The Andromeda Strain 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Andromeda Strain 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 2, 2025

Has anyone noticed Gayle King or Katy Perry acting strangely lately? Well, never, mind, it's probably nothing, but just in case it is something, perhaps a quick "refresher course" about veritable boogie men (or at least some kind of viral entity) out there in outer space which might be able to waft right down here to Planet Earth and wipe everybody out may be in order. Arrow is coming to the rescue (?) with a new 4K edition of The Andromeda Strain, a film they visited a few years ago with an outstanding 1080 edition.

As mentioned above, The Andromeda Strain had a previous 1080 release by Arrow, and in fact it had an even earlier 1080 release courtesy of its home studio Universal. Those interested in plot recaps, lists of supplements and reactions to the discs' technical presentations can refer to my The Andromeda Strain Blu-ray review of the Arrow release and/or Michael Reuben's The Andromeda Strain Blu-ray review of the Universal Studios release.

The Andromeda Strain 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: This release does not include a 1080 Blu-ray, so these screenshots are taken directly from the 4K UHD disc and downscaled to 1080 and SDR. Color space in particular is therefore not accurate, and I recommend those interested to look at some of the screenshots in our The Andromeda Strain Blu-ray review of Arrow's 1080 release for a probably better representation of the palette. Since this release does not include a 1080 disc, the 2K video score above has been intentionally left blank.

The Andromeda Strain is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HEVC / H. 265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.35:1. While this isn't always the case, in this particular instance, Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information about the restoration which duplicates what they offered in their insert booklet for their 1080 version:

The Andromeda Strain has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with mono audio.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director at EFilm, Burbank. The film was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master and restored at R3Store Studios in London.

The original mono mix was remastered from the optical negatives at Deluxe Audio Services, Hollywood.

All materials for this restoration were made available by NBC Universal.

This is a really appealing looking 4K presentation, though it has a lot of old school opticals to contend with, something that the increased resolution of this format may not be especially "kind" to, since it tends to only point up degradations of clarity and palette suffusion and an uptick in already pretty thick grain (not to mention some occasional blemishes like dirt that must have crept into the workflow at some point). As I mentioned in my original 1080 review, Michael was pretty underwhelmed with the video component of the previous Universal 1080 Blu-ray release, though kind of interestingly, palette and color reproduction wasn't a significant area of concern, and I'd argue that the palette is even more vivid looking in this 4K presentation courtesy of HDR / Dolby Vision than it was in Arrow's prior 1080 release. This increase in (at least perceived) saturation is obvious from the get go with the extremely colorful credits sequences, but within just a few minutes as the film has interstitials moments completely swathed in red or blue, and with even a brief "night vision" quasi-black and white segment, the strengths of the HDR / Dolby Vision grades become apparent. As with the 1080 release, there are some kind of frankly weird downturns in image quality and saturation, including the first house scene with Arthur Hill, but also some later lab material. As I mentioned in my 1080 review, these rough patches seem to just kind of show up without much rhyme or reason. My score is 4.25.

The Andromeda Strain 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Andromeda Strain is offered with an LPCM Mono track which is for all intents and purposes largely similar to the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track on the Universal release, and which I'd state is downright identical to the LPCM Mono track on Arrow's 1080 release. In the "different reviewers, different scores" category, I probably would have given the Universal release's audio a 4.0, and I'm doing so with regard to this release. The sound effects do tend to date the film, as Michael mentions in his review, but like Michael, I'm actually fond of them and enjoy them for their inherently "quaint" qualities. Both dialogue and the electronic score by Gil Melle are rendered with excellent fidelity and no problems in terms of damage, distortion or other problems. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Andromeda Strain 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This 4K edition ports over all of the supplements from Arrow's previous 1080 release:

• Audio Commentary by Bryan Reesman is an interesting tour through both biographical and production data.


• A New Strain of Science Fiction (HD; 28:02) is an engaging newly done appreciation of The Andromeda Strain by the always preternaturally cheerful Kim Newman.


• Making the Film (HD*; 30:08) is an archival featurette by Laurent Beauzereau which Arrow states is ported over from the 2001 DVD release, but which was also included on the previously released Blu-ray linked to above. This offers some interesting interviews with Robert Wise, Nelson Gidding and Michael Crichton.


• A Portrait of Michael Crichton (HD*; 12:33) is similarly listed as a 2001 production for DVD, but it also was included as a supplement on the old Universal Blu-ray release of the film.


• Cinescript Gallery contains the original shooting script by Nelson Gidding, along with related illustrations and production designs to make a "cinescript", divided into three sections as per below. The full 192 page document is also available as a PDF file, accessible through Blu-ray drives on your computer.

  Title Page and Preface (HD)

  
  

  Shooting Script (HD)

  
  

  Appendix (HD)

• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 3:18)


• TV Spots (HD; 1:50)


• Radio Spots (1:49)


• Image Gallery requires manual advancing:

  Production Stills (HD)

  
  

  Poster and Video Art (HD)

*These were in 720 on the 1080 disc, but are in 1080 here.

As usual, Arrow has also provided a nicely appointed insert booklet, with a new essay by Peter Tonguette called Secret Spine-Chiller: The Other Side of Robert Wise, and a kind of fun archival piece from 1971 by Tom Andrews called A Discussion Guide for Teachers and Students, which was (kind of hilariously) evidently part of Universal's marketing outreach to high school students at the time of the film's original release.

Packaging features a slipcover.

The Andromeda Strain 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you're a fan of some of Michael Crichton's later work as either an author or director, and have yet to see The Andromeda Strain, you might be surprised by how many themes and/or ideas Crichton continued to explore are featured in his first major "at bat". I have personally felt like the ghost of 2001: A Space Odyssey kind of haunted this exercise, for better or worse, and with an understanding that in a very real way the two films couldn't be more different. But some of Wise's framings certainly seem to evoke Kubrick, and there's a certain feeling of Kubrickian inertia that occasionally attends the proceedings. That said, the underlying "mystery" of what kept only two survivors alive in an otherwise devastating biological "attack" (those who have seen the film will know why that word is in quotes) is often very exciting. This is another 4K release where those with an aversion to sometimes quite thick grain and some image variability due to a glut of old school opticals may actually prefer Arrow's 1080 release, but that said, technical merits here are solid and Arrow has ported over all of the excellent supplements from their 1080 edition. Recommended.