ShadowDog's

Second Annual (41 Hour) Dead Zone Marathon!


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Hours 1-5

Ground Rules

1) Start marathon at 6am EST on June 11th. Finish marathon (All episodes from Seasons 1, 2, and 3) by 10pm EST on June 12th, just in time for the premiere episode of Season 4! Finish by watching that episode.

2) Watch at least one episode per hour, meaning I can take no longer a break than 15 minutes per hour.

3) Post at least one episode commentary at the top of each hour. Also post regularly at Official Dead Zone board to prove I am still awake.

4) Diet Pepsi amounts are marathon totals, not per hour.

5) Because I've already marathoned Seasons 1 and 2, those seasons will be viewed this time with audio commentaries on.

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"My son is quite Mad. Where did I go wrong? Break a leg." -Dexter I "Good luck! Please don't be insane after this. ;-) Besides sanity is overrated. :-D" -MSR  
     
     
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Episode Commentary Key:

Visions: Prolonged marathons tend to cause hallucinations - er - visions.

Grouch of the EP award: There are some GROUCHY people in this series! Who was the surliest person in this ep?

General Remarks: What I thought of the ep, in general.

Commentators: Who commented on this episode? (where applicable)

Commentary Highlights: Again, where applicable.

Funny line of the ep/commentary: TEE HEE!
Trivia Question: Every now and then I'll ask a trivia question. Be the first to answer!

1.1 "Wheel of Fortune"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 6
Visions: None.

Grouch of the EP award: Johnny! Can you blame him? He wakes up six years older with a busted up body and discovers his fiancé is shacked up with another man who is raising HIS son as his own. I'd be just a touch bit cranky myself.

General Remarks: It's amazing that after all these years and a dozen times watching this pilot, I still kept wanting to turn the commentary off and just enjoy the episode. That speaks to how strong this first hour is.

Commentators: Anthony Michael Hall, Nicole De Boer, Michael Pillar, Rob Lieberman.

Commentary Highlights: There is a lot of interesting stuff about David Ogden Stiers replacing the original actor for the role of Reverand Purdy. I would have liked to know why that replacement was made. Did the original actor suck?
Several interesting tidbits such as the fact that Purdy was going to be a serial killer red herring if the producers had been allowed to drag that storyline out longer.

Funny line of the ep/commentary: Pillar's commentary ripping on AMH's hair was funny but I have to go with this sequence: Sarah: "I'll bring you one of her CDs." (pause) Sarah: "Do know what CDs are?" Johnny: "Yeah. They were around back then." Sarah: "Yeah, I thought-" (shakes head) Sarah: "I wasn't sure." (nervously touches hair)

Trivia Question: What was Sarah Bannerman's maiden name?

1.2 "What It Seems"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 6
Visions: Not a bit sleepy yet.
Grouch of the EP award: Walt. Again, perfectly understandable, but MAN is he a grouchy bear!

General Remarks: A riveting conclusion to the pilot two parter. I love the "Jimmy Cracked Corn" bit, AMH was awesome in that.
As many times as I have seen this episode, a moment touched me this time in a way it never had before. Johnny brings up Bruce as his new confident and Sarah responds by asking him "where was Bruce when you got your tonsil out in the second grade?" She goes on in this vein. It's easy to forget as you watch this series and bash Sarah for cheating on Walt that she and Johnny go WAY back! I haven't thought about it a lot but they do. Keeping this in mind, you have a greater appreciation of what drives Sarah Bannerman.
When Johnny shows up at Walt's house after being disgraced, Walt says: "Johnny, this is over the line." Three seasons later, in "No Questions Asked" when Walt shows up at the married woman's house to finds Johnny already there (after the two have had a fight and Walt has dismissed Johnny) Walt says: "You've crossed the line now Johnny." Very similar dialogue from the same character in very similar situations. That is awesome writing!

Commentators: Anthony Michael Hall, Chris Bruno, Michael Pillar, Rob Lieberman.
Commentary Highlights: Chris Bruno replaced NdB for this second hour. While I adore NdB, Chris was more engaged and talked more often. He and AMH have a very good off camera chemistry and they obviously work very well together.
Another fascinating tidbit was their original idea to out Bruce's voice in Alison during Bruce's recreation of how Johnny got his vision wrong. That didn't work because: Chris Bruno: "You don't want John Adams voice coming out of that beautiful woman!"

Funny line of the ep/commentary: "Good. Then we finally have a crime. It's called breaking and entering." -Walt, when Johnny admits he broke the nurse's window.


1.3 "Quality of Life"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 12
Visions: There was glimmer in the corner of my eye, but it was probably my breakfast
Grouch of the EP award: Todd's parents. A "thank you" would have been NICE, you buttclowns!!

General Remarks: This was a very necessary episode and I do enjoy it, but hockey's not my thing so to quote Randy Jackson, this episode was "just ai-ight!"
Question. Walt is already sitting down for dinner. Why is Li'l Johnny just now peeling the carrots???

Commentators: Chris Masterson, Anthony Michael Hall

Commentary Highlights: Chris: "I haven't seen any other episodes yet, but do you have a relationship with your son?" AMH: "People who have been watching this series from the beginning already know this..." LOL!
Chris tries a little too hard to be funny at points but he's probably burdened with the fact he's on a popular comedy and people expect him to be "on" all the time as a comedian.
"When he" (Todd) "is not playing hockey, he surfs." -Chris, explaining why his character has such a glowing tan.

Funny line of the ep/commentary: Johnny's fight with Bruce over who got to drive Bruce's PT Cruiser was laugh out loud funny.


1.4 "Enigma"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 16
Visions: The only vision I had this time was of a hearty breakfast! WOO HOO!!
Grouch of the EP award: This line sums it up: "Do you two wanna be alone?!" - Walt, upon hearing his wife Sarah ask Johnny if the two of them are "over"

General Remarks: This is the first "left field" episode, and is actually followed by another way out episode. These two fascinating episodes really set the tone for the series. They were going to tell a lot of different kinds of stories. In this one, we had a nice parallel between the flashback triangle and the current one between Sarah, Walt, and Johnny.
Among the many great moments in this episode are Johnny having sex for the first time since his coma but it only being in his head. What follows is the hysterical phone conversation with Sarah that Walt overhears and gets irritated with (as mentioned above).
I still walk around saying "Absotively and posalutely" three years after first seeing this episode.

Commentators: Elizabeth Ann Riddick, Anthony Michael Hall

Commentary Highlights: The two commentators have a really good chemistry, but were plagued by several really long pauses. I hate that in commentaries. It always makes me think that they said something they could get sued for it was cut out. Again, the two really got along well (you can tell when people commenting together on a show or movie don't like each other) but this is the second episode in a row that AMH has to explain basic plot points to a guest star. Watch the show, people! Do any of the guest stars watch more than their episode?

Funny line of the ep/commentary: "Plastic surgery couldn't do that!" -Bruce, reacting to Arthur Allen's claim that his (now) 75 year old ex girlfriend hasn't changed a bit since he last saw her 60 years ago.


1.5 "Netherworld"

Ounces of Diet Pepsi: 24
Visions: None.
Grouch of the EP award: Female Doctor (Shawn Pillar's real life girlfriend) She was snippy throughout, but here's an example: "Of course you're not in a coma, you're standing right here!"

General Remarks: Seeing this episode after watching Season 3's "No Questions Asked" is a little startling. Think about the fact that Walt had an affair with his best friend's wife when you see the party scene where Walt is so dorky. It doesn't jibe. But then again, this is all in Johnny's mind and at this point he doesn't know that Walt would be more sophisticated even if he had never married Sarah. So it works, it is just jarring.
This episode, with it's very "Jacob's Ladder" feel, is my favorite from Season 1.

Commentators: John L. Adams, Shawn Pillar

Commentary Highlights: You can really tell that even when this audio commentary was recorded (probably right after Season 1) that John L. Adams was thinking about directing for a long time. His questions and observations during the commentary show someone who is fascinated with the business and has an eye towards behind the camera work.

Funny line of the ep/commentary: Shawn Pillar's meltdown in the opening minutes is hysterical. Listen to your fellow commentary, bro! Also: "Is that how we got the other kid that's running around here?" -Johnny, after Sarah slaps his naked ass.




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