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Alias is an American SpyFi television series, created by J. J. Abrams, and starring Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow, a CIA agent.
PlotSydney Bristow is a college student who is approached with a job offer by someone claiming to work for SD-6, a black ops division of the Central Intelligence Agency; she accepts the offer and quickly becomes a field agent. When she tells her fiancé Danny that she is a spy, however, he is murdered by SD-6. It is then that Sydney is told by her father Jack Bristow (another SD-6 agent) that SD-6 is not part of the CIA; instead, it is part of the Alliance of Twelve, an organization that is an enemy to the United States. Sydney decides to offer her services to the real CIA as a double agent. Her offer is soon accepted, and she begins the long and arduous task of destroying SD-6 from the inside. She soon learns that her father is also a double agent for the CIA. A major subplot of the series is the search for and the recovery of artifacts created by Milo Rambaldi, a fictional Leonardo da Vinci-like inventor and Nostradamus-like prophet from the Renaissance period. Rambaldi's works include electronics and other devices that would not be invented by others for centuries. He also predicted that a woman who looks like Sydney will cause "utter devastation" to the world. This subplot pushes Alias into the genre of science fiction. Midway through the second season, the series underwent a "reboot" of sorts with Sydney successfully destroying SD-6 (after gathering valuable intelligence for tactical strikes from an airborne SD-6 server) and becoming a regular agent for the CIA, still in pursuit of former SD-6 leader Arvin Sloane, his associate Julian Sark, and the Rambaldi artifacts. The third season takes place two years after the events of season 2, with Sydney having been missing and presumed dead all this time. In fact, she had spent the time on a deep undercover mission for another branch of the CIA, posing as an assassin named Julia Thorne, following which Sydney voluntarily had her memories of the mission erased, both to protect herself and to try and forget some of the deeds she was forced to undertake as Julia. The third season saw Sydney investigating her missing two years while reintegrating into the CIA and dealing with the facts that Arvin Sloan had become a world-renowned humanitarian after being pardoned, a well-resourced terrorist organization called The Convenant (with Julian Sark and Lauren in charge of its North American operations) has arisen, and that her lover Michael Vaughn had married Lauren (unknowing her true allegiances at the time). The NSC also plays a role, a radical governmental organization that holds massive unaccountable power, most notably a detention facility well outside the law and considerable influence over the CIA, and holds questionable motives. Another "reboot" of the series occurred at the start of season 4, when Sydney joins a black ops division of the CIA that is actually part of the CIA, patterned after SD-6 and run by her once nemesis, Arvin Sloane. The cliffhanger from Season Three, in which Sydney uncovers a shocking, classified document called "S.A.B. 47 Project" with an initiation date of 04/17/75 (her birthday) from a vault after Lauren tells her where it is located, after yelling "We're both pawns in the same game. The difference between us is I know who controls me!", was explained away as a CIA document authorizing the execution of Sydney's mother by Jack Bristow, who had mysteriously placed a contract on Sydney's life. Ironically, the new division is dubbed "APO": Authorized Personnel Only. It is named after the sign on the secret entrance to APO headquarters, at an unnamed subway station in Los Angeles that is actually Union Street station, which says "Authorized Personnel Only". Members of APO (all hand-picked by Sloane) include almost all recurring characters, including Jack Bristow, Michael Vaughn, Sydney's former partner (and third season CIA director), Marcus Dixon, the computer and technical genius, Marshall Flinkman, and Weiss. Sydney's half-sister, Nadia Santos, from the third season also returns to join APO. The fourth season saw the series moving to a traditional standalone episode format for the first half of the season - designed to provide a hook for viewers in its new Wednesday night timeslot, where it follows ratings smash hit Lost, which was also created by J.J. Abrams. The show has watched its ratings rocket up thanks to its new lead in, its first episode scoring 16 million viewers and subsequent episodes averaging around 14 million viewers, up from last season's average of around 8 million viewers. A contributing factor in the rise in viewers is considered to be the move away from the complicated arc-based plots of previous seasons, although Abrams has been quoted as saying the Rambaldi storyline will re-emerge later in the season. TimeframeThe first season of Alias begins in 2001, the same year the series first aired. Reference to Homeland Security in an early episode suggests the series begins not long before, or not long after September 11. During the first season a number of episodes are said to take place a week apart, though numerous others, due to cliffhanger endings, occur back-to-back. The season 2 finale, which sees Sydney lost two years of her life, would suggest that the series now takes place two years ahead of "real world" time (i.e. Season 4 takes place in 2007, not 2005 when it was broadcast). However as of the first few episodes of season 4, the writers have avoided mentioning any current calendar dates in any episode. CharactersSee List of characters from Alias Staff
Episode listSeason 1
Season 2
Season 3
also: Tribunal, a seven-minute animated short (full title: Animated Alias: Tribunal) which was produced for the season 3 DVD release and takes place prior to the events of The Two. Season 4
The series was moved from Sunday to Wednesday night for the fourth season. ABC pledged to air the season without any rerun periods - as opposed to previous seasons when new episodes would be interrupted for weeks at a time - although occasional preemptions still occurred. ProductionProduction locations are primarily in Los Angeles, California and the series is produced by Touchstone Television and Bad Robot Production. Despite its worldwide locales, only one episode has ever been filmed outside the Los Angeles region (and that one was shot in Las Vegas). Distributors
SpoofsThe Alias production team has participated in at least two spoofs based upon the series and featuring cast members.
Alias: The Video GameThe video game Alias, based on the series, is a 3D third-person stealth/action title developed and released by Acclaim Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The plot was written by the creators of the show and the game features the voices of the cast principals. Original novelsA number of original novels based upon the series have been published, primarily for a teenage reading audience. Due to the intricate and story arc-based nature of the series, most novels published to date have been prequels to the series, some focusing on Sydney in her early missions for SD-6, and others focusing on Vaughn's missions before meeting her. Their canon status with regards to the televised series has yet to be determined. Although aimed at young readers, the books tackle serious subject matter, such as one volume which details the first time Sydney kills someone.
DVDThe first three seasons of Alias have been released on DVD. The fourth season is expected sometime in September 2005 after its initial airing on television in January of 2005. Season 1 FeaturesReleased September 2, 2003
Season 2 FeaturesReleased December 2, 2003
(A skit filmed for Monday Night Football was advertised as being in the set, but was removed from the DVD set before release.) Season 3 FeaturesReleased September 7, 2004
External links
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