The 4400: The Complete First Season [2 Discs]

Joel Gretsch

Overview

This classy sci-fi hit revolves around the sudden reappearance of 4400 missing people. All were presumed dead or reported missing over several decades, and many return to their former lives on Earth---but with startling powers. Among those assigned to unravel their mystery is an earnest crime investigator whose nephew is one of the returned. The cable drama, originally slated to run only as a five-part miniseries, garnered big ratings for USA and was added to its regular roster.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/21/2004
UPC:	0097360404043
Original Release:	2004
Rating:	NR
Source:	Paramount
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	4:16:00
Sales rank:	57,110

Special Features

Closed Caption; [None specified]

Editorial Reviews

If alien abduction can be looked at as a fundamental commerce of UFO-paranoia films, The 4400 is the flip side: a mass return of used goods. Cooked up by former Star Trek: The Next Generation writers Ira Steven Behr and René Echevarria, this sci-fi series debuted in July 2004 on the USA Network with a 5-episode run. In the two-hour premiere, a cometlike ball of light enters the atmosphere from space, explodes in a small town in Washington State, and leaves behind 4,400 people. Some of them have been missing for up to 60 years, others only a few months, but none have aged, and all of them now have superhuman abilities. The job of sifting through all this not-exactly-damaged goods falls upon Homeland Security agents Tom Baldwin (Taken veteran Joel Gretsch) and Diana Skouris (Jacqueline McKenzie). Baldwin has a personal stake in the investigation, since his nephew Shawn (Patrick Flueger) has just been returned with The 4400. Shawn and Tom's son Kyle (Chad Faust) were together on the night of Shawn's disappearance, but it is Kyle who has been in a mysterious coma ever since. Other abductees include: Richard (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), a black man from the '50s who now gets to experience life without segregation; Lily (Laura Allen), a woman who returns pregnant from her disappearance; and Maia (Conchita Campbell), a young girl who has been missing for over 60 years. As for those aforementioned abilities: Shawn can now give or take life energy; Maia can see into the future; and Lily can communicate with her unborn child. Individual episodes focus on other 4400 returnees, beginning with "The New & Improved Carl Morrissey," featuring Sex and the City fixture David Eigenberg as a 4400 vet who decides to use his powers against muggers. Oz regular Lee Tergesen figures prominently in "Becoming," wherein the feds suspect he’s using his powers of influence to spur murders. "Trial by Fire" finds the 4400, now scattered around the country, targeted by bombings. The final episode, "White Light," reveals the truth behind the disappearances but still leaves the audience guessing. Fortunately for fans, USA is expected to renew The 4400 for another 13 episodes in 2005.