History Series / DarkAngel

* IdentifyingTheBody: In one episode, Max sees a body on TV with the barcode tattoo of one of her brothers on it, so she asks to identify the body [[spoiler: it's not him, he's become a serial killer who tattoos his barcode on his victims.]]

* DisabledLoveInterest: Logan, wheelchair-bound and so very attractive.

** At least her disappearance was explained; what happened to [[TheScrappy Asha]]?

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The series takes place in 2019-21, with flashbacks to a 2009 {{backstory}}. It aired from 2000-02.

* PlotHole: The introduction of Max's genetic twin Sam in the Season 2 episode "She Ain't Heavy" creates one, because Lydecker should have recognized Max at the symposium in the Season 1 episode "Prodigy". Even if he never worked with Sam personally, it would have been silly for Manticore not to give him her picture while he was hunting her twin.

After escaping from confinement at a covert military installation code-named Manticore, a genetically-enhanced SuperSoldier X5 prototype named Max Guevara (Creator/JessicaAlba) dwells amidst the decadent, underground street life of 2019 Seattle while making minimum wage at a [[ParKourier bike messaging service]] called Jam Pony and occasionally stealing. Searching for her brothers and sisters who were scattered in the aftermath of their escape from Manticore in 2009, Max encounters one Logan Cale aka "Eyes Only" (Creator/MichaelWeatherly), an idealistic cyber-journalist battling widespread repression and corruption in post-apocalypse America.

* CreepyChild: The X7s, thanks to their HiveMind, communication by clicking noises instead of speech, and remaining loyal to Manticore even when the other transgenics are being hunted down and killed in early Season 2. This makes them seem practically AlwaysChaoticEvil, although "even some" X7s are later mentioned to be among the refugees in Terminal City late in the season. Presumably, they finally realized that they were considered expendable too.
** Manticore may have found them a bit creepy, too, since the non-hive-minded X8s are only slightly younger.
* CyberPunk: Most definitely. Economic depression, a massive wealth gap, widespread corruption, and advanced technology that doesn't seem that far off. Season Two even features a {{Cyborg}} street gang called the Steelheads in a couple of episodes: literal cyber punks.

* ParKourier: The Jam Pony bike messager service.

At the beginning of the second season, Max frees more of Manticore's experiments, and the show goes from being focused on Logan and Max to more of an ensemble show. For some fans (especially those coming back to watch it for Creator/JensenAckles after seeing ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''), the story of Alec, a recently freed [[CloningBlues clone]] of Max's SerialKiller brother Ben, in the second season was [[EnsembleDarkhorse more interesting than the main plot]]. Fans of the first season and the original characters resented the dramatic transformation of the show's format and the focus on new characters.

* CloningBlues:
** Ben/Alec, Max/Sam, younger X7 clones of Max, Zack, and others. The blues kick in when Manticore decides the clones of the '09 escapees are the most at risk to make their own escape attempt, and makes with all with the eye-lasers and psychological torture at its disposal to make sure that doesn't happen.
** Even more blues when you're Alec and your twin is not only an escapee but a SerialKiller, necessitating a spell in Psy Ops for observation. He'll also get you arrested. Fortunately, Max gets Alec out of that with a fake birth certificate proving he had a twin and a fake passport showing he was out of the country at the time of the murders.

* LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub: One episode of features the Odessa Social Club, "a perfectly legitimate syndicate". Sketchy makes the mistake of losing their mail while doing stunts on his bike.

* IncompatibleOrientation Logan takes Max to a wedding where his ex will be. He doesn't know why she left him and still has feelings for her. Max has Original Cindy watch over the ex to stop her stealing Logan. By the way Cindy and the ex gets on Logan realizes why he it ended.

* LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub: One episode of features the Odessa Social Club, "a perfectly legitimate syndicate". Sketchy makes the mistake if losing their mail while doing stunts on his bike.

-->-- from a Creator/SkyOne promo before the show's UK debut. No prizes for guessing the identity of the "she" to which the ad refers.

The series was co-created and produced by ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' director Creator/JamesCameron. He also directed the final episode, "Freak Nation", his only dramatic TV effort to date and the only scripted work he shot between ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. Cameron was partly inspired by the manga ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'', which he later turned into [[Film/AlitaBattleAngel a live film]] as well.

* Eyedscreen: Used in-universe by Logan in his broadcasts as Eyes Only. Doubles as a way to avoid facial recognition identifying him.

* TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised: Since the show ended mid-plot, two novels (''Skin Game'' and ''After the Dark'') were published to finish the story, in addition to a prequel novel (''Before the Dawn'') which feeds into both the Pilot and ''After the Dark''. ''Skin Game'' wraps up the siege of Terminal City, while ''After the Dark'' provides closure to the MythArc. Completing the set is a compilation of in-universe documents called ''The Eyes Only Dossier''.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The series takes place in 2019, with a 2009 {{backstory}}. It aired from 2000-02.

The series got moved to [[FridayNightDeathSlot Friday nights]] in its second season and dropped after in favor of ''{{Series/Firefly}}'', causing some fan wars on the internet. The fact that ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' was also dropped/mishandled by Fox is a lesson in ExecutiveMeddling. What's more, the ''Dark Angel'' cast and crew were told by Fox that they had been picked up for a third season only two days before it was officially announced that they were canceled instead.

A sci-fi drama series from the mind of Creator/JamesCameron which aired for two seasons (2000–02) on Creator/{{Fox}}, set in a future of political, economic, and moral collapse that results when a shadowy terrorist group wipes out America's economy with a massive {{EMP}} attack.

'''Max''' (briefly ObliviousToSarcasm): I know, it's like he's a child who doesn't know right from wrong.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Project [[Main/OurManticoresAreSpinier Manticore]]" doesn't exactly sound warm and fuzzy, being named for a Persian mythological monster with the body of a lion, face of a man and tail of a scorpion.

* TheSocialDarwinist: The Familiars cult believes they are meant to replace baseline humans as a result of their superior breeding. Ames White even mocks the idea that "the meek shall inherit the Earth" explicitly. Of course, they never seem to consider AndThenWhat.

** In addition to featuring a mermaid-like transgenic, the episode "Gill Girl" has Max actually reading Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'' to Logan's niece, and commenting that she's going to make sure the transgenic mermaid's story gets a happier ending like "[[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid the Disney version]]".

The series was co-created and produced by ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' director Creator/JamesCameron. He also directed the final episode, "Freak Nation", his only dramatic TV effort to date and the only scripted work he shot between ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. Cameron has turned similarly themed manga ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'' into [[Film/AlitaBattleAngel a live film]], as well.

** The Red Series soldiers are enhanced by an implant that augments their strength, speed, and durability, making them even more effective than the Manticore X-series. This comes at the cost of their lifespan being reduced to mere months.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Cece and Biggs were supposed to be return appearances by Syl and Krit, but the actors' schedules didn't work out.

%%* BigBrotherInstinct: Zack.