THE 4400 The Third Season
DVD Review by David Blackwell
DETAILS: 560 minutes (12 episodes on 4 discs), 5 audio commentaries, four featurettes, gag reel
VIDEO: 1.78:1 (anamorphic Widescreen)
AUDIO: English 5.1, English 2.0 Dolby Surround, Spanish Mono
Subtitles; English, Spanish, Portuguese
STUDIO: Paramount/ CBS DVD/ CBS Paramount Network Television/ American Zoetrope/ Renegade Studios/ USA Network
RELEASE DATE: 5-8-2007
DISC 1- THE NEW WORLD/ BEING TOM BALDWIN
DSIC 2- GONE part 1 and 2/ GRADUATION DAY/ THE HOME FRONT
DISC 3- BLINK/ THE BALLAD OF KEVIN AND TESS/ THE STARZL MUTATION/ THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JORDAN COLLIER
DISC 4- TERRIBLE SWIFT SWORD/ FIFTY-FIFTY
THE 4400 continues to evolve as a TV series with many surprises and continuing storylines. It is definitely not a safe
and static show. The first season brought 4400 people from a period of 50 years down in a ball of light. They all had some
special ability. Agents Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris of NTAC (National Threat Assessment Command) investigate The 4400 people
who came back. Tom found out at the end of season 1 that the people were sent back from the future to prevent some future
disaster. Season 2 saw big rich guy Jordan Collier start The 4400 Center only to be killed later in the season. Tom's nephew,
Shawn- gifted with an ability to heal or kill, has taken over. By the end of the second season, the baby Isabelle (offspring
of Richard and Lily) went through a transformation.
Season 3 deals with her being all grown up so quickly. Isabelle has lots of inexperience with life as she is still emotionally
a child dealing with being an adult and not being able to die (or be killed). Will she be the end of The 4400? is she the
cause of the future's troubles? What role does the terrorist group of 4400 members called the Nova Group have in the events
to come? The events of the season shocked and amazed me as one character made a surprise return near the end and every character
had their lives thrown into the blender. I have always been a fan of the series and I can't wait to see what is in store for
the fourth season of this powerful drama.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Audio commentaries for five episodes are on this set-
THE NEW WORLD by Ira Steven Behr
GONE Part 2 by Jacqueline McKenize, Scott Peters, and Joel Gretsch
THE BALLAD OF KEVIN AND TESS by Jacqueline McKenize, Scott Peters, and Joel Gretsch
TERRIBLE SWIFT SOWRD by Ira Steven Behr
FIFTY-FIFTY by Ira Steven Behr
Ira comes off as a little boring alone compared to the group audio commentaries. Still enough nuggets of info about the
show's production and themes come through on the tracks. They mention cut and extended scenes not shown on the disc (note
to producers- please make available deleted and extended scenes for the DVDs).
Four featurettes are on disc 4-
THE ARCHITECTURE OF SERIES STORYTELLING- all about the complex and intricate storylines of the show plus stay tuned at
the end at why Behr's beard is blue.
POWERs GRID- It is about the 4400 powers and how they use the abilities to service the episodes.
TVFX- a behind-the-scenes look at how they create special effects quickly using CGI on a TV schedule for HD camera footage.
CHARACTERS GRID- an interactive grid that has a series of featurettes based on the connections characters have to each
other and the characters themselves. A nice way to find out about each main character in THE 4400 series.
Also included on disc 4 are a funny gag reel (Billy Campbell has some of the best material here) and a first draft script
of BEING TOM BALDWIN if you have a DVD-ROM handy.
FINAL ANALYSIS: THE 4400 Season 3 is another quality DVD set from CBS DVD. Hopefully we have some deleted scenes for the
next set.
