Stephen King Wiki

Hello Stephen King fan! We at the Stephen King Wiki are incredibly happy you've decided to visit, please feel free to check out our Discusions and/or start editing articles.
If you're visiting anonymously you'll need to make an account.
Before you start editing or posting, you'll want to read our simple ruleset, just so you don't accidentally break any rules. If you see anyone breaking any of these rules, please report it to the message wall of an Administrator.

READ MORE

Stephen King Wiki
Register
Advertisement


Andrew "Andy" McGee (1946-1982) is the deuteragonist in Firestarter and the 1984 film adaptation. He also appears in a flashback in Firestarter 2: Rekindled. He appears in the 2022 remake of the adaptation.

Appearance[]

Firestarter (novel)[]

Andy has shaggy black hair and grey-green eyes, and is described as a big man with broad shoulders.

He wears a worn and scruffed corduroy jacket and plain brown twills.

He weighs 162 pounds, but while in confinement, he gains 28 pounds, clocking in at 190 pounds.

History and plot[]

Firestarter (novel)[]

Andy was born on December 14, 1947, in Tashmore, Vermont.

Once, when he was 9 years old, he was hunting with his father and maternal grandfather, and he killed a squirrel. Traumatized by what he had done, he vowed to never kill anything with a gun, to which his grandfather told him, "God loves to make a man break a vow".

Once, when he was 10 years old, he broke his left ankle while sliding into second base in a Little League baseball game.

Andy's father died from a sudden heart attack when he was 11 in 1958, and his mother was killed in a car crash when he was 17 in 1964. He was later raised by his mother's sister Cora.

At some point, he moved to Harrison, a town in eastern Ohio. He enrolled at Harrison State College around 1966. Where he had questions about personal behavior exhibited by professors such as why did his English teacher on his sophomore year sniffed his tie constantly.

In May 1969, his friend Quincey Tremont recommended $200, after hearing Andy telling him about his financial situation, if Andy volunteered for an experiment being performed by Joseph Wanless, Doctor of Psychology for The Shop, in Room 70. Although suspicious because of the warning of Wanless being a mad doctor and a behaviorist, he still agreed to sign on after Quincey told and convinced him that if the experiment was not safe, they would not test it on students volunteers. He attended on a day before the experiment where Wanless told them about the injections that all twelve volunteers will receive. He learned that six injections will be water and the other six will be water mixed with a tiny amount of a classified compound call Lot Six. These injections will be administered in a double-blind method in which neither volunteer knows which injection they received. After that, two grad assistants passed out photocopies with twenty-five questions. He had to filled out this form with the twenty-five yes or no questions, before the experiment began. He found the questions to be ridiculous such as:

  • Have you undergone psychiatric counselling?
  • Do you believe you have ever had an authentic psychic experience?
  • Have you ever used hallucinogenic drugs?'

For the latter question about hallucinogenic drugs, he paused slightly and checked "no" claiming, "In this brave year 1969, who hasn't used them? ." This reveals that he did used drugs, such as LSD, which he tried twice, as it was later revealed. He checked "no" to most question question except for one. The question was:

  • Have you ever suffered a fracture or serious sprain?

He stated that he had broken his left ankle sliding into second base during a Little League Game twelve years ago.

On May 6, he turned in his volunteer form when he met his future wife Victoria "Vicky" Tomlinson. The two got to talking after he decided to wait for her to see if she was engaged or about be engaged, and Andy proved this question when he found out she had a boyfriend named George without asking the question. Nevertheless, he convinced Vicky to sign on to the experiment. Although George was adamant about her not doing so, Vicky volunteered anyway.

On May 11, Andy, Vicky, James Richardson, and nine other students were given injections. Wanless made a speech which Andy heard as: Do not fear. You are wrapped snugly in the arms of Modern Science. When Wanless came between Andy and Vicky in their cot, Andy saw Wanless speak to Vicky. When Wanless was done speaking to Vicky, Andy asked to Wanless, "When do we start to shrink?" In that moment he felt something was weird with the injection. He felt that everything seemed to be in slow motion.

However, Andy noticed another volunteer near the room's blackboard who clawed his eyes out of his head which caused Wanless and several grad assistants to gather around that volunteer. After the volunteer was was lifted in his portable bed and carried out from the room, one of the GA (grad assistants) came over to Andy and examined Andy's administered solution. He injected some more Lot Six and asked Andy how he was feeling. In that moment, he noticed that the GA was not a GA or a student. He found out, as a result, that none of the GA were GA or students. He learned that the guy worked for The Shop and his name was Ralph Baxter, without any introduction happening between both of them. He asked Baxter about the volunteer who clawed his eyes out. Baxter tried to deceived Andy and Vicky by telling them that it was an illusion that they both shared and the guy had a muscular reaction. Andy told him that it was impossible to share the same illusion while Baxter still tried to deceive him that it was the drug. Andy noticed that the injections gave Andy and Vicky powers: Andy could communicate through his mind, as well as control others, while Vicky would read minds and control objects from a distance. He used his power to pull out information from Baxter using his mind and found out a lot things about Baxter and some of Baxter's crimes.

After Baxter left, Andy communicated with Vicky using Telepathy about the situation and he heard music played in the room. He noticed a second volunteer who had gone into a muscular seizure followed what it seem to Andy a cardiac arrest and how the grad assistants tried to revive that volunteer. He stayed for forty-eight hours in the room communicating with Vicky. After the forty-eight hours were over, he noticed that about five volunteers were left in the room. He asked about Baxter to the Grad Assistant with him but the grad assistant claimed that there was no Ralph Baxter but possibly to the hallucination from the drug. The grad Assistant warned him about spreading drug-induced fantasies with reality.

That evening, Andy sat with Vicky in one of the Union lounges. There they compared their hallucinations and shared their memories of the event that occurred in the experiment. After discussing the matter, they decided to kiss and touch. At the late evening, Andy tried to go back to the building where the experiment was performed to find that the building was closed through a security guard. Andy unaware used his power to make the security guard let him inside the building and felt a sharp pain as well. After reaching the room of the experiment, he pull down the chart that contained the bloodstain the volunteer, who clawed his eyes out, made. He did it to know if the event was true and not a product of an hallucination. After confirming it, he heard a sound of the squeak of a shoe and imagined that the volunteer was coming for his eyes. He decided to flee the room until reaching the lobby to find the doors shut.

Five days later, he dragged Vicky to the hall where the experiment had occurred. She resisted from going there but Andy used eloquence that he was aware that he had never possessed before. He tried to show her the chart that contained the bloodstain, but was replaced by another chart of a naked man. He became scared that the chart was replaced and never stepped into that room after that day.

At some point, they married, and Andy took a job as an English teacher at Harrison State College. In March 1975, their daughter Charlene McGee was born, with her mother's ability to read minds, as well as a terrifying pyrokinetic power.

Andy soon found out, from a phone call from Quincy, that the Shop was hunting people with certain powers. Realizing what might happen if the Shop found them, they laid low.

In August 1980, Andy was having lunch with colleagues when he had a precognitive flash. Realizing what would happen, Andy rushed home, only to find Vicky dead, with a rag down her throat, and Charlie missing.

Frantic, he traced clues to the a gas station near the airport, and found his daughter in the custody of 2 Shop agents. Using his power, he made 1 agent go blind, and another agent go comatose, while he reclaimed his daughter and fled to Hammersmith, 20 miles north of Harrison.

Not long after, they relocated to Port City, Pennsylvania, where Charlie entered first grade. They stayed in Port City for 1 year before being discovered.

They fled to Manhattan, where Andy realized his bank account had been erased. In Lenox Hill, they almost got caught by Shop Agents, but luckily hailed a taxicab to Albany County Airport.

Realizing that they were now completely out of money, Andy considered stealing, with his daughter reminding him that it's not right to steal, and him reminding her about the lesser and greater evils. Charlie got money out of an ATM machine, and they escaped the airport just before Shop agents arrived. They spent the night at the Slumberland Motel in Hastings Glen.

While asleep, Andy dreamed about Granther McGee, and when they woke up the next morning, Charlie suggested that they stay at Granther's summer cabin in Tashmore.

They hitched a ride with farmer Irving "Irv" Manders, under the aliases Frank and Roberta Burton, fabricating a story about how they need to get to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, as Frank's wife gave birth to a boy named Andy at 1:40am. While on route, Irv took them to his farm for a while. While Charlie helped Norma Manders feed the chickens, Andy revealed the truth to Irv. Although Irv initially didn't believe him, he did as soon as Shop agents arrived. Irv got his deer gun to help defend Andy and Charlie, but the Shop agents shot Irv and grabbed Andy. As a result, Charlie unleashed her power, killing almost everyone. Although Norma was initially horrified, Irv still helped them by giving them their Jeep, and showed them how to get to Tashmore.

They arrived at Granther's cabin, and spent the next 5 months there before eventually being captured by Shop agents led by John Rainbird, and were subsequently separated for 6 months.

Andy soon became addicted to thorazine, as they attempted to determine how his abilities worked. However, during a blackout, Andy was able to 'Push' himself to recover from his addiction, subsequently setting up a plan to escape by subtly 'Pushing' the director of the facility. The attempt succeeded in reuniting him with Charlie in a barn, but the deteriorating mental condition of the Shop director after Andy pushed him, combined with the twisted actions of John Rainbird, resulted in Andy being shot in the head as he and Charlie tried to escape; his last words being to ask Charlie to destroy the base and ensure that the government couldn't try something like this again.

Firestarter (1984)[]

In the 1984 film, Andy is played by David Keith.

Firestarter: Rekindled (2002)[]

In the 2002 miniseries "Firestarter: Rekindled", Andy is played by Aaron Radl.

Firestarter (2022)[]

In the 2022 remake, Andy is by Zac Efron. Between April 5, 2008 and June 26, 2008, Andy with Vicky talks to a doctor in a clinical trial, who explains to them that they will be injected with the experimental chemical drug Lot-6, which Andy gains telepathy in August 3, 2008.

In 2013, Andy killed 2 federal agents and he is wanted.

Powers and Abilities[]

As a result of the Shop's experiments on him, Andy gained a minor mind-manipulation power, which he referred to as the Push. When he concentrated on someone, Andy could make them believe whatever he told them or perform certain actions, ranging from convincing someone not to commit suicide by making them forget the original traumatic event to telling an agent of the Shop that the gun he was holding was too hot to hold. Use of the Push gave Andy various headaches, but these varied in intensity depending on how long it had been since he last used the Push and what he made the subject do when he used it. The ability was most successful when used on unsuspecting targets of average intelligence, with it being ineffective on people who were particularly smart or particularly stupid who had reason to suspect that he was about to do something. As a rule of thumb, Andy recalled his Push effectiveness: "bright people it was easy, stupid people a bit tougher, and for the mentally retarded or super geniuses it was impossible".
He could also make information about any target flood into him and learned about their history as a well such learning that Ralph Baxter was a false student; Baxter's history and name without Baxter telling Andy anything about himself.

He developed Telepathy, the direct communication of thoughts from one person to another without using speech, along with Vicky.

Trivia[]

  • According to the novel, Andy's blood type is O.

Gallery[]

Appearances[]

Advertisement