The 4400
Over the past 60 years 4400 people have been abducted. On August 14, 2004 those 4400 people all suddenly appeared on the shore of Lake Rainier. They have no memory of what happened to them and they haven't aged a day since they left. Some have developed new powers, both awe inspiring and frightening. And they have each been given a simple yet difficult mission: save the future.
I have Michelle to thank for discovering this show, which premieres its third season this Sunday on USA. There are many things to like about this show, many of which I will of course cover here.
At first glance, I will admit this show seems to be another "alien conspiracy" show; another brainless X-Files hack. I assure you, X-Files this is not. First and foremost, this is a character based show, meaning the characters are created and then put into the environment, and the plot carries itself out. The plot is not created first, with the characters created for the sole purpose of playing it out. If this doesn't make sense, I'm sorry (Law & Order is a textbook example of plot based shows).
Secondly, the "government conspiracy" aspect of the show is at the same time limited and cohesive, not incredibly convoluted. The show even admits this cliché and has some fun with it, with one former mental patient at one point exclaiming, "The minute you guys cure me of my paranoia I get thrown into an actual government conspiracy." It was the perfect "well, frak" moment.
The third thing this show has going for it is its ability to retain child characters. We've all seen it before; the writers create a rather interesting child character but find that they hit puberty before the second season is half over. This is an exceptional problem for shows that have a slower passage of time than their production schedule, such as Battlestar Galactica and Lost. Boxey suddenly had a voice that had a baritone resonance rivaling Edward James Olmos's; Walt grew a foot and a half and had a dirt-lip mustache going for him. Hell, even The OC's Caitlin went from being 10 years old to totally hot in three seasons. And yet, the show's creators still act surprised each time this obvious conundrum surfaces, and are therefore forced to unceremoniously wrap up the storylines of their children. Boxey walked out a was [presumably] killed (off-screen! Glee! Because I hate Boxey!), Walt hid his growth spurt by hiding in a cubby and crying like a girl while Michael drove them off into the sunset. This hasn't happened with The 4400 yet because the timeline is barreling right along. It seems about every 10 episodes "Six Months Later" flashes across the bottom of the screen. It also works for the rest of the characters because we get to see how they've changed or stayed the same.
Now, let’s move onto the sci-fi element of the show. Some of the 4400 have "special" powers now. Some of these powers include the power of healing, telekinesis, mind control and extrasensory perception, which means that, yes, this could even be seen as an X-Men rip-off. Except that these poor folks don't have the Marvel Universe to contend with (So, the mutants are despised because they were born that way, but people are okay with Spiderman because he was an accident, Captain America is genetically engineered and it's all good, no one wants to mess with a Norse god so Thor's all right...so where does that leave Ant-man?). The good people also get to have some fun with the butterfly effect, which is always entertaining.
As much as I like this show, there are some qualms I have, but they are minor. First of all, why does there always have to be a Christian fanatic in these sorts of plots? You know the guy, thumping a bible, country colloquialisms, shotgun, always shouting “Blasphemy!” and “Abomination of Hell!” And yes, he even has two sons named Gabriel and Ezekiel. Secondly, the music. It sounds like a soundtrack that was rejected from the X-Files, Law & Order and Diagnosis Murder. Those are actually the only two real complaints I have.
Goodnight.
I have Michelle to thank for discovering this show, which premieres its third season this Sunday on USA. There are many things to like about this show, many of which I will of course cover here.
At first glance, I will admit this show seems to be another "alien conspiracy" show; another brainless X-Files hack. I assure you, X-Files this is not. First and foremost, this is a character based show, meaning the characters are created and then put into the environment, and the plot carries itself out. The plot is not created first, with the characters created for the sole purpose of playing it out. If this doesn't make sense, I'm sorry (Law & Order is a textbook example of plot based shows).
Secondly, the "government conspiracy" aspect of the show is at the same time limited and cohesive, not incredibly convoluted. The show even admits this cliché and has some fun with it, with one former mental patient at one point exclaiming, "The minute you guys cure me of my paranoia I get thrown into an actual government conspiracy." It was the perfect "well, frak" moment.
The third thing this show has going for it is its ability to retain child characters. We've all seen it before; the writers create a rather interesting child character but find that they hit puberty before the second season is half over. This is an exceptional problem for shows that have a slower passage of time than their production schedule, such as Battlestar Galactica and Lost. Boxey suddenly had a voice that had a baritone resonance rivaling Edward James Olmos's; Walt grew a foot and a half and had a dirt-lip mustache going for him. Hell, even The OC's Caitlin went from being 10 years old to totally hot in three seasons. And yet, the show's creators still act surprised each time this obvious conundrum surfaces, and are therefore forced to unceremoniously wrap up the storylines of their children. Boxey walked out a was [presumably] killed (off-screen! Glee! Because I hate Boxey!), Walt hid his growth spurt by hiding in a cubby and crying like a girl while Michael drove them off into the sunset. This hasn't happened with The 4400 yet because the timeline is barreling right along. It seems about every 10 episodes "Six Months Later" flashes across the bottom of the screen. It also works for the rest of the characters because we get to see how they've changed or stayed the same.
Now, let’s move onto the sci-fi element of the show. Some of the 4400 have "special" powers now. Some of these powers include the power of healing, telekinesis, mind control and extrasensory perception, which means that, yes, this could even be seen as an X-Men rip-off. Except that these poor folks don't have the Marvel Universe to contend with (So, the mutants are despised because they were born that way, but people are okay with Spiderman because he was an accident, Captain America is genetically engineered and it's all good, no one wants to mess with a Norse god so Thor's all right...so where does that leave Ant-man?). The good people also get to have some fun with the butterfly effect, which is always entertaining.
As much as I like this show, there are some qualms I have, but they are minor. First of all, why does there always have to be a Christian fanatic in these sorts of plots? You know the guy, thumping a bible, country colloquialisms, shotgun, always shouting “Blasphemy!” and “Abomination of Hell!” And yes, he even has two sons named Gabriel and Ezekiel. Secondly, the music. It sounds like a soundtrack that was rejected from the X-Files, Law & Order and Diagnosis Murder. Those are actually the only two real complaints I have.
Goodnight.