The Andromeda Strain (was Re: the latest splat)

[LARRY KLAES]

I am rather surprised at Bell's dumping upon of the 1971 SF film The Andromeda Strain, which is one of the very few SF films I have ever seen that strove hard to get the science and technology right (for the early 1970s, of course).  And I thought the scientists in the film acted like scientists would.   And I am not alone in this view:   http://twtd.bluemountains.net.au/Rick/liz_as.htm   He even got some of the facts wrong about TAS:  The Scoop 7 return capsule was not torn open from an impact.  It actually landed successfully.  The problem began when some of the townsfolk in the little New Mexico community it landed in took the capsule to the local doctor, who unwittingly opened it and released the extraterrestrial microorganisms that wiped out most of the population.    Bell just seems to have some kind of vendetta against the film, or decided to make it look bad to get his point across about the Genesis crash and the dangers of releasing cosmic debris upon Earth.  And of course he would have been bored with TAS as a child, since it wasn't aimed at children, but thinking adults; this wasn't Star Wars, after all.  I do miss the golden age of Hollywood film in the 1970s when they actually tried to be and do something different from the FX dreck we get now.   Rent and watch The Andromeda Strain for yourself and make up your own minds.  I would love to know what Bell, as a proclaimed retired space scientist, really found wrong with this film as opposed to just calling it names.   Larry   ----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Turner To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, September 10, 2004 6:51 AM Subject: Re: the latest splat Jeff Bell is a bit depressed about this whole thing.   http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-04z.html   He slightly disparages mid-air helicopter retrieval, even though that seemed to be one of the bits of good news in this story: it can be done.   He also has some rather unkind words for Robert Zubrin, but I guess he's not exactly alone in that.   The main thing I got from his op-ed is that sample return really is an important capability - we should be trying to get it down to, well, to a *science*.   -michael turner [EMAIL PROTECTED]