You've probably seen the previews for Steven Spielberg's Taken on the Sci Fi Channel. Last Saturday, I checked out The Taken Experience at its lovely Natick Mall stop. I expected a paltry kiosk with a thirteen-inch television and VCR that looped the trailer constantly somewhere inside the mall.

I was wrong.

Why is it?
The Taken Experience is the roadshow of advanced promotional campaigns for the Sci Fi Channel's upcoming miniseries Taken, airing for 10 (yes, 10!) nights (2 hours each night!) beginning December, 2nd. The story of alien abductees "weaves together the story of three families through 50 years of close encounters set against the backdrop of American history." The story was written by the same screenwriter as Dante's Peak.

Dante's Peak? Pierce Brosnan, volcano.

Oh yeah, Steven Spielberg, executive producer. Steven Spielberg, executive producer.

Ok. I feel better now.

It's drawing attention
Apparently, the Taken Experience is doing its job. According to one of the staff members, a BC student with maternal connections to get his job, the New York South Street Seaport stop drew 7,000 some visitors in their September 28-29 weekend stop. That was the extent of my interviewing prowess. I'm still a bit hesitant after that Evil Henchman thing.

WHAT is it?
When I entered the big, white tent of the Taken Experience, my watch read 10:50am. I was given a cool name-badge-like object with a tiny CD in it to wear around my neck. Inside this slightly sweltering tent (someone didn't read up on the nuances of New England weather, so hadn't ordered an air conditioner for the tent based on the 'it's been cool lately' theory and it was almost 80 on Saturday) was a cool-looking, high-tech museum.

Mulder would have been in heaven.

There were CD recorded stories of abduction experiences you could listen to. (Taken characters were blended in with real people, done so well that no one would know without advanced research... or by choosing the track with the ten-year-old girl that spoke like a college professor.) There were recordings of astronauts saying, "There is a Santa," showing that the minute portion of the population who have actually been to space think there's something out there. Unidentified artifacts, drawings of that same alien face from people around the world, referrals back to symbols of cultures long since gone, a one strange looking mummy found somewhere in the southwestern US all were joined together to make you stop and think, "is this from the miniseries, or is this real?" (Apparently that was the purpose!)

The Best Part
Then the final experience came. I was abducted... along with a very nice family.

They take you into a smoke-filled room and down the door slides. Two spotlights split into dozens of round beams shone down, blinding me. The smoke swirled and the air cooled. The lights started to move, circling around me. A wind came out of nowhere, whipping around me, and suddenly there was a circle of bright lights right above me.

They had come! They were here! I was finally going home!

In case you were wondering, yes, I've been experiencing lost time ever since. Seriously!