Dark Angel is an American science fiction television series created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee and set in a post-apocalyptic Seattle which chronicles the life of Max Guevara (X5-452), a genetically enhanced super-soldier who, after escaping from a covert government biotech/military facility as a child, tries to lead some semblance of a normal life.
The series aired in the USA on Fox from 3 October, 2000 to 3 May, 2002. There are 43 hour-long episodes in two seasons.
Dark Angel originally aired in South Africa on SABC3, from 10 August, 2001 to 9 August, 2002. It later aired on TopTV's Fox Entertainment channel. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 2 premiered on Fox Entertainment on Friday 24 September 2010, at 21h45. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 21 episodes in the second season.
Fox Repeats
Tuesdays: 01h30
Fridays: 03h45
Season 1
In 2009, a genetically enhanced, 9-year-old female super-soldier who calls herself Max Guevara (Jessica Alba), escapes along with 11 others like herself from a secret government institution, codenamed Manticore, where they were born, raised and trained to be soldiers and assassins.
On June 1, 2009, months after Max's escape, terrorists detonate an electromagnetic pulse weapon in the atmosphere over the U.S., which destroys the vast majority of computer and communication systems, throwing the country into utter chaos.
The first season begins 10 years later in 2019, as it follows the life of the now 19-year-old Max as she struggles to search for her Manticore brothers and sisters.
In a United States which is now barely more than a Third World nation, she tries to live her life, evade capture, and learn to trust and love.
She becomes involved with Logan Cale (Michael Weatherly), an underground cyber-journalist with the alias Eyes Only, who recruits her to help fight corruption in the post-Pulse world, while at the same time she makes a living as a bicycle messenger at a courier company named Jam Pony along with her friends Original Cindy (Valarie Rae Miller), Herbal Thought (Alimi Ballard) and Sketchy (Richard Gunn).
Other X-5s are periodically introduced, most significantly Zack (William Gregory Lee), the unit leader and eldest brother.
The Manticore hunt for the escaped X-5s is led by Colonel Donald Lydecker (John Savage), who is ousted at the end of the season by the even more ruthless Elizabeth Renfro (Nana Visitor).
Season 2
In the second season of the show, the tone changes as Max and Logan bring down Manticore and free all the transgenics within.
Two others become main characters: Alec (Jensen Ackles), a fellow X-5 who joins Jam Pony, and Joshua (Kevin Durand), a transgenic with canine DNA.
Max later learns that Joshua was the first transgenic created by Manticore's founder Sandeman. It becomes apparent that Manticore produced many different human/animal mixes as well as other experiments with unique abilities.
A major theme in the second season is the discovery of an even more deadly enemy than Lydecker or Renfro, namely a millennia-old breeding cult similar in structure to the Illuminati.
This has resulted in humans even more formidable than the Manticore-produced transgenics, and even some with strong telekinetic powers.
Ames White (Martin Cummins), a government agent introduced early in the second season trying to eliminate the loose transgenics, is revealed to be a member of the cult.
When a strange message written in Max's genetic code makes an appearance on her skin, it is revealed that Sandeman is a renegade from the breeding cult and Ames White is his son, who is still loyal to the cult and hates his father's transgenic creations with a passion.
The second season ends before Sandeman's plan for Max can be revealed.
Seasons
Season 1 (22 episodes)
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 10 Aug 2001 | Finale: 1 Feb 2002 | Fridays, 20h30
Channel: Fox Entertainment | Premiere: 23 Apr 2010 | Finale: 17 Sep 2010 | Fridays, 21h45
Season 2 (21 episodes)
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 22 Mar 2002 | Finale: 9 Aug 2002 | Fridays, 20h30
Channel: Fox Entertainment | Premiere: 24 Sep 2010 | Finale: 11 Feb 2011 | Fridays, 21h45