The Andromeda Strain – A&E telemovie review

A&E Television has stepped forward with a dramatic movie, highlighting its steps to join FX and Spike Television (among others) with unique programming that sets itself apart from broadcast television. In that aspect it has succeeded. The choice they have done this with is a remake of the Andromeda Strain.

For those unfamiliar, The Andromeda Strain is a book from 1969 and then a movie first done in 1971. It’s a tale of a virus that hits the earth via a meteorite. It devastates an entire remote town in the U.S. and a highly specialized team of scientists is organized to destroy or contain the virus. The only clue that the scientists have to work with is the fact that an old drunk and a baby are the only survivors of a town with a few hundred people.

While that is the basis of the remake there are significant changes. Some are quite good, others not as much. And most of the intensity of the film is destroyed in this 4-hour extended made-for-TV film.

I will note that I hate the current trend of re-visioned movies and programs that an idea starved Hollywood is rife with these days. In almost every re-visioning the effect is a sledgehammer to the original idea, seemingly made by someone who never saw the original and basically just read a Cliff note on the subject in question. This film is not a re-visioning because most of its first 2 hours are true to the original. Beyond that, it starts to deviate.

A&E’s version (AS) isn’t bad, though it’s incredibly too long. They took a 90 minute film and dragged it out as far as it could be taken. And you feel it. Add to this the addition of several storylines that are blatantly obvious in their political underpinnings and you get a story that is reaching for high moral ground and failing to be as entertaining as it could be. That is not to say the original was not political as well, it was just concise and not overburdened by it.

This version is weighed down with the baggage of an attack on the U.S. military’s stance on gays, distrust of the Government, international bioweapons development, environmental conservation, the Patriot Act, infidelity, and seedy journalism. That leaves out the questionable physics of a wormhole, the abilities of the Andromeda strain organism and a conspiracy theory. Oh, and a minor love story too, nearly forgot that.

There are huge plot holes in the storyline because of this expansion and focus on everything but the threat at hand. Add to that ok but not stellar acting (of Braugher, Benjamin Bratt, Rick Schroeder, Viola Davis, Daniel Dae Kim, Christa Miller. Competely useless were Eric McCormack, Ted Whittall, and the other background characters) and you have a watchable but not rewarding mix.

Problems of the movie include the origination of the Andromeda strain in the first place, time continuity, how the strain sample was recovered since it was capable of escaping it’s container, how the radiation in the mechanical shaft did not kill the lead scientist, how the scientist trapped with the released strain survived, why the baby and old man continued to survive, and how the strain took so long to start to spread since buzzards were present immediately after the outbreak, and the intelligence of an organism that is sulfur based without DNA that communicates with parts that are completely seperated.

Plus the cover-up which included the murder of Andre Braugher seems inconsistent and useless since the reporter with all the details escaped. Of course the dig at President Bush and his administration is hard to miss (though little is shown of a better Presidential choice). Also the inevitability of the U.S. Government causing the death of mankind because of a shadow organization seems consistent with the current stance of Hollywood’s anti-military stance.

I could go on, but you get the point.

Like I said the movie is ok. It might have been far better had they stuck to the issue at hand, a mystery disease of extraterrestrial origin. The attacks on non-liberal ideas and Presidents (unless you think the connection of underwater mining being run by the fictional President’s corporate election backers is just coincidental) really just makes the other shortcomings too big and long.

If you want to rejoice in the horrors of global warming I-told-you-so, or paranoia over the government listening to everything you do, I’m sure this is on your must see list along with JFK and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Otherwise, skip this unless you are really bored or are stuck in Binghamton New York.

Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman to return to cable television - 2.20.2008.1

Ok, time to re-focus. As is obvious I have been spending a huge amount of time on the Presidential election of late. From my I Love America That’s Why I Vote! campaign to the multiple posts on all the candidates and vote results [all found at VASS] I have expressed by belief that this election will critically impact all Americans. To that end I am promoting voter registration, and following everything about the candidates.

But, I have not forgotten the core purpose of this blog. So let me get back to those basics.

The first thing I want to touch on is Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman. He is getting back on cable television. Roughly 4 months after his tirade of the N-word and his, in my opinion, pathetic ‘save my job’ apology he will be going back to work.

The A&E cable network has stated

"Since the premise of "Dog The Bounty Hunter" is about second chances - we have decided to give him one."

That’s a load of crap. Lest I misunderstand the program, which I admit to having never seen more than 30 seconds of, it is the reality-styled coverage of a bounty hunter capturing fugitives from the law and forcing them to face the legal system. There is no second chance but forced responsibility. A responsibility that I feel ‘Dog’ Chapman has sought to avoid. And A&E is going to reward that evasion.

When the story first broke I stated

“The mindset that allows the use of the N-word and other disparaging terms against people of color is the issue. It’s that mindset that is angering. He isn’t upset with the words he uses, he is angry if others find out he uses these words. He knows he’s wrong, and doesn’t care.

That is racist. To cowardly use terms to disparage and degrade people, but not be willing to let anyone of the race in question to hear it is racist. Add to this that in the presence of his minister of 7 years, who is Black, he would not use this term but has no problem saying other curses in front of him adds to his deception. He is more than just racist; he is the hidden racist that acts in secret, in a way similar to the KKK.”

Obviously I did not accept the apology made to gain public sympathy. I did not accept his faulty reasoning. I did not excuse his actions. I still don’t to this day.

But I also stated that he should not lose his job. My reason for this has nothing to do with Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman and everything to do with the First Amendment and the fact that it was a private conversation that was made public without his knowledge. It is those factors alone that prevent me from decrying the actions of A&E.

But that does not mean I will support his return.

I hope this program fails miserably. In fact I would suggest that if you did watch this program you discontinue to do so. A message needs to be made, and diminutive ratings would be a nice step in that direction.

I will say it again, I think Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman is a racist. He is the sort of racist of the worst type. One that would smile in the face of an African American – like his preacher of 7 years – and them stab them in the back when no one is looking (and Mexicans and women as well). He is a cowardly racist that deserves no sympathy for his actions.

Let him go back to work. He was duped into being recorded without knowledge. That is a low blow. But his own admissions on national television (speaking with Hannity of the Fox News program Hannity & Colmes) were that this word and other defamitory demeaning comments were used by his cast and co-workers regularly. Thus the failure of his program would be apt justice.

The N-word is not a common plesantry. It’s not a term that is positive for any group of people to use. It promotes the perception that far to many in America are ready to support, that African Americans are lazy, ignorant, repugnant less than human creatures. That is the impression that the N-word has meant for centuries, and it has not changed as ‘Dog’ Chapan so clearly proved.

A&E is counting on the fact that Americans, of all colors, have short memeories. ‘Dog’ Chapman is counting on the same thing. This blog, and I, do not forget easily the use of a word that is meant to equate my family, friends and myself as less than feces.

So the question is do you?