1. Project Blue [1:33]
2. The Dream Begins [2:08]
3. On the Road to Kansas [3:57]
4. The Trashmen in Vegas [1:58]
5. Headin' West [1:56]
6. Larry & Nadine [2:38]
7. Mother Abigail [3:10]
8. 'Sorry Mister, I Don't Understand' [2:54]
9. Mid Country [3:22]
10. Mother Greets the Multitudes [1:25]
11. M-O-O-N... That Spells Suicide [2:12]
12. 'One Will Fall by the Way' [3:43]
13. Beginning of the End [3:22]
14. The Stand [3:46]
15. Tom & Stu Go Home [2:33]
16. 'Ain't She Beautiful' [6:00]

Casting and production notes

Moses Gunn had originally been cast as Judge Farris, but shortly after filming had commenced his health declined, and he died shortly after that. Ossie Davis was present at the filming because his wife, Ruby Dee, was playing Mother Abagail. Davis took over the role of Judge Farris.

Having both starred in previous film adaptations of King's works, Ed Harris and Kathy Bates both had small, uncredited roles in the early parts of the series. Bates's character, Rae Flowers, was originally a man (Ray Flowers), but when Bates became available, the role was rewritten as a woman by King, who wanted her to play the part. Harris plays the Army general in charge of the original bio-weapons project who kills himself after the failure of the disease containment means most of the human population will die.

Rob Lowe had been originally considered for the role of Larry Underwood, but Garris felt that having him in the more unusual role of the mute Nick Andros would better suit the production. Adam Storke ended up with the role of Underwood, where his musical skills were an asset.

Miguel Ferrer, who played Lloyd Henreid, was originally interested in the role of Randall Flagg, but the sights were initially set on actors such as Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...

, Jeff Goldblum

Jeff Goldblum

Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day...

, Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...

 and James Woods

James Woods

James Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won three Emmy Awards, and has gained...

. Stephen King wanted someone that the audience "wasn't terribly familiar with." After Ferrer heard that Jamey Sheridan

Jamey Sheridan

James Patrick "Jamey" Sheridan is an American actor. He was born in Pasadena, California.He has had a prolific acting career in theater, television, and feature film productions. Born to a family of actors, he made it to Broadway and earned a Tony nomination in 1987 for his performance in the...

 had been offered the part, but wasn't sure it was something he wanted to do, Ferrer convinced him to take the part.

Production Designer Nelson Coates

Nelson Coates

Nelson Coates is an American production designer and set designer for film, television, and theater. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1994 for his art direction of the miniseries The Stand, for which he designed all 225 sets. Coates is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and...

, who garnered an Emmy nomination for his design work, created all 225 sets for the miniseries. Faced with prices of $40 per stalk for New York-made fake cornstalks, Coates opted instead to grow 3,250 cornstalks as a cost-cutting measure; when a winter storm hit Utah, the reproduction of a Nebraska house with cornfield became complicated by the fact that the harsh weather did not allow the corn crop to grow taller than 4 feet.

Originally, parts of the miniseries were to be filmed on location in Boulder, Colorado

Boulder, Colorado

Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...

. After the passage of Colorado Amendment 2

Romer v. Evans

Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with civil rights and state laws. It was the first Supreme Court case to deal with LGBT rights since Bowers v...

, which nullified local gay rights laws, the production was moved to Utah in protest.

Character omissions and alterations

Some characters who appeared in the Complete and Uncut version of the novel were omitted from the TV miniseries, as with already the huge cast, having the film be over six hours long, and the fact that the uncut version came out only four years before the film was released. On the DVD commentary, it is stated that the screenplay is based on the original, shortened version of the novel. However, one of the noted additions from the later 1990 "Complete And Uncut" edition is the section detailing what occurred in the Project Blue facility (which unleashed the superflu). Early in the show, Fran Goldsmith's mother, Carla, is omitted. Her boyfriend, Jesse (father of her child), is also not seen in the film but is mentioned in passing by Fran, Harold Lauder, and Peter Goldsmith. The somewhat notable character of "The Kid," a young sociopath

Antisocial personality disorder

Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...

 who has a key role in Trashcan Man's journey towards Las Vegas was only added to the extended cut of the novel. The old man, his counterpart in the original version, was not included in the film version either. Harold Lauder is not overweight in the series but is instead portrayed as a stereotypical nerd.

Several minor characters in the novel were combined into one character, maintaining the plot elements but simplifying the story somewhat. Col. Dick Deitz and Dr. Elder are merged into the character of Dr. Deitz at the Stovington, Vermont Disease Center. Rita Blakemoor, Larry's original companion during his exit from New York, was combined with the character of Nadine Cross. Elements of the character of Perion McCarthy are expressed by Dayna Jurgens in the miniseries.

Plot differences

Early in the miniseries, key elements of the story are not expanded in the same way as the novel. Fran Goldsmith's mother's horrified reaction to Fran's out-of-wedlock pregnancy is not covered, as her mother's character was previously deceased. Also, Harold Lauder begins the novel as obese, but burns the weight off on the journey, while the actor playing Harold (Corin Nemec

Corin Nemec

Corin "Corky" Nemec is an American actor. Nemec is known for playing the title character on Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Jonas Quinn on Stargate SG-1, and Harold Lauder in the ABC miniseries The Stand.-Personal life:Nemec's mother was a graphic artist as well as a painter, writer and poet...

) is naturally slim from the beginning. In the novel, his jealous act of revenge toward Fran and Stu is fueled by reading Fran's diary which belittles him, whereas this plot element is omitted in the miniseries. Instead its when Harold views Fran and Stu together by the creek.

In the novel, it is Nadine Cross who initially takes care of "Joe" (Leo Rockway). In the mini-series, Nadine and "Joe" have no interaction. Nadine has left Larry Underwood by the time Larry teams up with "Joe" and Lucy Swann. Nadine also takes on the role of Rita Blakemoor; Larry meets her in New York, where they journey out of the city together. Nadine and Larry part ways not long after leaving the city. Unlike Rita's character, who fatally overdoses in the novel, Nadine simply leaves in the middle of the night because of the conflict between her desire to be with Larry and her destiny to be with Flagg. Nadine and Larry do not meet again until her arrival in Boulder.

In the novel, Julie Lawry and Nick have sex and she tries to get Nick to leave Tom behind. In the miniseries, almost all of the sexual nature is left out. Julie and Nick have a brief moment of intimate hugging in the drug store, and Julie is left behind after she says the medicine Nick tries to give Tom is poison.

Also, Frannie's baby is a boy in the uncut version and is named Peter after her father, yet in the miniseries she has a girl which she names Abagail after Mother Abagail.

In the novel, Nadine taunts Flagg about missing Tom as the third spy, so much that he is overcome with rage and tosses her off the balcony of the penthouse. In the series, Nadine slowly climbs up the wall of the balcony and falls backwards purposely as Flagg lunges at her trying to stop her suicide.

Several of the more graphic scenes in the novel were eliminated because of their violence and sexual nature in the TV adaptation. The entire plot line concerning the "female zoo" that Stu Redman's party encounters is omitted, with the relevant characters (Dayna Jurgens and Sue Stern) being folded into the storyline through other means. Of course, this plot line was not in the original novel at all and was only featured in the expanded edition that came out later. Another omission involves the Flagg-ordered execution of a drug user who violates one of the rules set up by Flagg's society, by openly demonstrating the execution in front of everyone to their horror, particularly Lloyd Henreid's. Director Mick Garris also felt that the crime spree and eventual capture of Lloyd and Poke Freeman was most compromised by the requirements of television.

There are other minor differences between the two versions; most of the alterations made for the miniseries were made to move along the progression of the storyline. The characters from Arnette are moved directly to Vermont, instead of going to Atlanta for initial treatment, for example. Nick's time in Shoyo is similarly compressed, with Ray Booth representing most of the action, which was originally split between several of the thugs who beat him up. Larry goes on foot to escape from New York City, which is developed much more in depth with the novel, such as encountering other survivors.

The miniseries does not specify what year the story takes place. It is evidently set a few years later than either version of the novel, because Larry Underwood makes a brief reference to the Rodney King

Rodney King

Rodney Glen King is an American best known for his involvement in a police brutality case involving the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991...

 police brutality incident. During the first Free Zone Committee meeting, Ralph Brentner also makes mention of a SCUD missile, a phrase which didn't enter popular culture until Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

In the end of the Complete & Uncut version of the novel, Randall Flagg washes up on a beach on an island where he encounters a group of tribesmen. This is not shown in the series, possibly because they wanted to show a better hope for the future.

1994 Casting Society of America (Artios)

• Won – Best Mini Series Casting: Lynn Kressel

1994 Emmy Awards

• Won – Outstanding Makeup For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special:
  Steve Johnson, Bill Corso, David Dupuis, Joel Harlow, Camille Calvet
• Won – Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Miniseries or a Movie:
  Grand Maxwell, Michael Ruschak, Richard Schexnayder, Don Summer
• Nominated – Outstanding Art Direction For A Miniseries, Or Movie:
  Nelson Coates
  Nelson Coates
  Nelson Coates is an American production designer and set designer for film, television, and theater. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1994 for his art direction of the miniseries The Stand, for which he designed all 225 sets. Coates is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and...
  
  , Burton Rencher, Michael Perry, Susan Benjamin
• Nominated – Outstanding Cinematography For A Miniseries Or Movie: Edward J. Pei
• Nominated – Outstanding Miniseries: Richard P. Rubinstein, Stephen King
  Stephen King
  Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
  
  , Mitchell Galin, Peter R. McIntosh
• Nominated – Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Dramatic Underscore): W.G. Walden

1995 Screen Actors Guild Awards

• Nominated – Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: Gary Sinise
  Gary Sinise
  Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
  
  

Releases

The Stand was released as two separate VHS tapes for Parts 1-2, 3-4 originally in New Zealand and Australia, and later as a two VHS set.

The Stand was released on 3 Laser Discs in a box set.

The Stand was released on DVD by Artisan Entertainment in a two-disc release and a single disc DVD. Both DVD versions have audio commentary and special features. Both the double disc and single disc releases of The Stand are out of print, but can still be purchased online.

In 2006, American DVD rights reverted to Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

/CBS DVD. Paramount has not yet released a standalone version of The Stand, but has released it as part of a collection with The Langoliers

The Langoliers (TV miniseries)

The Langoliers is a miniseries consisting of 2 episodes of 2 hours each . It was directed and written by Tom Holland and based on the novella by Stephen King. The series was produced by Mitchell Galin and David R. Kappes...

and Golden Years. This release of The Stand lacks the audio commentary.

The underlying international rights to The Stand were once owned by Warner Bros. Television

Warner Bros. Television

Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...

.

Currently, "The Stand" is available on Instant Netflix

Netflix

Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...

.

External links