DARK ANGEL: THE EYES ONLY DOSSIER

By: Chris Wyatt
Date: Thursday, March 20, 2003

DARK ANGEL was never a perfect show (and sometimes it was very, very far from perfect) but a lot of you loved it anyway... (I know, because we're still getting e-mail about it). I have to admit that I wasn't a huge fan, but I know a lot of you were...and boy, do I have a book for you. Even as a casual DARK ANGEL viewer I find THE EYES ONLY DOSSIER to be an interesting expansion on the series.

The book is a series of documents supposedly complied by the DARK ANGEL character Logan Cale. For those of you not up on the names, Logan was the main dude, the one who hacked the media broadcasts to deliver his progressive messages to the masses... the one who was in a wheelchair for a while, and then wasn't...or something.

EYES ONLY DOSSIER purports to be a journalistic collection of documents complied by Cale, which tracks the future history of DARK ANGEL'S Seattle. Starting with "the pulse" (the event that shaped the series' post-apocalyptic background) and going through 2021 (which is "present day" for the characters).

Author D. A. Stern (ENTERPRISE: WHAT PRICE OF HONOR) does a very cleaver job of coming up with memos, e-mails, letters, court transcripts, government "Manticore" files, newspaper clippings, and other various documents that discuss DARK ANGEL issues. Included is a flyer about the tenth anniversary of the Grand Coulee Massacre, and Sandeman's last fax to Marcus.

As with any book of its type, reading it from cover to cover is a little bit dry, but in terms of browsing the book to pick up interesting facts, and learn more about chosen subjectsthe book is perfect. The interesting visual layout helps as well. Each document is presented with appropriate simulated crinkles, doodles and signs of wear.

THE EYES ONLY DOSSIER can be highly recommended to absolutely anyone who is disappointed with the DARK ANGEL cancellation.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at feedback@cinescape.com.