The 4400

The 4400
File:The 4400 - intro.jpg The 4400's intertitle
Created by	René Echevarria Scott Peters
Starring	see below
Opening theme	"A Place in Time"
Country of origin	United States United Kingdom (Produced in Canada)
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	45 (list of episodes)
Production
Production locations	Vancouver, BC
Running time	approx. 42 minutes
Original release
Network	USA Network
Release	July 11, 2004 – September 16, 2007

The 4400 was a science fiction television program produced by CBS Paramount Network Television in association with Sky Television, Renegade 83 and American Zoetrope for USA Network. The show was created and written by Scott Peters and René Echevarria, and stars Joel Gretsch and Jacqueline McKenzie. The series ran for four seasons from 2004 until its cancellation in 2007.

In the pilot episode, what is originally thought to be a comet deposits a group of exactly 4400 people at Highland Beach, in the Cascade Range foothills near Mount Rainier, Washington. All of the 4400 disappeared at various times starting in 1946 in a beam of white light. After their return, none have aged, all are disoriented, and remember nothing between the time of their disappearance and their return.

Cast

Main article: List of characters in The 4400

• Tom Baldwin — Joel Gretsch
• Diana Skouris — Jacqueline McKenzie
• Richard Tyler — Mahershalalhashbaz Ali
• Lily Moore Tyler — Laura Allen
• Shawn Farrell — Patrick Flueger
• Nikki Hudson — Brooke Nevin
• Isabelle Tyler — Megalyn Echikunwoke
• Danny Farrell — Kaj-Erik Eriksen
• Maia Skouris — Conchita Campbell
• Kyle Baldwin — Chad Faust
• Nina Jarvis — Samantha Ferris
• Alana Mareva — Karina Lombard
• Dennis Ryland — Peter Coyote
• Jordan Collier — Billy Campbell
• Meghan Doyle — Jenni Baird

Recurring

• April Skouris — Natasha Gregson Wagner
• Kevin Burkhoff — Jeffrey Combs
• Matthew Ross — Garret Dillahunt
• Marco Pacella — Richard Kahan
• Jed Garrity - Kavan Smith
• Tess Doerner — Summer Glau
• Cassie Dunleavy — Tristin Leffler

Synopsis

File:The 4400 - seasons 1 and 2 cast.jpg

Seasons one and two cast of The 4400.

Season three cast of The 4400.

The National Threat Assessment Command (NTAC), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, is in charge of dealing with the return of the 4400. There are a multitude of agents assigned to the cases of investigating the 4400. The series primarily follows two of them -- Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris, as well as their immediate superior, Dennis Ryland, in season one and Nina Jarvis in seasons two and three and theory room consultant Marco Pacella.

Many of the returned people 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." For example, in the pilot episode Shawn Farrell manifests an ability to bring a dead bird back to life. In addition, one of the 4400 (Lily Moore) has become pregnant between her disappearance and return.

The first season finale, "White Light" reveals that the 4400 were abducted, not by aliens, but by humans from the Earth's future; that Kyle Baldwin was to be their "messenger;" and that they were returned to avert a catastrophe.

By the second season, it is revealed that all 4400 have a neurotransmitter called promicin in their brains, which gives them their powers. The government, afraid of what this large group would do with such power, secretly doses all 4400 with a promicin-inhibitor which works on most of the 4400, but not those who were later seen with powers. The inhibitor causes a potentially fatal immune deficiency as a side effect in the returnees. It is ultimately removed from the 4400 by a dose of promicin extracted by Kevin Burkhoff from the blood of the infant Isabelle, who was never given the inhibitor.

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 carries 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; the framing of Baldwin for murder; and the driving of another person to insanity.

During the third and fourth season, it is revealed that only a certain faction from the future wants to see history changed. Another faction, that prefers the status quo, opposes the 4400, and has sent their own operatives, including Isabelle Tyler and "The Marked" into the past. What the exact motives of both factions are has not yet been revealed.

Eventually, Jordan Collier, who declares himself the savior of humanity, makes Promicin shots available to the general public. However, only half of the human population can actually tolerate Promicin, and thus develop superhuman abilities, while the other half die upon taking the shot. Although the government outlaws Promicin use, thousands of previously ordinary people have developed superhuman abilities, severely complicating NTAC's task. Collier later annexed a part of Seattle and transformed it into "Promise City", a self-proclaimed paradise open to all people with superhuman abilities. Attempts to reclaim Promise City by the US government have met with little success, and considering the damage certain 4400s loyal to Collier could do, NTAC has advised caution in attempting to do so by force.

Ripple effect

Early in the first season, the "masterminds" at NTAC suspect that the 4400s have been placed in the timeline with their enhanced abilities for a purpose, to effect some change that could propagate and redirect 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 are once again abducted by the future and "seeded" back into history at different time periods. Some of the "advances" accomplished by this feat included the development of artificial petroleum and composite materials used in the first lunar colonies, according to background conversations "overheard" at NTAC. These advances are negated (restoring the original timeline) in exchange for Tom Baldwin agreeing to do whatever the future asks of him, to help prevent the "disaster" to come — which he learns is an order to kill Isabelle Tyler. Tom Baldwin initially reneges on his agreement with the future humans, but the seemingly indestructible Isabelle forces his hand in the season three finale and is stripped of her abilities.

At the conclusion of the series, Danny Farell's uncontrolled ability exposed thousands of people in Seattle to promicin, resulting in thousands of deaths and thousands of newly empowered people while at the same time forcing the remains of NTAC (now themselves mostly promicin-positive) to ask Jordan Collier and his followers (as the only group immune to the 50% chance of death from exposure) to become the de facto government of Seattle. The series ends with Collier pledging to build the future he had promised, while the government watches uneasily as Collier's militia remains in control of Seattle, now known as Promise City.

Episodes

Main article: List of The 4400 episodes

Season	Start date	End date
Season 1	July 11, 2004	August 8, 2004
Season 2	June 5, 2005	August 28, 2005
Season 3	June 11, 2006	August 27, 2006
Season 4	June 17, 2007	September 16, 2007

The 4400 ran for four seasons. The first season is presented as a miniseries of six episodes, which aired weekly from July 11, 2004 to August 8, 2004. Seasons two, three and four are each 13-episode seasons.

A special episode, "The 4400: Unlocking the Secrets", aired between seasons two and three, on June 3, 2006, originally on NBC.

Production of a third season was shot in Vancouver until July 26, 2006. The third season premiered June 11, 2006, with 4.2 million viewers tuning in. Executive Producer Ira Steven Behr described season three as "bigger and more mythic. It feels like 26 episodes instead of 13 because we're cramming so much stuff in". Production of the fourth and final season began in early 2007 for a mid-year premiere, returning with the episode "The Wrath of Graham". Billy Campbell, the actor who plays Collier, took most of season three off to sail around the world, but returned in the fourth season as a regular, rather than a guest star as in the previous three seasons.

Fan Campaign

Upon hearing the news of the cancellation of "The 4400", fans across the world began working on ways to save the show, or at least get the series some kind of proper resolution, and eventually the "Save the 4400" campaign was launched. The effort consists of an online petition (which on January 4th, 2008 reached exactly 4400 signatures, and currently surpasses 5300) and a movement to flood the USA Network with letters and sunflower seeds (a reference to the character of Kevin Burkhoff played by Jeffrey Combs). This campaign was inspired by a similar effort by fans of the show Jericho (TV series) who inundated CBS with emails, letters & over 20 tons of nuts and subsequently saved the series from cancellation in the summer of 2007.

Fans established a mailing date of February 1st, 2008 to send their letters, and have been asked to continue sending letters everyday for a week after (although many fans began their mailing on January 1st). Letters and seeds were being sent to the following address:

Ms. Bonnie Hammer
USA Network
30 Rockefeller Plaza
21st Floor
New York, NY 10112

The petition can be found at the official website for the movement, SaveThe4400.com[1]. There are also pages dedicated to the campaign on both MySpace [2] and LiveJournal [3].

On January 4th, 2008 the multimedia news website IGN featured an article entitled "Can The 4400 Be Saved?" [4]about the fan campaign to revive the show. The article encouraged other fans to participate in the effort.

Production

The theme song of the show is "A Place in Time", written by Robert Phillips and Tim Paruskewitz, performed by Amanda Abizaid. All seasons are filmed in high-definition with closed-captioning. USA Network broadcast episodes after season one in fullscreen 480i, the DVD releases contain the episodes in their native widescreen format.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to The 4400 was released on May 8, 2007 by Milan Records and includes music from the first three seasons, as follows:

1. Bosshouse feat. Amanda Abizaid - A Place In Time (Theme From The 4400)
2. Switchfoot - This Is Your Life
3. People In Planes - Falling By The Wayside
4. Thirteen Senses - Into The Fire
5. Ivy - Worry About You
6. Engineers - How Do You Say Goodbye?
7. Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved
8. Jacqueline McKenzie - Shy Baby
9. Bedroom Walls - Do the Buildings and Cops Make You Smile?
10. Billie Holiday - Cheek to Cheek
11. John Van Tongeren - Salvation
12. The Landau Orchestra - A Place In Time (Instrumental Arrangement)

Note: The last track does not appear in the series.

Filming locations

The 4400 is set in Seattle, but actually filmed in Vancouver, in British Columbia. All the cars have fake Washington license plates, the 4400 Center is actually the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia, and Capilano Lake stands in for Highland Beach. One episode of season 4 has a few scenes set in Vancouver.

DVD releases

Season	Episodes	Discs	DVD release date
			Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
1	6	2	December 21, 2004	January 10, 2005	June 10, 2005
The DVD contains no bonus features. The region one and two releases of the DVD are presented in a dual DVD case with a green-on-black cover showing the characters Tom, Diana and Dennis.
2	13	4	May 23, 2006	June 5, 2006	May 23, 2006
Bonus features include featurettes and commentary from Jacqueline McKenzie, Joel Gretsch, Craig Sweeny and Ira Steven Behr.
3	13	4	May 8 2007	July 23, 2007	June 7, 2007
The DVD's bonus features include an introduction by the series creator, four featurettes, six audio commentaries and a gag reel.

Gallery

• 
  The Chan Centre
  (The 4400 Center)
• 
  Capilano Lake
  (Highland Beach)
• 
  UBC Life Sciences Centre
  (HaspelCorp)
• 
  Direction sign to filming location

See also

• List of The 4400 minor characters
• List of The 4400 recurring characters
• List of characters in The 4400

External links

• Official website at USA Network
• The 4400 at Space: The Imagination Station
• The 4400 at Sky One
• The 4400 Wiki