MovieChat Forums > John Doe (2002) Discussion > The 'John Doe was dead' theory is BS

The 'John Doe was dead' theory is BS

posted 18 years ago by Bencanon
30 replies | jump to latest

I've read it in a few places on this forum
"John Doe was dead and came back to life and that's why he knows everything".

This does not make sense. At the beginning, Doe says clearly that he doesn't know if there are little green men on Mars or anything of that nature. So he doesn't know *everything*, all he knows is stuff that other men could know. He has the knowledge of thousands of men, but nothing else. What "we" don't know, he don't know it either.

If he was previously dead and some God or "Higher Power" would have gave him "all the answers", he would obviously know stuff much more important about the Universe, Earth's origin and other similar stuff before knowing how many M&M's are in a pack of plain M&M's.

If it's true that the "came back from the dead" thing was in producers' mind, I'm glad that they didn't show that as an answer, that would have ruined the serie even more than the actual lack of ending.

[–] MDarken 18 years ago

Well...I don't know. But this sounds pretty convincing to me:

Purcell Reveals Doe's Secret

Dominic Purcell, whose SF series John Doe will begin rerunning on SCI FI Channel Jan. 20, told SCI FI Wire that he knows the show's big secret. John Doe will air Fridays at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

"I think it's an amazing premise," Purcell said in an interview at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, where he was promoting his current Fox series, Prison Break. "I think it's a really cool premise."

In the series, Purcell plays a man who awakes naked on an island near Seattle, possessing all of the knowledge in the world except his own identity. He bears strange marks on his body and can only see in black and white. A group of nefarious strangers, meanwhile, is pursuing him for reasons that are not clear. They call themselves the Phoenix group.

But Purcell revealed the show's secret, which creators Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson never had a chance to unveil before Fox canceled it in 2003.

Ready? (Major spoilers ahead!)

"Apparently I was the messiah returned," Purcell said, confirming an earlier report in Entertainment Weekly. As for the Phoenix group? "They were working for the Vatican. ... The Catholics. They didn't want it to be revealed that the true Christ had returned."

Purcell's character had actually either died or come near death, when all knowledge is revealed, then returned with no memory of his past life.

The one secret Purcell didn't reveal: John Doe's real name. As for whether he'd like to have continued with the short-lived show, Purcell said: "I don't know. I'm pretty f--king happy with [Prison Break's] Lincoln right now."

From the Sci Fi Channel's Sci Fi Wire. Link: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=34221

[–] NKWulf 18 years ago

thats pretty cool. I suppose the staff would have helped him develope his Powers. Sorta makes sense I suppose.

[–] Inceptionmisunderstander 18 years ago

That sounds better than that BS news release where some FOX guy went "He almost died and saw the light and gained all the knowledge of the world."

__________________________________________
STOP,
Collaborate and listen.

[–] Book1245 18 years ago

I remember this show and always wondered what the secret was.
Interesting..........

"Why would they want the Duke's...son killed?"

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Bencanon 18 years ago

Didn't know that the Messiah could lose his "Power" because he got hit by a lightning. Make sense huh?

I'm glad that they didn't have the chance to put some kind of crappy religious explanation into this.

[–] jhollinger 18 years ago

... umm... the show already had religion in it...

Overall I think they could have pulled this off over the course of a year or two to make a very interesting development. Too bad Fox is so good at killing good shows.

[–] Hobbes47E 18 years ago

I just saw the episode in which Doe loses his knowledge and sees in technicolor. The one thing I did notice, as I'm sure a lot of people have before me and posted in other threads... in the end of the episode he hits a neon sign of Jesus, gets electrocuted and presto, back to 'normal'. Kind of supports the whole God thing.

[–] TheGooodGuy 16 years ago

Ya, that crappy religion, no one needs that, get a clue geeze..

[–] evil_henchman 12 years ago

Damn straight! Wonder why it's still around though... :(

[–] solitaire40 18 years ago

"Purcell's character had actually either died or come near death, when all knowledge is revealed, then returned with no memory of his past life."

WHAT?

That sounds more like a Walk-in to me. Christ is suppose to come down from the heavens not take over someone else's body and get amnesia. If you look up Walk-in that sounds more like what he was. And could have worked as a storyline. " A walk-in is thought to be a person whose original soul has departed his or her body and been replaced with a new soul". From Wikipedia.

[–] sparksfly21 18 years ago

yeah and what's wikipedia? a *beep* encyclopedia...which is not credible because laymen write it.

[–] nba2k5gamer 18 years ago

Yeah, I agree with the other people that this series is actually better off without that supposed ending.

It makes absolutely no freaking sense at all. I bet, if this show had taken off and this was the big ending, people would be on IMDB cursing Fox worse than they did when they canceled the show.

I too have been rewatching the show on Slueth (308 on DirecTV, cheap plug for a great channel) and the episode that others have mentioned, where he losed his powers after being struck by lightning stands out. Then, he gets them back after being shocked again. Makes absolutely no sense with the supposed ending.

Other things that stand out ***MAJOR SPOILERS***

-Digger, who would be revealed in the final episode as the stocking cap man. Doesn't fit. Someone that religious is operating a singles bar?

-The fact that The Phoenix group torture and kill Karen just to find out where that staff was.

-The episode where a man had the same chest marking. What is he? A dud?

-Notice how the symbol and whatever metallic object that is in John's chest are not mentioned in this "supposed" ending.

-The episode where The Phoenix group stages that whole farmhouse setting that was supposedly John's home. Why go through all that?

-Why does John Doe see only in Black and White? Why does he see certain people in color, that clearly had nothing to do with anything religious?

[–] ohsm333 15 years ago

If you look the show up on wikipedia some of your questions (black and white, symbol/metal, digger) are answered by this supposed truth. I'm not saying I agree with what it says. There's a lot of holes and it sounds like a bull$hit, cop out story in a half-assed attempt to please fans. Irritating as hell, if you ask me.

The one that won't be that I can answer (I'm just too lazy to answer the others) is the brand on The Mourner. They bring in a branding iron at the end of the episode. The guy had taken a picture of Doe when he was sleeping and made his own brand based on it.

[–] fire-baby 14 years ago

well, i'm only on episode 15, but i can answer two of your questions:

The episode where a man had the same chest marking. What is he? A dud?

simply, yes he was... he was in two episodes--a crazy man with a fixation on john... in the beginning of the 1st episode he snuck into john's apartment, and took pictures of he scar... in the end of the 2nd episode, they showed the homemade brand he made, so he could be 'connected' to john...

Notice how the symbol and whatever metallic object that is in John's chest are not mentioned in this "supposed" ending.

i haven't gotten that far, but reading online the creator revealed john had died in a boating accident... the marking was a scar from that accident...

It's mercy, compassion and forgiveness I lack. Not rationality...

[–] drowninghero 14 years ago

Wouldn't someone only know of God's existence if they stay dead, not if they come back to life? It seems that the ultimate fact would only enter a person spirit if they are to stay dead.

myspace.com/drowninghero

[–] gklvr 18 years ago

Well, if there's one thing Fox knows how to do, it's get rid of good shows and give said shows crap endings (Firefly, X-files.....) I am far from shocked.

[–] fabian5003 18 years ago

You know what, I think it's better keep the john doe's past in mistery if we would know it,that would scrub the whole show, trust me.

[–] Jetfire59 18 years ago

I don't know about you, but I've always believed death was "solving the great mystery" as Native Americans put it. I think he may have had knowledge of the universe, but was unable to comprehend it. In time, he would have realized who he was and just how much knowledge he had.

"Funny how your feet, in dreams, never touch the Earth" -Nancy Wilson

[–] zamen78596 18 years ago

thats true but i wonder would he know us say it was real would he know our adress because in the last episode he told that guy his adress and other stuff did he research on the web or did he know it in his mind. and what about his abilitys he knew nothing about i wanted to see what he could further
do with them

[–] jbowmore 16 years ago

John Doe clearly has access to the Akashic records (in practice if not in name), a concept from 19th century mysticism that may date back to Hinduism. The records are the sum total of all human knowledge.

The producers have been consistent in that Doe had an unusual near-death experience, more akin to actually dieing and coming back. As a result he now has access to almost all human knowledge, although not individual human thoughts. I.E. he knows everything that was public, or semi-public knowledge.

The Phoenix group were religious zealots who thought Doe was some type of second coming.

As for the meaning of his scar, and whether Doe really was a messiah...

I am sure that the producers as a group were not fully decided, since they have given differing answers since the show left the air. At least one producer said that the scar was just a shrapnel wound from his "death", but some episodic details make that unlikely.

With respect to him being the messiah, I am sure they all agreed that the Phoenix group thought so, but that they had not decided for sure yet themselves. I recall an episode that said others have had his abilities, which argues more for an Akashic based explanation, rather than a Jesus based one.

In other words they were making some of this up as they went along. Most shows do not have the planning we hope they do.

[–] TheGooodGuy 16 years ago

I have heard he was the second coming of Christ or something, that was what the producers were going to do with the character. Which would have been awesome btw.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (4524359) 14 years ago

The christ, god, him being dead is pure crap.
I hope that's not what they intended and if that's the case (that they did intend it) I'm glad it ended prematurely because that would be HORRIBLE.
It's always jesus and god they mix in why not Thor or Odin or Horus or Raa or whatever.

[–] Kleverone1 13 years ago

i gotta agree that ending would have sucked

[–] naxself 13 years ago

Why limit oneself? It's doesn't have to be the second coming of Jesus. It just has to be someone who died and received all human knowledge, then came back to life.

I read an interview with the creators a couple of years ago when I randomly caught an episode and remembered how much I liked the show. The creators clearly stated that the reason for John's knowledge was that he died and came back. I don't recall any mention of god-like powers.

For those of you taking it too seriously: it's a TV show; there are going to be flaws. Your favorite TV show has flaws in both execution and logic.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] psychotico 12 years ago

Complete *beep* the show got cancelled and they pulled anything out of their asses to give us an ending without an ending.

[–] turmoil_23 10 years ago

i half agree, usually shows start with an idea of how it could end because its just how sellign a show works with networks but usually the show mutates as season pass + fan feedback, i guess if they had good writers they would twist the end a bit or changed it all together, sometimes shows are influenced by other shows, and forced to come up with more interesting seasons and endings to the story arc, i guess a 2nd season would have helped settle the backstory of the show.