Ridley Scott‘s Prometheus-like miniseries is a shadow of the incredible sci-fi book that it takes its inspiration from. Scott’s best movies have seen the director immerse himself in various sci-fi worlds, creating stories that have stood the test of time. This includes a number of noteworthy standouts, from Blade Runner to The Dog Stars, showcasing the genre has been a staple of his career since the very beginning. The Alien franchise is perhaps his most well-known, with the filmmaker giving life to Xenomorphs and making the creatures a pop culture staple.
One of his most noteworthy films in the franchise was Prometheus, which served as a backstory to the franchise. Following a group of Weyland-Yutani scientists exploring a distant planet, the movie focused on ideas of alien viruses and their ties into a larger story. While reviews for Prometheus were mixed-to-positive, the movie still earned its place as one of the more unique installments across the Alien timeline. It’s also rather reminiscent of a TV show under his belt that often goes unmentioned.
That series is The Andromeda Strain, a 2008 miniseries adaptation of the 1969 novel of the same name written by Michael Crichton. Scott served as a producer on the series, which maintained a similar premise to the novel — at least on the surface. The show follows a group of scientists after the outbreak of an extraterrestrial disease on Earth caused by a microorganism not native to the planet. The book was a bestseller and made Crichton a household name. However, the miniseries produced by Scott doesn’t have the same reverence.
The Andromeda Strain Doesn’t Live Up To The Book (Or Even The Movie)
The Andromeda Strain TV show reimagines the book in a completely different subgenre of sci-fi, ultimately making it worse than both the original novel and the 1971 film produced after the fact. The novel and book both utilize hard science and attributes of a thriller to create an intense storyline about humanity fighting against an impossible-to-predict disease. Not so with the miniseries, which substitutes the tension of the original for action-focused elements and storylines that go beyond the pages of Crichton’s work.
The miniseries attempts to stand as its own story, injecting new conspiracy elements where they don’t belong while trying to expand on the story at the same time. Ultimately, however, this pulls focus away from the more interesting, science-based elements of the tale. It’s also just not that compelling, which puts it behind the movie adaptation despite having more time to work with the book’s story. This led to rather negative reviews for The Andromeda Strain miniseries, which, as of writing, sits at a disappointing 30% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics.
Ridley Scott Has Made Better Sci-Fi Shows Since The Andromeda Strain
Luckily, Scott has been involved in much better sci-fi shows than The Andromeda Strain following its critical flop. This includes executive producing season 1 of The Terror, which adapted Dan Simmons’ novel of the same name, fictionalizing the lost expedition of Captain Sir John Franklin into a sci-fi horror story. More recently, he served as an executive producer on Raised by Wolves, the first HBO Max original series that, despite its high bar of quality, was ultimately cancelled after two seasons.
As of writing, Scott serves as an executive producer on Alien: Earth, which is expected to film season 2 by early 2027. He’s also an executive producer on the upcoming Blade Runner 2099, a miniseries continuation of his sci-fi franchise. Although The Andromeda Strain wasn’t well-received, nor anything close to what the book resembles, Scott still found redemption in producing other TV shows after. The miniseries was but a fluke, with his other TV shows proving his abilities as a producer.
- Release Date
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2008 – 2008-00-00
- Network
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A&E
- Directors
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Mikael Salomon
- Writers
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Robert Schenkkan
Cast
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Benjamin Bratt
Dr. Jeremy Stone
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Christa Miller
Dr. Angela Noyce