The 4400 vs. Heroes Cage Death Match
Nov. 9th, 2007 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khaosworksI finished watching the last episode of The 4400's third season last night. I know that there's one more season that just finished, but it's not out on DVD and I never watched the show until about a month ago. When the series debuted back in 2004, I had a couple of people recommend it, but I didn't want to get invested in yet another television show, especially since I was already wastingspending so much time watching television and had a thesis to figure out. But, having been recommended it once again recently, and realizing that many of the guiding minds behind it were people whose work I had enjoyed — specifically Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe, who had also worked on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine back in the day — I decided to give it a shot. Also, the fact that the series was divided into bite-sized chunks helped: 6 episodes for the first season and 12 episodes for each season after that.
And so I got the DVDs, and watched it, and it's good. It's very good. On the one hand I regret not getting into the show earlier, but on the other hand I'm glad I'm watching it at one go because it's a very arc-heavy show, and good enough that I would have really hated waiting week after week, let alone between seasons. As it is, I'm wondering what Season 4 would be like, even though I kinda sorta know the story for that season already, and am waiting for an announcement for a Season 4 DVD set.
For those who still haven't watched the show and don't know what it's about, the premise is this: over the last six decades, four thousand, four hundred people are abducted by forces unknown. On a fall day in 2004, a comet streaks towards Earth... except it's not a comet, and instead of whacking into the planet and destroying all life, it slows down, changes course, and heads for a lake in Mount Rainer National Park, Washington. The big glowing ball explodes in a flash of light, leaving behind four thousand, four hundred people, all having not aged a day, with no idea of where they've been all these years. Things start getting complicated when one of the returnees — who are quickly dubbed "the 4400" — develops extra-human abilities. And that's just the beginning.
The first season was 6 episodes long because the network wasn't sure how the ratings would be, so it was constructed as a mini-series. By the end of the first series, the powers behind the 4400's abductions are revealed: not aliens, as some had assumed, but people from the future. In the future, mankind is dying out due to some unspecified catastrophe, and one group decided to change history. The 4400 are part of this plan, kidnapped, altered and then seeded back into the timeline to help save the world. When Behr took on the job as executive producer, he bitched about how this reveal should really have been at the end of year 5 instead of after 6 episodes, but you can see why you needed some kind of payoff just in case the show wasn't picked up for a second season. And in fact, I think, by having the payoff this early in the show, it raised even more questions that forced the writers to have to push the story in new directions.
And The 4400 is the kind of show that reinvents itself every season. The first season ends with the "people from the future" reveal, and raises the stakes to nothing less than the survival of the species. The second season ends with the revelation of the mechanism behind the 4400's powers — a fictional neurotransmitter called promicin — and the possibility that these abilities might be available to ordinary humans as well. The third season makes that a reality, ending with promicin being distributed to the general population by a faction of the 4400, even though people are aware there's a fifty percent chance of rejection and painful death. The fourth season ends with Jordan Collier, the self-appointed leader of the 4400, taking over large chunks of Seattle as a haven for the 4400 and the promicin positive humans, and several previously normal main characters developing 4400 abilities of their own.
It could easily have become formulaic. The initial set-up — 4400 people with extrahuman abilities, two federal agents tasked to keep tabs on them — could have settled very rapidly into an X-Files-ish "4400 of the week" kind of deal. It's a tribute to the creative forces behind the show that it didn't happen that way and that they kept relentlessly advancing the overall story and still managed to make it all mean something to the individual characters.
People have called The 4400 a kind of proto-Heroes, and I can see where that's coming from. Both shows are ensemble shows, have cast members coming and going, most episodes end on cliffhangers or dramatic moments and both deal with ordinary people having extraordinary abilities. The main differences are that the writing on The 4400 is consistently tight throughout its seasons — the 13-hour format helps a lot in this respect —and it's a lot more character-driven. The big plots of the show are just a backdrop for the quieter, character moments, like federal agent Tom Baldwin struggling with having to police the 4400 and his constant nagging feeling that the government is treating these people like a threat when they're supposed to be the world's salvation; like his partner Diana Skouris who has a developing relationship with Maia, a 4400 girl who has the power of precognition and whom she eventually adopts; like Richard Tyler, a 4400 whose daughter, conceived during the abduction period, is both powerful and malevolent, having to deal with his own paternal feelings and the fact that his daughter might just be irredeemably evil. The ensemble cast here is also a lot more involved with each other and the stories are interconnected in a much closer way than, at least, the current season of Heroes is.
Watching The 4400 makes me start to put a finger on what's wrong with Season 2 of Heroes. The creators of Heroes gave us a hell of a ride in Season 1, but Season 2 seems a lot less focussed. I could forgive the separate storylines because I knew they were heading for a collision course, and I could see that on the horizon, and perhaps on some level once they all came together at the end I was expecting some kind of Justice League scenario. But when Season 2 rolls around, they act like they barely know each other anymore, and everyone has his own arc to pursue. Where the storylines do intersect, it's in very superficial and ultimately not very satisfying ways, and they separate again just as fast (case in point, Mohinder's brief encounter with Monica). If you're going to have an ensemble show, it doesn't really help that you're not having the ensemble together. Hiro's story might as well be a spin-off on its own, and the Maya/Alejandro arc is taking forever, and I can't see what the point is of that story either. In fact, really, I am watching three or four different comic book titles, so Heroes Season 2 is less an ensemble series than an anthology. The show needs to find its footing very soon rather than treading water, but with the writer's strike now a reality, one wonders if it can before it collapses.
(The "treading water" and nothing much happening in each episode is kind of ironic, given the criticisms about the same kind of storytelling in comics these days, but that's another discussion for another time.)
The 4400 takes risks that Heroes currently doesn't seem to be willing to do, and it lets the characters drive the plots instead of the other way around. Maybe that's why Season 4 of The 4400 didn't do that well and Season 5 is in jeopardy. Then again, Behr has stated as much that they treat every season finale as if the show isn't going to be renewed, and deliberately don't resolve everything and raise new questions because, in his view, the story will never be resolved — there'll always be new things. But the point is that having the characters direct the story, and not being afraid to carry it to its logical conclusions leads to more and more interesting situations, raises stakes, and in the end makes for compelling viewing. The big reveal at the end of Season 1 of The 4400, by the start of Season 2, becomes public knowledge, leading to a completely different way to view the 4400, and the idea of seeing them as a "threat" or just a new wrinkle on humanity becomes a lot more complicated. I have this feeling that if such a reveal took place at the end of Season 1 of Heroes, Season 2 would have still begun with the world at large not knowing about it.
I loved the first season of Heroes, and I like the characters enough to keep watching Season 2, but I have to admit that it's not as good, not as exciting a roller-coaster ride as Season 1 was. It seems more tentative, safer, and circling around the same old storylines, and although we were promised more insight into the origins of the previous generation of heroes, it's taking really long to get around to it. Perhaps that's the price of popularity. But back to The 4400.
Bottom line about The 4400: Great show, good cast, good characterization, and the way ensemble science-fiction shows should be done... which is not surprising, considering who's behind the show. Thank you, Ira Steven Behr. It's not without its flaws: sometimes the arc kind of meanders and you're not always given sensible answers to questions that are raised, and some things are inexplicably dropped without explanation, and sometimes you get the impression of hasty improvisation behind the scenes. But, I still give it a thumbs up. If you haven't watched the show before, I'd suggest getting a hold of Season 1 and seeing if it's your cup of tea before getting a hold of Seasons 2 and 3. But be warned that, as I've said, the show reinvents itself (sort of) every season. But in a good way.
And so I got the DVDs, and watched it, and it's good. It's very good. On the one hand I regret not getting into the show earlier, but on the other hand I'm glad I'm watching it at one go because it's a very arc-heavy show, and good enough that I would have really hated waiting week after week, let alone between seasons. As it is, I'm wondering what Season 4 would be like, even though I kinda sorta know the story for that season already, and am waiting for an announcement for a Season 4 DVD set.
For those who still haven't watched the show and don't know what it's about, the premise is this: over the last six decades, four thousand, four hundred people are abducted by forces unknown. On a fall day in 2004, a comet streaks towards Earth... except it's not a comet, and instead of whacking into the planet and destroying all life, it slows down, changes course, and heads for a lake in Mount Rainer National Park, Washington. The big glowing ball explodes in a flash of light, leaving behind four thousand, four hundred people, all having not aged a day, with no idea of where they've been all these years. Things start getting complicated when one of the returnees — who are quickly dubbed "the 4400" — develops extra-human abilities. And that's just the beginning.
The first season was 6 episodes long because the network wasn't sure how the ratings would be, so it was constructed as a mini-series. By the end of the first series, the powers behind the 4400's abductions are revealed: not aliens, as some had assumed, but people from the future. In the future, mankind is dying out due to some unspecified catastrophe, and one group decided to change history. The 4400 are part of this plan, kidnapped, altered and then seeded back into the timeline to help save the world. When Behr took on the job as executive producer, he bitched about how this reveal should really have been at the end of year 5 instead of after 6 episodes, but you can see why you needed some kind of payoff just in case the show wasn't picked up for a second season. And in fact, I think, by having the payoff this early in the show, it raised even more questions that forced the writers to have to push the story in new directions.
And The 4400 is the kind of show that reinvents itself every season. The first season ends with the "people from the future" reveal, and raises the stakes to nothing less than the survival of the species. The second season ends with the revelation of the mechanism behind the 4400's powers — a fictional neurotransmitter called promicin — and the possibility that these abilities might be available to ordinary humans as well. The third season makes that a reality, ending with promicin being distributed to the general population by a faction of the 4400, even though people are aware there's a fifty percent chance of rejection and painful death. The fourth season ends with Jordan Collier, the self-appointed leader of the 4400, taking over large chunks of Seattle as a haven for the 4400 and the promicin positive humans, and several previously normal main characters developing 4400 abilities of their own.
It could easily have become formulaic. The initial set-up — 4400 people with extrahuman abilities, two federal agents tasked to keep tabs on them — could have settled very rapidly into an X-Files-ish "4400 of the week" kind of deal. It's a tribute to the creative forces behind the show that it didn't happen that way and that they kept relentlessly advancing the overall story and still managed to make it all mean something to the individual characters.
People have called The 4400 a kind of proto-Heroes, and I can see where that's coming from. Both shows are ensemble shows, have cast members coming and going, most episodes end on cliffhangers or dramatic moments and both deal with ordinary people having extraordinary abilities. The main differences are that the writing on The 4400 is consistently tight throughout its seasons — the 13-hour format helps a lot in this respect —and it's a lot more character-driven. The big plots of the show are just a backdrop for the quieter, character moments, like federal agent Tom Baldwin struggling with having to police the 4400 and his constant nagging feeling that the government is treating these people like a threat when they're supposed to be the world's salvation; like his partner Diana Skouris who has a developing relationship with Maia, a 4400 girl who has the power of precognition and whom she eventually adopts; like Richard Tyler, a 4400 whose daughter, conceived during the abduction period, is both powerful and malevolent, having to deal with his own paternal feelings and the fact that his daughter might just be irredeemably evil. The ensemble cast here is also a lot more involved with each other and the stories are interconnected in a much closer way than, at least, the current season of Heroes is.
Watching The 4400 makes me start to put a finger on what's wrong with Season 2 of Heroes. The creators of Heroes gave us a hell of a ride in Season 1, but Season 2 seems a lot less focussed. I could forgive the separate storylines because I knew they were heading for a collision course, and I could see that on the horizon, and perhaps on some level once they all came together at the end I was expecting some kind of Justice League scenario. But when Season 2 rolls around, they act like they barely know each other anymore, and everyone has his own arc to pursue. Where the storylines do intersect, it's in very superficial and ultimately not very satisfying ways, and they separate again just as fast (case in point, Mohinder's brief encounter with Monica). If you're going to have an ensemble show, it doesn't really help that you're not having the ensemble together. Hiro's story might as well be a spin-off on its own, and the Maya/Alejandro arc is taking forever, and I can't see what the point is of that story either. In fact, really, I am watching three or four different comic book titles, so Heroes Season 2 is less an ensemble series than an anthology. The show needs to find its footing very soon rather than treading water, but with the writer's strike now a reality, one wonders if it can before it collapses.
(The "treading water" and nothing much happening in each episode is kind of ironic, given the criticisms about the same kind of storytelling in comics these days, but that's another discussion for another time.)
The 4400 takes risks that Heroes currently doesn't seem to be willing to do, and it lets the characters drive the plots instead of the other way around. Maybe that's why Season 4 of The 4400 didn't do that well and Season 5 is in jeopardy. Then again, Behr has stated as much that they treat every season finale as if the show isn't going to be renewed, and deliberately don't resolve everything and raise new questions because, in his view, the story will never be resolved — there'll always be new things. But the point is that having the characters direct the story, and not being afraid to carry it to its logical conclusions leads to more and more interesting situations, raises stakes, and in the end makes for compelling viewing. The big reveal at the end of Season 1 of The 4400, by the start of Season 2, becomes public knowledge, leading to a completely different way to view the 4400, and the idea of seeing them as a "threat" or just a new wrinkle on humanity becomes a lot more complicated. I have this feeling that if such a reveal took place at the end of Season 1 of Heroes, Season 2 would have still begun with the world at large not knowing about it.
I loved the first season of Heroes, and I like the characters enough to keep watching Season 2, but I have to admit that it's not as good, not as exciting a roller-coaster ride as Season 1 was. It seems more tentative, safer, and circling around the same old storylines, and although we were promised more insight into the origins of the previous generation of heroes, it's taking really long to get around to it. Perhaps that's the price of popularity. But back to The 4400.
Bottom line about The 4400: Great show, good cast, good characterization, and the way ensemble science-fiction shows should be done... which is not surprising, considering who's behind the show. Thank you, Ira Steven Behr. It's not without its flaws: sometimes the arc kind of meanders and you're not always given sensible answers to questions that are raised, and some things are inexplicably dropped without explanation, and sometimes you get the impression of hasty improvisation behind the scenes. But, I still give it a thumbs up. If you haven't watched the show before, I'd suggest getting a hold of Season 1 and seeing if it's your cup of tea before getting a hold of Seasons 2 and 3. But be warned that, as I've said, the show reinvents itself (sort of) every season. But in a good way.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-09 08:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-09 09:26 am (UTC)Well, at least Kring realizes this, and hopefully after the strike we're going to get some movement in the right direction.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-09 12:07 pm (UTC)I've been hooked on it from the start of Season One, and while some of the science has been headachingly atrocious, the story and the characters are just so engaging that I can't stop watching....
no subject
Date: 2007-11-09 03:41 pm (UTC)Now, when the hell are we going to see the Battlestar Galactica third season on DVD?