|
Why, oh why, was The 4400 axed? , 22 September 2008
-
-
The 4400 - The Complete Fourth Season
(4 discs)
on DVD
(2007)
Starring: Jacqueline McKenzie, Joel Gretsch, Laura Allen
Director: Ernest R. Dickerson, Nick Copus, Colin Bucksey
Certificate: 
Several years ago, a friend loaned me a boxed set of Babylon 5, warning me that there was only one season of the show, and that everything was left unresolved. At the time, I was a fan of The 4400 and felt sure that such an engrossing show would continue for several years more, giving the writers time to work out the story lines. Sadly, I was wrong. The 4400 is the story of what happens when 4400 people who have vanished over the course of about sixty years are all returned at once, in a mysterious ball of light, on the shore of a lake near Seattle, Washington. We learn that the 4400 have been taken to the future and then returned to the present with extra abilities, such as telekinesis, healing powers and telepathy. The US government first interns them, then releases them but keeps tabs on them through NTAC - the National Threat Assessment Command. As they use their abilities, some of the 4400 learn why they were abducted and returned: to change the future and save the human race from destruction. As the plots develop, we see individuals coming to understand how life has changed forever, due to humanity's new abilities to, among other things, heal the sick and heal the planet. The 4400 are perceived as a threat by the US government, but they are not the only ones who want to thwart the 4400 movement. The plot thickens dramatically when 'promicin' - the substance found only in the blood of 4400s, and which gives them their abilities - is made available to the general public. The US government makes it a crime to take promicin. At the same time, a faction from the future would like to prevent the 4400 from making changes to the course of history, and they launch several offensives to this end. At the end of the final season, the fate of humanity is hanging in the balance. I waited eagerly for the new season, and then learned that the program had been axed. If only the produces had seen fit to make just one more (maybe double-length) episode to resolve all the stories. Even a novel would be welcome, so long as I could get answers to the many questions raised! But neither has appeared. I recommend this series highly but would warn you that it will leave you desperate for answers about what happens next.
 
80%
from 2,615 members
|
