‘Langoliers’ scary but long flight

If this is the May sweeps, then it’s time again for ABC to show another miniseries based on a Stephen King work.

This time, it’s “The Langoliers,” based on a novella from King’s 1990 collection, “Four Past Midnight.” The four-hour miniseries airs 9-11 p.m. Sunday, May 14, and Monday, May 15, on ABC.

“The Langoliers” will inevitably and unfortunately face comparison to “The Stand,” the eight-hour miniseries which was among last season’s highest-rating programs. “The Stand,” lovingly crafted by horrormeister King from his 1990 epic masterpiece, just had more to offer than “The Langoliers”: more star power, more budget, more source materials (1,153 pages to 246) and more involvement by King, who sticks to just a cameo appearance in “The Langoliers.”

That being said, how does “The Langoliers” stand on its own? It’s a flawed but still appealing work that feels like a flight running late.

The most intriguing part for local viewers will be the starring role played by Bangor International Airport. The majority of the filming last summer was done at BIA, split among the terminal, the tarmac and a plane reconstructed inside a huge hangar. The sense of authenticity will come through to Mainers, even though many have not explored BIA’s nooks and crannies as thoroughly as “The Langoliers” does. Little touches like signs touting Maine’s apple harvest and a lobster tank in the lobby add to the atmosphere.

Perhaps the niftiest special effect is turning BIA (referred to as “a whistlestop Maine airport” by the film’s antagonist) into bustling Los Angeles International Airport. Although a few exterior shots of LAX are used, in most shots, BIA subbed for its Los Angeles counterpart at the beginning and end of “The Langoliers.” BIA came alive with dozens of local extras, played both by novice and experienced amateur thespians, giving the look and feel of a major metropolitan airport. This also gave many Mainers a chance to make their national acting debuts.

The miniseries script, by director Tom Holland, is remarkably faithful to King’s original story. Unfortunately, depth of characterization tends to suffer. In King’s novella, characters are introduced through internal flashbacks and monologues. In the limited time frame of the miniseries, only some of these can be externalized through dialogue, with many of the characters (the pilot Brian Engle, the teacher Laurel Stevenson, the student Albert Kaussner) ending up less fully developed as a result.

Now for the Cliff Notes version of “The Langoliers”: Ten strangers on an overnight flight from Los Angeles to Boston awaken from an in-flight nap to discover that all the other passengers and crew have disappeared. After no terminal answers off-duty pilot Engle’s call for help, he plots a new course for Bangor International Airport, a field long enough to handle the 767 but with less traffic to contend with than at Logan International Airport in Boston.

Tension builds at a nice pace during this portion, as the passengers, led by mystery writer Bob Jenkins, invent various scenarios to explain what has happened to them in order to choke down their fear.

The most energized part of the production occurs after the plane safely lands at BIA, and the passengers unravel the highly unlikely mystery of what has happened to them. Cranking up the tension is a sound, first audible only to blind girl Dinah Bellman and later to all the castaways. Capping this segment is a visit by the title characters, who appear like the California Raisins with an attitude.

The return trip to Los Angeles, the last third of the miniseries, is fairly anticlimactic, although there are a couple of interesting twists and one of the film’s more poignant moments. In the end, the viewer feels like the remaining passengers do — glad the trip is over.

Some of the cast of mostly TV veterans do their jobs well and stand out. Maberly (“The Secret Garden”) is spookily effective as the occasionally psychic Bellman. Bronson Pinchot, as nutcase businessman Craig Toomy, adds to his list of eccentrics, including Balki on “Perfect Strangers” and Serge in “Beverly Hills Cop.” Mark Lindsay Chapman offers various shadings to the mysterious, haunted “junior attache” Nick Hopewell, while David Morse is often the model of broad-shouldered stability as pilot Engle. Faring less well was Patricia Wettig (“thirtysomething”) as Stevenson, called on too often to be the nurturing female in distress.

Adding atmosphere to “The Langoliers” is the foreboding music by Vladimir Horunzhy and the dazzling special effects by Image Design (check out the mountains surrounding BIA).

Altogether, “The Langoliers” is a diverting trip, but not one that will attract many frequent fliers.