Movies - 10.5

	Movies - 10.5

10.5 was a 2004 television miniseries directed by John Lafia and with a script written by Christopher Canaan, John Lafia and Ronnie Christensen. The plot centers on a catastrophic series of earthquakes along the United States' West Coast cumulating in one measuring 10.5 on the Richter scale. In an attempt to prevent further damage, the characters race to "weld" the fault using nuclear bombs.

10.5 was widely derided by both reviewers and geologists, but nevertheless received respectable Nielsen Ratings. Reuters reported that 20.4 million viewers watched the television movie.

A sequel, 10.5: Apocalypse, was originally planned to be released in November, 2005, but NBC has decided to delay it until sometime in 2006.

Cast

Kim Delaney
: Dr. Samantha "Sam" Hill
Beau Bridges
: President Paul Hollister
John Schneider
: Clark Williams
Dulé Hill
: Owen Hunter
Fred Ward
: Roy Nolan
Kaley Cuoco
: Amanda Williams

Landmarks whose destruction was depicted in the film

Space Needle (Seattle, Washington)
Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, California)
Hollywood Sign (Los Angeles, California)
Library Tower (Los Angeles, California)

Geological errors

Geologists are depicted as able to accurately predict earthquakes over very short intervals of time.
Nuclear explosions can't "seal" faults.
In the film, geologists come to believe an earthquake is only an aftershock when they can't find an epicenter. In real life, aftershocks have epicenters.
To create a 10.5 earthquake, the fault needed would have to stretch around the entire globe.
When the Seattle Space Needle collapses, it falls on another building. This building, both intact and unreinforced, would likely have collapsed long before the Space Needle.

Alternations and misspellings of names and words

During a news broadcast in the film, "martial law" is misspelled as "marshal law." It is not clear whether this was intentional or not.
Since the filmmakers never received permission to use the term "Space Needle," which is trademarked, it is spelled "Spaceneedle" in the film.
For the British release, the film was retitled Earthquake 10.5.

Other notes

The film basically ignores the state of Oregon with every earthquake depicted in the film taking place in either Washington or California. This is probably due to Oregon's lack of famous landmarks.
Delaney's character is named Samantha Hill, but she goes by "Sam." Therefore, her name is obviously a play on "Sam Hill." Beau Bridges
would later play Hank Landry in Stargate SG-1, staring alongside another female scientist named Samantha who goes by "Sam" (Amanda Tapping
's Samantha Carter).
Some people believe the film is unintentionally campy and can be enjoyed as a comedy.
In one scene, John Schneider drives his 4WD vehicle off the road and through some woods. You can hear him say "I forgot how much fun this was," probably a reference to his charater (Bo Duke) on The Dukes of Hazzard

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