dewwy321 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.

abloke36-158-984501 I have read the novel numerous times and had never seen the TV miniseries .Noticed it was on The Horror Channel , read the reviews and thought fantastic .Wonders if The Horror Channel had edited it and cut things up because it did not make any sense . Unless you had read the novel then abrupt cuts from one scene to another would have left you perplexed.Great first 5 minutes or so and then rapidly down hill .Has none of the subtly or detail of the novel . Badly acted and nonsensical drivel . Did I see another version to the great reviews given here ?Has been led to believe a new series of movies based on the novel are being planned .They can not be worse than this stinker . Gave up half way through .

Eightiesjunkie 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.

BA_Harrison A virulent man-made strain of flu accidentally escapes from a top-security army facility and rapidly spreads around the world, killing millions. A small percentage of immune survivors find themselves courted by the forces of good (lead by aged Mother Abigail Freemantle) and evil (commanded by the devilish Randall Flagg) in a final battle for dominion over the Earth.At nearly six hours long, Mick Garris's TV mini-series of Stephen King's chunky post-apocalyptic epic is an arduous journey to undertake, maudlin sentimentality and religious pondering frequently making the road very hard-going; many, mayhaps, will fall by the wayside. It all starts off promisingly enough, with a terrific, truly chilling first half in which the last of the living—a wide ranging group of well-drawn characters performed by an impressive cast—are left to wander a world strewn with corpses, looking for fellow survivors; however, it all goes a bit awry in the latter half, which is laden with corn (and I'm not talking about the crops surrounding Mother Abigail's home!).Increasingly hammy performances (worst offenders: Jamey Sheridan as Flagg and Matt Frewer as Trashcan Man), moments of unintentional hilarity, and a sense of the absurd proliferate matters, with a ridiculous anti-climax that sees God himself saving the day, obliterating his enemy by reaching down a giant sparkly hand to detonate an atomic bomb. No, really! 5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.