Murder in Space | |
---|---|
Written by | Wesley Ferguson |
Directed by | Steven Hilliard Stern |
Starring | Michael Ironside Wilford Brimley Martin Balsam Damir Andrei Tom Butler Wendy Crewson Scot Denton Peter Dvorsky Leo Ilial Alan Jordan Jan Rubeš Cathie Shirriff Kate Trotter Nerene Virgin Alberta Watson Arthur Hill |
Theme music composer | Arthur B. Rubinstein |
Country of origin | Canada United States |
Production | |
Producers | Robert Cooper Otto Penzler |
Cinematography | Laszlo George |
Editor | Rit Wallis |
Running time | 95 Minutes |
Production companies | CTV Television Network Zenith Entertainment |
Release | |
Original network | Showtime Networks |
Original release | July 28, 1985 |
Murder in Space is a 1985 science fiction murder mystery television movie set in the near future. The crew of an international space mission are on the return leg from Mars to Earth when an explosion occurs on the craft Conestoga, shortly after a series of murders starts. The crew of the returning craft are forbidden to return until the murderer is caught.
On its initial worldwide premiere, the film was shown without the ending and a competition was set for the viewers to solve the mystery of who the murderer or murderers were. The conclusion of the film was shown several days later, with the contestants eliminated one by one until the winner correctly identified the killer or killers. The final 15 minutes of the film was shown at a later date when the mystery was solved with only two countries provided winners with the correct answer.
Actor | Character | Rank | Country | Murdered | How | Murderer's Possible Motive |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Michael Ironside | Neil Braddock | Captain | U.S.A. | No | ||
Cathie Shirriff | Olga Denarenko | U.S.S.R. | Yes | Strangled/Suffocated | Pregnant with other crew member's child. | |
Damir Andrei | Andrei Kalsinov | Colonel | U.S.S.R. | Yes | Blown up | Planned to defect |
Timothy Webber | Guy Sterling | Canada | Yes | Cyanide poisoning | Needed to be silenced | |
Tom Butler | Kurt Steiner | Major | East Germany | Yes | Strangled | Judgment |
Leo Ilial | Phillipe Berdoux | Doctor | France | No | ||
Scot Denton | David Tremayne | Navigator | U.S.A. | No | ||
Kate Trotter | Pamela Cooper | UK | No | |||
Alberta Watson | Dominica Mastrelli | Italy | No |
Other cast members were reporters, wives and husbands, mission control staff and additional Russian characters.
Name | Rank or part | Played by |
---|---|---|
Vice President | Arthur Hill | |
Dr. Andrew McCallister | Space program director | Wilford Brimley |
Dinah Greenberg | Secretary to McCallister | Gloria Carlin |
Jeffrey Kilbride | Reporter | Alan Jordan |
Mitch Carlino | Peter Dvorsky | |
Alexander Rostov | Russian Politician | Martin Balsam |
Dr. Margaret Leigh | Doctor | Nerene Virgin |
Grigori Denarenko | husband of cosmonaut Olga Denarenko | Jan Rubeš |
Irene Tremayne | Wife of astronaut David Tremayne | Wendy Crewson |
PRIMETIME magazine, the FIRST CHOICE*SUPERCHANNEL program guide, featured a pull-out entry form which allowed viewers to identify the four murdered characters, their nationalities and, bizarrely, “how murdered?”. It then asked the ultimate question – “Who Committed the Murders?”
Readers who correctly guessed the answer had the opportunity to win a trip on the Orient Express however no entries received were actually correct so instead the closest answer to who the murderer was given a year's free subscription to the magazine. [1]
A novel also called "Murder In Space", published by Penguin, was produced around the same time; the last page of the book was an entry form for the competition to solve the mystery. It was written by "FX Woolf", a penname for Howard Engels and Janet Hamilton. [2]
A television show, hosted in the UK by Anneka Rice and Roger Cook and broadcast in September 1985 on UK TV Channel ITV, featured members of the UK public who were close or knew who the murderer actually was, thus winning the £10,000 prize money. The solution was then shown in the final 15 minutes of the movie to reveal the answer. [1]
Rendezvous with Rama is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke first published in 1973. Set in the 2130s, the story involves a 50-by-20-kilometre cylindrical alien starship that enters the Solar System. The story is told from the point of view of a group of human explorers who intercept the ship in an attempt to unlock its mysteries. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula awards upon its release, and is regarded as one of the cornerstones in Clarke's bibliography. The concept was later extended with several sequels, written by Clarke and Gentry Lee.
Fredric Brown was an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer. He is known for his use of humor and for his mastery of the "short short" form—stories of 1 to 3 pages, often with ingenious plotting devices and surprise endings. Humor and a postmodern outlook carried over into his novels as well. One of his stories, "Arena", was adapted to a 1967 episode of the American television series Star Trek.
A whodunit or whodunnit is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the main focus. The reader or viewer is provided with the clues to the case, from which the identity of the perpetrator may be deduced before the story provides the revelation itself at its climax. The investigation is usually conducted by an eccentric, amateur, or semi-professional detective.
V is a science fiction franchise created by American writer, producer and director Kenneth Johnson about a genocidal invading alien race known as the "Visitors"—reptilian humanoids disguised as human beings—trying to take over Earth, and the human reaction to this, including the Resistance group attempting to stop them, while others collaborate with the aliens for power and personal wealth.
Sky Sci-Fi is a British pay television channel service specialising in science fiction, fantasy and horror shows and movies. It is owned by NBCUniversal International Networks, a division of NBCUniversal and as of 2018, Sky Group.
Doctor Who in Canada and the United States refers to the broadcast history of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who in those countries.
Man from Atlantis is a short-lived American science fiction/fantasy television series that ran for 13 episodes on the NBC network during the 1977–78 season, following four television films that had aired earlier in 1977. Ratings success by these movies led to the commissioning of a weekly series for the 1977–78 season, but it was canceled at the end of the first season due to a declining audience and high production costs.
Space pirates are a type of stock character from science fiction. A take on the traditional seafaring pirates of history or the fictional air pirates of the 19th century, space pirates travel through outer space. Where traditional pirates target sailing ships, space pirates serve a similar role in sci-fi media: they capture and plunder spacecraft for cargo, loot and occasionally steal spacecraft, and kill or enslave the crewmembers and passengers.
Christopher Robert Fowler was an English thriller writer. While working in the British film industry he became the author of fifty novels and short-story collections, including the Bryant & May mysteries, which record the adventures of two Golden Age detectives in modern-day London. His awards include the 2015 CWA Dagger in the Library, The Last Laugh Award (twice) and the British Fantasy Award, the Edge Hill Prize and the inaugural Green Carnation Award. His other works include screenplays, video games, graphic novels, audio and stage plays.
A Caribbean Mystery is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 16 November 1964 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at sixteen shillings (16/-) and the US edition at $4.50. It features the detective Miss Marple.
An inverted detective story, also known as a "howcatchem", is a murder mystery fiction structure in which the commission of the crime is shown or described at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator. The story then describes the detective's attempt to solve the mystery. There may also be subsidiary puzzles, such as why the crime was committed, and they are explained or resolved during the story. This format is the opposite of the more typical "whodunit", where all of the details of the perpetrator of the crime are not revealed until the story's climax. The first such story was R. Austin Freeman's The Case of Oskar Brodski published in Pearson's Magazine in 1912.
The Dresden Files is a television series based on the fantasy book series of the same name by Jim Butcher. The series follows private investigator and wizard Harry Dresden as portrayed by Paul Blackthorne, and recounts investigations into supernatural disturbances in modern-day Chicago. It premiered on January 21, 2007, on Sci Fi Channel in the United States and on Space in Canada. It was picked up by Sky One in the UK and began airing on February 14 the same year.
Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter, publisher and producer known for his bestselling novels Lost Hills and True Fiction and his work on a wide variety of TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk.
Darkly Dreaming Dexter is a 2004 novel by Jeff Lindsay, the first in his crime horror series about American forensic analyst/serial killer Dexter Morgan. It formed the basis of the Showtime television series Dexter and won the 2005 Dilys Award and the 2007 Book to TV award.
The Astronaut is a 1972 American made-for-television science fiction film directed by Robert Michael Lewis and starring Jackie Cooper and Monte Markham. This made-for-television film follows a man who has been hired to impersonate an astronaut who died during the first crewed mission to Mars. The movie was made for ABC for its movie of the week franchise. Real-life astronaut Wally Schirra appears in a cameo role as himself.
Chiller was an American cable and satellite television network that was owned by NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary of NBCUniversal, all owned by Comcast. It later opened its own film production company as well. Chiller specialized in horror, thriller and suspense programming, mainly films.
TekWar is a television series, based on the TekWar novels ghost-written by Ron Goulart from outlines by William Shatner and developed for television by Stephen Roloff. The series follows Jake Cardigan, a former police officer turned private investigator working for Cosmos, a private security firm owned and operated by Walter Bascom.
Whodunnit? is an American murder mystery-based reality television show broadcast on ABC. The series premiered on June 23, 2013, and concluded its first season on August 18, 2013. The series was not renewed for a second season. The series is hosted by Gildart Jackson, who plays the mansion's butler, Giles.