La Femme Nikita — Bellazon

alisa

Posts: 4009

#1

link to petition for LFN the movie

my favorite show of all time!!! i would really loooove to see a happy ending!!!

from wikipedia

La Femme Nikita (Nikita in Canada) is a television spy drama based upon the original French film directed by Luc Besson, co-produced by Jay Firestone (Firestone Entertainment) and Warner Bros., and created for television by Joel Surnow, who later co-created 24 with fellow La Femme Nikita executive consultant Robert Cochran. This television series debuted in the United States on USA Network in January 1997 and ran for five seasons until March 2001.[1] La Femme Nikita was the highest-rated drama on American basic cable during its first two seasons; also distributed on television in Canada (as Nikita) and, ultimately, internationally, it continues to have a strong cult following, according to the definitive book on the series written by Christopher Heyn in 2006.[2]

Main cast

Nikita (Peta Wilson)

Falsely accused of killing a police officer, Nikita is sentenced to life in prison. Soon afterward, she is recruited into Section One when the organization fakes her suicide. As the only truly innocent recruit into Section, her compassion and sympathy constantly conflicts with the often ruthless orders she is given. After spending two years being trained by Michael, Nikita learns to use her beauty as a weapon and becomes an expert in martial arts and ordinance. Initially reluctant to kill (she uses creative measures to avoid having to commit a murder during her first mission), she eventually becomes more efficient at doing so. She is used in a wide variety of capacities, from "valentine operative" to assassin, despite her moral qualms, but manages to hold on to her humanity while working for the organization. Eventually, she and Michael become romantically involved, a development that threatens not only their standing in Section One, but their very lives. Their relationship is seen as a threat by Operations and Madeline, and they use a mind altering method on Nikita to rid her of all emotions. Michael manages to alter the progress, but Nikita's performance take a more professional tone. In the 5th season Nikita discovers the real reason she was taken into Section- her father was Mr. Jones the head of Center, the organization that controls Section. His plan was to make Nikita take over as head of Section One.

Michael (Roy Dupuis)

* Main cast: Seasons 1-4

* Special guest star: Season 5

Blank-faced, often emotionless and coldly efficient, Michael Samuelle is a former radical student activist whose protest group sparked the Paris Riots of 1984. Not long after being sent to prison, he is recruited into Section One and becomes one of their most successful and respected team leaders. A few years later, however, the apparent death of his wife, Simone — a fellow Section operative whom he married against the wishes of Operations and Madeline and who is revealed still to be alive early in the first season but sacrifices her life to save both Nikita and Michael — profoundly affects him, and he completely shuts down emotionally, becoming almost an automaton. It is not until Nikita enters the organization that he begins to open up emotionally once again. Complicating their often difficult relationship is Michael's "blood cover" marriage to Elena Vacek, the daughter of a fearsome terrorist that Section One has pursued for decades. His son, Adam, is a product of that union, and his protective fatherly instincts will have a major impact on his future relationship with the organization.

Operations (Eugene Robert Glazer)

A Vietnam veteran, former Lieutenant Paul L. Wolfe was recruited into Section One against his will just before the fall of Saigon. A shrewd and driven man, Operations eventually topples the founder and head of Section One, Adrian, seizing control of the organization himself. While giving lip service to the aims of Section — the eradication of terrorists and the protection of the innocent — Operations uses Section One as his own power base, gaining considerable control over dictators in many regions of the globe. This lust for power brings him into direct conflict with George, head of Oversight, who on many levels despises him, and even Adrian returns from her forced retirement to mount an unsuccessful coup attempt against Operations. He is also distrustful of Nikita, and even attempts to kill her on a number of occasions, but is forced to grudgingly accept her success at completing Section missions. (The same is also true of his relationship to Michael, when he discovers his romantic involvement with Nikita.) While he and Madeline make an effective partnership — including a brief romance — their days running Section One together are numbered.

Madeline (Alberta Watson)

* Main cast: Seasons 1-4

* Special guest star: Season 5

As the executive strategist for Section One, Madeline is Operations's closest ally and confidante. The ultimate personification of Section One's ideals, she is cold and efficient in the execution of her duties, which often involve using torture to extract information from captured terrorist subjects. A master manipulator, she knows the psyche of each Section operative inside and out, and can push the right buttons to get what she wants from each one each time. This brings her into constant conflict with Nikita, whose independent spirit she grudgingly admires, but overall, views as a threat to her control within the organization. Madeline's "Type One Directive" against Michael's and Nikita's romantic partnership will kick off a chain of events that even Madeline is unable to predict, events that will force her to make a fateful choice that will have major repercussions on the future of Section One.

Seymour Birkoff/Jason Crawford (Matthew Ferguson)

* Main cast: Seasons 1-4

* Special guest star: Season 5

Seymour Birkoff is Section One's resident genius, whose computer abilities are legendary, and who, as the head of Comm, supervises Section missions in progress. He and Walter are close friends despite their wide difference in age, and even Nikita is especially fond of him. It isn't until many years later that Birkoff learns he was one of two twin boys born to a Section operative. The boys became the subject of a Section One psychological comparison, in which Birkoff was kept within Section One, while his brother Jason was adopted by the Crawford family outside the organization. This was due to a fateful flip of the coin by Walter, and when Birkoff discovers this, it permanently strains their relationship. Birkoff's new obsession with leaving Section One leads to the creation of an artificial intelligence program to take his place, in order to create more downtime. Unfortunately, the A.I. becomes self-aware, and Birkoff is forced to make a decision that will change the face of Section One permanently.

Walter (Don Francks)

The oldest surviving operative in Section One, Walter is head of Munitions, responsible for creating new and necessary gadgets, tools and weapons for Section operatives to use on various missions. While initially sexually attracted to Nikita upon her arrival into Section, he ultimately becomes her loyal friend and confidante, even participating in a cover-up to hide the ongoing romantic status of her and Michael. His brief marriage to, and loss of, Belinda, an "abeyance operative" (one who is scheduled for elimination by Section One), is ample motivation for his willingness to do anything to get back at what he perceives to be Operations's cruelty. However, Operations continues to pardon Walter's life, likely because of a long-standing relationship that began in Vietnam and may have included a period where Walter was his Section trainer, although this is merely speculation.

"Save LFN"

Following the series' cancellation in 2000, its dedicated viewers mounted an extensive fan campaign to revive it. "Save LFN"[3] was not the first successful fan campaign to use the internet to rally fans and renew a canceled series — "These kinds of efforts had resurrected canceled series before, beginning with the original Star Trek on NBC in 1968 all the way up to UPN's Roswell in 2000" (Heyn 25); however, "Save LFN" is notable for its size and inventiveness, including an "online renewal petition" which led to a full-page advertisement placed in The Hollywood Reporter that requested USA Network and Warner Bros. reconsider their decision, as well as over 25,000 letters sent to both companies containing everything from dollar bills featuring images of co-star Roy Dupuis to sunglasses (Nikita's signature accessory) to old TVs, VCRs, and remote controls (Heyn 25-26).[4] A group of organizers calling themselves "First Team," based on the term for the lead members of a mission used frequently in the series, coordinated most of these efforts through their Save LFN fansite (Heyn 25-26).[4] As a result of these efforts, Stephen Chao announced in September of 2000 that La Femme Nikita would return for a truncated fifth season of eight new episodes, which began airing in January 2001 (Heyn 26).