Años dorados

"Golden Years" is a 1991 series, based on Steven King's idea, for which most of the scenario he wrote personally. The first season consisted of 7 episodes in a total duration of about 6 hours and ended with cliffhanger. Unfortunately, from episode to episode series had weaker and weaker ratings, so it was canceled. For the purpose of DVD release it was turned into a film. It was shortened to 4 hours and an alternate ending was filmed, so it doesn't stay unfinished.

The idea is great, story and characters are developing well and it had the potential to be one of the better King's accomplishments. Unfortunately, it's not. The first hour is so slow and boring that I was on the verge of giving up. Later, the story becomes more and more exciting, and once you get yourself attached to the characters, 4 hours just fly by. Nevertheless, there is an omnipresent feeling that something is wrong. As much as they skillfully turned the six-hour season into a four-hour film, although I did not watch the original version, I always felt that something was missing. But all of this would not have a major impact on the overall impression if there wasn't for a catastrophically bad ending, which so obviously does not belong to this film-series that it's simply painful to see. The story develops for 4 hours in its slow but atmospheric natural pace, and then suddenly ends, as a knife cut, with the end that is forcefully sewn to where it doesn't fit.

However, I recommend King's fans to watch it anyway, as well as fans of the series "X-Files", because the film has an atmosphere very similar to this series, as well as a couple of joint actors that enhance this impression. All in all, I enjoyed it, but I would not watch it again.

6/10

This dramatisation is on the whole a good one. Albeit with a weak ending. A reasonable cast help to flesh out this tale of an ordinary (well more or less) man trying to outrun the all powerful authorities. Personally, I sank into this dramatisation like an old pair of slippers. It felt comforting. I appreciate Stephen King for his sympathetic characters and plausible relationships. Once again Kingdeftly demonstrates his exceptional talent for characterisation and human interplay. It may now be a little dated but is still worth a look. Don't be put off by the last review. If you can see past King's title of "Horror" writer (he is worthy of much more) then you will appreciate this.

What was Stephen King thinking writing this dull, derivative yawnfest? A really un-interesting four hours was made out of the simple story of a man caught in an explosion at a factory who starts to get younger, and the various agents of the government who chase him wanting to know what happened. The whole thing could have fitted into an hour, but no , we have to witness every long winded chase and escape plan, plus endlessly tedious scenes of no relevance concerning a completely over the top mad doctor, and un-funny comedy relief provided by an irritating general dogsbody character. To top it all, the thing doesn't even end-just sort of peters out to nothing-no payoff-zilch. Derivative and not worthy of Stephen King's normal high quality-avoid this like the plague. You'll be bored senseless if you watch it, and at 4 hours it is a criminal waste of time.

I got this as part of a dvd collection back in 2023, a point in time in which no one buys dvds anymore but I am a staunch supporter and avid fan of physical media. I had seen the rest of the collection before but I never had the chance to see this, so I remember watching it and fast forward to 2025, I had no recollection of it.

If only I had stayed that way.

The miniseries is just pointless. You start off with a decent story that melts into convoluted and unexplained hokum that doesn't really make a comment or tell a story. The characters are sympathetic at first but after the first 3 episodes, you lose interest in either their motives or their character arcs, since the actors seem to forget their reasoning for why they are playing that character.

Harlan Williams was commendably played but the makeup and the soft spoken passive aggressiveness felt rather unconvincing. His wife Gina felt genuine but her meddling, obnoxious nagging and her hard headed naiveté wore thin quickly and you lose interest in caring for her. Terry Spann was played by 2 different actresses, apparently, and it loses the sex appeal the character once thrusted into the series. General Crewes is first seen as sternly dull but evolves into comic relief by the third act of this with no actual resolve. The mad scientist Toddhunter was just despicable and utterly insufferable since he showed up onscreen and never lost that charm, but then again, he acted just like you would expect a man to, if he were named "Toddhunter". I don't know why Stephen Root is in this and I don't care to know, considering that he plays a conniving yet pusillanimous military major, both of which aren't really his best impersonations. The only character to actually make this interesting was the project's antagonist by the name of Andrews. He plays a rather convincing figure who is sent to eliminate the potential investigators or whistleblowers that kickstart the story's premise.

Some of these characters hit their mark and some never did. Most notable, the heinous scientist who caused all this trouble, only to be given some shoddy backstory regarding his controlling or overbearing father and then disappearing right before the miniseries' attempt at a climax.

The original run had an ending that was meant to signify the beginning of an actual tv series but failed to garner any viewer investment and was dropped.

Thus, we get a dvd release of it, with an alternate ending that seems to literally vanish into thin air and leave everything without an actual explanation after making us spend 4 fricking hours trying to put it all together. It didn't work back when it came out, didn't work when I first saw it and after trying to rewatch it this time around.

The ultimate irony of it is that I've said more in my review about it than anything the miniseries attempted to say about it in its entire length. I wish I could like this just for the sake of it being the work of Stephen King but it is probably one of his weaker entries and one of his greatest misses. My only hope is that in writing this in 2025, someone who is hard up for remaking worthless drivel, reads this review and leaves this one alone.

We don't ever need a remake or reboot of Stephen King's "Golden Years".

Ever.

Stephen King is no stranger to television, both with adaptations of his work (from "Tales From The Darkside"'s version of 'Word Processor of the Gods' to the miniseries "The Stand") and original scripts (witness "Storm of the Century" and that episode of "The X-Files"). "Golden Years" was his first venture into television originals, and it certainly avoids the depths of "The Shining" (the Kubrick version, not the one with Rebecca DeMornay), but neither is it as effective as "The Dead Zone."

An elderly janitor (Keith Szarabajka in old-age makeup) is caught in an explosion at the plant where he works; he survives, but he soon starts to grow younger, and with his wife (Frances Sternhagen) he goes on the run from the people behind the plant... this blend of "Cocoon" and "The Fugitive" worked for the most part, with Szarabajka's rejuvenation a slow process instead of an overnight thing (by the end of the series he was still pretty old), and his pursuers (Ed Lauter, Felicity Huffman) weren't out-and-out villains. But the series blew it in the final episode, never producing a real finale - it just seemed to stop, leaving a distinct "That was IT?" impression.

Proof that it's never a good idea to rest on your Laurels.