This is one of Stephen King's most epic stories, there are others, but this one is probably one of the first. It is the forever-told story of the battle of good versus evil but without CGI, gimmicks and unrelatable characters. This story frightens you to the core because of how real everything seems to be. It could in fact happen tomorrow, to all of us, any of us. King is not an overly religious man, from what I have read but his ability to tell stories with religion deeply ingrained, amazes me. He does it from a standpoint rarely seen, if at all, and doesn't force the reader/watcher to believe any one thing but to just, think, perhaps deeper than they ever have before. However, don't be put off by the 'deepness' of it all, it's got enough comedy, action and adventure to still be an 'easy to watch' film with mates on a Friday night.

The first time I saw this was back in 94 when I was 12 years old. At the time I thought it was great. It wasn't until the 2000's before I saw it again and I have re-watched it from time to time. The first two hours holds up well for me. I always enjoy seeing the start of any plague movie or TV miniseries. It's interesting to see what unfolds in the story. By today's standards, The Stand might seem too timid or slow to build to anything. For me, I enjoy watching what happens around these characters and how they react. Seeing entire society crumble before you is pretty cool. Where the Stand starts to fall apart is when more focus is put on good vs evil. Good vs evil is really the main plot of the story. It really all goes down hill around the two hour mark. That's when the plague story ends. Not only that, the story starts to fall apart, characters begin to get annoying, the acting seems to get worse and worse, jumps in the story start to happen, continuity is poor and the excitement is over. It started out as a story that could have gone anywhere and then pigeon holes itself. Overall, I think it's worth a watch, but don't be surprised if your interest in the miniseries wanes.

Before I give my review, I'd like to state that "The Stand" is my all- time favorite book. Unlike most fans of the book however, I didn't read the book until about seven or eight years ago. I had seen the mini- series a few times on television a few years prior to reading the book, and had really enjoyed it. One day while reading up on the film, I clicked on the IMDb movie message board. Fellow fans of the film were discussing how good the film was, and how well it followed the novel. Needless to say, I was intrigued by this. Therefore, I scraped together fifteen bucks, gave it to my Aunt, (who I live with) and told her to pick me up a copy at the local bookstore. Soon after she gave it to me, I began reading it. I couldn't put it down after that, so I took it with me everywhere! After reading the book, I decided to give the mini-series another watch, and surprisingly, I still liked it! Even more so than I had before. It took a long time for an adaptation of "The Stand" to get made. After filming "Creepshow" George Romero and Stephen King were going to collaborate again, on a film adaptation of "The Stand" Unfortunately, trimming the novel down into one screenplay proved to be too difficult a task for King, therefore Screenwriter Rospo Pallenberg was brought in to write a new script. After the script was finished, and filming was to begin, Warner Brothers backed out of the project at the last minute. Some time after, ABC offered Stephen King the chance to turn his novel into an epic four-part TV Mini-series. King accepted, The Mini-series was made, and premiered on May 8th 1994. It received critical praise, and has even acquired a large fan base. As for the screenplay for the film that never was: It's not bad. However in my opinion, it fails to capture the depths of the many characters. If you're curious, it's definitely worth a read though. Do a Google search, and you'll find it somewhere. As for the TV Mini-series: This was much better! It's well written, well shot, and well acted! Granted, some of the dark, intense, scenes in the novel are cut or trimmed, (It was a Made-for-Television production after all.) but it is still highly enjoyable, and very well done. I also must give it high praise for it's usage of certain music. Including, but not limited to: "Don't fear the reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult and "Don't dream it's over" by A Crowded House. Whether you've read the novel and never seen the mini-series before, or if you're just interested in watching a dark, apocalyptic, tale of good versus evil, give this a watch. I'd suggest you read the novel first, but even if you haven't, you'll enjoy this either way.

"The Stand" is my favorite book from the author and favorite books in general. I remember when I heard about a mini series for The Stand was coming out, you can imagine my excitement. Seeing it then didn't disappoint me, and I still think it hold pretty well today; granted it's not perfect but I feel for what they were able to do, it does well.The story just like in the book is great, what I really liked about it is that in a strange way it's kinda a modern day fantasy epic, which I thought was cool since that's territory the fantasy genre doesn't tackle much for some reason. But most importantly that this is a Christian story, but in a good way where it's not preachy or heavy handed buy rather suttle.I really like some of the business with the virus in the first and second part of the series. The way it plays out is terrifying and plausible if an outbreak ever occurred making everything go straight to hell; it's sort of reminiscent of the book/TV miniseries "Day of the Triffids" as well as the film "28 Days Latter".However to me what was more interesting were the supernatural and Christian elements. I even like how in some places there are some parallels to the biblical stories. Most of the business with the virus and the survivors is pretty much part of Revelations. Las Vegas is pretty much Sodom and Gomorah and Bolder, Colorado is Bethlaham. You name it's there.The themes are also there without slapping you over the head like love, faith, redemption, transcendence, standing up against evil and sacrifice.The characters are great and I really like the cast which consists of experienced actors that work. And part of what made the story stand out is in the amount of depth and story arc around them which made me actually care even sad when one or few of them die.Gary Sinise is solid as Stu Redmen, I sort of imagined this actor in that role. I like that he's a blue collar man of the country whom is smart and has quiet charisma. Even like that he doesn't like being pushed around or takes crap from anyone it shows he is more than capable of standing up for himself. Molly Ringwold (one of my favorite actresses) was solid as Frannie Goldsmith, I'll admit it was real surreal but at the same time great seeing her in something like this; it's a shame she didn't have a bit more afterward. Her character is sweet, has a certain vibrancy to her, but there is also a sense of maturity. The chemistry between both Stu and her I think is solid and you know are right for one another.Larry Underwood (Adam Stoke) is great, he's my favorite protagonist in the book. What I love about his character arc is that it's a story about redemption. His character at first seems like the least likely person to survive the apopocalise because of the amount of trouble he's gotten himself into like doing drugs, fame and money getting to his head, but what I like is deep down he's really unhappy and want's another chance. You can say in one hell of a way he got it and you see him slow go thought a transcendence as that person he was from the past slowly fade and we see he becomes a better person, from being more responsible for himself and everyone else, a family man. I always like stories like that which to me are the most fascinating, where the characters are broken in some way and they gain the most enlightenment and faith than ones that already believe and act like they have all the answers. All the other characters also go though their own transcendence as well which are also fascinating in their own way.Randall Flagg he's one of my favorite fictional villains. Yeah, I'll admit this version in the mini series is slightly different but I feel some of the persona and menace that is Randall is still intact. And for the record Randall is a recurring character in most of King's stories "Eyes of the Dragon" and the "Gunslinger" series, both which still need a visual medium adaptation.He's not the devil more like an emissary to him, but from his persona he comes pretty close. I really like how charismatic he is which makes sense since most cult leaders usually do, so it's easy to see how the disciples of evil would fall under his spell. He makes a lot of references which is part of his trademark showing how knowledgeable and smart he truly is.However what makes Randall really scary and menacing is that he is never what he presents himself. Despite that smile he puts on, you know there is something wrong with it because it's not a happy smile but looks more like a sinister sneer. And he can really turn a 180 once he drops the nice guy act, which to me is disarming and can make a villain all the more scary. Overall, I think this is a very good adaptation and one of the only mini series of Steven King I like, if you a fan or non fan I think it's worth checking out. I would love to see a revival of this, may'be as a TV series but for premium channels like "Showtime", with the great amount of depth the book has let alone the fact that two other Steven King stories have TV shows of their own "The Dead Zone" and "Under the Dome" I see no reason why not."The Stand" will keep you on your feet.Rating: 4 stars