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The 4400 - Series 1 - Complete [2004]

RRP: £24.99
Our Price: £9.65 (subject to change)

Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

The 4400, which began as a five-week mini-series, is built around a deceptively simple, dramatically rich premise. What if all the people, who had ever been abducted by aliens, were suddenly returned to Earth? What would happen? Although they look exactly as they did when they left, they have no knowledge of where they were or why they were taken. Now some even have special powers, like clairvoyance. As with ABC's Lost, which centres on the survivors of a plane crash, The 4400 features a large cast of characters and a host of mysteries to be solved. If the special effects, which are kept to a minimum, can be a little cheesy at times, the concept--and the skillful execution of the concept--easily makes up for it.

Produced by Francis Ford Coppolla's American Zoetrope and created by Scott Peters (The Outer Limits), The 4400 is set in Seattle, where the 4400 are returned. The principal characters include Dennis Ryland (Peter Coyote of E.T.), the local supervisor of Homeland Security. He's joined by agents Tom Baldwin (Joel Gretsch of Taken), whose nephew was one of the returnees, and Diana Skouris (Jacqueline McKenzie of Romper Stomper), who takes in one of the youngest returnees.

Guest stars include Michael Moriarty (Law and Order) in "Pilot" and Lee Tergeson (Oz) in "Becoming." Billy Campbell (Once and Again) also appears in several episodes as Jordan Collier, a real-estate magnate and returnee who becomes an advocate for others like himself, many of whom are having problems adjusting to a changed world. Like Lost, one of the biggest success stories of 2004, The 4400 debuted to strong ratings and was renewed for a full season. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Get through it just to get Season 2
Review date: 2007-08-24 Rating: 8 out of 10

As the title says, if you can make your way through this series (and are either interested or entertained by the idea and plot) then the second series gets a whole lot better.
This fairly short (episode-wise) series starts with an 80 minute long Pilot in which we see the abduction of various people (from the 1930's through to 2001), followed by a skip ahead in time to 2004,when all the abductees, all 4400 of them, are returned all at once in Seattle. They are soon carted off to a quarantine area controlled by a government organisation called NTAC, where we are introduced to a couple of the 4400s (one of which is the son of an NTAC agent) who will appear in almost every episode of this, and the next two seasons.
The Pilot carries on to show what happens after these 4400s are released from quarantine and how they start to try and adapt to their new surroundings.
The next four episodes (each 40 minutes long) explore the lives of the few 4400s we met in the pilot, as well as the two NTAC agents assigned to watching over all the 4400s still living in Seattle (there are a lot of them) and adding a new 4400 character each episode (one who usually dies or goes away for some reason or another by the end of the 40 minutes).
Though, as other reviewers have said, there aren't many big special effects scenes in this first series, they were obviously saving the budget for the season finale.
Basically, the season finale (which arrived much too quickly in my opinion) cranks up a bit of tension through-out before telling you just about everything you wanted to know about the 4400s (why/where they went and who took them). The end, however, does set up the idea for the next season which, as I said in the title, is much better than this one in my opinion.
For ten quid I think this is worth buying and watching, and if you do enjoy it(even just a bit) then you should definitely check out the second season which is twelve 40 minute episodes long and improves a lot on the idea explored in this short season.

Reviews

No Heroes Here!
Review date: 2007-08-15 Rating: 4 out of 10

Over the past 50 years people have been disappearing in America without a trace. Where are they? Well, they are back, all 4400 of them in one go. Like in the Heroes, they have powers. And that is where the similarity with Heroes ends. The concept was interesting, but the budget, and the acting was poor. I had to drag myself to finish the brief first series.

But I have heard that the following series are great! So I suggest you watch this quickly without dwelling on the shortfalls and proceed quickly on to series 2. You tell me whether series 2 is worth it.

I suggest you watch; Prison Break, Heroes, Rome, 24, Lost, What About Brian, Dexter, Smallville...

Brilliant storyline ...
Review date: 2007-07-13 Rating: 8 out of 10

This is a great idea, with a great plot and plenty of potential to keep the good storyline going through a few more series. It's easy to keep watching.

It is a bit low-budget though, compared with the likes of 24 and Lost. Acting isn't brilliant, and deep character development and decent special effects are distinctly lacking.

Still, definitely worth buying if you like this sort of thing.

Lost in a Lost World
Review date: 2007-07-08 Rating: 10 out of 10

"I woke today, I was crying
Lost in a lost world
So many people are dying
Lost in a lost world
Some of them are living an illusion
Bounded by the darkness of their minds
In their eyes it's nation, against nation, against nation
With racial pride

.....

Everywhere you go you see them searching
Everywhere you turn you feel the pain
Everyone is looking for the answers"
Michael Pinder - "Lost in a Lost World" from the album "Seventh Sojourn" by The Moody Blues.

I was initially intrigued by the premise of this series.

4400 abuctees from different times are all returned at a single location in the present day. We are not told who abducted them, it is presumed alien entities at first.

This series peeks into the lives a few select returnees as they try to rebuild their lives and integrate into modern society as best they can.. For the abuctees no time has past, so Richard having endured racial prejudice in 1951 Korea arrives in modern day and takes up with Lilly grand daughter of the white woman he once loved. Lilly it turn out is preganant.
Then we observe Maia, a child abducted in 1945 who has precognition - she can see future events before they happen.
As it turns out it is slowly revealled that some if not all of the returnees have some form of special gift or power - what the tow investigators call "the ripple effect"

I watched this and season two over a weekend and it was utterly absorbing and intriguing.

I didn't get into X Files it was way too hokey for my liking - although the episode with Edward Tooms was memorable.

It also demonstrates quite admirably man's hositily towards the unknown. Destroy anything you don't understand.

"Weep for the future. Weep for us all. I have looked into the darkness. You can not do that and never be quite the same again"
G'Kar, "Revelations", Babylon 5

Fear of the unknown and revulsion at anything that doesn't fit within our (or the state's) idea of "normal" is shunned, hunted, hounded, persecuted and even killed.

For the returnees all they want to do is try as best they can to live a normal life, but picking up the pieces of a shattered existance is very hard.

A Great series.

Good, but not the new "Lost"
Review date: 2007-05-31 Rating: 8 out of 10

First things first - this is a good show. No doubt about it. You want to find out what happens next and you buy the plot (unless, of course, you're one of the people who just NEVER buys a sci-fi plot), so yes, for a weekends worth of entertainment, this is certainly ok.

But two things cast a shadow: First of all, this season one is short! There are only five episodes (although the pilot is double-length) and although they're good and exciting, they could have kept the suspence for longer. In the fifth episode, everything is revealed in five minutes, which must have had the writers for season two tearing their heads - so much for the mystery.

Second, this is not the new "Lost". Yes, you want to see the next episode, but you don't absolutely without a doubt HAVE to see it. Exciting, yes, mind-boggling suspence, no.

Buy it for cheap entertainment and choose for your self, if you want to buy season 2. I did, but hey, I have too much time on my hands.

Product Details/Specifications

Actor(s):
Joel Gretsch
Jacqueline McKenzie
Laura Allen

Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment
EAN: 5014437863331
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2005-01-10
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 380 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2004
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)

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Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV

The 4400 - Series 1 - Complete [2004]

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