Something is Out There
| Something Is Out There | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Created by | Frank Lupo |
| Written by | Frank Lupo |
| Directed by | Richard Colla |
| Starring |
Joseph Cortese Maryam d'Abo Gregory Sierra George Dzundza Kim Delaney John Putch Robert Webber |
| Composer(s) | Sylvester Levay |
| Country of origin |
United States Australia |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes |
|
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Frank Lupo John Ashley |
| Location(s) |
Los Angeles, California Sydney, Australia |
| Cinematography | Laszlo George (USA) Geoff Burton (Australia) Arthur R. Botham |
| Editor(s) | David Ramirez Howard Deane Larry L. Mills |
| Camera setup | Kenneth C. Barrows |
| Running time | 180 minutes (miniseries) 45 minutes (weekly series) |
| Production company(s) | Invader Productions, Inc. (USA) Hoyts Productions (Australia) |
| Distributor |
Columbia Pictures Television TeleVentures |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| First shown in | May 8–9, 1988 (miniseries) |
| Original release | October 21 – December 9, 1988 |
Something Is Out There is the title of a 1988 American science fiction television miniseries that aired on NBC, and a weekly series that followed in the fall of 1988, which lasted from October to December of 1988.
Jack Breslin (Joseph Cortese is a police officer investigating brutal murders in which organs have been removed from the victims. He learns that the crimes are being committed by a monstrous alien insectoid prisoner known as a xenomorph, possessing shape-shifting and physical possession abilities, who has escaped from an alien prison starship passing by the solar system, and he teams up with a beautiful medical officer from that ship, Ta'Ra (Maryam d'Abo), to track the villain down. Ta'Ra has assorted superhuman abilities, including telepathy and superhuman agility, which come in handy during the mission.
The miniseries drew high ratings for NBC and critics noted the chemistry between Jack and Ta'Ra as one of its high points. One week after its ratings success, Brandon Tartikoff announced it would become a weekly series. 13 episodes were ordered. Something Is Out There fared poorly opposite the very successful Dallas and the show was later moved to compete with Beauty and the Beast where ratings only worsened. The series was canceled after only six one-hour episodes were broadcast, with two additional episodes produced but not broadcast at the time except in isolated cases in the US.
Due to its short run, the series is not often found in syndication, but the Sci-Fi Channel did include it as part of a rotation of short-lived series, including broadcasting the previously unaired episodes. An edited down version of the miniseries has aired as a syndicated television movie.
Originally conceived by Frank Lupo in 1987 with the title Invader, NBC ordered a four-hour mini-series for broadcast on May 8, 1988 with a budget of $7.5 million. Shooting took 41 days on locations in Los Angeles and Australia.
Producers John Ashley and Frank Lupo decided to alter the program's concept to cope with the comparatively smaller budget of the weekly series. "Things definitely change fast when a mini-series or movie becomes a weekly series," said Ashley. "It's great when you've got four hours, $7.5 million and the talents of Rick Baker and John Dykstra to play around with. But what happens when you're suddenly cut to a million per episode budget, don't have the talents of Baker or Dykstra and have to take the mini-series concept to the next level while turning out an hour a week? What happens is that you make changes."
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Wikipedia