Space | |
---|---|
Also known as | 'James A. Michener's Space' |
Genre | Miniseries |
Based on | Space novel by James A. Michener |
Written by |
James A. Michener Richard Berg Stirling Silliphant |
Directed by |
Lee Philips Joseph Sargent |
Starring |
James Garner Beau Bridges Bruce Dern Harry Hamlin Michael York |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Richard Berg |
Producer(s) | Martin Manulis |
Cinematography | Héctor R. Figueroa (episodes 1, 5, 6) Gayne Rescher (episodes 2-4) |
Editor(s) | Donald R. Rode Patrick Kennedy George Jay Nicholson |
Running time | 780 minutes |
Production company(s) | Paramount Television |
Release | |
Original network | CBS |
First shown in | April 14–18, 1985 |
Space (also known as James A. Michener's Space) is a 1985 American television miniseries starring James Garner as Sen. Norman Grant. It is based on a novel of the same name by James A. Michener published in 1982. Like the novel, the miniseries is a fictionalised history of the United States space program.
Space won an Emmy Award, for film sound mixing. It originally aired from April 14 through 18, 1985, and consisted of five parts running a total of 13 hours. In subsequent showings, it was cut to nine hours.
Norman Grant (James Garner) is a former war hero turned senator who tirelessly promotes the American space program despite almost insurmountable opposition. Other principal players include John Pope (Harry Hamlin), who, after failing to win his way to Annapolis, matriculates from a Navy recruit to a naval officer, Naval Aviator, test pilot and pioneering astronaut in the company of fellow space-traveler Randy Claggett (Beau Bridges); Penny Hardesty Pope (Blair Brown), an ambitious and beautiful counsel to Senator Grant since his election and wife of John Pope; Leopold Strabismus (David Dukes), a hedonistic wheeler-dealer who hopes to capitalize on the 1947 UFO scare; German rocket scientist Dieter Kolff (Michael York), whose ideals (or lack thereof) are put to the test when he shifts his allegiance from the Nazis to the Americans; and Stanley Mott (Bruce Dern), an aeronautical engineer whose secret assignment is to make certain that men like Kolff aren't snatched up by the Soviets after the fall of Germany.