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It’s time for our monthly Book-To-Movie! For those of you who are just tuning into this blog, a Book-To-Movie is when we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation. Today we are reviewing another book and film relevant to today’s pandemic: Michael Crichton’s novel, “The Andromeda Strain” and its 1971 movie adaptation. Crichton is the writer of suspenseful science fiction, what would commonly be called today, science fiction thriller. “The Andromeda Strain” is exactly that. However, as good as this novel is, the suspense in the movie adaptation plays out better.
The Book
In “The Andromeda Strain”, published in 1969, a NASA satellite returns to Earth carrying an alien virus. It lands in a small Arizona town by the name of Piedmont where the virus infects and kills everyone except an old man and an infant. A team of four scientists go to a top secret lab in Nevada called Project Wildfire to research the virus and find out why it kills people before it can spread any further.
As with many of Crichton’s novels, “The Andromeda Strain”, besides science fiction thriller, is also hard science fiction. He emphasises the science and technology in the story while yet making the details crucial to the overall plot. He emphasises the technicality of the subject matter to the point of including a reference section like what you would see in a scientific research paper. Although I did not read through all of this section, (I am a reader and writer of science fiction and not a scientist) it gives an effect of realism to the work.
While the scientific concepts can be daunting for some readers, the author uses tables and abstract technical illustrations throughout the book to help explain these concepts. As much as these illustrations help and may be necessary, they can be annoying and therefore distracting from the story. Many of the scientific details add up to backstory, slowing down the pacing and the suspense with it. But the scientific phenomena is presented convincingly.
The Movie
Released in 1971, “The Andromeda Strain” movie adaptation was directed by Robert Wise. The movie does a great job following the book so closely. While it does so, it does not depend on scientific backstory unlike the book. Many of the scientific and technical concepts are conveyed through the characters’ dialog. The actors do a great job playing their characters, especially the Wildfire team, and they react to the danger of the alien virus in a tense manner that upholds the suspense good almost entirely through the film.
Even if you don’t follow scientific conversations really well, the filming and cinematography make this film worth seeing. As with many movies during its time, the multi-panel style of filming is used. In this style, the scene is divided into several panels with a different view point or angle in each. But this wasn’t only done for reasons of a fad. The technique plays a practical part in this movie since events that occur simultaneously need to be shown all at once to clarify what’s happening. Yet, the technique serves a stylistic purpose since it enhances the tension, such as when a ticking clock is shown in one panel and a character’s shocked expression in another.
The interior architecture of the underground lab was also made really good with a different colour for each of its five levels like in the book. It gave both the feeling of claustrophobia as well as otherworldliness, this along with the multi-panel segments give the movie a surrealistic appearance without taking away the believability of the scientific phenomenon.
As I said, the movie followed the book very closely. There were only a few minor changes. The biggest of these was that one of the scientists of the four-member Wild Fire team, who are all men in the book, is changed to a woman. However, this did not detract from the story in any way I could see. In fact, actress Kate Reid did a good job playing the character. Other changes were simple name and location ones. For example, the plague-stricken town of Piedmont is relocated from Arizona of the book to New Mexico in the film. But these did not cause the story to divert from that of the novel.
Like in the book, the movie presents challenging situation after challenging situation that the main characters must resolve. In the end, when the major threat has seemed to be resolved another one comes up that, if not resolved, could make the resolution of the former meaningless. So, this development of the story contributes to holding the viewer in suspense.
Michael Crichton’s novel, “The Andromeda Strain” is an intelligent and enjoyable read if you like hard science fiction. I do but, as necessary as it is, the scientific backstory in the novel made it a little too dry for me as much as I enjoyed the story. Because much of the backstory in the movie is conveyed thorough the dialogue making the story flow better, a story enhanced by its cinematic effects and its unique style of filming, I found it much easier and more fun to get through than I did the book. However, both movie and book are relevant to today’s pandemic where our scientists and medical experts have been urgently looking for a sufficient vaccine for Covid-19. Be here Wednesday for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group!
Have you read "The Andromeda Strain" or seen the movie?
Until next then . . .
I've read several Crichton books but not that one. (Heavy science isn't my thing.) I saw the movie when I was a teen so I'd probably have to go back and watch it again to really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteThat's actually the last time I saw the movie before I watched it again two weeks ago. Of what I remembered, I liked it as a teen but probably more so for the elaborate sets that were futuristic when it came to the lab scenes. I appreciated it more as an adult because I could grasp the plot and subject matter better.
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