It started as a miniseries event that felt like the next big thing, a gritty, neon-soaked blend of The X-Files before The X-Files even existed. If you grew up in the late eighties, you probably remember the poster: a dark silhouette and those glowing, otherworldly eyes. Something Is Out There wasn’t just another show; it was a bizarre, high-stakes gamble by NBC to bring serious science fiction to the prime-time masses.
Honestly? It almost worked.
The 1988 miniseries was a massive hit. It pulled in huge numbers by leaning into the "stranger in a strange land" trope but adding a horrific, body-snatching twist that felt genuinely dangerous for network television. When the network saw the ratings, they did what networks do—they rushed a full series into production. But the transition from a dark, cinematic event to a weekly episodic procedural changed the DNA of the story in ways that fans still argue about today.
The Mystery of Ta'ra and Jack Barnett
The core of the show was the chemistry between Ta'ra, an alien medical officer played by Maryam d'Abo, and Jack Barnett, a street-smart police detective played by Joseph Cortese. It’s a classic pairing. You have the logical, hyper-intelligent outsider paired with the cynical, salt-of-the-earth human. Maryam d’Abo brought a specific kind of ethereal vulnerability to Ta'ra that made the character feel genuinely non-human, while Cortese played Barnett with a "just trying to get through the day" energy that grounded the sci-fi elements.
In the original miniseries, they are hunting a "Xenomorph," a biological weapon that has escaped a prison ship. It was terrifying. It was visceral. It used practical effects that actually held up under the scrutiny of 1988's high-definition (for the time) broadcasts. But when the Something Is Out There tv series launched as a weekly show, the budget couldn't keep up with the ambition. The terrifying "monster of the week" became a bit more manageable, a bit more "TV-friendly," and that’s where some of the tension started to leak out.
Why the Shift to Episodic Killed the Momentum
The transition from miniseries to series is a notoriously difficult bridge to cross.
Look at the structure. The miniseries was a self-contained chase. The weekly series, however, tried to turn Ta'ra into a sort of psychic consultant for the police. It felt a bit like Beauty and the Beast or Starman, where the sci-fi elements were secondary to the "case of the week."
Critics at the time, and even retrospectives from sites like A.V. Club, point out that the show struggled to find its identity. Was it a horror show? A buddy-cop drama? A fish-out-of-water comedy? It tried to be all three. One week they’d be dealing with a telepathic child, and the next they’d be looking for an invisible man. By trying to appeal to everyone, the show lost the specific, hard-edged atmosphere that made the miniseries a standout.
The Cultural Impact of Something Is Out There
Even though it only lasted one season—thirteen episodes to be exact—the Something Is Out There tv series left a dent in the genre. You can see its fingerprints on later shows like Dark Skies or even Fringe. It explored the idea that aliens weren't just "little green men" but complex biological entities with their own political and social baggage. Ta'ra wasn't here to conquer; she was a refugee. That nuance was ahead of its time.
The show also captured a specific aesthetic of 1980s Los Angeles. It was all wet pavement, blue filters, and synth-heavy scores. If you watch it now, it feels like a time capsule. It’s a bridge between the campy sci-fi of the seventies and the gritty, serialized storytelling that would define the nineties.
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Production Woes and the 1988 Writer's Strike
You can't talk about this show without mentioning the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike. It was a mess.
The strike lasted 22 weeks, the longest in the guild's history until very recently. This crippled several shows that were in development. For Something Is Out There, the strike meant that the transition from miniseries to series was rushed and lacked the polish it desperately needed. Writers were being brought in to "fix" scripts that were already in production, and the overarching mythology Ta'ra was supposed to explore—her home world, the prison ship, the broader alien threat—was largely sidelined for more conventional earth-bound mysteries.
It's one of those great "what ifs." If the writers had more time to flesh out the lore, could it have been the next Star Trek? Probably not. But it could have been a much more cohesive piece of television.
The Practical Effects vs. Digital Age
One thing that still stands out is the practical makeup. Rick Baker wasn't involved, but the teams working on the show were clearly trying to push the envelope. Ta'ra’s "true" form and the various alien threats featured prosthetic work that was remarkably detailed.
Compare that to the early CGI of the mid-nineties. Practical effects have a weight to them. When Ta'ra uses her psychic abilities or when a creature emerges from the shadows, it feels real because it was real. It was rubber, latex, and KY Jelly. There is a charm to that tactile horror that modern digital effects often fail to replicate.
Why It Disappeared (And How to Find It)
After its cancellation, the show basically vanished. It wasn't a huge hit in syndication. It didn't get a massive DVD box set until much later, and even then, it was mostly a niche release for die-hard collectors. For years, the only way to see it was through grainy VHS bootlegs traded at conventions.
Today, you can occasionally find it on specialty streaming services or YouTube uploads from fans who digitized their old tapes. It hasn't had the "Netflix revival" treatment yet, which is a shame. In an era of reboots and revivals, Something Is Out There is a prime candidate for a reimagining. The concept—an alien refugee helping a human detective solve crimes that involve extraterrestrial interference—is arguably more relevant now than it was thirty-five years ago.
The Legacy of the "Alien Partner" Trope
Ta'ra wasn't the first alien partner, but she was one of the most competent. Unlike the bumbling ALF or the overly innocent Mork, Ta'ra was a professional. She was a doctor. She had skills that Jack didn't. This dynamic shifted the power balance.
Jack wasn't just her protector; he was her partner.
- Alien Intelligence: Ta'ra often solved problems through biology and advanced physics.
- Human Intuition: Jack relied on gut feelings and "street smarts."
- The Conflict: The drama usually came from their inability to understand why the other person thought the way they did.
This specific dynamic became a blueprint. Think about The X-Files. While Mulder and Scully are both human, their roles mirror the Jack/Ta'ra dynamic: the "Believer" with special insight and the "Skeptic" who needs to see the badge and the evidence.
Is It Worth Watching Today?
If you can handle the 4:3 aspect ratio and the occasional 80s cheese, yes. It’s worth it for the atmosphere alone. The pilot miniseries is legitimately good television—taut, scary, and well-paced. The series that follows is more of a mixed bag, but it has flashes of brilliance.
Episodes like "Nightvisitation" or "The Keeper" show what the series could have been if it had leaned harder into the horror and less into the police procedural. The show was at its best when it remembered that the title wasn't just a catchy phrase—it was a warning.
How to Revisit the Series
If you want to track down the Something Is Out There tv series, you’ll need to be a bit of a sleuth. Check out:
- Specialty Media Sellers: Sites like Amazon or eBay often have the 2000s-era DVD sets from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
- Archive Sites: Because of its "abandonware" status, many episodes have been preserved by fans on digital archives.
- Retro TV Channels: Occasionally, networks like MeTV or Comet will cycle through short-lived 80s sci-fi.
Practical Steps for Fans of 80s Sci-Fi
If you're diving back into the world of Ta'ra and Jack, do it right. Start with the four-hour miniseries. Do not skip it. It provides the essential context for Ta'ra's presence on Earth and her relationship with Jack. If you jump straight into the weekly episodes, her "powers" and her backstory won't make much sense.
Also, manage your expectations. This was a show produced during a period of massive industry upheaval. Some episodes feel like they were written in a weekend—because they probably were. But the chemistry between the leads and the ambition of the world-building make it a fascinating piece of television history that deserves more than to be a forgotten footnote in the NBC archives.
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To get the most out of it, watch it as a companion piece to other "lost" shows of the era. Pair it with V (the original) or Alien Nation. You'll start to see a pattern of how creators were trying to process the "threat from above" in the final years of the Cold War. It's less about space invaders and more about the fear that we aren't alone, and that whatever is coming next, we aren't ready for it.
The truth is, something was out there. It just didn't stay on the air long enough for us to find out exactly what it wanted.