"The Andromeda Strain" (2008) TV mini-series

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Mikael Salomon

Writers:

Michael Crichton (novel)
Robert Schenkkan (teleplay)

Release Date:

11 May 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

It's A Bad Day To Be Human.

Plot:

A crack team of top scientists work feverishly in a secret, state-of-the-art laboratory to discover what has killed the citizens of a small town and learn how this deadly contagion can be stopped.

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Small Town | Military | Soldier | Virus

Awards:

Nominated for 6 Primetime Emmys. Another 7 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. Nov. 21

1:00 PM

AETV

Cast

Benjamin Bratt	...	Dr. Jeremy Stone
Eric McCormack	...	Jack Nash
Christa Miller	...	Dr. Angela Noyce
Daniel Dae Kim	...	Dr. Tsi Chou
Viola Davis	...	Dr. Charlene Barton
Justin Louis	...	Colonel James C. Ferrus
Barry Flatman	...	Charles 'Chuck' Beeter
Ted Whittall	...	President William J. Scott
Ted Atherton	...	Edward 'Ed' Dewitt
Tom McBeath	...	Kyle Tobler
Rick Schroder	...	Major Bill Keane MD (as Ricky Schroder)
Andre Braugher	...	General George W. Mancheck
Jesse Moss	...	Jeff Megan
Magda Apanowicz	...	Suzie Travis
Kurt Max Runte	...	Sherriff Martin Willis

Runtime:

174 min | Norway:170 min (2 parts) | USA:180 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Australia:M | Norway:15 (TV rating) | Netherlands:16 | Netherlands:12 (TV version) | Finland:K-18 (self applied)

Filming Locations:

Ashcroft, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

A.S. Films

Trivia:

In the source novel by Michael Crichton, the main scientists were mainly white (presumably) heterosexual men, but Robert Schenkkan, who wrote the teleplay for this remake made the decision to change the characters' ethnicities, sexualities, and genders because, he said in a May 2008 interview with Brent Hartinger on afterelton.com, "If you're going to update the story, which is our mandate, you have an obligation to reflect the world as it is." Schenkkan further said that he decided to include the brief reference to Keene (Rick Schroder) being gay because of a principle invented by Crichton in the original novel, the "Odd Man Hypothesis," which states that in a time of crisis, an unmarried, unattached person [Crichton specified a man] with no family to distract him would have the best chance of making rational, unbiased, unemotional decisions.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At one point, the shadow of the passing helicopter is visible. Based on the shadow's length, the helicopter would be around twenty feet in length, while the actual UH-1 is just over 40'.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jeff Megan: [to Suzie] That's a lion out there. And a triangle.

Movie Connections:

References "South Park" (1997)

Awful

Simply horrible: overblown made-for-TV-movie melodrama, poor acting, silly makeup effects and production design, bad direction. And a script that foolishly adds multiple, painfully obvious plot lines to the original story so that the taut and gripping plot of the novel is almost completely obscured. Despite having more running time than the 1971 movie, this soggy mini-series seems rushed to cram in all the stupidity it can.

Watch it at your peril, if you want a satisfying, chilling, and intelligent movie, rent the well-crafted Robert Wise version; it is one of the great SF movies of the 1970s. It is one of the rare movies that really shows science at work, and the scenes of death at Piedmont will always stick with you.