IMDb RATING
6.8/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
3 fragments of an asteroid hit USA, China and France. The events are covered by TV news reports. More meteors come. Is it natural events or alien aggression?3 fragments of an asteroid hit USA, China and France. The events are covered by TV news reports. More meteors come. Is it natural events or alien aggression?3 fragments of an asteroid hit USA, China and France. The events are covered by TV news reports. More meteors come. Is it natural events or alien aggression?
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Photos
Bree Walker
- Bree Walker
- (as Bree Walker Lampley)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBecause Sander Vanocur plays himself as a news anchor in this film, a few complaints were received from people who believed the movie events were real, despite repeated on screen narration and text before the start of each act. Following that, CNN issued an order that its reporters and anchors would not be allowed to play themselves or any other role in a fictional movie.
- GoofsIf you look closely at the studio set behind Sander Vanocur at the outline of Europe, you'll notice that the English Channel does not exist, and a large landmass is in place of the British Isles. Oddly, this landmass looks remarkably like the profile of a rabbit, complete with long ears, looking toward the west. Whether this was the result of someone's lack of geographic knowledge, or a sly joke on the part of the producers to indicate that this program isn't really what it seems is anyone's guess.
- Quotes
Dr. Norbert Hazelton: Forgive me doctor. This isn't a Trekkie convention. There are millions of people in the world right now panicking needlessly.
- Crazy creditsThe final view of the great computer display at NASA when the many meteors appear resembles the screen in the video game Space Invaders.
- Alternate versionsThe original 1994 broadcast featured a brief introduction highlighting the 1938 CBS Radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds that had inspired the movie missing from the DVD release. It also featured messages, usually located at the end of each act, reminding viewers that the movie was a realistic depiction of fictional events.
- ConnectionsReferences E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Featured review
Before I comment on the execution of this 1994 TV movie, I'd like to say something about the unbelievably pompous sermonizing this movie does by offering this hypothetical. Suppose Captain Kirk sent an unmanned shuttle to contact a planet that had never experienced an alien contact before, and then the aliens, not having any clue what this was, then shot the shuttle down. Captain Kirk then decides this is a hostile act and decides to nuke the planet and destroy all life on it.
Now if Captain Kirk did this, you'd think he was a madman and the epitomoe of all things evil. You would not as a matter of course blame the aliens for not knowing any better. So why then I ask, does this TV-movie serve up the exact same premise to us, and then deliver a scathing indictment about how this is all humanity's fault, and that our barbarism caused this, and that ultimately, as Sander Vanocur says before Washington blows up around him, "The fault lies not in our stars but in ourselves"? That kind of thinking is not merely insulting to one's intelligence, it's just plain dumb. Yet for some reason, Hollywood has long had a fascination with this incredible cliche of how aliens are always wiser than humans and that any normal reaction of fear on the part of humans constitutes barbarism making destruction by the aliens justifiable (this after all is the very premise of "The Day The Earth Stood Still").
Now setting aside the dumb philosophy, how does this work in terms of execution? Only so-so. I can't believe anyone would have fallen for this in a minute since it should have occurred to them to merely change channels and then remember that the last time Sander Vanocur was a serious journalist was a long time ago. But then again, the people who listened to Orson Welles long ago never had the sense to do that either so I suppose that can be forgiven. The problem with this fake newscast is that we are served up the most shallow of cliched characters to represent the different points of view in the scientific, military and political communities and you can't take them seriously for a second. This is always the greatest problem with any "fake newscast" style of drama. They spend so much time trying to make the newscasting sound authentic that in the end they forget all about trying to make the characters themselves have the ring of authenticity.
As mindless entertainment this film has its merits but for chilling authenticity in a fake newscast, try to find Buffalo radio station WKBW's 1971 update of the War Of The Worlds. THAT was a drama that knew how to push all the right buttons and come off with an air of authenticity.
Now if Captain Kirk did this, you'd think he was a madman and the epitomoe of all things evil. You would not as a matter of course blame the aliens for not knowing any better. So why then I ask, does this TV-movie serve up the exact same premise to us, and then deliver a scathing indictment about how this is all humanity's fault, and that our barbarism caused this, and that ultimately, as Sander Vanocur says before Washington blows up around him, "The fault lies not in our stars but in ourselves"? That kind of thinking is not merely insulting to one's intelligence, it's just plain dumb. Yet for some reason, Hollywood has long had a fascination with this incredible cliche of how aliens are always wiser than humans and that any normal reaction of fear on the part of humans constitutes barbarism making destruction by the aliens justifiable (this after all is the very premise of "The Day The Earth Stood Still").
Now setting aside the dumb philosophy, how does this work in terms of execution? Only so-so. I can't believe anyone would have fallen for this in a minute since it should have occurred to them to merely change channels and then remember that the last time Sander Vanocur was a serious journalist was a long time ago. But then again, the people who listened to Orson Welles long ago never had the sense to do that either so I suppose that can be forgiven. The problem with this fake newscast is that we are served up the most shallow of cliched characters to represent the different points of view in the scientific, military and political communities and you can't take them seriously for a second. This is always the greatest problem with any "fake newscast" style of drama. They spend so much time trying to make the newscasting sound authentic that in the end they forget all about trying to make the characters themselves have the ring of authenticity.
As mindless entertainment this film has its merits but for chilling authenticity in a fake newscast, try to find Buffalo radio station WKBW's 1971 update of the War Of The Worlds. THAT was a drama that knew how to push all the right buttons and come off with an air of authenticity.
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