TiVo Community Forums Archives - Dead Zone: Die! Die! Die!

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Dead Zone: Die! Die! Die!
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Posted by: johnjohn

I'm just re-watching the "Here There Be Monsters" episode of The Dead Zone, in which Jonnie Smith sees himself being burned at the stake.

I don't want to use the word "suck" too often, but damn that episode sucked!

Suck suck suck!

So far, I've been a fan of the show; It hasn't fallen into predictable patterns and hasn't followed a simple formula (*cough*Smallville*cough*). And until now it hasn't manufactured situations based upon people doing inexplicably stupid things.

Why can't Johnnie tell Bruce what he's seen. Like "Damn, we need to get out of this town before I'm burned at the stake." Or "Damn, we need to get you out of town before you take a major beat-down."

Posted by: Hunter Green

Yeah, that one was pretty awful, but it got a lot better again after that.

Posted by: Graymalkin

That was probably the low point of the season. Last week's episode, "Shaman," was nicely paced -- although completely unbelievable. I kept waiting for Ma'el from the Taelons to pop up. :D

Posted by: rasheed

I disliked the season ending for so many reasons. When it is safe to post about it (for all of those possible spoiler complaints), I'm ready to talk.

I was okay with the rest of the season (Shaman was nice).

Rasheed

Posted by: johnjohn

Sure, Shaman might have been a rebound, but the finale, Destiny, well, it just sucked! :) Ok, not as much as "Here There Be Monsters," but it was pretty bad. If this was where they wanted to take the show, why not make this a mutli-episode story arc instead of packing things into one show, and attempting to rewrite some of the history? And after "...Monsters," why is Johnie so willing to be civil with Rev. Purdy? So very very unrealistic.

Posted by: Graymalkin

What history were they rewriting? From the rest of the season, or from the book? (Never read the book, don't remember the original movie.)

Spoiler Alert! (highlight to read)

Johnny never should've slept with Sarah. That's going to bite them in the ass. D'oh! (I like Dana Bright better.)
Please tell me Sarah retched into the sink the next morning because she was upset over what she did -- NOT because of morning sickness! You can't get that overnight -- or can you?

Posted by: John Kador

quote:
Originally posted by johnjohn
Sure, Shaman might have been a rebound, but the finale, Destiny, well, it just sucked! :) Ok, not as much as "Here There Be Monsters," but it was pretty bad. If this was where they wanted to take the show, why not make this a mutli-episode story arc instead of packing things into one show, and attempting to rewrite some of the history? And after "...Monsters," why is Johnie so willing to be civil with Rev. Purdy? So very very unrealistic.

Ummm...it WILL BE a multi episode story arc, like the entire next season is going to be dedicated to the Greg Stillson story arc.

Personally, as a big fan of the book and movie, I thought the finale was remarkably well done. They set up the Greg Stillson character, outlined the parallels between Stillson and Johnny, basically explained Johnny's entire reason for waking up when he did with the powers that he did, and gave Johnny a couple nudges as to the direction he's supposed to go and what he's supposed to DO with his powers.

If anything, the only problem I had was that they didn't make Stillson NEARLY evil enough. A couple flings with interns and farmer's daughters, and threatening to drop somebody off a building isn't really enough to show the sheer deoth of evil that is supposed to be Greg Stillson.

Posted by: jchan

I can just hear the religious right get all worked up about this since they invoke Christianity and Stillson being a Bible salesman.

Let the flames (of Hell) reach USA Networks!

*Disclaimer -- I'M JUST KIDDING! except the flames of hell can torch USA Networks for Farscape anyway.

Posted by: John Kador

Well, they could just deflect the blame onto Stephen King, Stillson started out as a bible salesman in the original book. =)

Posted by: johnjohn

quote:
Originally posted by John Kador

Personally, as a big fan of the book and movie, I thought the finale was remarkably well done. They set up the Greg Stillson character, outlined the parallels between Stillson and Johnny, basically explained Johnny's entire reason for waking up when he did with the powers that he did, and gave Johnny a couple nudges as to the direction he's supposed to go and what he's supposed to DO with his powers.

In my mind, this is all a "retrofit." It doesn't look like they planned this out at all, or else they could have spread the Stilson crumbs throughout the entire first season.

What's with the vision that JS gets when he meets Stilson for the first time? Nothing we've seen until now indicates that he had visions before the accident and coma! BTW, that entire scene should have been in the pilot.

And what would motivate JS to trust Purdy? The one time that he's asked for Purdy's help when he was in real trouble, Purdy betrayed him (Here There Be Monsters). Why trust him now? And in fact, Purdy starts abusing the relationship right away, doesn't he? And JS has made numerous references to disliking Purdy his entire life. What rational human being would behave that way? That's just bad writing. BAD WRITING. That's right, it's so unbelievable that it pierces the veil between fictional world, and the people who write it.

Posted by: Graymalkin

quote:
Originally posted by johnjohn
And what would motivate JS to trust Purdy? The one time that he's asked for Purdy's help when he was in real trouble, Purdy betrayed him (Here There Be Monsters). Why trust him now? And in fact, Purdy starts abusing the relationship right away, doesn't he? And JS has made numerous references to disliking Purdy his entire life. What rational human being would behave that way?

JS may have been giving Purdy another chance because he feels guilty over suspecting Purdy of killing his mother, when all Purdy did was cover up her suicide. Purdy also seems to have managed JS's financial affairs honestly (although I keep waiting for some scandal there). Finally, JS may not like Purdy, but Purdy offered him a way out of his siege. Any port in a storm, so to speak.

Of course, this last bit (dragooning him into supporting Stillson) is going to put a serious crimp in that relationship.

And I still say that JS should be with Dana instead of Sarah! (But then I've got a thing for redheads. :) )

Posted by: loopey

quote:
Originally posted by johnjohn

What's with the vision that JS gets when he meets Stilson for the first time? Nothing we've seen until now indicates that he had visions before the accident and coma! BTW, that entire scene should have been in the pilot.

In one of the first episodes we see him as a kid playing hockey. He falls on the ice and hits his head. As he's being taken away he says something like don't go get it. Then we see another kid go after a stick or puck or something and fall through the ice. He started having visions with that fall on the ice. We saw a brief clip of him falling on the ice in the season finale.

Posted by: Fleegle

I see where the original poster is coming from because this all seems brand new to Johnny after waking up from the accident. The writers have, in a roundabout way, said that he started using a new portion of his brain when he hit his head on the ice, but it didn't REALLY get kicked into full gear until his his car accident caused brain damage. If I'm reading between the correct lines, they are saying that Johnny's brain routed more functions through the "Dead Zone" so he could come back to consciousness.

Posted by: johnjohn

quote:
Originally posted by loopey
In one of the first episodes we see him as a kid playing hockey. He falls on the ice and hits his head. As he's being taken away he says something like don't go get it. Then we see another kid go after a stick or puck or something and fall through the ice. He started having visions with that fall on the ice. We saw a brief clip of him falling on the ice in the season finale.

Ok, then you've got to pick just one. EITHER the visions are new and suprising, or they aren't.

Posted by: loopey

Well the intensity and magnitude of the visions were new. Oh yeah remember when what's-her-face - the girlfriend pre-accident was asking how many children they were going to have? Because he had visions and he knew. He always had visions.

Posted by: phone1

quote:
Originally posted by Graymalkin
That was probably the low point of the season. Last week's episode, "Shaman," was nicely paced -- although completely unbelievable. I kept waiting for Ma'el from the Taelons to pop up. :D

Low point for us was when he winds up in some kind of "parallel universe" married to his XGF. We almost cancelled our SP after that one. :rolleyes:

Maybe the regular writers were on vacation that week.

Posted by: Hunter Green

Actually I liked that episode -- but it wasn't a parallel universe, it was a vision. It was actually layers of visions within visions, because the event that was triggering them was so intense and so nearby and so vast that it drove him deeper. It was well-meshed because when you go back through it after you know what was actually going on, each vision-within-a-vision fits into its spot.

But the number of coincidences necessary to get him involved in the bank robbery, that's just bad writing. (Also known as Destiny to some... ;))

Posted by: johnjohn

quote:
Originally posted by phone1
Low point for us was when he winds up in some kind of "parallel universe" married to his XGF. We almost cancelled our SP after that one. :rolleyes:

Maybe the regular writers were on vacation that week.

It didn't bother me that much, especially because he knew it wasn't real, and it caused him quite a bit of emotional pain.

I was thinking to myself, "Hey, I remember this episode of 'Millennium,' but where's Lance Henriksen?"