A Fire in the Sky

TV Movie
1978
2h 30m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Astronomers discover a comet that they believe will crash into Phoenix, Arizona. They attempt to warn officials, but no one believes them.Astronomers discover a comet that they believe will crash into Phoenix, Arizona. They attempt to warn officials, but no one believes them.Astronomers discover a comet that they believe will crash into Phoenix, Arizona. They attempt to warn officials, but no one believes them.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.9/10

667

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys
- 2 nominations total

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The TV station in the movie, KTAR-TV, is the real life NBC affiliate for Phoenix, now known as KPNX.

Goofs
In the scenes from the control room for the rocket that will carry the nuclear warheads to the comet, a computer screen is shown with a graphic of what is presumably the rocket. Actually, the graphic on the screen is a distillation column connected to two kettle reboilers, commonly seen in control rooms for chemical processing plants.

Quotes
Jason Voight: You can't miss us, there's a big white arrow pointing right down on us!

Alternate versions
In the movie's premiere telecast, the sequence showing the impact and results lasted 4 minutes. In subsequent airings, the sequence was shortened to 2 minutes.

Connections
Featured in The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1981)

User reviews18

Review

Featured review

10/10

One of the best, first in it's subject matter.

Considering that this movie was aired in 1978, I feel it far exceeds any expectations of a movie today for its genre. Richard Crenna (always an actor highly underrated) gave a superb performance. Story line was based upon facts we had never considered in that time period. Crenna's character was not only significant as a scientist for this movie, but also put that special "personal touch" feel as he sacrificed his own life in the end for a small group of Indians in the desert. I think this movie should be on DVD and available to all of us who remember it fondly and also for those who have never had the opportunity to see it before. It far surpassed any expectations in 1978 for a made for TV movie. I have been searching for this movie for years and highly recommend it........P.S.--Just found my copy this month (July 2005) on EBAY. Woo-hoo!!!