Indeed, his prolific-ness as a hot-topic magpie was much more impressive than his ability to do genuinely interesting things with those subjects. Populist can often equate to mediocre, and ‘d suggest, barring The Andromeda Strain – much of the effectiveness of which I might put at Robert Wise’s door – and perhaps The Terminal Man, Crichton’s output tended to the unremarkable. They were, after all, contained in populist works that left worries at the door upon finishing the book or the movie. If we stick to the reasonable assumption that he would not have been allowed to reach the fame he reached were he not endorsed, then we must assume his protestations and warnings were similarly gauged. Whether Harvard man Crichton was witting or unwitting, his prolific output and endorsement by Hollywood suggests he was tacitly approved, a go-to for big themes delivered to audiences in palatable fashion. Others have highlighted thematic consistency across his works, as the rules of civilisation and scientific order break down into chaos as man’s reach extends his grasp (AIs usurping their masters in Westworld, dinosaurs taking control of the park in Jurassic Park, and here, the contained virus slipping its rigorous, meticulously designed shackles). Crichton was anti, however, so would that make his position one of controlled opposition? Some have pointed to his death within three years of it being published. Oh, and climate change ( State of Fear, under the banner of global warming as it was then).

He has thus taken in everything from transhumanism ( The Terminal Man), to prehistoric life ( Jurassic Park), to virus theory ( The Andromeda Strain), to aliens ( Sphere) to time-travel and the multiverse ( Timeline), nanotech, genetic engineering and AI ( Westworld, Prey) and virtual reality ( Looker, Disclosure). It doesn’t matter if they’re true or not. Ostensibly, Crichton’s novels are frequently of the warning variety, but like any good predictive programming, they serve to normalise and licence ideas, theories and perspectives. This movie is about as realistic as Star Wars.ĭoctor Jeremy Stone: Presumably, it could be some form of space germ. The Andromeda Strain relates and celebrates the wonders of modern science with diligent, unquestioning, reverent awe, and Wise’s approach – faux-documentary, complete with underplaying, non-starry lead actors – serves to emphasise the strengths of the conceit. Which is very handy when you’re making a living from selling the excitingly plausible.

All that’s really proof of, of course, is that he’s able to parrot what he’s been taught. But then, Crichton was a master of legitimising official science under the guise of airport fiction, boosted as his novels were by his authoritative status as qualified doctor. (SPOILERS) Robert Wise’s adaptation of Michael Crichton’s alien invasion fantasy plays things entirely straight, which undoubtedly helps to sell its mile-high absurdities.

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