View Full Version : Did anyone catch "Tha Andromeda Strain" last night


stuwee
05-27-2008, 10:25 AM
I saw most of it, and thought it was quite good for a made-for-TV SCI-FI thing. It was on A&E and though I missed the very end, it's a 2parter, yes? I saw the original years ago, and can't watch it again, because of the monkey scene, I can't watch anything with seizures in it, especaily if animals are involved.

kcollins4
05-27-2008, 10:34 AM
My wife and I liked it. We'll be watching part 2 tonight. Wish I'd read the book, so I'd have an idea which movie version was more accurate.

ablethevoice
05-27-2008, 10:38 AM
Yeah, I saw part one last night and so far, it was a DOG. I'm really not too optimistic that part two will be any better. If someone would have streamlined the script and not padded it with so much bullshit it might have been marginally better. Certainly didn't have to be stretched into a mini-series. Adding the reporter story thread, and the wife needing help story thread was totally unnecessary and was crammed in there only to add to the running time and make sure that all the sponsors got their million commercials in. Stupid.

It's one of my favorite books, and Robert Wise did an amazing job with the 1971 movie- but this...this is unforgivable.

BTW, The "animal death" scenes were totally staged and NO animal was killed in the original. They used pure CO2 and knocked the critters out. The instant the scene was shot, a vet rushed in and gave the rat and monkey pure O2. Less than a minute later, they were as good as new. In fact, if you watch the original again a split-second before the camera cuts away from the "dead" monkey, you can see the vet's reflection in the stainless steel wall behind and to the right of the cage as he rushes in with the oxygen.

botrytis
05-27-2008, 10:50 AM
My wife never saw the original movie and I told her she needed to watch it before watching this one - I guess I was right.

Celt
05-27-2008, 10:59 AM
I hope I didn't "catch" it! :para:

WhiteSE
05-27-2008, 11:35 AM
i saw it and got bored....i wonder if the A-bomb aboard the F-16 will detonate???

arctic_man
05-27-2008, 11:57 AM
I saw most of it, and thought it was quite good for a made-for-TV SCI-FI thing. It was on A&E and though I missed the very end, it's a 2parter, yes? I saw the original years ago, and can't watch it again, because of the monkey scene, I can't watch anything with seizures in it, especaily if animals are involved.

it wasnt quite made for TV, more of a book first. From what a few of you are saying it sounds like they went astray from the book too. The book was great if you like sci fi books, Michael Crichton is a great writer, Jurassic Park, Eaters of the Dead, The Lost world, Timeline, Sphere, Congo, n many more

gearhound
05-27-2008, 12:53 PM
I agree withablethevoice.....I rated it one dog bone.
Compared to the book and the original 1971.....it's a soap-opera joke.

Steve

stuwee
05-27-2008, 02:13 PM
Well, I'm still gonna watch part II, my roomie has the Sci-fi channel on when he's home, period. End of sentence, that's all he watches,:nerd:!! Thankfully, we have 3 TV's in the house:thmbsp:Sometimes I walk by the one he's watching and, stupidly think maybe this one will be worth a looksee, the last one was Teradactyle(sp) OMG, the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz were high-tech compared to the dreck I saw on that one and the acting ten times worse than (insert worst acting in a movie Here):thumbsdn::DSorry I guess what I'm saying is having been desensitized by that, I thought the updated computer stuff was refreshing:D

Thanks for the animal info! I wasn't sure. That was right around the time activist started to cry foul on movies doing bad stuff with animals.

DaWoofer
05-27-2008, 02:35 PM
I watched it and did not expect it to rival the original but I was hoping just to see their effects (digital) and to see what else they might add to the plot. I will watch part two just to finish it so I won't ever have to see it again in the future. I really only watched it cause A&E usually has pretty good programming.

Twenty20Man
05-27-2008, 03:10 PM
i hate monkeys anyway..

Tedrick
05-27-2008, 10:15 PM
Having read the book and seen the original movie numerous times (a real classic BTW), when I saw the trailers for the mini-series this past weekend, I just KNEW it was going to suck. Glad I didn't waste any time watching it.

ablethevoice
05-27-2008, 10:19 PM
I just finished watching part two:thumbsdn::thumbsdn:
The suckage increased exponentially with every passing minute. Got so bad my living room was positively windy. Almost lost my cat in the TV,
Poor Chrichton. He oughta get this production banned from ever being aired again and stop the DVD sales as well.

Eric H
05-27-2008, 10:24 PM
I passed on this one after reading the reviews.

I'm not at all fond of the original either, I was surprised to see Robert Wise was the director because he's done a lot of really great films.

ablethevoice
05-27-2008, 10:50 PM
I beg to differ, Eric. Wise's version was amazing. He captured the same tensity and claustrophobic feeling that the book had without resorting to empty story threads and 80 minutes of padding. This new one rushed through some of the most thrilling revelations and darrrraaaaaaagggggedddd through a bunch of crap that just plain wasn't even in the original story. They killed off not one, but TWO of the team members geez I could go on and on but I've already wasted too much of my time on this abortion just watching it.

EchoWars
05-27-2008, 11:00 PM
Sucky and tacky.

...and a lot of things that are not so nice to print.

I can't believe Ridley Scott allowed his name to be attached to this dreck.

The original movie was superb.

terra1
05-27-2008, 11:30 PM
I am so out of touch. I thought this was going to be about someone seeing the original Andromeda Strain for the first time.

I loved the original. One of those that leaves a lasting impression just from the plot and acting. Will always remember the lady scientist scanning and glazing over ...

Also Michael Crichton was on a roll writing and DIRECTING: Westworld with Yul Brynner, Coma with Michael Douglas, Looker with Albert Finney ...

stuwee
05-27-2008, 11:32 PM
Welllll, That was a waste of time, except for the trailers for The Dark Knight:thmbsp: and the Ben Bratt series with the haunting redo of the old Tears for Fears song:thmbsp:

I know what song it is but, who redid it?

WhiteSE
05-27-2008, 11:37 PM
so wtf happened...I missed it due to watching the my homies The Lakers

gearhound
05-28-2008, 07:44 AM
God.....that was soooo BAD!!

I hope the North Koreans didn't see it!?

They'd re-start their nuclear program....again.

Steve

Onkwood
05-28-2008, 10:32 AM
Ugh. That was 4 hours of my life I wish I had back. This one makes "I am Legend" (another '71 ripoff - Omega Man) look like an Oscar winner. 4 hours? I guess it took that long to successfully complicate the plot into absolute silliness. It also doesn't help matters to have the Silver Spoons guy play the serious - Army doctor - snarky - "your lives are in my hands" guy. Please.

As part 2 started, I was hoping that maybe the nuke was going to land on the movie set. :boring:

ablethevoice
05-28-2008, 10:37 AM
Ugh. That was 4 hours of my life I wish I had back. This one makes "I am Legend" (another '71 ripoff - Omega Man) look like an Oscar winner. 4 hours? I guess it took that long to successfully complicate the plot into absolute silliness. It also doesn't help matters to have the Silver Spoons guy play the serious - Army doctor - snarky - "your lives are in my hands" guy. Please.

As part 2 started, I was hoping that maybe the nuke was going to land on the movie set. :boring:

Yep. That about sums up the whole appalling mess.

toxcrusadr
05-28-2008, 12:14 PM
Maybe I'm getting old, but the plots are so convoluted and fast moving I still don't know for sure why any of it happened. And I'm a veteran sci fi reader with a time travel specialty. The original was much better. The severed thumb was a nice touch. Ugh.

WhiteSE
05-28-2008, 01:09 PM
so what the hell happened? did they nuke, did it die off, did we die off?

gearhound
05-28-2008, 03:01 PM
The guy lopping his own head off with a chainsaw.....was the director after he previewed the movie.

Steve

Fletch
05-28-2008, 04:40 PM
It was absolutely craptacular. Please do not buy this. It will send a message to the studios that we want more of this direct to video redone movie of the week crap.

I had high hopes. I should have expected as much from the commercial box, I mean TV.

Eric H
05-28-2008, 07:24 PM
Well now I want to see it, I like spectacularly bad movies if they have some camp value.

Re: the original, I might have to give it another shot, I think I've only seen it on TV and VHS, if there's a widescreen DVD I might check it out.

wajobu
05-28-2008, 07:30 PM
Quoted for Truth.

The original movie was superb.

Also, on the DVD is a short about the making of the film narrated by Michael Crichton. The book ain't bad either :naughty:

willyrover
05-28-2008, 07:54 PM
FAR too long...FAR too many commercials (basically every 10 minutes)...and "Brought to you by VIAGRA!" so there was a VIAGRA ad at every break which I think was a full 2 minutes long.

Once it was over I felt like someone stole 4 hours of my life.

Oh...and I actually laughed out loud when the "Buy the DVD" thing came on at the end. Would ANYONE watch this more than once?

ablethevoice
05-28-2008, 08:23 PM
Well we needed the Viagra to keep our interest "up" for this inhuman study in tedium.

gearhound
05-29-2008, 07:26 AM
The VIAGRA commercials were to let you know you just got "screwed" watching this 4 hour long movie!

Steve

Fedallah
05-29-2008, 04:25 PM
It was godawful.

The birds.

The thumb.

The horror.

Lady Ayeka
05-29-2008, 05:15 PM
i LOVE the original ANDROMEDA STRAIN. one of my most favorite movies i grew up on!! tought, gripping storytelling at it's finest!!:music:

Lady Ayeka
05-29-2008, 06:15 PM
I hope I didn't "catch" it! :para:

what, the GERM? :D

kbs48
05-29-2008, 06:39 PM
Well I see Hollywood is not satisfied with making a craptacular remake of this film,they plan to I'm sure, ruin another exellent film with a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.Starring none other than the king of the wooden actors Keanu Reeves,:thumbsdn:

Eric H
05-29-2008, 07:07 PM
Well I see Hollywood is not satisfied with making a craptacular remake of this film,they plan to I'm sure, ruin another exellent film with a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.Starring none other than the king of the wooden actors Keanu Reeves,:thumbsdn:

Whoa, dude...

Jack G
06-11-2008, 09:03 AM
I watched it on DVd (no commercials, not 4 hrs). It was OK, as long as you didn't constantly compare it to the original (that had its flaws too).
Jack

soundmotor
06-11-2008, 12:09 PM
No one thought to quit watching after 20 minutes or so when it didn't improve?

:scratch2:

EchoWars
06-11-2008, 05:13 PM
Kinda like a train wreck...ya just can't look away..