Asteroid | |
---|---|
Genre | Miniseries |
Written by | Robbyn Burger Scott Sturgeon |
Directed by | Bradford May |
Starring |
Michael Biehn Annabella Sciorra |
Theme music composer | Shirley Walker |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | John Davis Merrill H. Karpf |
Producer(s) | Donna Ebbs Phil Margo Christopher Morgan Lori Motyer (associate producer) Sam Nicholson (co-producer) Dianna Oliva-Day (co-producer) Dan Schmit (co-producer) Peter V. Ware (supervising producer) |
Cinematography |
Thomas Del Ruth David Hennings |
Editor(s) | Bud Hayes Michael A. Hoey |
Running time | 120 minutes |
Production company(s) |
Davis Entertainment NBC Studios |
Distributor | NBC |
Release | |
Original network | NBC |
Original release | February 16, 1997 |
Asteroid is a 1997 NBC TV miniseries about the United States government trying to prevent an asteroid from colliding with the Earth.
Late one night, near Billings, Montana, a gas tanker is driving by when meteoroid suddenly hits in front of the truck. The driver attempts to swerve out of the way, but loses control and overturns and the tanker explodes, causing a massive fire.
The next morning, the fire is burning out of control and it is reported that the tanker was hit by a lightning bolt. With the area evacuated, FEMA Director Jack Wallach (Michael Biehn), and a colleague, Adam Marquez (Carlos Gómez) are flying via helicopter over the area, inspecting the fire, when they notice that two people are still in the area. It's a man on the roof of his house, trying to save it, despite his wife's protests.
Jack and Adam land and take the woman aboard, despite her angry protest in concern of her husband. Her husband starts to suffer from smoke inhalation when Jack manages to get him aboard the helicopter. Jack just barely manages to escape as a propane tank causes a massive explosion and destroys the home. They escape.
Later that evening, at the National Observatory in Boulder, Colorado, Dr. Lily McKee (Annabella Sciorra), the Observatory's director, is observing a comet which is going to pass by Earth on the 4th of July. Later on, when she goes home and looks at some photos, she sees what she believes are asteroids.
The next day, she informs Jack and Adam of the possibility of an impact and calls them in. She tells them of two asteroids: Helios and Eros, whose orbits have been disrupted by the comet and may hit the Earth. Helios would hit with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima bombs and generate temperatures five times hotter than the Sun in the area of impact. Everything within a 150-mile radius would be destroyed and the impact would also spray molten rock another 70 miles.