Premiering tonight on the A&E Network, is another crack at best-selling author Michael Crichton's sci-fi thriller, The Andromeda Strain. The 1969 novel was Michael Crichton's first best-seller, and inspired the classic film just two years later. If you have never read the novel (I don't remember, if I ever did ... it's not part of my library ... shame, shame on me), or seen the 1971 film (directed by Robert Wise, and starring Arthur Hill as Stone ... one of my fav sci-fi films), this new generation mini-series will be a great way to introduce you to one of the classic sci-fi thrillers, of all time.

The story is deceptively simple ... a U.S. Satellite crash lands in a small Arizona town, releasing an alien disease that mysteriously kills all but two of the population. A team of five scientists are sent to investigate the deaths, and the pathogen that caused them. They bring back the survivors to a secret base lab in Nevada, called Wildfire, to study what natural immunity the survivors have to the quickly speading virus. Unfortunately, the fail safes of the facility trap everyone inside ,and begin a countdown of self-destruction to prevent the alien pathogen from escaping the lab ... thus, the fun begins:

• Dr. Jeremy Stone, epidemiologist and team leader, played by Benjamin Bratt (Red Planet, Demolition Man)
• Dr. Angela Noyca, surgeon and exobiologist specializing in exotic diseases, played by Christa Miller (new to this genre, but you know her from Scrubs and The Drew Carey Show)
• Dr. Tsi Chou, former Chinese government biological weapons designer turned bioterrorism consultant for our government, played by Daniel Dae Kim (yes, indeed Jin Kwon from the blockbuster series, Lost, but also had roles in other scifi series - Enterprise and Crusade)
• Dr. Charlene Barton, former CDC pathologist, played by Viola Davis (from the recent short-lived series, Traveler)
• Major Bill Keene, M.D., Army virologist, played by Ricky Schroder (from another recent tv re-telling, Journey to the Center of the Earth)
• General George Mancheck, Biochemical Research Officer assembling the "Wildfire" team, played by Andre Braugher (Stephen King's The Mist, Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, S.K.' 2004 adaptation Salem's Lot, and City of Angels)
• Jack Nash, the investigative news reporter who just refuses to give on the story, played by Eric McCormack (of Will and Grace fame)

Brothers Ridley and Tony Scott (Deja Vu, Gladiator, Alien, Blade Runner) and Director/Cinematographer Mikael Salomon (also, from S.K.'s 2004 tv adaptation of Salem's Lot, and Dean Koontz's Sole Survivor) bring to a whole new generation of fans to - The Andromeda Strain.

The two-night, four-hour mini-series event premieres on A&E Network May 26 and 27, 2008

For more info on the show, check out the A&E website:

http://www.aetv.com/the-andromeda-strain/