# The Andromeda Strain (2008)

> A crashed American satellite releases a deadly alien plague in a small Utah town, and a team of specialist scientists races to find a cure before it spreads.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/18463

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 2
- Episode runtime: 120 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: science fiction, drama, thriller
- Created by: Robert Schenkkan
- Network: A&E
- Cast: Benjamin Bratt, Christa Miller, Eric McCormack, Daniel Dae Kim, Viola Davis, Louis Ferreira, Barry Flatman, Ricky Schroder
- TMDB rating: 6.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424600/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: clinical, suspenseful, paranoid, tense

## What critics say

Critics find the miniseries mixed, with a capable cast undermined by a predictable story and weak effects.

## Synopsis

The Andromeda Strain (2008) is an American science fiction miniseries created by Robert Schenkkan and aired on A&E. Across two feature-length episodes of roughly two hours each, a U.S. satellite crashes near a small Utah town and unleashes an alien pathogen code-named Andromeda that kills nearly everyone it touches. Two survivors may hold the key to an immunizing agent, and the story turns on a specialized team of scientists, led by Dr. Jeremy Stone (Benjamin Bratt), working against a military that is sealing the area off. Viola Davis, Andre Braugher, Daniel Dae Kim and Eric McCormack round out a strong cast that moves between sterile laboratories and the tense quarantine perimeter. The engine is procedural: lab tests, shifting hypotheses and the clock of a spreading contagion. The tone is clinical and suspenseful, with a cool, paranoid undercurrent about government secrecy and the limits of science. Fans of Contagion, Containment and the 1971 film adaptation of the same novel will find resonance in its outbreak-thriller pulse. Shape and scale are compact, a single self-contained event told in one run rather than a continuing saga.

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