Dead Zone, The - Season 1 Reviews

Not as thought provoking as the film

There's an episodic quality to Stephen King's novel, The Dead Zone. Thought-tormented psychic Johnny Smith awakens from a six-year coma, discovering he has the gift of second sight. Unable to reconnect with his previous life, having lost his soul mate Sarah Bracknell to another man, he attempts to find a way for himself in this strange new world. Along the way, he uses his powers to help a sensitive doctor find his lost mother and assists the town sheriff in tracking down a serial killer. His visions enable him to save a young boy from drowning and, ultimately, to thwart a diabolical politician from starting World War Three. Though it's one of King's thankfully shorter books, there's enough material there to justify a television series. But how does one compete when the material has already been adapted to perfection? David Cronenberg's 1983 film told Johnny Smith's haunting narrative with empathy, economy, and thoughtfulness. An improvement on the novel, Cronenberg tapped into Smith's psychic pain through one of Christopher Walken's finest and most sensitive performances. With television being what it is, this made-for-TV Dead Zone series becomes necessarily simplified and diluted. Amazing, considering the first season comprises almost 780 minutes and can't summon up the depth of Cronenberg's 103 minutes. But The Dead Zone can't be described as a complete failure, either. It's painted in chilly fall colors, containing that element of mysteriousness gleaned from superior shows like The X-Files and Millennium. As far as “look” goes, they're on the right track. It's less crass and murky than the many Stephen King adaptations for network television, with a distinct emphasis on mood. Piller insists that the series be viewed on its own merits, avoiding comparisons to the Cronenberg feature film. It's somewhat unavoidable, considering how effective that previous King adaptation was. He'd be better off separating himself from those lousy TV-movies like Carrie.

Dead Zone Series 1

Pretty good spin-off from the Film of Stephen King's Book. Very enjoyable and well worth a watch.

dead zone

absolutely brilliant cant wait for the second season

Not too exciting.

I had never heard of this and thought I would give it a go. Not too bad but seemed to lack the umph I thought it would have.

Great series

Good casting IMO, and some of it is very faithful to the original film (don't know about the book - haven't read it). Good story lines and great characters. If you enjoyed the film and haven't seen the series yet, then get it now.

dead zone, dead brilliant

If you have seen the film and liked it, then you will not be dissappointed with the series. 5*

[Highly rated reviewer]

Couldnt watch

Ok well they sent the wrong disk out first again got them in the wrong order, would have liked to watch but got to fed up!!!

dead zone the series

not that good recently read the book just could not get my head around the series so i cancel the rest after 2discs

A bit and miss

This series seemed quite interesting at the start. I enjoyed the first three or four episodes, but gradually some were absolute rubbish. There's some really bad acting and some boring story lines. It's worth giving it a try though if you like that sort of thing, because a few episodes are okay.

Great update to original

A nice update to the original.

I initially watched and followed this series on Channel 5. Not sure I will rent the whole set, but glad to know it’s on DVD if one has missed any episodes.