Without Warning (1994)

A television program is interupted by a news network announcing that three meteors have hit the United States, France and China. At first it seems natural but after interviews by scientists... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Iscove

Writers:

Jeremy Thorn (story), Walon Green (story)

Stars:

Sander Vanocur, Jane Kaczmarek, Bree Walker

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sander Vanocur	...	Sander Vanocur
Jane Kaczmarek	...	Dr. Caroline Jaffe
Bree Walker	...	Bree Walker (as Bree Walker Lampley)
Dwier Brown	...	Matt Jensen
Brian McNamara	...	Mike Curtis
James Morrison	...	Paul Whitaker
Ashley Peldon	...	Kimberly Hastings
James Handy	...	Dr. Norbert Hazelton
Kario Salem	...	Dr. Avram Mandel
Spencer Garrett	...	Paul Collingwood
Gina Hecht	...	Barbara Shiller
John de Lancie	...	Barry Steinbrenner
Patty Toy	...	Denise Wong
Dennis Lipscomb	...	Dr. Robert Pearlman
Ron Canada	...	Terrence Freeman

Storyline

A television program is interupted by a news network announcing that three meteors have hit the United States, France and China. At first it seems natural but after interviews by scientists and eyewitness seems to suggest that it is not. Three more meteors are coming and the various Earth governments combine forces to stop them.

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Plot Keywords:

scientist | nuclear weapon | tunguska event | meteor crater arizona | meteor crater | 

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Taglines:

End of the world?

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 October 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tod aus dem All

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wolper Organization, The, Mountain View Productions, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Early in the film, the town "Grover's Mill," Wyoming is mentioned. "Grover's Mill," New Jersey was the landing site of the first cylinder in Orson Welles' radio broadcast "War of the Worlds," which was an inspiration for this movie.

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Goofs

The meteors are said to have hit at exactly 45 degrees north latitude. On the maps shown in the movie, one, Impact Site Alpha, hit in the Thunder Basin Grasslands of Wyoming, approximately 100 miles south of Wyoming's northern border. Wyoming's northern border runs along the 45th parallel. The impact in France occurred 20 miles south Lourdes. Lourdes is at 43 degrees north.

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Crazy Credits

Opens with credits for the faux TV-movie that begins the film. Loni Anderson, who appears briefly in this introduction, is the only actor who actually gets screen credit at the start of the film. Technically, "Without Warning" is the title of the movie-within-the-movie.

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Connections

References E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

User Reviews

"...a realistic depiction of fictional events. None of what you have just seen is real."

As the final commercial comment said, a realistic depiction of fictional events that never occurred. For Halloween of 1994, CBS paid homage to the Orson Welles radio broadcast of "War Of The Worlds" with a story about asteroids colliding with Earth. The movie is told in a style of interrupted TV broadcasts, eventually becoming on the air news of the destruction of the world. It is told like a series of newscasts breaking up normal broadcast television. (In fact, the movie opens up with a clip from a Mario Bava picture.) This is the movie's greatest strength.

To add to the realism, they used real news caster Sander Vanocur as the "star." It may seem kind of redundant, but, Vanocur does play a fake newscaster well, as if it is real. In too many cases, like say sports stars, it's hard to act playing your profession on screen. He lends the film believability, much the same way he does to the news scenes in "Street Fighter: The Movie." With cameos by, as themselves, Arthur C. Clarke and a bevy of people who you probably wouldn't know playing themselves, one might be forgiven for believing it if they came in on the middle on this. Only the appearances of established actors John de Lancie, Dennis Lipscomb (From another disaster epic, "The Day After.") Philip Baker Hall, and she who would become the mother of Malcolm In The Middle reassure anyone who hasn't been watching from the beginning that it's a fake.

The only real problem with this production are a few science fiction cliche's thrown into the story. Yes, we know we humans are barbarian. But, how else would you react when directed asteroids were being hurled your way, even if they may (Or may not.) have been under control of an alien, peaceful intelligence merely trying to send us a message? You take steps to prevent them from crashing into you. And, yes, blowing things up is a violent reaction, but, if you were an alien trying to peacefully contact Earth, would you rain down stone armageddon (Excuse the pun.) from the skies?



All in all, the final result is a pleasing surprise of extended, building suspense and (mostly) logical story progression. The ending is a nice surprise, where the denoument doesn't extend too long, for once. I'm glad I taped this during its first run, as I've not seen it air anywhere in the US since. Another perfect unknown candidate for a video release.