The Andromeda Strain Miniseries

Synopsis

A satellite crashes to earth carrying a pathogen that is killing life on earth at an accelerating rate. A team is assembled to figure out what it is and how to stop it.

Review

I read this book years ago and watch the movie with the same title not long after that. The book was good from what I remember, which shouldn't be a surprise speaking that I watched the movie and now have watched the miniseries after reading the next book, The Andromeda Evolution.

The show does follow the book fairly well from what I remember. There might have been some deviations, but I didn't see the changes as being so much that it takes away from the book/show. There is a ton of great actors in this, and I am really surprised that it kind of fell under the radar. I didn't know it came out and after watching it, I kind of understand, but I think it had more to do with the 2008 recession which happened right when this came out. There is Benjamin Bratt from Law and Order SVU which is my wife's favorite show, Christa Miller, and Andre Braugher from Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

All of these people, well most of the cast, does a great job in their characters. There are some that I think are very over played, but I feel like that is in line with the miniseries that came out around that time. So while it hasn't aged very well, but that doesn't take away form a great story. Like we have talked about in Game of Thrones (TV and Books), The Bourne Trilogy - A comparison between the books and movies , and Reacher, when you have great source material and you follow it, you can make a great piece of video viewing. I think that is what this does. There are some bits of science that are not well explained, a couple episodes that could honestly be shrunk to not tell 100% of the story. Overall though, it was entertaining, and I wanted to finish it after getting off the plane.

My Rating

For being a plane movie originally, I really enjoyed watching it. I was just as excited to finish it as I was the book and that doesn't happen very often. The CGI is awful, the extras are terrible, and finally the conspiracy only makes sense with the new book that could have been left out, but wasn't around at the time of the show. I still enjoyed it enough and think it is a 7.

Parental Rating

This show is pretty benign. There isn't anything egregious or rough that might dissuade them from watching it. Some weird deaths, but I wouldn't call it graphic. No real language. No sex, I think there is 1 kiss. Because of this, I am going to say approved by both.

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