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| The 4400 - The Complete First Season |
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List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $12.25
You Save: $7.74 (39%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $11.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 93 reviews)
Sales Rank: 48
Category: DVD
Directors: Oz Scott, Milan Cheylov, John Behring, Scott Peters, Douglas Petrie, Morgan Beggs
Publisher: Paramount
Studio: Paramount
Manufacturer: Paramount
Label: Paramount
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 256 minutes
Number Of Items: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 1415707472
UPC: 097360404043
EAN: 0097360404043
ASIN: B00062IDEW
Release Date: December 21, 2004
Theatrical Release Date: July 11, 2004
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
The 4400, which began as a five-week miniseries on the USA Network, is built around a deceptively simple, dramatically rich premise. What if all the people, who had ever been abducted by aliens, were suddenly returned to Earth? What would happen? Although they look exactly as they did when they left, they have no knowledge of where they were or why they were taken. Now some even have special powers, like clairvoyance. As with ABC's Lost, which centers on the survivors of a plane crash, The 4400 features a large cast of characters and a host of mysteries to be solved. If the special effects, which are kept to a minimum, can be a little cheesy at times, the concept--and the skillful execution of the concept--easily makes up for it.
Produced by Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope and created by Scott Peters (The Outer Limits), The 4400 is set in Seattle, where the 4400 are returned. The principal characters include Dennis Ryland (Peter Coyote of E.T.), the local supervisor of Homeland Security. He's joined by agents Tom Baldwin (Joel Gretsch of Taken), whose nephew was one of the returnees, and Diana Skouris (Jacqueline McKenzie of Romper Stomper), who takes in one of the youngest returnees.
Guest stars include Michael Moriarty (Law and Order) in "Pilot" and Lee Tergeson (Oz) in "Becoming." Billy Campbell (Once and Again) also appears in several episodes as Jordan Collier, a real-estate magnate and returnee who becomes an advocate for others like himself, many of whom are having problems adjusting to a changed world. Like Lost, one of the biggest success stories of 2004, The 4400 debuted to strong ratings and was renewed for a full season. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Description
During the past century, thousands of people have gone missing. When 4400 of them return all at once unharmed and looking the same as when they disappeared, the government investigates, unsure of how this can be possible. What the government does not know is that the presence of these 4400 will change the human race in many unexpected ways.
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Customer Reviews: Read 88 more reviews...
 If You Never Watched Before ... June 29, 2006
This may be one of the best television series ever produced. Entertaining, shocking, yet written with human warmth and morals. For those who have seen it, it is something to go back and watch again ... and again. A must see.
What fun! June 29, 2006
I'd forgotten how short the first season was, and how much information was packed into it. I was disappointed not to see any extras, but that first season still packs quite a punch, even without any behind the scenes footage or deleted scenes to peruse.
Worth the buy! June 29, 2006
The first 3 episodes didnt catch much of my attention as they seemed to be dragging the story, but after the third episode, they pick momentum as they go and I was glued to the season! Like Lost, the series rotates around a few characters out of the 4400 people who just appear and each Episode is connected with the previous one, so watch from the first episode from season one. New mysteries pop up, old ones get solved and it goes on and on. Though The 4400 is not that interesting as Lost, Suprano or Prison Break, but its worth the watch.
Joel Gretsch (Tom) has done an outstanding job (as he did in series "Taken") along with Patrick Flueger (Shawn) - they are the main characters in this series and almost all episodes revolve around them.
One thing I didn't like much was the special effects. I was somewhat expecting more effects with the additional capabilities of The 4400, but hey, I can't compare it to X-men!
In short, both seasons are worth the buy!
 Iffy, but promising June 24, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
While I didn't get into it at first for whatever reason, when a friend of mine loaned me season one of The 4400 on DVD I figured I'd bite, and I must say I wish I had been watching from the beginning. This first season certainly isn't on the level of the debut seasons of, say, The Shield or The Sopranos, but it does present some interesting twists on the sci-fi format it initially appears to belong to. In actuality, The 4400 is sort of a sci-fi/drama/mystery hybrid, and while it suffers a little bit from some hackneyed dialogue and not-so-special effects, The 4400 is still a mostly intelligent show whose steadily unfolding mysteries and shifting character dynamics make it more than worth tuning into. The plot, as the title suggests, goes thusly: 4400 people, randomly abducted without a trace in various times and places, suddenly return in a ball of light in suburban Seattle, uninjured, dressed as they were when they disappeared, and with no memory whatsoever of what happened while they were gone. That's not to say they haven't been profoundly changed during their trip, as several of the returnees start manifesting new and superhuman abilities right after they get back, and one woman finds herself pregnant with no logical explanation. Naturally, the returnees have to face a world where a lot's changed but a lot has stayed the same as well, as the general public is no more rational or tolerant than it was before, and returning to society presents them with all kinds of problems. This first season follows the efforts of some of the 4400, with the government's help, to get integrated back into society even as it becomes clear there's something different about them that won't make it easy.
The show's emphasis on the paranormal definitely gives it an X-Files-like feel, but it never follows a freak-of-the-week format, as its stand-alone plots are always integrated into the master narrative, and its sociological aspects are more comparable to the X-Men movies than anything else. For a mere five episodes (including a two-hour pilot), the show does manage to cram in a lot of plotlines that nicely mix personal drama with social and political intrigue. The pilot episode was a little rough-the direction and production values are similar to those of, well, a TV movie, and the writing produces a few howlers-but it does set the stage for its stories of people returning to a changed world and facing the changes in themselves, and those who are forgiving enough to keep watching will be rewarded with increasing returns on the show's intriguing premise. The pilot makes the first intimations of special powers among the returnees, ranging from telekinesis to clairvoyance, and later episodes start exploring the connections and meaning behind these new gifts as a grand design starts to emerge. It quickly becomes apparent that the 4400 were taken and returned for a reason, with single-episode plots exploring the ripple effects that result from the returnees' actions while the Feds try to connect the dots.
The show's two main characters-Homeland Security agents Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris-are basically variations on Agents Mulder and Scully, but both do eventually manage to emerge as interesting characters. Initially, Tom's the intense, emotional family-man type, while Diana is the perpetually single, married-to-the-job type, but they each evolve over the course of the season as their investigations reveal new details behind the 4400's cases and their deeper implications. They both have also clear emotional attachments to the work they're doing-Tom's nephew was taken and his son left in a three-year coma; Diana takes mildly creepy clairvoyant eight-year-old Maia into her apartment-and as the season goes on the intermingling of their professional and private lives becomes increasingly complicated by events.
Beyond the domestic drama, though, the show works largely because it's plugged into the atmosphere of fear and suspicion that accompanies the unknown. The 4400 have come back as suddenly as they disappeared, under mysterious circumstances and with new powers, and naturally people's curiosity eventually gives way to media-driven fearmongering and anger at governmental secrecy, especially when a returned serial killer picks up his murder spree after a twenty-year absence. Obviously there are some parallels to be made with the events of today as fears of immigration and terrorism have produced all kinds of craziness and overblown rhetoric (some of it justified, some not), but the hatred and prejudice the 4400 create speaks to something that goes beyond any one time, place or issue. Sometimes it's as personal as it is political, as when Tom's nephew Shawn has to face life as a returnee in high school (which sucked enough on its own, as I recall) along with the animosity of his resentful younger brother. Sometimes it's a mixture of both, as when inexplicably pregnant Lily and her black ex-combat pilot boyfriend find themselves welcomed by returned real-estate tycoon Jordan Collier and quickly start to question the motives behind his friendliness.
I've heard season two sort of fulfills the promise of season one, but since I'm pretty sure I have to give this one back before I can get it I probably won't know for a while. Based on what I've seen, though, it's highly plausible that this brief season (really more akin to a miniseries than anything else) could be the setup for something better. Once some of the early kinks (overwritten dialogue, weak production values, occasionally melodramatic acting) were ironed out and the main narrative started picking up steam, I for one found myself intrigued about what would happen next. Fortunately, it appears the story is far from over.
one of the better science fiction series June 22, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This series was recommended to me by a friend of mine and never got around to picking it up or renting it. I had the occasion to catch a few of the episodes on TV and was impressed by the writing and the acting done in this series. So I picked it up and am glad I did.
The story is about 4400 people who have disappeared over the last 70 years and how they are suddenly deposited back, but have not aged a day. It shows, but doesn't center around the bigotry that such an outsider group would encounter. The actors who play the main characters do a good job overall with some very interesting performances from the supporting cast as well.
In comparing with another recent sci-fi show, Firefly, I think this had a much stronger beginning, but a weaker overall "universe" to exist in. The acting in this series starts strong, with little need for the actors to get comfortable with their characters whereas Firefly really took a couple episodes to find who they were.
I would recommend this to folks who like science fiction but are looking for something more than just the Star Trek.
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Copyright Runningonkarma.com 2006
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