The Andromeda Strain (2008 miniseries)
Encyclopedia
The Andromeda Strain is a 2008 science fiction miniseries, based on the novel
published in 1969 by Michael Crichton
about a team of scientist
s who investigate a deadly disease
of extraterrestrial
origin. The miniseries is more of a "reimagining" of the original Michael Crichton novel than an adaptation. In addition to updating the details to an early 21st Century milieu, the miniseries makes a great many plot and character changes from its source. The mini-series has two episodes for a total of 169 minutes (originally aired the 26th and 27th of May 2008).
, which is later codenamed Andromeda by the US Army
. A team is sent from the Army's bio-defense department to retrieve the satellite, only to die from the disease themselves. The video footage recorded by the retrieval team and their strange deaths capture the attention of General George Mancheck, the head of the bio-defense department, who activates "Wildfire," a team of five scientists who are called upon when high-level bioterror threats occur in the United States. The team, headed by its creator, Dr. Jeremy Stone, investigates Piedmont. They retrieve the satellite and rescue a hysterical 60-year old man and a colicky
baby who have survived the Andromeda outbreak.
In an isolated underground laboratory, the Wildfire team begins their examination of the downed satellite and the two survivors. The laboratory is powered by a small water-cooled nuclear reactor. In the event of a contamination breach, a 15-minute self-destruct sequence would be automatically initiated; however if the activated sequence is deemed unnecessary, Major Bill Keane, designated by the Odd-Man Hypothesis, is the only person able to deactivate the sequence, using his pass key and right thumbprint.
The scientists begin their analysis of the Andromeda strain by recovering a sample from inside the satellite. They initially discover that the microorganism is contained within a delivery system of buckyballs, a technology more advanced than anything known at present. The team theorizes that Andromeda may have an extraterrestrial origin, as it has no DNA
or amino acid
s. The team discovers Andromeda is an airborne microorganism that kills its host by entering the bloodstream through the lungs and coagulating the blood in the body, causing death within 10 seconds via a blood clot in the brain. Those who manage to survive the blood clot become insane, extremely violent and suicidal. It is revealed that the two survivors from Piedmont had not been affected by Andromeda because of their acidotic
blood. However, all initial tests with antibiotics and chemical agents regularly used to kill other microorganisms show no effect on Andromeda.
Cable news reporter Jack Nash becomes aware of some of the events related to the fallen satellite and Andromeda. As he investigates further, Chuck Beeter, the Director of the NSA
, uses General Mancheck's aide, Colonel Ferrus, to perform assassinations to prevent knowledge of Andromeda from reaching the civilian population. Nash travels to one of the temporary Army outposts performing quarantine procedures, and witnesses the effects of Andromeda spreading through various modes of transportation. He becomes a target of assassination due to his presence at the outpost, but manages to escape Ferrus and his subordinates.
In an attempt to neutralize the problem, the President of the United States
authorizes a small tactical nuclear strike on the quarantine area in hopes of completely irradiating and destroying Andromeda. When the Wildfire team is informed, they realize that they have not reviewed the test results for irradiating Andromeda. They find that the microorganism grows at an exponential rate when irradiated. The Wildfire team alerts the President, and the air-strike is called off before the pilot launches the nuclear missile. However, as the jet continues to fly over the quarantine area, the pilot reports a malfunction of the aircraft's controls. Through video feed, the Wildfire team and President watch in shock and horror as all plastic components of the aircraft, including the pilot's visor, disintegrate. The nuclear missile is re-armed, the jet and missile crash into the ground, and the missile detonates, irradiating the quarantine area. The team examine the footage of the crash, and realize that Andromeda did not attack the pilot until after the missile launch sequence was halted, leading the team to believe that Andromeda has the ability to think. They also realize that Andromeda has mutated into several variations, with different means of spreading and different effects.
As Andromeda grows and mutates into more virulent forms, the Wildfire team continue their tests to find a way to stop Andromeda before it reaches Las Vegas
, the closest city to the quarantine zone with an international airport. Further studies reveals Andromeda is actually a sulfur
-based compound. A set of tests with phages reveals that one phage has the ability to kill Andromeda. However, repeated tests with this phage prove unsuccessful, causing the Wildfire team to theorize that Andromeda can communicate through an unknown mechanism between its separate parts. A binary code encoded on buckyball casings with potassium
and rubidium
atoms is also discovered. The information included the 6-digit number “739528” and the word “Bacillus infernus” encoded in ASCII
, and a bitmap image of a symbol with interlocking triangles. Bacillus infernus
is the name of an archaebacterium
found only at the thermal vents on the ocean floors. At this time President Scott was championing the new and controversial industry of thermal vent mining, and it was likely that the mining would eradicate the bacteria. The encoded information causes Stone to realize Andromeda must have a connection with Earth, and leads Stone to force General Mancheck to reveal the truth about the satellite.
Mancheck reveals “Project Scoop,” a confidential mission to examine a wormhole
that had appeared near Earth. It consisted of a satellite sent to collect organic samples, but it malfunctioned during the mission and crashed. With this information, the Wildfire team infer that Andromeda could have been sent from Earth's future, possibly because society in the future could not destroy the contagion due to a lack of a natural resource - Bacillus infernus.
Tests with Bacillus infernus reveal that the bacterium easily consumes and destroys Andromeda because of Andromeda's sulfur structure. The Wildfire team begins to grow large amounts of the bacterium in culture vats, intending to release the cultures over the quarantined area once a sufficient quantity is grown. The team also begins to destroy the remaining samples of Andromeda in the lab in an attempt to prevent Andromeda from communicating the nature of the tests with its other parts. Eventually, enough bacteria are grown and they are sprayed over the quarantined area, eradicating all traces of Andromeda from the environment.
As part of a government conspiracy to preserve Andromeda for future use, Colonel Ferrus blackmails Dr. Barton to keep a sample. The sample mutates and disintegrates the sample casing, setting off the lab's contamination breach sensor and initiating the self-destruct sequence. The self-destruct sequence also causes the flashing emergency lights to turn on, triggering Chou's photosensitive epilepsy
, which causes him to inadvertently destroy the self-destruct control panel on the lab level of the complex.
With the elevators deactivated due to the self-destruct sequence, Keane decides to climb to the control panel on the level above through the lab's main exhaust vent. However, the pipes and other components in the vent have begun to deteriorate due to the mutation in the Andromeda sample. The pipe Keane climbs suddenly bends, dangling Keane above the radioactive water at the base of the vent. Before falling, Keane manages to throw his badge to Stone. Realizing Keane's right thumb is also required to shutdown the self-destruct sequence, Chou sacrifices his life to enter the radioactive water to cut off Keane's thumb for Stone. With Keane's thumb and badge, Stone reaches the control panel and deactivates the sequences; albeit with only seconds to spare.
As the remaining Wildfire team attends the funerals of their fallen colleagues, both General Mancheck and Colonel Ferrus are secretly assassinated. Dr. Stone reveals some of the events to the public in an interview with Jack Nash. In the final scene, the saved sample of the Andromeda is inserted into a containment compartment with the access code “739528”, held in a vessel marked with a symbol with interlocking triangles. Director Beeter watches over the operation on the computer in his office. The camera then zooms out, revealing Andromeda has been stored within a space station orbiting Earth. The ending implies that the sample saved on the space station is the cause of the outbreak in the future that necessitated sending the virus back to the present via the wormhole, creating an ontological paradox as to the virus' origin.
announced that they would produce a miniseries of The Andromeda Strain executive-produced by Ridley
and Tony Scott
and Frank Darabont
. On May 2, 2007, the SciFi channel's news website The SciFi Wire announced that the miniseries would be broadcast on the A&E Network
. The miniseries originally aired as a four-hour, two-part miniseries, airing in the UK on May 11, 2008, and with part one premiering in the U.S. on May 26 and part two on May 27, 2008. It was screened as a single three-ish hour
movie in Australia on September 21, 2009.
. The production also filmed in the Kamloops Brewery in Kamloops, British Columbia. Exterior scenes were filmed in Hedley, British Columbia
and Ashcroft, British Columbia. Although no filming was done in Utah, the satellite image appearing in the nuclear strike sequence is that of Emery, Utah
.
that is set around a fictional blog
, titled "What Happened in Piedmont?". The blog accompanies the miniseries and features references to trouble in the town in which the miniseries is set. The "author" is a journalism student at the University of California, Berkeley
, and the blog discusses his attempts to contact people from his home town of Piedmont after receiving a "bizarre voicemail" from his sister that left him with "a horrible feeling inside". Since the first post in April 2008, the blog has revealed further insight into the plot of the miniseries, with cross links to other fictional sites where players of the game can enter passwords to obtain more information.
The series' tagline
is "It's a bad day to be human."
called it an "entertaining piece of high-velocity intrigue." The Boston Globe
found it unoriginal, although "sometimes engaging". The Los Angeles Times calls it "overwrought and dull" and criticizes its divergence from the original story. Entertainment Weekly
complained about the slow pace and stated that "the cluttered remake mires itself in lab work, inane backstories, and bureaucracy."The New York Times
stated that "it never grows quite suspenseful enough".
Nevertheless, the miniseries was nominated for six Emmy Awards
, including Outstanding Miniseries
. Part one was nominated for its cinematography, single-camera picture editing and sound mixing. Part two was nominated for sound editing. Both parts were nominated for makeup (non-prosthetic). It lost all its nominations.
The series contains many (some very strong) scientific inaccuracies, rich in the typical cinematic presentation of laboratory and high tech science, for example instantaneous read-outs of amino acid sequence in an immediately interpretable form, something that would in reality take considerable effort and time likely leading to a full research paper in itself.
. Part two averaged 5 million total viewers.
The Andromeda Strain
The Andromeda Strain , by Michael Crichton, is a techno-thriller novel documenting the efforts of a team of scientists investigating a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism that rapidly and fatally clots human blood, while in other people inducing insanity...
published in 1969 by Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
about a team of scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
s who investigate a deadly disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
of extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
origin. The miniseries is more of a "reimagining" of the original Michael Crichton novel than an adaptation. In addition to updating the details to an early 21st Century milieu, the miniseries makes a great many plot and character changes from its source. The mini-series has two episodes for a total of 169 minutes (originally aired the 26th and 27th of May 2008).
Plot
A US government satellite crash lands near Piedmont, Utah, and two teenagers find it and bring it back to town. The town's inhabitants open it and release a deadly microorganismMicroorganism
A microorganism or microbe is a microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters, or no cell at all...
, which is later codenamed Andromeda by the US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. A team is sent from the Army's bio-defense department to retrieve the satellite, only to die from the disease themselves. The video footage recorded by the retrieval team and their strange deaths capture the attention of General George Mancheck, the head of the bio-defense department, who activates "Wildfire," a team of five scientists who are called upon when high-level bioterror threats occur in the United States. The team, headed by its creator, Dr. Jeremy Stone, investigates Piedmont. They retrieve the satellite and rescue a hysterical 60-year old man and a colicky
Baby colic
Colic is a condition in which an otherwise healthy baby cries or displays symptoms of distress frequently and for extended periods, without any discernible reason...
baby who have survived the Andromeda outbreak.
In an isolated underground laboratory, the Wildfire team begins their examination of the downed satellite and the two survivors. The laboratory is powered by a small water-cooled nuclear reactor. In the event of a contamination breach, a 15-minute self-destruct sequence would be automatically initiated; however if the activated sequence is deemed unnecessary, Major Bill Keane, designated by the Odd-Man Hypothesis, is the only person able to deactivate the sequence, using his pass key and right thumbprint.
The scientists begin their analysis of the Andromeda strain by recovering a sample from inside the satellite. They initially discover that the microorganism is contained within a delivery system of buckyballs, a technology more advanced than anything known at present. The team theorizes that Andromeda may have an extraterrestrial origin, as it has no DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
or amino acid
Amino acid
Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...
s. The team discovers Andromeda is an airborne microorganism that kills its host by entering the bloodstream through the lungs and coagulating the blood in the body, causing death within 10 seconds via a blood clot in the brain. Those who manage to survive the blood clot become insane, extremely violent and suicidal. It is revealed that the two survivors from Piedmont had not been affected by Andromeda because of their acidotic
Acidosis
Acidosis is an increased acidity in the blood and other body tissue . If not further qualified, it usually refers to acidity of the blood plasma....
blood. However, all initial tests with antibiotics and chemical agents regularly used to kill other microorganisms show no effect on Andromeda.
Cable news reporter Jack Nash becomes aware of some of the events related to the fallen satellite and Andromeda. As he investigates further, Chuck Beeter, the Director of the NSA
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
, uses General Mancheck's aide, Colonel Ferrus, to perform assassinations to prevent knowledge of Andromeda from reaching the civilian population. Nash travels to one of the temporary Army outposts performing quarantine procedures, and witnesses the effects of Andromeda spreading through various modes of transportation. He becomes a target of assassination due to his presence at the outpost, but manages to escape Ferrus and his subordinates.
In an attempt to neutralize the problem, the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
authorizes a small tactical nuclear strike on the quarantine area in hopes of completely irradiating and destroying Andromeda. When the Wildfire team is informed, they realize that they have not reviewed the test results for irradiating Andromeda. They find that the microorganism grows at an exponential rate when irradiated. The Wildfire team alerts the President, and the air-strike is called off before the pilot launches the nuclear missile. However, as the jet continues to fly over the quarantine area, the pilot reports a malfunction of the aircraft's controls. Through video feed, the Wildfire team and President watch in shock and horror as all plastic components of the aircraft, including the pilot's visor, disintegrate. The nuclear missile is re-armed, the jet and missile crash into the ground, and the missile detonates, irradiating the quarantine area. The team examine the footage of the crash, and realize that Andromeda did not attack the pilot until after the missile launch sequence was halted, leading the team to believe that Andromeda has the ability to think. They also realize that Andromeda has mutated into several variations, with different means of spreading and different effects.
As Andromeda grows and mutates into more virulent forms, the Wildfire team continue their tests to find a way to stop Andromeda before it reaches Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, the closest city to the quarantine zone with an international airport. Further studies reveals Andromeda is actually a sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
-based compound. A set of tests with phages reveals that one phage has the ability to kill Andromeda. However, repeated tests with this phage prove unsuccessful, causing the Wildfire team to theorize that Andromeda can communicate through an unknown mechanism between its separate parts. A binary code encoded on buckyball casings with potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...
and rubidium
Rubidium
Rubidium is a chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. Rubidium is a soft, silvery-white metallic element of the alkali metal group. Its atomic mass is 85.4678. Elemental rubidium is highly reactive, with properties similar to those of other elements in group 1, such as very rapid...
atoms is also discovered. The information included the 6-digit number “739528” and the word “Bacillus infernus” encoded in ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
, and a bitmap image of a symbol with interlocking triangles. Bacillus infernus
Bacillus infernus
Bacillus infernus is a thermophilic, strictly anaerobic bacterium of the genus Bacillus that lives in deep terrestrial subsurface areas. It was first isolated in depths of to in the Taylorsville Triassic Basin in Virginia, and grew well at but not at 40° or 65°C.-Popular culture:* Bacillus...
is the name of an archaebacterium
Archaea
The Archaea are a group of single-celled microorganisms. A single individual or species from this domain is called an archaeon...
found only at the thermal vents on the ocean floors. At this time President Scott was championing the new and controversial industry of thermal vent mining, and it was likely that the mining would eradicate the bacteria. The encoded information causes Stone to realize Andromeda must have a connection with Earth, and leads Stone to force General Mancheck to reveal the truth about the satellite.
Mancheck reveals “Project Scoop,” a confidential mission to examine a wormhole
Wormhole
In physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through spacetime. For a simple visual explanation of a wormhole, consider spacetime visualized as a two-dimensional surface. If this surface is folded along a third dimension, it...
that had appeared near Earth. It consisted of a satellite sent to collect organic samples, but it malfunctioned during the mission and crashed. With this information, the Wildfire team infer that Andromeda could have been sent from Earth's future, possibly because society in the future could not destroy the contagion due to a lack of a natural resource - Bacillus infernus.
Tests with Bacillus infernus reveal that the bacterium easily consumes and destroys Andromeda because of Andromeda's sulfur structure. The Wildfire team begins to grow large amounts of the bacterium in culture vats, intending to release the cultures over the quarantined area once a sufficient quantity is grown. The team also begins to destroy the remaining samples of Andromeda in the lab in an attempt to prevent Andromeda from communicating the nature of the tests with its other parts. Eventually, enough bacteria are grown and they are sprayed over the quarantined area, eradicating all traces of Andromeda from the environment.
As part of a government conspiracy to preserve Andromeda for future use, Colonel Ferrus blackmails Dr. Barton to keep a sample. The sample mutates and disintegrates the sample casing, setting off the lab's contamination breach sensor and initiating the self-destruct sequence. The self-destruct sequence also causes the flashing emergency lights to turn on, triggering Chou's photosensitive epilepsy
Photosensitive epilepsy
Photosensitive epilepsy is a form of epilepsy in which seizures are triggered by visual stimuli that form patterns in time or space, such as flashing lights, bold, regular patterns, or regular moving patterns.-Symptoms:...
, which causes him to inadvertently destroy the self-destruct control panel on the lab level of the complex.
With the elevators deactivated due to the self-destruct sequence, Keane decides to climb to the control panel on the level above through the lab's main exhaust vent. However, the pipes and other components in the vent have begun to deteriorate due to the mutation in the Andromeda sample. The pipe Keane climbs suddenly bends, dangling Keane above the radioactive water at the base of the vent. Before falling, Keane manages to throw his badge to Stone. Realizing Keane's right thumb is also required to shutdown the self-destruct sequence, Chou sacrifices his life to enter the radioactive water to cut off Keane's thumb for Stone. With Keane's thumb and badge, Stone reaches the control panel and deactivates the sequences; albeit with only seconds to spare.
As the remaining Wildfire team attends the funerals of their fallen colleagues, both General Mancheck and Colonel Ferrus are secretly assassinated. Dr. Stone reveals some of the events to the public in an interview with Jack Nash. In the final scene, the saved sample of the Andromeda is inserted into a containment compartment with the access code “739528”, held in a vessel marked with a symbol with interlocking triangles. Director Beeter watches over the operation on the computer in his office. The camera then zooms out, revealing Andromeda has been stored within a space station orbiting Earth. The ending implies that the sample saved on the space station is the cause of the outbreak in the future that necessitated sending the virus back to the present via the wormhole, creating an ontological paradox as to the virus' origin.
Cast
| Character | Portrayed by |
|---|---|
| Dr. Jeremy Stone | Benjamin Bratt Benjamin Bratt Benjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Rey Curtis on the TV series Law & Order; and his appearances in the movies Blood in Blood Out, Miss Congeniality, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Traffic, and Piñero.-Early life:Bratt was born in San Francisco, California,... |
| General George Mancheck | Andre Braugher Andre Braugher Andre Braugher is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Thomas Searles in the film Glory, as the fiery detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 to 1998 and again in the 2000 made-for-TV film Homicide: Life on the Street, and as Owen Thoreau Jr... |
| Dr. Angela Noyce | Christa Miller Christa Miller Christa Miller is an American actress who has achieved success in television comedy. Her foremost roles include Kate O'Brien on The Drew Carey Show and Jordan Sullivan on Scrubs . She has also appeared on Seinfeld and CSI: Miami... |
| Dr. Tsi Chou | Daniel Dae Kim |
| Dr. Smithson | Paul Perri Paul Perri Paul John Perri is an American-born Canadian-American film and television actor. Perri is best known for portraying Edwards and Skinless Parker in Hellraiser: Bloodline, Harry Hume from Chaos, and as Dr. Sidney Bloom from Manhunter.-Background:Perri and his wife, Michele Miner are the parents of... |
| Dr. Charlene Barton | Viola Davis Viola Davis Viola Davis is an American actress.Known primarily as a stage actress, Davis won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for her role in King Hedley II . She won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her role in the... |
| Major Bill Keane, M.D. | Ricky Schroder |
| Jack Nash | Eric McCormack Eric McCormack Eric James McCormack is a Canadian American actor, musician, writer and producer. Born in Toronto, he began his acting career performing in school plays at Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute High School... |
| President Scott | Ted Whittall |
Production
In September 2004, the Sci Fi ChannelSci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
announced that they would produce a miniseries of The Andromeda Strain executive-produced by Ridley
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...
and Tony Scott
Tony Scott
Anthony D. L. "Tony" Scott is an English film director. His films include Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Unstoppable...
and Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont is a Hungarian-American film director, screenwriter and producer who has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe. He has directed the films The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, all based on stories by Stephen King...
. On May 2, 2007, the SciFi channel's news website The SciFi Wire announced that the miniseries would be broadcast on the A&E Network
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
. The miniseries originally aired as a four-hour, two-part miniseries, airing in the UK on May 11, 2008, and with part one premiering in the U.S. on May 26 and part two on May 27, 2008. It was screened as a single three-ish hour
movie in Australia on September 21, 2009.
Filming
On August 16, 2007, the cast and crew filmed at the Surrey, B.C. campus of Simon Fraser UniversitySimon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...
. The production also filmed in the Kamloops Brewery in Kamloops, British Columbia. Exterior scenes were filmed in Hedley, British Columbia
Hedley, British Columbia
Hedley is an unincorporated town in southern British Columbia, Canada, named after Robert R. Hedley, the manager of the Hall Smelter in Nelson. Hedley is located at the foot of Nickel Plate Mountain in the Similkameen. The town had a population of approximately 400 as of 2005. In the early...
and Ashcroft, British Columbia. Although no filming was done in Utah, the satellite image appearing in the nuclear strike sequence is that of Emery, Utah
Emery, Utah
Emery is a town in Emery County, Utah, United States. The population was 308 at the 2000 census.-Prehistoric:Emery sits at the base of the mountains that contain the North Horn Formation. Named after North Horn Mountain, near Castle Dale, Utah this formation in Emery County contain numerous...
.
Marketing
A&E created an alternate reality gameAlternate reality game
An alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
that is set around a fictional blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, titled "What Happened in Piedmont?". The blog accompanies the miniseries and features references to trouble in the town in which the miniseries is set. The "author" is a journalism student at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, and the blog discusses his attempts to contact people from his home town of Piedmont after receiving a "bizarre voicemail" from his sister that left him with "a horrible feeling inside". Since the first post in April 2008, the blog has revealed further insight into the plot of the miniseries, with cross links to other fictional sites where players of the game can enter passwords to obtain more information.
The series' tagline
Tagline
A tagline is a variant of a branding slogan typically used in marketing materials and advertising. The idea behind the concept is to create a memorable phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of a brand or product , or to reinforce the audience's memory of a product...
is "It's a bad day to be human."
Reception
The Andromeda Strain mini-series was panned by many critics and viewers. The Hartford CourantThe Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is a morning newspaper for most of the state north of New Haven and east of Waterbury...
called it an "entertaining piece of high-velocity intrigue." The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
found it unoriginal, although "sometimes engaging". The Los Angeles Times calls it "overwrought and dull" and criticizes its divergence from the original story. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
complained about the slow pace and stated that "the cluttered remake mires itself in lab work, inane backstories, and bureaucracy."The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
stated that "it never grows quite suspenseful enough".
Nevertheless, the miniseries was nominated for six Emmy Awards
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
, including Outstanding Miniseries
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries represents excellence in the category of miniseries that are considered either six hours or more, or more than two parts....
. Part one was nominated for its cinematography, single-camera picture editing and sound mixing. Part two was nominated for sound editing. Both parts were nominated for makeup (non-prosthetic). It lost all its nominations.
The series contains many (some very strong) scientific inaccuracies, rich in the typical cinematic presentation of laboratory and high tech science, for example instantaneous read-outs of amino acid sequence in an immediately interpretable form, something that would in reality take considerable effort and time likely leading to a full research paper in itself.
Ratings
Part one of The Andromeda Strain averaged 4.8 million total viewers, making it the second most-watched A&E program ever, behind Flight 93Flight 93 (TV film)
Flight 93 is a 2006 made-for-TV film, directed by Peter Markle, which chronicles the events aboard United Airlines Flight 93 during the September 11 attacks...
. Part two averaged 5 million total viewers.
Further reading
- Biosafety and Biological Weapons: The Andromeda Strain (1971), Manuel Sánchez, Universidad Miguel Hernández (Spain), Revista de Medicina y Cine, Universidad de Salamanca, Vol. 7, No. 1, 15 December 2010. Accessed 2011-10-31.