Although he's probably most famous for directing The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, horrormeister Tobe Hooper's work has ranged from Poltergeist to TV's Salem's Lot, Dark Skies and Tales From the Crypt. Hooper kicks off Taken by directing "Beyond the Skies", the first episode of the epic miniseries. "The thing that attracted me, aside from the love of science fiction, is the lack of expository information. This project is all coming from subtext and from what happened before the Roswell incident. It's all about human behavior, sociopathic behavior at times. It's far, far advanced to any science-fiction project I've ever read.
"It's surrounded with existentialistic values of where we came from, where we're going, enlightenment, hopefully. Finding out who we are. Finding out what did happen before the big bang. Where we're likely to go. And it's a remarkable interweaving of dark and light that I find so interesting." Hooper's episode takes place from 1944 to 1947, a time period which includes World War II. The story begins with a bombing mission over Germany that results in a dogfight.
"The foundation for it is a little bit like Best Years of Our Lives," Hooper says. "The boys are coming home and seeing a world they haven't seen in years, and seiing what has been going on in America while they've been off in Europe fighting the war. And then we meet our three stories, our three different families that we track over a 60-year period. And there's wonderful drama, there are wonderful discoveries, and also there's the Roswell incident- there's a whole new way o flooking at it. This is the best scientific analysis of what quite possibly happened in 1947at Roswell."
Hooper has high praise for both his fellow directors and the writing. "It's been very interesting. I shot the first one and then passed my information on to the other directors. I think they're all good directors, and I think it's working out great. For me it's interesting walking onto a set and watching other director's work. It's really terrific. The scripts are so good and fantastically imaginative. And interactive. By interactive, I mean everything is not spelled out for you. You're not told what you're watching. You see something and you assume something. And that becomes part of the equation that continuously builds. And so you're watching the film, you're constantly interacting- almost like a game- figuring out what this is. What's going to happen next. Being surprised by what's happening. And also guessing. After seeing each of the films, you would go away talking about it, about what you just saw."
"It keeps youon edge, and it keeps you thinking. What is going to happen next? And that kind of mystery is very appealing. I think the weekly television viewing public will really take to this, because it's unlike anything they've seen. It's so special and so different from anything about this subject. It's epic, and it's completely fascinating, and in total, it will be about 22 hours long. It's really quite special- very special."

The article is accompanied by a third page color photo of Directiors Joel Ransom and Tobe Hooper, and Executive Producer Steve Beers- SHOOTING STARS: Director of Photography Joel Ransom (episodes 1-5), Executive Producer Steve Beers an Director Tove Hoooper share a laugh behind the scenes of Taken.