The leading cast for the final sixth season of THE DEAD ZONE(2008).
© Lionsgate Home Entertainment

Mania Grade: B+
DVD TV Series: The Dead Zone (Season Six)
Rating: Unrated
Starring: Anthony Michael Hall, Nicole De Boer, Connor Price, David Ogden Stiers
Written By: Stephen King, Michael Piller, Shawn Piller
Directed By: Various
Distributor: Lionsgate
Original Year of Release: TV (2007, DVD(2008).
Extras: Audio commentaries on four episodes, two featurettes
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THE DEAD ZONE (Season Six)

Evidently the cancellation of The Dead Zone came as a big surprise to the producers as the 6^th season began with numerous changes. First, the show’s production was moved from Vancouver to Montreal, Canada and Connor Price was brought into play son J.J., replacing Spencer Achtymichuk. In the first episode alone, Sheriff Walt Bannerman and bad guy aide to Vice President Stillson, Malcom Janus, are both killed. The series went out with a huge bang as season six had a number of fantastic episodes even though the series finale still left a few plots unresolved. Anthony Michael Hall turned in some of his strongest performances this season and Price was even better as the new J.J.

The last season begins with “Heritage”. As Cleaves Mills readies for the town festival, Johnny gets a vision of Walt dying and vows to stick with him all day, actually preventing his death a few times but fate won’t be stopped. Walt is killed in a fire at the church rescuing Rev. Purdy. Malcom Janus is also killed and with his death, Johnny’s visions of apocalypse surrounding Stillson seem to end.

A new Sheriff, Anna Turner (Carla Buono) takes over in “Ego” and she and Johnny get off on the wrong foot right away. She has no use for a psychic and Johnny wants to know why she is investigating the late Walt Bannerman.

“Re-Entry” Is one of the highlights of Season Six. A private space mission, part of Stillson’s “Go Space” program has suffered an accident. Unknown to the crew a wing flap is damaged and the ship will rip apart if it tries to land. It also carries a load of plutonium, which will cause a national disaster. Stillson is prepared to shoot the shuttle down unless Johnny can use his powers to send the astronauts a message so they can make repairs. Outstanding episode filled with tension.   At the end of the episode, Sarah gives birth to her baby she names Hope.

“Interred” is another outstanding and chilling episode. While hitting balls at a gold range, Johnny gets a vision of a man buried alive in a coffin. The man is running out of air and he and Turner have to race to rescue the man before he suffocates.

“Outcome” finds Johnny picking up Sarah’s friend from a bus terminal but getting a vision of the station exploding. He has only an hour to find the source of the explosion and prevent it. Johnny has to interact with several travelers, intertwining with their lives in a compact yet powerful episode.

The series finale “Denouement” is very good but obviously rushed together as so many plot elements are attempted to be wrapped up. Johnny learns that his father may not be dead after all and meets the woman who had a secret meeting with Walt before he died. Meanwhile, Stillson makes his play on Sarah and J.J., offering to give her a job in Washington D.C. Tom Skerritt guest-stars as Johnny’s father. There is a great payoff to the plot involving Johnny’s father who has been used as a tool by Stillson to predict the future. There’s one final moving scene involving Walt who knew Johnny would eventually pickup his final words in a vision. Still, not everything is completely wrapped up and we can only hope that perhaps a TV movie will bring things to a more final close.

“All Aboard: Filming The Dead Zone on a Train” featurette