{"id":31247,"date":"2025-05-13T15:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T22:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=31247"},"modified":"2025-05-13T15:00:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T22:00:39","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review-the-andromeda-strain-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=31247","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! 4K Ultra HD Review: THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN (1971)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This 4K Ultra HD \u201cLimited Edition\u201d release from Arrow\nVideo is currently available for purchase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1969, a novel by young and relatively unknown writer\nMichael Crichton arrived on bookshelves. Crichton had written several pulp\ntitles by this point, but The Andromeda Strain<\/em> was the first released\nunder his own name. It garnered a lot of press and soon ended up on the New\nYork Times bestseller list. As with any successful book, it wasn\u2019t long before\nHollywood came knocking. The film rights were sold and a high-profile adaptation\narrived at cinemas. This movie was only moderately successful, but it paved the\nway for Crichton\u2019s career. In addition to completing more hugely popular novels\nlike The Terminal Man, Congo, Sphere, Jurassic Park, Rising Sun,<\/em> and\nDisclosure<\/em>, he began writing screenplays for major studios, including Westworld,\nComa, Looker<\/em>, Runaway <\/em>(as well as receiving co-writing credit on Twister<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrow Video is now giving his first big title, The\nAndromeda Strain<\/em>, a major upgrade with a 4K Ultra HD \u201cLimited Edition\u201d release.\nThe original negative has been restored and scanned in 4K and is presented in\nDolby Vision, offering a vastly superior picture to previous editions. This is\nan older title, which means that there is a certain amount of natural grain\npresent in some shots, but nothing that is distracting in any way. This\nreviewer was very impressed by the end result. Having only seen the movie on\nDVD and Blu-ray, the colors are richer, the image sharper and the overall\npicture is vastly improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you haven\u2019t seen the movie, the story begins with a\nsatellite crashing down in a small town in New Mexico. Immediately, military\nofficials fly overhead and note that everyone appears to be deceased. A team of\nscientists are visited by government officials and are forced to investigate.\nThe first is bacteriologist Dr. Jeremy Stone (Arthur Hill), who appears to\nalready be familiar with the official program he has been asked to lead. The\nothers secretly taken include pathologist Dr. Charles Dutton (David Wayne),\nmicrobiologist Dr. Ruth Leavitt (Kate Reid) and surgeon Dr. Mark Hall (James\nReid). Dressed in hazmat suits, Stone and Hall are dropped into town. Things\nlook grim, but the pair collect samples and are eventually shocked to discover\ntwo survivors, a baby and the town drunk, Peter Jackson (George Mitchell).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The entire group return to a new, high-tech, secret\ngovernment laboratory underground where they attempt to identify the\nmicroscopic airborne organism responsible. The foursome debate about what is\ngoing on, but eventually discover that it is alien in origin and quickly clots\nblood in humans (to the point where their plasma looks as if it has turned to\ndust). They name the strain Andromeda and also learn that the government may\nhave plans for the organism. In addition, it ultimately becomes clear that there\nis a disturbing design flaw in the facility that may end up releasing the\nkiller substance back into the world.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film does an admirable job of introducing believable\nscientist characters. They all have their eccentricities and quirks that feel\nauthentic. Stone is icy in general, while Leavitt consistently pipes up to\ncomplain about their treatment and essentially being held (almost against her\nwill) in the laboratory. If one were to pick a hero in this tale, Hall stands\nout as the surgeon. He is the most relatable, because while the others toil on\nminutia and specifics about the organism, his focus seems to be more about the\nhealth of those infected and still alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This picture is considered an early \u201ctechno-thriller\u201d and\ndoes its best to take on a more realistic tone than other titles of the era. It\ntakes time to show the decontamination process for the team, as well as how\nspecific operations work both in the lab and with the military. The filmmaker\nappears to have tried to be as up-to-date as possible with technology and\nequipment in creating the secret government lab. The effects are very good for\nthe era and were created by Douglas Trumbull (2001: A Space Odyssey; Silent\nRunning<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, the stakes are high, which results in plenty\nof tension as well. The first act is very chilling as individuals search the\nmysterious site for survivors. The deadliness of the organism and the ticking\nclock force the leads to work as fast as they can before the military steps in,\nand the ticking clock keeps the pace lively. Additionally, the climax, which\nfeatures a potential leak and Hall\u2019s efforts to move through an infected area\nand find the machine that will prevent a disaster, is exciting and results in a\nwince-inducing injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s an excellent feature and one that certainly led to more\npictures attempting more accurately in telling stories like these. This is a\ndefinite forerunner to Contagion<\/em>, and even the 2019 miniseries Chernobyl<\/em>,\nas well as many other efforts dealing with viruses, plagues, pandemics and\ndeadly health threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the movie, there are a great number of fascinating extras on this release. The first is an informative film historian commentary track that goes over details involving the production, the cast and crew, pointing out clever filmmaking techniques and sound design used to liven up the proceedings. This is most evident as the Stone and Hill search the town, with some great low and overhead angles. Also memorable are the interior-set still images of dead bodies inserted into wide shots of the protagonists outdoors, peering through windows while searching the ground zero site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is a discussion with Kim Newman about dramatic films\nand writing dealing with these types of pictures. Sometimes, the threats come\nfrom Earth virus, others from outer space. Some take a realistic approach,\nothers fantastical. He notes features early tales like Edgar Allen Poe\u2019s 1842\nshort story The Mask of the Red Death<\/em> and features including 1950\u2019s Panic\nin the Streets<\/em>, The Quatermass Experiment<\/em> in 1955, all the way\nthrough modern efforts, as well as zombie pictures and titles like John\nCarpenter\u2019s The Thing<\/em>, discussing the common traits, often identifying\nmany of the effective and compelling aspects contained in the projects. This\nnearly 30-minute discussion is extremely informative and will leave many adding\nmore titles to their watch lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, there are great archival features. Produced in\n2001, there is a making-of featuring interviews with director Robert Wise (The\nDay the Earth Stood Still, West Side Story, The Haunting, The Sound of Music,\nStar Trek: The Motion Picture<\/em>) as well as cast and crew members about what\nattracted them to the material and how they adapted the book. It seems that\nWise read the novel and found it gripping. He appreciated the technical\ndetails, which made the story seem real, and chose to go in that direction,\neven avoiding casting big name stars in order to maintain authenticity. Wise\npreferred that Crichton not be involved in the screenplay adaptation,\nexplaining why (which the author didn\u2019t have an issue with). Additionally, they\ngo into how one hard-to-watch experiment scene was conducted (remarkably, it\nwas supervised and approved by the SPCA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is also an excellent discussion with Michael Crichton,\nwho talks about his early career. He remembers being a medical student, writing\nstories as a hobby and eventually finding a publisher. Knowing that the MDs and\nthose above him would be, well, dismissive of his writing, he used a pseudonym\nso that he would not have to deal with them during his medical studies. He\neventually chose to focus exclusively on writing, which led to him agreeing to\nuse his real name on The Andromeda Strain<\/em>. The title for the story had\ncome to him many years before, and he slowly worked out a scenario that\nresulted in the finished book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apparently, Crighton was really impressed with the changes\nmade to his source material, in particular changing the sex of the\nmicrobiologist from male to female. In fact, Crichton and others in various\nspecial features note that this is an early example of a brilliant female\ncharacter presented on equal footing with her male compatriots. It does make\nthe movie feel more modern and the author regrets not having done that in the\noriginal story. He also talks about his brief cameo in the feature (the only time\nhe has ever appeared onscreen). And Crichton also goes into his writing methods\nand the inspiration for his works. It\u2019s a really wonderful and engaging talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are a number of trailers, TVs and radio spots for the\nfilm, as well as a still gallery. Additionally, an annotated and illustrated\nshooting script is included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all comes in a reversible sleeve featuring original and\nnewly commissioned art for the feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reviewer found revisiting The Andromeda Strain\u00a0<\/em>very interesting. The image quality on display looks far more vibrant than it ever has before and the movie is a tense thriller that has become increasingly relevant and interesting, especially over the past few years. The extras are enlightening as well, and will make viewers want to pick up a few Crichton titles and watch more films they may not have seen or watched in a long time. This is another great 4K Ultra HD release from Arrow Video that comes highly recommended.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This 4K Ultra HD \u201cLimited Edition\u201d release from Arrow Video is currently available for purchase. In 1969, a novel by young and relatively unknown writer Michael Crichton arrived on bookshelves. Crichton had written several pulp titles by this point, but The Andromeda Strain was the first released under his own name. It garnered a lot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":31249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[101,1836,1854,2933,2936,3295,5351,5910,7533,10252,11481,13771,15677,16941,17198,17776,19901,19902,19903,19904],"class_list":["post-31247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-101","tag-arrow-video","tag-arthur-hill","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-book-adaptation","tag-david-wayne","tag-disc-review","tag-film-review","tag-james-reid","tag-kate-reid","tag-michael-crichton","tag-pandemic","tag-review","tag-robert-wise","tag-science-fiction-2","tag-the-andromeda-strain","tag-the-andromeda-strain-4k-review","tag-the-andromeda-strain-4k-ultra-hd","tag-the-andromeda-strain-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}