That being said, anyone who watched The 4400 while it was on and became seduced by the great character development that occurred early in the series will definitely want to look into purchasing this comprehensive 15 disc boxed set. Though, if you've already picked up the individual seasons, this collection's extra bonus disc isn't really worth the duplicate purchase.
The series starts off with a huge ball of light depositing 4400 people who have gone missing over the past 60 years just outside of Seattle, Washington as if they hadn't aged a day. The government's initial action is to quarantine these people, interview and catalog them, but eventually let them go with the agreement that they will return regularly for checkups. But when these 4400 people start to develop strange powers, the government agency NTAC (National Threat Assessment Command) sends its agents to the streets to keep an eye on these people.
That's where the two central characters, Tom Baldwin (Joel Gretsch) and Diana Skouris (Jacqueline McKenzie) come into the picture. Tom has been on hiatus for three years because his one night his son, Kyle (Chad Faust), fell into a coma and his nephew, Shawn (Patrick Flueger) disappeared (mind you, Shawn is one of the returnees). Meanwhile, Diana is a top-notch field scientist who starts to care for the youngest returnee (who hearks from 60 years in the past), a little girl named Mia (Conchita Campbell). It isn't long before Mia and Shawn's powers start to show up. Mia has visions of the future, while Shawn has a healing touch.
But these aren't the only characters we meet. Pretty much every week in the first season introduces a new member of the 4400, with a new ability, but there are a few who remain main characters. While in quarantine, Lily Moore (Laura Allen) and Richard Tyler (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali) meet up, and as it turns out Richard (a black Air Force pilot from the 50's) knew and loved Lily's grandmother. The two develop a relationship and get married. Before the first season is up, Lily will discover that she is pregnant (apparently while she was abducted), and with Richard's baby. Their daughter, Isabelle, becomes a major force in the series, and quite a thorn in both NTAC and another 4400 by the name of Jordon Collier (Billy Campbell), who establishes The 4400 Center as a place where people with abilities can gather unprejudiced.
Also making regular appearances are Tess (Summer Glau of Firefly/Serinity and Terminator: The Sara Connor Chronicles fame) and a non-4400 scientist by the name of Dr. Kevin Burkhoff (Jeffrey Combs). The two are close friends and are always seen together, and quite frankly, whenever either one shows up, the series' overarcing story makes huge leaps forward.
Early in the series, it is revealed that these 4400 people were transported to the present with abilities in order to create ripples in history in order to prevent some major disaster that all but wipes out the human race. And when Burkhoff isolates the chemical known as promicin, which gives the 4400 their abilities, he is able to mass produce it. The only problem is that the chemical is deadly 50% of the time. This is also where the series makes a very drastic shift. The first two seasons focus a lot on character interaction and development, but as soon as the promicin drug gets developed, its focus shifts to a more political nature as the government tries to regulate the glowing green liquid's use and people take it anyway.
As for special features, The 4400: The Complete Series has everything the individual seasons had. In fact, the discs look to be the same and everything. But since the first season was actually just an eight episode mini-series, the creators have added a bonus disc to add features for that season as well as some extras for others.
One of the most notable added features is a audio commentary for the series' pilot episode, as well as an interview with creator Scott Peters that covers the series as a whole. This feature is called "The 4400: The Ghost Season" and it touches on everything from the characters, actors and even the general ideas behind each season.
The Complete Series's bonus disc also features a series of fictional news clips and TV spots from The 4400 universe dealing with the growing threat of promicin. There are political messages, excerpts from shows like COPS and news broadcasts, as well as underground messages from Collier himself made late in the series.
Like I said at the beginning, this is great if you were already a fan of the show and want it all in one big box. If you've already picked up the seasons individually though, then there isn't really a lot to be gained from this purchase.
