History Film / TheAndromedaStrain

** A fighter jet experiences a severe malfunction when it flew past Andromeda -- all of its plastics dissolved, leaving its pilot helpless as the jet crashes. [[spoiler:Andromeda quickly adapts the same form in Level Five and destroys the gaskets keeping the levels contaminated, quickly causing a self-destruct mechanism to activate.]]

* SpySpeak: Dr. Charles Dutton uses Type 3 to enter Project Wildfire.

-->'''Old Man:''' Give us a butt first.
-->'''Hall:''' We don't allow smoking here.
-->'''Old Man:''' Then go ''fish''.

-->'''Dr. Mark Hall:''' [Removing the pants of the dead doctor] Have a look at his buttocks.
-->'''Dr. Jeremy Stone:''' That's NOT funny.
-->'''Dr. Mark Hall:''' Not meant to be! Normally, blood in a dead person goes to the lowest points. There should be marks of lividity, right? Do you see any purplish marks on his butt?
-->'''Dr. Jeremy Stone:''' No...

* AdaptedOut: While it adapts rather reliably the source material, there are a number of removed minor InfoDump talks (including a detail regarding the TitleDrop-Wildfire's request for a codename for the organism to Central Codes specifies it was diagnosed as an infectious strain in the book (hence "Andromeda Strain"), while on the movie it is simply given by Central Codes), one additional patient that is discovered later (a cop that was passing through Piedmont when Andromeda started to spread, was spared immediate death because of his diabetes, and went psychotic on a diner later, shooting everybody and himself-this finally cements the theory that acidosis is harmful to Andromeda), and the detail that the nuclear detonation protocol would have eliminated all air from Level Five several seconds before going off.

** A fighter jet experiences a severe malfunction when it flew past Andromeda -- all of its plastics dissolved, leaving its pilot helpless as the jet crashes. [[spoiler:Andromeda quickly adapts the same form in Level Five and destroys the gaskets keeping the levels uncontaminated, quickly causing a self-destruct mechanism to activate.]]

'''Dutton''': That's how it's supposed to look. We spent $50,000 on this road.\\

'''Dutton''': Covering up the equipment tracks. Heavy equipment leaves a big trail.

-->'''Ruth:''' There were eight seconds left. [[DeadpanSnarker Hardly exciting.]]

''The Andromeda Strain'' is a 1971 disaster movie based on the [[Literature/TheAndromedaStrain novel of the same name]] by Creator/MichaelCrichton. Directed by Creator/RobertWise, it stars Arthur Hill (Dr. Jeremy Stone), James Olson (Dr. Mark Hall), Kate Reid (Dr. Ruth Leavitt), and David Wayne (Dr. Charles Dutton) and follows the book closely (except for the names of the characters Leavitt and Dutton).

* ThisIsAWorkOfFiction: Inverted -- The film starts with this message (interestingly enough, this is one of Crichton's {{CreatorThumbprint}}s):

-->'''Leavitt''': (Looking at bleak dusty road, turns to Burton who's driving) You're lost! No one's been down this goat path for years!\\

''The Andromeda Strain'' is a 1971 disaster movie based on the [[Literature/TheAndromedaStrain novel of the same name]] by Creator/MichaelCrichton. Directed by Creator/RobertWise, it stars Arthur Hill (Stone), James Olson (Hall), Kate Reid (Dutton), and David Wayne (Burton) and follows the book closely.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: The twist near the end that [[spoiler:the SCOOP Project was searching for materials that could be turned into biochemical warfare agents in space]] (and sets off Leavitt and Burton, who are both somewhat anti-establishment) is given in a backstory InfoDump on the second chapter of the novel, and none of the characters in it are concerned about that detail [[spoiler:so much as the horror of the SCOOP-7 mission having GoneHorriblyRight]].

** A fighter jet experiences a severe malfunction when it flew past Andromeda -- all of its plastics dissolved, leaving him helpless as the jet crashes. [[spoiler:Andromeda quickly adapts the same form in Level Five and destroys the gaskets keeping the levels uncontaminated, quickly causing a self-destruct mechanism to activate.]]

'''Burton''': That's how it's supposed to look. We spent $50,000 on this road.\\

'''Burton''': Covering up the equipment tracks. Heavy equipment leaves a big trail.

* GenderFlip: Leavitt was a male in the book, but was changed to a female in the film.

* ThisIsAWorkOfFiction: Inverted -- The film starts with this message (interestingly enough, this is one of Crichton's {{AuthorThumbprint}}s):

* ThisIsAWorkOfFiction: Inverted -- The film starts with this message:

* CovertGroupWithMundaneFront: The Department of Defense's Wildfire laboratory, a five-story underground facility, is located in the (fictional) town of Flatrock, Nevada, below a U.S.Department of Agriculture research station.

** After the self-destruct alarm sounds--and [[FromBadToWorse professional decorum deteriorates]]--incidental characters flee, having observing Leavitt's ''grand mal'' seizure. One assumes, "She's got the germ!" Less dramatically (but of more significance to the plot) she'd had an absence seizure while monitoring lab results. When a substance is found to inhibit Andromeda's growth, red text flashes on a screen: causing Leavitt to "blank out" for a few seconds. She reports to her colleagues that no cultures were affected.

* JustInTime: The coutdown is stopped with time to spare.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/andromeda_strain_poster_2116.jpg]]

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: The twist near the end that [[spoiler:the SCOOP Project was searching for materials that could be turned into biochemical warfare agents in space]] (and sets off Leavitt and Burton, who are both somewhat anti-establishment) is given in a backstory InfoDump on the second chapter of the novel, and none of the characters in it are concerned about that detail so much as the horror of the SCOOP-7 mission having GoneHorriblyRight.

* As mentioned before on ConvulsiveSeizures, the Wildfire team would have found a potential cure for Andromeda earlier in the story if Leavitt hadn't been alone in the lab and the computer wasn't set to show the results with massive, blinking red letters.