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* RealityEnsues: The first time we see Max "in heat," it's played for laughs as she almost has sex with a dorky guy who's definitely not her type, and then has to deal with him the next morning. The second time, she actually does have a one-night stand with a guy she just met - and afterward, we see her wracked with self-disgust at having had sex with a stranger, especially when she has genuine feelings for Logan, and the whole thing suddenly seems a lot less funny.
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** Max gives Joshua a copy of Stephen King's "{{It}}" in "Two".
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** Max gives Joshua a copy of Stephen King's "{{It}}" "Literature/{{It}}" in "Two".
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Side note: This series got dropped (by Fox) in its second year in favor of ''{{Firefly}}'', causing some fan-wars on the internet. The fact that ''{{Firefly}}'' was also dropped/mishandled by that network is a lesson in ExecutiveMeddling. What's more, the ''Dark Angel'' cast & 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 cancelled instead.
to:
Side note: This series got dropped (by Fox) in its second year in favor of ''{{Firefly}}'', ''{{Series/Firefly}}'', causing some fan-wars on the internet. The fact that ''{{Firefly}}'' ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' was also dropped/mishandled by that network is a lesson in ExecutiveMeddling. What's more, the ''Dark Angel'' cast & 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 cancelled instead.
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[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dark-Angel-tv-09.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:''Heaven... must be missing an angel...'']]
[[caption-width-right:320:''Heaven... must be missing an angel...'']]
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[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dark-Angel-tv-09.jpg]][[caption-width-right:320:''Heaven... must be missing an angel...'']]
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* DistractedByTheSexy: In "Exposure," Max escapes from a telekinetic boy cultist holding her captive (long story) by showing him her breasts, which cause him to lose concentration - and a few blows from Max later, consciousness ("Made you look!").
to:
* DistractedByTheSexy: In "Exposure," Max escapes from a telekinetic boy cultist holding her captive (long story) by showing him her breasts, which cause makes him to lose concentration - and a few blows one or two punches from Max later, consciousness ("Made you look!").
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* WouldHurtAChild: Max has no qualms about beating up a boy smaller than she is ("Exposure"), though given he a) has telekinetic powers (which he used to fling her all over the place before being DistractedByTheSexy as explained above) and b) was looking forward to watching her die before she revealed that she was faking being ill...
to:
* WouldHurtAChild: Max has no qualms about beating up a boy smaller than she is ("Exposure"), though given ("Exposure"). Then again, he a) has telekinetic powers (which he used to fling her all over the place before being DistractedByTheSexy as explained above) and b) was looking forward to watching her die before she revealed that she was faking being ill...
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Your trivia is now trivialised (or put in the correct tab). Enjoy!
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* ActingForTwo: some X5s have [[CloningBlues clones]], such as Ben's clone Alec (both are played by JensenAckles) and Max's clone Sam (both are played by Jessica Alba).
** Joshua had a younger brother named Isaac, who was also played by Kevin Durand.
** Geneva Locke played both Max's younger self in flashbacks and her X7 clone in the present.
** Joshua had a younger brother named Isaac, who was also played by Kevin Durand.
** Geneva Locke played both Max's younger self in flashbacks and her X7 clone in the present.
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* DevelopmentGag: When Max meets self-made "superhero" Phil in the episode "I and I Am a Camera", he asks her if her name stands for Maximum Girl. "Maximum Girl" was a working title for the show.
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* ExecutiveMeddling: Part of the reason for the sudden change in the show's thematic elements between the first and second season, supposedly an attempt to tone down the show's dystopian atmosphere in the wake of 9/11.
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* FridayNightDeathSlot: Shipped here in its second season. The show that replaced it in that particular timeslot? ''{{Firefly}}''. Cue fan-war.
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* RomanceOnTheSet: Jessica Alba (Max) and Michael Weatherly (Logan). They were engaged.
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* SimilarlyNamedWorks: There is a video game ''Dark Angel'' based on this series, which should not be confused as having anything to do with the video game ''Dark Angel: Vampire Apocalypse''.
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* StarMakingRole: For Jessica Alba.
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A dramatic show 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}} electromagnetic pulse]]. A genetically enhanced SuperSoldier X5 prototype named Max escapes from military confines and 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 Logan Cale aka Eyes Only, an idealistic cyber-journalist battling repression and corruption in post-apocalypse America. All this with Creator/JessicaAlba running about in leather pants.
to:
A dramatic show 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}} electromagnetic pulse]]. A genetically enhanced SuperSoldier X5 prototype named Max escapes from military confines and 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 Logan Cale Cale, aka Eyes Only, an idealistic cyber-journalist battling repression and corruption in post-apocalypse America. All this with Creator/JessicaAlba running about in leather pants.
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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 JensenAckles), 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 over the series leads. There is still heavy tension between the two factions.
to:
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 JensenAckles), Creator/JensenAckles), 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 over the series leads. There is still heavy tension between the two factions.
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Co-created and produced by ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' director Creator/JamesCameron (Cameron also directed the final episode, his only dramatic TV effort to date and the only scripted work he shot between ''Film/{{Titanic}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}''); what causal relationship exists between this series and Cameron's intent to turn the similar manga ''{{Gunnm}}'' into a live film is unclear. As well as Gunnm, the series has also been accused of excessive similarities with Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/{{Friday}}'', also about a genetically engineered woman in a future where the United States has broken up.
[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relation to]] the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' {{Space Marine|s}} chapter [[DarkAngels of the same name]], or the ThrashMetal band.
[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relation to]] the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' {{Space Marine|s}} chapter [[DarkAngels of the same name]], or the ThrashMetal band.
to:
Co-created and produced by ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' director Creator/JamesCameron (Cameron also directed the final episode, his only dramatic TV effort to date and the only scripted work he shot between ''Film/{{Titanic}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}''); what causal relationship exists between this series and Cameron's intent to turn the similar manga ''{{Gunnm}}'' ''Manga/{{Gunnm}}'' into a live film is unclear. As well as Gunnm, ''Gunnm'', the series has also been accused of excessive similarities with Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/{{Friday}}'', also about a genetically engineered genetically-engineered woman in a future where the United States has broken up.
[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relation to]] the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' {{Space Marine|s}} chapter[[DarkAngels [[Literature/DarkAngels of the same name]], or the ThrashMetal band.
[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relation to]] the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' {{Space Marine|s}} chapter
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* DependingOnTheWriter: Max and Logan are destined to be together and nothing can stop ThePowerOfLove [=TM=], or Max and Logan are wrong for each other and should spare themselves the heartache of being StarCrossedLovers. Seriously, watch "Fuhgeddaboudit" and then "Hello, Goodbye". You'll get whiplash.
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* DependingOnTheWriter: Max and Logan are destined to be together and nothing can stop ThePowerOfLove [=TM=], ThePowerOfLove™, or Max and Logan are wrong for each other and should spare themselves the heartache of being StarCrossedLovers. Seriously, watch "Fuhgeddaboudit" and then "Hello, Goodbye". You'll get whiplash.
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Co-created and produced by ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' director JamesCameron (Cameron also directed the final episode, his only dramatic TV effort to date and the only scripted work he shot between ''Film/{{Titanic}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}''); what causal relationship exists between this series and Cameron's intent to turn the similar manga ''{{Gunnm}}'' into a live film is unclear. As well as Gunnm, the series has also been accused of excessive similarities with Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/{{Friday}}'', also about a genetically engineered woman in a future where the United States has broken up.
to:
Co-created and produced by ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' director JamesCameron Creator/JamesCameron (Cameron also directed the final episode, his only dramatic TV effort to date and the only scripted work he shot between ''Film/{{Titanic}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}''); what causal relationship exists between this series and Cameron's intent to turn the similar manga ''{{Gunnm}}'' into a live film is unclear. As well as Gunnm, the series has also been accused of excessive similarities with Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/{{Friday}}'', also about a genetically engineered woman in a future where the United States has broken up.
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* DangerousPhlebotinumInteraction: In one episode Max used a brain implant designed to boost normal humans to superhuman levels of performance. With her genetically-enhanced physiology, it would have killed her if the implant hadn't been removed very soon.
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[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relation to]] the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' {{Space Marine|s}} chapter [[DarkAngels of the same name]].
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[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relation to]] the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' {{Space Marine|s}} chapter [[DarkAngels of the same name]].name]], or the ThrashMetal band.
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* WouldHurtAChild: Max has no qualms about beating up a boy smaller than she is ("Exposure"), though given he a) has telekinetic powers and b) was looking forward to watching her die before she revealed that she was faking being ill...
to:
* WouldHurtAChild: Max has no qualms about beating up a boy smaller than she is ("Exposure"), though given he a) has telekinetic powers (which he used to fling her all over the place before being DistractedByTheSexy as explained above) and b) was looking forward to watching her die before she revealed that she was faking being ill...
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* ClassyCatBurglar: Max (and Alec)
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* ClassyCatBurglar: Max (and Alec)Alec).
* CloneArmy: Many of the X-5s have several clones, in the first season finale Max destroyed the stockpile of embryos so more wouldn't be born. When she was recaptured they tried breeding her the old fashioned way.
* ClonesArePeopleToo
* CloneArmy: Many of the X-5s have several clones, in the first season finale Max destroyed the stockpile of embryos so more wouldn't be born. When she was recaptured they tried breeding her the old fashioned way.
* ClonesArePeopleToo
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* ClonesArePeopleToo
* CreepyChild: The X7s
* CreepyChild: The X7s
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* CoolBike: Max's Kawasaki
* CoolestClubEver: Crash
* CoolestClubEver: Crash
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* CoolBike: Max's Kawasaki
Kawasaki.
* CoolestClubEver:CrashCrash.
* CreepyChild: The X7s.
* CoolestClubEver:
* CreepyChild: The X7s.
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* FootFocus: The closeup of Max's bare foot in "Meow".
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* CatGirl: Max. She is genetically engineered with cat genes to give her enhanced combat powers. Of course it also gives her an enhanced libido.
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* CatGirl: Max. She is genetically engineered with cat genes to give her enhanced combat powers. Of course it also gives puts her an enhanced libido.in heat periodically, which causes all manner of problems.
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* CatGirl: Max. She is genetically engineered with cat genes to give her enhanced combat powers. Of course it also gives her an enhanced libido.
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* HumanWeapon: the X-5s were treated as though they were biological warbots rather than people.
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* FanService: Creator/JessicaAlba. That is all. (One of many, many examples: the opening shot of "Fuhgeddaboudit" [[MaleGaze as the camera pans up Max's legs in a ''very'' short skirt]].)
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* FanService: Creator/JessicaAlba. That is all. (One of many, many examples: the opening shot of "Fuhgeddaboudit" [[MaleGaze as the camera pans up Max's legs in a ''very'' a]] ''[[MaleGaze very]]'' [[MaleGaze short skirt]].)
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* NotSoDifferent: Alec and Season 1 Max. Both are opportunistic, are pulled into the 'hero business' when they'd rather be indulging in petty crime, and keep themselves at a distance from others. Actually pointed out in Season 2 episode ''The Berrisford Agenda''.
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---> From a SkyOne promo before the show's UK debut. No prizes for guessing the identity of the "she" to which the ad refers.
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Co-created and produced by ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' director JamesCameron (Cameron also directed the final episode, the only scripted work he shot between ''Film/{{Titanic}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}''); what causal relationship exists between this series and Cameron's intent to turn the similar manga ''{{Gunnm}}'' into a live film is unclear. As well as Gunnm, the series has also been accused of excessive similarities with Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/{{Friday}}'', also about a genetically engineered woman in a future where the United States has broken up.
to:
Co-created and produced by ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' director JamesCameron (Cameron also directed the final episode, his only dramatic TV effort to date and the only scripted work he shot between ''Film/{{Titanic}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}''); what causal relationship exists between this series and Cameron's intent to turn the similar manga ''{{Gunnm}}'' into a live film is unclear. As well as Gunnm, the series has also been accused of excessive similarities with Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/{{Friday}}'', also about a genetically engineered woman in a future where the United States has broken up.
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** Neither Herbal nor Bling return for Season 2, although Bling returns in the novels.
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** Neither Herbal nor Bling return for Season 2, although Bling returns in the novels.novels (as does Asha).
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** Neither Herbal nor Bling return for Season 2.
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** Neither Herbal nor Bling return for Season 2.2, although Bling returns in the novels.
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** Neither Herbal nor Bling return for Season 2.
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* DevelopmentGag: When Max meets self-made "superhero" Phil in the episode "I and I Am a Camera", he asks her if her name stands for Maximum Girl. "Maximum Girl" was a working title for the show.
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I Got Better is not a catch-all for characters recovering from things.
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* WouldHurtAChild: Max has no qualms about beating up a boy smaller than she is ("Exposure"), though given he a) has telekinetic powers and b) was looking forward to watching her die before [[IGotBetter she got better]] (she was faking)...
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* WouldHurtAChild: Max has no qualms about beating up a boy smaller than she is ("Exposure"), though given he a) has telekinetic powers and b) was looking forward to watching her die before [[IGotBetter she got better]] (she revealed that she was faking)...faking being ill...
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* WouldHurtAChild: Max has no qualms about beating up a boy smaller than she is ("Exposure"), though given he a) has telekinetic powers and b) was looking forward to watching her die before [[IGotBetter she got better]] (she was faking)...
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* DistractedByTheSexy: In "Exposure," Max escapes from a telekinetic boy cultist holding her captive (long story) by showing him her breasts, which cause him to lose concentration - and one blow from Max later, consciousness ("Made you look!").
to:
* DistractedByTheSexy: In "Exposure," Max escapes from a telekinetic boy cultist holding her captive (long story) by showing him her breasts, which cause him to lose concentration - and one blow a few blows from Max later, consciousness ("Made you look!").
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* FanService: Creator/JessicaAlba. That is all.
** One of many, many examples: the opening shot of "Fuhgeddaboudit" [[MaleGaze as the camera pans up Max's legs in a ''very'' short skirt]].
** One of many, many examples: the opening shot of "Fuhgeddaboudit" [[MaleGaze as the camera pans up Max's legs in a ''very'' short skirt]].
to:
* FanService: Creator/JessicaAlba. That is all.
** Oneall. (One of many, many examples: the opening shot of "Fuhgeddaboudit" [[MaleGaze as the camera pans up Max's legs in a ''very'' short skirt]].)
** One
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---> From a SkyOne promo before the show's UK debut. No prizes for guessing the "she" it refers to.
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---> From a SkyOne promo before the show's UK debut. No prizes for guessing the identity of the "she" it refers to.to which the ad refers.
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->''I don't know if you've noticed, but she ain't bad lookin' either...''
---> From a SkyOne promo before the show's UK debut. No prizes for guessing the "she" it refers to.
[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dark-Angel-tv-09.jpg]][[caption-width-right:320:''Heaven... must be missing an angel...'']]
A dramatic show 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}} electromagnetic pulse]]. A genetically enhanced SuperSoldier X5 prototype named Max escapes from military confines and 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 Logan Cale aka Eyes Only, an idealistic cyber-journalist battling repression and corruption in post-apocalypse America. All this with Creator/JessicaAlba running about in leather pants.
Eventually, Logan calls her to the highest part of her being and she becomes his samurai, taking on the ruthless power-brokers of the new millennium. Max and Logan's odyssey leads them closer to the secret of her past, deepening and complicating their relationship in the process.
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 JensenAckles), 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 over the series leads. There is still heavy tension between the two factions.
After the show's cancellation, its intended plot was continued in the novels ''Skin Game'' and ''After the Dark''. There was also a prequel called ''Before the Dawn'' and a book called ''The Eyes Only Dossier'' with extra information about the show's universe and new subplots.
Co-created and produced by ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' director JamesCameron (Cameron also directed the final episode, the only scripted work he shot between ''Film/{{Titanic}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}''); what causal relationship exists between this series and Cameron's intent to turn the similar manga ''{{Gunnm}}'' into a live film is unclear. As well as Gunnm, the series has also been accused of excessive similarities with Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/{{Friday}}'', also about a genetically engineered woman in a future where the United States has broken up.
[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relation to]] the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' {{Space Marine|s}} chapter [[DarkAngels of the same name]].
----
Side note: This series got dropped (by Fox) in its second year in favor of ''{{Firefly}}'', causing some fan-wars on the internet. The fact that ''{{Firefly}}'' was also dropped/mishandled by that network is a lesson in ExecutiveMeddling. What's more, the ''Dark Angel'' cast & 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 cancelled instead.
----
!!This show provides examples of:
* ABNegative: Erroneously portrayed, as AB-Negative people can receive blood from anyone with a negative blood group.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer
* ActingForTwo: some X5s have [[CloningBlues clones]], such as Ben's clone Alec (both are played by JensenAckles) and Max's clone Sam (both are played by Jessica Alba).
** Joshua had a younger brother named Isaac, who was also played by Kevin Durand.
** Geneva Locke played both Max's younger self in flashbacks and her X7 clone in the present.
* AerithAndBob: The names of Max's X5 "family" run the whole gamut: Zack, Max, Tinga, Brin, Ben, Seth, Vada, Kavi, Krit, Syl, Jondy, Zane, Jack, Jace, Eva, Alec (twin of Ben), Sam (twin of Max), Devon (twin of Krit), Jewel (twin of Tinga), Keema (twin of Brin), Lane (twin of Zack).
** Possibly justified, given that they gave themselves those names. Their official names are barcode numbers (for instance, Max is X5-452)
* TheAllegedCar: Logan's Pontiac Aztek.
* AllJustADream: The Halloween episode, "Boo", is mostly Max's nightmare about the worst that could happen with her fellow transgenics being on the streets. The Aesop is that the worst that could happen wasn't all the wackiness, it was Max denying who she was.
* AncientConspiracy: A {{Cult}} which has been breeding supposedly superior humans that feel no pain for thousands of years. Their members include government agents, politicians, and even nurses, and they plan for [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the extinction of the rest of humanity]] via a viral apocalypse.
* AndThisIsFor: The light-hearted episode "Fuhgeddaboudit" climaxes with the "Curvaceous Killer" (Max) giving her cage-fighting opponent "Monty Cora" (Alec) a whole load of these in a bid to get him to fight back ("That's for whatever stupid thing you do next"). [[spoiler: He does, but she kicks his ass anyway.]]
* AngstySurvivingTwin - Averted by Alec, who never even met Ben and isn't impressed by what he's heard. Played straight with Joshua at the end of "Two", but he gets better.
* ArtificialHuman: The X series
* ArtificialLimbs: The Steelhead Bird obtains a cyberarm between "Two" and "Some Assembly Required". No matter how much he tinkers with it, he ''still'' can't beat Zack at arm wrestling.
* YouFailBiologyForever: The genetics technobabble on this show is hilariously bad. May be combined with TheyJustDidntCare.
* BackupTwin: Alec is introduced after Ben bites the big one. We got to see Max and Sam together, but not Ben and Alec. [[TwinThreesomeFantasy Shame]].
** The X7 children could be this in-universe for the X5 adults.
* BeastMan: Joshua and the rest of the "freaks".
* BecomingTheMask: Alec as Simon Lehane, "The Berrisford Agenda". The MyGodWhatHaveIDone variety.
* BigBad: Lydecker (later Renfro) and Manticore in Season One, Ames White and the Familiars in Season Two.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Zack
** KnightTemplarBigBrother
* BlackBestFriend: Damn, girl, [[SassyBlackWoman Original Cindy]]'s got some irreverent observations to make in third person!
* BlindAndTheBeast: Joshua's romance with Annie Fisher.
* BoundAndGagged: Max in "Designate This" and "Some Assembly Required".
** Logan and Matt in "Out".
* {{Brainwashed}}: Manticore loves to mess with people's minds. With a laser in the eye.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Jace (she got better) and Brin in Season One, Zack ([[TraumaInducedAmnesia he got better...sort of]]) in Season Two.
* BusCrash: Max's X7 clone, who also played her younger self in flashbacks, protracted a sudden case of progeria and was never seen again.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Takes place in Seattle, filmed in Vancouver.
* CantHaveSexEver: The show reveled in throwing up literal barriers to Max and Logan getting intimate.
* ChekhovsSkill: Max's ability to recognize a phone number on speed dial in the first episode is essential in her plan to get Sophie back to her mother later on.
* ChildSoldiers: The X5s in flashbacks and the younger series in the present. Complete with uniforms and shaved heads.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Sketchy's girlfriend Natalie. Herbal Thought.
* TheChosenOne: Max is the one special X5 whose DNA holds the key to thwarting the afforementioned AncientConspiracy
* ClassyCatBurglar: Max (and Alec)
* CloningBlues: Ben/Alec, Max/Sam, younger X7 clones of Max, Zack, et al
** 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.
** And when you're Alec and your twin is not only an escapee but a SerialKiller, necessitating a spell in Psy Ops for observation. Or getting you arrested.
* ClonesArePeopleToo
* CreepyChild: The X7s
* ColonelBadass: Colonel Donald Lydecker. Villainous version.
* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: Alec's cover as Simon Lehane.
* CoolBike: Max's Kawasaki
* CoolestClubEver: Crash
* 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.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Max and Logan are destined to be together and nothing can stop ThePowerOfLove [=TM=], or Max and Logan are wrong for each other and should spare themselves the heartache of being StarCrossedLovers. Seriously, watch "Fuhgeddaboudit" and then "Hello, Goodbye". You'll get whiplash.
** Alec's jerkiness or scatter-brainedness also goes up and down like a yo-yo, but his happy go lucky nature is implied to be a facade anyway.
** Max's power level, especially in first season, similarly varies wildly - sometimes she can deal with a whole bunch of cops, other times two fairly dozy security guards can take her down.
* DestinationDefenestration: Demonstrated by the villain in "Art Attack" (and unusually for this trope, the D-word is actually mentioned).
* DisabledLoveInterest: Logan, wheelchair bound and so very attractive.
* DistractedByTheSexy: In "Exposure," Max escapes from a telekinetic boy cultist holding her captive (long story) by showing him her breasts, which cause him to lose concentration - and one blow from Max later, consciousness ("Made you look!").
* DoesntLikeGuns: Max refuses to use guns since her sister Eva was shot during their childhood.
* {{Dystopia}}: Crime and poverty are up. The police are supposedly more Big Brother-y (they have hoverdrones), but are frequently bought off by crooks. Finding a job is hell. Seattle, at least, is divided into sectors and you need a sector pass to move freely. Everything looks dirty, except the mansions. There are still rich people and they still have mansions. Many of America's national treasures and works of art have been taken by countries that are more well-off. But, as Max points out in the Pilot, although it's a depression, most people aren't that depressed. Rap/hip-hop culture is also up.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Normal's running crush on Alec, PlayedForLaughs.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Max and Logan.
* EvilBrit: British Eddy, the leader of the Steelheads.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Part of the reason for the sudden change in the show's thematic elements between the first and second season, supposedly an attempt to tone down the show's dystopian atmosphere in the wake of 9/11.
* ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl
* FaceHeelTurn: Brin
* FakeMemories: Zack, "Some Assembly Required"
* FantasticRacism: Mostly on the part of ignorant humans towards transgenics. There are flaming Xs involved. Also the Familiar BreedingCult thinks everyone else is inferior.
** In the second season, we get to see a woman on TV who speculates that transgenics shouldn't be allowed to live, as they are the creations of man and so have no souls. The creepy smile on her face just makes things all the worse.
* FanService: Creator/JessicaAlba. That is all.
** One of many, many examples: the opening shot of "Fuhgeddaboudit" [[MaleGaze as the camera pans up Max's legs in a ''very'' short skirt]].
* FantasticSlurs: "Trannie" for transgenics. Where have we heard that before?
* FlashStep: The X5s, occasionally. It's called "blurring".
* FootFocus: The closeup of Max's bare foot in "Meow".
* FramingTheGuiltyParty: In "Art Attack", a gangster commits murder by defenestrating his victim, thus making it look like suicide. Logan [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch conspires with Dr. Beverly Shankar]] to put a cap in the corpse's head, then has Max plant the murder weapon on the gangster as he attempts to leave the country.
* FridayNightDeathSlot: Shipped here in its second season. The show that replaced it in that particular timeslot? ''{{Firefly}}''. Cue fan-war.
* FunctionalAddict: Max's roomies think she's one when they find her stash of pills. She's never told them about her neurological condition that means she depends on tryptophan (an amino acid), so they throw the pills away and stage an intervention. It doesn't go well, especially since she walks out rather than explain herself.
* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke
* GeniusCripple: Logan and his Stephen Hawking-esque friend Sebastian both fit this trope.
* GentleGiant: Joshua
* AGoodNameForARockBand: Alec says that "Ames White and His Familiars" sounds like one.
* GovernmentConspiracy
* HalfHumanHybrid: X5s and humans are interfertile, though there are mentions of difficulties with the crossbreeding experiments at Manticore - the offspring were "of spectacular mediocrity" and "those were the successes". Those not conceived as part of experiments don't seem to have any such setbacks.
* HeelFaceTurn: Alec. Lydecker splits the difference between this and EnemyMine.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Eyes Only is considered a cyberterrorist by the corrupt authorities. Max herself is the key to saving humanity from the Familiars, and she and her fellow transgenics are the targets of public hatred after being outed.
* HistoryMarchesOn: 2009 came and went, and no computers got fried. The economy did turn sour, but not to such an extreme degree as in the show.
* HitmanWithAHeart: Subverted with Bruno Anselmo, who Max reluctantly has to protect in "Red". He's a disgusting, morally repugnant douchebag who is only testifying against the corrupt mayor because he wants his daughter to have one reason to remember him as something other than a disgusting, morally repugnant douchebag. And he still sells out Max to the Red Series soldiers afterwards.
* HiveMind: The X7s
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: "Pollo Loco"
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Mia is a transgenic with hypnotic powers. One of the things that draws her to her human boyfriend Doug is that she can't influence him that way, due to the brain anomaly that makes him narcoleptic. "What fun is being in love if everything's easy?"
* ImOkay!
* TheImmune: The transgenics were made to survive the breeding cult's virus, which only members of the cult were supposed to be able to survive. Max doesn't even feel ill when exposed, unlike other transgenics, and both the post-series novels and the writers' aborted Season Three plans state that her genetic code can be used to immunize regular humans. The cult aren't too happy to discover this.
** The transgenics settle down in "Terminal City", a part of Seattle where biocontaminants were accidentally released from a lab when its containment was immobilized by the Pulse, because they can survive there and humans can't.
* InLoveWithTheMark: See BecomingTheMask.
* InformationWantsToBeFree: Logan's shtick as Eyes Only, except of course when it comes to his own identity and those of his operatives.
* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Alec's reason for telling Asha to forget about the possibility of a relationship with him.
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Zach and Max employ this on Lydecker in a first season episode. He does them one better and [[{{Fingore}} breaks his own finger]] to convince them he's telling the truth.
* JerkAss: The nerdy-looking, [[ObviouslyEvil George H.W. Bush-loving,]] "bip-bip-bip"-ing dispatcher Normal at Jam Pony. He hates the messengers in his employ (with the notable exception of Alec), they hate him, it's a puzzle how he even got in this business. He gets better eventually.
* MixAndMatchMan: All the transgenics have DNA culled from various humans and animals (which animal depends on the type) so that they have peak physical and mental abilities. As far as is known, none looks exactly like any human donor.
* MonsterOfTheWeek: Season 2. But only rarely a villainous monster. Season 1 also had "monsters of the week" in the sense of criminal threats that were dealt with in the space of one episode.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: It's Creator/JessicaAlba with enhanced strength.
** "Pollo Loco" writer Doris Egan relates on her livejournal that one of the producers objected to casting JensenAckles as an X5 because he wasn't very muscular. Egan pointed out that they were following this trope for X5s, and the producer obliviously advocated a DoubleStandard.
* NeuroVault: Episode "The Kidz Are Aiight". The X5s were taught how to do this at will. Zack buries the locations of his siblings in his mind so that Manticore torturers can't extract the information.
* NeverFoundTheBody: Lydecker, after "Proof of Purchase". He [[spoiler:survived]], as seen at the end of ''After the Dark''.
* NiceGuy: Although Logan can be a bit cocky at times and is very bitter about his paralysis, he is usually kind-hearted and has principles.
** Logan's physical therapist Bling is quite possibly the nicest guy on the show, and OnlySaneMan when it comes to Max and Logan's relationship issues.
* NoNameGiven: Most Jam Pony employees go by nicknames, it seems. Original Cindy (Cynthia [=McEachin=]), Sketchy (Calvin Simon Theodore), Normal (Reagan Ronald), Herbal Thought, Druid.
* NoSocialSkills: The X6 teenagers seen in "Bag 'Em" display this, having been released into the world in 2020 after spending their whole lives in Manticore.
** Alec, despite being in a similar situation, was much more worldwise because he had been trained for infiltration and assassination missions. Still, flashbacks in "The Berrisford Agenda" show that while he could converse normally about most things while undercover, he had no clue about romance until he experienced it firsthand. Which is funny because in the present day he's a HandsomeLech.
* NotBloodSiblings: Subversion, Max and Zack are only siblings in the sense of being from the same unit at Manticore, but she's still {{squick}}ed when he makes a ({{Brainwashed}}) move on her. Doesn't stop fans from {{shipping}} Max/Zack or Max/Ben. Or Max/Alec. Although Alec isn't from Max's unit, he's a clone of Ben, who is.
* NotWearingPantsDream: Max has one in "Boo" in which she is naked just before she wakes up.
* NotWearingTights
* ObfuscatingDisability: Once used by Logan. He's a real paraplegic most of the time, but an easily hidden exoskeleton allows him to walk.
** After receiving a blood transfusion from Joshua, he ceases to need the exoskeleton at all, but still uses it for emergency situations since it increases his speed and strength.
* OffTheWagon: Lydecker, when his plans start going to hell.
* OnlyOne
* OnlyOneName
* ParKourier: The Jam Pony bike message service.
* PeopleJars: Tinga dies in one.
* PermaStubble: The wealthy and otherwise clean-cut Logan Cale wears this, apparently as a sign to the viewer of his single-minded dedication to righting the world's wrongs, even when he is supposed to have "cleaned up" for his cousin's wedding. The three-day pause every time Michael Weatherly shaved is said to have complicated the shooting schedule.
* PhotographicMemory
* PhlebotinumRebel: Series premise
* PhraseCatcher: Several times Logan is told a variant of "I will kick your ass, wheelchair or no wheelchair."
* PoorCommunicationKills: Very nearly. Kendra and Cindy don't know about Max's neurological condition, and they throw away her tryptophan tablets, thinking they're recreational drugs that Max is addicted to. ''Then'' they confront her about it. Rather than coming clean about her condition, Max leaves without a word. Logan has to set them straight later.
* PutOnABus: Kendra, who moved into her boyfriend Walter's home, allowing Original Cindy and Max to become roommates.
** At least her disappearance was explained; what happened to [[TheScrappy Asha]]?
* RageAgainstTheReflection: Alec, in "The Berrisford Agenda". Ben also has a moment where he glares at his reflection, but he doesn't punch it.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Detective Ramon Clemente in the finale.
* ReplacementGoldfish: Lydecker kept some of his dead wife's DNA alive in Max, though she is not an exact clone - "More 'inspired by'. You have her eyes". Creepy.
* 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".
* RomanceOnTheSet: Jessica Alba (Max) and Michael Weatherly (Logan). They were engaged.
* RoomFullOfCrazy - Ben had written words from Manticore indoctrination sessions, like Duty, Discipline, and Mission, all over the walls and boxes of a warehouse.
* SassyBlackWoman: Original Cindy. Please see TotallyRadical, below.
* ScannableMan: All the transgenics except Joshua, who was first.
* SecretProjectRefugeeFamily: Max, Joshua, and Alec develop into one. Intentionally averted by the 12 '09 escapees in that Zack had them split up to making capturing them all harder. Max and Jondy were paired off, but got separated.
* SeparatedAtBirth: The X5 twins. Separated ''before'' birth, really. The embryos from the same test-tube were divided and then implanted in different surrogate mothers.
* SerialKiller: Ben, Isaac.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend / HeIsNotMyBoyfriend: Max and Logan keep insisting this in both seasons, even though the other characters see right through it and refer to them as a couple.
* ShirtlessScene: Alec has one after coming out of a shower.
** Also when he is fighting in that cage.
* ShootingGallery: with Eyes Only targets, for Zack when he was BrainwashedAndCrazy
* ShoutOut: When Original Cindy is moving in with Max, one of her belongings is a [[XenaWarriorPrincess XENA LIVES!]] poster. This is either because Xena was being cancelled that year or that a show that possibly aired before Cindy was BORN [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything was still popular decades later]]. Now, what are the odds of-- [[Franchise/StarTrek oh, wait...]]
** Also, the resistance group [=S1W=] (Security of the First World) is a direct reference to the rap group PublicEnemy (Which should come as no surprise since Chuck D was one of the writers of the theme song.
** Max gives Joshua a copy of Stephen King's "{{It}}" in "Two".
** In "Before the Dawn", Max steals a jewel from a ''{{Titanic}}'' exhibit. This is also a James Cameron gag.
** In "Borrowed Time", Max and Alec steal the original film reels from either one of the ''StarWars'' or ''Franchise/StarTrek'' movies (it's never really clear which, since both of them get the two series confused).
** During one of Alec's flashbacks in "The Berrisford Agenda", Rachel starts playing the theme song from the ''{{Peanuts}}'' TV specials during one of her piano lessons.
** The female Steelhead, Lux, has retractable razor blades under her fingernails, similar to Molly Millions from ''{{Neuromancer}}''.
** Max's clone "twin" is named Sam. [[SamAndMax Where have we heard those two names together before?]]
* SimilarlyNamedWorks: There is a video game ''Dark Angel'' based on this series, which should not be confused as having anything to do with the video game ''Dark Angel: Vampire Apocalypse''.
** There is also an adventure supplement for TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}} with the title ''[[http://shadowrun.understairs.nl/?p=280 Dark Angel]]'', and though both the game and the show are set in near-future Seattle, the adventure was released about a decade before the TV show first aired.
* SittingOnTheRoof: Max, Ben, Alec, Logan, etc. have done this on the Space Needle.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: More cynical, but with fair amounts of humor.
* SmugSnake: Ames White, Renfro, and Lydecker's subordinate, Sandoval.
* StarMakingRole: For Jessica Alba.
* StealthHiBye: Max to Logan, constantly.
* StoicSpectacles: Alec when pretending to be Simon Lehane
** Logan. All the time.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Max.
* SuperBreedingProgram: The purpose of The Familiars.
* SuperSoldier: What the X5s and most of the Manticore "mutants" were designed for
* SuperhumanTransfusion: To Logan.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: [=CeCe=] and Biggs were supposed to be return appearances by Syl and Krit, but the actors' schedules didn't work out.
* ThemeTwinNaming: Max and Sam. None of the other twins fit.
* TheyLookLikeUsNow: The Familiars intentionally provoke this reaction in the populace by revealing that there are not only obvious "monster" transgenics but also the human-looking X-series living among them.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Original Cindy and Diamond.
* TomboyishName: Max, obviously. And her twin Sam and sister Jace. And an X6 who chooses the name Ralph, which [[HypocriticalHumor Max points out]] is a boy's name.
** Max, however, could be short for Maxine, like Chris, from Christina, Sam from Samantha, and Alex, from Alexandra, whereas Ralph isn't usually short for anything.
* TotallyRadical: Watch with the sound off. This is an incredibly beautiful, very cinematic series, whose dialogue tries so hard to be Young and Hip that it may actually cause brain damage.
* TrueCompanions: Max, Original Cindy, and Sketchy.
** Max, Alec and Joshua in season 2.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture
* TykeBomb: The X5s again. Abused {{TykeBomb}}s.
** Also the X7s.
* TheUnmasquedWorld: by the end of the series, the existence of transgenics is known to the public and the identities of the X5s who could pass as humans are exposed. This leads to FantasticRacism.
* UrbanSegregation: most of Seattle (and any other American city) is slum, but there are still nice areas. They tend to have more security now. Additionally, citizens need special "sector passes" to move in between the different areas of the city.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Ben and Isaac.
* VoiceOfTheResistance - Eyes Only. This is a Streaming Freedom video bulletin. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this city.
* WunzaPlot: And often enough, TheyFightCrime.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Max (and all the rest of the X5s) doesn't manufacture enough serotonin due to flaws in the genetic engineering, requiring her to buy supplements of pure tryptophan (milk is only a stop-gap measure) or her seizures could get bad enough that she'd shut down every month or so. Her brother Jack died of this before the escape. This lead to some WorfHadTheFlu moments when she wasn't able to get the medicine in time in the first season, but was later dropped without explanation.
** It was implied that when she was recaptured by Manticore, Max was "fixed" and thus, stopped having seizures.
* AWorldHalfFull
* YouAreNumberSix: Max is 452, Sam is 453, Ben is 493, Alec is 494, Zack is 599, Tinga is 656, etc.
* YourDoorWasOpen: Max and Zack often appear in Logan's apartment without warning. They '''are''' basically ninjas.
----
---> From a SkyOne promo before the show's UK debut. No prizes for guessing the "she" it refers to.
[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dark-Angel-tv-09.jpg]][[caption-width-right:320:''Heaven... must be missing an angel...'']]
A dramatic show 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}} electromagnetic pulse]]. A genetically enhanced SuperSoldier X5 prototype named Max escapes from military confines and 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 Logan Cale aka Eyes Only, an idealistic cyber-journalist battling repression and corruption in post-apocalypse America. All this with Creator/JessicaAlba running about in leather pants.
Eventually, Logan calls her to the highest part of her being and she becomes his samurai, taking on the ruthless power-brokers of the new millennium. Max and Logan's odyssey leads them closer to the secret of her past, deepening and complicating their relationship in the process.
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 JensenAckles), 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 over the series leads. There is still heavy tension between the two factions.
After the show's cancellation, its intended plot was continued in the novels ''Skin Game'' and ''After the Dark''. There was also a prequel called ''Before the Dawn'' and a book called ''The Eyes Only Dossier'' with extra information about the show's universe and new subplots.
Co-created and produced by ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' director JamesCameron (Cameron also directed the final episode, the only scripted work he shot between ''Film/{{Titanic}}'' and ''Film/{{Avatar}}''); what causal relationship exists between this series and Cameron's intent to turn the similar manga ''{{Gunnm}}'' into a live film is unclear. As well as Gunnm, the series has also been accused of excessive similarities with Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/{{Friday}}'', also about a genetically engineered woman in a future where the United States has broken up.
[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relation to]] the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' {{Space Marine|s}} chapter [[DarkAngels of the same name]].
----
Side note: This series got dropped (by Fox) in its second year in favor of ''{{Firefly}}'', causing some fan-wars on the internet. The fact that ''{{Firefly}}'' was also dropped/mishandled by that network is a lesson in ExecutiveMeddling. What's more, the ''Dark Angel'' cast & 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 cancelled instead.
----
!!This show provides examples of:
* ABNegative: Erroneously portrayed, as AB-Negative people can receive blood from anyone with a negative blood group.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer
* ActingForTwo: some X5s have [[CloningBlues clones]], such as Ben's clone Alec (both are played by JensenAckles) and Max's clone Sam (both are played by Jessica Alba).
** Joshua had a younger brother named Isaac, who was also played by Kevin Durand.
** Geneva Locke played both Max's younger self in flashbacks and her X7 clone in the present.
* AerithAndBob: The names of Max's X5 "family" run the whole gamut: Zack, Max, Tinga, Brin, Ben, Seth, Vada, Kavi, Krit, Syl, Jondy, Zane, Jack, Jace, Eva, Alec (twin of Ben), Sam (twin of Max), Devon (twin of Krit), Jewel (twin of Tinga), Keema (twin of Brin), Lane (twin of Zack).
** Possibly justified, given that they gave themselves those names. Their official names are barcode numbers (for instance, Max is X5-452)
* TheAllegedCar: Logan's Pontiac Aztek.
* AllJustADream: The Halloween episode, "Boo", is mostly Max's nightmare about the worst that could happen with her fellow transgenics being on the streets. The Aesop is that the worst that could happen wasn't all the wackiness, it was Max denying who she was.
* AncientConspiracy: A {{Cult}} which has been breeding supposedly superior humans that feel no pain for thousands of years. Their members include government agents, politicians, and even nurses, and they plan for [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the extinction of the rest of humanity]] via a viral apocalypse.
* AndThisIsFor: The light-hearted episode "Fuhgeddaboudit" climaxes with the "Curvaceous Killer" (Max) giving her cage-fighting opponent "Monty Cora" (Alec) a whole load of these in a bid to get him to fight back ("That's for whatever stupid thing you do next"). [[spoiler: He does, but she kicks his ass anyway.]]
* AngstySurvivingTwin - Averted by Alec, who never even met Ben and isn't impressed by what he's heard. Played straight with Joshua at the end of "Two", but he gets better.
* ArtificialHuman: The X series
* ArtificialLimbs: The Steelhead Bird obtains a cyberarm between "Two" and "Some Assembly Required". No matter how much he tinkers with it, he ''still'' can't beat Zack at arm wrestling.
* YouFailBiologyForever: The genetics technobabble on this show is hilariously bad. May be combined with TheyJustDidntCare.
* BackupTwin: Alec is introduced after Ben bites the big one. We got to see Max and Sam together, but not Ben and Alec. [[TwinThreesomeFantasy Shame]].
** The X7 children could be this in-universe for the X5 adults.
* BeastMan: Joshua and the rest of the "freaks".
* BecomingTheMask: Alec as Simon Lehane, "The Berrisford Agenda". The MyGodWhatHaveIDone variety.
* BigBad: Lydecker (later Renfro) and Manticore in Season One, Ames White and the Familiars in Season Two.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Zack
** KnightTemplarBigBrother
* BlackBestFriend: Damn, girl, [[SassyBlackWoman Original Cindy]]'s got some irreverent observations to make in third person!
* BlindAndTheBeast: Joshua's romance with Annie Fisher.
* BoundAndGagged: Max in "Designate This" and "Some Assembly Required".
** Logan and Matt in "Out".
* {{Brainwashed}}: Manticore loves to mess with people's minds. With a laser in the eye.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Jace (she got better) and Brin in Season One, Zack ([[TraumaInducedAmnesia he got better...sort of]]) in Season Two.
* BusCrash: Max's X7 clone, who also played her younger self in flashbacks, protracted a sudden case of progeria and was never seen again.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Takes place in Seattle, filmed in Vancouver.
* CantHaveSexEver: The show reveled in throwing up literal barriers to Max and Logan getting intimate.
* ChekhovsSkill: Max's ability to recognize a phone number on speed dial in the first episode is essential in her plan to get Sophie back to her mother later on.
* ChildSoldiers: The X5s in flashbacks and the younger series in the present. Complete with uniforms and shaved heads.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Sketchy's girlfriend Natalie. Herbal Thought.
* TheChosenOne: Max is the one special X5 whose DNA holds the key to thwarting the afforementioned AncientConspiracy
* ClassyCatBurglar: Max (and Alec)
* CloningBlues: Ben/Alec, Max/Sam, younger X7 clones of Max, Zack, et al
** 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.
** And when you're Alec and your twin is not only an escapee but a SerialKiller, necessitating a spell in Psy Ops for observation. Or getting you arrested.
* ClonesArePeopleToo
* CreepyChild: The X7s
* ColonelBadass: Colonel Donald Lydecker. Villainous version.
* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: Alec's cover as Simon Lehane.
* CoolBike: Max's Kawasaki
* CoolestClubEver: Crash
* 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.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Max and Logan are destined to be together and nothing can stop ThePowerOfLove [=TM=], or Max and Logan are wrong for each other and should spare themselves the heartache of being StarCrossedLovers. Seriously, watch "Fuhgeddaboudit" and then "Hello, Goodbye". You'll get whiplash.
** Alec's jerkiness or scatter-brainedness also goes up and down like a yo-yo, but his happy go lucky nature is implied to be a facade anyway.
** Max's power level, especially in first season, similarly varies wildly - sometimes she can deal with a whole bunch of cops, other times two fairly dozy security guards can take her down.
* DestinationDefenestration: Demonstrated by the villain in "Art Attack" (and unusually for this trope, the D-word is actually mentioned).
* DisabledLoveInterest: Logan, wheelchair bound and so very attractive.
* DistractedByTheSexy: In "Exposure," Max escapes from a telekinetic boy cultist holding her captive (long story) by showing him her breasts, which cause him to lose concentration - and one blow from Max later, consciousness ("Made you look!").
* DoesntLikeGuns: Max refuses to use guns since her sister Eva was shot during their childhood.
* {{Dystopia}}: Crime and poverty are up. The police are supposedly more Big Brother-y (they have hoverdrones), but are frequently bought off by crooks. Finding a job is hell. Seattle, at least, is divided into sectors and you need a sector pass to move freely. Everything looks dirty, except the mansions. There are still rich people and they still have mansions. Many of America's national treasures and works of art have been taken by countries that are more well-off. But, as Max points out in the Pilot, although it's a depression, most people aren't that depressed. Rap/hip-hop culture is also up.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Normal's running crush on Alec, PlayedForLaughs.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Max and Logan.
* EvilBrit: British Eddy, the leader of the Steelheads.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Part of the reason for the sudden change in the show's thematic elements between the first and second season, supposedly an attempt to tone down the show's dystopian atmosphere in the wake of 9/11.
* ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl
* FaceHeelTurn: Brin
* FakeMemories: Zack, "Some Assembly Required"
* FantasticRacism: Mostly on the part of ignorant humans towards transgenics. There are flaming Xs involved. Also the Familiar BreedingCult thinks everyone else is inferior.
** In the second season, we get to see a woman on TV who speculates that transgenics shouldn't be allowed to live, as they are the creations of man and so have no souls. The creepy smile on her face just makes things all the worse.
* FanService: Creator/JessicaAlba. That is all.
** One of many, many examples: the opening shot of "Fuhgeddaboudit" [[MaleGaze as the camera pans up Max's legs in a ''very'' short skirt]].
* FantasticSlurs: "Trannie" for transgenics. Where have we heard that before?
* FlashStep: The X5s, occasionally. It's called "blurring".
* FootFocus: The closeup of Max's bare foot in "Meow".
* FramingTheGuiltyParty: In "Art Attack", a gangster commits murder by defenestrating his victim, thus making it look like suicide. Logan [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch conspires with Dr. Beverly Shankar]] to put a cap in the corpse's head, then has Max plant the murder weapon on the gangster as he attempts to leave the country.
* FridayNightDeathSlot: Shipped here in its second season. The show that replaced it in that particular timeslot? ''{{Firefly}}''. Cue fan-war.
* FunctionalAddict: Max's roomies think she's one when they find her stash of pills. She's never told them about her neurological condition that means she depends on tryptophan (an amino acid), so they throw the pills away and stage an intervention. It doesn't go well, especially since she walks out rather than explain herself.
* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke
* GeniusCripple: Logan and his Stephen Hawking-esque friend Sebastian both fit this trope.
* GentleGiant: Joshua
* AGoodNameForARockBand: Alec says that "Ames White and His Familiars" sounds like one.
* GovernmentConspiracy
* HalfHumanHybrid: X5s and humans are interfertile, though there are mentions of difficulties with the crossbreeding experiments at Manticore - the offspring were "of spectacular mediocrity" and "those were the successes". Those not conceived as part of experiments don't seem to have any such setbacks.
* HeelFaceTurn: Alec. Lydecker splits the difference between this and EnemyMine.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Eyes Only is considered a cyberterrorist by the corrupt authorities. Max herself is the key to saving humanity from the Familiars, and she and her fellow transgenics are the targets of public hatred after being outed.
* HistoryMarchesOn: 2009 came and went, and no computers got fried. The economy did turn sour, but not to such an extreme degree as in the show.
* HitmanWithAHeart: Subverted with Bruno Anselmo, who Max reluctantly has to protect in "Red". He's a disgusting, morally repugnant douchebag who is only testifying against the corrupt mayor because he wants his daughter to have one reason to remember him as something other than a disgusting, morally repugnant douchebag. And he still sells out Max to the Red Series soldiers afterwards.
* HiveMind: The X7s
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: "Pollo Loco"
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Mia is a transgenic with hypnotic powers. One of the things that draws her to her human boyfriend Doug is that she can't influence him that way, due to the brain anomaly that makes him narcoleptic. "What fun is being in love if everything's easy?"
* ImOkay!
* TheImmune: The transgenics were made to survive the breeding cult's virus, which only members of the cult were supposed to be able to survive. Max doesn't even feel ill when exposed, unlike other transgenics, and both the post-series novels and the writers' aborted Season Three plans state that her genetic code can be used to immunize regular humans. The cult aren't too happy to discover this.
** The transgenics settle down in "Terminal City", a part of Seattle where biocontaminants were accidentally released from a lab when its containment was immobilized by the Pulse, because they can survive there and humans can't.
* InLoveWithTheMark: See BecomingTheMask.
* InformationWantsToBeFree: Logan's shtick as Eyes Only, except of course when it comes to his own identity and those of his operatives.
* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Alec's reason for telling Asha to forget about the possibility of a relationship with him.
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Zach and Max employ this on Lydecker in a first season episode. He does them one better and [[{{Fingore}} breaks his own finger]] to convince them he's telling the truth.
* JerkAss: The nerdy-looking, [[ObviouslyEvil George H.W. Bush-loving,]] "bip-bip-bip"-ing dispatcher Normal at Jam Pony. He hates the messengers in his employ (with the notable exception of Alec), they hate him, it's a puzzle how he even got in this business. He gets better eventually.
* MixAndMatchMan: All the transgenics have DNA culled from various humans and animals (which animal depends on the type) so that they have peak physical and mental abilities. As far as is known, none looks exactly like any human donor.
* MonsterOfTheWeek: Season 2. But only rarely a villainous monster. Season 1 also had "monsters of the week" in the sense of criminal threats that were dealt with in the space of one episode.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: It's Creator/JessicaAlba with enhanced strength.
** "Pollo Loco" writer Doris Egan relates on her livejournal that one of the producers objected to casting JensenAckles as an X5 because he wasn't very muscular. Egan pointed out that they were following this trope for X5s, and the producer obliviously advocated a DoubleStandard.
* NeuroVault: Episode "The Kidz Are Aiight". The X5s were taught how to do this at will. Zack buries the locations of his siblings in his mind so that Manticore torturers can't extract the information.
* NeverFoundTheBody: Lydecker, after "Proof of Purchase". He [[spoiler:survived]], as seen at the end of ''After the Dark''.
* NiceGuy: Although Logan can be a bit cocky at times and is very bitter about his paralysis, he is usually kind-hearted and has principles.
** Logan's physical therapist Bling is quite possibly the nicest guy on the show, and OnlySaneMan when it comes to Max and Logan's relationship issues.
* NoNameGiven: Most Jam Pony employees go by nicknames, it seems. Original Cindy (Cynthia [=McEachin=]), Sketchy (Calvin Simon Theodore), Normal (Reagan Ronald), Herbal Thought, Druid.
* NoSocialSkills: The X6 teenagers seen in "Bag 'Em" display this, having been released into the world in 2020 after spending their whole lives in Manticore.
** Alec, despite being in a similar situation, was much more worldwise because he had been trained for infiltration and assassination missions. Still, flashbacks in "The Berrisford Agenda" show that while he could converse normally about most things while undercover, he had no clue about romance until he experienced it firsthand. Which is funny because in the present day he's a HandsomeLech.
* NotBloodSiblings: Subversion, Max and Zack are only siblings in the sense of being from the same unit at Manticore, but she's still {{squick}}ed when he makes a ({{Brainwashed}}) move on her. Doesn't stop fans from {{shipping}} Max/Zack or Max/Ben. Or Max/Alec. Although Alec isn't from Max's unit, he's a clone of Ben, who is.
* NotWearingPantsDream: Max has one in "Boo" in which she is naked just before she wakes up.
* NotWearingTights
* ObfuscatingDisability: Once used by Logan. He's a real paraplegic most of the time, but an easily hidden exoskeleton allows him to walk.
** After receiving a blood transfusion from Joshua, he ceases to need the exoskeleton at all, but still uses it for emergency situations since it increases his speed and strength.
* OffTheWagon: Lydecker, when his plans start going to hell.
* OnlyOne
* OnlyOneName
* ParKourier: The Jam Pony bike message service.
* PeopleJars: Tinga dies in one.
* PermaStubble: The wealthy and otherwise clean-cut Logan Cale wears this, apparently as a sign to the viewer of his single-minded dedication to righting the world's wrongs, even when he is supposed to have "cleaned up" for his cousin's wedding. The three-day pause every time Michael Weatherly shaved is said to have complicated the shooting schedule.
* PhotographicMemory
* PhlebotinumRebel: Series premise
* PhraseCatcher: Several times Logan is told a variant of "I will kick your ass, wheelchair or no wheelchair."
* PoorCommunicationKills: Very nearly. Kendra and Cindy don't know about Max's neurological condition, and they throw away her tryptophan tablets, thinking they're recreational drugs that Max is addicted to. ''Then'' they confront her about it. Rather than coming clean about her condition, Max leaves without a word. Logan has to set them straight later.
* PutOnABus: Kendra, who moved into her boyfriend Walter's home, allowing Original Cindy and Max to become roommates.
** At least her disappearance was explained; what happened to [[TheScrappy Asha]]?
* RageAgainstTheReflection: Alec, in "The Berrisford Agenda". Ben also has a moment where he glares at his reflection, but he doesn't punch it.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Detective Ramon Clemente in the finale.
* ReplacementGoldfish: Lydecker kept some of his dead wife's DNA alive in Max, though she is not an exact clone - "More 'inspired by'. You have her eyes". Creepy.
* 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".
* RomanceOnTheSet: Jessica Alba (Max) and Michael Weatherly (Logan). They were engaged.
* RoomFullOfCrazy - Ben had written words from Manticore indoctrination sessions, like Duty, Discipline, and Mission, all over the walls and boxes of a warehouse.
* SassyBlackWoman: Original Cindy. Please see TotallyRadical, below.
* ScannableMan: All the transgenics except Joshua, who was first.
* SecretProjectRefugeeFamily: Max, Joshua, and Alec develop into one. Intentionally averted by the 12 '09 escapees in that Zack had them split up to making capturing them all harder. Max and Jondy were paired off, but got separated.
* SeparatedAtBirth: The X5 twins. Separated ''before'' birth, really. The embryos from the same test-tube were divided and then implanted in different surrogate mothers.
* SerialKiller: Ben, Isaac.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend / HeIsNotMyBoyfriend: Max and Logan keep insisting this in both seasons, even though the other characters see right through it and refer to them as a couple.
* ShirtlessScene: Alec has one after coming out of a shower.
** Also when he is fighting in that cage.
* ShootingGallery: with Eyes Only targets, for Zack when he was BrainwashedAndCrazy
* ShoutOut: When Original Cindy is moving in with Max, one of her belongings is a [[XenaWarriorPrincess XENA LIVES!]] poster. This is either because Xena was being cancelled that year or that a show that possibly aired before Cindy was BORN [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything was still popular decades later]]. Now, what are the odds of-- [[Franchise/StarTrek oh, wait...]]
** Also, the resistance group [=S1W=] (Security of the First World) is a direct reference to the rap group PublicEnemy (Which should come as no surprise since Chuck D was one of the writers of the theme song.
** Max gives Joshua a copy of Stephen King's "{{It}}" in "Two".
** In "Before the Dawn", Max steals a jewel from a ''{{Titanic}}'' exhibit. This is also a James Cameron gag.
** In "Borrowed Time", Max and Alec steal the original film reels from either one of the ''StarWars'' or ''Franchise/StarTrek'' movies (it's never really clear which, since both of them get the two series confused).
** During one of Alec's flashbacks in "The Berrisford Agenda", Rachel starts playing the theme song from the ''{{Peanuts}}'' TV specials during one of her piano lessons.
** The female Steelhead, Lux, has retractable razor blades under her fingernails, similar to Molly Millions from ''{{Neuromancer}}''.
** Max's clone "twin" is named Sam. [[SamAndMax Where have we heard those two names together before?]]
* SimilarlyNamedWorks: There is a video game ''Dark Angel'' based on this series, which should not be confused as having anything to do with the video game ''Dark Angel: Vampire Apocalypse''.
** There is also an adventure supplement for TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}} with the title ''[[http://shadowrun.understairs.nl/?p=280 Dark Angel]]'', and though both the game and the show are set in near-future Seattle, the adventure was released about a decade before the TV show first aired.
* SittingOnTheRoof: Max, Ben, Alec, Logan, etc. have done this on the Space Needle.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: More cynical, but with fair amounts of humor.
* SmugSnake: Ames White, Renfro, and Lydecker's subordinate, Sandoval.
* StarMakingRole: For Jessica Alba.
* StealthHiBye: Max to Logan, constantly.
* StoicSpectacles: Alec when pretending to be Simon Lehane
** Logan. All the time.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Max.
* SuperBreedingProgram: The purpose of The Familiars.
* SuperSoldier: What the X5s and most of the Manticore "mutants" were designed for
* SuperhumanTransfusion: To Logan.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: [=CeCe=] and Biggs were supposed to be return appearances by Syl and Krit, but the actors' schedules didn't work out.
* ThemeTwinNaming: Max and Sam. None of the other twins fit.
* TheyLookLikeUsNow: The Familiars intentionally provoke this reaction in the populace by revealing that there are not only obvious "monster" transgenics but also the human-looking X-series living among them.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Original Cindy and Diamond.
* TomboyishName: Max, obviously. And her twin Sam and sister Jace. And an X6 who chooses the name Ralph, which [[HypocriticalHumor Max points out]] is a boy's name.
** Max, however, could be short for Maxine, like Chris, from Christina, Sam from Samantha, and Alex, from Alexandra, whereas Ralph isn't usually short for anything.
* TotallyRadical: Watch with the sound off. This is an incredibly beautiful, very cinematic series, whose dialogue tries so hard to be Young and Hip that it may actually cause brain damage.
* TrueCompanions: Max, Original Cindy, and Sketchy.
** Max, Alec and Joshua in season 2.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture
* TykeBomb: The X5s again. Abused {{TykeBomb}}s.
** Also the X7s.
* TheUnmasquedWorld: by the end of the series, the existence of transgenics is known to the public and the identities of the X5s who could pass as humans are exposed. This leads to FantasticRacism.
* UrbanSegregation: most of Seattle (and any other American city) is slum, but there are still nice areas. They tend to have more security now. Additionally, citizens need special "sector passes" to move in between the different areas of the city.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Ben and Isaac.
* VoiceOfTheResistance - Eyes Only. This is a Streaming Freedom video bulletin. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this city.
* WunzaPlot: And often enough, TheyFightCrime.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Max (and all the rest of the X5s) doesn't manufacture enough serotonin due to flaws in the genetic engineering, requiring her to buy supplements of pure tryptophan (milk is only a stop-gap measure) or her seizures could get bad enough that she'd shut down every month or so. Her brother Jack died of this before the escape. This lead to some WorfHadTheFlu moments when she wasn't able to get the medicine in time in the first season, but was later dropped without explanation.
** It was implied that when she was recaptured by Manticore, Max was "fixed" and thus, stopped having seizures.
* AWorldHalfFull
* YouAreNumberSix: Max is 452, Sam is 453, Ben is 493, Alec is 494, Zack is 599, Tinga is 656, etc.
* YourDoorWasOpen: Max and Zack often appear in Logan's apartment without warning. They '''are''' basically ninjas.
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