Three Inches
Three Inches is an American science fiction action television film, intended to serve as the pilot episode for a proposed series. Created by writer-producer Harley Peyton and directed by Jace Alexander it aired on Syfy on December 29, 2011. The show follows a group of people with superhuman abilities, focusing on Walter Spackman, played by Noah Reid, an underachiever who develops a telekinetic ability after being struck by lightning. The movie received favorable reviews, but failed to spawn into the TV series. Plot. On the same day that 26-year-old Walter Spackman confesses his love to  the non-reciprocating Lily, he is struck by lightning. He awakens from a coma to discover that he has gained the ability to move objects with his mind up to a distance of three inches. The mysterious Troy Hamilton recruits Walter to join his team of superheroes and Walter joins in the hope of helping to improve the world. Walter's first mission is to recover a package on behalf of an unknown client. The "package" turns out to be a young girl named Cassie, who has a set of superhuman abilities. Deeply troubled, Walter quits the team but returns  to headquarters with teammate Watts, best friend Macklin and Cassie's sister to rescue the girl. The next day Troy tells Walter that he had no idea that the "package" was a person. Upon learning the truth, he counted on Walter's sense of decency to lead him to quit and, as a "disgruntled former employee", rescue Cassie while giving Troy the "plausible deniability" he needed. Walter rejoins the team. Development. Syfy initially planned to develop "Three Inches" as an hour-long drama. Syfy announced the project in March 2010, and the network ordered the pilot in October. The pilot  was delivered to the network at around the same time as the pilot for "Alphas", another series with a similar premise. Syfy executives liked both pilots but felt that "Alphas" had better potential as an hour-long series. The network began exploring ways to reformat "Three Inches", including possibly making it into a half-hour sitcom. Critical reception. Brian Ford Sullivan of "The Futon Critic" gave the pilot a generally positive review. He found that the show has "an inherent cleverness" and was fun to watch. He particularly praised the performances of Reid and Marsters. However, he found the show 's mixing of tones, from Walter's "slightly wacky home life" to the gloominess of his daily existence to the camaraderie with his fellow heroes to the dark possible consequences of their mission, to be uneven.