Television Reviews : ‘Something’ Is in There With Wit, Style, Thrills

“Alien.” “Jaws.” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” “Wolfen.” “Splash.” “V.” “Miami Vice.” Put ‘em all together unimaginatively and cynically and you’d have a cheap rip-off. But whip ‘em together with style and ingenuity and you’ve got “Something Is Out There,” an exciting, scary, funny, rip-roaring science-fiction thriller that goes from gritty L.A. cop drama to outer-space exotica.

“Something” (9 p.m. Sunday and Monday on Channels 4, 36, 39) starts with a series of strange murders that are baffling the Los Angeles police--people are killed Jack-the-Ripper style, with incredible speed and few clues.

An undercover officer (Joe Cortese) notices that the same woman (Maryam D’Abo) keeps showing up at the murder sites. He chases her, she runs, he captures her, and she tells him she’s from outer space. Yeah, right. But she’s got the spacecraft to prove it--and a story about a super-powerful, shape-changing alien invader that’s behind the killings and planning greater mayhem.

From its tense opening moments in a dark city park to its frequent moments of levity (Cortese has a smart mouth and a parrot who sings pop songs) and suspenseful, eye-popping developments--some pretty grisly for network TV--”Something is Out There” is really something. Cortese is terrific as tough-funny police officer Jack Breslin, and English-born, French-raised D’Abo is capable in her role as out-of-this-world heroine Ta’ra, but the four-hour film’s biggest stars are behind the scenes.

Two-time Oscar-winning makeup artist Rick Baker designed the monster. Special-effects expert John Dykstra works his magic, too. But even more impressive is the skillful, chance-taking direction of Richard Colla and the feature-film-worthy cinematography of Laszlo George and Geoff Burton.

Co-executive producer Frank Lupo far outdistances his previous work on “The A-Team,” “Riptide” and “Hunter” with his intelligent, tricky script.

The intelligence lasts through the very last scenes, which leave open--just barely, but enough--the chance for “Something” to become a series--and a welcome one, if it is nearly as good as this way-above-average TV movie.