One would think that a modern adaptation of “The Andromeda Strain,” in these times of rogue viruses and flu pandemics, would arrive as a relevant story of fright and intrigue. But strangely, the 2008 version of “Andromeda,” set to air as a two-night A&E miniseries beginning Monday, is more naive and simplistic than its source material, which was published 39 years ago by a young Michael Crichton.

With his 1969 novel, Mr. Crichton, the immensely popular scribe of so many frivolous thrillers and compelling diversions (“Jurassic Park,” “Congo”) hit an early peak, presenting his most compelling concept in the form of an extraterrestrial techno-thriller. He envisioned the apocalypse not as a mushroom cloud on the horizon but as a microscopic organism in the science lab, and imagined the world’s saviors not as men of weaponry but as men of science.

But as repurposed for A&E by Robert Schenkkan (co-author of the brilliant 2002 screenplay for “The Quiet American”) and directed by Mikael Salomon (a collaborator on HBO’s “Band of Brothers”), it’s clear that such scientific derring-do is not considered enough, in this era of the ubiquitous serial network drama, to keep people entertained. Instead, Mr. Crichton’s isolation rooms, scenes of scientific trial and error, and advanced discussions of virology have been supplanted by various sloppy subplots involving the Department of Homeland Security and the latest technological weapons and gadgets, from predator drones to retina scans.

As a four-hour event filled to the brim with clutter, this “Andromeda Strain” feels sloppy, and every time we shift away from the lab, things become more frivolous. After all, the basic story in “Andromeda” involves a superbug that makes SARS look like a ladybug — a virus that hitches a ride to Earth on the side of a crashing satellite. The symptoms of the disease, given the name Andromeda, are almost as frightening to contemplate as the fatality rate (99%). One after another, the entire population of Piedmont, Utah, keels over in a matter of minutes, moaning in agony before clutching their heads as their veins swell to the surface. We learn later that this is the moment of coagulation — when a person’s blood turns to dust in his body.

Scarier yet, the dying men and women are the lucky ones. Those who don’t die instantly grab knives and guns (and even chain saws, in one horrific scene) and commence killing either themselves or others.

The government arrives in the wake of the carnage, and as the higher-ups watch the live, streaming video feed, two soldiers make their way into Piedmont, overwhelmed by the sight of the bodies littering the main thoroughfare. When the GIs suffer the same sudden fate as the residents, their shrieks convince everyone watching that something truly dire has descended on Utah.

The government rushes to assemble a team of scientists to isolate and, they hope, eradicate the disease. The team of five experts is made up of an epidemiologist, Dr. Jeremy Stone (Benjamin Bratt); a virologist who works for the Army, Major Bill Keene (Ricky Schroder); a surgeon and specialist in tropical and exotic diseases, Dr. Angela Noyce (Christa Miller); a pathologist with CDC experience, Dr. Charlene Barton (Viola Davis), and a microbiologist who once designed biological weapons for China, Dr. Tsi Chou (Daniel Dae Kim). Together, they are the accidental heroes of this tale, Ph.D.s who don’t spend their time defusing bombs or throwing punches but designing lab experiments and debating the origins of this pathogen and what containment strategies might prove effective.

When we are with this quintet in their underground lab, known as “Wildfire,” the crisis management that takes the form of a chess game of logic and science makes for a wonderfully faithful reading of Mr. Crichton’s material. Sadly, though, we don’t get to spend much time here, as the story resorts to more standard, soap-opera principles. Enter the dramas of Jack Nash (Eric McCormack) and General Mancheck (Andre Braugher). Nash is an investigative reporter with a serious drug habit who stumbles on news of the Andromeda crisis and is apprehended by military officers who say they can hold him for as long they like.

The anxiety of the soldiers on the ground is matched by General Mancheck, who resides at the top of the chain, and who distrusts Dr. Stone’s group of scientists before realizing that there is no military solution to this attack. As the general bickers with the president, we are also looped in on the quarreling of the cabinet. More than once, we’re reminded that the president’s re-election is close at hand.

But what made “The Andromeda Strain” so terrifying in its original form was its story of science versus nature, and man versus god. This modern version, instead, is more focused on dramatic elements that are painfully common among today’s thrillers, namely conspiracies within the government, interstellar wormholes, racing against the clock in the emergency room, and accidental nuclear detonations. Rather than owning the unique brand of scientific suspense crafted by Mr. Crichton nearly 40 years ago, Messrs. Schenkkan and Salomon have gutted its ingenuity. It seems as though they sought to make a thriller that feels like everything else on TV, and they succeeded.

ssnyder@nysun.com