Meteor (TV miniseries)

Not to be confused with Meteor (film).

Meteor
Distributed by	Alpine Medien Productions
Directed by	Ernie Barbarash
Written by	Alex Greenfield
Starring	Marla Sokoloff, Christopher Lloyd, Ernie Hudson, Kenneth Mitchell, Mimi Michaels, Jason Alexander
Language	English
Release date	2009
Running time	240 minutes

Meteor is a 2009 disaster television miniseries about the asteroid 114 Kassandra on a collision course with the Earth. The surrounding meteorites crash into various locations worldwide, including the small town of Taft, California, with little success in their elimination by the military.

The first part of the film was broadcast on the NBC network July 12, 2009. The second part aired a week later on July 19, 2009.

Plot

An astronomer, Dr. Lehman (Christopher Lloyd), and his assistant, Imogene O'Neill (Marla Sokoloff), race against time to provide vital information to JPL rocket scientist Dr. Chetwyn (Jason Alexander), Lehman's former boss who fired him and the only one authorized to prevent the impending destruction. Lehman ultimately gets hit by a car and Imogene strives alone, encountering various murderers and automotive failures. Amidst the chaos, Detective Jack Crowe (Billy Campbell) desperately searches for his psychotic ex-partner Stark (Michael Rooker) before the madman seeks revenge against Jack by killing Jack's father and daughter. Meanwhile, Jack's father, the Police sheriff (Stacy Keach) of the town of Taft, deals with subsiding the panic in his town as the meteor shower continues. Another subplot involves a family struggling for survival in a meteor-struck hospital.

After the United States launches numerous nuclear weapons at the approaching asteroid, Imogene discovers a flaw in Dr. Lehman's algorithm and finds that 114 Kassandra had been split in two by the comet that knocked it out of orbit. The second half of Kassandra is larger than the first, and the military's nuclear arsenal is already depleted from destroying the first half, which was believed to be the whole meteor.

As the meteor draws closer to Earth, the meteor storms surrounding it cause increasing amounts of damage as they occur at an unstoppable pace. Part of the headquarters of the scientists tracking Kassandra is hit, resulting in Dr. Chetwyn's death.

Imogene finds herself as the only one left who can save the world from destruction, however, she can no longer contact the government by any traditional means of communication. After being abducted by and escaping from Stark with Jack's help, she finds a radio tower that can reach the remaining scientists at the base, but Stark unexpectedly returns, having survived being shot thanks to a bulletproof vest he had previously stolen. By the time Stark is shot dead by the Sheriff and Jack, Kassandra has entered Earth's atmosphere, and the government decides to launch their remaining missiles and accept the consequences - massive meteor storms and radiation from the blast.

Mere minutes before the missiles hit the meteor, however, Imogene manages to get the scientists to alter their course. Initially it appears that the missiles missed Kassandra entirely, but it quickly becomes clear that Imogene's plan deflected the meteor into the Sun, saving Earth. But three months later, Imogene tells Jack that there will be "next time" in the year 2027, talking about Apophis, 18 years from 2009.

Cast

• Marla Sokoloff as Imogene O' Neill
• Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Daniel Lehman
• Jimmy "Jax" Pinchak as Michael "Mike" Hapscomb
• Ernie Hudson as General Brasser
• Kenneth Mitchell as Russell "Rusty" Hapscomb
• Mimi Michaels as Jenny Crowe
• Michael Rooker as Calvin Stark
• Erin Cottrell as Dr. Chelsea Hapscomb
• Anne Nahabedian as Claire Payne
• Ariel Gade as M. Keely Payne
• Alex Paez as Lieutenant Finn
• Paola Turbay as Nurse Huxley
• Tiffany Hines as Maya
• Sam Ayers as Captain Finnegan
• Wyatt Smith as Roadside Boy
• Natalie R Ridley as Police Dispatcher
• Billy Campbell as Detective Jack Crowe
• Stacy Keach as Police Chief Crowe
• Jason Alexander as Dr. Nathan Chetwyn
• Zachary Bryan as Deputy Kosey
• Camille Chen as Lieutenant Quigley
• Eugene Davis as Whitaker
• Harrison Knight as Buck
• Cindy Ambuehl as Cheryl
• Chancellor Miller as Trent
• Carmen Argenziano as Border Police Murphy

External links

• Meteor at the Internet Movie Database
• Meteor: Path to Destruction Movie Clips
• Meteor at NBC
• Meteor Watch movie: Meteor - Part 1 with subtitles
• Meteor Watch movie: Meteor - Part 2 with subtitles
• Meteor credits - InBaseline
• Meteor at Rhitv