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About 15 or so years ago, I dimly recall watching a movie on TV about aliens, which really struck a chord, but I can't remember enough to google a name or anything more specific. The action takes place on Earth, perhaps in the USA. It was a live action movie, not animated.

It was about a family; the father (grandfather?) was an army pilot, and when he was flying, he was abducted by aliens (briefly, then returned, I think?). The (grand?)daughter is a little child, and her nanny is trying to teach her telekinetic abilities (perhaps a result of modifications done to the father?). I think I remember her also conjuring up a glowing orb between her hands. The nanny turned out to work for the aliens. There was also something about the government trying to chase/capture the family.

Any help will be appreciated!

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  • It sounds like Star Wars.
    – Valorum
    Commented Dec 30, 2015 at 11:30
  • Some of this lines up with "Meego", a short-lived sitcom along the lines of ALF, but the alien nanny was male and the dad wasn't a pilot.
    – Omegacron
    Commented Dec 30, 2015 at 21:00
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    @Richard You and I must have seen very different versions of Star Wars,
    – Xantec
    Commented Dec 30, 2015 at 21:03
  • @Omegacron Also, it wasn't a comedy. I was quite young when I saw it, so it's really difficult to recall enough details, but I hope this at least can give some sort of plot!
    – Simon_Peterson
    Commented Dec 30, 2015 at 21:20
  • Maybe take a look at this list and see if any of them matches the plot?
    – Aegon
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 10:13

4 Answers 4

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I nominate The Sender (1998) but I don't like imdb's synopses so here's mine, with matches bolded and mismatches capitalized.

In 1965 four US NAVY Corsairs on a recon flight in the Bermuda Triangle (of course) encounter a UFO and one pilot, Jack Grayson, disappears. Today (movie-time) Jack's now-adult son Dallas (Michael Madsen) is a widower raising his young daughter Lisa (Jack's granddaughter) who has cancer, and trying to clear his father's name, when a secret government/military operation from Area 51 (of course) kidnaps Lisa.

He is then aided by Angel, who IS ONE OF the aliens and has been watching over them (unknown to him) because Dallas carries and Lisa manifests the telekinetic 'sender' gene which is rather lamely visualized by swirly green energy 'balls' formed between the hands; the source of the gene is NOT STATED. Angel spends nearly all the movie in the form of a human woman, freeing up the FX budget for near-continuous car, truck and helicopter chases, explosions, and firefights, all in or near Los Angeles.

At the END the alien mothership returns Jack, in a knockoff of Close Encounters.

I don't do clips, but if anyone wants to add one feel free.

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  • That is it! Thank you for finding the movie; I was beginning to wonder if I was mis-remembering things. Though watching the trailers now, it is not quite such an amazing movie as I recall...
    – Simon_Peterson
    Commented Jul 27, 2016 at 11:21
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Definitely a movie? Or a mini-series piled together? Sounds like Taken, a Steven Spielberg mini-series.

"World War II veteran Russell Keys is plagued by nightmares of his abduction by aliens during the war ... as the decades go by, the heirs of each are affected by the machinations of the aliens, culminating with the birth of Allie Keys, who is the final product of the aliens' experimentation and holds the key to their future."

The grand-daughter had much more power, and wider abilities, than the original aliens, which is what they were trying to achieve with the breeding program.

Government agencies were actively looking out for the families involved.

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  • You're right, the plot does sound very similar! But I think it's older than that - say 80's or 90's - and I've watched it in the late 1990's, or early 2000's (so potentially about the time 'Taken' was airing, actually...)
    – Simon_Peterson
    Commented Jul 27, 2016 at 11:16
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Wild guess but maybe one of the Escape To Witch Mountain films?

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    What about Escape To Witch Mountain matches up with the details of the question?
    – phantom42
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 5:17
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    Sounds similar (the bit about a girl with supernatural powers), and the 'feel' of the movie might have been from that era. But some details still don't match, unless (as was suggested below), I'm merging two different movies.
    – Simon_Peterson
    Commented Mar 16, 2016 at 17:01
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I believe you're combing details of another movie with the plot of Independence Day. Independence Day has the grandfather who was a briefly-abducted army pilot. It came out in 1996.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116629/

It stars Will Smith and has a number of other famous actors. They are making a sequel to it, after all these years.

Some other movie has the details you're remembering about a glowing orb.

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  • I don't think this is so - since I would definitely remember it having Will Smith, and also I don't think it had any famous actors. I am sorry, but over 50% of the details I've shared aren't compatible with Independence day, and I do believe they are from the same movie.
    – Simon_Peterson
    Commented Mar 16, 2016 at 15:10
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    The pilot part would be like independence day but I don't believe his Will Smith's child was being taught some supernatural stuff by a Nanny or that the child had a nanny at all. Also, Will Smith infiltrated and attacked the aliens, he was not abducted.
    – Aegon
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 10:06

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