La Femme Nikita
| La Femme Nikita | |
|---|---|
La Femme Nikita title screen
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| Also known as | ''Nikita'' |
| Genre |
Action Drama Spy fiction |
| Based on | Nikita by Luc Besson |
| Developed by | Joel Surnow |
| Starring |
Peta Wilson Roy Dupuis Matthew Ferguson Don Francks Eugene Robert Glazer Alberta Watson |
| Theme music composer | Mark Snow |
| Composer(s) | Sean Callery |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 96 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Jay Firestone Rocco Matteo |
| Producer(s) | Jamie Paul Rock |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Baton Broadcasting LPN Productions, Inc. Fireworks Entertainment Warner Bros. Television |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network |
CTV (Canada) USA Network (United States) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | January 13, 1997 – March 4, 2001 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows |
Nikita (1990) Point of No Return (1993) Nikita (2010–2013) |
| External links | |
| Website | |
La Femme Nikita (French pronunciation: [la fam nikita], "The Woman Nikita"; called Nikita in Canada) is a Canadian action/drama television series based on the French film Nikita by Luc Besson. The series was co-produced by Jay Firestone of Fireworks Entertainment and Warner Bros.. It was adapted for television by Joel Surnow. The series was first telecast in North America on the USA Network cable channel on January 13, 1997, and ran for five seasons until March 4, 2001. The series was also aired in Canada on the over-the-air CTV Television Network. La Femme Nikita was the highest-rated drama on American basic cable during its first two seasons. It was also distributed in some other countries, and it continues to have a strong cult following.
In the original Luc Besson film (and in the American remake Point of No Return, also released by Warner Bros.), Nikita is a drug-addicted juvenile delinquent who was accused of killing a police officer in cold blood during an attempted robbery of a pharmacy. She is later arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in Nikita and to death by lethal injection in Point of No Return, upon which she was secretly drugged by the government, faking her death. Nikita is then "recruited" by a secret government organization and transformed into a highly skilled assassin who cannot be traced.
The television series differs from the film versions in one fundamental aspect: Nikita (Peta Wilson) is innocent. She is not a killer, nor a drug user, just a homeless young woman in the wrong place at the wrong time. Section One —an elite, top-secret counter-terrorism organization— sets Nikita up to be accused of murdering a police officer and sentenced to life in prison where she supposedly commits suicide and is brought into Section One. Because Nikita will be killed (or "cancelled") if she fails to comply, she is forced to carry out the organization's ruthless methods of fighting terrorism, while attempting to keep her moral integrity intact. This personal struggle becomes the primary conflict of the series. A key scene in the two theatrical films involves Nikita's first assignment —to murder a VIP in a crowded restaurant. Although the Nikita of the television series eventually does become, by necessity, a ruthless killer, in the television version of this first mission she uses her ingenuity to avoid having to kill the VIP (whereas the film versions of the character complete the assignment). However, despite the machinations of others in power around her, Nikita retains her compassion and humanity.
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