Murder in Space (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Murder in Space is a science fiction
murder mystery movie set in the near future. The crew of an international space mission are on the return leg from Mars
to Earth
when an explosion occurs on the craft Conestoga, shortly after the murders start. The crew of the returning craft are forbidden to return until the murderer is caught.
On its initial premier, the film was shown without the ending and a competition was set for the viewers to solve the mystery of who the murderer was... or murderers were. The conclusion of the film was shown several days later, with the contestants eliminated one by one until the winner correctly identified the killer or killers. The final 30 minutes of the film was shown at a later date when the mystery was solved.
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It was written by "FX Woolf", a pen-name for Howard Engels and Janet Hamilton.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
murder mystery movie set in the near future. The crew of an international space mission are on the return leg from Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
to Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
when an explosion occurs on the craft Conestoga, shortly after the murders start. The crew of the returning craft are forbidden to return until the murderer is caught.
On its initial premier, the film was shown without the ending and a competition was set for the viewers to solve the mystery of who the murderer was... or murderers were. The conclusion of the film was shown several days later, with the contestants eliminated one by one until the winner correctly identified the killer or killers. The final 30 minutes of the film was shown at a later date when the mystery was solved.
Conestoga crew
| Actor | Character | Rank | Country | Murdered | How | Possible motive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Ironside Michael Ironside Michael Ironside is a Canadian-born actor. He has also worked as a voice actor, producer, film director, and screenwriter in movie and television series in various Canadian and American productions. He is best known for playing villains and "tough guy" heroes, though he has also portrayed... |
Neil Braddock | Captain | U.S.A. | No | ||
| Cathie Shirriff | Olga Denarenko | U.S.S.R. | Yes | Strangled | Pregnant with other crew member's child. | |
| Damir Andrei | Andrei Kalsinov | Colonel | U.S.S.R. | Yes | Blown up | |
| Timothy Webber | Guy Sterling | Canada | Yes | Cyanide poisoning | ||
| Tom Butler | Kurt Steiner | Major | East Germany | Yes | Strangled | |
| Leo Ilial | Phillipe Berdoux | Doctor | France | No | ||
| Scot Denton | David Tremayne | Navigator | U.S.A. | No | ||
| Kate Trotter | Pamela Cooper | England | No | |||
| Alberta Watson | Dominica Mastrelli | Italy | No |
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Other cast members
Other cast members were reporters, wives and husbands, mission control staff and additional Russian characters.| Name | Rank or part | Played by |
|---|---|---|
| Vice President | Arthur Hill Arthur Hill (actor) Arthur Edward Spence Hill was a Canadian actor best known for appearances in British and American theater, movies and television... |
|
| Dr. Andrew McCallister | Space program director | Wilford Brimley Wilford Brimley Allen Wilford Brimley is an American actor. He has appeared in such films as The China Syndrome, Cocoon, The Thing and The Firm. He had a recurring role on the 1970s television series The Waltons... |
| Dinah Greenberg | Secretary to McCallister | Gloria Carlin |
| Jeffrey Kilbride | Reporter | Alan Jordan |
| Mitch Carlino | Peter Dvorsky | |
| Alexander Rostov | Russian Politician | Martin Balsam |
| Dr. Margaret Leigh | Doctor | Nerene Virgin Nerene Virgin Nerene Virgin is a Canadian journalist, actress and television host, best known for her role on the children's television series Today's Special.-Background:After growing up in Toronto, Ontario, she attended Toronto Teacher's College... |
| Giorgi Denarenko | husband of cosmonaut Olga Denarenko | Jan Rubes Jan Rubes Jan Ladislav Rubeš CM was a Czech-Canadian bass opera singer and actor.-Life and career:Rubeš was born in Volyně, Czechoslovakia, the son of Ružena and Jan Rubeš. Not too long after World War II, he graduated from the Prague Conservatoire and joined the Prague Opera House as a bass singer... |
| Irene Tremayne | Wife of astronaut David Tremayne | Wendy Crewson Wendy Crewson -Life and career:Crewson was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the daughter of June Doreen and Robert Binnie Crewson. She attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where she won the prestigious Lorne Greene Award for outstanding work in the theater. She then studied at the Webber Douglas Academy... |
Accompanying book
A novel also called "Murder In Space", published by Penguin, was produced around the same time; the last page of the book was an entry form for the competition to solve the mystery.It was written by "FX Woolf", a pen-name for Howard Engels and Janet Hamilton.