Authors: Hans-Ake Lilja
Another thing that is great about episode ten is that Stillson is back. And I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone that he is involved with the Mafia, right?
In episode eleven (
Playing God
) Johnny gets to play God. At a school reunion he meets up with his best friend and his friend’s sister. As it turns out, his friend has a bad heart and needs a transplant as soon as possible. If he doesn’t get one, he will die. He asks Johnny if he can see him getting a new heart and reluctantly Johnny touches him. In the vision he does in fact see his friend getting a new heart. Relieved, he tells him so and with that all could be well…it could be, if not for one small thing. The heart he gets is the friend’s sister’s who will die in an accident. Johnny is put in front of a huge problem. What does he do? Save the friend at the expense of his sister or save the sister at the expense of his friend? He gets to play God…
In this episode the creators have hidden some connections to Anthony Michael Hall’s past. In the role of the sister and Johnny’s old classmate Kate is his co-star from the movie
The Breakfast Club
, Ally Sheedy. All of the references to how they were as kids in school is directly from the movie, and it’s quite fun to see if you remember
The Breakfast Club
.
In episode twelve (
Zion
) Bruce has the bigger part. After attending his father’s funeral he keeps asking himself if it would have been better to follow in his father’s footsteps by becoming a preacher. When he touches his father at the same time that Johnny touches him, he gets a vision of what would have happened if he had.
He soon discovers that it would have been the wrong decision to stay. In the vision he sees that Reverend Purdy doesn’t like Johnny because he has sued him, Sarah and Walt are divorced because of Johnny (who is presumed to be crazy) and in Bruce’s vision Johnny even tries to kill Stillson (like in the book) and ends up being shot. Needless to say, Bruce ends up being happy with his past decision. And the best of all, he gets to make up and say goodbye to his dad. Another small thing in this episode is that Bruce actually cuts off his dreadlocks.
Lilja’s final words about
The Dead Zone
- The 2nd Half of Season 2
The biggest difference with these episodes compared to the earlier ones is that Johnny seems to feel more haunted by his visions, which is to be expected. He starts to become more isolated (he even installs an alarm at the house). He starts to feel like everyone wants something from him.
Overall, I think that
The Dead Zone
is getting better and better with each episode I see. The characters get stronger and the actors and actresses get better as each episode passes. The only thing I wish is to see more of Kristen Dalton as Dana. I think her character has an important part in Johnny’s life, but it seems that she has been absent more and more in the last episodes…
So, make sure you watch every episode of
The Dead Zone
. You won’t regret it!
****
The Dead Zone - Season 1 (DVD)
Posted: July 19, 2003
On June 17 the entire first season of
The Dead Zone
was released on DVD. I have taken a look at it and plan to share my thoughts about it here with you, if you’re interested. Because I have already reviewed all of the episodes when they aired on TV I won’t get into their plots. If you want to read my thoughts on them you can go back to the reviews and check them out. OK, here we go!
First, I want to confirm that all thirteen episodes are here. There have been different reports about it on the web. Some have said that the pilot (already released on DVD) wouldn’t be included. Well, I can now confirm that it is. There are three episodes on each of the first three DVD’s (the set includes four DVD’s) and the fourth has four episodes.
There is quite a lot of extra material in the box and it’s all really interesting. On each DVD (except number four) you have storyboards for some or all of the episodes. Here you can compare how close to the script the finished scene is. You also have something called “Behind-the-Scenes” on each DVD. They cover different things about the show on each DVD. The most interesting one has the title “Music and Special Effects.” It’s really nice to see how they do the scenes where things freeze on the screen and Johnny walks around among them. The other three behind-the-scenes have the titles “Genesis,” “Writing” and “ Guest Stars.” In “Guest Stars” I got my dose of Sean Patrick Flanery, who plays Stillson on the show. I have become a real fan of Sean Patrick after watching
The Dead Zone
. I remember seeing him in Young Indiana Jones and not really caring for him that much. Now, I find him a really good actor though! I’m not sure if it’s because he has become a better actor, if he has grown up a bit or if it’s me, but now I really like him.
Besides this there are also some promos for the first and second seasons.
When you buy this box you also get a second DVD (you have to send in a bounce-back card) which contains a never-before-seen pilot for the series…I haven’t seen this one myself, but it sounds really interesting. On the first DVD (which contains episodes one and two) there is an alternative ending, but it sounds like there is actually a whole episode that never aired. It will be interesting to see.
Lilja’s final words about
The Dead Zone
- Season 1 (DVD)
So, is this something you should get even though you have followed the series on TV and already seen all of the episodes? Definitely!
The Dead Zone
is a classic and personally, I think it will be remembered as one of the top King adaptations for a long time. Besides this you have all this extra material in the box that you don’t want to miss. So, in other words, go out and get this box right now!
****
The Dead Zone - Season 2½
Posted: August 21, 2003
So, the summer season of
The Dead Zone
is over. In it, we got seven new episodes, and boy, what episodes they were! I think these seven episodes (maybe with the exception of
The Storm)
are among the strongest in the series.
It starts off with
The Storm
, in which Johnny faces a storm. The episode starts off with Johnny being sick and tired of all his visions and not being believed when he tries to help people. His friends decide to do an intervention (like you do with alcoholics or drug addicts) to get Johnny to snap out of it. While Johnny and Bruce are on their way they get caught in a storm that seems very strange, to say the least.
In the second episode (
Plague)
Johnny attends J.J.’s (Johnny’s son) school’s science fair, and while he is there he gets visions of all the kids getting infected with some kind of sickness. He tells Walt, who calls the authorities, who, of course, don’t believe him. As usual, Johnny’s visions come true and a plague starts to spread through the town. Now he has to find out what is causing it and how to stop it—not only to save the town, but also to save his son, J.J.
Deja Voodoo
is one of the best episodes in this “half” season. In it, Johnny bumps into a lady in a bar and has a vision that they end up kissing each other later that night. After his vision and a bit of sweet-talk they do kiss each other, but right after they both get shot by a robber. Just as it happens Johnny snaps out of his vision. It appears that the reality was nothing but another vision. Now he has to save the lady before the vision comes true. Unfortunately, his first try is nothing but yet another vision, and on that road he continues. You never know when it’s a vision and when it’s for real. It was a very clever episode that I’ll remember for a long time.
The next episode was
The Hunt
. This is the episode that was originally canceled from the second season due to the war in Iraq. I’m glad they decided to air it now though. It’s a very different episode from what we have gotten used to. Here, Johnny’s visions are used in another way. Here they are called upon for a special purpose. I’m also glad it didn’t get the Hollywood ending those patriotic movies get more often than not. They kept it realistic all the way through.
In
The Mountain
Johnny, Walt, Sarah and J.J. find part of a plane that went down a number of years ago. Johnny thinks he can see where it crashed, and along with the local ranger and two of his friends they set out on a hike to find it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t turn out to be the wonderful bonding trip (between Johnny and J.J.) they planed. It seems like the ranger and his friends have other plans.
In the sixth episode of this “half” season we get
The Combination
, in which Johnny fights to save the life of a boxer who will otherwise die in the ring. In this episode, Johnny learns that he sometimes can change the future by making someone else believe in a false vision…
In the finale
Visions
(which is a really strong episode) we get to know a bit more about the Armageddon that Johnny keeps seeing. Throughout these seven episodes Johnny has been seeing a hooded figure from time to time. When they finally meet, it turns out he is one of the few who survived the coming Armageddon. He has also gotten powers similar to Johnny and can now see what Johnny sees through his own visions (from the future). Johnny sees this as a chance to get more information about the Armageddon and maybe find a way to prevent it…
Throughout this “half” season Johnny also tries to get closer to J.J., who doesn’t know that Johnny is his father. My guess is that he will find out in the future though. The only thing I miss with these episodes is that they still don’t have Stillson in them! I was hoping that he would show up, especially in
Visions
, but no such luck…
Lilja’s final words about
The Dead Zone
- Season 2½
As I said, most of these seven episodes are among the best that have been done in the series. It’s amazing, but
The Dead Zone
only gets better and better the more episodes they make. I sure hope there will be a third season. Anything else would be a disaster.
Imagine if we don’t get to see what happens to the Stillson issue, the Armageddon or if J.J. will find out that Johnny is actually his father. What a horrible thought…
****
The Dead Zone - The Original Pilot
Posted: October 22, 2003
This is the original pilot. Most of the scenes are exactly the same as in the one that was shown on TV later, and if you listen to the audio commentary with Lloyd Segan and Shawn Piller you learn that many of the scenes were left from this one in the one that aired. Sometimes it caused the filmmakers some problems with the changed hairstyles and such things. The only real differences between the two versions are that there are some actors/actresses that are different from the later version and that some scenes are shot differently. Another thing is that Reverend Gene Purdy is portrayed as a women’s man in this version, something that they removed for the version that aired.
Here we have Michael Moriarty as Reverend Gene Purdy instead of David Ogden Stiers, and a blond woman as Dana Bright instead of Kristen Dalton. There are also some smaller roles that have been recast for the later version.
I must say that this one really was a joy to see. Not that it’s that different and a new history appears before my eyes, but I found it interesting because this is the original pilot. This is the one which I imagine convinced USA Network that it was a show worth investing in. It’s also interesting to see what changes they did concerning the casting. I don’t know all of the reasons why they replaced Michael Moriarty and the blond woman playing Dana, but the fact that they did it is interesting. I think that both David and Kristen are much better as Reverend Purdy and Dana, no question about that. Some reasons are given in the commentary, and as I interpret what Segan and Piller say, they aren’t that fond of Michael Moriarty either…
Unfortunately, this DVD isn’t for sale in any stores. If you bought the box with the entire first season you got a chance to get this one for free. As far as I know that’s the only way to get ahold of it. It’s a pity since it’s definitely an interesting DVD to watch, but I guess it would be a bit confusing if the pilot were released in two different versions as well…
On this DVD you also get some extra material. As I have mentioned, we get audio commentary from Lloyd Segan and Shawn Piller. We also get several promos for the second season of the series. What makes the extra material really interesting, though, is ten minutes of deleted scenes. Some of it was reshot and some of it was cut entirely. All the deleted scenes have audio commentary, where it’s explained what’s wrong with them and what was changed for the finished version.