The Dead Zone

 I've previously covered the works of Stephen King and their adaptations, and then covered Children of the Corn in a separate post.

I recently watched the early adaptations of Stephen King for my October watch and was thinking about how two different versions of the Dead Zone are in the TVCU.  Both the original novel and the television series are connected to the TVCU.  This kind of weird coincidence where similar versions of the same character exist in the same universe are not uncommon in the TVCU.  Different versions of Superman exist in the same universe.  The American and British Office have crossed.  Baywatch the movie exists in the same universe as the tv series.  They are even working on a way for Ghosts UK and Ghosts USA to crossover.  

So here is my post on the Dead Zone.  

THE DEAD ZONE (NOVEL BY STEPHEN KING)

Release Date: August 1979 (Contemporary Setting)

Series: Stephen King Universe (works of Stephen King)

The Story: A man gains the power to see the future of people that he touches, and when he sees a man who is running for president will bring about the end of the world, he takes matters to change the future, by any means necessary.

Notes: Most of the story takes place in Castle Rock, but Jerusalem’s Lot is also mentioned. 

YANKEE MAGAZINE “UNCLE OTTO’S TRUCK” (SHORT STORY BY STEPHEN KING)

Release Date: October 1983 (Setting is post-depression era)

Series: Stephen King Universe (the works of Stephen King)

The Story: A businessman in Castle Rock kills a man with his truck, then thereafter feels that the truck is alive and coming after him.

Notes: Castle Rock is the setting of numerous King stories. The story has a reference to Frank Dodd from the Dead Zone.

IT (NOVEL BY STEPHEN KING)

Release Date: September 15, 1986 (Setting is 1957 - 1958 and 1984 - 1985)

Series: Stephen King Universe (the works of Stephen King)

Horror Crosses: Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos

The Story: In the town of Derry, in the 1950s, a supernatural entity terrorizes until a group of children band together to defeat it. In the 1980s, those former children must again stop the entity.

Notes: This story has references that link it to Lovecraft’s Pickman’s Model. It also has references to The Stand, Children of the Corn, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, The Dead Zone, The Tommyknockers, the Dark Tower, and Christine.

THE TOMMYKNOCKERS (NOVEL BY STEPHEN KING)

Release Date: November 10, 1987 (Contemporary Setting)

Series: Stephen King Universe (the works of Stephen King)

Non-Horror Crosses: Forbidden Planet

The Story: An alien object buried beneath the Earth gives the people of a small town genius level intellect mixed with psychotic tendencies towards violence. 

Notes: One child, with his new intellect and evil intent, creates a teleporter and sends his brother to a planet identified as Altair 4, the setting of Forbidden Planet. Forbidden Planet has also been linked to Gremlins, so it clearly exists in one of the many possible future timelines of the Horror Universe. The story ends with the Shop personnel, along with FBI and CIA, swooping in. The Shop is from Firestarter, the Langoliers, and others. There are also links to King’s The Talisman, the Dead Zone, and It.

THE DARK HALF (NOVEL BY STEPHEN KING)

Release Date: October 20, 1989 (Contemporary Setting)

Series: Stephen King Universe

The Story: A writer is unsuccessful under his own name, but the crime stories he writes under a pseudonym are widely successful. When his dual identity is outed, he jokingly puts on a mock funeral for his pseudonym. But then, some time later, the pseudonym manifests himself as a living duplicate of the writer, and digs out of the previously empty grave and goes on a killing spree.

Notes: Two characters in this story had previously appeared in The Crate. A large portion of the story takes place in Castle Rock. The events of Cujo and the Dead Zone are referenced.

NEEDFUL THINGS (NOVEL BY STEPHEN KING)

Release Date: October 1991 (Contemporary Setting)

Series: Stephen King Universe (the works of Stephen King)

Horror Crosses: Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos

The Story: A new shop opens in Castle Rock, Maine called Needful Things. The owner, Leland Gaunt, seems to always have the perfect item for anyone who enters, and will sell for an extremely low price. All he asks is that the customer also play a prank on someone else in the town. Gaunt seems to also know about all the problems, jealousies, and rivalries of the town, and uses that knowledge to escalate things and create controlled chaos.

Notes: This was billed as the last Castle Rock story, and indeed it was, except for an epilogue to this story, It Grows on You, in 1993’s Nightmares & Dreamscapes. It’s implied in the story that Gaunt may be the devil. A devil figure also appears in the Stand by King, as a very different figure. Gaunt is likely not really Lucifer, but is more of a deal making demon. This story also makes references to The Library Policeman, the Dead Zone, the Body, and Cujo. Also, some graffiti on a wall says “Yog-Sothoth Rules!” Clearly, the town has problems with teens who worship Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos.

DESPERATION (NOVEL BY STEPHEN KING)

Release Date: September 24, 1996 (Contemporary Setting)

Series: Stephen King Universe (the works of Stephen King)

The Story: An evil entity possessing a deputy abducts a group of people and holds them in the deserted town of Desperation. 

Notes: King wrote this story and released it at the same time as he also wrote Regulators under a pseudonym, which featured the same characters from Desperation but in alternate events. Thus Regulators must be one of the alternate realities to the Horror Universe. The terms can-toi (“little god”) and can-tak (“big god”) are used, which come from Dark Tower, and are references to the Low Men in Yellow Coats. Other strange phrases in this story are also used in the Dark Tower series. There is also a reference to another King work called Roadwork, also written under a pseudonym, that is implied to be another alternate reality. The novel Misery in Paradise is mentioned, which is from Misery. This story’s character Cynthia Smith previously appeared in Rose Madder. There is also a reference to the Tommyknockers. In the film adaption of this novel, one of the characters has a “Redrum” vision, a reference to the Shining. This film version also makes the implication that the evil entity of this story is of the same species as in It. The film version must be the same events as the novel, told from a different perspective, so both are valid for Horror Universe inclusion. A character also mentions Arnette, Texas, which is also in the alternate timeline of The Stand. And, in a sneaky preview, a note is found written by characters from Under the Dome, years before the story was published. Inside View, the rag newspaper from the Dead Zone and others, also appears.