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Dead Zone: bin Laden
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Posted by: Dancar

Has anyone seen this week's Dead Zone, where Johnny Smith is recruited to help look for Osama bin Laden?

I have nothing to say yet because I'm not watching until tonight, but I hope I'm not the only one left watching this show.

Dan

Posted by: JimSpence

Just finished watching this episode. It was different from past shows and had good action. Won't say anything more so not to spoil it.

Posted by: Thom

I just thought it was so-so. The show didn't quite feel in line with previous shows; something just seemed off.

- Thom

Posted by: type_g

This episode was done and was supposed to be shown as part of last season. But they delayed for i guess political reasons and sensitivity issues to 9/11 or something like that and they just threw it in between here and reshoot small scenes to make it look like a part of this season from what i have read elsewhere

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

Not 9/11--it was originally scheduled to be broadcast around the time the war broke out.

I found it to be a tighter-than-usual story, but it also seemed to violate some of the "rules" of Johnny's gift. E.g., in the past, there is always a reason why Johnny is shown certain things, but in this case, what he saw wasn't given by some higher power, but rather was a trick by al-Quaeda. And the fact that other people have similar but not identical gifts, which can be combined with Johnny's, not only changes the fundamental nature of the show in ways they clearly do not intend to acknowledge, but also makes his decision to leave the military at the end truly bizarre (if he's going to fend off the apocalypse, he'll need all the help he can get, plus he's got a room full of military people who will now be inclined to believe him).

I thought, despite the well-structured story, that they bent the "rules" too far for the sake of making a "torn from the headlines" episode. In the end, it was sensationalistic without adding anything to the show, and in fact somewhat detracted from it; they would have been better off leaving it unaired (perhaps as a DVD extra).

Interesting factoid--I just found out that these episodes are technically part of the second season (they have 2xx production codes).

Posted by: njtaz

I watched it last night and thought it was pretty good. Different than usual, but did provide some pretty cool action scenes. Like when he was giving real time intelligence to the troops on the ground. That was one of the best scenes.

Posted by: njtaz

quote:
Originally posted by Medieval Guy
Interesting factoid--I just found out that these episodes are technically part of the second season (they have 2xx production codes).

Well it seems odd how they have broken this season up. It was only a few months ago that season two ended. I missed the last few episodes so I don't know what happened with that guy that was running for senate and was supposed to be the apocalypse. So it just seems too soon for this to be the third season.

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

Apparently, they ordered some more second-season episodes after the season ended. Perhaps they're moving to full seasons, and they wanted to pad out Season 2 for some reason...

Or maybe they're just insane.

Posted by: JimSpence

And, now that the military knows he's for real, why did they let him go?

Posted by: Dancar

I also noticed that the show contained no reference to the arc - it was shot so it could be dropped in anywhere - delayed political reasons or current events and shown later.

I enjoyed it. The best episodes have always been those that provide answers to the question: If you had that gift, what are the implications?

As for this season being "padded," my suspicion is that like the original book/movie, the series fanalie will tie up the Stinson story thread. I think the script for this episode is already written, and it will be shot when either USA decides to cancel it or AMH decides to end it. But the story will be stretched out as long they are having fun with it and the ratings justify it.

Posted by: generalpatton71

I don't think this is going to get canceled for a long time. If USA screws up SCifi would die for this show. Heck they ran reruns not to long ago on Friday nights. This show has a bright future.

Posted by: Dancar

I disagree. If they stretch it out too long without moving the Stinson story to a satisfactory conclusion, it could get rediculous, like the X-Files did.

There are only so many good "if you had the gift what could happen" plotlines. When they run out of new ones, they'll have to recycle old ones, or do sappy soap opera stuff among the characters. They've already done both, and if that's all they do, the show will ahve "jumped the shark." I'd just have to pay attention to the entertainment news for the final episode, which will tie up the Stinson story line.

Posted by: gchance

You guys need to go to the Dead Zone official site.

1. Everyone connected with the show are referring to the run of 7 summer episodes (6 new ones plus the previously unseen The Hunt) as "Season 2.5". Not quite 2nd season, but not 3rd. Only USA is calling it the 3rd season.

2. With exception to The Hunt, all the episodes were written to not only be non-major-arc episodes that could be plopped in anywhere, but to be "summer action movie" style. Give viewers new episodes while at the same time, don't affect the story arc because during summer many people don't watch TV as much.

3. These episodes were also said to have their own running-arc, although I've only seen bits of this in two episodes... the "intervention" one, and next week's which hasn't aired yet. This has to do with the hooded figure whispering, "Johnny, Johnny".

4. RE: Stillson, the nice thing is we don't know where the arc is going. We know it won't end like the book: they showed us this in the season finale, in sort of an alternate-reality vision where Johnny's therapist sees what Johnny would be like without him. They filmed the ending to the book to an extent, where Johnny tried to assassinate Stillson.

I do agree with the fact that the "rules" of Johnny's gift were altered a bit for The Hunt. I think that showing other people with similar gifts to Johnny could be used really well in the series, and the existence of others could also bring up some interesting things. To steal from Quantum Leap, what if there was an evildoer with his own Dead Zone? Johnny tries to do good with his gift, but this guy does evil with his?

All in all, I'm very happy I have new shows to watch during the summer months. Summer reruns got replaced by "summer replacements" which traditionally sucked, and the summer replacements got replaced by shorter-term seasons with better storylines and higher-budgeted individual episodes.

Greg

Posted by: bobcarn

I don't really think they broke any of the "rules" of his powers. Quantum Leap was mentioned. Now there was a show that the main character was totally put into every one of those episodes because of a higher power. Johnny may have been given his ability because of a higher power, but every time he uses his ability isn't because that higher power willed or or anything. If you look at past episodes, he would sometimes get minor innocuous visions whenever he would touch people or things. I don't believe that every single vision is one that was "meant" for him. So I don't think this episode really broke any rules.

I did like the fact that they had other types of psychics in the show. His ability is the strongest and clearest of them, but it's still interesting that they acknolwedge there are other types in this show's world.