"The Dead Zone" A Very Dead Zone Christmas (2005)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

James Head

Writers:

Michael Piller (created for television by) &
Shawn Piller (created for television by) ...

TV Series:

"The Dead Zone" (2002)

Original Air Date:

4 December 2005 (Season 4, Episode 12)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Alex Sinclair returns to visit Johnny for Christmas, and a shared vision leads them to an amnesiac old man dressed as Santa being mugged...

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Psychic Power | Psychic | Sheriff | Dark Hero

Cast

Anthony Michael Hall	...	Johnny Smith
Nicole de Boer	...	Sarah Bracknell Bannerman
Chris Bruno	...	Sheriff Walt Bannerman
John L. Adams	...	Bruce Lewis
David Ogden Stiers	...	Reverend Eugene 'Gene' Purdy
Jennifer Finnigan	...	Alex Sinclair
Tim Henry	...	Santa / Nigel Hughes
Bill Mondy	...	Deputy Roscoe
Sam Laird	...	Matthew O'Leary
Spencer Achtymichuk	...	Johnny 'JJ' Bannerman
Stephen Spender	...	Young Santa / Nigel Hughes
James Willson	...	Mitchell O'Leary
Zak Ludwig	...	Mikey O'Leary
Jillian Fargey	...	Soccer Mom #2
Eric Hempsall	...	Slacker Clerk

Runtime:

40 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Company:

Dead Zone Production

Quotes:

Walt: [about Santa incorrectly reeling off reindeer names] Randolph?
Johnny Smith: Forget it. He's on a roll.

A very merry story

'Twas your basic average hokey Christmas special. I enjoyed it because I didn't expect much and figured it would ring pretty corny anyway. Needless to say, it lived up to those expectations. There is something about DZ writing I've noticed, for some reason they can't do comedy. With Bruce playing housewife, tough guy Walt steeping in for Bruce for a scene, and an old guy who has lost his bearings, they tried humor on several occasions but were unsuccessful in the end to have me even snicker at anything they tried to pass off as comical. It isn't a big deal, as their main focus is not usually comedy, but the weakness is there and exposed anytime they attempt it. Their jokes remind of me of Thundercats, or similar cartoon adventure shows (with the cleverly smart Ninja Turtles a huge exception), where at the end of each episode they try to formulate a scenario that has all the characters laughing at something in the end for a lighthearted moment, but it never ends up to be actually funny. Now I don't watch Thundercats or DZ for their humor, but a better understanding of how funny works would be appreciated in the long run, I guess.

It was nice to see the Alex character. She has a great personality and works well with Johnny. They're a bit too sitcomishly lovey-dovey at times, which is a bit uncomfortable as she isn't around enough to truly play the role of his girlfriend, but when they were able to keep their eyes away from each other's hypnotic glare, there was real strong chemistry.

The plot was doable and the story was well told. I'm glad they chose to stick to a lighter story of helping a few people out rather than having a mass Christmas murderer decapitate virgin heads to sacrifice to Mary or something similarly gruesome that the twisted masterminds at TDZ can easily portray. All in all, despite the bad humor and the anticipated-but-still-corny sitcomish "I'm thankful to be here with those I love" writing, I was glad to see my favorite familiar TV show characters in another hour of programming for me to partake in.