ALL SCI-FI

[Bogmeister]

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________________ The Andromeda Strain 1971


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What an eerie beginning for one of the more scary Sci-Fi thrillers of the sixties-seventies era.

The small town of Piedmont, New Mexico, in the middle of the barren desert, has just lost all of its inhabitants (except for an old man & a baby) to a virus from outer space. A couple of scientists (played by Hill & Olson), looking like visiting aliens themselves in their spacesuits, investigate the dead area.

As with many Sci-Fi films, I first saw this many years ago, when I was in my early teens, on TV. It's one of those films, however, which I've grown to appreciate more & more as I got older. It's based on the novel by Michael Crichton, his first; Crichton went on to direct his own films, starting with Westworld in 1973.

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When I saw this as a kid, I found many sequences to be very dull. Now, as one example, I find the lengthy decontamination sequence to be fascinating, as is everything else. "What A World we're making" Wayne's scientist character says somewhat sadly early in the story. He's commenting on our ever-growing technology as he and Reid's character descend into the special underground installation, Wildfire.

But all the technology associated with that wild underground facility is what sets the hearts of most Sci-Fi fans to beating faster. What a trip it was, and is (since we can still see these scenes on LDs and DVDs).

BoG's Score: 7 out of 10

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A TV REMAKE aired on Monday, 5/26/08 & Tuesday 5/27/08, on the A&E channel, starring Ben Bratt & Ricky Schroeder. Early reviews were not good - Entertainment Weekly gave it a C- grade. Most viewers rated it even less. Other films with those pesky little bug threats include The Satan Bug (1965), Warning Sign (1985) and Outbreak (1995). Also, Stephen King's The Stand (TV-94) used such a lethal virus to wipe out most of humanity. But, here's the original Andromeda Strain film.





BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Gord Green]

This was the first film that really brought the threat of a biomenace into popular thought.( OK, Quatermass !, THE MENACE FROM SPACE touched upon it a decade earlier.) It so much affected the popular psyche that the first couple of Moon missions concluded with the Lunarnauts being held in biocontamination units before they could be released to the environment..

Also, the use of computer readouts to tell the story of the contamination was really groundbreaking and very effective.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

_________ The Andromeda Strain (1971) Trailer


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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ Michael Crichton was invited to take a tour of "Universal Studios" during the production of this film. His guide was none other than Steven Spielberg, who went on to adapt Crichton's most successful novel, "Jurassic Park (1993)."

Note from me: Steve was 25 years old at the time. I can just hear the young man saying, 'Gee, Mr. Crichton, do you think I might make a move from one of you books someday?"

"Oh sure, kid. Like . . . when dinosaurs come back."

~ The Wildfire scientific lab sets cost more than $300,000 to build and were described at the time as "one of the most elaborately detailed interiors ever built."

Note from me: Yes indeed, they were impressive at the time.

~ Special effects to create the germ from space cost $250,000.

Note from me: Okay, the germ was NOT so impressive. And it cost almost as much as the set!

~ When the producers invited Michael Crichton to the set to get his opinion if their set designs matched his original vision, the author had to admit that there was a lot of the book that he had never fully considered visually.

Note from me: If I'm ever lucky enough to get one of my two sci-fi novels made into a movie, I hope I'll be stunned by how great the sets look compared to my imagined version. (Although they do look pretty damn good in my head.)

~ Director Robert Wise directed some of the most famous movies ever made, including "West Side Story", "The Sound of Music" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still". He also edited what to many is considered the best movie ever made: "Citizen Kane".

Note from me: Just between you and me, guys, I think Citizen Kane is highly overrated.

~ Some of the sets went on to be used in a Colombo "Mind over Mayhem". You can clearly see door props and the cut outs above the door where the clock and countdown counter went. Also the Red and Green alert lights.

Note from me: That's also the Columbo episode that featured version of Robby the robot built by Bill Malone. Robby's torso is mounted on a wheeled lower half that rolls rather than walks.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

[Bud Brewster]

[Pow]

Bud, please give "Night Gallery" a shot as they produced some terrific episodes over the run of that series.

True, sci~fi only plays a part in some episodes. Other episodes are supernatural, still others psychological.

The writing, directing, and acting is very well done even if the visuals are dated.

My recommendations are : Season # One.

The Dead Man, Room with a View, The Little Black Bag (sic~fi), They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar. Riley's Bar was written by Rod and is considered one of the finest episodes to come out of NG. It was nominated for an Emmy.

Season Two: The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes, The Hand of Borgus Weems, A Death in the Family, The Merciful, Class of '99, Satisfaction Guaranteed, The Flip Side of satan, Marmalade Wine, The Academy,

Season Three: Rare Objects, The Other Way Out.

Granted, I haven't seen NG in years but these episodes have remained in my memory as being entertaining.

Really, what you can do is simply dvr the show and check out all the episodes. One's that don't appeal to you just ff through (and perhaps some of them might be my recommendations for you).

Sure, like any television series---including The Twilight Zone---these are a collection of excellent, good, fair, and poor episodes. But there are some gems.

Some of the vignettes are pretty funny.

[Bud Brewster]

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Thanks for the encouragement and the recommendations for specific episodes! That will be very helpful!

It took me abut ten whole seconds to use my DISH remote and say, "Find Night Gallery", and then press a few buttons to tell my DVR to "record all episodes".

God, I LOVE living in the future! The past was quaint in many ways, but it was so damn low-tech!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

"The Andromeda Strain" Factoids.

Screenwriter Nelson Gidding suggested a change from the novel for the movie to director Robert Wise. Gidding wanted to change the novel's character of Dr. Paul Leavitt to a female named Dr. Ruth Leavitt.

Wise was unenthusiastic about the idea since he thought it would mean adding a female to the film who was to serve as decorative eye-candy. Something similar to Raquel Welch in the 1966 sf film "Fantastic Voyage."

Wise did ask a number of real life scientists about just such a change. The scientists were unanimously in favor of it.

When it was decided that Dr. Ruth Leavitt would not be depicted as a movie glamour girl, Wise became pleased with the gender change. He felt that Dr. Leavitt was "the most interesting character in the film."

Author Michael Crichton makes a cameo in the scene where Dr. Mark Hall (James Olson) is performing surgery and is interrupted.

The fictional town of Piedmont, New Mexico, that is devastated by the alien virus in the opening of the film was a real life town. The town was Shafter, Texas, with a population of 20 at that time. The studio was three-weeks filming there.

It underwent a considerable face lift in order to transform it into Piedmont.

Ocotillo Wells, California, was the location for the government agricultural station. The station was constructed for the movie, as were the planted fields.

Four million dollars worth of the most advanced scientific equipment was loaned to the film by facilities from all over in order to "dress" the sets for the Wildfire laboratory.

Security guards watched over the equipment twenty-four hours a day.

The production excavated 17' into the concrete studio sound stage floor in order to properly fit the Wildfire Core.

The core was made of stainless steel and was five stories tall and cost $300,000 to construct.

The Wildfire corridors were a complete 360-degree circle and 1/8th-mile long in circumference.

The Wildfire facility had five different levels in the film.
Each level was painted a different color code.

In reality, only the one corridor was built for the movie.

Whenever the plot necessitated a different floor the production simply painted and repainted the corridor depending on what level the action was taking place.

FX wunderkind Douglas Trumbull ("2001: A Space Odyssey," "Silent Running.") was responsible for creating the Andromeda Strain effect.

TAS is an entertaining and intelligent movie. I always thought that one of the classy aspects to it was in the casting of the actors who play the leads. They look like real folks. They aren't super models which is probably what they'd do in a remake.

The Wildfire facility sets are still cool looking to this day. Though futuristic, they also have a substantial & authentic look.

Almost all the sets were four-walled and had ceilings to them. This was highly unusual for a film to do this and not have "wild walls" which could be removable.

It made the filming and lighting for the movie very challenging for the production.

I also got a kick out of the secret passageway elevator disguised as a storeroom that led to the hidden underground Wildfire labs.

[Bud Brewster]

[Krel]

[Pow]

Douglas Trumbull of TAS.

"I had just started a little effects studio when I got the job for the FX on the film. I was very young and very naive at the time when i did it. I way underbid the job and had no clue how to negotiate that kind of thing. I almost went bankrupt doing the movie."

[Pow]

The scene where the laboratory monkey is exposed to the Andromeda Virus to gauge its deadliness did use a real monkey.

The production obviously did not want to kill or injure the monkey, so they reached out for help for the scene to scientists at the University of Southern California.

A candle was placed into the box which was then filled with carbon monoxide until the candle went out.

The monkey was then placed inside the glass box, it then was filmed as it squirmed around until it eventually became unconscious.

When the monkey passed out, a veterinarian with a gas mask immediately swooped in to revive the monkey.

This was all done under the supervision of an animal rights representative and the scene was allowed to be only shot one time.

Sidebar: This is indeed a disturbing moment in the movie. Nowadays they would not allow any such thing to be done with a living animal. A monkey animatronic or CGI, or a combination of both effects techniques would be utilized. And thank God for that!

No animal on earth should ever be subjected to anything that would frighten them, let alone kill or injure them.

Not for any film, not for any TV show. Ever!

[Gord Green]

Makes me wonder about the frozen monkey scene in GOG??
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]