Tuesday 23 June 2009

The End Of The World - Part 1: Impact



TV Mini-series; what's the point? At once, not worthy enough for full blow television series production or too tacky, too dumb or too boring for movie consideration.

Impact is a 2 part, 4 hour mini series shown on the Sci-Fi channel. It's essentially a more conceptually insane take on Meteor, Deep Impact and Armageddon. A rogue piece of Brown Dwarf Star, 3 times the mass of the Earth, imbeds its self on impact into our Moon. This alters the magnetic and graitational properties of the Moon, putting it on a 39 day collision course with Earth. OMG!

Cool twist on a reliable, drama-laden concept. But what has been repeatedly proven to be nail-bitingly good in a two-hour movie format ends up being yawn-worthy in mini-series form.Who cares if the scientist's wife is preggers. Who care's about another scientist's kids. What about or impending extintion? No attempt is made to show the affect of the disaster on the Earth's population. And when it is finally shown, everybody is at peace with themselves and the Universe. I know this is a fantasy programming...but come on!!!

Natash Henstridge is her usual wooden self while James Cromwell is crotchity in a pointless role. The effects are what you'd expect from a mini-series...comfortably awful. Watch on fast-forward fore best effect.

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