The Stand (1994) – Encore Review

“M-O-O-N! That spells NEBRASKA! ” – Tom Cullen

Number of Times Seen – 3 Times (TV in ’94, 18 Oct 2015 and 21 Feb 2021)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – After a deadly disease wipes out most of the population, the survivors must find a way to deal with the rebuilding of society which becomes more difficult after they are al contacted in their dreams by a good hearted old women and an evil man who each are trying to help in the fight between the good and evil in the world.

My Take on it – Such an amazing adaptation of one of the most comprehensive Stephen King novels.

The 6 hour run time is great for this adaptation even if there are many aspects of the story that need to be trimmed along the way yet they still manage to stay quite faithful to the way that the story unfolds in the novel.

They do a great job showing the character development as the story unfolds in some great ways.

No adaptation can be perfect, but they come quite close based on the way that this story is created by King.

Watching this now is quite unbelievable because of the way that we al are now more familiar with the possibility of such a pandemic actually occurring in real life instead of just thinking that this is all based on fiction.

I decided to rewatch this miniseries once again after watching the recent TV adaptation which wasn’t as powerful IMHO as this one is.

The cast is superb and they help make the story feel even more poignant due to their performances.

Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Jamey Sheridan, Laura San Giacomo, Ruby Dee, Miguel Ferrer, Ray Walston, Rob Lowe and Matt Frewer all enhance these characters so much.

My favorite character is played by Bill Fagerbakke who is superb as Tom Cullen.

The story moves along at a great pace and there is an epic feel to it all as the story progresses.

Love the way that this story is able to show how so many various characters could perceive the world each slightly different following such a deadly pandemic while also finding a way to draw a line in the sand between good and evil as things progress in really intriguing ways.

Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – When developing the novel, Stephen King did extensive research into various diseases with doctors telling him that a virus would most adequately fit the story he was trying to write. When the COVID-19 virus became widespread in 2020 many fans noted the similarities between Captain Trips and COVID. King used the opportunity to assure fans that while the two are similar in some ways, they are flu-like and transmit in the same ways, COVID has a 5% death rate versus Captain Trips’ 99%. King eventually released the chapter that describes how Captain Trips spread across the country for free online. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10) (no change from original review)