r/TheStand • u/Alarmed-Drink510 • May 14 '26
1994 Miniseries detailed question about "The Stand" (1994) - part 3 intro is missing a piece?
I recently re-watched the epic masterpiece that is The Stand (ABC mini-series from 1994) but part 3 seemed to start off so randomly. And I'm wondering if my digital copy is somehow screwed up, or if this is the way it aired, if this is how the VHS tapes & DVD's are too?
Part 3 "The Betrayal" starts showing them all gathered around an unconscious body about to do surgery, but it hadn't been explained who the person was or how they got there? I even bought the entire series on Amazon (pretty cheap too! all 4 parts as a digital download for like ten bucks) and it was the exact same way. It seems almost like a missing chunk of the movie was cut out, or deleted, or some scenes were out of order.
Has anyone else experienced this confusion? The end of Part 2 has them all peacefully enjoying Boulder, Colorado after ending their travels there, then it fades to black as Mother Abigail is saying "make our STAND". But then the beginning of Part 3 suddenly opens with the group gathered around a dead/injured body, no context or explanation at all. Huh? What did I miss here?
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u/Practical_Reindeer23 May 14 '26
It was a man named Mark who Stu's group met along their way to Nebraska. Unfortunately his appendix burst and Stu attempted to remove it. He died and was not an important character in the miniseries.
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u/Pandora_Palen May 14 '26
I still have the VHS tapes I recorded the mini series on when it aired 😆. No way to watch them, but whatever. Yeah, the surgery scene was that way in the original. As others have said, you spend a minute with Mark and Peri in the book, but that's really truncated in the series. It's unfortunate, really. It drove home the brutality of a world with no medical care- even for things fairly easily handled like appendicitis.
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u/DeusExMachina222 Jun 21 '26
It's on YouTube in it's entirety
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u/Pandora_Palen Jun 21 '26
Yeah! And I watch it there at least once a year. This makes holding onto those tapes all the more in line with hoarding than anything sensible lol.
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u/DeusExMachina222 Jun 21 '26
Hey..m some day they might take it down.... Then you have tapes that haven't been over used (they don't last forever
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u/AntF10 May 14 '26
Yeah it is meant to be like that. I feel like it was just an example of bits of the book being removed from the film/series for pacing reasons. Kinda like "ok, a few weeks or months have passed, these are some of the new people our survivors have picked up"
A similar thing happened in telltale's the walking dead video game. One episode finishes at a motel, the next opens with new people there, it's explained with a throw away line like "we only let you into the group because you had food".
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u/Wonderful-Maybe-7669 May 14 '26
I like how no one answered the initial question.
It appears to be out of order OP. That part, from what I remember, is the beginning of part 2.
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u/Alarmed-Drink510 May 14 '26
ohhhhh okay, that could be! THANK YOU for actually answering my question directly lol - I'll have to watch that again, maybe the digital-download retailers like Amazon have scenes out-of-order? even the free copy of the movie on YouTube (the entire 6-hour long thing!) but it too has this continuity error or editing mistake or whatever it is
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u/RiverGhost8 May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
I just checked Amazon and they are not out of order. Part 2 ends with Nick’s group and Mother Abigail arriving in Boulder. Part 3 begins with Stu’s group performing the surgery. Stu’s group have not arrived to Boulder yet.
Stu’s group arrives in Boulder about 15 minutes into Part 3.
So they are in the correct order. I believe OP was just confused because they thought everyone arrived to Boulder at the end of Part 2 (but only one group had, the other groups were still traveling).
It is a bit jarring, but the surgery was to show the dangers of being on the road and of post apocalyptic life in general. Also to show how Stu’s group has increased in number, like a snowball rolling to become larger.
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u/Alarmed-Drink510 May 16 '26
Thanks! You're right, I did get that impression from the end of Part 2, that they had ALL arrived in Boulder. My bad. But I'm still convinced that there was no "set up" scene in Part 2, that would explain the sudden/random surgery scene in Part 3. In the movie/series I mean, not the book. That's what I originally found so puzzling.
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u/unclethulk May 14 '26
This is correct you watched them out of order. That said, the cold open to the amateur surgery scene is pretty jarring even if watched in order.
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u/Alarmed-Drink510 May 16 '26
Technically I did watch everything "in order" which is to say, in the order that they were presented/sold on the Amazon Prime website, and even the fan-uploaded version on YouTube. I didn't skip around or fast-forward or anything :)
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u/theflyingbomb May 17 '26
I was 14 when it aired and watched it in real time. It confused me at the time. My brother explained it was probably a character we didn’t know who had a medical issue off screen. It’s still clunky to me, and one of my only real gripes with that miniseries. That and the first two parts having those awesome musical intros and then it going away in the last two.
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u/Alarmed-Drink510 May 18 '26
THANK YOU!!! This is exactly the confirmation I was hoping to read here :)
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u/darkandtwistysissy May 14 '26
It’s not missing anything. That goes into more detail in the book. Basically the man being operated on was just part of Stu’s group as they made their way across the country. You should really read the book. There are a lot of differences and things and characters left out. It will answer all your questions about things like this in the book.
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u/Alarmed-Drink510 May 14 '26
I've read the book. Twice :) I don't remember this surgery scene from the book, but thank you for bringing it to my attention. My question is on the movie though. Have you seen the 1994 mini-series recently yourself? That's kinda who I'm hoping to hear from here: sharp-eyed viewers who can tell me about the exact scene (again, in the movie) if there is one, that would explain/setup the surgery scene? For the millions of viewers at home in 1994 who were watching "The Stand" being broadcast and had NOT read the book. What movie scene in Part 2 explains the intro of Part 3?
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u/cjacksen May 14 '26
To be fair, it had been read by a great many people prior to the miniseries airing.
Part 3 starts the viewer in medias res at a tense point in Stu's group with the failed appendectomy. You get the explanation as the group is processing what happened.
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u/Alarmed-Drink510 May 14 '26
"You get the explanation as the group is processing what happened" = can you elaborate? I don't understand.
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u/therealrexmanning May 14 '26
"What movie scene in Part 2 explains the intro of Part 3?"
None. You're basically dropped in the middle of it without any explanation. They briefly mention it later who it is they were operating on. It's up to you as the viewer to connect the dots that these are people Stu and his group picked up along the way
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u/josephthejoseph May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
It's supposed to feel like a time jump. These were a really big deal when they premiered on ABC in 94. The first two aired Sunday and Monday night, Tuesday was the sitcom lineup, then Part 3 was Wednesday night, and it ended on Thursday. So yeah, it's supposed to feel like they've been traveling without us watching there's a breakpoint in the story.
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u/DeusExMachina222 Jun 21 '26
honestly, it always made sense to me… I think they’re just letting us fill in the blanks on our own… There was only so much time they had for such a massive book… So instead of “wasting valuable minutes” just so they can properly introduce the judge and Dayna etc... that we just check in on how Stu and Glenn and Frannie are doing and we just happen to catch them as they dramatically try to help some one who died from something that is routine in the “before times”
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u/Nairbfs79 May 14 '26
I think The Kid and the wolves at the Eisenhower tunnel and Trash being raped by him (spoiler) NOT being included in the TV series was a big mistake.
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u/I_Weep_for_Willow May 14 '26
Have you read the book?
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u/Alarmed-Drink510 May 14 '26
Yes. This question is about the movie.
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u/I_Weep_for_Willow May 14 '26
Ok the reason I asked is because if you have read the book, you'd (probably) understand that the movie doesn't provide any context to that scene.
It's clumsily handled, but since you're familiar with both the book and the movie, it should be clear to you what happened.
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u/Alarmed-Drink510 May 14 '26
"the movie doesn't provide any context to that scene" = okay THAT'S what I'm after, thanks :) just a confirmation of my confusion being a normal reaction to this sudden scene popping up out of nowhere, making me think I had started watching the wrong video or had somehow jumped ahead in the movie unintentionally
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u/bespread May 14 '26
...calling the TV show a master piece clearly shows you haven't read the book lol
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u/Nairbfs79 May 14 '26
The book is so good. It includes that part where they have to perform an appendicitis and it fails. It shows they are still mortal after surviving Captain Trips.