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The 4400

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The 4400 is a science fiction program on the USA Network, , and Sky One. It began as a miniseries of five episodes, which aired weekly from July 11 to August 8, 2004; a second season of twelve episodes began airing on June 5, 2005 and concluded on August 28, 2005. The third season premiered on June 11, 2006. It was created and written by Scott Peters and René Echevarria. It stars Joel Gretsch and Jacqueline McKenzie. The theme song of the show is "A Place in Time" written by Robert Phillips & Tim Paruskewitz, performed by Amanda Abizaid. The 4400 is produced by CBS Paramount Network Television (known as Paramount Network Television during season 2, and was produced by Viacom Productions during season 1 before being folded into Paramount Network Television in 2005) in association with Sky Television for Sky One, Renegade 83, and American Zoetrope for USA Network.

The series is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.
In the pilot episode, what is originally thought to be a comet deposits a group of exactly four thousand, four hundred people in the Cascade Range foothills near Mount Rainier, Washington. All of the 4,400 had disappeared at various points starting from 1946 in a beam of white light.[link] After their return, none have aged, all are disoriented, and they remember nothing between the time of their disappearance and their return.

Contents

National Threat Assessment Command

NTAC (National Threat Assessment Command), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, is formed in response to the return of the 4400. There are a multitude of agents assigned to the case. The series mainly follows two of them, as well as their immediate superior and theory room consultant:

Returnees (the 4400)

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Most have trouble trying to get their lives back on track after being separated from their world for years. More significantly, a small number of the returnees begin to manifest paranormal abilities, such as telekinesis, telepathy, precognition, as well as other gifts that are even stranger. In addition, one of the 4400 had become pregnant between her disappearance and return.

At the end of the first season, we learn that the 4400 were abducted, not by aliens, but by someone in Earth's future, and that they were returned in order to prevent some sort of catastrophe.

At the end of the second season, it was revealed that all 4400 had a new neurotransmitter called "promicin" in their brains; it was this which gave some of them their powers. The government, afraid of what this large group would do with such power, secretly dosed all 4400 with a promicin inhibitor which worked on the majority of the group, but not those who were later seen with powers. The inhibitor caused a potentially fatal immune deficiency as a side effect in the returnees. It was ultimately removed from the 4400 by an antibody developed from the blood of the infant Isabelle, who was never given the drug.

At the beginning of the third season, the Nova Group, a terrorist faction made up of 4400s, has made itself known. Originally formed as a "defensive" group in the aftermath of the promicin-inhibitor scandal, the Nova Group eventually went rogue and carried out numerous terrorist attacks against the government and NTAC. The group is responsible for many terrorist attacks including: the assassination of the men involved with the promicin-inhibitor conspiracy, the attempted assassination of Ryland, framing Tom Baldwin for murder, and making Shawn go insane.

Main characters

The series follows the lives and stories of a select few of the 4400. The main characters are:
  1. Richard Tyler, disappeared May 11, 1951, at age 29, while in South Korea during the Korean War. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri. At the time, he was in a relationship with Lily Moore's grandmother, Lily Bonham. He is the father of Lily Moore's second daughter, Isabelle. When he discovered Shawn funded the Nova group, was convinced by Matthew Ross to take over the 4400 Center. Paranormal abilities: telekinesis
  2. Lily Tyler (last name Moore before marriage to Richard), disappeared May 26, 1993, at age 26, from Orlando, Florida. (Deceased). At time of abduction, she was married to Brian Moore, mother to Heidi Moore. She returned pregnant, but by Richard Tyler, not Brian. In the season 3 opener, she ages from 29 to mid-70s and passes away. Paranormal abilities: rapid aging process, she had all the powers when she has pregnant of her baby Isabelle
  3. Shawn Farrell, disappeared April 22, 2001, at age 17, from Highland Beach, Washington. After his return, he began an affair with his brother's girlfriend and eventually ran away to the 4400 Center after nearly killing him. He takes over the Center after Jordan Collier's death. He secretly funded Nova, a defensive group for the center turned radical group. When he realized that Nova was willing to kill for their goals, he cut ties with them and even helped Tom and Diane capture a Nova member. When he revealed to Richard and the board what he'd done, he was forced to resign as head of the center. Paranormal abilities: Healer and life taker, or vitakinesis.
  4. Maia Skouris (last name Rutledge before adoption by Diana), disappeared March 3, 1946, at age 8, from Crescent City, California. She began recording her visions in diaries and was the first 4400 to develop the immunity failure due to the promicin inhibitors. She began attending classes for 4400 children at the Center. Re-abducted by a representative from the future posing as her biological sister to be reinserted at a different point in the timeline (the year 1847). Returned to the present by representatives from the future through a deal brokered by Tom Baldwin. Paranormal abilities: precognition.
  5. Jordan Collier, disappeared April 10, 2002, from Seattle, Washington area, a former real estate mogul. He starts the 4400 Center and mentors Shawn. Paranormal abilities: enhanced power of suggestion over other people. Also, after being assassinated by Kyle Baldwin, he disappears and reappears alive at the very end of the second season finale which suggests an ability to reincarnate (although he could have simply been resurrected by humans from the future, or by Shawn's attempts to save him after being shot).
  6. Alana Mareva, disappeared September 5, 2001. Artist and art gallery owner. She becomes a rock to fall back on for Tom, and affectionately calls him Thomas. Before she was abducted she was a widow, and had a son, Billy, who died before her abduction. Paranormal abilities: Ability to create a mental only alternate reality through mind link with other people. Given to her by the future so she can develop a relationship with Tom Baldwin to sustain him through the "coming troubles." Fled with Gary Navarro after she helped him evade NTAC pursuit.

Minor Characters

Main Article: List of The 4400 Minor Characters.
Due to the nature of the show, The 4400 includes many minor returnees as guest characters. In many cases, these returnees play a role as a 'problematic 4400 of the week'. This terminology is discussed by a creator of the show at [IGN].

Other characters

Other characters that do not belong to NTAC nor are members of the 4400 include:
  1. Kyle Baldwin, Tom Baldwin's son and Shawn Farrell's cousin. He was with Shawn when he was abducted and was in a three-year coma because of it; when Kyle came out of his coma he was possessed by a force from the future that caused black-outs. During Kyle's black outs he would do things that he would have no recollection of doing, including the assassination of Jordan Collier. He is currently in prison awaiting trial. It is unknown what will happen to Kyle once Jordan Collier returns in the later part of Season 3, though he is set to return.
  2. Danny Farrell, Shawn's younger brother who, because Shawn stole his girlfriend, is a staunch anti-4400 college student. Danny goes to the same college as Kyle. During season 2 however, Matthew Ross suggested to Shawn that he should mend things with his family to help his image. Since then, Danny has healed his relationship with his older brother, though tensions still exist.
  3. Nikki Hudson, Danny's girlfriend and neighbor until Shawn returns. When this happens Nikki and Shawn develop feelings for each other and date until Shawn runs away. She returns in the third season asking for Shawn's help curing her cancer-stricken father,
  4. Kevin Burkhoff, world-renowned scientist and father of the 4400 technology. Kevin was the one who discovered how to cure the side effects of the promicin-inhibitor during the season 2 finale. In the 3rd season, Kevin begins to inject himself with promicin, in order to gain 4400-type abilities. The drugs have disfigured his appearance by causing wounds on his chest and a loss of his teeth, in exchange for the rapid healing of muscle tissue (which was demonstrated when he put a scalpel through his hand and it healed within seconds).
  5. Isabelle Tyler, born post-return, daughter of Richard Tyler and Lily Moore. She is technically not one of the 4400 returned (she was still in the womb at the time of the count). According to Matthew Ross (and seemingly confirmed by the 4400 faction in the future), her mission is to eliminate all of the 4400. As she was not affected by the ability-inhibitor, she provides blood used to heal Shawn Farrell and consequently all 4400s, activating their abilities. At the end of the second season she ages considerably and shows up in Shawn's office, naked. This rapid aging also aged her mother Lily. Paranormal abilities: Telepathic communication (with Lily Moore, Richard Tyler, and Jordan Collier), telepathic suggestion, materialization (getting whatever what she wants), healing/injuring (Jordan Collier's injury, Lily Moore's first daughter's spleen, causing a heart attack in an attacker), regenerating instantly from burns on her hand and significant blunt force trauma (multi-story fall), acceleration of biological growth (the growth of berries in one episode and herself in the season 2 finale), precognition (warned Lily of a bomb before it exploded), telekinesis (the bending trees in the final scene of Season 1, attack on Matthew Ross in Season 3), thermokinesis (heating up pool water), at least limited shapeshifting (changing her eye color from brown to green), musical prodigy or extremely rapid learning (acquired virtuoso level piano skill in at most hours), the ability to mimic or take control of other 4400's powers (the method she used to kill various Nova Group members and cause Armand to go insane). Note that many of these powers duplicate those from among the 4400.
  6. Matthew Ross, (Deceased) lobbyist in the Collier organization who advises Shawn after Jordan Collier's death. Matthew runs the day-to-day business of the 4400 Center and it is hinted Collier gave him specific instructions of what to do. Recent episodes suggest that Matthew knows more about the 4400 and Jordan Collier's assassination than he has revealed. When Isabelle Tyler was contemplating suicide, Ross told her not much could hurt her, but offered her a drug or toxin that he claimed would. Where he got this and how he knew it would work remain unknown at this point. It is possible that this drug was the promicin inhibitor which caused the 4400 immune disorder; in later episodes, a similar drug or toxin was given to Tom Baldwin from the future in order to kill Isabelle. Matthew 'strongly suggests' that Shawn share leadership of the 4400 Center with Richard. He tries to get Isabelle to further convince Shawn but she doesn't and tells Ross this is proof he's not all knowing. She holds him up with her powers to let him know he is no longer in charge of her before throwing him aside. He is later killed by Isabelle through an instant stroke, after revealing that he is possibly from the future, his agenda being in line with the 4400-opposed faction which the future representative told Tom about; this side wishes for the timeline to remain unchanged. It is revealed shortly before Ross's death that, right after Isabelle's rapid aging, Ross had told her that her mission is to eliminate the 4400.

Promicin

The abilities of the 4400 derive from activating dormant neural pathways. Their bodies produce four main neurotransmitters that control and regulate everything. Every 4400 produces a fifth neurotransmitter called Promicin that enables him or her to use parts of the cerebellum no human has ever had access to. Promicin's behavior and effect are unpredictable, potentially giving the returnees any ability.

The promicin-inhibitor piggybacks on glucose, after entering the brain through facilitated diffusion. It is a binding protein. A serum was created that contained pure promicin. This serum neutralized the charge so the inhibitor is not able to cross membranes and can be flushed out of the body.

The ripple effect

Early in the show, the masterminds at NTAC find out, that the 4400s were placed in the timeline with their enhanced abilities for some purpose; for some change that propagates to greater effect in the course of history.

An example of this "effect" at work came during the third season episode "Gone, Part II" in which five 4400 children were once again abducted by the future and "seeded" back into history at different time periods. Two "advances" accomplished by this feat included the development of clean-air technology for cars and technology making moon bases possible, according to background conversations "overheard" at NTAC. These advances were negated (restoring the original timeline) in order for Tom Baldwin's continued cooperation in preventing the "disaster" to come - by killing Isabelle.

Episode list

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Season 1 was five episodes long.

Season 2 had 12 episodes, including the two hour long season premiere, "Wake Up Call".

Season 3 will have had 11 episodes, including the two hour long season premiere, "The New World", and the two part episode, "Gone."

Production of a third season was shot in Vancouver http://www.the4400.com/behindthescenes_news_20051004.html until 26 July 2006[http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=34884 . The Third Season premiered 11 June 2006, with 4.2 million viewers tuning in.

In the third season, Peter Coyote returned as Dennis Ryland for the two-hour premiere, and reappeared in "The Home Front."

Guest starring in the third season opener was Tippi Hedren as an older Lily Moore and Karina Lombard joins as a series regular playing Alana Mareva. Megalyn Echikunwoke is also joining the cast as "the newly grown-up Isabelle".

Executive Producer Ira Steven Behr said, "This season is going to be bigger and more mythic. It feels like 26 episodes instead of 13 because we're cramming so much stuff in." He also states that Billy Campbell will return as Collier in the second half of the season, and "the initials in his name" have to do with his mysterious resurrection.

Allusions to Scientology

The 4400 Center run by Jordan Collier seems intended to resemble the real-world Church of Scientology. The 4400 Center promises supernatural abilities to those who follow its training through for-pay courses, much as the Church of Scientology promises. At least one 4400 Center attendee has had his psychological medication confiscated, much as the Church of Scientology is opposed to psychology and its medications. The 4400 Center includes technological devices strapped onto its members during courses, similar to Scientology's E-Meters. The 4400 Center targets celebrities for inclusion and promotes them through the program faster than non-celebrity members; the Church of Scientology draws celebrities with its "Celebrity Centers". One former member of the 4400 Center accused it of making him take endless for-pay classes until he was bankrupted, at which point he was ejected from the program; Scientology has had similar accusations pointed at it. Also, similar to Scientology's Thetan levels, the 4400 Center has different Key levels to achieve.

Allusions to Judaeo-Christian texts

The name of the show itself might be an allusion to the belief held by Jehovah's Witnesses that only 144,000 people will be allowed into Heaven. This is also a reference to biblical scripture in Revelation chapter 7 verse 4. The 4400 people who disappear do so in a rapture like fashion. The show's content has subtle Christian undertones, although not in a way that one would take it to be proselytizing. The baby Isabelle, believed by some to be a Christlike figure and the future savior of mankind, has also committed acts more consistent with an Antichrist. In the same vein, Jordan Collier (note his initials JC), whose intentions and methods are also grey, is killed by a sniper, and after his funeral, his body miraculously disappears. The disappearance is eerily (though not subtly) a reference to the Gospel account of Jesus' resurrection: the empty tomb (coffin) is discovered by a female disciple, who believes that "They have taken him"; in run two male disciples to observe the empty tomb. He is then reborn (albeit in a currently unknown fashion). One possibility, shown in "Gone, Part II," could be that he was taken back to the future right after his death (or before he was completely dead), healed by the future, then put back into the timeline at the end of the second season. However, this does not negate the possibility of him being a Christlike figure, for an adversary told Jesus that if he were to fall his angels would come to save him. In this analogy, the angels are the people from the future.

Filming locations

The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, standing in as The 4400 Center during filming.
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The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, standing in as The 4400 Center during filming.
Signs directing cast and crew to the filming location, near the University of British Columbia.
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Signs directing cast and crew to the filming location, near the University of British Columbia.

Even though the series is set in Seattle, it is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia. All the cars have fake Washington license plates and The "4400 Center" is actually the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia. There is another nod to the filming location in the opening credits – the vintage car in the opening video has "Beautiful British Columbia" license plates.

Product placement

The second season of The 4400 was partly financed by extensive product placement by a number of different companies. This has drawn controversy, and the scenes in particular have been reported in the media and ridiculed on the internet due to their unusual blatency. The episode "As Fate Would Have It" contains a scene written to advertise the Sony PSP in which Jordan visits Maya and gives her one as a gift, holding it prominently in front of the camera as he hands it over. [link] Similarly, in "Hidden", there is an entire scene written to advertise Budweiser. Richard and a group of fellow Korean War veterans are in a bar, mourning the death of a friend from whose funeral they have just returned. Richard tells a brief anecdote which ends with the departed character buying several crates of Budweiser; he then holds up a can directly to camera and says "Look at this can, it looks just like it did back in the day". The camera then pulls back to reveal the whole bar decked out in Budweiser posters, and multiple cans of Budweiser on the table, as the scene continues. [link]

There are also a number of more subtle placements, such as characters prominently wearing the trademark white iPod headphones (Kyle in "Hidden" and the "4400 terrorist" in "Lockdown"), and the brief promotion of the band The Kills in "Hidden".

Trivia

DVD release

The first 2 seasons are currently available on DVD from Paramount Home Entertainment in the US and Europe. The 2nd season of The 4400 will be available on Region 4 DVD from August 10, 2006. [link]

Season Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 Notes
1 December 21, 2004 January 10, 2005 January 12, 2005[link]
2 May 23, 2006 June 5, 2006 August 10, 2006
3 Season currently filming

References

Footnotes

See also

External links

 

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