ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Goldie turned out to be a very fine actress, and she's gotten more beautiful as the years went by!

And I didn't know Goldie had daughter. Wow!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Yesterday I had a nice conversation with the Queen of the Universe (who is also known as Judy, as stated in her signature), and she informed me that her question about the cast of a series based on Assignment: Earth was meant to be for a modern day reboot.

So, now we need to come up with suggestions for current actors who could play Gary Seven, Roberta Lincoln, and Isis.

I think Bradley Cooper has the quiet manner and the intense gaze needed for Gary Seven.


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For the ditzy blond Robert Lincoln, I nominate Kate Hudson . . . who just happens to be Goldie Hawn's daughter.


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And finally, I think Mila Kunis might make a good Isis.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Bud, you would make an excellent casting director for Hollywood.

While Mila Kunis would make a fine Isis, I still dislike the whole Isis concept for A:E. A cat that observes Gary Seven on his missions and can morph into a woman seems too gimmicky to me. That is the kind of malarkey Irwin Allen would go in for.

[Bud Brewster]

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Agreed. The scene itself in the episode is just a throwaway gag. Suddenly the cat is a sexy lady posing seductively on the couch, then she's a cat again.

Even though Teri Garr walks over and looks down at Isis for a moment and then goes over to Gary Seven and asks him who the girls is, neither Kirk nor Spock notice her— even though she seems to be just off to their left and less than ten feet away.

___ April Tatro as the Mystery Cat Girl in Star Trek


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

[Pow]

Excellent points.

Maya's being able to shapeshift herself into something much larger, or smaller, than herself totally ignored the laws of science.

And while Catherine Schell is a lovely lady, her addition to the cast of Space:1999 reeked of being a gimmick.

The new producer wanted to add an alien member to the crew of Moonbase Alpha mimicking Mr. Spock on Star Trek.

Maya is an alien from another world. However, once on Moonbase Alpha she smoothly and easily integrates with the humans even without being at all familiar with their culture or technical equipment.

Then, shades of Spock, it is established that she has a phenomenally high I.Q., and is now the resident science officer.

Then he wanted to add alien abilities by making her able to transform into anything because Spock had unearthly alien abilities.

None of this worked to garner a bigger audience and the series was canceled after their second year.

[Bud Brewster]

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Yeah, I tried to think of a "fix" for the "Isis the Sexy Cat Lady" that would work in the unmade series. Here's what I came up with.

Idea #1 - The hot chick is real — but the cat is an illusion it projected.

That way she could be with Gary all the time, but nobody would see "her", just the cat. That way she could sneak into places, listen in on conversations, and spy on folks who wouldn't pay her much attention. (I mean, hell, she's just a damn cat!)

But this doesn't quite work, because Gary Seven carries the "cat" around throughout the episode! Why would Gary carry around the illusion of a cat when she was really a sexy lady? She's get kinda heavy after a while!

Okay, so let's try this instead.

Idea #2 - The alien/cat is real — but the hot chick is an illusion.

That way the alien/cat could masquerade as a human whenever she needed to perform covert task for Gary Seven. This would be consistent with the fact that Gary Seven carried the cat around throughout most of the episode — but the hot chick only showed up briefly at the end!

And this would explain the scene when Teri Garr looked over at the cat and suddenly saw the hot chick. However, neither Spock nor Kirk saw her, because she was just an illusion presented to Teri for a few seconds to tease her female competition for the attention of the handsome Gary Seven!

Okay . . . I think that works.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Assignment: Earth, November 14, 1966, First Draft.

Opening narration: In the hands of this one man...could rest the future of all mankind.

His name...Gary Seven...born in the year 2319 A.D.

The only survivor of Earth's attempt to send a man back through time to today.

Assignment...fight an enemy who is already here trying to destroy us. If he fails...there'll be no tomorrow.
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Sidebar: So this first draft by Gene Roddenberry appears not to follow the 1968 Star Trek episode in a number of ways, in that Gary, as well as other humans, have been kidnapped by a mysterious alien civilization throughout Earth's history.

On the unknown alien world (even in Kirk's era) these alien beings train the humans, improve them mentally & physically, and equip them with highly advanced technology. They then transport these humans back in time to Earth so that they can assist and guide humankind into a peaceful and productive future.

This concept seems to be that Gary Seven was sent back in time from his future era by fellow human beings. There's no alien planet or benevolent aliens behind any of this original premise.

There other things in this pilot script that is different from the broadcast episode.

Roberta Lincoln is named Roberta Hornblower.

Roberta was walking along on the street when a woman bumped into her just as a large piece of marble siding fell off a building. The woman saved Roberta but was killed in the tragedy.

The address for Gary Seven's office was in the deceased woman's purse whose contents spilled out onto the sidewalk.

Roberta felt it her duty to go to this address and inform them how this stranger to her had died while saving Roberta's life.

She doesn't know Gary at all, but through a series of events she decides to work with him.

The large steel vault in the office is a transporter just like the Star Trek episode. However, it is out in the open and not hidden behind sliding doors.

Roberta discovers a pair of glasses at the office on Seven's desk that are X-Ray glasses when you wear them.

Seven has a wide executive phone that has a screen silently slide upwards and allows him to see the person on the other end. The person on the other end has only a regular phone with no screen and has no idea that they are being observed.

Omegans are the evil alien race that are on Earth that Gary is battling. They are Harth, who is male and is sinister and gaunt looking; and Isis, who is a beautiful woman. Both can morph into looking like cats.

Gary's 20th century business suit is made from an unknown material that is bullet proof.

He has his amazing servo tool, but no Beta 5 computer is mentioned in this draft.

[Pow]

These Are The Voyages: TOS, Season Two by Marc Cushman.

NBC press release, issued February 27, 1968:

The Enterprise crew return to the 20th century to learn how the Earth survived 1968 and nearly witness the destruction of the world, in "Assignment: Earth" on the NBC Television Network's Star Trek colorcast Friday, March 29....

A 20th-century man, Gary Seven (guest star Robert Lansing), who has been living on another planet, appears aboard the Enterprise and informs Captain Kirk (William Shatner) that Seven's mission is to prevent world holocaust by stopping the United States from launching the first warhead. Kirk and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) aren't sure if Seven is a friend or enemy and attempt to stop him. Roberta Linclon (Teri Garr), a 1968 secretary, is trapped between factions and becomes an unwitting threat to each.

[Pow]

Gary Seven's cool looking servo always reminded me of the equally cool looking communicator pen on The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

[tmlindsey]

When I saw it decades ago I thought this was an interesting, if odd, episode.

I liked the basic concept but I LOATHE shape-shifter character. If there was a series based on it, I'd hope they drop the character.

The B5 computer could just be represented by the Cube on his desk. Like an Alexa, it just acts as a link to the larger, unseen main computer.

The Servo is too cool to not have and with tech advances, it's not unrealistic that it could do many things. Heck, my wife has a normal-sized pen that has a hidden audio recorder and HD camera in it
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"Have you never wondered what it would be like to walk between the ticks and tocks of Time?"

[Bud Brewster]

[tmlindsey]

Well, at Halloween Auriette does dress up as our black cat, Kali...and then they wear matching costumes on top of that, so...
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"Have you never wondered what it would be like to walk between the ticks and tocks of Time?"

[Pow]

I can't say that I loathe all shapeshifting concepts within science fiction, but I do feel that it must be presented in some clever manner at least and well thought out by a writer.

Simply having a character go poof and transforming into something else is like something you'd see out of Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie.

It can also become a lazy tool for writers to employ. As Scotpens points out, it works better in the realm of fantasy more than science fiction. And I'm not always wild about its use in the fantasy genre either because it can be a very overused plot device.

[mach7]

It always seemed to me that Isis was using mind control not shape shifting for the transformation.

Maybe she is a cat, Maybe she is a human female, maybe she is something else.

Or maybe she is an omnipotent inter-dimensional being that has a warped sense of humor, but likes humans as pets.

Questions, Questions, Questions . . . Quite a riddle.
In a way it's sort of Quaint. Don't you think?
Kind of a Quandary.

Myself, I think Isis is a cat that the was "modified" by the same race that educated Gary Seven. The cat was given an increased intelligence and the ability to project thoughts and images into unsuspecting humans. Such an animal would be a great help with Mr. Sevens mission. Humans would not suspect a cat as being anything other than a pet.