Murder in Space

Murder in Space is a 1985 science fiction murder mystery television 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 a series of murders starts. The crew of the returning craft are forbidden to return until the murderer is caught.

Murder in Space is also the title of a 1955 science fiction novel by David V. Reed and a 2007 mystery novel by Sydney J. Bounds.
Murder in Space
Written byWesley Ferguson
Directed bySteven Hilliard Stern
StarringMichael Ironside
Wilford Brimley
Martin Balsam
Damir Andrei
Tom Butler
Wendy Crewson
Scot Denton
Peter Dvorsky
Leo Ilial
Alan Jordan
Jan Rubeš
Cathie Shirriff
Kate Trotter
Nerene Virgin
Alberta Watson
Arthur Hill
Theme music composerArthur B. Rubinstein
Country of originCanada
United States
Production
ProducersRobert Cooper
Otto Penzler
CinematographyLaszlo George
EditorRit Wallis
Running time95 Minutes
Production companiesCTV Television Network
Zenith Entertainment
DistributorShowtime Networks
Release
Original networkShowtime Networks
Original releaseJuly 28, 1985 (1985-07-28)

On its initial worldwide premier, the film was shown without the ending and a competition was set for the viewers to solve the mystery of who the murderer 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 15 minutes of the film was shown at a later date when the mystery was solved with only two countries provided winners with the correct answer.

Conestoga crew
Actor Character Rank Country Murdered How Murderer's Possible Motive
Michael Ironside Neil Braddock Captain U.S.A. No
Cathie Shirriff Olga Denarenko U.S.S.R. Yes Strangled/Suffocated Pregnant with other crew member's child.
Damir Andrei Andrei Kalsinov Colonel U.S.S.R. Yes Blown up Planned to defect
Timothy Webber Guy Sterling Canada Yes Cyanide poisoning Needed to be silenced
Tom Butler Kurt Steiner Major East Germany Yes Strangled Judgment
Leo Ilial Phillipe Berdoux Doctor France No
Scot Denton David Tremayne Navigator U.S.A. No
Kate Trotter Pamela Cooper UK No
Alberta Watson Dominica Mastrelli Italy No

Other cast members

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
Grigori Denarenko husband of cosmonaut Olga Denarenko Jan Rubeš
Irene Tremayne Wife of astronaut David Tremayne Wendy Crewson

Prize money
  • USA - $60,000
  • UK - £10,000

PRIMETIME magazine, the FIRST CHOICE*SUPERCHANNEL program guide, featured a pull-out entry form which allowed viewers to identify the four murdered characters, their nationalities and, bizarrely, “how murdered?”. It then asked the ultimate question – “Who Committed the Murderers?”

Readers who correctly guessed the answer had the opportunity to win a trip on the Orient Express however no entries received where actually correct so instead the closet answer to who was the murderer was given a years free subscription to the magazine.[1]

Accompanying book

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.[2]

Murder in Space: The Solution

A television show, hosted in the UK by Anneka Rice and Roger Cook and broadcast in July 1985 on TV Channel ITV, featured members of the UK public who were close or knew who the murderer actually was, thus winning the £10,000 prize money. The solution was then shown in the final 15 minutes of the movie to reveal the answer.[1]

References
  1. "Retronarios Cable TV Throwback". Retrieved 2020-03-19. Retronarios Cable TV Throwback
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-06-04. Retrieved 2010-08-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) The UK Sci-Fi TV Book Guide


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