Miniseries have a tendency to come and go, especially those of yesteryear. Until a friend of mine mentioned this on a Facebook comment a couple of weeks ago, I had never heard of the 1993 CBS miniseries The Fire Next Time let alone seen it. Having been intrigued by its premise and seeing some familiar names in the cast, it seemed worthwhile to seek it out. The premise of The Fire Next Time is intriguing given that it was first broadcast nearly twenty-five years ago as I write these words. Set in 2017, the series focuses on the Morgan family led by Drew (the ever reliable Craig T. Nelson) and his estranged wife Suzanne (Bonnie Bedelia) living on the Louisiana gulf coast with mother nature going crazy thanks to climate change. As a result, parts of it were to be quite prophetic ranging from a Katrina like hurricane, immigration issues on the Mexican border, wildfires in California, droughts across the country, businessmen profiting off tragedies, and even something similar to proposed carbon taxes. The three hours or so that this runs for include something neat pieces of world building with details being thrown in here and there on the over all world situation and things within the United States. The production is largely solid as well. Craig T. Nelson is his ever reliable self as the head of the family, perfectly suited to the role as a man fighting to keep his business running and family together in a world going mad. Bonnie Bedelia does well as his wife and the rest of the cast does well with the material they're handed with Richard Farnsworth as Drew's ailing father coming across the best. The supporting cast is large with characters coming and going though there are some standouts including Jurgen Prochnow as Drew's former business partner Larry Richter, Charles Haid as the unscrupulous Uncle Buddy, Sal Lopez as a Mexican migrant, and a young Paul Rudd in a supporting role. The production values are strong all things considered including a version of 2017 that isn't our own but plausible under the circumstances laid out, the occasional nice directorial flourish from Tom McLoughlin and a score from Laurence Rosenthal centered around a memorable theme. All of which helps the miniseries.Because despite everything in its favor, The Fire Next Time often tends to be more melodramatic than anything else. Despite the prophetic nature of its plot and some nice pieces of world-building, the script from James S. Henerson never quite lives up to its promise. Henerson more often than not gives into clichés to bring the story to life which rather undermines the strong ideas and solid production values. It also doesn't help that the good first half eventually gives way to a wheel-spinning second half that is devoid of drama for the most part. Indeed, if this had been a single ninety minute TV movie based on the first half it would have been considerably better but instead it is a three hour miniseries that is too long for its own good.What can be said for The Fire Next Time then? It is a surprisingly prophetic miniseries that filled with solid performances and production values but which suffers from a clichéd script that never manages to create a gripping drama despite all those things. Perhaps it is a curiosity from a bygone age but as a curiosity it's worth a watch.

I remember watching this and recording it when I was 14. It was the first real hint of "global warming" in mainstream media that I remember. I now work in the climate change field, and every time we see a new natural disaster I am brought back to this movie. The one thing we all need to remember is that even though the press has dubbed the current climate change event "global warming", the climate will become cooler and wetter in some parts of the US, drier and hotter and others, and warmer and wetter in still others. Seasonal information doesn't give us any more information than the obvious, its really cold or really hot, or damn its dry this year. What gives us information is to look at the trends over the last 20, 100, 1000, 10000, and even million years.This movie is fair in acting and plot, but for 1993 it did take some good thinking to predict what natural disasters would be hitting the US in the next 20 years. I enjoy watching my old tape because of this, even if the movie is mediocre. Here are some of the more interesting plot lines: The year is 2005, and the plot follows a family on the gulf coast, before and after the aftermath of a category 5 hurricane. Previous to the hurricane, it is evident that there is a gas crisis, and fuel prices are so high that rationing has become the norm. There is some very interesting dialog between townsfolk and officials that claim the levees are up to par when the townsfolk know they are not. Needless to say the hurricane devastates the region. The family is forced to migrate north, and in the midst of this the father has to travel to California to find his son who is staying with the uncle. In California, water shortages are everywhere, and over 300 hundred fires are ravaging the state (which is happening now in northern Ca and last year happened with less fires in the southern Ca). The boy and his father have a falling out which leads the boy out to the southwest into water feuds and the immigration problems from Mexico. The mighty Colorado has dried up to a stream because of the over-contracting of water supplies to southern California. The plot then changes to more socio-political aspects of a non growth "green" town in New York state, and how the family will get across the border to Canada because the problems of the US has led them to close the borders much as we have between the US and Mexico.

This is good stuff. A TV movie about Global Warming in 1993? Believe it, and I've been thinking lately how predictive it was. I think more than just the events surrounding them are the people's response to them that grabbed me. The human drama derived out of the confusion is very gripping. There's a sense of emergency in the air with all the wildfires and smoke. Bad weather, emergency response stretched thin. You definitely get the sense of these characters are worn out and exhausted from the heat and insanity of what's going on around them. The family drama, though, doesn't seem as canned as the Day After Tomarrow, another state-of-emergency type film. The cast was also top notch for a made for TV movie. I only saw this when it aired in my teens, but it's stayed with me since.

This movie is a decent movie. It's message is a "save the earth" type of thing, and makes its point pretty well, I'd guess. Overall, I'd say the movie does not live up to what it could have been. I was an extra in this movie, and the things the directors described to those of us who were in it were just mindblowing. This film, as described to us by one of the directors, had the feel of something apocalyptic. Sort of like a "Road Warrior" type setting, but without the punk-haired bandits. Kind of a wasteland, bleak existance. But for some reason, that just didn't translate to the screen. I still feel it was a decent movie, though. Not great, but decent. But, I may have a biased opinion, seeing how we all heard a very vivid description of what it was going to be.As I said, I was an extra in this movie. I was in the Morgan City, LA scenes. From what I remember, these scenes consisted of everything in part 1, up until they left after the storm. There were some things that were planned to be put in the movie that would have clarified alot of stuff, but for some unknown reason, they left them out. For example, the reason all the clothes were such drab colors was supposed to be something along the lines of chemicals being banned. Therefore, fabrics were no longer dyed the way we do it now. And there was something else I seem to remember about there no longer being soap, due to its manufacturing process causing some kind of pollution. Or something of that sort. There were a few little details that were left out, that in my opinion would have portrayed the world as an even harder place to live.This movie was filmed in my area in more than just Morgan City, as the Filming Locations link has. It was also filmed in Berwick, LA and Stephensville, LA, as well as a scene shot offshore. I was in the scenes shot in Berwick, at the Civic Center. In the scene where Justin Whalin is watching TV in the shelter, he turns around in his chair and jumps up yelling "Paw!". I am seated on the floor directly in front of him when he does that. And he kicked me in the lower back on every take of that shot when he jumped out of the chair! LOL!I have noticed this movie playing on the Action channel alot. If anyone is interested in seeing it, that would be a safe place to look.