One of Stephen King’s earlier books, 1978’s The Stand remains his longest – by 14 pages. The Stand spans 1152 pages, while 1986’s It clocks in at 1138 pages.

Sort of. As published in 1978, The Stand “only” ran 823 pages, but that happened because editors got King to trim the book by a substantial amount. 1990’s “Complete and Uncut” version reinstated that deleted material and took the book to its record-setting length.

Just as It got adapted into a TV mini-series in 1990, The Stand leapt to the small screen in 1994 – and the latter got a lot more room to breathe. Whereas the 1990 It crammed that massive book into a mere 187 minutes, the 1994 Stand got almost twice as much time to explore the story.

2020 brought a second take on The Stand, one with even more breathing room. This tale spans nearly eight and a half hours, which adds about two and a half hours to the 1994 version of the tale.

And a timely story it remains, as I write this during the COVID-19 pandemic. In The Stand, a government lab in California houses a powerful strain of the flu, and it accidentally gets released.

The virus spreads rapidly. This “super flu” leaves the vast majority of the human population dead.

The survivors eventually wind up in two camps. Mother Abagail Freemantle (Whoopi Goldberg) heads one, and this group stands for positivity. Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgård) leads the other, and they seem bent on destruction. The two will face off to determine the future path of humanity.

Given the length of the mini-series, obviously this synopsis leaves out a whole lot of content, especially related to the characters. Stand involves a slew of participants, and a formal exploration of these would make my overview run far too long.

Whereas both the novel and the 1994 version presented events in essentially chronological order, the 2020 Stand decides to go a different route. This means events hop around in time willy-nilly, a choice that seems likely to cause confusion, especially among viewers unfamiliar with the source.

Of course, a non-linear presentation can work great for some projects. The Stand isn’t one of them.

Or at least this rendition of The Stand isn’t one of them. Perhaps a different team of filmmakers could’ve altered the original timeline in a manner that succeeds, but as seen here, the non-chronological narrative seems pointless and distracting.

Maybe someone else can figure out a good reason to alter the original linear progression, but I can’t. The altered timeline just feels like an attempt to spice up the material for its own sake, not because this plot path makes real sense.

Eventually Stand does hit a more chronological path. Unfortunately, it seems probable that the viewer will check out before this happens.

Stand doesn’t really improve when it follows a standard route anyway. Again, some of that stems from our general disinterest in the prior chapters, but also Stand simply fails to develop much of interest despite the apocalyptic tale on display.

Not everything about this Stand flops, but most of it struggles to create interest. This version boasts profanity, violence and nudity that the prior version couldn’t do on network TV, but those don’t make the 2020 edition more impactful. Even without the limitations of broadcast television, the 2020 doesn’t seem any darker or deeper.

We do find a smattering of effective scenes, such as Flagg’s takedown of Bobby Terry. Unfortunately, these pop up too infrequently to make the end product work.

As a tease for fans, the 2020 Stand comes with a new King-penned epilogue. It actually damages the end product, as it seems slow and tedious, with one lame stab at a scare involved.

I never thought I’d look back fondly at the 1994 Stand, but it works better than the 2020 version. Not that this means I now view the prior edition as a good production, as it comes with plenty of problems.

Nonetheless, the 1994 Stand feels less flawed than the 2020 edition. A big incoherent mess, it goes nowhere.

The Stand appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. As expected, the mini-series offered generally solid visuals.

Sharpness worked well. A few interiors could be a smidgen soft, but those instances remained rare, so the majority of the episodes delivered tight, concise material. I saw no signs of jaggies or moiré effects, and the shows lacked edge haloes and source flaws.

To the surprise of no one, The Stand went with an emphasis on teal and orange. These colors seemed tedious, but the episodes displayed them in an appropriate manner, and some other stylized hues popped up at times.

Blacks appeared dark and dense, but shadows tended to feel a little murky. Despite that, the episodes largely came across as appealing.

In addition, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio of The Stand also satisfied. With occasional action on display, the soundscapes boasted a nice array of information from all five channels, and the information moved well.

Much of the engagement came from the occasional fight, though other broader elements occurred too. The audio wasn’t quite feature film quality, but it still seemed good.

Speech came across as natural and concise, while music showed rich, full tones. Effects appeared accurate and dynamic, with good low-end and impact. I felt pleased with the soundtrack found here.

In terms of extras, the mini-series comes with a featurette called An Apocalyptic Epic. It runs 19 minutes, 40 seconds and offers comments from Benjamin Cavell and actors Whoopi Goldberg, Sienna Miller, Alexander Skarsgård, Henry Zaga, James Marsden, Greg Kinnear, Katherine McNamara, Owen Teague, Odessa Young, Brad William Henke, Irene Bedard, Jovan Adepo, and Nat Wolff.

“Epic” looks at the source and its adaptation, story/characters, various effects, costumes, cast and performances, sets and locations, and the series’ new coda. A few insights emerge, but much of “Epic” feels like praise for the project and those involved.

A Gag Reel fills three minutes, 40 seconds with goofs and giggles. The actors throw out some funny lines, though, so it seems better than average.

Adapted from one of Stephen King’s most beloved novels, The Stand comes packed with potential drama and terror. Unfortunately, this 2020 adaptation offers a muddled mess that packs little tension or intrigue. The Blu-ray brings largely positive picture and audio as well as minor bonus materials. Maybe 25 years from now they’ll try for the third mini-series of The Stand and it’ll live up to the source, but Version Two feels like a dud.