingly believes him, offering to get him to the bank now, but it’s a ruse to have him arrested and sent in for psychiatric evaluation.

Steele makes it to the Loengard farm and talks with Ray to find out where John is, telling Ray he needs to touch the sphere of light so he will finally be ready while Dick, who had seen Steele arrive, goes and checks his car, finding John’s top secret files.

Kim, with Lucy’s help, manages to break John out, pretending that John is attacking her and then getting a gun off of the officer who comes to save her. As they drive away, Majestic agents chase them but Lucy drives a car in between them, blocking them. 

John heads down to the river to try and save Ray and sees Steele with the sphere of light, running to him and tackling him before he can touch it. Steele holds John at gunpoint and gives Ray a gun to shoot his brother, but Ray is still not completely taken over and refuses, causing Steele to shove him aside and take aim. Ray tackles Steele, causing John to be shot in the leg, but Steele recovers and shoots Ray, when Kim screams, distracting Steele, as Dock fires a shot at Ray, knocking him back into the water and into the river. 

John and Dick hold Ray, telling him he saved his life, before he finally succumbs to his wounds and dies. John apologizes but Dick says he should have believed him and tells him to go before Majestic shows up and he loses another son. As he goes to leave, the ganglion leaves Ray’s mouth and Dick takes aim and kills it. 

Bach questions John’s father but he isn’t extremely helpful, and Bach is surprisingly kind about it.

As John and Kim drive away, a car follows close behind them with another appearing in front of them, trapping them. The men get out of their car and reveal themselves to be from Attorney General Kennedy’s office and that they were sent there to protect them. 

History As We Know It:

Director Jim Charleston also directed 2 episodes of Lois and Clark, episodes “Lethal Weapon” and “Virtually Destroyed”, and on Sliders “Exodus Part 1.”

Dick Loengard was Kent McCord. He’s known primarily for playing Jim Reed in several series: Dragnet, Adam-12, The D.A., The New Adam-12, and Emergency. He did appear in 10 episodes of Farscape and Galactica, and had a role in Airplane II: The Sequel. We’ve seen him in 5 episodes of SeaQuest where he played Commander Scott Keller.

Sean O’Bryan played Ray and we’ve seen him before in Quantum Leap: Running For Honor where he played Philip Ashcroft. He has a huge list of credits, mostly secondary roles and one-offs, though he did star in several series that only lasted one season such as Pig Sty (A friends style setup), Brother’s Keeper (football bro comes to live with his brother) and Abby (woman breaks up with boyfriend, but keeps their apartment together because of rent control, features Sean as her boss). He was a main cast member in season 1 of Persons Unknown as well (strangers wake up imprisoned in a ghost town and search for answers and each other’s motives).

Resources:

For more information on Dark Skies, please check out these great resources of information. 

Dark Skies IMDb

https://needtoknow.today

Dark Skies Wiki

There is a full playlist of Dark Skies episodes. Account is active as of Dec 2022.

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