In 1969, “The Andromeda Strain” unleashed Michael Crichton on an unsuspecting public, and the world has never been the same. Yes, he had written three previously, but those were originally published under pseudonyms; it was with “The Andromeda Strain” that Crichton established his name and his trademark — thrillers loosely rooted in science that explore the moral obligations and contradictions of technology and that almost unfailingly become movies. Nearly 40 years later, Crichton owns science and medicine the way John Grisham owns the law.

You’d think that would be enough to ask of a simple tale of an extraterrestrial disease that comes to Earth via satellite and kills a bunch of people by making their blood clot instantly until a crack team of scientists figures out what it is and makes it go away (perhaps).

But some people, well meaning no doubt, just can’t leave well enough alone. The version of “The Andromeda Strain” came out in 1971, and for years there have been rumors of a remake, never mind that pandemic flicks are now a dime a dozen or that space no longer occupies the same psycho-political place in the national psyche it once did. Industry heavy hitters Tony Scott and Ridley Scott wanted to produce a remake of “The Andromeda Strain” and would not, apparently, be denied.

So here it is, a two-part A&E miniseries that manages, despite a cast culled from some of the best shows on TV, to be both overwrought and dull, a veritable Frankenfilm of sci-fi thrillers, built of debris from sources including “Outbreak,” “Sphere,” “The Omega Man,” “The Birds,” “The China Syndrome” and, oh, yes, “The Andromeda Strain.”

At its pseudo heart is Dr. Jeremy Stone, a maverick scientist played with monotonous intensity by Benjamin Bratt, late of “Law & Order,” and Jack Nash, an ill-shaven reporter (Eric McCormack) who for reasons known only to screenwriter Robert Schenkkan is also a drug addict. Sort of. You know, the kind who can actually go days without the drugs and suffer no ill effects. Still, it gives McCormack a chance to finally shake off “Will & Grace” and look angry and butch.

Benjamin Bratt and brave TV talents battle ‘Andromeda’ - Los Angeles Times



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