# Film where GM algae eats crude oil

**URL:** <https://filmfind.me/t/film-where-gm-algae-eats-crude-oil/6135>\
**Category:** Movies\
**Tags:** sci-fi\
**Created:** [March 2, 2024, 3:28pm UTC](https://filmfind.me/t/film-where-gm-algae-eats-crude-oil/6135 "2024-03-02T15:28:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BellaRom](https://filmfind.me/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/85e7bf/32.png) [@BellaRom](https://filmfind.me/u/BellaRom)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 3:28pm UTC](https://filmfind.me/t/film-where-gm-algae-eats-crude-oil/6135/1 "2024-03-02T15:28:23Z")

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I saw the start of this film many years ago. It was late 80s/early 90s.

A scientist genetically modifies an algae to eat crude oil spills, but it works too well and it goes rampant, eating everything made from petroleum. He and his girlfriend somehow end up in an alternate universe just as his credit card disintegrates in his hand. They meet an older man in a horse-drawn cart. There’s some conversation about lubrication, where the older man says he has to use peanut oil. The scientist asks why he doesn’t use a petroleum based oil, which makes the older man laugh, as the algae has destroyed it all.

Thats all I can remember. Does anyone know what this film is called? Google hasn’t been helpful.

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**Author:** ![casspir](https://filmfind.me/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/8491ac/32.png) [@casspir](https://filmfind.me/u/casspir)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://filmfind.me/t/film-where-gm-algae-eats-crude-oil/6135/2 "2024-03-02T15:33:54Z")

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“Doorways” (1993) (TV Movie)

> **[Doorways (TV Movie 1993) ⭐ 5.4 | Sci-Fi](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106752/)**
>
> 2h | Not Rated

Quote from the detailed plot description on the below Wikipedia page of the movie:  
“They manage **to escape through the “door”** , just before Thane can catch them, **and end up in a world** where, 15 years ago, **a microbe was created to clean up an oil spill, but it ate all petroleum in the world**. **They hitch a ride on a wagon** with Jake (Hoyt Axton) and his granddaughter Cissy (Tisha Putman), who give them a ride to the nearest truck stop.”

> **[Doorways](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorways)**
>
> Doorways is a proposed science fiction series from writer George R. R. Martin. The story tells of a parallel universe similar to the real world, but where petroleum no longer exists. A pilot was shot in May 1992, starring George Newbern, Anne Le Guernec, Robert Knepper, Kurtwood Smith, Hoyt Axton, Max Grodenchik, and Carrie-Anne Moss, but was not picked up, and the project was shelved.
> In 2010, IDW Publishing developed an adaptation of the TV pilot into comic book format.
> A mysterious feral wom...

You can watch the movie on YouTube below. The scene where they meet the older man on a horse-drawn cart starts ca. at the 0:43:00 mark:

[![](https://filmfind.me/uploads/default/original/2X/3/312b2386121ab2b5d85e29f74fff3df503415943.jpeg "Doorways (1993)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6yi_Ixfmbs)

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**Author:** ![BellaRom](https://filmfind.me/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/85e7bf/32.png) [@BellaRom](https://filmfind.me/u/BellaRom)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2024, 3:53pm UTC](https://filmfind.me/t/film-where-gm-algae-eats-crude-oil/6135/3 "2024-03-02T15:53:33Z")

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I think you might be right. I don’t remember any aliens, but I’m sure Hoyt Axton is the older man. Thank you!