The Andromeda Strain: Season 1

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Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 40 Ratings

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5.6

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The Andromeda Strain

Now Playing: The Andromeda Strain

Season Details & Credits

A&E | Season Premiere Date: May 26, 2008

Starring: Daniel Dae Kim, Andre Braugher, Holly Marie Combs

Summary: Michael Crichton's novel, which involves a deadly disease that is unleashed when a satellite crashes into a small town, is remade again, this time as a miniseries.

Genre(s): Drama, Action & Adventure, Suspense, Science Fiction

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Season 1 Episodes

7.6
S1:E2. The Andromeda Strain Part 2
Air Date: May 27, 2008
tbd
S1:E1. The Andromeda Strain Part 1
Air Date: May 26, 2008

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Barry Garron

Each part has edge-of-the-seat moments, thanks to some admirable performances as well as several intriguing new plot twists that inject surprise at key moments. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Matt Roush

This slick and often scary update presents a gripping medical mystery of scientific trial and error against a topical backdrop of bioterrorism, environmental activism and 24-style government conspiracy. Read full review

Robert Bianco

Unfortunately, the new plots continually intrude, dissipating tension and making an already complicated story too convoluted to follow. Read full review

Hal Boedeker

As an A&E miniseries, the Michael Crichton novel unfolds as a fast-moving thriller with many jolting sequences. Unfortunately, the mini's makers fumble the most crucial action sequence. They're all thumbs, and the results are stupendously silly. Read full review

Glenn Garvin

A hacky remake of a mediocre 1971 film of a pulp-science 1969 novel, this miniseries (it concludes Tuesday, if you must waste two nights of your life) is a poster child for generational decline: Whatever few IQ points were present in the original have long since leached away. Read full review

Misha Davenport

As each new element is added, explored and explained, the tension evident in the original novel gets watered down as we digest these other distractions. The result is completely devoid of any suspense. Read full review

Mary McNamara

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." Read full review

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User Score

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5.6

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User Reviews

extrafizz

Jan 6, 2013

epic

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cweyland

Jan 7, 2013

epic

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wearetheothers

Jan 7, 2013

epic

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HotelCentral

Jul 30, 2019

Had I known that Ridley Scott was involved in any way with the 2008 remake of the 1971 film directed and produced by Robert Wise, I would never have wasted the 10 minutes it took me to walk to the local public library to borrow the DVD for free.

Now, you may ask how this miniseries couldHad I known that Ridley Scott was involved in any way with the 2008 remake of the 1971 film directed and produced by Robert Wise, I would never have wasted the 10 minutes it took me to walk to the local public library to borrow the DVD for free.

Now, you may ask how this miniseries could be so awful when it was written by a guy who writes plays that win Pulizers and Tonys. I have no idea. But I am aware that the distance between a writer’s keyboard and a director’s cut can be long and arduous and full of acrimony. So, for the purposes of argument, I shall leave the writer out of the equation.

Basically, this is a film produced by people who do not understand music theory. A symphony, the experts will tell you, is a carefully coordinated combination of sounds and silences. Ridley Scott & Company obviously decided to do away with the silences, so that every instrument in the orchestra pit is blasting away at full volume without ever a pause for breath.

The LA Times said this version of Andromeda is “overwrought and dull.” Entertainment Weekly said this “cluttered remake mires itself in . . .. inane backstories.” But let me clarify. Virtually every scene in the first twenty minutes includes some heart-felt family drama that accomplishes nothing except to bloat the total runtime. Plus the scientists at the heart of the story have lots of reasons to dislike and mistrust each other. Plus there are conspiracies. Wheels within wheels. Conundrums within enigmas enfolded by mysteries. Because, you see, everyone has their own personal secret agenda. And they aren’t simply out for themselves. They’re all out to get us.

And of course the government should never be trusted.

The government wants us to eat fruit? Why? What are they putting into the fruit to brainwash us all while slowly poisoning us too?

It’s not enough to take it for granted, even at the very beginning, that the government is mostly concerned about preventing a biological catastrophe. Which is why the roster of characters provides us with all these military types who are agitating for dropping a nuke on the “quarantine area.” Because, you know, when you're making a miniseries it’s not enough to merely threaten the entire human race with a virulent new pathogen. Who’s going to fast-forward through a commercial break just to see how that turns out? So we need threats on top of threats. We need threats and threatening happenings going on all the time while still more threats are busily winging their way in from the horizon.

And, oh, did I mention there’s a reporter? Who’s in detox? Who busts out of detox and wastes no time hooking up with his drug dealer, only to discover that MIBs are following him around and who knows what they might be planning? Because the reporter discovers his secret informant got murdered by a cop? And then the chief scientist at the super secret bio-lab calls the reporter on the phone and tells him some stuff about the super secret pathogen–and of course the NSA is listening to all of this, because they listen to everything, especially when ordered to listen in on some reporter, who, you know, is trying to reveal all the super secrets the government has.

And, I should mention, there’s also a guy with a chainsaw. No, I’m not joking.

Also, the US military (as portrayed here) has no problem with making US citizens “disappear” even on US soil. Maybe it goes without saying that the mils also have no problem with killing other members of the service, including generals, but there you have it.

No doubt some years from now Ridley Scott will produce a “final cut” of this “miniseries” with some remarkable unicorn scene which only goes to prove what a “genius” he is.

My suggestion? Don’t waste your time. See the 1971 film by Robert Wise. It’s not a great film and the tech is dated but it’s better than this schlock by far.

If you insist on seeing this version then get a crossword or jigsaw puzzle, or the latest version of Angry Birds, to keep yourself entertained while the film-makers indulge in extraneous malarkey. Just, whatever you do, once you turn Andromeda on, don’t turn it off.

They’re watching you..… Expand

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BobW

May 27, 2008

Despite capitalizing on 37 years of improved special effects, the mini series actually regresses in story telling.

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May 29, 2008

Poor remake, should not have been made.

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TerryD.

May 28, 2008

Let's see, other than the bad script, terrible casting, cheapoid production, and horrible direction, this is a darn fine mini-series. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the definition of mini-series; a device to cram 2 hours of story into a 4 hour (or more) time slot. So this thing Let's see, other than the bad script, terrible casting, cheapoid production, and horrible direction, this is a darn fine mini-series. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the definition of mini-series; a device to cram 2 hours of story into a 4 hour (or more) time slot. So this thing doesn't drag - oh no.... So what's all this mean? The remake of The Andromedia Strain is nothing but trash, plain and simple. And what really amazes me is that the Scott brothers are aassociated with this turkey - they should know better.… Expand

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SEE ALL 27 REVIEWS

Seasons & Episodes

41

Series Overview
Season 1

41
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: May 26, 2008
- 7.6
  S1:E2. The Andromeda Strain Part 2
  Air Date: May 27, 2008
- tbd
  S1:E1. The Andromeda Strain Part 1
  Air Date: May 26, 2008