Asteroid (1997) (TV)

Director:

Bradford May

Writers (WGA):

Robbyn Burger (written by) and
Scott Sturgeon (written by)

Release Date:

16 February 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The End Of The World Is Just Beginning.

Plot:

With the discovery of an incoming asteroid, the government of America formulate a plan to destroy it...

Plot Keywords:

Firefighter | Asteroid | Dallas Texas | Astronomer | Doctor

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 4 nominations

Cast

Michael Biehn	...	FEMA Director Jack Wallach
Annabella Sciorra	...	Dr. Lily McKee
Zachary Charles	...	Elliot McKee (as Zachary B. Charles)
Don Franklin	...	Ben Dodd
Carlos Gómez	...	Adam Marquez (as Carlos Gomez)
Michael Weatherly	...	Dr. Matthew Rogers
Jensen Daggett	...	Dr. Valerie Brennan
Anne-Marie Johnson	...	Karen Dodd
Frank McRae	...	Lloyd Morgan (as Frank Mcrae)
Denis Arndt	...	President
Gerry Becker
John Lindsey
Anthony Zerbe	...	Dr. Charles Napier
Brian Hill	...	Max (as Brian Alan Hill)
Christopher Murphy	...	A.J.

Also Known As:

Asteroid: The Sky is Falling (Philippines: English title) (video title)

Runtime:

Finland:123 min (video release) (1998) | Canada:120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Ireland:15 | New Zealand:M | Finland:K-16 | UK:12

Filming Locations:

Denver, Colorado, USA

Company:

Davis Entertainment

Trivia:

Parts of the show were filmed in Denver, Colorado and at the time the University Hills Mall was slated for demolition. For the mass destruction after math scenes, they used areas of the mall which had been demolished already and actually blew a few more things up themselves. Concerned citizens nearby thought the black smoke they were seeing was indicative of a real emergency and promoted over 100 calls/minute to 911.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Dallas and Fort Worth are shown to be near mountains. There are no mountains within hundreds of miles of Dallas-Fort Worth. The cities are surrounded by forests, fields, or sprawling suburbs.

Movie Connections:

References Independence Day (1996)

Its a good story if the technicalities don't make you throw up first.

Being an astrophysics major, the first hour of this movie made me want to throw-up over the inaccuracies. Every scene involving a telescope was inaccurate for any modern observatory. ( Telescopes have been guided by computers for some time now, especially at observatories that get funding as the one depicted.) It gets better after that. and if you don't know a lick of science then it wont bother you anyway. The plot is pretty cheesy at times. (I don't think the FEMA director would really jump onto a burning building.) But it is a good story about human drama. I think they did an o.k. job portraying how people would react in a situation like this.