ABC PREMIERE EVENT: IMPACT {PART 1 OF 2} (TV)
Summary
The first part of this two-part science-fiction miniseries about a team of scientists working to stop the earth from colliding with the moon.
Stargazers worldwide convene to observe an unusually large meteor shower. One of the observers in Maddie Rhodes, the new director of the National Roosevelt Observatory, who records data at the National Space Observatory in New Mexico. In Berlin, astronomer and geologist Roland Emerson and his fiancée Martina watch the meteor shower as well; Roland is fascinated and awed by the celestial display despite Martina’s attempts to divert his attention to their upcoming wedding. During her observations, Maddie detects an unusually massive meteor hidden behind the meteor showers and determines that it will collide with the moon. The collision creates a gigantic explosion visible from the earth and also dislodges debris from the moon large enough to survive entry into the earth’s atmosphere. Maddie receives a call from the White House about the danger posed by this latest development. She informs them that the debris impacts could be severe, particularly in populated areas, and that she estimates that at least some of them will occur within the United States. Emergency services are prepared to respond to the incoming impact events. Cities around the world are struck by the debris and suffer considerable damage. Maddie receives new information about a particularly large chunk of moon debris heading towards the earth with the potential to destroy a major city, estimated to enter the atmosphere in 14 hours.
Edward Taylor, President of the United States, is briefed on the crisis. A debris chunk lands in the ocean off the coast of Australia, creating a massive tsunami affecting western Australia and parts of Indonesia. Alex Kittner, an astrophysics professor and former researcher for NASA living in a suburban neighborhood with his two children Jake and Sadie, comforts his children after witnessing the explosion on the moon, putting them to sleep in their basement. Lloyd, Alex’s shut-in father-in-law, is concerned that further meteors might make impact as well. President Taylor holds a videoconference with Maddie and discusses the effect of the lunar event: because of the impact, the moon’s orbit has been offset and it is now 30,000 kilometers closer to the earth. Maddie assures the president that any changes from the moon’s new position are expected to be minute at best. President Taylor wants to stop the public from panicking and holds a press conference to that end. The next day, Alex goes to work at his local university and finds that his statement about the meteor impact has been quoted in a magazine. He reveals to one of his students that his work in NASA entailed testing a prototype antigravity device. He sees Maddie on television being interviewed by reporters and recounts that she worked at NASA alongside him, but that they haven’t spoken since then.
Maddie receives a call from David, her ex-husband and a newspaper reporter, who asks her for an exclusive on the meteor situation. She refuses him and asks him not to call her anymore. Around the world people experience odd phenomena such as compass malfunctions and inexplicable tidal flooding. Maddie determines that the tidal flooding is not being caused by the lunar impact alone, and that there is some other unknown factor at work. While getting ready to bring Jake to his baseball game, Alex and Sadie notice a flight of Canadian geese, and Lloyd points out that it is not their migration season. Lloyd refuses to go to the game due to his “social phobia,” although Alex believes he is simply being “difficult.” Alex receives a call from Maddie, much to his surprise. She consults with him about the global phenomena in the wake of the lunar impact and asks for him to come to New Mexico to help her, but he feels he cannot leave his children behind, especially since his wife died a few months ago. Instead he invites her to come to him and she accepts. Their phone call is somehow interrupted despite there being no apparent disruption to their signal. During Jake’s baseball game a mysterious burst of electricity manifests from a chain link fence, startling the players and attendees.
Roland studies a fragment of lunar debris and concludes that he needs a sample of the meteor itself. He runs off when he realizes that he is late for a meeting with Martina and the pastor who is to wed them. He arrives late and Martina notes that his work has become overly disruptive to their relationship, and asks that he start thinking about their future together. She reveals that she is pregnant with his child and Roland is overjoyed. He promises to prioritize her and be more present in her life in order to start their family together. Further electrical disturbances occur throughout the United States, causing gas station explosions in various areas. President Taylor demands that his staff determine exactly what is happening. Roland investigates a crater left behind by one of the meteorite impacts, found in the middle of the woods by a troupe of boy scouts. Roland attempts to remove the remnant of the meteor in the center of the crater, but is unable to do so. The meteorite turns out to have a powerful magnetic field, demonstrated when one of Roland’s tools sticks to it.
Maddie meets with Alex and they confer about the global phenomena; Maddie remains convinced that the moon’s shift in orbit is not the cause. Together they conjecture that the moon’s magnetic field has been somehow altered by the collision. The tidal disturbances also suggest that the moon’s mass has been altered as well. Roland calls Maddie and he converses with her and Alex. He tells them about his discovery and theorizes that the meteorite fragment actually originated from a brown dwarf, the remnant of a dead star which compresses itself into extremely dense matter. He also believes that a pair of brown dwarves collided in space somewhere and sent an appreciable fragment of their mass towards earth, whereupon it collided with the moon and lodged itself within the moon’s crust. Roland estimates that the fragment’s mass is over twice that of the planet earth’s, and that the matter is highly magnetized. Alex realizes that these circumstances will likely result in the earth and moon pulling each other closer together. Maddie calls her assistant Jered, who tells her that observatories around the world have recorded that the moon’s position is shifting again, putting it closer to the earth.
President Taylor meets with Maddie at the Oval Office and she presents her latest findings. He asks her for advice and she recommends that he assemble a committee of various experts to further evaluate the situation. He holds off on informing the public of the full extent of their findings, still uneasy about how they might react and announces that Maddie is to be the head of his team of experts. Maddie calls Alex and asks him to be a part of the team, but he feels that he cannot due to his responsibility to his children. Roland has to relocate to the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt in order to coordinate with other team members worldwide, much to Martina’s concern. He promises to return in time for their wedding. Alex reconsiders and prepares to leave for Washington, and Jake gives him his home-run ball for good luck. He bids both him and Sadie goodbye, trying to assuage their concerns and fears. Lloyd agrees to look after them despite his own misgivings.
Maddie and Alex set up in the command center of the international team, positioned in the Pentagon. Alex is unhappy to see General Vaughn, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, present, as he feels that Vaughn stole his research during his time at NASA. Alex meets Renee Ferguson, Director of Homeland Security, and Jered, and he gets on a videoconference with Roland and his assistant Franz. The moon’s orbit has become highly elliptical and its orbital velocity increases each time it gets closer to the earth. With each pass the disturbances and phenomena are expected to increase in intensity, which could include the deactivation of electronic devices worldwide. Alex realizes that he is going to be in Washington longer than expected and asks Renee if he could be allowed to bring his family with him. Meanwhile, David’s editor demands that he get an “inside story” about the impending crisis and orders him to try to speak with Maddie despite his earlier failure.
Roland discovers that Martina has come to join him in Darmstadt, much to his surprise and joy. She says she has stopped by on her way to see her mother in Munich, although Roland is concerned that the moon’s electrical disturbances might cut them off from each other. Lloyd looks after the kids, although he is still uneasy about doing so. Alex calls them to check up on them and tells Lloyd that they are to be transported to Washington by helicopter the following morning. Lloyd refuses to leave the house but says he will ensure the children’s safety. David confronts Maddie in person to try to interview her, but she bypasses him, still unwilling to speak to him. She has dinner with Alex and asks about how he is feeling since the death of his wife, and about his children. Their dinner is interrupted by a sudden surge of electricity, and they decide to get back to the Pentagon. Their computer equipment sparks and is deactivated as the moon makes another pass near the earth, causing further disturbances, including people and objects randomly levitating. Alex and the rest of the team theorize that the moon is now causing gravitational fluctuations as a result of its shift in mass, and that isolated pockets of electromagnetism account for the random intervals of this phenomenon.
While on the train to Munich, Martina gets hit on by another passenger, although she does her best to dissuade him. In light of Alex’s theory about the gravitational “storms” affecting the planet, the President’s advisors try to prepare the public for further disturbances. General Vaughn becomes frustrated at what he perceives is a lack of progress on the part of the scientists, and feels as though it would be better if the project were being handled wholly by the military. Alex calls Lloyd to try to tell him not to leave the house until he says so, but their call is cut off by electromagnetic disturbances. Roland calls Martina and warns her about the incoming surge of gravitational disturbances, but their call is cut off as well, and there is little Martina can do to stop the train. He asks her to get off at the next stop and stay indoors until it passes. Gravitational fluctuations spread across most of Western Europe; Martina’s train is lifted into the air, rising above the tracks. The northeastern United States suffers power outages as a secondary effect of the gravity disturbances. Martina’s train comes crashing down in the middle of a forest. Lloyd, Jake, and Sadie lose power, frightening the children. Alex is informed that the helicopter intended to pick up his children went down due to the electromagnetic surge. He grows highly concerned, as he currently has no way of contacting them.
News about the consequences of the moon’s new orbit spreads across the globe. Jered steps out to go to a nearby bar and Maddie soon finds him there. He explains that he is having something of a crisis of faith in light of the devastating events of the past few days, but Maddie convinces him to return to work. They regain contact with Roland, who presents them with a simulation of the moon’s probable changes in orbit. His findings indicate the moon’s orbit has grown narrower, and that it will inevitably collide with the earth, essentially destroying the entire planet. Renee takes Maggie aside and they drive off to meet with President Taylor. She informs him that they estimate that the moon will impact the earth in 39 days. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: June 21, 2009 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 2:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 104116
- GENRE: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV miniseries, 2009
- COMMERCIALS:
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- TV – Commercials – Wendy’s restaurants
- TV – Commercials – “My Sister’s Keeper” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” motion picture
- TV – Promos – “ABC Nightline”
- TV – Promos – “Family Secrets”
- TV – Promos – “Good Morning America
- TV – Promos – “Here Come the Newlyweds”
- TV – Promos – “I Survived a Japanese Game Show”
- TV – Promos – “The Bachelorette”
- TV – Promos – “The Superstars”
- TV – Promos – “Wipeout”
- TV – Promos – “World News with Charles Gibson”
CREDITS
- Michael Prupas … Executive Producer
- Tim Halkin … Executive Producer
- Howard Braunstein … Executive Producer
- Greg Gugliotta … Executive Producer
- Jonas Bauer … Executive Producer
- Rola Bauer … Executive Producer
- Irene Litinsky … Co-Executive Producer
- Ted Bauman … Producer
- Jesse Prupas … Associate Producer
- Michael J. Rohl … Director
- Michael Vickerman … Writer
- Michael Richard Plowman … Composer
- David James Elliott … Cast, Alex Kittner
- Natasha Henstridge … Cast, Maddie Rhodes
- Benjamin Sadler … Cast, Roland Emerson
- Florentine Lahme … Cast, Martina Altmann
- Owen Best … Cast, Jake Kittner
- Natasha Calis … Cast, Sadie Kittner
- Michael Kopsa … Cast, General Vaughn
- Samantha Ferris … Cast, Renee Ferguson
- Ron Lea … Cast, Tom Ranfield
- Ty Olsson … Cast, Derek
- Gerard Plunkett … Cast, Terrence Young
- Colin Cunningham … Cast, David Rhodes
- Steven Culp … Cast, President Edward Taylor
- James Cromwell … Cast, Lloyd
- Yee Jee Tso … Cast, Jered O'Banno
- Ben Ayres … Cast, Bob Pierce
- Alex Zahara … Cast, Franz Henke
- Kendall Cross … Cast, Courtney Batterton
- Gideon Karmell … Cast, Sergei Pitinkoff
- Matthew Walker … Cast, Ian Wilson
- Russell Roberts … Cast, Hal Boon
- Agam Darshi … Cast, Ella Barlow
- Terence Kelly … Cast, Hugh
- Stephen Dimopoulos … Cast, Denny
- Kurt Max Runte … Cast, Gunther Lutz
- Charles Siegel … Cast, Professor Stromwall
- Andre Hennicke … Cast, Pastor
- Marina Dodlek … Cast, Waitress
- Brenda Crichlow … Cast, Reporter Chandra
- Ken Kramer … Cast, Arthur Blankenship
- Dean Redman … Cast, War Room Technician
- Lucas Wolf … Cast, War Room Assistant
- Christie Lacey … Cast, White House Aide
- Jacqui Kaese … Cast, British Home Secretary
- Stuart Nemtin … Cast, Scientist
- Eric Carbery … Cast, Eye Witness
- Jessica McLeod … Cast, Young German Girl
- Ron Burke … Cast, Middle Aged Man
- Don Knodel … Cast, German Military Sergeant
- Gina McIntosh … Cast, Female War Room Assistant
- Ted Friend … Cast, American News Anchor 1
- Dana Hutchins … Cast, American News Anchor 2
- Howard Markson … Cast, American Reporter 1
- Julie Nolin … Cast, American Reporter 2
- Cameron McDonald … Cast, Australian News Reporter
- John Emmet Tracy … Cast, British Reporter
- Scott Free … Cast, Canadian News Anchor
- Fabrice Grover … Cast, French Reporter
- Tanja Samrotzki … Cast, German Reporter
- Aleksandra Rea … Cast, Russian News Reporter
- Dave Lantaigne … Cast, ESA Engineer 1
- Karl Schreiner … Cast, European Astronaut Official
- Alexander Dworak … Cast, German Soldier
- Jake Walker … Cast, Tim
- Leslie D. Bland … Cast, ESA Engineer 3
- Tavo Runsewe … Cast, Armed Guard
- Gig Morton … Cast, Markus
- Will Masson … Cast, Young Howard
- Joelle Antonissen … Cast, Girl Next Door
- Tina Milo … Cast, ESA Mission Specialist
- Timo Merkhoffer … Cast, Chaining Man
- Bobby Magee … Cast, Bartender