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icking right up where Category 6: Day of Destruction left off, the storm that destroyed Chicago continues on its destructive path. FEMA's newly appointed director, Judith Carr (Gershon), finds her hands full as storms begin to pop up around the country, leaving one city after another in ruins. With few answers and little relief from the continuing destruction, Judith discovers that the storms were predicted two years before they happened by scientist Ross Duffy (Daddo), a former romantic flame.
Despite pressure to keep Ross out of the picture, Judith convinces him to put together a team to track the storms and figure out what is causing them. With storm chaser Tommy Tornado (Quaid) and scientist Faith Clavell (Doherty) on the ground and pilot Col. Mike Davis (Tom Skerritt) in the sky, Ross attempts to crack the secret behind the cause of the storms.
As the devastation begins to take its toll, not only in the United States but around the world, Judith comes under fire with accusations that her relationship with Ross is less than professional, an accusation that weighs heavily with both their families.
The Chicago storm and another major storm begin to move toward each other, threatening to create an ultimate superstorm, the first Category 7 storm ever on record. Judith and Ross scramble for answers as the storms move to converge over Washington D.C. Meanwhile, television evangelists Donny and Penny Hall (James Brolin and Kurtz) prey on the country's growing terror, preaching that the storms and other biblical warnings just might be the End of Days.
Finally—a disaster with a hero
When Category 6: Day of Destruction aired last year, it was the season's most-watched miniseries. There's little surprise that CBS would want to continue to let the good times roll with yet another big-disaster mini. And with Category 5 storms of major concern these days, the subject matter takes on more credence than it did when the first mini aired. Of course, this one has to be even bigger, and you can almost hear the pitch meeting. "This time we're going to take out the entire world."
Well, surprise, surprise. Category 7 is a pretty good disaster movie as disaster movies go. Filled with familiar faces, from Robert Wagner playing a U.S. congressman to C.S.I. Miami's Adam Rodriguez playing Skerritt's co-pilot, the cast feels a bit like family. You may not like them all, but you'll still worry about them if a piece of the Statue of Liberty comes crashing toward them.
The mini starts out weak and confusing, with too many characters being introduced and no way to keep track of who is whom. However, by the beginning of the second hour of night one, things start to fall into place and we get some good moments. The mini certainly could have done without the kidnapped-teens subplot, and there are also way too many absolutely silly things that distract. Poisonous frogs, of all things, appear out of nowhere to attack a social event, and that's least of it. Of course, that drives the End of Days plague stuff, but it really doesn't make any sense at all.
Gina Gershon is, of course, way too pretty to play a FEMA director, but still she does it well. And Cameron Daddo does a nice job as the scientist action hero, while Wagner, Skerritt and the other guest stars all have their moments. However, the big surprise is the pairing of Shannen Doherty and Randy Quaid as the storm chasers. They have terrific chemistry together, and Doherty manages to rein in Quaid's manic Tommy Tornado just enough, giving them the best scenes in the miniseries. Unfortunately, their last scene together is one of those absolutely ridiculous things, but let's just ignore that part.
You have to admit there's a large amount of irony with the FEMA director becoming the hero in Category 7, a miniseries put into production long before the events of Hurricane Katrina. Well, we certainly need a hero in our real-life, storm-ravaged country, so why not? And this is science fiction after all. It can't hurt to mix in a little fantasy.
Category 7 holds together better than either of last year's disaster minis, Category 6 or NBC's 10.5. While I'd absolutely love it if the writers didn't feel they had to resort to kidnapped teenagers and poisonous frogs when other storm-related drama would make so much more sense, Category 7 kind of brought me back to the good old days of the Poseidon Adventure and Earthquake. Ah, the memories. Back then they really knew how to make a disaster flick warm the cockles of your heart. —Kathie
Also in this issue: IGPX, Stargate SG-1 Season-Eight DVD and Acacia DVD
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