Comparison: Old 4400 vs New 4400

[Meredith Quill]

Compare & Contrast Here!

[Jenniferbug]

Going strictly by character similarities, so far we've got:

Shaniece=Lily, with the daughter who has grown up in her absence and the husband who has moved on. I liked the husband here enough that I'm kind of hoping he reunites with Shaniece. 

Mildred=Maya, with being one of the youngest and also the first to abilities. I think Richard was the one who had telekinesis on the original show. 

Mute kid= also Maya? Again, young and somewhat mysterious, maybe has visions like Maya. I could also see him kind of taking the Sean type role in the future, as a side kick to whoever the "bad" person ends up being.

Reverend= Jordan Collier? He's kind of giving me charlatan vibes and also seems to be charismatic like Jordan, but he doesn't seem as egotistical so far so maybe I'm wrong. 

60s lady isn't currently reminding me of anyone, except for her healing ability like Sean. 

The doctor also isn't really reminding me of anyone in particular. Maybe Richard a bit, since they were both kind and helpful and were sort of the "talk to" characters for exposition. I didn't catch what time period he was from either. The 40s? Since he mentioned air raids? 

I thought both Keisha and Jharell were pretty directly Diana and Tom counterparts, with Diana starting off very hardline against the returnees and Tom being softer (though not quite as soft as Jarell). I wonder if his brother won't turn out to be a Kyle situation. Maybe he's been in a coma unidentified all these years? Not sure, but I don't think we're done with him since the kid mentioned him and Jharell said he thought he saw a green light before his brother went missing. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

I hope the character similarities you list above are just coincidence and they largely go new paths.

I would say that in one episode, Shanice has probably shown more depth of character than Lily did in her entire existence. The writers basically didn't give her much in the way of agency or detail, other than love interest to Richard and incubator/mom to Isabelle. 

The notion that the part of 4400 2.0 that have been shown are like 99.999 black vs. OG 4400 where besides Richard and Isabelle, there probably were only a handful of 4400 of color if that. (Gary Navarro, the mind reading baseball player is the only one that I can think of off the top of my head.). 

Similarly, I don't know if there was a single OG 4400 character who was LGBTQ.

Of course, it's hard to tell just based on the pilot, but I think 4400 2.0 is setting up for a lot of thematic differences.

In OG 4400, it was pretty clear that NTAC were overall the good guys and were playing a pretty decent balance between trying to protect the 4400 and protect normal people from the 4400. There wasn't much in the way of larger social commentary beyond Richard discovering that hey, interracial relationships were kinda OK in the early 2000s.

It feels like 4400 2.0 is setting things up to question to motives of Homeland Security from the start, and by looking at folks from the 20s, 60s and 90s, will be looking to comment on the progress or lack thereof that there has been since then.

[shapeshifter]

If 4400 2.0 sticks with the predominantly African American cast, then I would expect at least a few references to how their current plight mirrors their ancestors’ in that they too were cast on the shores of a new time (and in many instances a new place) foreign to them, denied their freedom, and treated as less than human. 
I think that theme was also present in the OG 4400, but the casting was not so on the nose. In that respect, the OG 4400 was more of a “this could happen to anyone” kind of message, whereas in the 4400 2.0 it’s more of a “this probably never happened to your family” kind of message for white viewers—at least to begin with. 

[Jenniferbug]

2 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I hope the character similarities you list above are just coincidence and they largely go new paths.

I would say that in one episode, Shanice has probably shown more depth of character than Lily did in her entire existence. The writers basically didn't give her much in the way of agency or detail, other than love interest to Richard and incubator/mom to Isabelle. 

Oh I absolutely agree! I was just pointing out some of the character templates they might be using from the original show. Shanice did more in 1 episode than Lily did on 2 seasons so I think they'll head in different directions for most characters. 

[blackwing]

I read about the series being rebooted, but hadn't realised it already started.  I loved the original series.  Mahershala Ali is by far the most successful, having gone on to a film career and two Oscars.  I remember when he was credited by his full name, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, on this show.  Patrick Flueger has also had success on "Chicago PD".  But I don't think the two leads, Joel Gretsch and the woman whose name I cannot remember, have had a significant splash at all, or at least I don't recall seeing them in anything.

I will have to catch up on this new show and see if I am nostalgic enough for the original to want to watch.

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

I read about the series being rebooted, but hadn't realised it already started.  I loved the original series.  Mahershala Ali is by far the most successful, having gone on to a film career and two Oscars.  I remember when he was credited by his full name, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, on this show.  Patrick Flueger has also had success on "Chicago PD".  But I don't think the two leads, Joel Gretsch and the woman whose name I cannot remember, have had a significant splash at all, or at least I don't recall seeing them in anything.

I will have to catch up on this new show and see if I am nostalgic enough for the original to want to watch.

Jacqueline McKenzie. Looking at their IMDBs, both seem to have had a series of roles up to the present. I vaguely remember Joel had a role in the V reboot shortly after the 4400 ended. In fact, it seems the only person in the top cast that kinda stopped acting was the guy who played Marco, who hasn't had a credited role since 2013.

It is interesting. OG 4400 clearly had Tom and Diana as the leads and consciously was trying to duplicate the X-Files.

4400 2.0, at least to me, seems to be putting more equal emphasis across the ensemble. If anything, I would say that it has Shanice and Claudette as the focal points, with the cop and social worker taking somewhat of a back seat.

 

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

One of the other differences is that 4400 2.0 seems to be assigning some sort of significance to what powers people have, at least in some cases.

Whereas there was no real rhyme or reason as to who got which powers in the OG, in the new version we have:

Reality show star LaDonna gets power of portraying fake things as reality.

Person with disabled hand (Mildred) gets to move things with her mind.

I'm betting Claudette was a victim of domestic violence and suffered a lot of injuries, but she now has the power to heal.

Not sure what the connections between Hayden and his clairvoyance, Shanice and her memory-vision, or Noah and his singing might be, but I am guessing they exist.

[Demian]

Please do correct me if I'm wrong, but in the original series, the first abductee was pulled out of 1946, right?  At the very beginning of the nuclear age?  Did the original series ever do anything with that, and do you think it means anything that the current revival pushed its first abductee's disappearance back to the 1920s?