Well according to an interview over at The Sci-fi Wire there's some mulling over a Dead Zone movie which hopefully would complete the series. Anthony Michael Hall isn't optimistic about it but he's open to the possibility.

Realistically it doesn't have as much of a chance as many of the other movies used to complete TV series. But I would have said the same thing about Futurama or Dead Like Me a few years back. So I'm going to be quietly optimistic about this one.

I just finished watching the end of the first season of TDZ a few moments ago, I forgot how stunning and shocking the end of the first season was. It's Genius.
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Originally I was just going to review the first season DVD of this show but while browsing it I decided I should watch a few episodes to remind myself of what the show was like in the early days. Also it would be the first time I've watched it on DVD despite the fact that I've had them sat on my shelf for nearly a year now. The show didn't make it into my top 50 shows because I was feeling exceptionally bitter about it's cancellation, but I now realise it probably should be. There is an 'Exceedingly Excellent Episode' review about one of the second season episodes though. My favourite episode of the show... One that still gives me chills.

Additionally as the show has just premiered on ION Television (16th of June) and will be shown three times a week this feels like a good time to try and explain why you should get into this show.



The Dead Zone is a TV series based on the Stephen King book of the same name. It stars Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, a man who has/had his own perfect life in 1996. He's engaged to a beautiful woman (Sarah played by Nicole de Boer), he loves working as a teacher and he's happy to live his entire life without changing a thing. Unfortunately for Johnny he is hit by a truck while travelling home and ends up in a coma with severe brain trauma, so bad that it's speculated he'll never wake up as his perception centers are shot. But six years later he does indeed suddenly wake up, he wakes up to a world that's the same but different. He discovers that his fiance has married the county Sherriff Walt Bannerman (played by Chris Bruno), that she has had Johnny's son and they're raising him as Walt's.

To make matters worse it seems that the damage to Johnny's brain has caused him to start using a normally dormant part of his brain for cognitive functions, a section that's normally considered a 'dead zone' in most human's brains. This has the unfortunate side effect of altering Johnny's perception, when he touches people and items he now gets visions, sometimes of the future, sometimes of the past. Visions that are always important to someone.

Gradually Johnny rehabilitates himself with the aid of his physio and friend Bruce (played by John L. Adams). Bruce is a character of exceptional note in this series because he did not exist in the book or the Christopher Walken movie and the Johnny Smith in those two versions ends up losing his mind in events that are worth watching/reading about. Bruce is not only the most likable character in the series but he's also the most important influence on Johnny's life. Bringing perspective to events and levelling out Johnny when things get too much.

Johnny struggles with returning to his old life, his visions are invasive and compelling. They are revealed pretty early on to the public as Johnny's nature is such that he feels the need to help others. This divides people up between those who fear him, sceptics and those who come to trust and believe in his visions. The reactions of his community are difficult for Johnny to deal with in the early days.

Johnny continues with his life and 'solves' his visions when they arise until he meets a young and charismatic man called Greg Stillson (Sean Patrick Flanery) who's running for election. While shaking his hand Johnny sees a vision of Washington D.C. just dissappearing, it is a vision of some kind of apocalypse that will be caused by Stillson's actions.

The upcoming apocalypse and Stillson's involvement in it forms the major thrust of The Dead Zone metaplot. This divides the episodes into two kinds, ones that deal with Greg Stillson (which normally happen at the start and end of each season) and ones that deal with everyday life for Johnny (mostly one offs).

The first thing that strikes you about this show it's it's just beautiful, the camera work, the music, the characters, the setting, the stories. Everything about it is just beautiful and light. Considering the show is based on a Stephen King horror novel the show is a remarkable piece of beauty and hope. One of the major underlying themes of the show is about just how much better Johnny makes people's lives. While he himself might not have the ideal life anymore he's able to touch and help so many people with his ability that it's clear the world is a better place for his existence.

It's hard not to fall in love with this show when you watch it, everything about it is just wonderful. If you enjoy the paranormal, detective shows, shows about the difficulty of dealing with loss, unrequited love or huge sweeping questions like "What if we could change things for the better?" "What if you knew someone was going to do something terrible, how could you stop them?" and the like you should check out The Dead Zone. It's one of those forgotten gems that really deserves a higher profile than it has. Do yourself a favour and give it a long hard look as it's a spectacular show.


The IMDB rates TDZ as an 8/10 while tv.com has it as a 9.1 (warning the tv.com episode guide spoilers a big plot point about the 6th season right on it's front page, so avoid it if possible.)

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Well apparently USA has cancelled both The Dead Zone and The 4400, two of it's flagship summer shows (and the reason why I started watching Burn Notice & Psych) now. Without giving either show a chance to wrap up.

It's not been officially announced yet, but inside sources are talking about it. So, well I'm pretty bummed out. The 4400's latest season was fantastic and while TDZ struggled in it's 6th Season, it ended on an incredible note that promised excitement next season.

I could take an announcement saying "Next season will be their last." As they'd then get a chance to deliver high octane episodes that finished up their big story arcs. But this just sucks hard as it's an incredibly lousy time to do this, it's going to be like watching Carnivale or John Doe now. You just end unsatisfied because the story hasn't ended.

I probably won't be posting until the 6th/7th of January as all the good TV has pretty much wrapped up due to the WGA strike and Christmas. But Season 5 of The Wire premieres on the 6th so I'll review every single episode in a spoiler-tastic orgasm of love. At least they are getting a decent final season to finish up.

FU USA!
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Every series worth it's salt that runs for more than a single season produces an episode that just defines everything that the series is about. Often these episodes leave you awestruck or make the hairs on your neck raise.

This series will be about those episodes. As such it will often be very spoiler heavy, normally just for the episode in question but sometimes for the season or even the show. As a consequence...

[This post may contain spoilers]

That said let us get onto the very first Exceedingly Excellent Episode (Triple E). The following episode is the one that inspired this entire series and it comes from a moderately popular American show.

The Dead Zone - 205 - Precipitate
I'm going to quote the TV.com/Wikipedia summary here:
"Johnny receives a blood transfusion and starts experiencing the lives of six blood donors, including a homeless man. Johnny must figure out which one is about to be killed and stop it. "
(This version is from the wiki, but the tv.com one is almost identical - I have no idea why the wikipedia feels it imporant to note one of the donors is a homeless man.)

That summary is right on the head for the plot, essentially that's all there is too the episode. Some could even argue that just about every episode for The Dead Zone could be boiled down to something similar. But that is the format of the show.

Johnny gets a vision, Johnny decides to change outcome of vision.

Precipitate doesn't deviate from that format, in fact it's stripped back from a lot of the baggage in the show. Only Johnny and Bruce are involved in the majority of this episode (along with the guest stars and extras) and it's the raw simplicity of this that works. Johnny's visions of the six people have told him much about each of them, but not enough to tell which one will die.
Time and time again he's incorrect about his assumptions with each potential victim, but despite this his interference improves the lives of each donor.

It's more than possible to figure out which person is the donor that Johnny and Bruce need to save quite early on. There are several subtle clues dropped into the episode at key points. But to be honest, doing so would detract from the ride. A ride which cumulates in a truely fantastic set piece, where each donor's changed destiny has a part to play in saving the life of the sixth.

The moment where it all comes together is wonderfully written, shot, acted and edited. All of the running around and failed attempts come together in one beautiful moment. You realise that Johnny only saved the sixth donor by helping the previous five change their lives for the better.

In truth that's what The Dead Zone is about for me, how one person's actions can alter the course of others for the better. Johnny leaves having not just directly saved one life, but improving the lives of everyone he had a vision about.
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