FlashForward

*FlashForward*
FlashForward
	Flash Forward title screen
Genre	Drama, Thriller,; Science fiction
Created by	Robert J. Sawyer ; (based on his 1999 novel); Brannon Braga ; David S. Goyer
Starring	Joseph Fiennes ; John Cho ; Jack Davenport ; Zachary Knighton ; Peyton List ; Brían F. O'Byrne ; Courtney B. Vance ; Sonya Walger ; Christine Woods
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	4 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Brannon Braga ; David S. Goyer ; Marc Guggenheim ; Jessika Goyer ; Vince Gerardis ; Ralph Vicinanza
Production location	Los Angeles, California
Running time	42 minutes
Production company	ABC Studios
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 24, 2009 –; present

FlashForward is an American science-fiction television series airing on ABC. It is based on the 1999 novel Flashforward by Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer. It began airing on September 24, 2009.^[1]

Production

The pilot was written by David S. Goyer (who also directed) and Brannon Braga, from Robert J Sawyer's novel, with Goyer and Braga executive producing alongside Jessika Borsiczky Goyer, Vince Gerardis, and Ralph Vicinanza.^[2]

FlashForward originally was developed at HBO, which sold its option because it thought the show would be a better fit for a broadcast network. After purchasing the series and ordering a pilot ABC picked up FlashForward for thirteen episodes^[3] in May 2009. On October 12, 2009, ABC picked up the series for a full 22 episode season. Later the same day it was announced ABC had ordered a further 3 episodes for a 25 episode first season.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Characters

Main Characters

FBI Special Agent Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes). Mark's flash-forward guides the investigation of the events of October 6. Husband of Olivia Benford and father of Charlie Benford, he is a recovering alcoholic.
Special Agent Demetri Noh (John Cho). Mark Benford’s partner at the FBI, he had no flash-forward and fears that means he will die. He is engaged to Zoey, a lawyer.
Dr. Olivia Benford (Sonya Walger). Mark's wife and a surgeon at a major hospital. She supervises Dr. Bryce Varley.
Lloyd Simcoe (Jack Davenport). An academic at Stanford, Lloyd was widowed on October 6. He has a son with autism who Charlie mysteriously recognizes.
Dr. Bryce Varley (Zachary Knighton). Intern reporting to Dr Olivia Benford. He was on the verge of commiting suicide when the blackout occurred.
Nicole Kirby (Peyton List). Charlie Benford's babysitter.
Aaron Stark (Brían F. O'Byrne). A recovering alcoholic, he is Mark Benford’s sponsor and close friend. The father of Tracy Stark who was killed in action in Afghanistan, he believes his flash-forward showed his daughter alive.
FBI Assistant Director Stanford Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance). Head of the FBI Los Angeles field office, he oversees Mark's team and the October 6 investigation.
Special Agent Janis Hawk (Christine Woods). Works at the Los Angeles field office as part of Mark's team.

Recurring characters

Charlie Benford (Lennon Wynn). Mark and Olivia's daughter, Charlie's vision of "D. Gibbons" provides a first step for Mark's investigation.
Dylan Simcoe (Ryan Wynott). Lloyd's son who knows Charlie from his vision.
Special Agent Vreede (Barry Shabaka Henley). A member of Mark's team.
Special Agent Al Gough (Lee Thompson Young). A member of Mark's team.

Season synopsis

Season 1 (2009)

The premise of FlashForward is that a mysterious paranormal event causes everyone on the planet to simultaneously lose consciousness for 137 seconds, during which people see what appear to be visions of their lives approximately six months in the future - a global “flashforward”. A number of people saw newspapers or calendars and it is established that every vision occurs on April 29 or April 30, 2010 at the exact same time, depending on time zones at 5 am UTC. It is also established that the precognitive visions were shared; if one character sees another in their vision, the other character also reports the same events in their vision. The event results in deaths from accidents and leaves the survivors wondering whether what they saw will really happen.

In the pilot, a team of Los Angeles FBI agents, led by Stanford Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance) and spearheaded by protagonist Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes), begin the process of determining what happened, why, and whether it will happen again. Benford is in a uniquely valuable position to lead this investigation because during his flashforward, he was looking at a project board of the investigation. The board was covered with pictures and notes, and Benford was able to remember several significant details, including a note that said "D. Gibbons". At the end of Mark's blackout, he sees several masked gunmen (one with a three-star tatoo) trying to kill him. He also notices a woven friendship bracelet on his wrist that he does not recognize. Shortly thereafter, he is given a bracelet of that design by his daughter. With the help of his team, Benford creates a website database of people's flashforwards from around the world. He calls it the Mosaic Collective after the case he saw himself investigating during his own flashforward.

Along with various catastrophic or joyful visions, people also see themselves engaging in unexpected behavior; for example, Benford sees himself drinking again, and his wife Olivia (Sonya Walger) has an intimate vision of herself with an unknown man. Some see themselves in unusual locations or see unanticipated events, such as a pregnancy for a woman who doesn't have a boyfriend. In some cases, the event prevents actions from occurring such as Olivia's intern Bryce who was on the verge of committing suicide. Mark's partner Demetri (John Cho), had no vision of the future, and worries about what this means. In the last scene of the premiere, CCTV tape shows a character in black walking through a baseball stadium in Detroit while all around him, people have blacked out. This character is labeled "Suspect Zero" and becomes the focus of the team's search.

In the second episode, the investigation ends up in Utah, Benford notices an abandoned doll factory across the street from the bus stop. He remembers in his flashforward that there was a picture of a burnt doll head. On entering, Benford and his team realise there is someone in there. After a chase, they exchange shots and the man detonates an explosive device which destroys the lab. In the aftermath of a fire, Benford sees a photographer taking pictures of the evidence. He looks at the pictures on the camera, and sees the exact picture he remembered from his vision. It is revealed that the man in the doll factory was trying to hack into various government agencies looking for information about the flashforward event. After analysing the hacker's cell phone calls, it is discovered that a call was made during the blackout to "Suspect Zero". The team now knows there are at least two people who were awake during the blackout, and that they were in communication.

Benford's daughter, Charlie tells no one the contents of her vision, other than it has apparently terrified her. Demetri receives a phone call from a woman in Hong Kong who tells him she knows that he will be murdered March 15, 2010. In the final scene of that episode, Charlie tells her dad that "D Gibbons is a bad man."

In the third episode, Demetri's conversation with the mysterious woman from Hong Kong continues and cannot or will not provide anymore information other than when he will be murdered. The FBI receives several theories from different agencies of what they think caused the blackouts. One from Germany especially catches their attention, when Benford realizes that a former Nazi, that is being held in jail for war crimes, has information on what was going on as he saw him in his flashforward. They go to Germany and broker a deal, the guy will provide the information in return for his freedom. He tells them part of his vision where he is entering the United States a free man to enable confirmation that it is genuine by comparing visions with the customs official who processed him. After having his conviction overturned he then tells them that when he woke up he looked out his window and noticed that crows lay dead on the ground outside. He then informs them that his claim was a ruse to get his freedom but that he does remember that in his vision the dead crows were significant to Benford. He then gives him a book on birds to help figure out what it means.

Aaron, who saw himself finding his daughter alive in his vision, goes and sees his ex-wife and asks her to sign a document that would allow him to exhume their daughters remains for DNA testing. His wife flat out refuses to sign so Aaron asks that Benford help him. Benford agrees and Aaron's daughter is exhumed however, the following day the DNA results confirm that the body is indeed their daughter's and he and his ex-wife share a tear for their loss.

The FBI have a memorial service for their fallen comrades. Stanford Wedeck's wife tells Olivia that in her vision she saw a child in her son's room. A boy that she has never seen before. At the funeral, she sees that boy and realizes that he will become a part of her family in the future.

At a bar the Agents are toasting their fallen comrades when Benford comes to realize something. He gets Janis to help him check to see if crows had died anywhere else in the world and indeed crows died all at the same time. They also discover that it happened 18 years earlier in Somalia where scientists reported that villagers in the area had all claimed to have blacked out at the same time. Benford then begins to wonder not if it will happen again, but if it had happened before.

Flashback to 1991 Somalia. A boy is herding his goats when he sees crows flying overhead and then suddenly start falling dead. Walking to the top of a nearby hill he sees his village littered with the unconscious bodies of its occupants. Looking up he sees a strange local movement of mist around the top of a tall tower in the village.

International distribution

Country	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Notes
Canada	A.^[7]	September 24, 2009	Thursdays 20:00
Australia	Seven Network ^[8]	September 28, 2009	Mondays, 20:30
United Kingdom	Five ^[9]	September 28, 2009	Mondays, 21:00
Russia	Channel One^[10]	October 2, 2009	Fridays, 23:00
Belgium	BeTV^[10]	October 4, 2009	Sundays, 20:45
Singapore	MediaCorp^[8]	October 4, 2009	Sundays, 22:00
Italy	Fox^[10]	October 5, 2009	Mondays, 21:10
Spain	AXN ^[11]	October 5, 2009	Mondays, 22:25
Spain	Cuatro	October 6, 2009	Tuesdays, 22:15
Portugal	AXN^[12]	October 7, 2009	Wednesdays, 22:25
Norway	TV 2 ^[10]	October 8, 2009	Thursdays, 21:40
Estonia	Fox Life ^[13]	October 16, 2009	Fridays, 21:00
Croatia	AXN	November 14, 2009	Saturdays, 21:40
Poland	AXN ^[10]	November 14, 2009	Saturdays, 22:00
Slovakia	AXN	November 16, 2009	Mondays, 21:00
Czech Republic	AXN	November 16, 2009	Mondays, 21:00
Hungary	AXN	November 16, 2009	Mondays, 21:00
Bulgaria	AXN	November 18, 2009	Wednesday, 23:00
France	TF1 ^[10]
Ireland	RTE Television ^[14]	autumn/winter season 2009
Germany	ProSieben ^[10]	2010
New Zealand	TV2 ^[8]
Sweden	TV4 ^[15]
Japan	AXN ^[16]	Spring 2010
The Netherlands	NET5 ^[10]	2010