The Andromeda Strain is a 1971 American science fiction film produced and directed by Robert Wise. Based on Michael Crichton's 1969 novel of the same name and adapted by Nelson Gidding, the film stars Arthur Hill, James Olson, Kate Reid, and David Wayne as a team of scientists who investigate a deadly organism of extraterrestrial origin. With a few exceptions, the film follows the book closely. The special effects were designed by Douglas Trumbull.
Plot[]
Dr Jeremy Stone is questioned by a US Senate Committee about the "Andromeda Strain" in flashback an earth satellite comes down in the (fictional) town of Pietmonet New Mexico [Population 48]; two soliders in a recovery van go into town to recover the satellite only to die. Dr Stone and Dr Mark Hall enter the town in self contained oxeygen suits to find the satellite and every person in town dead-with two exceptions-a 69 year old town drunk Peter Jackson and a crying child. At a secret underground labrotory in Nevada codenamed "Wildfire"; with the help of two other scientists Dr Ruth Leavitt and Dr Charles Dutton. Examining the satellite, the team discovers the microscopic alien organism that caused the deaths. The greenish, throbbing life form is assigned the code name "Andromeda." Infecting through the lungs, Andromeda kills biological life almost instantly via a blood clot in the brain and asphyxiation. It appears to be highly virulent. The team studies the organism using animal subjects, an electron microscope, and culturing in various growth media to learn how it behaves. The microbe contains the hydrogen and carbon required for terrestrial life and appears to have a crystalline structure, but lacks the DNA, RNA, proteins, and amino acids present in all forms of terrestrial life, and directly transforms energy to matter with no discernible byproducts.A military jet crashes near Piedmont after the pilot radios that his plastic oxygen mask is dissolving; Halls find that the organism grows with a narrow PH blood level; Jackson survived because his blood was acidic from his drinking and the baby lived due to his blood being too alkaline from constant crying. The organism mutates to the point a into a non-lethal form that degrades synthetic rubber and plastic. Andromeda escapes the biocontainment room into the lab where Dutton is working. When Andromeda causes all the laboratory's seals to start decaying, a five-minute countdown to nuclear destruction is initiated. The team realizes that the microbe would thrive on the energy of a nuclear explosion and would consequently be transformed into a super-colony that could destroy all life on Earth. With seconds to spare Hall disables the bomb. His colleagues reveal that clouds are being seeded over the Pacific Ocean, which will cause rain to sweep Andromeda from the atmosphere and into alkaline seawater, rendering it harmless. Stone finishes testifying by saying that while they were able to defeat the alien pathogen, they may be unable to do so in the future. The film ends with a computer feed suddenly stopping and the computer flashing the number "601", the Wildfire code for information coming in too fast to analyze.
Cast[]
- Arthur Hill as Dr. Jeremy Stone
- David Wayne as Dr. Charles Dutton
- James Olson as Dr. Mark Hall
- Kate Reid as Dr. Ruth Leavitt
- George Mitchell as Jackson
- author Michael Crichton makes a cameo appearance in the scene where Dr. Hall is pulled from surgery to report to Wildfire.
Miniseries[]
In 2008 the story was made into a miniseries with differences:
- The satellite crashs into [Fictional} town of Pietmont Utah
- Meanwhile, a government agency forms a conspiracy to contain the microorganism for further uses, probably weapons related. To handle the situation, General Mancheck deliberately isolates the Wildfire team and cuts their contact with the lab's exterior. However, Jack Nash manages to report to Dr. Stone about Project Scoop, a secret program that was hidden by the government and General Mancheck. Mancheck, being forcefully questioned by Wildfire and fearing for the whole world's safety being threatened by Andromeda, reveals the truth about the satellite. Project Scoop was one of several attempts to investigate a singularity, or a wormhole, that has mysteriously appeared in the Solar System. Sent specifically to collect biological samples, the satellite malfunctioned upon approaching the wormhole and fell back to Earth. When it was picked up, it released the deadly agent. In an attempt to neutralize the problem, the President of the United States authorizes a small tactical nuclear strike on the quarantine area in hopes of completely irradiating and destroying Andromeda. When the Wildfire team is informed, they realize that they have not reviewed the test results for irradiating Andromeda. They find that the microorganism grows at an exponential rate when irradiated. The Wildfire team alerts the President, and the air strike is called off before the pilot launches the nuclear missile. However, as the fighter jet continues to fly over the quarantine area, the pilot reports a malfunction of the aircraft's controls. Through video feed, the Wildfire team and President watch in shock and horror as all plastic components of the aircraft, including the pilot's visor, disintegrate.The nuclear missile is re-armed, the fighter jet and missile crash into the ground, and the missile detonates, irradiating the quarantine area. The team examine the footage of the crash, and realize that Andromeda has mutated again and is now able to consume nylon.
As Andromeda grows and mutates into more virulent forms and takes host in anything from mammals and reptiles to the bird population, the Wildfire team continue their tests to find a way to stop Andromeda before it reaches Las Vegas, the closest city to the quarantine zone with an international airport. Further studies reveal Andromeda is actually a sulfur-based bacterium. A set of tests with bacteriophages reveals that one phage can kill Andromeda. However, repeated tests with this phage prove unsuccessful, causing the Wildfire team to theorize that Andromeda can communicate through an unknown mechanism among its separate parts. By the time they discover a binary code on Andromeda's cell wall encoded on buckyballs with potassium and rubidium atoms, the team suspects Andromeda to be a message according to the Messenger Theory. The information included the six-digit number "739528" and the words "Bacillus infernus" encoded in ASCII plus a bitmap image of a symbol with interlocking triangles. Bacillus infernus is the name of a bacterium found only in the thermal vents. At this time, President Scott was championing the new and controversial industry of thermal vent mining, and it was likely that the mining would eradicate the bacteria. Wildfire requests samples of the bacteria to begin testing its effects on Andromeda.As part of a government conspiracy to preserve cultures of Andromeda for future use, Colonel Ferrus blackmails Dr. Barton to keep a single sample container. The bacteria then disintegrate their container setting off the lab's contamination breach sensor and initiating the self-destruct sequence. The self-destruct sequence also causes the flashing emergency lights to turn on, triggering Chou's photosensitive epilepsy, which causes him to inadvertently destroy the self-destruct control panel on the lab level of the complex.With the elevators deactivated due to the self-destruct sequence, Keane decides to climb to the control panel on the level above through the lab's main exhaust vent. However, the pipes and other components in the vent have begun to deteriorate due to the escaped Andromeda. The pipe Keane climbs suddenly bends, dangling Keane above the radioactive water at the base of the vent. Before falling, Keane manages to throw his badge to Stone. Realizing Keane's right thumb is also required to shut down the self-destruct sequence, Chou sacrifices his life to enter the radioactive water to cut off Keane's thumb for Stone. With Keane's thumb and badge, Stone reaches the control panel and deactivates the sequences with only seconds to spare. Eventually, the bacteria being dropped eradicate all traces of Andromeda.As the remaining Wildfire team attends the funerals of their fallen colleagues, both General Mancheck and Colonel Ferrus are secretly assassinated. Dr. Stone reveals some of the events to the public in an interview with Jack Nash. In the final scene, the saved sample of the Andromeda is inserted into a BSL-4 compartment with the access code "739528", held in a vessel marked with a symbol with interlocking triangles. Director Beeter watches over the operation on the computer in his office. The camera then zooms out, revealing Andromeda has been stored within a space station orbiting Earth. The ending implies that the sample saved on the space station is the cause of the outbreak in the future that necessitated sending the organism back to the present via the wormhole, creating an ontological paradox as to the cell's origin. The ending also implies that Andromeda could really think, since the future outbreak of Andromeda has happened after the bacteria Bacillus infernus, the only thing capable of exterminating Andromeda, was completely destroyed, and so Andromeda avoided unnecessary risks by waiting for its right opportunity. see also https://aliens.fandom.com/wiki/Andromeda_Strain