Now Available on Blu-Ray. — An astrophysicist has made a cataclysmic discovery: The sun is set to explode, bringing about the end of civilization. As a team of fellow scientists race against time to stop his predictions of ... more »apocalypse from coming true, the world is already becoming a whirling inferno out of control.« less
Hallmark does it again...Supernova is great EOW Story!
Eddie Lancekick | Pacific Northwest | 02/10/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"EOW..End Of World. That's right, with that basic premise we've just about seen it all in movies and novels, from natural disasters to manmade machines of destruction, alien invasions, and disease spreading plagues. Supernova deals with two basic premises...The changing of our sun, and the reactions of the people on earth, as well as thier governments plan.
The made for TV miniseries is great on DVD. Over 3 hours in length, the time put into it lets us follow our characters through tumultuous times. The Cast is superb and gracing the screen are Luke Perry, Tia Carrara, Emma Samms, and Peter Fonda. Supernova is the story that starts with a astrophysicist who discovers something terribly wrong, but at the same time not uncommon or unnatural with the status of our Sun. Soon other's that worked with him are being hunted down by federal agents belonging to a secretive agency that is protecting something...but what? And what happened to Dr. Shepard, who originally made some discovery and emailed many of these colleagues, but is now nowhere to be found?
This is a great, clean family film, but don't let the word "family film" fool you. What I mean is, people aren't saying the "F" word all the time, and the scenes of violence rock us enough to get the point across but don't shove blood and gore down our throats time and time again.
The main plot of the story has been described, but what really ties this all together are the little subplots that we deal with..the governements reaction, the reason Luke Perry's character is so protective of his wife and daughter, and the mystery behind the impending fate of a Dr. Shepard's formula, the Supernova itself, and the struggle to warn the masses by a resilient journalist. Supernova was an extremely well done film and I highly recommend it!"
HERE COMES THE SUN
Michael Butts | Martinsburg, WV USA | 01/15/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"SUPERNOVA is a tv miniseries that runs at almost three hours, and it's a case of less would have been more. The script by Steve Berman is so overloaded with extemporaneous subplots that the focus from the imminent disaster gets sidetracked a little too often. The whole thing with Luke Perry's wife witnessing a serial killer and then her testimony sending him to the death penalty is wholly unnecessary. Anyway, the main plot deals with an impending supernova discovered by brilliant scientist Peter Fonda, based on Perry's calculations. When all the predictions start occurring (migratory patterns change, telecommunications and blackouts, etc.), seems like the earth's goose is cooked. Disaster flick fans should be pleased with the decimation of such cities as St. Louis, Paris, Syndey and the Taj Mahal, and the computer generated effects of the sun's eruptions is visually beautiful if unrealistic. Of course, the nasty government gets involved with Tia Carrere as a Security Agent who whisks Perry and other scientists off in an attempt to prove or disprove Fonda's findings. Lance Henriksen struts his villainous stuff as a man who will be responsible for deciding who will live in underground facilities to repopulate the earth after the disaster, and Emma Samms is the maverick crusading reporter who is determined to let the public know the truth. The resolution of the supernova is kind of ridiculous, and the movie's climax focuses on the serial killer. All in all, it's not horrible, but it fails to give us what disaster movies should: impending doom for people we care or don't care about and this is where SUPERNOVA fizzles."
Good movie and good price
Gregory Holmes | 05/10/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I'm writing this mostly to correct the impression given by a reviewer that this blu ray disc does not contain the entire miniseries. It certainly does contain both parts in their entirety. After watching part one the credits role and then part two starts automatically. It can also be accessed from the pop up menu at any time. The film itself is pretty good although a bit slow. There are too many characters to keep track of and the film would have been better if half an hour were edited out. IT also suffers a bit of an identity crisis. Is it science fiction or a serial killer stalker movie? It trys to be both with mixed results. Nice to see Luke Perry in the lead role. He does a fine job with this. Visual effects are fairly impressive CGI stuff. The transfer looks excellent and often almost three dimmensional. Colors are beautiul and vivid. There is some minor dirt on the print in two scenes but other than that it looks awesome. Sound is excellent uncompressed 5.1 There are interviews with the director, John Harrison and all of the cast. A trailer is also included. For such a bargain basement price, they did a very nice job with this Blu ray release. And once again, THE DISC DOES CONTAIN THE COMPLETE FILM."
"Supernova doesn't seem to quite know what it's trying to be and as a result never quite succeeds on any level. As a disaster epic, it can never quite match the visuals of big screen offerings that have dealt out similar levels of global destruction. The sequences of the sun's increasing activity are pretty enough to look at but never convince and feel disconnected from the rest of the action. And scenes of the Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal and Sydney Opera House being destroyed by giant fireballs descending from the sky are largely unnecessary, only further detracting from the believability of the whole endeavour with some average at best effects work. It's at its best when it presents the aftermath of the effects of the sun's activity on a smaller scale, emphasising the human drama amongst the chaos that ensues.
The science behind the storyline seems rather shaky at best, as evidenced by a key scene involving a piece of elementary and unconvincing mathematics. This could, however, be overlooked if the treatment of the scenario of a sun about to consume our solar system was in itself engaging. Here again, though, Supernova is only a partial success. The notion of an underground hive intended to ensure mankind's survival if life above ground were to become unsustainable is one of the more interesting themes on offer, and so it's a shame it's never fully explored. Instead, there are a number of subplots and situations of varying levels of interest. Of these, Shepard's ruminations on his island retreat are amongst the most poignant as he contemplates his life and work and awaits an end he deems inevitable; his final scene is poorly executed, however, and only detracts from what has gone before. And the plot surrounding a horribly clichéd escaped killer stalking Richardson's family is utterly pointless, providing a "climax" more befitting of a conventional thriller. Perhaps this sought to play safe and provide a recognisable climactic conflict for one of its protagonists, but at this point the movie seems to forget its own premise altogether.
In a variable cast, it is really only the ever-excellent Lance Henriksen who shines, lending sympathy and believable motivation in limited screen time to a character that might very easily have seemed one-dimensional. Luke Perry seems oddly miscast as Dr Richardson and never convinces the viewer of his academic credentials, and neither is his bond to the rest of his family ever properly established. This rendered their subplot all the more uninteresting. Overall, this is an entirely watchable Apocalyptic TV movie so long as you don't think too deeply about it or watch too closely. For the most part, though, it feels like a missed opportunity that could have taken much bolder decisions and been far more affecting as result. Lukewarm at best.
--Adam Chamberlain
Revelation Magazine"
Beyond Bad...
William Hefner | EUREKA, CA USA | 09/18/2009
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Wow. I am still in awe of just how bad this film was. The screenplay was a confused jumble of intersecting sub-plots, most of which made little, if any, sense. The entire scientific premise of the movie is so ridiculous that it would have to assume that the viewer has an IQ of a geranium in order to believe it. The acting is bad enough to almost be funny. The characters are inept, unlikable and overdramatized. There is a stereotypical, psycho-villain thrown into the plot that is played like something out of a bad 1950's comic book. The effects are... well, like something I could have created myself in a few seconds using Photoshop and a cheap, digital camcorder. The music score is just a bunch of recycled background trash that sounds like something from the cutting room floor of an adult movie. If this film had a director, he should rethink his choice of careers. Any director with a sense of decency would have burned this film before it had a chance to be developed. Even Ed Wood's movies are more realistic and certainly more enjoyable by comparison. I've seen a lot of bad films in my day, and I can usually find at least one thing about each of them that I enjoyed, or at least believed. Not so, with Supernova. A more fitting title would have been "Black Hole", since that's where it seemed like my time had gone after watching this trainwreck of a movie."