Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006. It stars Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow, a CIA agent.

The main theme of the series explores Sydney's obligation to conceal her true career from her friends and family, even as she assumes multiple aliases to carry out her missions. These themes are most prevalent in the first two seasons of the show. A major plotline of the series was the search for and recovery of artifacts created by Milo Rambaldi, a Renaissance-era character with similarities to both Leonardo da Vinci and Nostradamus. This plot and some technologies used in the series place Alias into the genre of science fiction.

Alias was in the American Film Institute's top ten list for television programs in 2003.^[1] British magazine Empire ranked it #35 in their list of the "50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time" and said "Alias was an action-packed weekly adventure that outclassed just about every other show in the genre."^[2]

Cast[link]

Main characters[link]

Alias featured an ensemble cast portraying the various people in Sydney's life. During the course of the series, every main character becomes involved in the world of espionage in some form or another.

• Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) is a graduate student in English in Los Angeles. She moonlights as an operative for SD-6, which she thinks is a black ops division of the CIA. Her fiancé is murdered in the pilot episode, and she learns SD-6 is actually a branch of an international criminal organization known as the Alliance of Twelve. She then becomes a double agent for the real CIA.

• Jack Bristow (Victor Garber) is Sydney's father and also works for SD-6 as a double agent for the CIA. In Season 1, his relationship with Sydney is strained. He was devastated by her mother's death and kept Sydney at arm's length for the rest of her childhood. As an agent, he is exceptionally ruthless and skillful as evidenced by his CIA call sign Raptor.
• Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin) is the head of SD-6, the show's main antagonist. Originally a loyal CIA officer, he is obsessed with a 15th century prophet - Milo Rambaldi.

• Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan) is Sydney's CIA handler and later partner. He and Sydney share a mutual attraction, which eventually leads to a relationship. At the end of Season 4, it is revealed that it was not a coincidence that he met Sydney.
• Will Tippin (Bradley Cooper) is a reporter for a local newspaper and one of Sydney's two best friends. After the death of Sydney's fiancé, Will begins to investigate and eventually learns of the existence of SD-6. This results in him becoming an analyst for the CIA, until he is put into witness protection prior to the start of season three. He makes occasional appearances in the following seasons.
• Francie Calfo (Merrin Dungey) is Sydney's other best friend. When Season 1 begins, she is Sydney's roommate and fellow graduate student. In Season 2, she drops out of her graduate program and opens a restaurant in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. She remains largely unaware of the spy world until the middle of season two when she is killed and her identity is stolen by a doppelgänger. She (and her double) also date Will during the second season.
• Marcus Dixon (Carl Lumbly) is Sydney's partner and friend at SD-6. He is the first one to notice signs of Sydney's betrayal, but dismisses his thoughts as foolish. During the two-year gap between the second and third season, he becomes a field director at the CIA. However, he later resigns as he thinks the office job just isn't for him.
• Marshall Flinkman (Kevin Weisman) is a genius who works in tech support at SD-6. He later performs the same job at the real CIA. Even though he is not field-trained, he has participated on missions in several occasions.
• Eric Weiss (Greg Grunberg) is a friend of Vaughn's and works with him at the CIA. He later becomes involved with Sydney's sister, Nadia.
• Irina Derevko (Lena Olin) is a former Russian spy and also the mother of Sydney. During the 1970s, she was sent to United States with the objective to seduce and marry Jack Bristow in order to steal information from him about a project he was working on. She also assassinated several CIA officers, including Vaughn's father.

• Julian Sark (David Anders) is originally introduced as an operative working for Sydney's mother, but later proves to be an antagonist on his own. He has an instinct for self-preservation, thus making his loyalty flexible. During the third season, he becomes the partner-in-crime of Vaughn's wife, Lauren, and eventually begins a relationship with her.
• Lauren Reed (Melissa George) is an NSC liaison at the CIA, and marries Vaughn during the two-year gap between the second and third season. She is later revealed to be a mole sent by The Covenant to watch over Vaughn should Sydney contact him during her involvement with them and also to steal crucial information from the CIA.
• Nadia Santos (Mía Maestro) is Sydney's half-sister, and the daughter of Irina Derevko and Arvin Sloane. Introduced at the end of the third season, she is "The Passenger," a person who provides a direct line to Rambaldi. Prior to joining the CIA, she worked for the Argentine Intelligence.
• Rachel Gibson (Rachel Nichols) is a computer genius and introduced at the beginning of season five as an operative working for an organization that poses as the CIA known as The Shed. Unaware of this, she indirectly helps to apparently kill Michael Vaughn. After the truth is revealed to her, she joins the CIA in order to take down the organization that lied to her, much like Sydney did years before.
• Renée Rienne (Élodie Bouchez) is an international terrorist known as "The Raven" who worked years with Vaughn in order to investigate a group of people known as Prophet Five. After Vaughn's assassination by the Prophet Five, she allies with Sydney to take down the group.
• Thomas Grace (Balthazar Getty) is an operative who is hired by Jack to join APO after the apparent death of Michael Vaughn. Years ago, his wife was murdered by a car bomb that was meant for him.
• Kelly Peyton (Amy Acker) is a friend and former colleague of Rachel's. She works for The Shed, and later directly to Prophet Five.

Recurring characters[link]

• Emily Sloane (Amy Irving) is the wife of Arvin Sloane. She acts as a mother figure for Sydney.
• Anna Espinosa (Gina Torres) is a nemesis of Sydney's. During the first season, she works for K-Directorate.
• Director Kendall (Terry O'Quinn) is the director of the field office that houses Irina during the second season.
• Dr. Judy Barnett (Patricia Wettig) is a psychotherapist who works for the CIA. Many of the main characters visit her during the second and third seasons.
• Katya Derevko (Isabella Rosselini) is one of Irina's sisters, and Sydney's aunt. She is introduced during the third season as an ally, but eventually betrays the CIA and is captured.
• Hayden Chase (Angela Bassett) is CIA director who oversees APO. She also begins a relationship with Dixon.
• Elena Derevko (Sônia Braga) is the last of the Derevko sisters. She is revealed to be the leader of The Covenant, and eventually manages to enter Sydney's life revealing herself as being the old caretaker of Nadia.

In addition, Alias also featured many other famous actors in roles ranging from single-episode guest appearances to semi-recurring characters, including Raymond J. Barry as Senator George Reed, Tobin Bell as Karl Dreyer, Peter Berg as Noah Hicks, David Carradine as Conrad, David Cronenberg as Dr. Brezzel, Faye Dunaway as Ariana Kane, Griffin Dunne as Leonid Lisenker, Vivica A. Fox as Toni Cummings, Ricky Gervais as Daniel Ryan,^[3] John Hannah as Martin Shepard, Rutger Hauer as Anthony Geiger, Ethan Hawke as James Lennox,^[4] Djimon Hounsou as Kazari Bomani, Richard Lewis as Mitchell Yaeger, Peggy Lipton as Olivia Reed, Sir Roger Moore as Edward Poole, Richard Roundtree as Thomas Brill, Angus Scrimm as Calvin McCullough, Jason Segel as Sam Hauser, Christian Slater as Neil Caplan, Quentin Tarantino as McKenas Cole, Justin Theroux as Simon Walker, Keone Young as Professor Choy, and Danny Trejo as Emilio Vargas.

Plot[link]

Season 1: 2001–2002[link]

Seven years before season 1, Sydney Bristow was an undergraduate student of English literature when she was approached with a job offer by someone claiming to work for SD-6, which was supposedly part of the Central Intelligence Agency. She accepted the offer, and quickly became a field agent. In the pilot, she tells her fiancé Danny that she is a spy. As a result of revealing SD-6's existence to an outsider, her fiancé is murdered by SD-6.

It is then that Sydney is told by her father Jack Bristow (another SD-6 agent) that SD-6 is not part of the CIA; instead, it is part of the Alliance of Twelve, an organization that is an enemy to the United States. Sydney decides to offer her services to the real CIA as a double agent. She learns that her father is also a double agent for the CIA, when he notifies her that her offer is accepted. She begins the long and arduous task of destroying SD-6 from the inside.

Major plotlines from season 1 include Sydney hiding her triple-identity from her friends, both in her personal life and in her SD-6 job, Will Tippin's investigation into Danny's death, and the past activities of Sydney's mother. Sub-plots included Sydney's friendship with Francie, Francie's romantic relationship with Charlie, and Sydney's developing relationship with her CIA handler Michael Vaughn, of whom she is skeptical at first but grows to trust as her life becomes increasingly stressful. Season One focuses on the development of Sydney's character, and allows the audience to become familiar with her. The other seasons share the feature of having a guest star who appears throughout the entire season.

Season 2: 2002–2003[link]

The second season begins with the introduction of Irina Derevko, Sydney's mother, who soon becomes a vital part of the series. Midway through the second season, the series underwent a "reboot" of sorts with Sydney successfully destroying SD-6 (after gathering valuable intelligence for tactical strikes from an airborne SD-6 server) and becoming a regular agent for the CIA, still in pursuit of former SD-6 leader Arvin Sloane, his associate Julian Sark, and the Rambaldi artifacts. Sydney's friends at SD-6, Marcus Dixon and Marshall Flinkman, are finally made aware of her dual identity and recruited into the CIA. Sydney also begins a romantic relationship with Vaughn, now that their relationship will not endanger them.

In the second half of the season, it is revealed that Francie Calfo, Sydney's best friend, was murdered and replaced by Allison Doren, a woman who was transfigured to look exactly like her. Allison was then in a position to spy on Sydney and Will. The end of the season saw Will possibly murdered and Sydney killing Allison and then falling unconscious. Sydney awakens two years later in Hong Kong, unable to remember the two years that have passed. She soon learns that her friends and the CIA believed her to be dead, and Vaughn found a new love and is now married.

Season 3: 2003–2004[link]

The third season takes place two years after the events of season 2, with Sydney having been missing and presumed dead. DNA evidence in a badly burned body confirmed her death to her family and friends.

The truth, however, is that Sydney was kidnapped by a terrorist organization called The Covenant, who tried to brainwash her into believing she was an assassin named Julia Thorne. Eventually Sydney voluntarily had her memories of the two years erased in an attempt to forget some of the deeds she was forced to undertake as Julia and to ensure that one of Rambaldi's most dangerous artifacts would never be found.

As Sydney recovers, she begins investigating her absence while reintegrating into the CIA. There she deals with the facts that Arvin Sloane had become a world-renowned humanitarian and dog lover after being pardoned, and that Michael Vaughn had married NSC agent Lauren Reed. Reed is later revealed to be a member of the Covenant and a lover of Julian Sark. The National Security Council plays a role as a government organization that holds massive unsupervised power, with a Guantanamo-like detention facility, considerable influence over the CIA, and driven by questionable motives. Sydney later discovers that her mother and Arvin Sloane had a child together, the result of an affair between the two years earlier. She locates her half-sister, Nadia, and rescues her from being killed by the Covenant.

At the end of the season, Sydney goes on a mission and encounters Lauren. After they battle, Lauren begins to taunt Sydney by saying she has information about her past. When Vaughn shows up, Sydney goes to him, leaving Lauren a chance to attack again. Vaughn shoots Lauren, and she dies, but before she does she gives Sydney the number of a security deposit box where she can find information about her past.

Season 4: 2005[link]

Season 4 begins where season three ended with Sydney uncovering a shocking, classified document called "S.A.B. 47 Project." It is explained that the document authorizes Jack Bristow to execute Sydney's mother, who had mysteriously placed a contract on Sydney's life (this was apparently something of a retcon to cover for actress Lena Olin's presumed not returning to the series, as the first page refers to Sydney as the "active" subject of a "project" that began April 17, 1975, a possible reference to Project Christmas, and also setting up Jack as either the real head of, or somehow involved with, the Covenant and/or being a descendant of Rambaldi/Rambaldi himself).

Sydney joins a black ops division of the CIA, patterned after SD-6 and run by her one-time nemesis Arvin Sloane. The new division is dubbed "APO": Authorized Personnel Only. Members of APO (all hand-picked by Sloane) include almost all of the recurring characters from previous seasons, including Jack, Vaughn, Sydney's former partner (and third season CIA director) Marcus Dixon, the computer and technical genius, Marshall Flinkman, and Vaughn's best friend Eric Weiss (brought in after having to be rescued by Sydney and Vaughn, who he previously believed to have left the CIA). Sloane's daughter and Sydney's half-sister Nadia Santos also eventually returns to join APO.

During the season, an Arvin Sloane impostor, jokingly identified as "Arvin Clone," acquired the technology to implement a Rambaldi-predicted apocalypse. Using Omnifam, the real Sloane had polluted the world's drinking water with chemicals that caused feelings of peace and tranquility. However, these feelings can be reversed with the Mueller device. The third Derevko sister, Elena, had built a giant Mueller device in Sovogda, Russia, which drove the residents to insanity. Sydney, Jack, Irina, Nadia, and Vaughn parachute in, destroy the device and kill Elena. But Nadia is injected with the tainted water and driven insane. She battles Sydney until Sloane is forced to shoot his own daughter. Nadia is later put into a coma while a cure is sought and Irina escapes again.

The season concludes with Sydney and Vaughn becoming engaged. On a trip to Santa Barbara, Vaughn confides a shocking secret: his name isn't really Michael Vaughn; their initial meeting wasn't coincidental; and that his allegiance may not be to the CIA. Before he can divulge any more information, another car crashes into theirs and the season ends.

Season 5: 2005–2006[link]

As season five begins, Vaughn is abducted. Sydney learns that Vaughn is under suspicion of being a double agent and that the crash may have been a cover for his extraction. Vaughn later escapes and explains to Sydney that his real name is André Michaux. He reveals that he is investigating a secret operation known as Prophet Five, which at one point involved his father. During a mission in recovering a Prophet Five book, Sydney receives a phone call from her doctor with some untimely news – she's pregnant. (This development was created to deal with the actress' real-life pregnancy.^[5][6]). Vaughn is later shot, and apparently killed, on orders of Prophet Five operative Gordon Dean. Four months later, as Sydney continues to investigate Vaughn's murder, she works with an assassin and associate of his, Renée Rienne, in order to unearth the inner workings of Prophet Five, while at the same time trailing Dean and his criminal organization "The Shed," disguised as a black ops CIA division, very much like SD-6.

Two new members are added to APO to replace Weiss, who moved to Washington, D.C. for a new job, and Nadia, who is still in a coma. Thomas Grace is a brash young agent with unorthodox methods who often butts heads with Sydney. Rachel Gibson is a computer specialist who, like Sydney, was deceived into thinking she was working for the real CIA and briefly works as a mole within The Shed, as did Sydney within SD-6, before The Shed's destruction by Dean.

In an ongoing subplot, Arvin Sloane follows his own personal obsession, finding a cure for Nadia. Sloane is jailed for his actions during Season 4; however, he is released after the sentencing committee is manipulated by Dean. In exchange for his freedom, Sloane is now working for Dean as a mole within APO. Unaware of Sloane's new allegiance, Jack agrees to let Sloane rejoin APO and use its resources to seek a cure for his daughter.

With the series' end, it emerges that Sloane's ultimate goal is that of immortality, for which he sacrifices his daughter Nadia's life. However, he is trapped in Rambaldi's tomb by a critically wounded Jack, who sacrifices himself via a bomb strapped to his chest to avenge all the pain Sloane caused Sydney over the years. Thus moments after Sloane achieves immortality he is trapped for all of eternity in a cave, where even Nadia's ghost deserts him. Sydney tracks Sark and the Horizon to Hong Kong, finding Irina. After a final battle between them, Irina plunges to her death.

The series ends with a flash forward to several years in the future. Sydney and Vaughn are semi-retired and married, with a second child named Jack in honour of Sydney's father. Daughter Isabelle exhibits the same ability to complete the CIA test that marked Sydney's inborn skills to be an ideal agent at that age. After completing the puzzle, Sydney calls to her from outside, asking what she is doing. She responds by saying, "Nothing," as she casually knocks it over before running outside to join everyone.

Production and crew[link]

Produced by Touchstone Television and Bad Robot Productions, film production primarily took place in the greater Los Angeles area. Studio shooting primarily took place at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, along with some outdoor shots near some of the studio's famous buildings (such as the original Animation Building or the ABC building, which appeared as a building in Hong Kong in the season 1 episode "The Coup"). Despite its worldwide locales, only one episode was ever filmed outside the Los Angeles region, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

• J. J. Abrams – executive producer
• John Eisendrath – executive producer (Season 1–3)
• Alex Kurtzman – executive producer (Season 2–3)
• Roberto Orci – executive producer (Season 2–3)
• Jeffrey Bell - executive producer (Season 4-5)
• Jeff Pinkner – executive producer (Season 5)
• Jesse Alexander – executive producer (Season 5)
• Ken Olin – executive producer (and director)
• Michael Giacchino – composer
• Michael Haro – coordinating producer

Themes[link]

• Family - Describing the family aspects of the show, Garner stated that Alias is about "this woman and her father and trying to figure out what is always a complicated relationship in the context of life and death at work."^[7]
• Prophecy – A good deal of Alias revolves around the prophecies of Milo Rambaldi. The viewer is first introduced to a prophecy about a woman who will "render the greatest power unto utter desolation"..^[8] Later, as Sloane completes part of the Rambaldi prophecy he has received his own prophetic message. The Rambaldi storyline seemed to come to a close with the conclusion of Elena Derevko's endgame at the end of season four, but the fifth season introduced its own "prophet" (also in pursuit of Rambaldi) in the form of the mysterious organization known as Prophet Five, which ended up being a reference to Rambaldi and the final part of his endgame, immortality, which had been set up in the first season, though this was only one part of his plan. The first part was world peace, which Elena Derevko perverted and attempted in Season 4.^[8]
• Trust and betrayal – Much of the first three seasons of the show revolved around issues of trust and betrayal. Most obvious is the betrayal of Sydney by SD-6 which starts the show. However, the show includes numerous other examples of betrayal including Irina's betrayal of Jack, Sloane's betrayal of the Alliance, Sydney's betrayal of SD-6 and Sydney's lying to her friends. The first season can be viewed as a story of Sydney learning to trust her father and the second season can be viewed as Sydney struggling with trust issues relating to her mother.^[8]
• Clandestine operations – The government agencies that Sydney Bristow works for are conducting secret operations in various countries regularly. The same applies of course to the mentioned illegal agencies which are battled against. Those clandestine operations deal with collecting the sought-after Rambaldi artifacts, but also with aspects like illegal arms trade or blackmailing. To further their objectives, the CIA or APO, respectively, arrest criminals from other countries and bring them to interrogation facilities of the CIA.^[8]

Credits, logos, and graphics in the show[link]

Alias is unusual for an American drama series in that the opening credits do not run until the end of the first long act, sometimes as late as 19 minutes into the episode. In some respects, this mimics the James Bond films, which likewise feature sometimes-lengthy pre-credits sequences. Depending on the demands of a particular episode, the credit sequence is occasionally dropped as the actor credits play over a scene; on those occasions, the series title does not appear on screen until the final fade out.

As the opening credits appear, the letters in the Alias reference flash in negative form one by one. The "S" is the last letter to appear, this time in permanent negative. In virtually every episode, the title of a city or town location will slowly zoom in, with one letter being shown in negative and a specific scene appearing within that negative. As it usually does with the "S" in the show title at the very start, this letter eventually takes up the entire screen and gives way to the scene itself.

The first three seasons used a minimalist credit sequence consisting only of the actors names appearing as the title Alias gradually forms in one corner of an otherwise black screen. For one frame in Seasons 1 and 3 during Victor Garber's credit, the Rambaldi "eye" symbol ( <o> ) flashes over the Alias title, accompanied by a short "whooshing" sound; In Season 2, it flashes during Lena Olin's credit. In season 5 it flashes during Balthazar Getty's credit.

For the fourth season, a shorter, flashier credit sequence was introduced that used a new, remixed version of the theme. As the cast names appeared, 52 images of Sydney in 47 various disguises appear in rapid succession, ending with a shot from the third season premiere of her shooting a miniature grenade launcher.

For the fifth season, another credit sequence was designed, as the previous version was criticized for making it difficult to read the actors' names (since the eye was drawn to the many images of Jennifer Garner) and for focusing exclusively on Garner. Now for the first time, the actors are shown on screen as their names appear. The same remix of the theme music from the previous year is utilized. Also, the flashing of the letters when ALIAS is spelled out is actually in morse code. The flashing translates to AGENT KANE (who was a character in the 2nd season played by Faye Dunaway). During the first half of the season, Elodie Bouchez appeared in the opening credits, but beginning with the episode "S.O.S." her credit was changed to a "special guest star" credit outside the opening sequence and Amy Acker was added to the opening credits in place of Bouchez.

Most episodes in the first season included a prologue narrated by Sydney Bristow, setting up the premise of the series. In the first half of season two this was replaced by a voiceover by Greg Grunberg (who plays Agent Weiss) and later in season 2 was dropped entirely.

Timeframe[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (January 2011)

The events of the first season of Alias begin in 2001, the same year the series first aired. A reference to Homeland security midway through the first season suggests the series begins not long before, or not long after September 11. (The series, in fact, premiered 19 days following the 9/11 attacks.) Though there was reference to such a part of government, the federal Homeland Security department was not established until 2003. (Aside from the Homeland Security reference, there is no explicit reference to 9/11 in the first season; however, there is a reference to Osama bin Laden and a reference to the War on Terror in two episodes in season 2). In season 1, each episode covers roughly the events of one week in Sydney's life, thus each episode is said to take place a week apart, although this pattern was not maintained throughout the series. In several episodes, references were made to actual real world events. For example, in one episode, Sydney suggested to Vaughn that they should catch a L.A. Kings game, and that they'd be taking on the Islanders. This actual game took place roughly around the same time the episode was broadcast on January 20, 2002.

The season 2 finale, which sees Sydney lose two years of her life, would suggest that the series as of the start of season 3 takes place two years ahead of "real world" time, however the series was not always consistent in maintaining this. For example, in season 3 episode 17 (airdate March 28, 2004), the date March 26, 2004 was shown on Lauren's event calendar. For most of the episodes in Season 3–4, the writers avoided mentioning any current calendar dates in any episode. The one fact that did contradict this was the date on the tombstone of the supposedly dead Irina Derevko, which, when calculated, would suggest that the show was still running on "real world" time rather than 2 years in the future. However, a statement made by Sydney in the fifth season premiere "Prophet 5" regarding the length of time since she first went undercover at SD-6, is in keeping with the established timeline. And finally, the timeline seems to jump back one more time. In the season 5 episode "Out of the Box", character Renee tells Dr. Desantis, the genetic double of her father from the cryogenic box that it is currently 2006. This appears to be the first direct reference to the actual date of events. In another episode of the same season, a hockey magazine received by Sydney indicates the date to be November 2005. Also in season five, Nadia Santos' hospital admission bracelet following her recovery in the episode "30 Seconds" reads "04-23-05" and she mentions that it has almost been a year since she was hospitalized.

No time elapses between the end of season 1 and the beginning of season 2, and there are two years, one month, and several hours between seasons 2 and 3, 3 and 4, and 4 and 5 respectively (in addition, the events of the season 5 premiere episode take place over the course of 4 months). Given that there were roughly three to four months between the airing of the first few seasons, an 8-month interval between the broadcast of seasons 3 and 4, and a 4-month hiatus in the midst of season 5, by the final season Alias would only be a matter of months ahead of real-world time, making the 2006 statement plausible in the timeline. The series finale makes a further jump forward of several years (c. 2014 based upon the age of Sydney's daughter).

Hair and wigs[link]

The program was renowned for the vast array of hair styles adopted by the characters. Head Hair Designer Michael Reitz was nominated for Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series at the Emmys 5 years in a row (2002–2006); as well as 3 nominations and 1 win at the Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards.

Notable contributions to the hair stylist team include:

• Karen Bartek (3 Emmy Award nominations)
• Julie Woods (1 Emmy Award nomination)
• Grace Hernandez (1 Emmy Award nomination)
• Kathrine Rees (1 Emmy Award nomination)
• Yesmin Osman (1 Emmy Award nomination)

Impact[link]

U.S. television ratings[link]

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Alias on ABC.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Although Alias was never considered a major "hit", its series run began during a time when the ABC television network was in decline, after Who Wants to Be a Millionaire saw its ratings plummet. In fact, Alias was one of the first shows to be placed in one of the old Who Wants to Be a Millionaire timeslots, which were Sunday nights at 9 p.m. (Eastern & Pacific time) in late 2001. Unlike many of the programs on ABC from 2001 to 2003, Alias was a series that garnered critical buzz, a cult following, and decent viewing numbers in the advertiser-friendly age 18–49 demographic. This led to ABC keeping the series on its schedule for 5 years.

Despite earning critical acclaim from USA Today^[14] for the January 26, 2003 episode entitled "Phase One" and attracting the largest audience of the series with 17.4 million viewers,^[15] this episode retained just 19 percent^[15] of the Super Bowl XXXVII audience and has the dubious distinction of earning the lowest overall ratings for a program airing after a Super Bowl since at least 1987^[15] and the lowest rating ever (8.3 rating) in the age 18–49 demographic for a post-Super Bowl program.^[15] Also, since the episode started airing at 11 p.m. on the East Coast, it was not eligible for the week's list of top primetime shows ranked by Nielsen Media Research and thus, the episode's viewership numbers were not factored in the series' overall 2002–2003 season average.

Its ratings peak was reached in its fourth season, when ABC moved the program to Wednesdays 9 p.m. (Eastern & Pacific time), the time slot following another (yet more successful) J. J. Abrams' drama, Lost, while airing the season's episodes in (almost) consecutive weeks beginning with the January 5, 2005 2-hour season premiere (watched by 15.8 million viewers;^[16] the second most-watched episode in the series) and ending in May 2005. However, the fourth season was the only season in which this near-consecutive-week schedule was used and the increase in audience numbers was minimal since it faced hefty timeslot competition from the results show of the fourth season of Fox's mega-hit American Idol.

Coming off its most-watched season, Alias was moved to Thursdays 8 p.m. (Eastern & Pacific time) in the fall of 2005 by ABC in an effort to invigorate the network's lackluster Thursday night lineup. However, the move proved unsuccessful for the series, receiving the lowest viewership in the show's history. Alias became another scripted show in the history of ABC to not survive more than a year in this timeslot since Mork & Mindy was cancelled in 1982,^[17] a phenomenon sometimes known as the "Mork and Mindy" curse. (other ABC shows experiencing this Thursday 8 p.m. fate include but are not limited to: Joanie Loves Chachi, The Fall Guy, Sledge Hammer!, Knightwatch, Mission: Impossible, Father Dowling Mysteries, Delta, My So-Called Life, Nothing Sacred, Vengeance Unlimited, Threat Matrix, Miss Guided, In The Motherhood, Samantha Who, FlashForward, The Deep End, My Generation, Charlie's Angels)

ABC gave the show a 4-month hiatus (to allow Jennifer Garner to give birth) and when it was brought back in April 2006, its new timeslot was Wednesdays at 8 p.m. However, the viewer numbers remained dismal, culminating in a 2-hour series finale airing on Monday, May 22, 2006 (against the season finales of the hit dramas, Fox's 24 and CBS' CSI: Miami) which attracted 6.68 million viewers.^[18] In comparison, the first season averaged 9.7 million viewers.^[19]

Awards and nominations[link]

Awards won[link]

Golden Globe Awards

• Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama Jennifer Garner (2002)

Saturn Awards

• Best Network Television Series (2003)
• Best Actress in a Television Series Jennifer Garner (2003)
• Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series Victor Garber (2003)
• Cinescape Genre Female Face of the Future Melissa George (2004)

Screen Actors Guild Awards

• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Jennifer Garner (2005)

Awards nominated[link]

Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Jennifer Garner (2002–2005)
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Victor Garber (2002–2004)
• Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (2002) J.J. Abrams
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Lena Olin (2003)

Golden Globe Awards

• Best Television Series – Drama (2002)
• Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama Jennifer Garner (2003–2005)

Saturn Awards

• Best Network Television Series (2004–2005)
• Best Actress in a Television Series Jennifer Garner (2004)
• Best Actor in a Television Series Michael Vartan (2004)
• Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series Victor Garber (2004)
• Best Actress on Television Jennifer Garner (2005–2006)

Screen Actors Guild

• Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Jennifer Garner (2004)

Television Critics Association Awards

• Outstanding New Program (2002)
• Individual Achievement in Drama Jennifer Garner (2003)

Parodies[link]

The Alias production team has participated in at least two spoofs based upon the series and featuring cast members.

• The first was produced in 2002 for a segment of ABC's Monday Night Football in which Sydney (played as always by Jennifer Garner) is ordered by Sloane (Ron Rifkin) to infiltrate the locker room of the Washington Redskins NFL team in order to steal the coach's playbook. Syd disguises herself as a cheerleader and distracts the "Hogettes," a group of Redskins fans, with a glass of beer before stealing the book. Upon returning to SD-6 headquarters, she is horrified to find Sloane wearing a pig mask and oinking. This skit was advertised as being included in the season 2 DVD box set, but it was dropped from the set at the last minute, presumably due to copyright reasons. Another specially filmed MNF segment featuring Garner was included in the season 3 DVD set, but this was not, strictly speaking, a spoof.
• Another faux Alias "episode" was produced for a 2003 TV special celebrating the 50th anniversary of ABC. Featuring most of the regular cast of the series, the skit began with Jack Bristow preparing Sydney and Vaughn for a mission, and informing them that they will have a new partner – Detective Columbo (Peter Falk). Columbo, in his usual eccentric behavior, proceeds to wreak havoc at CIA headquarters, accidentally shooting Vaughn with an anesthetic dart and volunteering to wear a skimpy bikini intended for Sydney during the mission. Columbo reveals that his mission is not to aid the CIA but rather to help Walt Disney Company/ABC head Michael Eisner better understand the show. His work completed, Columbo departs, leaving Jack to utter a confused, "Dear God, that was strange."

Other spoofs and humorous references include:

• In an episode of Bradley Cooper's sitcom Kitchen Confidential, Michael Vartan guests as a rival French chef. Cooper's character makes a quip along the lines of, "it's almost like we used to work together".
• MADtv created a season 1 spoof.
• In episode 23 of Robot Chicken, the series is re-imagined with the part of Sydney being played by a killer whale ("Whalias"), complete with red hair and lipstick. The sketch features Sydney undercover in a glamorous party at Sea World, pretending to be a prize-winning cellist. A fight scene occurs in typical Alias style.
• In episode 57 of Kim Possible the characters (due to the use of a Pan-Dimension Vortex) find themselves appearing in various fictional (as compared to the real universe, but real to the Kim Possible universe) television shows similar to the main plot point of the movie The Last Action Hero. Each of these television shows is clearly a spoof of a real world (ours, not Kim Possible's) television show. During one such "appearance," Kim lands in a night club where she is confronted by a character with bright red hair. The character orders Kim to "Tell me what I want to know." In response, Kim addresses the character as "Miss Tries Too Hard." and adds "Nice Wig." A brief Alias-like hand-to-hand fight sequence then ensues. The end of the segment involves characters talking about "The Device." In the context of the episode, the device is "The Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer, but asking about a "device" would also track with the plot of many Alias episodes.

Reboot[link]

In May 2010, E! Online's Kristin Dos Santos reported that ABC was toying with the idea of rebooting Alias, but getting rid of the mythological Rambaldi elements to make the storylines more accessible for a mainstream audience.^[20] Subsequently, Entertainment Weekly columnist Michael Ausiello confirmed that ABC was in the early stages of developing a reboot, but that the potential series probably wouldn't make it beyond the development phase.^[21]

Merchandise[link]

Soundtracks[link]

Alias released a season one soundtrack containing 26 tracks. These tracks were tracks used in the show, including the opening theme. All of them are composed by Michael Giacchino, except for the opening theme which was composed by J.J. Abrams. The tracks share a similar dance genre, however a few tracks, such as 'In the Garden' share more of a slowed down tempo. A second Soundtrack was also released containing music from the second season, but didn't receive as much praise as the first soundtrack. Therefore, no more soundtrack albums are expected for the final three seasons. A soundtrack for Alias: The Video Game, composed by Chris Tilton, was also released, but can only be downloaded online.

Video game[link]

The video game Alias, based on the series, is a third-person stealth action title developed and released by Acclaim Entertainment for the PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The plot was written by the creators of the show and the game features the voices of the cast principals. It was released on April 6, 2004, and has a rating of T for Teen. The game is set between episodes 19 and 20 of season 2. The game allows the player to be Sydney (and briefly on one mission Vaughn), and sends her on various missions to many different locations. The missions become more difficult as you come closer to finishing the game. The game includes using many spy-skills that Sydney uses in the show.

Prior to the Acclaim release, ABC Television produced an episodic downloadable videogame entitled Alias: Underground which is available through ABC's website. The game was a 3D third-person stealth action game much like the Acclaim production, with missions released monthly during the original broadcast of the TV show's second season.

Original novels[link]

A number of original novels based upon the series have been published, primarily for a teenage reading audience. Due to the intricate and story arc-based nature of the series, most novels published to date have been prequels to the series, some focusing on Sydney in her early missions for SD-6, and others focusing on Vaughn's missions before meeting her. Their canon status with regards to the televised series has yet to be determined. Although aimed at young readers, the books tackle serious subject matter, such as one volume^[specify] which details the first time Sydney kills someone.

1. Recruited – Lynn Mason (2002) ISBN 0-553-49398-1
2. A Secret Life – Laura Peyton Roberts (2003) ISBN 0-553-49399-X
3. Disappeared – Lynn Mason (2003) ISBN 0-553-49400-7
4. Sister Spy – Laura Peyton Roberts (2003) ISBN 0-553-49401-5
5. The Pursuit – Elizabeth Skurnick (2003) ISBN 0-553-49402-3
6. Close Quarters – Emma Harrison (2003) ISBN 0-553-49403-1
7. Father Figure – Laura Peyton Roberts (2003) ISBN 0-553-49404-X
8. Free Fall – Christa Roberts (2004) ISBN 0-553-49405-8
9. Infiltration – Breen Frazier (2004) ISBN 0-553-49437-6
10. Vanishing Act – Sean Gerace (2004) ISBN 0-553-49438-4
11. Skin Deep – Cathy Hapka (2004) ISBN 0-553-49439-2
12. Shadowed – Elizabeth Skurnick (2004) ISBN 0-553-49440-6

The second series of novels, titled "The APO Series", fit into the season four timeframe and are published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment.

1. Two of a Kind? – Greg Cox (April 26, 2005) ISBN 1-4169-0213-9
2. Faina – Rudy Gaborno, Chris Hollier (April 26, 2005) ISBN 1-4169-0245-7
3. Collateral Damage – Pierce Askegren (June 28, 2005) ISBN 1-4169-0247-3
4. Replaced – Emma Harrison (July 26, 2005) ISBN 1-4169-0246-5
5. The Road Not Taken – Greg Cox (October 4, 2005) ISBN 1-4169-0248-1
6. Vigilance – Paul Ruditis (December 6, 2005) ISBN 1-4169-0928-1
7. Strategic Reserve – Christina F. York (March 7, 2006) ISBN 1-4169-0946-X
8. Once Lost – Kirsten Beyer (April 25, 2006) ISBN 1-4169-0947-8
9. Namesakes – Greg Cox (July 11, 2006) ISBN 1-4169-2442-6
10. Old Friends – Steven Hanna (September, 2006) ISBN 1-4169-2443-4
11. The Ghost – Brian Studlet (November, 2006) ISBN 1-4169-2444-2
12. Mind Games – Paul Ruditis (December 2006) ISBN 1-4169-2445-0
13. A Touch of Death – Christina York (December 2006) ISBN 1-4169-2446-9

See also[link]

• Alias DVD releases
• The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., a thematic antecedent to Alias

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Stacey Abbott and Simon Brown: Investigating Alias: Secrets and Spies. I.B. Tauris, 2007, ISBN 1-84511-405-1

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Alias

• Alias at the Internet Movie Database
• Alias at TV.com
• Alias-TV
• http://alias.energy51.com | Complete Episode Guide

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

Sydney Anne Bristow (born 17 April 1975), played by Jennifer Garner, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the television series Alias. She is an American woman with Russian-American family background who works as a spy for the CIA.

Sydney is depicted in the series as being strong both physically and emotionally. She deals with some significant trauma over the years: the death of her fiancé, the death of her best friend, the realization that her mother was a former KGB spy, the estrangement of many of her friends and the constant activity and changes that she must endure from being a spy on a regular basis. Sydney is highly skilled in Krav Maga and is a polyglot, speaking English, Russian, German, Greek, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, Romanian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Uzbek, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Indonesian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Vietnamese, Polish, Serbian, Czech, Ukrainian, and Bulgarian in various episodes. Throughout the series her code names are Bluebird, Freelancer, Mountaineer, and Phoenix.

Biographical information[link]

Sydney Bristow was born April 17, 1975. For the first six years of her life she lived with both of her parents, Jack and Laura Bristow (real name Irina Derevko). Although her father's work with the CIA kept him away from home much of the time. Sydney and her family were living in rural Maryland until, at the age of two, Jack had been transferred to Los Angeles. In 1981 her mother, who was also an undercover agent for the KGB, faked her death to prevent being apprehended by the FBI. Afterwards Jack was taken into custody for some time, because it was believed that he also was part of a larger conspiracy. Jack named Arvin Sloane as Sydney's temporary guardian. Sydney went to live with Sloane and his wife Emily, for a time (Note that this is a retcon as it was previously established that Sydney did not meet Arvin or Emily until Sydney had already started working for SD-6. Though Sydney had stated that she had large memory gaps from around the time of her mothers death indicating that perhaps something else had happened to remove her memory of that time).

When Jack was finally cleared, he began drinking heavily and became more of an absentee father, leaving Sydney to be raised by nannies. In her later childhood, Sydney began exhibiting unusually high intelligence and problem solving abilities.

When Sydney was 19 years old and a freshman in college, a man approached her and told her that he worked with US intelligence and that they wanted to interview her because she fitted a profile. She declined at first but then decided to join them. After meeting with an organization she believed was the Central Intelligence Agency, she signed "dozens of non-disclosure agreements" and was offered a job.

They had Sydney take a job as an office assistant on the twentieth floor of Credit Dauphine, a corporate bank in downtown Los Angeles. She assumed that the bank was somehow affiliated with the CIA. When she told her father about her job after about a month, he ordered her to quit because as a double agent within SD-6, he knew the bank was a front. Sydney angrily refused to quit and this led to the beginning of a several year estrangement in their relationship.

Eventually she was told that she was ready for the transition, which involved eight months of training. It was during the training that Sydney first heard the term SD-6. At this time, she believed that SD-6 was affiliated with the CIA, that it was a black ops division of the CIA, funded by the CIA's black budget. These operations are highly classified, even hidden from congressional oversight. They led her to believe that SD-6 was one of these divisions and that that was why they didn't operate through Langley, Virginia.

The transition ended when they made reference to SD-6 headquarters. They told her they'd take her there. What she didn't realize was that the headquarters was in the same building. Her role within SD-6 was desk work, at first, but she advanced quickly. Within the first year, she was assigned to reconnaissance missions.

Sydney was told that the objective of SD-6 was, "the retrieval and study of intelligence, both military and industrial, throughout the world that is critical to the superiority and survival of the United States of America."

Seven years after joining SD-6, Sydney discovered that SD-6 was actually a branch of the Alliance of Twelve, an international organized crime group involved in the trade of intelligence and weapons that was an enemy of the United States.

Character development[link]

Season 1[link]

Sydney was engaged to be married to her boyfriend Danny Hecht, but he was killed by SD-6 after Sydney told him that she worked for the CIA. Shortly thereafter, she was informed of what SD-6 was by her mostly estranged father, who worked in the highest levels of SD-6.

Sydney went to the real CIA with her knowledge of SD-6, and was recruited by the CIA into working as a double agent to bring down SD-6. Her handler, Agent Michael Vaughn, was the man who gave her missions from the CIA. She soon learned her own father was a double agent as well. During her time at SD-6, Sydney performed missions with Marcus Dixon, who sometimes became suspicious that Sydney was a double agent. Dixon was still under the impression that SD-6 was part of the U.S. Government. Sydney had to balance all these new revelations with keeping all these secrets from her friends, notably Will Tippin and Francie Calfo.

During this season, the head of SD-6, Arvin Sloane, was obsessed with Milo Rambaldi, a man from the 15th century who was able to create brilliant devices that were far ahead of their time. Sydney worked on a number of missions to retrieve or modify these Rambaldi devices to prevent them from falling into the hands of SD-6. During the season finale, on one such mission to destroy such a device, Sydney is captured and discovers that the organization that SD-6 has been pursuing is being run by Irina Derevko, Sydney's mother and a former KGB spy.

Season 2[link]

During season 2, Sydney continues to act as a double agent inside SD-6 and also performs direct missions for the CIA. Irina Derevko turns herself in to the CIA and provides valuable information to help bring down SD-6. Midway through the season, the CIA finally has enough information to bring down the entire Alliance organization and the assault on SD-6 headquarters, led by Sydney and Vaughn. The organization comes tumbling down, but Sloane gets away and is now working covertly with Julian Sark.

Following the fall of SD-6, Sydney decides she wants to leave the CIA but finds herself unable to do so knowing that Sloane is still free. Sydney also has to work to make amends with Dixon, who is bitter that Sydney knew SD-6 was not part of the U.S. Government and didn't tell him, although they are eventually able to patch things up and Dixon begins to work with the CIA.

During this time, Sydney's friend and roommate Francie has secretly been replaced by an agent of Sloane and Sark's, Allison Doren. Sydney eventually figures out that "Francie" is not who she says she is and the two engage in a battle which destroys the entire apartment. Sydney shoots Allison three times, apparently killing her, but Sydney is also severely wounded and passes out.

When Sydney wakes up, she is in Hong Kong and comes to find out that two years have passed without her knowledge.

Season 2 saw a fundamental change in Sydney's character, allegedly introduced in order to give the show more action. In the first season, Sydney almost never kills, preferring fisticuffs and tranquilizer guns to deadly blows and real bullets. Starting this season, she behaves more like a stereotypical spy, usually killing enemies and rarely using tranq guns. Although there were some minor incidents prior, the episode "Phase One" is generally considered to mark the arrival of this new version of Sydney. While some fans have criticized this change in Sydney's character, others have suggested that it might have been influenced by the arrival of her mother. During season 2 Sydney also begins to dress and act more sexually to achieve her goals.

Season 3[link]

Sydney now has to deal with the pain of not knowing what has happened for the previous two years of her life, but also the fact that Vaughn is now married to another woman, National Security Council liaison Lauren Reed. Sydney tries to manipulate the CIA to stay in the loop of the organization (they don't trust her because of her absence).

Sydney learns that an organization known as The Covenant seems to be involved with her disappearance. In the meantime, Sydney continues to perform missions for the CIA, while working with her father to find out more about her past.

Eventually Sydney learns through FBI Assistant Director Kendall (who is actually the director of the Department of Special Research) that she worked in the employ of the Covenant as a supposedly brainwashed assassin, although she was able to resist their attempts to manipulate her due to her experiences with Project Christmas and report to the CIA during this time. Eventually, she wiped her own memories to conceal information and perhaps also because of the horrifying realization that the Covenant had extracted her eggs in order to fulfill one of Rambaldi's prophecies. She was also greatly disturbed that she chose to kill an unarmed man in cold blood rather than risk losing her cover as a brainwashed assassin.

Sydney and Vaughn continue to suppress their feelings for each other in light of Vaughn's relationship with Lauren. However, it is discovered that Lauren is actually an agent working for the Covenant, although both Sydney and Vaughn are, at first, unaware of this fact.

The CIA learns that there is a mole in the Los Angeles office. Jack is assigned to find the mole and soon starts to suspect Lauren. Jack confronts Lauren's father, Senator Reed, but he dismisses it.

Meanwhile Vaughn decides to separate from Lauren. Lauren tells Sark and Sark explains that the last time Vaughn strayed from a relationship because of Sydney he quickly reconnected when his then-girlfriend Alice Williams' father died. Sark orders Lauren to kill her father. Lauren cannot go through with it but her mother bursts in and finishes the job. They frame Senator Reed for being the mole. Vaughn quickly recommits to Lauren, breaking Sydney's heart.

On a mission to meet a Covenant asset, Sydney sees Lauren. When she tells Vaughn he dismisses it. Sydney talks to Jack and then Jack talks to Vaughn telling him the signs that his wife is betraying him. When Vaughn becomes suspicious he looks in Lauren's suitcase and discovers evidence that she does work for the Covenant.

Vaughn tells Jack and Sydney and he is ordered by Dixon to pretend that he is unaware of Lauren's betrayal. Lauren soon finds out that she has been played by Vaughn and she and Sark kidnap him. After torturing him and failing to get any information they leave him for dead. Weiss finds Vaughn and he is taken to the hospital.

Sydney soon discovers that the Passenger is Nadia Santos, her half-sister by the way of an affair between Irina and Sloane. After a rescue mission, Sydney's sister is taken by Sloane so he can get the formula that was stored in her brain by Rambaldi (actually her unique nervous system can replay the graphical hand movements encoded in the Rambaldi Fluid-protein strands that cause unconscious, movements like handwriting). Sydney rescues her again, but Nadia later elects to accompany Sloane in search of the Rambaldi artifact known as The Sphere of Life.

Lauren enters the CIA office disguised as Sydney and steals information. Sark is captured and interviewed by Vaughn. Sark gives up Lauren and Vaughn resolves to kill her. Vaughn tracks her down and brings her to an empty warehouse. As Lauren dangles from the ceiling, Vaughn states that he loves Sydney more than he hates Lauren thus he will not kill Lauren. He does, however, plan to douse her in hydrochloric acid, rendering her unrecognizable. Sydney's aunt, the ambiguous Katya Derevko, stabs him in the back. When Sydney learns about Vaughn, she goes after Lauren herself. Vaughn goes after her and arrives just in time to save Sydney from Lauren. As Vaughn and Sydney kiss, Lauren tries to make one last shot. Vaughn sees this and shoots her dead. Before Lauren dies she tells Sydney that there is a safe deposit box in Wittenburg that has information about her.

Sydney goes to the box and finds secret CIA documents about her. Jack gets there and tells her that she was never supposed to find them.

Season 4[link]

Several months after her discovery, Sydney is once again estranged from her father, having discovered (through the secret documents) that he had killed Irina Derevko. Following a botched mission in Shanghai, she receives a dressing down at a performance review, is demoted, and subsequently resigns from the CIA.

In truth, Sydney has been recruited into APO (Authorized Personnel Only), a new black ops division of the CIA patterned after SD-6. Much to her dismay, this new agency is headed by Sloane, who oversees a handpicked team which includes Sydney, Jack Bristow, Vaughn, and Dixon. During APO's first mission, Marshall is also recruited, as is her half-sister, Nadia. Her former colleague, Eric Weiss, thinks that Sydney is working for a bank - the same cover she had used when working for SD-6.

During the course of APO's first mission, to bring down a terrorist and assassin-for-hire, she learns the man was actually hired to kill her - by Irina. Jack subsequently killed Irina to protect his daughter. Meanwhile, Sydney rekindles her romance with Vaughn. Later, it is revealed that Irina is not actually dead - Jack killed a genetic double in an elaborate deception orchestrated by Irina's evil sister, Elena, who recruits Sloane in activating a huge Mueller device invented by Rambaldi, which has the potential to destroy the world. Irina is rescued from Elena's clutches and reunited with her family - including Nadia, who she hasn't seen for years - and together they fly to Russia to stop Elena's plans.

Around this time, after some twists and turns and ups and downs in their relationship, Vaughn finally proposes marriage prior to the mission to go after Elena. Sydney doesn't answer just yet. Finally, when she is about to destroy the Mueller device, Sydney goes back to Vaughn and gives him an affirmative reply.

During the mission in Russia, it is revealed that Sloane was able to infiltrate the drinking water of the city through his charity, and all who drunk this water and were exposed to the Mueller device were genetically altered and became excessively violent. When Nadia is captured by Elena, she is injected with the infected water and consequently attempts to kill Sydney.

The season ends on a cliffhanger when Vaughn reveals to Sydney that his real name is not Michael Vaughn, and depending on who is asked, he might be a "bad guy". At that moment, their car is T-boned by an unknown assailant.

Season 5[link]

Sydney and Vaughn survive the car crash, but Vaughn is taken by their assailants. He manages to escape and tells Sydney that his real name is André Michaux. He also tells her that he's been working for several years to uncover the activities of a mysterious organization known as Prophet Five. His father before him had also worked to gather intel on Prophet Five. Shortly thereafter, Sydney learns she is pregnant and Vaughn is shot and apparently killed by a rogue agent posing as a CIA officer. Four months later, Sydney makes contact with Renée Rienne, an assassin on the CIA's most wanted list, who had been working with Vaughn, and whose father had worked with Vaughn's father, to bring down Prophet Five.

Sydney finds a kindred spirit in Rachel Gibson, a young, inexperienced agent rescued from "The Shed", a covert criminal organization that, much like SD-6, operates under the alias of a CIA black-ops division. Gibson, like Sydney years earlier, had been duped into believing she was working for the CIA. Now a member of APO, Gibson is learning the ways of being a field agent, with Sydney her designated handler, just as Michael had worked with her. With Nadia still comatose in the hospital, Gibson has moved into Sydney's home.

Sydney has also put at least some demons of the past behind her. Now fully reconciled with her father, she has also expressed some forgiveness of Sloane, to the point of writing a letter of recommendation for Sloane's release hearing.

Sydney continues to go on missions when her condition allows, often using the pregnancy as part of her disguises. However, in the episode "Solo", she came to realize that these days might be fast coming to a (temporary) end when she is not allowed to go on a mission due to her condition.

Three weeks before her due date, Sydney is captured by Prophet Five in order to force her (via a form of drug-induced hypnosis) to remember details of a giant SD-6 flowchart that she had been shown by Michael Vaughn during one of their first meetings. Encouraged by her mental recreation of Michael Vaughn, she is able to resist the hypnosis and provide false information to her kidnappers (who, unbeknownst to Sydney, include Irina). Sydney discovers that she has been stranded aboard a freighter at sea where she attempts to elude Prophet Five and their chief minion, Kelly Peyton. During this incident, she discovers that her family doctor is actually a Prophet Five agent, and suffers a complication with her pregnancy that (to her later surprise) is corrected by Prophet Five and the baby is saved.

After being extracted by APO, Sydney is reunited with her mother and together with her and Jack they travel to Vancouver in order to obtain a mysterious object called "The Horizon" which Prophet Five believed Sydney possessed. During this mission, which is complicated by the discovery that Irina works for Prophet Five and a subsequent attack by Peyton, Sydney goes into labor and — with the aid of Irina and Jack — gives birth to a baby girl, named Isabelle. Irina subsequently disappears with The Horizon.

After the birth of Isabelle, it is revealed that Vaughn didn't die. After his shooting, Jack helped him fake his death and hide in Bhutan.

About a month after giving birth, Sydney returns to duty when Anna Espinosa is recruited by Peyton to kidnap Will Tippin. Espinosa implants an explosive in Tippin's head and demands that page 47 of Rambaldi's manuscript be turned over to her in return for the disarming code. Sydney and Will battle Anna but lose page 47, and in the process Anna uses an unknown chemical agent to collect genetic material from Sydney. Anna goes through the genetic doubling process and becomes Sydney's duplicate.

After Anna kills Renée Rienne while she is on a mission with APO, a chip bearing Michael Vaughn's real name (André Michaux) is discovered implanted in her body. The chip bears what appears to be a corrupted code. Sydney heads to Nepal to meet with Vaughn but is intercepted by an agent of Prophet Five while Anna keeps Sydney's rendezvous with Vaughn. Anna and Vaughn discover that Vaughn has the other half of the code on a chip implanted in his body and after deciphering the code he and Anna head to Germany. They discover a bunker containing all of Vaughn's father's research on Prophet Five. Vaughn reveals that he knows Anna is not Sydney and they fight. Anna gains the upper hand until Sydney shoots her in the head, killing her. Sydney goes undercover as Anna to infiltrate Prophet Five and meets up with Peyton.

Sydney, still undercover as Anna, meets Sloane and learns that she is to seek a rose from an ancient Italian monastery. She meets up with Julian Sark in Italy and he gets them arrested to infiltrate the prison that stands where the monastery once did. Sydney discovers an elderly man who identifies himself as The Rose. The Rose gives Sydney an amulet and tells her she can't stop Prophet Five from carrying out its plans. While Peyton extracts Sark from the prison, Sloane attempts to kill Sydney, still believing she is Anna. Sydney survives the attempt but Sloane escapes with the amulet. Sydney and Vaughn return to Los Angeles, where Vaughn meets his daughter for the first time. Their happiness is short-lived, however, as Sydney gets a call from Sloane, who has figured out that she is still alive.

Sydney finally travels to Sydney, Australia as part of an APO mission to get intel on the twelve leaders of Prophet Five. She successfully captures intel on three of the twelve and returns to Los Angeles.

Shortly thereafter, Marshall and Rachel are kidnapped by Peyton and Sark respectively and Sydney encounters Sloane, who convinces her to get Marshall to help him locate a certain underground cavern. Marshall is able to pass a message to Sydney, who, working with Marshall's wife Carrie, is able to locate Marshall and Rachel and mount a rescue. Marshall and Rachel advise the team that Sloane is seeking a cave in Italy and Sydney deduces that Sloane is headed for Mount Subasio. She and Vaughn travel there and Sydney descends into the cave. There she encounters Sloane again, with the amulet she recovered earlier. Sloane fires several rounds into the floor of the cave at Sydney's feet, causing the floor to give way. Vaughn rescues Sydney and performs CPR on her.

The team next tracks Sloane to Mongolia and the tomb of Milo Rambaldi. There Sydney encounters Sloane yet again as he implements his endgame by placing the Horizon on an altar, thus creating a red, hovering ball-shaped fluid similar to that created by the Mueller device. Sydney disrupts Sloane's plans by grabbing the Horizon from the altar, causing the ball to collapse in a torrent of red liquid. Sark leads Jack and Vaughn into the tomb after capturing them, and Sloane shoots Jack in the chest to force Sydney and Vaughn to leave. Seeing her father severely wounded, Sydney grabs a gun and eventually shoots Sloane several times, who crashes into the puddle of Rambaldi-fluid. With Sloane seemingly dead, Sydney tries to stay with her bleeding father, but he begs her to leave him and to stop Irina. Sydney reluctantly obeys and departs for Hong Kong for a final confrontation with Irina. Jack drags himself back into the tomb and confronts Sloane, who has become immortal because of the fluid. Sloane offers to heal Jack, but Jack tells Sloane that he has caused so much pain for Sydney over the years that he will not allow him to do it again and reveals a bomb that he strapped to his body and detonates it, killing himself. The explosion causes a cave in and Sloane is trapped in there forever.

In Hong Kong, Sydney and Irina clash a final time, with Sydney seeking to stop Irina from using the Horizon to gain immortality. In the course of the fight, Irina ends up atop a glass skylight, the Horizon just inches away from her. With the glass cracking under Irina's weight, Sydney pleads with her to take her hand. Irina refuses and attempts to grab the Horizon. The glass breaks completely, causing Irina to fall to her death.

The series ends a few years into the future. Sydney and Vaughn are married and semi-retired and are now living in a beachside house on a obviously very far off island. Dixon comes to visit and is greeted by Vaughn and Sydney, who is holding their second child who is named Jack after Sydney's father. Isabelle has found the blocks for Project Christmas and assembles them in no time, but dismantles it after Sydney calls for her and she joins her family outside. As everyone walks down the beach, the screen cuts to black with the message: THANK YOU FOR FIVE INCREDIBLE YEARS.

References[link]

J. J. Abrams
Abrams at the Time 100 Gala in Manhattan, May 4, 2010
Born	Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (1966-06-27) June 27, 1966 (age 45) New York City, New York, U.S.
Residence	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Ethnicity	German, Jewish
Occupation	Film and television producer, director, screenwriter, actor and composer.
Years active	1990–present
Spouse	Katie McGrath
Children	3

Jeffrey Jacob "J. J." Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American film and television producer, screenwriter, director, actor, and composer.

He is well known for his work in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. He wrote and produced feature films before co-creating the television series Felicity (1998–2002). He also created Alias (2001–2006) and co-created Lost (2004–2010), Fringe (2008–present), Undercovers (2010) and produced the television series Person of Interest (2011–present) and Alcatraz (2012). Abrams directed the films Mission: Impossible III (2006), Star Trek (2009), and Super 8 (2011), and produced the films Cloverfield (2008), Morning Glory (2010) and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011). Many of the films he directed/produced are by Paramount, while his television series were co-produced by either Warner Bros. or ABC Studios.

Early life[link]

Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, where he attended Palisades Charter High School. He is the son of television producer Gerald W. Abrams and executive producer Carol Abrams. Abrams is Jewish,^[1] and attended Sarah Lawrence College.^[2]

Career[link]

Abrams's first job in the movie business started when he was 16 when he wrote music for Don Dohler's film Nightbeast. During his senior year at college, he teamed with Jill Mazursky to write a feature film treatment. Purchased by Touchstone Pictures, the treatment was the basis for Taking Care of Business, Abrams's first produced film, which starred Charles Grodin and Jim Belushi. He followed that up with Regarding Henry, starring Harrison Ford, and Forever Young, starring Mel Gibson.

Abrams collaborated with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay on the 1998 film, Armageddon. That same year, he made his first foray into television with Felicity, which ran for four seasons on The WB Network, serving as the show's co-creator (with Matt Reeves) and executive producer. He also composed its opening theme music.

Under his production company Bad Robot, which he founded with Bryan Burk in 2001,^[3] Abrams created and executive-produced ABC's Alias and is co-creator (along with Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber) and executive producer of Lost. He later co-wrote the teleplay for Lost's third season premiere "A Tale of Two Cities". As with Felicity, Abrams also composed the opening theme music for Alias and Lost.

In 2001, Abrams co-wrote and produced the thriller Joy Ride, and wrote an unproduced screenplay for a fifth Superman film in 2002.

In 2006, he served as executive producer of What About Brian and Six Degrees, also on ABC. Abrams directed and wrote the two-part pilot for Lost and remained active producer for the first half of the season. That same year he made his feature directorial debut in 2006 with Mission: Impossible III, starring Tom Cruise.

Abrams at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010

Abrams spoke at the TED conference in 2007.^[4]

In 2008, Abrams produced the monster movie, Cloverfield.^[5] In 2009, he directed the science fiction film Star Trek,^[6] which he produced with Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof. While it was speculated that they would be writing and producing an adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels, they publicly stated in November 2009 that they were no longer looking to take on that project.^[7]

In 2008, he co-created, executive produced, and co-wrote (along with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) the FOX science-fiction series Fringe, for which he composed the theme music for as well.

Abrams is featured in the 2009 MTV Movie Awards 1980s-style digital short "Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions", with Andy Samberg and Will Ferrell, in which he plays a keyboard solo.

The NBC network picked up Abrams's Undercovers as its first new drama series for the 2010–11 season.^[8] However, it was subsequently cancelled by NBC in November 2010.

He wrote and directed the Paramount supernatural blockbuster Super 8, while co-producing with Steven Spielberg and Bryan Burk; it was released on June 10, 2011.^[9]

Abrams is currently directing the untitled sequel to Star Trek. The film is scheduled for release in May 2013.^[10]

Under development (due in 2013^[11]) is Abrams' film with Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot Productions, Mystery on Fifth Avenue. It is based on the New York Times article "Mystery on Fifth Avenue" about the renovation of an 8.5 million dollar co-op, a division of property originally owned by E.F. Hutton and Marjorie Merriweather Post. In 2008, it was widely reported Abrams purchased the rights to the Times article for six figures^[12], and enlisted comedy writers Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky to write the adaptation. According to the article, a wealthy couple Steven B. Klinsky and Maureen Sherry purchased the apartment in 2003 and live there with their four children. Soon after purchasing the apartment, they hired young architectural designer Eric Clough, who devised an elaborately clever "scavenger hunt" built into the apartment that involved dozens of historical figures, a fictional book and a soundtrack, woven throughout the apartment in puzzles, riddles, secret panels, compartments, and hidden codes, without the couple's knowledge. The family didn't discover the embedded mystery until months after moving into the apartment. ^[13][14] After Abrams purchased the article, Clough left him an encrypted message in the wall tiles of a Christian Louboutin shoe store he designed in West Hollywood.^[15]

Personal life[link]

Abrams is married to public relations exec Katie McGrath and has three children: sons August and Henry and daughter Gracie.^[2][16] He resides in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, United States.^[17][18]

Campaigns he has contributed to include those of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill Bradley, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Bob Casey, Jr., Mark Udall, Harry Reid, Russ Feingold, Patrick J. Kennedy, and Tim Kaine. However, he has also donated $2,000 to the Republican Robert Vasquez.^[19]

Filmography[link]

Feature credits[link]

Television credits[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: J. J. Abrams

• J. J. Abrams at the Internet Movie Database
• J. J. Abrams at AllRovi
• J.J. Abrams at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• J.J. Abrams at Lostpedia
• J. J. Abrams at TED Conferences
• J. J. Abrams on Charlie Rose
• Works by or about J. J. Abrams in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• J. J. Abrams collected news and commentary at The New York Times

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2011)

Dean Geyer
Dean Geyer on Australia Idol
Background information
Birth name	Dean Stanley Geyer
Born	(1986-03-20) 20 March 1986 (age 26) Johannesburg, South Africa
Genres	Pop rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actor
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2006 – present
Labels	Sony BMG (2006–08)

Dean Stanley Geyer (born 20 March 1986) is a South African singer-songwriter and actor who came third in the 2006 season of the talent show television series, Australian Idol.