World War III (miniseries)

World War III is a miniseries that aired on the NBC television network on January 31, 1982.

The story begins in 1987. At the critical point of the Cold War, two US Air Force airmen monitor their radar screens at a quiet and remote NORAD facility in Alaska. After a traitor kills the people in the base, a necessary blind spot has been created in the radar for the plane to continue undetected into Alaska.

Led by Soviet Colonel Alexander Vorashin (Jeroen Krabbé) into northern Alaska with a track-driven armored vehicle. Vorashin's orders are to seize control of a strategically located pumping station along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. At Fort Wainwright, Colonel Jake Caffey (David Soul), a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, is sent by his commanding officer to locate the soldiers.Caffey goes out on a search mission and discovers one of the Alaskan Scouts still alive and learns of the Soviet incursion. Caffey takes command of the Guardsmen and notifies the Pentagon by radio of the situation.

In the meantime, the Soviet troops in Alaska launch a final assault on the pumping station. Soviet Colonel Vorashin, however, has become concerned about the rapidly-growing prospect of a nuclear war and requests a parley with Caffey. After an emotional conversation, Vorashin and Caffey agree to discontinue the fighting. However, at that moment, the Russian political officer, Major Nicolai Samaaretz, hurls a grenade, which kills both men.

The situation collapses in bloodshed. The Soviet leadership claims that Gorny has been felled and that their forces will withdraw to pre-crisis positions, but McKenna does not believe them and realizes that pro-war elements of the KGB are seizing control of the Soviet Union. Once the telephone conference ends, McKenna submits to the National Security Council his belief that Gorny has been killed and that total war is imminent. He is correct since at that moment, the coup leaders decide on an all-out nuclear strike, some of them mistakenly believing that US law requires the President to obtain congressional approval before an American nuclear attack. However, McKenna has already deduced the enemy strategy. Horrified and nearly in tears, he concludes that the situation is unrecoverable and so orders a full nuclear counterstrike on the Soviet Union.^[1]

The film focuses on a number of Cold War themes, including brinksmanship, political loyalty and the mutual distrust as both sides attempt to resolve the issue diplomatically while they escalate their military alert levels to force the other to back down.

The cast included Rock Hudson as the US president, Brian Keith as the Soviet premier, and Cathy Lee Crosby and David Soul as US military officers. It also included Jeroen Krabbé, Robert Prosky, Katherine Helmond and James Hampton.

Robert L. Joseph wrote the miniseries.

The director, Boris Sagal, was killed in a helicopter accident in Oregon during the early stages of production. He was replaced by David Greene.^[2]

According to Rock Hudson and other sources, prior to Sagal's death, the ending of the miniseries was left open-ended so that either a sequel miniseries or a full season series could be spun off if the first miniseries was a ratings success. However, it was not, and the miniseries concludes with the US releasing nuclear forces against the Soviets and vice versa since the Soviets feel that the US will not abandon the grain embargo. The miniseries ends with a photo montage that is rather similar to Fail-Safe of large groups of people across the globe in various international settings looking up to the skies. It includes the sound effects of missiles and jets escalate in tone and volume and concludes with a shot of a sunset and a quick cut to black.

A novelization of the teleplay, which differs from the miniseries as aired in several key respects, was written by Harold King under the pen name Brian Harris. Its 1981 publication by Pocket Books anticipated the airing of the miniseries by several months. It is undocumented whether the changes were King's, or whether they reflected an earlier draft of the script. Among the key differences (1) Gorny is not killed by the KGB but in the end does their bidding (2) the US forces actually beat back the Soviet attempted seizure of the pipeline but because of a loss of communications, the US and Soviet leaders never learn this.

• World War III at IMDb