The 4400 - The New World
By John Crawford

It wasn't the dramatic opening we've come to expect with season premiers. On the other hand, the season 2 finale wasn't much of a cliffhanger. The galaxy wasn't hanging in the balance, so none to be saved in the season opener.

That's not to say it wasn't a good show. But I think they may have overdone it with the Memorial Day marathon on the USA Network. The first season was really a 6 part miniseries; season 2 had only 12 episodes. So during a 14 hour marathon, they showed almost all the episodes. They topped it off with a 1 hour narrated special that explained the story of The 4400 from the beginning. After watching the whole marathon, it was a bit over the top.

A "behind the scenes" special would have gone much farther. These are very popular and have worked well for shows like Battlestar Galactca, Stargate SG-1, and Stargate Atlantis. A "behind the scenes" special, while it connects the dots of the storylines and charactors, it also lets us connect with the actors and actresses as real people. I know some of us love to hear Jacqueline McKenzie's Australian accent....

The storyline of Lily and Isabelle is not over by any means. The actress Laura Allen, who played the young Lily Tyler, is still featured on The 4400 website, and in 4400 TV spots. So it's safe to say we haven't seen the last of Lily Tyler.

We also got a short clip of a desheveled Jordan Colliar (Billy Campbell) from the season 2 finale, who is supposed to dead but his body vanished. Matthew Ross (Garret Dillahunt) gets a phone call informing him they have found Jordan on the beach. Science Fiction Weekly reports Billy Campbell is on an 18 month around the world cruise and will not be back until the 11th episode.

Maia Skouris (Conchita Campbell), only 9 years old, is struggling to deal with all her visions of the future. They've got this character poised just right. If the show lasts another few years, Maia will reach puberty with this ability, and it's bound to intersting and entertaining how it plays out.

Kevin Burkhoff (Jeffrey Combs) is the one bit of humor in this whole show. He's done very well to break the stereotyped image from his various Star Trek characters. Playing Dr. Burkhoff as a recovered mental patient gives him alot of room to be serious, neurotic, funny, and all around crazy. I really hoped that Dennis Ryland (Peter Coyote) would be rotting in jail. But as television would have it, he's back. My first memory of Peter Coyote are from the movie Outrageous Fortune, with Bette Midler and Shelley Long. But his 4400 character is just not likable; it's too dark and too powerful to relate to.

While The 4400 has a fabulous group of actors and actresses, they need to lighted things up. As much as I despise reality shows, The 4400 could stand a dose of reality. First, the scenes are too dark, even outside. I realize it's filmed in Vancouver, but it's not always gloomy. Even the inside shots are dark. I think this is an ill-conceived idea because the show is science fiction. but if they want to relate to the mainstream viewers they need to blur the line between drama and science fiction, on many levels. Some Humor and small epidodes of comedy would make a nice mix.

The producers need to gradually bring things back in focus with what the fans feel is real in everyday life. The NTAC, NSA, and Homeland Security are not free for all, all powerful, lawless, unaudited government arms. Too many shows make this mistake, and people feel alienated because it's just not believable.

Yes, the storyline is building to a war between the 4400's and the government(s). But not everything has be about conflict. The reason why Star Trek: The Next Genreation is still the gold standard for a sci-fi show is because they limited the conflict. While conflict is what makes the world go round, the human condition and the struggle to be better is what made the show. Take a literary note, the 3 Star Trek series that followed did not do that very well, and always seems to be in a fight with someone, until Enterprise finally met it's demise.

Again, if they want to keep the show popular and bring people into the viewership from the mainstream, the show has to blur the line between real life and science fiction.

One thing is certain, if Tom Baldwin was a real agent of any government agency, or had any type of security clearance, having that close of a connection with a 4400 would be an automatic disqualifier. The same for Diana Skouris. And Dennis Ryland would not be making phonecalls to Washington from his hospital bed.

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