Friday, May 23, 2008

The Andromeda Strain, "It's a Bad Day to Be Human"



Bad day to be human, but possibly a great day to be a television viewer if the promos we've seen so far are any indication. Premiering this Monday at 9pm (Memorial Day!) on A&E network, the Andromeda Strain is a two night blockbuster miniseries about one of our favorite Flaming Nose topics...."the end of the world".

Powerhouse, genius film making brothers (Bladerunner anybody?) Ridley Scott and Tony Scott are the producers of this re-purposed apocalyptic fairy tale about a very bad Level 5 Hot Zone disease unleashed upon the world. Since practically nobody will remember the 1971 original Andromeda Strain, they can expect a whole new crop of amazed eyeballs for this 21st century take on creepy ways to destroy humanity with a whimper and not a bang.

The cast looks B level, special effects look top notch. Writing and execution is anybody's guess. I'm tuning in because I love Ridley Scott, so if he did much more than wave his hand over the script in a Pope-like blessing, I'm thinking there might be some fun to be had.

My question is: whatever in the world did A&E have to do to get the Scott brothers on board for this effort? Maybe they are partial owners of A&E now? Or maybe they both knew that cable television in the summer is the coolest place to be outside of an air conditioned movie theater. Let's all watch and find out!

4 comments:

Scott said...

Jane, thanks for tipping us off to this! I didn't know about it. I loved the book and the original movie (a Warwick time period connection!!!).
I'm a huge Ridley Scott fan too. So now A&E has this and "Mad Men" in a few weeks! Cable is getting so competitive. Bravo lost "Project Runway" to Lifetime.

Lisa said...

You beat me to the punch on this one -- I was going to post something, too! I'm incredibly excited about this and can't wait to see it! Supposedly it's pretty gory -- we'll see! I also love the movie "The Andromeda Strain" which is one of the most tedious (and I mean that in the nicest way) yet utterly fascinating sci fi films ever made! Hurrah to A&E for this new version!

Anonymous said...

How exciting! This has possibilities with Ridley Scott directing. I love doomsday scenarios, especially if they're biological. Is this the one that begins with imploding passengers on a plane? A promo caught my attention the other night but I'm not sure if it was Andromeda. Looked cool. My favorite Sci Fi of all time is Scott's "Alien." Anyway, looking forward to Andromeda. I'd better set my dvr now or I'll forget....

Jane said...

My favorite Sci-Fi movie of all time is Bladerunner (Ridley Scott again), with Close Encounters of the Third Kind a close second. However I do think the original Alien was one of the coolest, scariest moview ever made.

And Scott, thanks so much for the tip that "Mad Men" is coming back soon. Almost enough to take the sting off the gaping crater-like void created when our David C. walked off the AI stage for the last time.