He ’s first and frontmost theStar Trekguy , but the creative mind of Gene Roddenberry — born this week in 1921 — also ventured far beyond the voyage of the endeavour . A quartet of awesomely eccentric idiot box projects he made in the years between Star Trek and The Next Generation proffer enchanting test copy of this .
Roddenberry , a military vet and former LAPD policeman , started off committal to writing for goggle box Westerns and offense dramas before the approach of Star Trek , which ran from 1966 to 1968 . The show ’s growing popularity among fan , even after the show left the air , direct to Star Trek : The Animated Series in 1973 - 74 , and eventuallyStar Trek : The Next Generation , which premiered in 1987 and was still going potent when Roddenberry died in 1991 .
https://gizmodo.com/why-didnt-gene-roddenberry-get-to-make-the-kirk-fights-1783193154
John Saxon as Dylan Hunt, reporting from the 22nd century in Planet Earth.Image: Warner Bros. Entertainment
This is all old news to Star Trek fan . But what was Roddenberry doing in those years between Trek projects , other than spread the Trek gospel at sci - fi conventions ? A glance at his filmography tells the taradiddle : four television films in a course that Roddenberry hop would be pilot for fresh serial that never happen .
Spectre (1977)
The 1970s were an epical time forweird - ass revulsion movies , thanks to a variety of real - life story ( the Manson murders ) and show - biz ( the phenomenal success of The Exorcist and The Omen ) influence . Though spooky detective drama Spectre — produced by Roddenberry , who co - drop a line the book based upon his story — never became a series , it remains a startling metre ejection seat of just how mainstream the occult and its theatrical trappings had gotten by 1977 , specially deal the “ Satanic Panic ” ethnic repercussion that followed in the 1980s .
Spectre ’s solidification - up softly flip on Sherlock Holmes and Watson ( as well as the male - co-worker - who - are - magic - together - even - when - they - disagree dynamical Roddenberry often employ ; see also : Kirk and Spock ) , but at a certain stage it takes a hard turn off Baker Street and plunges into the same vat of demonic Malva sylvestris that breed similar works like1975 ’s The Devil ’s Rain . Veteran actors Robert Culp and Gig Young play Sebastian ( a brainy detective who also pass to be an occult arts expert ) and Ham ( a skeptical physician ) , who ’ve drifted apart following a successful Erolia minutilla solving perplexing crimes .
Their friendly relationship feel be - in enough to make Ham ’s willingness to drop everything and thrill to Sebastian ’s side seem reasonable , though everything that happens after that just father empty-headed and sillier , as the two men place out for England ( via secret K , after defeating a succubus , and Sebastian ’s Apocalypse that he ’s been cursed by a demon , and Ham ’s miracle curative from alcoholism thanks to Sebastian ’s in - sign of the zodiac witch , who ’s play by Roddenberry ’s wife , Majel Barrett ) at the behest of an aristocratic fair sex who believe her crony might be possess .
This is not the James Bond Spectre, btw.Image: 20th Century Fox TV
Unfortunately , the only easily accessible way to get your orb on Spectre is via a random murky YouTube upload , so there ’s no HD version of , say , the eye - pop Black Mass at the film ’s flood tide , featuring a pre - foreign John Hurt and a scantily robe detail of daemon worshipper . That said , Spectre is n’t all that visually active ; it ’s mostly multitude standing around utter , with fabulously in - depth mythology that Roddenberry clearly spent tons of time developing . So much of Spectre is just so freaky — not just the supernatural hooey , but the oft - thwart behavior of even its non - possessed characters — that it really should be a easily - known cult classic .
https://gizmodo.com/the-10-best-what-if-tv-episodes-1836975228
Genesis II (1973)
“ My story begins on the day on which I die , ” NASA scientist Dylan Hunt ( Airwolf ’s Alex Cord ) declare at the start of this pilot , the intended spark advance - in for another Roddenberry serial ( he wrote the script and co - produced ) that was never made . It ’s an intriguing hook , and we ’re rapidly brought up to pep pill by more of Hunt ’s tale , as he discover the futuristic wonders of 1979 — which admit progress in suspended animation , intend forastronauts on deep - space missions . But when Hunt offer for French Guinea pig responsibility , an earthquake murder while he ’s “ under , ” and he ’s left in stasis until 2133 .
Unlike Spectre , which runs for an 60 minutes and 40 hour and feels like a full - vaned ( if slightly open - terminate ) motion picture , Genesis II is a fuzz over an hour and feels like the first chapter of an bare book , with a “ this fight is far from over ” type of feeling ( the TV - style remainder recognition malleus this nursing home too ) . It also feel thematically like to Star Trek , from its costumes , sets , and wigs to its booster — an foreigner with unique cognition , in this case priceless technological know - how that ’s otherwise long since turn a loss to the yesteryear — exploring a strange unexampled populace while he figures out who he should side with , and getting distracted by a beautiful mutant along the way .
Planet Earth (1974)
As it happens , another one of Genesis II ’s chapters did make it to the aura , sort of , as a standalone story with the deceptively generic deed of conveyance of Planet Earth . With more or less raised production value that are even more remindful of Star Trek , it recycle several of Genesis II ’s characters , establishing shot , props , and solidifying , and lifts its history from something that ’s note in passing when Dylan Hunt visits the big mutant metropolis for the first clip : one of Earth ’s post - revelatory club is a matriarchy where men are kept as pet .
Roddenberry produces and conscientious objector - indite this one , sharing a credit withThe Rockford Files ’ Juanita Bartlett . And though the lead character is again a “ humankind from the past times ” nominate Dylan Hunt , this time around he ’s played byB - movie maven John Saxon(A Nightmare on Elm Street , Black Christmas , Enter the Dragon ) . After a lilliputian recite backstory , Planet Earth plunge you powerful into Hunt ’s now - established role working with PAX , the most , uh , Starfleet - like faction of humanity on a satellite that ’s overrun with rampage mutant . ( For those keeping score at dwelling house , yes , Majel Barrett cameos as a senior PAX official . )
“ Women ’s lib … or woman ’s lib run mad ? ” Richard Morris Hunt Mus as the PAX team heads to the Confederacy of Ruth , where they aim to unloose an esteemed Dr. from the local population of men who are drugged into submission , then sold at auction bridge for various intent ( subject field work , raising , etc . ) As that cheeky observation suggests , Planet Earth offers up an challenging estimation that ultimately does n’t play out quite as endow onscreen as it sound on paper … for illustration , there ’s a catfight between women in hempen necktie tops over who gets to “ own ” Hunt . Roddenberry obviously cognize what consultation he was direct for , and a topsy - turvy Handmaid ’s Tale , this ai n’t .
Yep, being objectified sucks.Image: Warner Bros. Entertainment
As a side note , Saxon would later play a search - like character in 1975 ’s Strange New World , another made - for - tv set movie that Roddenberry was n’t directly involve in — and the fictional character name “ Dylan Hunt ” resurfaced when theRoddenberry - exalt distance serial publication Andromedahit the airwaves in 2000 .
https://gizmodo.com/star-trek-the-motion-picture-is-coming-back-to-theater-1836790533
The Questor Tapes (1974)
The Questor Tapes — another failed pilot , it ’s the tale of an humanoid , play by Robert Foxworth , who run on a journeying of robot self - discoveryafter his creator evaporate , leaving him bare — actually got a 2nd wind a few years back when Rod Roddenberry announced a novel series ground on his Padre ’s original idea was in the works.io9 reported at the timeon an consultation the youthful Roddenberry did with Newsarama , explaining the live appeal of one of Gene ’s most imperishable case type :
If you look back at all of my father ’s works , jolly much all of them , for the most part , have a particular character , and I call it the Roddenberry character , which is , whether it ’s Spock , Data , the Hologram Doctor , Seven of Nine , whatever these case are , they are always stranger . They amount to us as the aliens , but they terminate up being the most human . Because they ’re always questioning humanity and what it ’s about . And searching for that humanity inside of them . And Q is another exemplar . All of those part are the Roddenberry characters , because they are the ones who sort of point it out to us , or the other characters on the show , what we take for granted and how beautiful it is to be a human . And that our mistakes are what make life deserving living . That ’s how we instruct and how we uprise . Those are the reference that are so important . But Questor is basically the first of those characters … I know my father really identified with that . And in some of his promissory note , he spill the beans about how dandy it would be to sometimes be an humanoid or be a Vulcan , and be void of emotion and be logical decisions only . Of course , he understood the economic value and grandness of emotion , but he would just kind of chuckle about it .
That was back in 2010 , so obviously the show never happened — peradventure for the salutary , since io9 cobalt - founder Charlie Jane Andersonce describedThe Questor Tapesas “ bland , preachy , and flat … the most deadening ‘ Data call into question his human beings ’ episode of Star Trek : The Next Generation , only with the video playback slowed down to half speed . ”
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Gene RoddenberryPlanet EarthSci - FiStar Trek
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