Astronomers discover a comet that they believe will crash into Phoenix, Arizona. They attempt to warn officials, but no one believes them.Astronomers discover a comet that they believe will crash into Phoenix, Arizona. They attempt to warn officials, but no one believes them.Astronomers discover a comet that they believe will crash into Phoenix, Arizona. They attempt to warn officials, but no one believes them.
- Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys
- 2 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe TV station in the movie, KTAR-TV, is the real life NBC affiliate for Phoenix, now known as KPNX.
- GoofsIn the scenes from the control room for the rocket that will carry the nuclear warheads to the comet, a computer screen is shown with a graphic of what is presumably the rocket. Actually, the graphic on the screen is a distillation column connected to two kettle reboilers, commonly seen in control rooms for chemical processing plants.
- Quotes
Jason Voight: You can't miss us, there's a big white arrow pointing right down on us!
- Alternate versionsIn the movie's premiere telecast, the sequence showing the impact and results lasted 4 minutes. In subsequent airings, the sequence was shortened to 2 minutes.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1981)
Featured review
Transcendental trash
This is perhaps my all-time favorite trash-TV movie. I have a theory that all of us secretly cherish at least one utterly indefensible object of art or entertainment - something we know is simply awful, but which we love nonetheless. Maybe it's pro wrestling, maybe it's "The Dukes of Hazzard." For me, it's this TV movie.
I'm something of an amateur astronomy buff, so that may explain part of my attraction to this movie. However, virtually every moment, every plot device, every line of dialogue, every scene and every revelation of character in "A Fire in the Sky" is so stultifyingly formulaic that you wonder if the people who wrote it even graduated from grade school. It's no exaggeration to say that, twenty minutes into the movie, you can accurately predict the final outcomes of each of the several subplots. The characters are not the least bit real; they are complete and absolutely transparent stereotypes. And adding an element of incongruity to the movie is the fact that the actors attack their roles with surprising vigor. Richard Crenna and Elizabeth Ashley, in particular, seem to think they're in "King Lear," not this hokey, connect-the-dots, pre-fab drama.
The result is a production that is not in on its own joke. It doesn't seem to know how bad it really is. It's a professional product that seems to have been offered seriously. And yet it's awful. The result is that it achieves a kind of exquisite stupidity. We're not laughing with it; we're laughing at it. And as such, for me, at least, it transcends its own badness and becomes highly entertaining.
What can I say? There's no good reason anyone should like something this dumb. And yet I do.
I'm something of an amateur astronomy buff, so that may explain part of my attraction to this movie. However, virtually every moment, every plot device, every line of dialogue, every scene and every revelation of character in "A Fire in the Sky" is so stultifyingly formulaic that you wonder if the people who wrote it even graduated from grade school. It's no exaggeration to say that, twenty minutes into the movie, you can accurately predict the final outcomes of each of the several subplots. The characters are not the least bit real; they are complete and absolutely transparent stereotypes. And adding an element of incongruity to the movie is the fact that the actors attack their roles with surprising vigor. Richard Crenna and Elizabeth Ashley, in particular, seem to think they're in "King Lear," not this hokey, connect-the-dots, pre-fab drama.
The result is a production that is not in on its own joke. It doesn't seem to know how bad it really is. It's a professional product that seems to have been offered seriously. And yet it's awful. The result is that it achieves a kind of exquisite stupidity. We're not laughing with it; we're laughing at it. And as such, for me, at least, it transcends its own badness and becomes highly entertaining.
What can I say? There's no good reason anyone should like something this dumb. And yet I do.
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- Newfarmer
- Jun 17, 2000
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- Feuer aus dem All
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