Sam Panico The unabridged version of the stand is 1,152 pages. How do you film that? How do you capture everything? This 1994 miniseries - originally airing from May 8 - 12 of that year - made a valiant effort.It's nearly impossible to get in every character from the book, but that doesn't mean that these guys didn't try. With a screenplay by King, Mick Garris stepped into the director's chair, armed with a huge cast that does a great job of capturing their roles.The hard part of The Stand is that there's more than one hero and multiple casts to follow. I guess Stu Redman (Gary Sinise) would be the main hero, but you could also argue that the deaf and mute Nick Andros (Rob Lowe, who is deaf in his right ear) is the hero. Or maybe singer Larry Underwood is. When you're reading the book, you can determine who the protagonist you like best is, you can also see them as you want in your mind. With a film, it's not so simple.As Captain Trips, a weaponized flu virus, sweeps across America, the end of the world takes shape and Mother Abagail Freemantle (Ruby Dee) gathers the forces of good against Randall Flagg and his followers. Flagg, otherwise known as the Walkin' Dude, the Dark Man, the Ageless Stranger, the Man in Black and the Hardcase (as well as Walter Padick, Nyarlathotep, Rudin Filaro and a ton of other names), is the villain of more than one King story. He shows up in The Dark Tower, Hearts in Atlantis and The Eyes of the Dragon. His character goes all the way back to a poem that King wrote in 1969.Amongst his forces are the bonkers crazy Nadine Cross (Laura San Giacomo), criminal rat eater Lloyd Henreid (Miguel Ferrer), the explosive loving Trashcan Man (Max Headroom himself, Matt Frewer, who has appeared in more King adaptions than anyone else), the Rat Man and so many more. But the good guys also have Judge Ferris (Ossie Davis), the worst dressed heroine ever in Frannie (Molly Ringwald), her wannabe boyfriend and potential traitor Harold (Parker Lewis Can't Lose star Corin Nemec), simple-minded Tom Cullen (Bill Fagerbakke, Dauber from TV's Coach), wise Glen Bateman (TV legend Ray Walston, who was also Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High) and many, many more.This is a film packed with stars, even in small roles, like Ed Harris as General Starkey, Kathy Bates as Rae Flowers, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a man proclaiming the end of the world and King, Sam Raimi, Tom Holland and John Landis show up in cameos. Even Joe Bob Briggs is in this!The four parts, The Plague, The Dreams, The Betrayal and The Stand, tell as much of the story as possible. I was kind of let down by the casting of Flagg, but it's hard to find anyone to live up to the ultimate evil that he's presented as in the book.The fact that the film was finished is a testament to the production team. With 460 script pages that were shot across 100 days in 6 states, that meant that the final project is nearly 8 hours long. They had to figure out how to dress 95 shooting locations on their budget, including a cornfield and a decimated Las Vegas.I hope however they remake this, they make sure to get better outfits for Frannie. I realize that this mini-series is 24 years old, but her fashion taste has not aged like a fine wine. Every single time she appears, her sartorial splendor - or lack thereof - takes me out of the movie!

bsmith5552 This over long TV mini series from Stephen King is a complicated multi character story of the effects of a contained virus being loosed upon the unsuspecting American public and its after effects.It is broken down into four distinctive chapters. The first, "The Plague" is the best of the lot. It deals of the lethal virus spreading across the country killing most of the population. There are those who are immune to the virus, notably Stu Redman (Gary Sinese) whose story is the focus of this part.Part 2, "The Dream" is where things get really weird. Many of the survivors begin to experience dreams in which they emerge from a corn field to be confronted by Mother Abigail Freemantle (Ruby Dee) who is a self proclaimed messenger of God. She counsels them and invites them to come to her. This is the "good" side. On the "evil" side is one Randall Flagg (Jamie Sheridan) an agent of the devil who can change shapesat will and has a closet full of scary faces.Part 3. "The Betrayal" deals with jilted suitor Harold Lauder (Corin Nemac) who has been seduced by the evil Nadine Cross (Laura San Giacomo) into betraying his love Frannie Goldsmith (Molly Ringwald) who has become involved ...and pregnant with Redman as well as betraying the rest of the group led by Redman which includes the deaf/dumb Nick Andros (Rob Lowe), his slightly retarded Tom Cullen (Bill Fagerbakle), Glen Bateman (Ray Walston) and Larry Underwood (Adam Storke) among others. Harold builds an explosive device and........................................Part 4. "The Stand" is the final showdown between good and evil. Mother Abigail has sent four men on a pilgrimage to confront the evil Flagg. In the meantime his assistant Lloyd Henreid (Miguel Ferrer) is preparing for the confrontation. A weird ally, The Trashcan man arrives on the scene with a big surprise for all.The first part of the story concerning the spread of the lethal virus, had the most potential. When it degenerates into the supernatural, it for me, gets a little ridiculous. The climax in Part 4 is rather unlikely given the situation. And Jamie Sheridan in a Kris Kristoffersom fright wig is more than a little over the top. The rest of the large cast does what it can in an impossible situation.Watch for Ed Harris as a General and Kathy Bates as a radio announcer in the first part. The producers would have done well to have cast these two performers to bigger parts. And yes, Stephen King has a part as one of the good people.

tiskec I personally thought this min-series was great. I loved each of the characters. I was easily able to build a connection with them. There was definitely a lot of planning involved in this movie. Stephen King was able to bring every character's backgrounds into play. I think it was a great cast. They all did a extraordinary job in making me believe that this will be the way that post-apocalyptic society will interact. Might I also add that they did this without pushing the bounds over-the-top. The way society had come to rebuild during the mini-series, it was very believable. The immune started back at square one after the plague broke out, and wiped out most of the world. The script did an excellent job on every character's story. There was a lot of detail put into their backgrounds. This revealed some idea as to why some of the characters went the route of the post- apocalyptic demon, or the godly-grandmother in their dreams. It shows all anger, and really gets into each characters purpose. The war continues between good and evil throughout the whole entire movie. Either people will follow the Demon who walks the Earth, or they will follow mother Abigail Freemantle, at Hemmingford Home. People are getting confused on who to follow throughout the film, and some are driven to the demon due to being hurt (scenarios like love and jealousy). While all this is going on.. ninety-percent of the rest of the planet is dead, completely wiped out and deserted. At the end, it's the choices that are made that decide human fate.This was a terrific mini-series. The script, acting, and dialog were outstanding (for television). I would definitely buy this mini- series on blu-ray, and recommend it to any horror lover.

bowmanblue 'The Stand' is a four-part TV serial which Stephen King adapted from his own book. Yes, it came from a book, which means everyone that read the book first basically doesn't like the TV version. Personally, I haven't read it, so I can't comment on that, but, when you consider how bad some of the other adaptations of Stephen King's work are when they're transferred from page to the screen, this one is one of the better ones (not that it'll be for everyone).First of all, the four parts basically total almost six hours in length, so you'll have to be prepared to invest a fair amount of your time into watching this. The story is about a highly contagious (not to mention FATAL) disease which is released from an American laboratory and basically wipes out the entire population in a matter of weeks. Only a few hundred people remain in the country - some are haunted by dreams of an old lady calling herself 'Mother Abigail' as she directs them to her farm, others see visions of a mysterious 'dark man' calling himself 'Randall Flagg' and demanding their loyalty. So, and you probably guessed this, the 'nice' people head on over to Mother Abigail and the 'bad' ones side with Randall Flagg. And it's not too long before the very real prospect of war starts to rear its head between the two factions.It's all a very good premise. The post-apocalyptic world is nicely done (considering the made-for-TV budget) and most of the actors pull off their roles. And there are a lot of roles. Having six hours to play with and two 'sides' to portray, you meet many different people. Naturally, not all of them will be 'fully fleshed out' and three-dimensional. Some don't really have the character arcs that they deserve. Gary Sinise does well as the 'hero' and both Mother Abigail and Randall Flagg are believable as their respective roles as 'good' and 'evil.' However, as with many of King's adaptations, it's also far from perfect. For a start, the (few) special effects which are there are pretty awful. But that's a minor gripe. The major one is that King makes some pretty weird choices in places to move the plot on. Sometimes you're left wondering why something pretty major has happened and offered little in the way of answers. Plus, this film should come with a warning to atheists: this tale is very 'God-heavy.' If ever someone does (or doesn't) do something, it's 'God's will.' God is mentioned all the time and some may get a bit sick of the overtly Christian messages constantly being forced upon them.But, if you can overlook the film's shortcomings and are a fan of slow-moving, multi-cast supernatural apocalypse stories, then you may like this. Although... I haven't mentioned the ending yet. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen the film, only to say that I have yet to find anyone online who actually LIKES the final 'pay-off' of the film (including those who love this film more than me). It is a bit stupid.King described The Stand as 'Lord of the Rings in America' and, if you look closely, you may see some similarities. Only don't go expecting Peter Jackson style special effects and acting quality. If you're prepared to invest six hours into a so-so tale where you may have to suspend your disbelief and not mind being converted to Christianity, then this one isn't so bad.