ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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I apologize for bringing up the belly button subject again after it had already been discussed in this thread, but I forget about those posts, and when I found the IMDB trivia item below, I thought I'f add a comment to give this thread a bump.
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The science fiction justification for Lyra-a (Mariette Hartley) and other Tyranians having two navels is that they have redundant circulatory systems. However, Gene Roddenberry joked that the behind-the-scenes reason was to make up for the covered navels mandated by network and studio censors during the production of the original Star Trek (1966).
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If I'd caught my error before Scotspen added his fine reply, I'd have just deleted mine.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

I always saw Mariette in the role of Edith Keeler on the ST:TOS classic episode "The City On The Edge Of Forever" more than Joan Collins.

Joan did a fine enough job but somehow Mariette would have been just perfect.

[Pow]

Wouldn't it have been intriguing to see an episode of Genesis II/Planet Earth where the subterranean shuttle train travels via a clear tube to a city beneath the sea?

Or at least a scientific outpost or colony of some kind?

[Bud Brewster]

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Fabulous idea, Pow!

If the series were done today with a sizable budget and modern special effects, the world could be portrayed as part futuristic and part post-apocalyptic.







The struggle between the folks living in Tomorrowland (so to speak) and the people in the primitive areas of the world would make interesting stories.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Another idea, if someone was to produce a reboot of this pilot would be to set PAX itself in an undersea city, instead of in caverns (Genesis II), or buildings on the surface (Planet Earth).

Humankind will have created such astonishing habitats for scientific exploration of the oceans, growing food on the vast undersea terrain, environmental restoration, and so forth. Such cities have fortunately survived the devastation that took place on the continents. There would be numerous such habitats, since other nations have constructed their own such cities. . . and not all are done for noble purposes.

Some of these nations work together for good, some for their own evil goals. These cities can come in large, medium, and small. Adventures can now take place under the seas, or on the surface of the earth, giving a broader scope to the stories.

[Bud Brewster]

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Great ideas!

In fact, a series set under the sea is something I've talked about in numerous posts. I think a series like the one you described — with stories set both under the sea and on land— would be more interesting than the purely land-based TV series we actually got.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

We can also add to this concept of having multiple cities beneath the sea that have survived some kind of worldwide catastrophe. There could also be space stations like the one in the Earth II TV-movie pilot that have also managed to survive the world wide disaster. A moon base; Mars base?

This could give even more storylines for the undersea city to deal with in rebuilding humankind's future.

[Bud Brewster]

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All true, of course . . . but I have trouble getting enthused about mankind's future when the premise starts with the idea that we screwed up the present so badly we almost wiped ourselves out!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

From the Winnipeg, Canada TV Guide for May 31, 1974. (CATV).

The world as we know it has been destroyed in this 1973 pilot for a possible series. "Genesis II" centers on a N.A.S.A. experimenter --- who awakens in A.D. 2133 to become a pawn in a power struggle between two civilizations. Created and written by Gene Roddenberry ("Star Trek").

[Pow]

Since Gene Roddenberry created Genesis II, we can see he brought into it similar ideas as his Star Trek television series.

Dylan Hunt is revived from suspended animation 150 years after he was first placed into it. Khan ("Space Seed") is revived from suspended animation 200 years after being placed into it.

PAX is an organization devoted to knowledge and peace, just as the Federation of Planets is.

The Tyranians are mutants who are physically superior to humans. Khan and hid followers in "Space Seed" were genetically superior to humans.

Lyra-a is half-human (her mother) and half-mutant. Mr. Spock is half-human (his mother) and half-Vulcan. Both are physically more powerful than humans.

The Tyranian society has a device called a Stim that is a sonic weapon. The Klingons possess Sonic Disrupters.

The Enterprise takes the crew on its journeys through outer space. The subshuttle carries the PAX Teams to its various missions.

[Pow]

From Wikipedia we have potential story ideas if G II had been picked up as a weekly show.

"Company B" --- A "Trojan Horse" suicide squad from the days of the great conflict comes out of suspended animation and attacks PAX. They represent the 1995 A.D. ideal of a perfect soldier.

Similar concept to Star Trek: The Next Generation's episode "The Emissary." This was about a Klingon crew in cryonic sleep on board a Klingon starship from the past. The crew awakens and is ready to do battle with the Federation of Planets, not realizing that the Federation & the Klingon Empire have been at peace for decades.

"London Express" --- A hair raising journey through submerged portions of the North Atlantic subshuttle tube to mysterious London of 2133 A.D. Dylan Hunt and Team-21 meet Lyra-A there and the mad monarch King Charles X.

So Lyra-A (Mariette Hartley) the half-mutant Tyranian we meet in the TV-movie/pilot was going to be a foe that would appear every now and then. And as a love interest for Dylan Hunt. I'm guessing that in time the character would have renounced Tyrania and join PAX-21 as a team member. Being half-human & half-mutant with great physical strength she would be their version of Mr. Spock.

"Robots Return" --- The advanced computer and sophisticated machine discovered on a moon of Neptune by a 1992 NASA expedition have evolved into a new form of robot life and visit Earth in search of the "God" named NASA. They meet Dylan Hunt, formerly a NASA scientist, and consider him a messiah.

This plot was a reworking of the Star Trek: TOS classic episode "The Changeling" and would be reworked again to become the story for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

""Poodle Shop" --- Dylan Hunt is captured and put on sale by the females in a strange society where men are treated as domestic pets and often traded back and forth for breeding purposes.

This story became the basis for the second G II pilot, now called Planet Earth. This pilot had an exciting beginning but then bogged down into a lackluster story for the rest of the movie. The cast were all good and Pax Team-21 now had sharp looking uniforms to wear.

"The Apartment" --- Trapped inside 20th century ruins by a mysterious force field, Dylan Hunt is catapulted through a time continuum back to 1975 A.D. where he can be seen as a "transparent ghost" by a girl living in the apartment there. A bizarre love affair with a surprise twist ensues.

This story sounds bloody awful. And like so many science fiction TV series set in the future, they feel compelled to burden us with a time travel story. Probably as a budget saver. Few of these time travel plots are rarely decent entertainment.

"The Electric Company" --- Dylan Hunt and his PAX team encounter a place where a strong priesthood holds a society in bondage through the clever use of electricity. The simple inhabitants see flashes of light and the amplified voices as the sight and sound of "God," but Dylan and his Team-21 end the dominance of the priesthood when they come up with still better tricks.

Yawn. Looks like athiest Gene Roddenberry once again taking a swipe at religion as he liked to do.

In spite of my dislike at some of these plots for a G II TV series, the premise still remains an intriguing one with much potential in the hands of talented writers. With today's state-of-art visual effects, Genesis II could be rebooted and look vastly superior to what could be done with FX in 1973 when this pilot was produced. As with any TV series though, the foundation must have wonderful writing to it.

[Bud Brewster]

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Mike, what a terrific post!

I appreciate that you shared those unmade concepts with us, and also the comments you made about each one.

I agree that those stories could be done well with today's higher production standards and increased budgets, not to mention the advancements in special effects.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)