The Andromeda Strain - The Season [DVD]

Michael Crichton's classic novel is given a fresh new retelling in this excellent mini series produced by acclaimed directors Ridley and Tony Scott. Staying true to the basic premise of the novel, The Andromeda Strain is brought into the new millennium with allowances made for our present technology and our current understanding of biology, physics and nuclear sciences giving us a gripping and taut science fiction thriller.
When a satellite crashes outside of the town of Piedmont, two teenagers bring the device back to the local fire chief. Hours later and army bio-recovery unit is sent in to retrieve the satellite when they find that everyone in the town has died. Shocked by what they see the soldiers themselves die when a man rushes up to their humvee.
As military command becomes aware of the situation they order a lockdown quarantine and call in a team of specialists to deal with the problem.
Further complications arise when a series of psychotic murders and suicides take place far outside the contamination zone leading to the theory that the virus may be mutating into another form.
With reporter Jack Nash (Will & Grace's Eric McCormack) following leads from a source who leaked the video recording from the Piedmont bio-recovery team, he finds himself caught up in the complex conspiracy as the government try to keep the population unaware of the threat they face.
Benjamin Bratt (Law & Order) stars as Doctor Jeremy Stone, the leader of the Wildfire team that are gathered in a state of the art facility which he helped design in order to combat the Andromeda virus.
He is assisted by Dr Angela Noyce (Scrub's Christa Miller), Dr Charlene Barton (Viola Davis), Dr Tsi Chou (Lost's Daniel Dae Kim) and Major Bill Keene (Scrub's Ricky Shroeder). This elite team are specialists covering all medical and biological disciplines and with the clock running, it's only a matter of time before Andromeda mutates into something for which they have no defence.
The mini series is in two parts (one per disc) and has a dramatic cliff-hanger ending for part one which ensures that you will immediately want to play the second disc. The story is well scripted, the dialogue sharp, the effects are excellent and it builds progressively to dramatic and action packed finale. There are some truly shocking and graphic moments in the series, especially with regards to the suicides.
Sci-fi fans will be able to work out some elements of the plot about half way through the whole story and by the first act of part two, most will understand the twist that the writer has injected into the original plot. This doesn't detract from the adventure in any way and most will enjoy the payoff scene at the end.
Disc one also has a 26 minute documentary called Terra Incognita which goes into the making of the mini-series including interviews with most of the cast and production crew including Ridley Scott.
Disc two has a 110 image picture archive and a 15 minute run through of all the VFX shots in the whole story. This was really interesting as it shows some VFX shots that were so well done you had no idea that they were even in the frame, which just shows the level of quality that was given to the whole production.
An excellent retelling of a classic work of sci-fi and a very welcome addition to any sci-fi collection.

Caught this on Sky Movies & watched the full 180 minutes in one session.
It's very well made despite being created for TV. Definite Feature Film
quality as would be expected by the presence of the Scott brothers as
producers. It's less claustrophobic than the 1971 feature (which I love for it's documentary style) with a lot more action outside the laboratory environment. As you'd expect, there is quite a bit of CGI work used to depict the effects of deadly micro-organism, Andromeda & mostly, it works.
The film is great to look at, using that bleached, washed out style so beloved of TV execs! Acting is decent, all the characters compliment each other well.
As in the '71 movie, there is the grimly atmospheric scene where the research team, fully kitted out in biosuits, descend on the Andromeda ravaged town of Piedmont to find 99.9'% of the locals dead. The organism
kills in the same way as before, coagulating the blood within seconds & is well depicted through realistic Special FX makeup. There's also a small nod to the 28 Days movies as in some cases, the infected become pschopathic prior to death; A self inflicted decapitation by chainsaw, a graphic burning and a multiple shooting in a diner are some of the setpieces.
There's a very high tech feel to the film, the laboratory scenes offer real cutting edge scientific equipment; robotic arms, computers etc. You do need to concentrate especially when the whys & whats of Andromeda are under discussion but this adds to the enjoyment!
There's more of a military presence to this version & plenty of shady politics going on at NSA/White House levels.
One MAJOR change here is Andromeda's origins - originally, simply a deadly, extra terrestrial life form, the update sees it still coming from space via a crashed satellite (great opening scene reminiscent of the 1950's Blob!) but we also enter into the realms of wormholes & coded messages from Space...
I still prefer the 70's movie, if only for nostalgia, but this was way better than I expected. Yes, you can nitpick at some things, and there are a few plotholes & glaring coincidences but it's still a decent, modern piece of Science Fiction/Horror.

As someone with hearing difficulties, I was disappointed to find this DVD did not have any subtitles. As the dialogue is fast-paced and technical in places, I found that I often missed the subtleties of the plot.

Otherwise I thought this was a well-realised peice of sci fi with a few nice nods to the original movie, however I'm sure my neighbours (who had to put up with all 4.5 hours of it on maximum volume) may disagree.