TV Review: THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN: PART II

At least the thumb toss was realistic.

I had part 1 as a B- and Part 2 as C-, for an overall C.

This could have been so much better, but the unrealistic stuff was just to cartoon-ish and anti-climatic for me. This is the kind of story that needs to be realistic in order to make an impact.

Yeah I didn't even get into that magical thumb toss. I could go with an overall C for the entire thing. I think that's fair.

This show was not even closely based on the book nor the movie that was made. I was somewhat happy with the first half of the show but the second half just sucked.

While I agree with your review for the most part I’m a bit surprised that you didn’t comment on the not so subtle political message. The whole: we shouldn’t drill because we might need resources to defeat a virus from the future, felt forced and preachy. Regardless of where one stands on the issue people don’t typically tune in to sci-fi to be preached to. IMO good sci-fi deals with powerful but subtle themes such as those found within BSG as opposed to what this turned out to be: a political position. Now I realize that there’s a fair amount of politics within sci-fi especially by authors like Heinlein, Bradbury etc. but it is typically handled with a deft subtlety that causes the reader to think and ponder, not feel as if they were just given a lesson by someone who presumes superior enlightenment.

And the scene with Bratt on the treadmill is just plain lazy film-making. Basically anytime they diverged from the original book it felt just amateurish. Not sure if Crichton was involved in this on any level but it doesn’t seem like it. Not that he’s a top-tier writer; the bit in the beginning where the experts are assembled is something he does with too many of his books ('course this was one of his first novels so we could probably cut him some slack there).

Didn't everyone notice the Time Loop factor in all of this?

I’m not a mathematician but to me this would be the second time that the People from the Future sent the Virus to the past. Think about it. There was no way that they could have known the containment code for storage the first time they sent the virus. Only the second time they sent it could they have known, because the Virus will eventually break out yet again. But there is a problem with this theory. It says to me that it will break out again and the guys from the future are warning where it’s coming from (specifically the storage casing it was placed in at the Space Station). This makes no sense because…

In the end the Virus must still have to have an Origin.
It is even a moot point to even tell the Audience that it is in the containment Area aboard the Space Station because in the Future the Virus will still...

A. Be created in a Lab by someone or a Group
B. It is sent to Earth from an Invading Species bent on Destroying Humans and all life.

What I’m stating is, the Virus Will break out regardless of it being on the Space Station at the time in the Future. I thought at first that Dr. Charlene Barton would be the deciding factor in preventing the Virus but this isn’t so.

These series of events will happen again and again unless there is some divergence in time preventing this from recurring.
As it stands, and I didn’t read the book or if it has a sequel but to me this is just going to loop over and over again.

The people in the Future will have to tell those in the past who will create the Virus or if Aliens created it and to tell them how to stop it in the Future. I think from the moment they are stopped in the future then the past as well as the Future (Present) will be saved.This might be the only way of stopping the Paradox.

On another note:
I was wondering did Dr. Tsi Chou really have to immerse his whole body in the Coolant to get to the thumb? To me I think he could have just reached over with just a little effort. Also why so Cryptic from the future if they knew the organization would take it yet again. Kinda lame not to tell them, for so much trouble! Also does it take so much code to make a rotating insignia? It would have saved them alot of trouble and encoding if they just made a static jpeg, lol. This way they would have had more room for actual text.

I caught both parts and was extremely disappointed. This "miniseries" sucked hard! Stupid for most of the show, and dumb the rest. Not realistic in the slightest, and the acting was below sub-par. I give it an F- if that's possible.
The original movie is a classic and far more realistic in its approach to the story line. Superior acting, superior in the medical basis of the film-making, and just superior over-all. The Andromeda Strain of 1971 gets an A+ from me and is quite possibly my all-time favorite film.
This "mini-series" will sit at the complete opposite from the original film for me. Absolutely PATHETIC!
If you never saw the original movie, be warned, unlike this silly "mini-series", it has very little action at all. But it's done in such a way that it feels like a docu-drama filmed right on the actual locations of this "outbreak". And the Wildfire Complex in the 1971 movie was so much more interesting, clinical, and even oppressive compared to the cheap looking sets of this "mini-series".

While the movie had black holes within super black holes within bad acting, I can give a possible solution for the virus creation.

An engineer in the future (lets say year 2545) experiments and creates a new virus, they lose control of it. They search under rocks for a possible cure. They find that since 2008 (or whatever was the present year in the movie, I don't quite recall) the same virus was contained in a space station.

They theoretically find a cure in the future, but just when the ingredients are extint. They develop time travel (or already have it, I mean Back to the Future is from 1985). They send a message back with the virus, in order to find a cure "in the past".

In the message they include the reference for the space station container, which survived our wars and patriot act until the year 2545 because it was on space. But the documents that explained the origin of the container were lost when they found it on 2545.

Yeah, a crappy solution. It would just be easier to forget I saw the movie.

There’s a bunch of major mistakes with that theory. Lets say they found the cure in the future for whatever they created (saying that this is man made to begin with) why bother sending it to the past in the first place? I'll tell you why, and they did explain it in the series. They sent it to the past because there was a possibly they DIDN'T have the Cure. Lets say for instance that 50% of the population died before the cure was found and or they eventually cured it. Then they decided to send it to the past with information on a cure and the means to prevent that 50% from dying. This is already a Paradox! You know why? Because by sending it into the Past they would have killed a whole town which in reality would have been the descendants of many of those people in the future. So you are essentially erasing people from ever existing. Not too smart!!! Further, by keeping the Virus in the station and not taking action to inform anyone other than the High Big wigs in the Government what’s gonna happen is that time will pass and nothing will be done about it. So what’s happens is, in the future the Person will develop the Virus again as intended the first time and the outbreak will happen again. This is my Loop theory.

Another note: I have a few theories (Including the Alien one) but as I describe in the previous post here goes. This is minus the Alien theory, which can easily fit into he equation as well.

1.Lets say in 2545 there is a Virus created by a man or woman (who knows right!) This Virus killed a great deal of the population. Right. No reason to send it to the past if it was contained to begin with so we can be sure of that theory. Lets say like above that 50% of the population was killed off. Whether they cured it or not is Irrelevant.

2.They found it a risk but an acceptable one to send into the past. This has the potential to not only kill everyone but what we know did happen was they effectively killed off people in our time line (That town) that will never exist in the future.

3. My theory is this. If you’re in the future and the Virus just started out in the future, when you send it to the past things change from then on. Meaning, when they sent the Virus to the past the first time, they had instructions for the Cure of the Virus. What they didn’t have was the Containment number where the Government put the Virus within the Space Station. My thought about this is that its irrelevant to even mention the Station having the Virus, why? Because the Virus must have an origin!!! The Virus wasn’t created in the Station it was created on Earth. Why do you say that, you must thinking! Lets think back to the point of them sending it in the first place, to find a Cure for something that Devasted them in the Future. Having the Virus in the Station is just that. It stays there and nothing is done with it. Therefore the Virus will be created again and sent again.

4. Now lets continue. Lets say the Virus stays on the Station to they Year 2545. In this year the Virus is created on Earth and all things happen again. The part where the Virus in the Station at this point becomes irrelevant all over again. Why? because the Virus Is on Earth too. What I’m saying is. The Virus on the Space Station is there but just sitting, collecting dust. The Virus being made by a person is just created and devastating everyone. You see my point!!! Telling them about this Stations Virus makes no sense and no point.

5. Why were they so cryptic? Why not just say, the Government has it to begin with. All that hoopla but the point is the containment code for the Virus container aboard the Space Station makes no sense whatsoever.

6.the best way for the people in the future to help themselves and stop the time loop is to do this. Send the Virus to the Past with the Cure instruction as they’d done. But tell them who made the Virus, how to stop them, when it was conceived, all that to prevent this from happening in the future. This way when it is time for that person to create the Virus, lets say this person is stopped or assassinated what happens?

1. The people in the future are saved from never getting the outbreak.
2. There will never be a need to send it into the past, hence saving everyone in that town. Everyone lives happily….er ... Ever after.
The End

This is 12 monkeys all over again!

1. If we asume this right, then The Terminator franchise does not make sense. If the virus (or robot) killed 90% of the future population, and the only chance of survival was find a cure (or save a future leader) in the past, I think they will take the chance. Which brings 2nd point.

2. They sent the virus contained (it was our infallible government who let it out). There sure was a risk of killing decendants of future virus survivals, but if the virus already wiped most of earth living things, I'd say it's worth it. Also, we are assuming that timelines can be altered, which complicates the whole thing. If a timeline is altered, time will go on a infinite continuous loop which in turn end times.

3. Yeah, the space station virus is collecting dust, until we are forced to leave earth because the whole thing is dead from the same virus. If we leave earth towards the available space stations, all the space stuff collecting dust becomes the more important (the port-a-potties, the orange Tang, the soylentgreen), including all the crazy numbered containers from which; dang! one has the virus! If I'm sending a call to the past, I will warn them of the contaner X made by the triangles logo. They do not know that the container was stored after the devastation of the virus they will send back in time. (I love all this nonsense!)

4. See number 3!

5. Why did they have to travel naked in Terminator? In this case it's fair to say that future people believed that the best way to send the message was in that cryptic way. I mean, in the movie they solved it relatively quickly, sooooo, they were right. Too bad that the pople from the triangles logo were a secret entity... maybe the Illuminati or the Masons. If we knew WHO was "The Man" we would get him. (I'm telling you, this is too much!)

6. They sent all the information they got, but why did they not send info about what happens in the future? Well, if they said that the creator of the virus was Mary Smith a thousand years from now, would it be relevant? I mean, we are still debating the facts from 9/11 and it's only been a couple years!!! Future people (or whatever we evolved into) sent the relevant information to find a cure, and identify the container that existed in our times with the same virus.

7. Oops... no seven.

The sad thing is, that everything will happen again, and going back in time will not save anyone in the future. They might as well wait for the Galactica to take them to a new Kobol Colony!


Or maybe it was aliens! Maybe we found the virus on during the Mars Colonization! Just give me some time and I will get another theory working!!!