Brimstone (TV series)

Brimstone (1998–1999) is a short-lived Fox television series, featuring a dead police detective whose mission (assigned by the Devil) is to return to Hell 113 spirits who have escaped to Earth. The series ran for only one partial season.

Since cancellation, Brimstone reruns have aired on Syfy (originally the Sci Fi Channel) in the United States from the summer of 1999 onward. The reruns have no set schedule, but are usually aired in marathons during the channel's seasonal events like "Creatureland", "Inhumanland" and "the 31 Days of Halloween". Chiller also began airing reruns, on July 28, 2007. It currently airs in sporadic weekday marathons, like Syfy, and has no set airing schedule.

Plot

In 1983, Ezekiel "Zeke" Stone (Peter Horton) was a New York City Police detective whose wife, Rosalyn, was raped. He tracked down and arrested the offender, Gilbert Jax, who was cleared of the charges. Furious, Stone then murdered Jax. Two months later, Stone was killed and went to Hell for murdering Jax. The Devil (played by John Glover) explains in the pilot episode that this was both because Stone responded to his wife's rape with murder, and because he took pleasure in the killing, which prevented it from being justice. Stone died the most decorated cop in NYC history.

Fifteen years later, a breakout from Hell occurs, led by a 4000 year old Canaanite priestess named Ashur Badaktu (Teri Polo). The Devil explains a few souls have escaped (and presumably been returned) to Hell, but nothing of this magnitude, which includes 113 souls. Because the Devil claims to be "powerless on Earth", (though he apparently can teleport, disguise himself and use some form of limited magic), he makes a deal with Stone: Stone will be returned to Earth to track down these 113 escapees and if he can return all of them to Hell (before one of them kills him), he will earn a second chance at life on Earth (and thus, possibly, Heaven). The Devil seems to hinder Stone's work almost as much as he helps it, however, giving some information but withholding crucial facts or giving only cryptic clues to where Stone will find an escapee, apparently delighting in watching him become more irritable with his interference. It was suggested by an angel (in the episode "It's a Helluva Life", played by John Glover in a dual role) that Stone served God's purpose as well as the Devil's in his former life through his sins.

Powers and equipment

Both Stone and the escapees have powers that are superhuman. Because they are deceased immortal souls, they cannot be killed, injured or even caused pain except by themselves or by other escapees (with the exception of when one of Stone's tattoos burns off). They also do not bleed. Stone wears the clothing he was killed in, wields his issue service pistol which he has no need to reload — this idea however, has not been applied consistently by the creator of the show; his gun ran out of ammo during the episodes "Encore" and "Lovers". Stone carries his detective's gold shield. None of these items (gun, badge, clothes) retain any damage, even if they are hit by bullets, but this is also inconsistently applied, as he takes his coat to a tailor in "Repentance" and actually lists off what each tear and hole is from. Because Stone was carrying $36.27 in cash at the time of his death, he begins every day with this exact amount in his pocket.

Fighting villains

The Devil informs Stone that because the eyes "are windows to the soul", Stone must pierce the eyes of an escapee to return them to Hell. This rule also applies to Stone himself, however. Though, it was modified once to some extent by the Devil, in a special case when Stone had to return the man who raped his wife, he also had to employ the same rage to do as he did in life. If Stone is returned, his mission would be considered a failure; therefore, he would remain in Hell and another person would be chosen to return the fugitive souls. The Devil has taunted Stone by reminding him of this and suggesting that certain escapees would be good replacements.

Some escapees have other preternatural powers, such as the ability to control the elements or turn invisible. The Devil explains that the longer one spends in Hell, the more it becomes a part of them, literally. Even though Stone himself describes them (in the opening narration) as "the most vile creatures", some of the escapees seem to be no more evil than Stone himself. He wears the name and pictographs of these 113 souls as tattoos over his body. As each soul is sent back, their corresponding tattoo disappears in a burning like fashion causing Stone to react from the pain it induces.

Other characters

Among Stone's allies are Maxine (Lori Petty), the woman who owned the hotel where he stays, and Father Cletus Horn (Albert Hall), a blind priest who eventually learned of Stone's mission. Stone occasionally worked with police detectives Ash (Teri Polo) and Fraker (Scott Lawrence). Much of the series' internal conflict was generated by the fact that Stone's wife Rosalyn (Stacy Haiduk) was still alive and his difficulty in staying away from her. Near the end of the season/series, Ash was revealed to be the priestess who engineered the escape from Hell by using her implied romance with The Devil, though he insisted he never loved anyone but God. As such, she became a sort of archnemesis and femme fatale for Stone. She also became infatuated with Stone.

Cast

Main cast

• Peter Horton as Ezekiel Stone
• John Glover as The Devil

Regular guests

• María Costa as Teresita/Waitress
• Stacy Haiduk as Rosalyn Stone
• Albert Hall as Father Cletus Horn
• Scott Lawrence as Lt. Fraker
• Lori Petty as Maxine
• Teri Polo as Det. Ash/Ashur Badaktu

International broadcast

Country of Broadcast	Broadcasting Network	Broadcasting Channel	Debut	Finale	Dubbing	Subtitle
Indonesia4	Trans Corp4	Trans TV4	Movie: 12 December 20014 Series: 20 December 2001 (Live) 23 July 2012 (Rerun)4	Series: 12 December 2002 (Live)4 17 August 2012 (Rerun)5	English1234	Indonesian4
Malaysia1	Media Prima Berhad1	NTV71	1 May 20121	20 July 20121
Singapore2	MediaCorp TV2	Channel 52	1 March 20122	31 March 20122		Chinese23
Hong Kong3	TVB3	TVB Pearl3	28 July 20123	11 August 20123
	STAR TV	STAR World	21 July 2012	18 August 2012

Notes:

1. ^ Peninsular Malaysia was delayed telecasts in 2012 with English dubbing and Malay subtitles on every Friday at 11:00 until 12:00 MST.
2. ^ Republic of Singapore was delayed telecasts in 2012 with English dubbing and Chinese subtitles.
3. ^ Hong Kong was delayed telecasts in 2012 with English dubbing and Chinese subtitles.
4. ^ Republic of Indonesia was delayed telecasts in 2001 with English dubbing and Indonesian subtitles. A television movie on every Wednesday was first aired on 12 December 2001 at 19:00 until 21:00 WIB was be called as "Trans Hollywood" (also known as "TRANSVAGANZA Festival Film Liburan") and television series on every Thursday was first aired on 20 December 2001 until last aired on 12 December 2001 at 22:00 until 23:00 WIB. For Ramadhan it was rerun on every weekday, 23 July 2012 until 16 August 2012 at 09:30 until 10:30 WIB.
5. ^ Begin this last and final episode, the show airs every afternoon. Especially for this episode, the show airs at 12:30 until 14:25 WIB due to Live Proclamation of Indonesian Independence Day with officially raised of the national flag was replaced by the Celebrations of Proclamation of Indonesian Independence Anniversary of 67 years, once during the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence Day on Friday, 17 August 2012 at 09:30 until 11:00 WIB.

DVD release

Brimstone is 19th-ranked on TvShowsOnDvd.com's list of unreleased shows as of February 28, 2013 (2013-02-28). On September 15, 2008, during a Home Theater Forum chat, Warner Home Video representatives said that "Despite the wonderful work of Peter Horton and John Glover, there are no plans at this time to release Brimstone".

Episode list

Season 1 (1998–1999)

External links

• Brimstone at the Internet Movie Database
• Brimstone at TV.com
• Brimstone on the Open Directory Project
• Brimstone at TV IV
• Brimstone The Virtual Seasons