Andromeda Strain Review

[Kinky Vorlon]

I am glad Chuck did this review for a few reasons. One is I remembered this and thought it a later 70's movie than it is. And the more important for today. That I did not know the significance of epilepsy and why it was kept a secret. I thought the character was just a little private and it hadn't come up. Not it was a ruin your life affair.
Interesting. I wonder how many other things that were just assumed in older works have sailed past me like this?

I knew epilepsy had a stigma against it and there were no effective medications, but I had no idea it was actually less-than-legal in some places.

[Beastro]

Never realized the Moon Zero Two guy was in this. Been awhile since I've seen it.

I agree with Chuck on Levitt. For me, she makes the movie. She does so much of the leg work in making the piece work and the most grounded movie involving scientists for quite some time.

Thinking about it, had they made Janeway in the same style of character and unglamorous look, I dare say I'd have fricking loved her to death as a never ending entertainment ride to watch.

Seeing the suppository scene a thought came to mind: Could you imagine her and Bones McCoy having a kid. Poor child would explode from sheer orneriness.

[tacomoney]

So the thing that stands out for me is the diversion about Peter Hobbs potentially dubbing over a character from the original Star Wars.
But I can't seem to find the name on Wookiepedia to learn more about the circumstances.
It sounds from Chuck's pronunciation it should be spelled "Commander Prodgie" but that gets nothing.

Does anyone know how the characters name is spelled?

I love fascinating trivia like this, like when i dug into the Transformers fans investigation of what animation studio did about 7 episodes that can't be linked to another studio conclusively .

[Madner Kami]

It sounds from Chuck's pronunciation it should be spelled "Commander Prodgie" but that gets nothing.

Does anyone know how the characters name is spelled?

Commander Nahdonnis Praji, played by George Roubicek.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Nahdonnis_Praji

https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0745528/?ref_=m_ttfcd_cl84

[tacomoney]

It sounds from Chuck's pronunciation it should be spelled "Commander Prodgie" but that gets nothing.

Does anyone know how the characters name is spelled?

Commander Nahdonnis Praji, played by George Roubicek.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Nahdonnis_Praji

https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0745528/?ref_=m_ttfcd_cl84

Thank you kindly.
Its weird that there is no speculation on the Wiki who played him. To go back to Transformers, a lot of time on a fan wiki there is a speculation section for unknowns.
https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Cyclonus_(G1)/Generation_1_cartoon_continuity#Who_is_Cyclonus.3F
Like who Cyclonous was built from in the G1 Cartoon

[Madner Kami]

My best guess is, that Roubicek's recording was botched in some way or maybe he was too soft spoken for Lucas' wishes.
Anyways, Praji is fairly unimportant and his screentime is only about 17 seconds. Unlike the other officer in the same scene, he is not speaking to Vader as confidentally, so his limited screentime and lack of any strong impression makes him inconsequential for the fandom. There's simply nothing about him to talk about and endear the fandom.

[TGLS]

Unlike that one guy who decided not to shoot the escape pod, who in the EU only make bad calls.

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

I acknowledge that Chuck wasn't too tough on the film, but I'm still going to nitpick a point he made at the end of his review.

It's true enough that after a decade of sci-fi/high concept blockbusters including Jaws, Star Wars, and Alien, Andromeda Strain ended up being the odd man out. But the fact that there's so little else like Andromeda Strain in the current sci-fi landscape works just as well as a criticism of the current state of sci-fi in film as it does the other way around. What passes for hard sci-fi is movies like The Martian, which I like well enough, but I also wish there was more room for stories that really do stay relatively grounded and modest in its depiction of both science and scientists and avoid injecting artificial tension through action scenes that are barely related to the story that's actually being told. Even AS isn't immune to this.

Instead there's this widespread assumption that you absolutely must have those things to keep audiences invested, which I don't think is necessarily true. 12 Angry Men is one of the greatest films of all time, and outside about two minutes total at the beginning and end, the film consists entirely of people sitting in a room and arguing.

Again, if I were ranking Jaws, Star Wars, Alien, and Andromeda Strain, Andromeda Strain would come in fourth. I'm not even saying I'd disagree that this particular film can come across as a bit stilted and uneven compared to later films. My point is that there's room for more than one strain of sci-fi film, and to me it's a shame that almost everything else in the genre has gone in the other direction.

[griffeytrek]

Never realized the Moon Zero Two guy was in this. Been awhile since I've seen it.

I agree with Chuck on Levitt. For me, she makes the movie. She does so much of the leg work in making the piece work and the most grounded movie involving scientists for quite some time.

Thinking about it, had they made Janeway in the same style of character and unglamorous look, I dare say I'd have fricking loved her to death as a never ending entertainment ride to watch.

Seeing the suppository scene a thought came to mind: Could you imagine her and Bones McCoy having a kid. Poor child would explode from sheer orneriness.

Oh dear... I think you've just explained the secret origin story of Dr. Pulaski. I'm thinking the Guardian or Forever and possibly Whales were involved.

[griffeytrek]

I acknowledge that Chuck wasn't too tough on the film, but I'm still going to nitpick a point he made at the end of his review.

It's true enough that after a decade of sci-fi/high concept blockbusters including Jaws, Star Wars, and Alien, Andromeda Strain ended up being the odd man out. But the fact that there's so little else like Andromeda Strain in the current sci-fi landscape works just as well as a criticism of the current state of sci-fi in film as it does the other way around. What passes for hard sci-fi is movies like The Martian, which I like well enough, but I also wish there was more room for stories that really do stay relatively grounded and modest in its depiction of both science and scientists and avoid injecting artificial tension through action scenes that are barely related to the story that's actually being told. Even AS isn't immune to this.

Instead there's this widespread assumption that you absolutely must have those things to keep audiences invested, which I don't think is necessarily true. 12 Angry Men is one of the greatest films of all time, and outside about two minutes total at the beginning and end, the film consists entirely of people sitting in a room and arguing.

Again, if I were ranking Jaws, Star Wars, Alien, and Andromeda Strain, Andromeda Strain would come in fourth. I'm not even saying I'd disagree that this particular film can come across as a bit stilted and uneven compared to later films. My point is that there's room for more than one strain of sci-fi film, and to me it's a shame that almost everything else in the genre has gone in the other direction.

The sad thing is there probably is a decent market for a GOOD Andromeda Strain remake. There is desire for good well paced tight procedural movies. Note unquestionably the parts people like best in Iron Man is Stark building the armor. The procedural elements. Apollo 13? Even the more recent Toho Shin Godzilla are pure procedural films and thrive for it. The only thing that dates the Andromeda Strain movie is the Star Trek style sets.