10.5 was a 2004 television miniseries directed by John Lafia and with a script written by Christopher Canaan, John Lafia and Ronnie Christensen. The plot centers on a catastrophic series of earthquakes along the United States' West Coast cumulating in one measuring 10.5 on the Richter scale. In an attempt to prevent further damage, the characters race to "weld" the fault using nuclear bombs.

10.5 was widely derided by both reviewers and geologists, but nevertheless received respectable Nielsen Ratings. Reuters reported that 20.4 million viewers watched the television movie.

A sequel, Apocalypse, was originally planned to be released in November, 2005, but NBC had decided to delay it until May 21st and 23rd, 2006.

Cast

• Kim Delaney : Dr. Samantha "Sam" Hill
• Beau Bridges : President Paul Hollister
• John Schneider : Clark Williams
• Dulé Hill : Owen Hunter
• Fred Ward : Roy Nolan
• David Cubitt : Dr. Jordan Fisher
• Kaley Cuoco : Amanda Williams
• Iris Graham : Zoe Cameron

Landmarks whose destruction were depicted in the film

• Space Needle (Seattle, Washington)
• Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, California)
• Hollywood Sign (Los Angeles, California)
• Library Tower (Los Angeles, California)
• All of Los Angeles

Geological errors

• Geologists are depicted as able to accurately predict earthquakes over very short intervals of time.
• Nuclear explosions can't "seal" faults.
• The base of the Space Needle was shown as concrete. It's actually made of steel, not concrete.
• In the film, geologists come to believe an earthquake is only an aftershock when they can't find an epicenter. In real life, aftershocks have epicenters.
• To create a 10.5 earthquake, the fault needed would have to stretch around the entire globe.
• When the Seattle Space Needle collapses, it falls on another building. This building, both intact and unreinforced, would likely have collapsed long before the Space Needle.
• An earthquake fault is depicted as chasing down a train, although fault ruptures occur at speeds topping 7,000 miles per hour.

Alternations and misspellings of names and words

• During a news broadcast in the film, "martial law" is misspelled as "marshal law." It is not clear whether this was intentional or not.
• Since the filmmakers never received permission to use the term "Space Needle," which is trademarked, it is spelled "Spaceneedle" in the film.
• For the British release, the film was retitled Earthquake 10.5.

Other notes

• The film basically ignores the state of Oregon with every earthquake depicted in the film taking place in either Washington or California. This is probably due to Oregon's lack of famous landmarks.
• Delaney's character is named Samantha Hill, but she goes by "Sam." Therefore, her name is obviously a play on "Sam Hill."
• Beau Bridges would later play Hank Landry in Stargate SG-1, staring alongside another female scientist named Samantha who goes by "Sam" (Amanda Tapping's Samantha Carter).
• Some people believe the film is unintentionally campy and can be enjoyed as a comedy.
• In one scene, John Schneider drives his 4WD vehicle off the road and through some woods. You can hear him say "I forgot how much fun this was," probably a reference to his character (Bo Duke) on The Dukes of Hazzard.
• The television footage of the Seattle earthquake used in 10.5 was actually from the Northridge Earthquake of 1994 involving the collapse of the Golden State Freeway and CA-14 freeway and the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989 involving the fires of the Marina District and the Cypress Freeway Interstate 880.

Reference