| Murder in Space | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Directed by | Steven Hilliard Stern |
| Produced by | Robert Cooper |
| Written by | Wesley Ferguson |
| Starring | Michael Ironside Wilford Brimley Martin Balsam Damir Andrei Tom Butler Wendy Crewson Scot Denton Peter Dvorsky Leo Ilial Alan Jordan Jan Rubes Cathie Shirriff Kate Trotter Nerene Virgin Alberta Watson Arthur Hill |
| Music by | Arthur R. Rubinstein |
| Country | United States |
| Original airing | July 28, 1985 |
| Running time | 95 Minutes |
Murder in Space is a science fiction murder mystery movie set in the near future. The crew of an international space mission are on the return leg from Mars to Earth when an explosion occurs on the craft Conestoga, shortly after the murders start. The crew of the returning craft are forbidden to return until the murderer is caught.
On its initial premier, the film was shown without the ending and a competition was set for the viewers to solve the mystery of who the murderer was... or murderers were. The conclusion of the film was shown several days later, with the contestants eliminated one by one until the winner correctly identified the killer or killers. The final 30 minutes of the film was shown at a later date when the mystery was solved.
Contents |
| Actor | Character | Rank | Country | Murdered | How | Possible motive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Ironside | Neil Braddock | Captain | U.S.A. | No | ||
| Cathie Shirriff | Olga Denarenko | U.S.S.R. | Yes | Strangled | Pregnant with other crew member's child. | |
| Damir Andrei | Andrei Kalsinov | Colonel | U.S.S.R. | Yes | Blown up | |
| Timothy Webber | Guy Sterling | Canada | Yes | Cyanide poisoning | ||
| Tom Butler | Kurt Steiner | Major | East Germany | Yes | Strangled | |
| Leo Ilial | Phillipe Berdoux | Doctor | France | No | ||
| Scot Denton | David Tremayne | Navigator | U.S.A. | No | ||
| Kate Trotter | Pamela Cooper | England | No | |||
| Alberta Watson | Dominica Mastrelli | Italy | No |
Other cast members were reporters, wives and husbands, mission control staff and additional Russian characters.
| Name | Rank or part | Played by |
|---|---|---|
| Vice President | Arthur Hill | |
| Dr. Andrew McCallister | Space program director | Wilford Brimley |
| Dinah Greenberg | Secretary to McCallister | Gloria Carlin |
| Jeffrey Kilbride | Reporter | Alan Jordan |
| Mitch Carlino | Peter Dvorsky | |
| Alexander Rostov | Russian Politician | Martin Balsam |
| Dr. Margaret Leigh | Doctor | Nerene Virgin |
| Giorgi Denarenko | husband of cosmonaut Olga Denarenko | Jan Rubes |
| Irene Tremayne | Wife of astronaut David Tremayne | Wendy Crewson |
A novel also called "Murder In Space", published by Penguin, was produced around the same time; the last page of the book was an entry form for the competition to solve the mystery. It was written by "FX Woolf", a pen-name for Howard Engels and Janet Hamilton.[1]