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"I woke up in an island off the coast of Seattle. I didn't know how I got there ... or who I was. But I did seem to know everything else. There were things about me I didn't understand ... the brand, being colorblind, extreme claustrophobia. And while my gifts provided answers for others, I still search for my own. My name is John Doe."

In the opening scene of the series' pilot episode, a mysterious man wakes up on an island off the coast of Seattle, Washington, naked, with absolutely no memory of who he is or how he got there. However, apart from the details of his own past, "John Doe", as he comes to call himself, seems to have access to the sum total of all human knowledge: he knows how many dimples are on the surface of a golfball , the population of Uruguay, and other such obscure (and not-so-obscure) facts. He also has expert knowledge on everything from the stock market to computer science. Over the course of the series John attempts to find clues about his past by using his unusual ability while also helping people in need. In the process it becomes clear that an international conspiracy known as the Phoenix Organization is watching John's every move.

After the show was cancelled, one of its producers revealed the secret of the main character's true identity in an interview with TV Guide: the Phoenix Organization, he said, was a group conducting research into near-death experiences. They believed that the sum total of knowledge in the universe would be conferred upon them at the moment of death, so they killed John and brought him back to life in order to gain access to that knowledge.

The show's final episode revealed that Digger, one of John's closest friends, was in fact the true leader of the Phoenix Organization.

Meanwhile, in contrast to the revelations of the show's producers, Dominic Purcell revealed in an interview at the Television Critics Association winter press tour that "apparently I was the messiah returned," 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."

A different explanation was eventually put forward by the show's producers in the pages of Entertainment Weekly. The article read, in part:

Where We Left Off: Doe was helping the police solve crimes and being tracked by a seemingly nefarious group called the Phoenix Organization. He finally unmasked the big bad, a villain nicknamed Stocking Cap -- his friend, Digger (played by William Forsythe)!

What Would Have Happened: Make that someone who looked like Digger. The villain unmasked in the finale was actually just a Phoenix member with some fancy facial reconstruction. Turns out, the Phoenix believed Doe was the Messiah and its members were actually protecting Doe from a second group, which wanted him dead. The truth: Doe was injured in a boating accident.* That mark on his chest? A scar left by a piece of shrapnel from the explosion. His Überbrain? A by-product of transcending his body during a near-death experience, traveling to a spiritual plane where all the universe's questions are answered, and returning.... naked!

So Who is John Doe?! "You'd think we actually would have come up with his name," the show's producer revealed. "We have no idea," he finally admitted, before adding "Fred."

• On the popular weekly podcast Diggnation, Alex Albrecht said he was given a reason for the black and white vision, as well as all of the knowledge John Doe had. It was said that when you reach the gates of heaven, you are given the answer to every question you'll ever ask or that will ever be asked. And the reason for the black-and-white vision was an effect of being returned to earth.

• Official SciFi Channel website
• John Doe's guide at TVGuide.com
• John Doe at TV.com

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