The 4400

When Didier returned from Québec City last week (Tuesday July 10th), he had the first two seasons of a show called 'the 4400' on DVD. Our friends Jeff and Stef lent them to us. They sat on the table for a day, and then on Wednesday night (since we didn't go to La Ronde because of the weather) we slipped one of the disks in the machine and watched the pilot. Well, it was instant addiction for us.

Now let me say this. I'm not a fan of Science Fiction. Rarely does a movie or TV show with a Sci-Fi bent entertain me, very much less impress me, but This show did! I think because it's not all about spaceships, so many other inhabitants of other planets and solar systems all looking a but too much like humans and universal decoders, di-lithium crystals and worm holes solving every problem (no offence to Star Trek, you've obviously have your fans)

The first episode starts with a 'comet' racing toward Earth. Countries around the planet send nuclear missiles at it to save the planet, but they have no effect at all, and the firey ball continues to head toward the Earth and it's unavoidable destruction... but... the balls stops and hovers just over a lake near Seattle Washington, and then suddenly implodes. After the dust (literally) settles, you see the 4400 standing on the beach and shoreline. They are all missing persons from the last century from all over the globe. They are all instantly put in quarantine and so the show begins...

The first couple of episodes are all about setting up the main plot lines, the good the bad and then strange. Seems some of the 4400 have new special abilities. Special healing powers, telekinesis, prophecy, heightened strength and so on.

Questions remain. Who took them? Who returned them? Where were they? What was done to them? and so on. At first, it would seem they are leaning toward the popular Alien Abduction, but near the end of Season One you find out it's actually humans from the future that perpetrated this in an attempt to save the Earth from some other destruction. Although not clear yet, (at least as far as we are now into Season 2) it's seems that it's due to some combination of over population, raping and pillaging of the Earths natural resources and so on...

The 4400 were sent back, some with good and some with possible bad powers, and of course none with instruction manuals. It's up to The National Threat Assessment Command (NTAC), a division of the Department of Homeland Security to figure out whats what. There are your two main investigators Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris - a la Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

In fact the show is a bit like the X Files in that every episode has a different 4400 or two being investigated. Trying to understand just what they can do and how it not only affects them but all those around them. And then there are larger story lines continuing every episode. And just like the X-files you have lots of government cover-up and otherwise wrenching the works.

While there are some occasional hard to believe moments in the plot and the 'powers' of the 4400, it's otherwise rather believable and set in the current day.

If you come across it, WATCH IT!

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My only real issue here is, up til these DVDs, I have never seen or heard of this show before. It airs on the USA Network (not one that we get) and it does not appear to be on any other channel we know of. So for now we continue to watch the DVDs of Season 2 and soon Season 3, and then like our friends in Québec City we'll have to wait for Season 4 (on air now) to come out on DVD...