Stephen King's Storm of the Century

[Tilion]

I have just finished watching this mini series, and wow it was great! These adaptations are usually very low budget but I always tend to at least like them, but I certainly was not expecting it to be this good.

The characters were very interesting and felt real, the events were gripping, and the performances, especially by the main protagonist (played by Tim Daly) and the antagonist (Colm Feore) were excellent.

The ending was also very unconventional and realistic IMO, though I won't say more for those of you who are going to check it out for yourselves.

Highly recommended, especially to King fans!

[unclejack]

I gotta be honest and say that I liked this one also. I think it's probably one of his best mini series if not the best. Like I said on another post, I have problems with The Stand but this one I really liked. If you haven't seen it you won't be dissapointed, it is truly very good. And it comes on tv pretty regularly so you should be able to catch it. I like the drama of it most of all. I think King did a great job with drama and characters in this one and I was very interested in how it was gonna turn out.

[j. d. worthington]

One thing: I'd suggest watching it on DVD or VHS and skipping the commercials, as the breaks can play havoc with the really quite carefully-crafted notching-up of the tension in this one.

In other words... I saw it when it was broadcast and was bored silly. Watched it a couple of years later in a single sitting and was very impressed. It really is well-crafted -- not without flaws, no, but nonetheless very well done, I thought. I also like the ambivalence of the entire thing... good and evil here aren't quite that simple, when you get to thinking about it, and there are layers to this one that are often quite subtle. It also has a strong emotional impact because of the secondary climax (though the visual on that one is a bit of a letdown, to me... nonetheless, the thing that is being said is very strong), which drives home the point of the prices we all pay for our choices, no matter what they may be... as well as the choices others make, including those we love....

[Serin]

I enjoyed Storm of the Century when I saw it on tv, and I knew I had to get it on dvd. I am so glad that I did. You're right about watching it without the breaks, JD. This is a favourite of mine, I must admit, and the way it ended left me thinking that there could be a sequel. Hope there is.

[Talysia]

I recently saw it on dvd, too, and I was a little unsettled by the ending (although I guess that's the mark of a good series in this genre). Pretty good, all in all.

[Brigitte]

I LOVED this miniseries when I first saw it on TV in 1999. I didn't mind the commercials back then, but I probably would if I saw it now. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a good miniseries by King since then.

The ending was pretty good (in a morbid sort of way). Most other authors would go find a way to "beat" Andre Linoge, but King kept his viewers "helpless" with an unbeatable enemy. Awesome job!

[unclejack]

Yeah, I like the ending and I think a climactic opposition filled with action would have been a let down and wouldn't have flowed with the rest of the movie. The whole series they there was tremendous buildup to them feeling helpless and then they finally are faced with a task that seems to solidify that feeling. But then again, I still have to say they made the wrong choice and I stand by Tim Daly's character in the show even though his supposed alternative would have inevitable led to the exact fate that they saw in their dreams. Even so I echo his overall premise that it is indeed unthinkable and they could not consent to what he was asking. I have to have the defeatist mentality and say that I think the ending they gave it is the best one considering the context of the entire series regardless as to how morbid it is. I almost wanna say that an ending like the one in needful things (the book not the movie) would have suited the movie better but somehow I doubt it and I think it would throw off the rest of the movie and be unsatisfying.

[wanderer085]

I enjoyed this mini-series also. The reason, I think, the townsfolk choice was wrong was that letting this evil demon train another demon from among their children was worse that losing their own lives, if indeed that would have happened.They should have forced the demon to die w/o taking one of their own.

[unclejack]

Yeah, that's my thought on it, even if they died like it was foretold in their dreams that would have been better than givin up one of their children. Plus, you have to think that Andre did offer them a choice which suggests to me that he didn't have the power to just take one of the children by force. I think if they were thinking clearly they would have taken advantage of that.

[j. d. worthington]

The thing is, Linoge has always struck me as neither truly evil nor good; after all, his "purpose" does seem to be somewhat of a "cleansing" one... to force people to confront their own darker side and learn from it, or to continue hide it from themselves and others, and let it fester (and eventually destroy) lives. He's an ambivalent character... ugly (in his true form) because the truth is often ugly, but wears a pleasant face -- we can seldom look at ourselves unflinchingly; there's virtually no human being that hasn't got something in their past they've locked away in a little room and refuse to look at, and with Linoge that simply isn't possible. He is, in a sense, a conscience given personified form... which is what makes the whole thing so fascinating; even the child he trains is, it seems to me, symbolic of tihs process, as we all train (consciously or not) our children in both the good and the bad aspects of being human, and to wear a pleasant mask over whatever may be seething inside....

Linoge, I would say, has something of the air of the stern prophet, and seems to be a force that dates as far back as the race, at least... our common inheritance which we so often prefer to reject, but can never truly escape; and, as the man says (though my quote may be slightly off): "It's a cash and carry world; sometimes you pay a little; more often you pay a lot. Sometimes you pay all you have...."

[wanderer085]

The things about Linoge that make him to me more of an evil being is his propensity to kill w/o remorse or pity - if taken at his word he would have killed all the townspeople had he not gotten his way. Although I am an atheist, I believe satan has many times been presented as a deceiver of man, promising the dreams and wishes that men have to them, but in the end only offering them only death and/or heartache.

My only question is what did Linoge do as a daily routine - cause trouble or wreak havoc? What was his purpose in this world? That part was not clear.

[Vincent Tauscher]

I don't think Linoge exactly had a purpose in the world. He's just a demon, probably going between earth and hell to carry out Satan's wishes. So therefore, I would be inclined to say he is there to "cause trouble and shake the moral foundations of man", since that's pretty much the purpose of the devil's minnions.