''Impact'' is a 2009 Canadian action

disaster A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. '' Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by na ...

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

directed by Mike Rohl, written by Michael Vickerman and distributed by Tandem Communications, starring David James Elliott, Natasha Henstridge, Benjamin Sadler, Steven Culp, James Cromwell and Florentine Lahme as the story follows a meteor shower which eventually sends the Moon on a collision course with Earth. The two-part (Episodes were called Nights) mini-series premiered February 14 and 15, 2009 on the Canadian premium television channel Super Channel and was also shown on ABC on June 21 and 28, 2009 and on Alpha TV in September 2011. The mini-series was released to DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Plot

During a meteor shower said to be the most spectacular in 10,000 years, an

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

hidden by the meteor field strikes the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

. Fragments of the asteroid and of the Moon itself penetrate Earth's

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

and make impact. The initial damage is minimal, though significant physical damage to the lunar surface can be seen from Earth. Experts believe that the Moon has stabilized into a slightly closer orbit. Then strange anomalies begin to manifest themselves on Earth, including

cell phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This radio ...

disruptions, unusual static discharges and odd tidal behavior. The world's leading scientists, including Alex Kittner, Maddie Rhodes, and Roland Emerson, begin piecing together evidence that suggests the Moon's properties have been permanently altered because the asteroid that hit the Moon was actually a fragment of a

brown dwarf Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that have more mass than the biggest gas giant planets, but less than the least massive main sequence, main-sequence stars. Their mass is approximately 13 to 80 Jupiter mass, times that of Jupiter ()not big en ...

the remnant of a dead

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

; the fragment is highly magnetized and more massive than the Earth despite being only 19 kilometers across, and it is still lodged inside the Moon. When the Moon's new, more elliptical orbit brings it closer to Earth,

electromagnetic In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interacti ...

surges begin affecting the surface, causing people, vehicles, and other objects to levitate at random, worldwide. Alex, Maddie, Roland and the rest of their team soon discover that the Moon's new orbit will cause it to collide with the Earth in 39 days, completely annihilating the planet. After a failed attempt by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to destroy the Moon with nuclear missiles, the three scientists plan an international mission to the Moon, where the astronauts must construct a device to magnetize the Moon's core, causing it to disgorge the embedded brown dwarf fragment, eliminating the magnetic effects and restoring the Moon to a stable orbit. Because of their unique expertise, Alex and Roland must join an American astronaut, Flight Commander Courtney Batterton, and a Russian cosmonaut, Lunar Module Pilot Sergei Pitinkov on the mission, which is expected to be a one-way trip. Roland's pregnant fiancée, Martina Altmann, was travelling across Germany on a train that levitated and derailed. She and an American, Bob Pierce, are able to lead the survivors to a military convoy, and Bob convinces the soldiers to allow Martina to ride to Roland's location. She and Roland are immediately married. Alex's children are left in the care of their late mother's father, Lloyd. When they attempt to drive cross-country to reunite with Alex, their car levitates and crashes. After a confrontation with a man named Derek who is hoarding resources at a convenience store, the children's grandfather suffers a fatal heart attack and later passes away. Derek originally plans to leave alone, but reconsiders and brings the children to Washington, DC. Alex is already in space, but he had asked Maddie, with whom he once had a romantic relationship with back then, to make sure his children remained safe. He is able to tell his children "goodbye" over a video feed. On the Moon, the electromagnetic machine is assembled. Roland and Courtney, travel in a hovercraft to locate a fissure in the lunar surface. The hovercraft is struck by some debris and crashes deep inside the fissure and Courtney falls deep into the fissure. Roland is unharmed but is stuck inside the fissure and is unable to rejoin the spacecraft. He demands that Sergei, launch the module so that he and Alex can be saved. The device is activated and the missile is launched, causing a large explosion on the Moon, which incinerates Roland. The Moon splits in two as the brown dwarf fragment flies into the Sun. The orbit of the 2 halves of the lunar debris is stable. Sergei and Alex make radio contact, revealing that they managed to escape the Moon before the explosion. Back on Earth, Alex is reunited with his children and with Maddie whom they all decide to go back home to Canada, right as Alex and Maddie look up into the sky and check out the 2 halves of the moon in its new orbit right before they get inside the car.

Main cast

* David James Elliott as Alex Kittner * Natasha Henstridge as Maddie Rhodes * Benjamin Sadler as Roland Emerson * Steven Culp as President Edward Taylor * James Cromwell as Alex's father-in-law * Florentine Lahme as Martina Altmann * Natasha Calis as Sadie Kittner * Samantha Ferris as Renee Ferguson * Ty Olsson as Derek *

Yee Jee Tso Yee Jee Tso (born March 10, 1975, in Hong Kong) is a Canadians, Canadian actor. Tso and his family emigrated to Canada when he was six months old. He grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood and booked his first role at age 15. His tele ...

as Jered O'Banno * Alex Zahara as Franz Henke

Filming locations

* Victoria,

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

— Central Park, University of Victoria, Dominion Astrophysical Observatory ( CNRC) *

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Scientific reaction

The ''Impact'' mini-series received little comment from the scientific community due to its lack of realism, incorrect use of terminology, and basic misunderstanding of the law of gravity.Plait, Phil (June 15, 2009)
"If I watch this I hope the Moon *will* hit the Earth"
. "Bad Astronomy". ''Discovery Magazine''.

References

External links

* * Yazel, Leslie

June 20, 2009, The Washington Post. {{DEFAULTSORT:Impact (Tv Miniseries) 2009 films 2000s Canadian television miniseries 2009 Canadian television series debuts 2009 Canadian television series endings English-language Canadian films English-language German films 2000s German television miniseries 2009 German television series debuts 2009 German television series endings Sat.1 original programming Television series by Tandem Productions Television shows filmed in Victoria, British Columbia Television series about impact events Moon in film Films set on the Moon