Compte à rebours

In a secret research center of the USA, the lunatic, but also genius, Dr. Richard X. Toddhunter (Bill Raymond) ignores the warning signal in the control panel and proceeds with his experiment with a particle accelerator. The laboratory blows-up and his assistant dies and the seventy-year-old janitor Harlan Williams (Keith Szarabajka) is exposed to a green radiation that rejuvenates. However the scientist omits the truth about the accident in the preliminary hearing.

The national security agent Terry Spann (Felicity Huffman) and her lover, General Louis Crewes (Ed Lauter), find the truth about what had happened in the laboratory and unsuccessfully try to shut down the experiment. But the CIA assassin Jude Andrews (R.D. Call) kills whoever tries to conduct a further investigation that may compromise the experiment. Now Terry and Louis decide to protect Harlan and his wife Gina (Frances Sternhagen) from Andrews that wants to bring the janitor to become the guinea pig of Dr. Toddhunter.

Yesterday I lost more than four hours of my life watching the dull "Golden Years" on a double DVD. The lame story is absurd and most of the characters are ridiculous or annoying. There are shootings and executions everywhere without press or politicians taking any action. The acting is below average and the story has no conclusion.

The gangster Jude Andrews kills whoever he wants without any consequence. General Louis Crewes and Terry Spann are military and agent from the security agency without any connection with any superior what seems to be impossible. Major Moreland is an unfunny clown while Dr. Richard X. Toddhunter is the stereotype of a mad scientist. Gina Williams is annoying and unfortunately does not die and stays until the very end. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "Jovem Outra Vez" ("Young Again")

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 won't bother to list the cast, as others have done that. I will say that the cast was excellent, and did their jobs admirably.

I have not read "The Book", so I can't compare. The series as it stood, though, was rather good. That is, it had promise. I understand that the original intent was to make a full series but for reasons unknown it was cut short. The ending leaves much to be desired as it causes more questions than it answers. I would very much like to see a continuation of "Golden Years" to see where Mr. King intended to go with the story. I wish the Sci Fi channel would pick this show up and run it again. I have not seen it since the summer the Sci Fi channel premiered and they ran a number of short run shows.

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.

When this series aired I watched most of it. I think it was supposed to be a long running series in the vein of "The Fugitive" and "The Incredible Hulk" where the protagonist is being chased around the country looking for a solution to his problems. In this case the hero's problem is his progressive aging in reverse. I liked what I saw of these shows. The acting was good especially the sorrowful relationship between the lead character and his wife. Problem is: They cancelled it before it had a chance to end. (either that or I missed the last episodes).

They never got a chance to wrap up the story either, knowing it had been cancelled. Poof it was just gone. However, like I said before I might have missed the last episodes. But my proof to the contrary is this: I rented the tape. Where I left off in the series. The lead character's wife dies in a fire started by a chase involving King's famous organization the Shop. While getting away hero is kidnapped. It ends with his friends realizing they have to go save him from the Shop. The end. Last episode. On the video: His wife does not die but escapes the fire with him. Right when he should get nabbed by the Shop, he and his wife share a weird moment then phase out of existence. Abrupt, silly and cheap to the extreme. They just wanted to put this video out and decided to tag on an ending not caring how bad it was. They might as well of just shown some stock footage of the first atomic bomb detonations. Almost Pythonesque.

The show did have a cool opening title sequence set to the David Bowie song of the same name