''Independence Daysaster'' is a 2013 Canadian

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

directed by W. D. Hogan and stars Ryan Merriman and Tom Everett Scott. The film premiered on June 27, 2013, on Syfy and was released on DVD on May 27, 2014. The film is a mockbuster of the 1996 film ''

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

''.

Plot

In Moose Ridge,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, Andrew Garsette, his two friends, Nick and Eliza, and his uncle Pete, a local firefighter, prepare to meet Andrew's father and Pete's brother,

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Sam Garsette, who is coming home for the

Fourth of July Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing th ...

celebrations. Sam approaches on

Marine One Marine One is the call sign of any United States Marine Corps aircraft carrying the president of the United States. As of 2024, it is most frequently applied to a presidential transport helicopter operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX ...

, but it is unexpectedly rerouted to nearby Dixon Airbase. Meanwhile, SETI scientist Celia Layman is informed of a mysterious signal heading somewhere and being sent back. Suddenly, alien machines begin drilling through the surface from underground, and more alien machines shoot from the sky; both types of machine appear in various locations around the world. Pete convinces

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...

agents to take the children away while he attempts to help the townspeople. He finds Celia broken down on the side of the road and reluctantly agrees to take her into the town, but finds it destroyed and proposes heading to Dixon. Sam orders Vice President Dennis Brubaker and General Moore not to engage the ships without intel. However, Marine One is hit and crashes, leading Brubaker to presume Sam dead as he and Moore escape

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

before it is destroyed. Brubaker and Moore arrive at Dixon Airbase, where Brubaker is forced to take over the presidency. With the reluctant approval of base officer Spears, Brubaker authorizes an Air Force counterattack. Meanwhile, the Secret Service convoy is hit; the agents are killed and Nick is injured. Andrew, Eliza and Nick reunite with Pete and Celia; they witness a dogfight between aliens and fighter jets. The jets are easily decimated, whereas Pete manages to down one drone with Celia's

phonon A phonon is a collective excitation in a periodic, elastic arrangement of atoms or molecules in condensed matter, specifically in solids and some liquids. In the context of optically trapped objects, the quantized vibration mode can be defined a ...

-emitting device. They reach Dixon and attempt to get help, but when a large ship emerges, Nick is abducted and presumably killed. Pete and Celia discover that the device disables the aliens by disabling their connection with the alien mothership. They collect an alien battery, and witness more drones bringing wreckages back to the mothership. When another wave of aliens attacks them, the device, given more power by the battery, downs all of them with one pulse. Having survived his crash, Sam encounters Todd, a computer genius, who manages to contact Dixon with the help of his friend Leni, confirming Sam's survival to Brubaker, who reveals that the base's scientists have discovered the alien mothership near the Moon. Sam again refuses to order an attack on it; the connection is disabled, and Brubaker authorizes a nuclear missile strike on the ship. However, the drones surrounding the ship intercept all the missiles. Moore realises that the drilling machines are emitting a gas that is fundamentally changing Earth's atmosphere; Earth will become uninhabitable to human life in days. Sam is found by Pete's group, and they devise a plan to defeat the aliens by letting a drone take the device up to the mothership and activate it with a satellite signal, disabling all the drones' connections. Sam then contacts Spears, as Dixon is attacked, ordering another missile strike, but Spears tells Sam that missiles can now only be launched from the silos directly, before she, Moore and Brubaker are killed. En route to a nearby satellite base, they are attacked again. Celia sacrifices herself, allowing the drone to take the device to the ship. Sam contacts a team of Army Rangers and orders them to launch the missiles. As the missiles are launched, Andrew, Eliza, Todd and Leni attempt to send the signal, but it is cut by another alien ambush. Pete manages to destroy it by igniting his truck's fuel with a Roman candle and repair the lines, allowing the kids to resend the signal. When the missiles approach the ship, most of them are again intercepted by drones, but the remaining ones are disabled when the signal successfully activates the device, allowing one missile to reach and destroy the ship. The ship's destruction resembles a giant firework explosion. The film ends with a larger alien fleet approaching Earth.

Cast

* Ryan Merriman as Pete Garsette * Andrea Brooks as Eliza * Emily Holmes as Celia Leyman * Keenan Tracey as Andrew Garsette *

Garwin Sanford Garwin Sanford (born 14 March 1955) is a Canadian film and television actor known for his roles on ''Stargate SG-1'' and ''Stargate Atlantis''. Career Sanford's most notable roles are Narim in ''Stargate SG-1'' and Simon Wallace in ''Stargat ...

as Dennis Brubaker * Michael Kopsa as General Moore * Jill Teed as Spears * Tom Everett Scott as Sam Garsette

References

External links

* * {{ID4 Independence Day 2013 television films 2013 films 2013 science fiction action films Films about alien invasions Canadian action television films 2013 independent films Canadian independent films Canadian science fiction television films English-language Canadian films Films set in Oregon Films set in Washington, D.C. Independence Day (United States) films CineTel Films films Syfy original films Mockbuster films 2010s English-language films Films directed by W. D. Hogan 2010s American films 2010s Canadian films English-language independent films English-language science fiction action films Adaptations of works by Roland Emmerich Independence Day (franchise)