Revelations Information

Revelations is a six episode television miniseries that began airing on April 13, 2005 on NBC. Taking place in the modern day, the show explores the End of Days as well as prophecies relating to them.

Synopsis

Dr. Richard Massey, a noted astrophysicist from Harvard, returns home after having hunted down the Satanist that brutally murdered his daughter Lucy in a satanic ritual. The Satanist, a man named Isaiah Haden, is put into prison awaiting trial. Richard Massey is a man of science and does not believe in religion at all. He is bitter at his loss and the general poor state of his life, and only wants to see Isaiah Haden face his punishment.

Meanwhile, a nun named Josepha Montafiore who is working for the Eklind Foundation, a wealthy fundamentalist Catholic organization, visits the bedside of a comatose girl. The child was struck twice by lightning while crossing a golf course, and is in a vegetative state. However, the girl mumbles bible verses in Latin, and draws cryptic drawings. Josepha believes that this is an act of God, and decides to pursue it.

She crosses paths with Richard and together they start to unravel a prophecy of the End of Days.

Controversy

Some aspects of the miniseries have caused controversy. Some have argued that the doctors' haste to declare the girl brain dead and harvest her organs is a deliberate misinterpretation of medical policy in cases like this. The show appears to indicate that the decision to pull a patient off life-support rests with the attending physician rather than the girl's parents who are not shown as having any part in the decision.

Revelations first aired two weeks following the death of Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative state, by disconnection from life support. Like Terri Schiavo, the television girl was enmeshed in a controversy about whether her life should be terminated. Unlike Terri Schiavo, the girl was able to quote scripture, even with flat brain waves. The medical establishment in Revelations was portrayed as only too eager to terminate the lives of victims of vegetative states. By contrast, religious figures trying to stop termination were portrayed as wiser and appropriately caring.

Although the screenplay seemed sympathetic to a fundamentalist form of Catholicism, the miniseries' creator, writer, and executive producer were David Seltzer, who says he believes in all religions but practices none. Seltzer wrote the screenplay for The Omen.

US Nielsen ratings

The first episode received 15.6 million viewers.

Cast

• Bill Pullman as Dr. Richard Massey
• Natascha McElhone as Sister Josepha Montafiore
• Michael Massee as Isaiah Haden
• Tobin Bell as Nathan Volk
• Mark Rendall as Henry "Hawk" Webber
• John Rhys-Davies as Prof. Jonah Lampley
• Martin Starr as Rubio
• Fred Durst as Odgen
• Werner Daehn as Asteroth
• Chelsey Coyle and Brittney Coyle as Olivia Beaudrey
• Fionnula Flanagan as Mother Francine
• Alexa Nikolas as Lucinda "Lucy" Massey
• Orla Brady as Nora
• Caryn Green as Tulia
• Bridget Mannit as Henrietta II
• Clémence Poésy as Exquisite Corpse