UPN's new show Dead Zone, starring Nicole deBoer (Ezri Dax) and created by DS9 and Voyager co-creator Michael Piller, is reportedly shaping up very well indeed.

A test showing of the pilot episode was recently screened to a limited audience, and a detailed report appeared online at Aint it Cool News. The site's source recounted how he was contacted privately by a survey company conducting research on reactions to the pilot. "They then told me there was going to be a TV pilot shown on cable channel 74 at 6 PM." he wrote. "I didn’t even know there was a channel 74. It was way past the encoded pay channels that I don’t pay. I flipped to 74 just to make sure it existed and I was surprised to see (at that moment) really bad infomercials."

The site's source was very positive about the show. He was already reserving two hours of his life every Wednesday evening for Enterprise and Dead Zone. "Suffice to say, I was blown away by the drama and the special effects that followed," he said. "You also have to be patient, for a few minutes anyway, about some of the things Johnny claims to know about. The director cleverly doesn’t show you what Johnny sees at first and how he can claim to know something after just touching someone. Eventually, however, you do go with Johnny on a journey and experience what he sees. And it’s really cool."

Michelle Erica Green was also recently privy to a different early cut of the pilot episode. She too, was impressed. "I thought it was great." she told TrekToday. "I think Stephen King purists and movie fans will be pleased -- most of the changes work very well, and the end of the first episode was very suspenseful even though I think I know who the bad guy is based on those previous versions... This is definitely a series I'd watch."

The series is based upon the 1979 Stephen King novel 'Dead Zone' in which an unassuming man gains powers that may change history. In the book, John Smith awakes from a coma to find his life in ruins. He wakes up as well with a gap in his brain, the "dead zone" of the title. "The Zone" gives him crippling headaches, but also grants him second sight, a talent he doesn't want and is reluctant to use. Those around him are reluctant to believe in his new power and brand him a freak.

In the TV version, Nicole deBoer will play Sarah, girlfriend of Johnny Smith, played by Anthony Michael Hall. The pilot opens with Johnny and Sarah as children ice-skating on a pond. Johnny panics when he gets a premonition about a child falling through the ice. In the first act, he and Sarah are school teachers, 26 years later. Johnny helps out some kids at a Carnival, by using his powers to guess numbers in a sequence. Then he is injured in an accident and wakes up six years later after being in a coma. His strengthened powers almost immediately make themselves known.

Anthony Michael Hall had a long and successful career in television, film and music before landing the role of Johnny in Dead Zone. He appeared in 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' in 1999, and has had roles in 'The Breakfast Club' and 'Weird Science.' He was the youngest ever member of Saturday Night Live making his debut at 17 years old. He was also the most downloaded artist on mp3.com on May 3rd with his album 'Hall of Mirrors'.

Nicole deBoer is of course familiar to Star Trek fans as Ezri Dax from Deep Space Nine's final season. The 30-year old Canadian actress has also appeared in the TV Series The Kids in the Hall which spawned a film of the same title, 'Dooley Gardens,' and the Showtime film 'Rated X.' She is married to musician John Kastner.

The performances of both lead actors impressed initial viewers. "Michael Hall and Nicole DeBoer have excellent chemistry," said Michelle Erica Green, "[deBoer is] also excellent in her solo scenes, in which she's called upon to play a much broader range of emotions than he does. She's not as annoyingly perky as Ezri Dax sometimes was; she comes across more grounded and I think viewers will have an easier time relating to her character."

Dead Zone is part of an exciting line-up of new programmes on UPN that will debut on its Fall schedule. UPN has a great deal of confidence in the new series, which will air straight after the new Star Trek Series on Wednesday nights. The network is investing heavily in the science fiction genre, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Enterprise and possibly Battlestar Galactica all heading for UPN.

It is widely expected that the press will get its first glimpse of the new series on Thursday, as part of UPN's Advertising Up-Front presentation. Dead Zone will debut in the Fall on UPN.

The Stephen King book, 'The Dead Zone' is available to purchase here at Amazon.com. To read the full commentary on the pilot episode, follow this link to Aint it Cool News. The photographs used in this article are taken from NikkiDeBoer.com and Anthony Michael Hall's Hall of Mirrors.

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