The 4400 – The Complete Second Season

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: C     Episodes: C+

 

 

A large number of people who were abducted by aliens suddenly turn up alive, unaged and all at the same time.  This was part of the big storyline of the big conspiracy that The X-Files was building up before trashing that biggest build-up in TV history and led the show to a swift decline.  It is also the storyline of The 4400, a newer TV series focusing on those arrives, but some of them have powers, though that does not make a few of them become a de facto X-Men.

 

Instead, this series is as interested in telling its stories flat out, versus following genre formulas to the hilt like too many such series of late and especially since The X-Files.  Unfortunately, the show does become melodramatic and formulaic in other ways and The Complete Second Season has their powers going out of control and threatening the human race.  The creators said this was partly inspired by the events of 9/11, but whatever part was, it is not enough to override the unoriginality or clichés that are here.  Despite good acting, casting and production design that is not a joke, The 4400 never finds its own identity, so all it can do is drift into being a prime time soap opera in Sci-Fi clothing.

 

The 1.78 X 1 image is a little soft and was shot in digital High Definition video.  It does not look bad as compared to most such HD productions and does not manipulate the color much.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is better than the 2.0 Pro Logic mix and may not be spectacular, but is also not bad.  Extras comprise of three brief pieces on the show, including the concept, the main production and one about the concept of time travel.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo