Something Is Out There

"Something is Out There" is the title of a 1988 American science fiction television miniseries that aired on NBC, and a short-lived weekly series that followed in the fall of 1988.

The miniseries starred Joe Cortese as Jack Breslin, a police officer investigating brutal murders in which organs have been removed from the victims. He learns that the crimes are being committed by a monstrous alien prisoner known as a xenomorph who has escaped from an alien prison starship passing by the solar system, and he teams up with a beautiful medical officer from that ship, Ta'Ra (Maryam d'Abo), to track the villain down. Ta'Ra, being not from earth, has assorted superhuman abilities, including telepathy and superhuman agility, which come in handy during the mission.

Despite similarities to films such as "Alien Nation" and the TV series "V", "Something is Out There" was a major ratings success, with critics and viewers enjoying the relationship between Jack and Ta'Ra which reminded many of that between Nick and Nora Charles in "The Thin Man" film series of the 1930s.

A weekly series was quickly commissioned, in which Ta'Ra, who was later revealed to be from a distant planet called Zeton, chooses to stay on earth with Jack. Posing as his cousin, she and Jack team up to solve cases with a supernatural bent in which her superpowers come in handy. By the time the series came to air, however, the novelty had worn off the premise, and the series was cancelled due to low ratings after only six one-hour episodes were broadcast, with two additional episodes not shown at the time.

Due to its short run, the series is not often found in syndication, but the Sci-Fi Channel did include it as part of a rotation of short-lived series, including broadcasting the previously unaired episodes. An edited down version of the miniseries has aired as a syndicated television movie.

Episodes

* Something Is Out There: (Two-part miniseries)
* Gladiator: An escaped criminal goes gunning for Jack, using armor and a gun stolen from Ta'ra.
* Don't Look Back: Jack and Ta'ra try to help a child on the run from government agents and something darker.
* In His
A woman finds her missing brother's head as an exhibit in a wax museum.
* Night of the Visitors: Ta'ra thinks she may have a way back home when she recognizes an author's description of his encounter with aliens.
* A Message from Mr. Cool: A psychotic thinks he's getting messages from a ventriloquist's dummy.
* Good Psychics Are Hard to Come By: Jack is assigned to work with a psychic on a kidnapping case, but is the man truly psychic or does his information come from a more criminal source?
* A Hearse of Another Color: "(Originally unaired)" Jack's cousin begs the officer to help him track down a corpse missing from the mortuary he works at.
* The Keeper: "(Originally unaired)" A seaside town becomes paralyzed by terror after one of its residents finds wreckage from Tara's spacecraft, creating a threat which could doom the Earth.