[ SCI-FI ] time travel - superhero
4 seasons _ 2004-2007
44 episodes _ 43min

GOOD + : as rated by DR-KNOW

Four thousand four hundered (4400) people were abducted across the globe. Not all at once, but extending across time from the 1930s to the present day (2004). Oddly enough they all returned at that the same time at the same age they were abducted. Weirder still they all rode in a ball of light to arrive on a lake shore outside of Seattle, Washington.

The disoriented "returnees" are quarantined by the U.S. government, but are later allowed to rejoin their families and the rest of humanity ... Alien abduction ?

Very soon thereafter strange occurrences come to the attention of the agency that conducted the quarantine. and so the National Threat Assessment Center, more commonly refered to as NTAC (n-tack), begins to investigate. The NTAC agents discover that some of the "returnees" exhibit super-human "abilities" and seek to hide the information from the public. Thanks to the widely expanding internet (just prior to first iphone) their attempts to supress the information fails and problems coupled with panic begins.

Much of the series gives an ebb and flow of the associated panic and culminates with a quasi-religious apocalypse. By the 3rd season there is the suggestion of good vs. evil, but thankfully they did not take that simplified approach. Also to the credit of the series the "abilities" of the 4400 (forty-four hundred) are not exploited into creating super heroes although a few super villains make brief appearances. The real heroes are a pair of regular human NTAC agents that serve justice and and keep the hope of a bright future alive.

For me the appeal of this series is the twist of humans abducted by future humans rather than aliens. Moreover the series cleverly inserts major topics of time including terrorism and the use of independent military contractors. A couple of episodes feature the common sci fi themes of alternate realities and time travel. Nevertheless the story clearly favors the more humanistic elements of fear and paranoia. This series is family friendly, but does become more sexualized in the third season when a baby "engineered" by the future instantly ages from a toddler to an early 20s young woman.

by: Todd Wheatley - 2014

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