Thanks for watching! :-) Paypal jonnybaak@live.com Patreon / baak Music from filmmusic.io "Wizardtorium" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)
Don't forget the episode of the original Star Trek "Assignment: Earth", that was a plug for a Trek spin-off series that never caught hold, starring Robert Lansing and Teri Garr.
@morlockmeat it wasn't a Star Trek series of you're referring to the episode with Mister Sevin (it was one of the first crossover episodes on TV {where charachters from one series appeared on another unrelated series})
@@michaelmckinnon427 - Actually, it wasn't a crossover series, since "Assignment : Earth" was not a series. It wasn't even a proper pilot. It was, essentially, a plug, an idea for a new series that Gene had and integrated into an episode of Trek, thinking to use Trek as a jumping-off point for the spin-off. It was another idea that he couldn't sell.
@@morlockmeat "Plug" is a perfect description. I don't recall exactly what Kirk said to Gary Seven near the end of that episode, but it was along the lines of Kirk letting Gary and Teri Garr's character in on the fact that their future together would be interesting. That screamed "please make me into a series".
@@VCYT read Robert Justman's bio describing how both Nichelle's and Majel's expensive character wigs went missing between season one and two filming. Gene said he'd "check into it" and reported back Nahh they're just gone. Savage.
I loved “Spectre”. I think it could have found the audience that “The X-Files” captured two decades later. A true believer paired with a sceptic, investigating the world of the paranormal.
Diane Miller Probably my favorite Gene Roddenberry Universe. It really could have gone in so many different directions. Robert Culp was spot-on perfect as the driven true-believer, William Sebastian. Gig Young was sadly a little too method in his portrayal of the alcoholic, skeptic sidekick, Dr. Hamilton. He died very shortly after the film, so had they gone to series, they would have needed to recast. DeForest Kelly might have been an interesting choice.
I remember that. When I was a kid I read about these movies in Leonard Maltin's movie guide. The storylines seem really interesting and of course there was no way for me to see these movies. By coincidence I saw that TBS was airing Planet Earth and Genesis II at 2am in the morning. So I asked my grandpa to tape them for me. I liked Planet Earth. I have DVDs of these movies.
Unless you consider Data as Questor's successor. Dylan Hunt is also the name given to a character played by Kevin Sorbo, who had the difficult task of rebuilding a fallen intergalactic, rather than a planetary civilization. .
Met Gene at a Sci Fi/Star Trek Con in LA fall of 72. We spoke for about 20 mins. In '75 another sci fi con. I was downstairs with hardly anyone around. I see Gene with his wife walking in my direction. He saw me and said; "High John, How are You Doing?!" Amazing Memory. He then got mobbed by a bunch of fans. I saw his wife looking around and intoduced myself to her. I told her I enjoyed her roll in Future World..Her eyes, lite up and smiling she told me how much she enjoyed that film..
@@JonnyBaak welcome & thank you. 5 minutes after Gene left (the 1st time I met him, Jimmy (Scotty) came walking by me. I was 21 then & noticed the hotel had an 'open bar. I asked Jim if I could buy him a "drink"? He asked how old I was; I told him & he said; "I'll buy us the drinks, Laddie." No joke..
The character dynamic in the TV pilot for Spector sounds more like Mulder and Scully than Kirk and Spock. One being the believer and the other being the sceptic.
The Might One they were more like Holmes and Watson. Robert culp played the quirky genius, and gig young was a medical doctor sidekick, who was the skeptic in Culp’s persuit of exposing supernatural evils. Would have been an awesome show. See the uncut version if you can. The censored version makes no sense at the end.
The Might One it is on CBS right now. "Evil" It is "Spectre". Almost the whole pitch. It is one of a long chain of paranormal cop/detective/reporter/mystery shows. "Medium", "Ghost Whisperer", " Kolchack"
@The Might One it's Spectre (evidently Gene Roddenberry was a James Bond fan , because he spelled it exactly as where the bad guys in the Bond films came from)
what you said about THE QUESTOR TAPES isn't what I heard. I heard that the network DID pick up the pilot for a series, but they wanted to make a lot of changed to it like shorten the title to QUESTOR, ignore the ending of the pilot, make into a "man on the run" show (like "THE FUGITIVE") and other things. GR had just come off of Star Trek a few years before where he had to fight with the network over similar changes. All that was still fresh in his mind and he DID NOT want to go through all that again. So he just threw up his hands, said "OH FUCK IT!!!" turned around, dropped it, and stormed off. The pilot aired as a TV movie during the summer and was never heard from again.
Thank you, for clearing up the first three pilot TV shows Genesis II, Planet Earth, and Strange New World. In my mind these were all the same TV show with a very short run and did not realize they were three different pilots which, were never pick-up to air a full season. However, my favorite of the three was Planet Earth. I truly enjoyed the gender role reversal storyline.
@@mrhaag But the concepts? The pilot may not have been made very well but the idea behind it may have been great, but I suppose that's part and parcel of the business. On top of that, one man's meat is another man's poison. I mean what possible could have been worse than the last series of Dr Who?
I even bellieve the STAR TREK - TOS episode ASSIGNEMENT EARTH was a hidden experiment to launch another show with Mr. Seven Rock, his " cat Isis " and his assistant in a fantastic detective series.
I remember Genesis II and Planet Earth very well, they were shown on occasional sci-fi strands on BBC Two, and I had mentioned these shows on an assignment I did for college coursework on how Star Trek changed the perception of science fiction in the early 1990's. Quite interesting to note that the Dylan Hunt character would be played by three different actors who would carve their niches in different roles - firstly Alex Cord (I remember him mostly as Michael Coldsmith Briggs aka Archangel in Airwolf), then John Saxon (Roper in Enter the Dragon, Sador in Battle Beyond the Stars and other assorted boo-hiss villain types), and then Kevin Sorbo (the first screen Hercules that used his brains as well as his brawn).
Thanks for this. Not a lot of people know how prolific Roddenberry was after Star Trek (and before Star Trek: TMP). Two things, though. The Questor Tapes actually got the green light, but, according to an interview I read of Roddenberry, they wanted to get rid of the Jerry Robinson character and turn the show into a sort of “The Fugitive” where Questor was hunted down each episode. Roddenberry said no, the idea is Questor learns to be human from Jerry Robinson and was allowed to make the show as a TV Movie only. Also, “Andromeda” is a reworking of the “Genesis II” / “Planet Earth” concept. Both only was the name Dylan Hunt used but the character was frozen in suspended animation for three hundred years, and he and the crew were on a quest to “rekindle the light of civilization”.
What happened is that The Six Million Dollar Man was airing on another network and it was felt the shows were too much alike, and would be taking each other's audience.
@@musicfiction Never thought of a cross-over! (Or at least, in the same Universe!) Either way... could DEFINITLEY work! the 1st Wagon Train to the stars... the 2nd a post-apocalyptic Route 66!
It would be impossible for a reboot/re-imagining/remake/retelling of the uncensored version of Gene Roddenberry's Spectre in the present. With the Disney Corporation owning 20th Century Fox Pictures and 20th Century Fox Television, Disney Pictures and Disney Television would never, ever make an action-adventure/crime drama/dark, adult fantasy/horror live action movie or live action T.V. series that has adult themes, brief nudity, sexual situations and violence. This story is just way too dark, grim and gritty. It would be the equivalent of either a Rated R theatrical film or a Rated T.V.-M.A. Cable television show on H.B.O. Disney will never go dark so they will not allow it. And even if it could be hypothetically updated into a much more modernized and contemporary version of the story, with the way that Hollywood has become completely soy woke, the early 21st century version of Gene Roddenberry's Spectre would be accused of being racist for having an all-white cast, sexist for having women show their breasts, and homophobic for not having any gay characters. Even if it was partly made by the B.B.C. because it was filmed entirely on location at the U.K., they would change the entire cast into an all-black cast, the women would be the main characters and everyone would be gay. So in a way, while it is unfortunate that a good horror movie like this one had never become a series back in 1977, I'm kinda sorta glad that this story was also never remade into a new version today because that shit would get totally ruined by S.J.W./N.P.C. Politically Correct outrage culture bullshit.
You know it's funny, but I see shows everyday with white people, women showing cleavage, and the occasional heterosexual. The real entertainment landscape looks nothing like the dystopian Jim-Crow-in-reverse PC hellscape you describe. It does, interestingly enough, look more and more like original _Star Trek,_ with its multiracial cast and women who look real nice, but are also competent at their jobs. Now of course I don't give Roddenberry *all* the credit for that, but I do give him *some.*
@@drewnogy I don't what you're watching. I turn on the TV and I see white people all over the place,⁕ I see cleavage, I see men kissing women and it isn't presented as bad.⁕⁕ I really think some people just like being offended. ⁕ Which is OK; there are a whopping lot of us. ⁕⁕ Which is OK; there are a whopping lot of us straight folks in the world.
The Questor Tapes, Planet Earth, and Genesis II, at one point GR said they were part of the Star Trek time line, Questor being placed on earth by Aliens to watch the Human race, and with him being the last of the series of Androids. The other two being set in the time after the Third World War and Humanity again going out into space. Element of this are seen in Star Trek first contact. I also feel this idea was the inspiration for the mutants and other un-resettled areas of Earth in the Buck Rogers series, just a few years later..
I don't know what Roddenberry's Idea for Andromeda was, but what we got was something based completely off Blakes 7 s1. A futuristic ship, far more advanced than anything in existence, discovered and boarded by a group of thieves, and an idealistic captain, who want's to bring back the Federation thus freedom and peace to the Galaxy (as opposed to destroy the federation to bring freedom and peace to the Galaxy) Becka like Jenna great thieves and probably the best pilots in the galaxy Rav and Gan, seem scary but both are incapable of murderer Harper Being Villa the master lock picker/security system bypasser (sic), though updated to be a computer Hacker, taking on Avons computer skills, but both more immature and followers then leaders. Tyr taking on Avons other traits of wanting to take over the ship at any cost and not hiding his dislike of the captain. Cally Orac and Zen merged into one character. Andromeda (one ship version one hologram version) Taking Cally's compassion (and being the second female character on the ship)and combining it with the ships AI ZEN and the know it all fish tank ORAC
Sure it's just like Blake's 7. Except in the Andromeda Ascendant is a legacy from the fallen an intergalactic commonwealth and the "Salvage crew" joins the surviving captain in a quest to restore the Commonwealth. In Blake's 7 a group of criminals and a political prisoner are put aboard an advanced alien spacecraft. They take over the ship and use it to help in the revolution to overthrow the tyrannical Terran Federation. The mechanism of interstellar travel is completely different. When I watch them, I can barely tell them apart. ;) Sure there are elements in each that are common in many sci-fi stories, but there are substantial differences too.
He loved the name Dillion Hunt and the thought of a time lost spaceman. He used the name for the captain of the starship ANDROMEDA who happened to get lost and found after 300 years. Greatest 5 year series he did IMO. Plus it stars Lexa Doig who is very easy on the eyes ;)
Serling was a veteran of WWII while Roddenberry was an LAPD veteran of the mean streets of LA. Certainly, their encounters with war and violence inspired their dreams of peace and harmony in another one. Serlings "Night Gallery" had the same vision quest with touches of the macabre. Roddenberry also had his struggles with hard-headed minds. No wonder I threw my TV in the dumpster with a never-again promises.
The funny thing is that, in a way most of his shows were meant to be in a shared universe. Especially the 3 main who were produced, with Earth Final Conflict, leading to Star Trek, leading to Andromeda.
The plot of Earth II sounds like something THE William Shatner wrote in a nice little novel called TekWar, in 1989, so he must've freely ripped off his "buddy" Gene Roddenberry as some sorta vengeful payback. I'm just speculating, playing detective, but take a listen to this video again at the 1:55 point and then check up on the synopsis for TekWar and tell me I'm onto something.
Spector was terrific. It wasn't the physical violence that was interest here. The lead was an intellectual with an astronomical IQ. The co lead was what might be termed a gentleman and an epicurean, tho with a drinking problem, forever letting women get him into trouble. No, it was this last that drove the story. Ham was a sensuality who could never resist temptation on his own. He needed Culp to help him over come his appetites. Full needed him to rouse him from his full routine as middle aged bachelor and scholar, rutting about in his opulent home's study, never fully enjoying the kinds of indulgences a man of his wealth could easily afford. This emphasis on S-E-X was what drove the fun. The Satanic orgy scenes (don't heed the comment about poor YT quality; it is a BBC version replete with deep colour, and full nudity in the orgies) Handsome men and women, both Culp and Young were in peak SMV and subtle humour. For instance at the mention of a Succubus who nearly raped and slaughters a man in highly charged scene of OF or Porn-Violence, Ham quips that the name ' sounds nice!' Implying without saying, like 'suck you(r) Bush's Another thing is the lack of action - not! What there is potent. The demon losses English Lord and business magnate is huge man who brings down to his knees with one mild slap his brother played by Hurt. Culp says he is impressed by this casual show of power and ruthlessness and the mastery of other men ( if not his own desires and very soul) Later he asserts that Culp is ' ...As strong as I am' and should carry on in his place. He was wrong, the male lead was stronger. More compassionate. Culp helps his friend overcome his weakness for drink, while the Lord has nothing but contempt for his brother, Hurt, as a weakling. At any rate, Full plays a typical Roddenberry hero which is a combination of both brains and brawn. The difference is Bull's considerable inner strength to resist temptations thrown his way by Evil f orces. Go see the RU-vid video of Spector. It won't disappoint the thinking adult.
I always thought it would be great to have a cabel channel that only showed TV pilots. Failed ones would show what could have been. In the successful one's would show us the differnces.
She WAS on TNG for much of Season 2 in a guest starring role. She was the ship's chief medical officer, Dr. Katherine Pulaski, after Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher) was fired by the studio. Some of her best episodes include "Elementary, Dear Data," "Unnatural Selection," "Time Squared," and "The Icarus Factor."
@Leigh Chapman did you watch the video he said we were introduced to Diana Maldur in Star Trek: The Next Generation's second season when she played Catherine Pulaski
@@michaelmckinnon427 Sounds like being fired to me, but okay. In any case, Muldaur decided to leave the series over something akin to "creative differences." Fortunately, Gates McFadden was available and more than willing to resume her Crusher role. I liked Muldaur, but I was happy to see Dr. Crusher again. Better bedside manner, I suppose. Plus, great chemistry with Picard.
@@Willpower-74205 the difference is whether or not she was able to be on the series again or not if she was fired she wouldn't have been able to resume her role as Beverly Crusher and Diana Maldur left because of pressure from the fans to bring back the Beverly Crusher charachter and because of her health
edlaprade in fact Space 1999 was the exact opposite of that, except had good music from the same composer. Boring costumes, boring sets, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain much drier than their Mission Impossible days. UFO. How did that 1980 not happen. And the purple wigs. Those were uniforms!...BABY!!!!
@@edlaprade You are exactly right sir. I love the intro to the Gerry Anderson TV Series UFO Haha it always gets my blood pressure going and if i am writing a comment I type about 50% faster with 20% more errors. It was Gerry Anderson's first live action series i think.
@@rjonboy7608 N, I was thinking of the Gerry Anderson live human series " UFO " starring Ed Bishop as Commander Straker, the commander of S.H.A.D.O. . I forget who starred as Ed Bishop's hairpiece haha.
There was a pilot with Roy Thinnes about supernatural things. I can't remember the title. I thought it was a Roddenberry project. I saw all of this but Spectre.
I don't know about a supernatural show but you might be thinking of "The Invaders" which is about aliens covertly invading the earth. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3HStZUgKcB0.html
Wish they would try to re-do these pilots... There is room on TV today with all the channels available they would surely fit in somewhere... Mike in LA, Calif
"Wolf would use the name Dylan Hunt as the main character" That's only the START of the similarities. Dylan was frozen (not literally, watch the pilot) in time for 300 years just to see his civilization fall, and the first few seasons center around him trying to rebuild it. The most powerful faction is also a race of genetically engineered humans, and one of the main characters is called Harper. Also, two of the proposed Genesis 2 episodes were done in Andromeda. The first episode after the Pilot, "To Loose a Fateful Lightning", is basically a cross between the G2 episode "Robots Return" and the TOS episode "Miri". Another proposed G2 episode, "The Apartment", involved Dylan communicating with a young woman in the 1970's, shortly after he was frozen. Andromeda did something similar in "on the Banks of Leythe" when Dylan accidentally found a way to communicate with his Fiancee a year after he was sent forward in time. Both were in the first season.
Wasn't "Andromeda" based on a series treatment someone found in Roddenberry's papers? I doubt it had been written as a full script, though. I'm presuming that was the point that was intended in the video (but not mentioned). I have also heard that it was meant as a post-Federation story, where the Federation had collapsed for some reason (just one rumor I've heard about, I can't speak to the accuracy of that).
@@SenileOtaku I'm not sure how much of it was Roddenberry, but asside from the Genesis 2 similarities, the idea of a bunch of smugglers crewing a ship as well as the idea of a sentient ship were both his ideas. I think Wolfe had plans for the series though, as once he got less power they seemed to start running out of ideas. As for it being in the same universe as Trek, a lot of the key technology is different. They don't have transporters (for the most part), and they've also forgotten about Warp drive (which has several advantages over Slipstream despite being slower) as well as any kind of subspace communication. It also begs the question of Whatever happened to the Kelvans?
Er Sturdevant did you see it when it used the same intro music as "Kolchak the Night Stalker" after the whistling? They replaced the music on the reruns of Gen 2 after the Kolchak series aired.
WT Keeton you may enjoy reading "Armageddon 2419" and "Airlords of Hoth". They are old classic novels from the 1920s, but like The Time Machine and From the Earth to The Moon, they are the basis of a lot of mid-late 20th century film and TV.
If you think about it, pilots like Planet Earth were satirical in their approach: the Kriegs had that bony ridge running vertically across the top of their heads.(Roddenberry, a former police chief, probably saw the military as a bunch of knuckleheads. Get it?) And note that the Sisters of the Order of Ruth use the word "dink" when referring to men.(It was one consonant away from being a swear word!) LOL!! 😹😹😹 He certainly was skilled at social commentary. 😺
They basically made the same pilot over and over again.. I always found that strange watching these as a kid.. The futuristic subway train always gave it away.
I thought that was weird and sloppy; however I am assuming that they did this thinking no one would ever see the previous one. It wasn't a given that people would ever be able to own copies of shows and movies a decade later. I like the premise of man from present wakes up to a post-apocalyptic future; I like other books and movies with that theme.
Very few people realize that Roddenberry‘s original concept for Star Trek was similar to the first pilot that was made. The changes that he had to make were due to network involvement which he made out to be the enemy trying to change Star Trek as we know it. But that’s not what happened at all. Yes they wanted Spock to go. And he kept Spock that’s true. But, the The changes between Star Trek as we know it and Star Trek the first pilot came about because of the network and also does the Lou telling him that he had to stay within budget. Remember it was originally supposed to have guest stars of the show every week the show was to be about them! If you don’t think so you don’t know the history of Star Trek. Just look at the second pilot. There were two guest stars and the story is about them. Rotted Barry did project after project that failed. Another thing, a lot of Star Trek fans of the 1970s grew up and watched sci-fi movies from the 1950s and science fiction television shows from the early 1960s and understood where Roddenberry got a lot of his ideas from. And that’s putting it nicely.
Gene Roddenberry and the higher ups in networks had a mutual dislike for each other. That’s why Star Trek did so much better in syndication than on prime time network television.
I recall reading that Roddenberry was keen on a time travel story that saw the protagonist(s) go back in time and prevent the JFK assassination. Personally I think Quantum Leap handled that storyline in a better way than I suspect Roddenberry would have. I mean, after all, Sam Beckett wound up leaping into a starship captain's body in the Trek universe. Boom Tish.
Part of the problem was that the tv executives wanted to turn a lot of scifi into cheap thrills for kids with monsters, and cheesy Saturday morning cartoon stuff. They fought Roddenberry and Sterling tooth and nail any time they wanted to do something remotely intellectual or about moral dilemmas. They would kind do the same thing to Seaquest in the 90's which was like Star Trek in the ocean; the first few episodes are great, then it's Saturday morning cartoon crap.
I watched as many of these pilots as I could. by today's standards they're a bit rough, but back then were they really that bad or did these people just really not want to work with Gene? somehow I missed Andromeda when it on air. I finally got around to watching the entire series. I liked it. a lot of changes throughout the show though. the last season I'll admit was rough.
Delen Hunt ? 150 years into the future? Post-apocalyptic world? Now I'm getting serious Andromeda memes. Probably what source material inspired the later.
I have a very good copy of Spector, I think it's a great work. It has a certain intelligence and almost HP Lovecraft feel with a dose of Rod Serling, the original version has nudity in it. It was a very adult type of show that did lack the more juvenile type action, it did have action though when necessary to the plot. Most of all Roddenberry's stuff was good. I think The Questor tapes would have been a hit show, I also have a copy of that. I saw all those shows first run, I was really annoyed at the cancellation of Star Trek. But it had run it's course. Studio people never embraced Sci-Fi until Star Wars despite it always seeming to make money and motivate children of it's era into careers in science and space. So many scientists and physicists say they went into their profession because of these movies and shows.
I don't suppose you could upload your copies? I'm willing to give _Specter_ a look in the bad quality, see if I can stand it long enough to see if I like the story. I'm every bit as interested in _The Questor Tapes._
@@BigDaddy-fx4nx In truth, I don't know either. But the word is out; perhaps somebody else will do it. It was good to read your opinion of the shows; this is why I'm going to look up the version already on RU-vid.
@@joefaber1381 yes it would have been. And it is my understanding that they would not have simply been stuck in the 60's, but would be able to travel around in time where their assignment took them and where they were needed....
