I absolutely love Stephen King’s work, and The Stand is no exception. It was one of King’s earliest novels, and yet it is one of his greatest achievements. Sadly, the translation from novel to film would be near impossible. Some of the key events (especially towards the end) would be impossible to convincingly create, which makes me wonder why anyone thought it could be turned into a TV mini-series.
They tried though, they really did. Broken into four parts, The Stand flows like a movie, as it is one complete narrative with a beginning, middle and end. I consider it a film made for TV, and broken up into segments. Maybe I’m wrong to consider it thus, but I do. If you try to watch it all in one sitting, brace yourself- The Stand tops out at just over 6 hours long, which actually isn’t even close to long enough, given King’s lush source material.
The Stand focuses on the aftermath of a highly lethal super-virus outbreak from a government facility. Over 99% of the world’s population is dead, and there are two camps of survivors- good and evil. Both are being called to specific places for specific purposes. The mini-series does a decent job of covering the many faces and personalities from the book, with only a few omissions (one of which is actually fairly major).
The acting is as good as it can be for a made-for-TV cast. Some choices are truly inspired, such as Rob Lowe as a deaf mute struggling to find purpose. The real show stealer though is Randall Flagg, the embodiment of evil in this devastated world. Ultimately, the two camps, good and evil, are drawn together for a final conflict that will determine the fate of humanity.
If you don’t love Stephen King’s work, I don’t recommend trying to tackle this beast. Fans will be able to tolerate its shortcomings and appreciate the effort.
I absolutely love Stephen King’s work, and The Stand is no exception. It was one of King’s earliest novels, and yet it is one of his greatest achievements. Sadly, the translation from novel to film would be near impossible. Some of the key events (especially towards the end) would be impossible to convincingly create, which makes me wonder why anyone thought it could be turned into a TV mini-series.
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