ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Anybody who doubts the determination of Gene Rodenberry, take note that after making two pilots for his unsold series "Genesis II", Rodenberry went ahead and made two episodes, which he later spliced together to make this enjoyable TV movie, although he tinkered with his original premise concerning a scientist awaken from suspended animation in an underground research lab.

John Saxon ("Battle Beyond the Stars", "Planet of Blood") continued to play Dylan Hunt (the role first essayed by Alex Cord) in this double story. In story number one, astronauts Saxon, Kathleen Miller, and Keene Curtis return to Earth after 180 years in space (and suspended animation) to find Earth recovering from World War III. They become involved with one of the newly evolved subcultures, a clone-producing society.

In story number two, the heroes find a society comprised of "hunters", "zoo-keepers", and big game animals.

Directed by Robert Butler. The cast includes Martine Beswick ("One Million Years B.C.", "Prehistoric Women").

I started tinkering around with the double poster shown above, just to see if I could combine them in an interesting way. Here's what I got.



I'm not that happy with it, but I was at least able to widen the cramped look of the Strange New World poster by painting in John's arm on the right, extending the steps he's standing on, and filling in the area on the left with abstract elements.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

GR created & produced both GII & PE,Bud. I thought I had read somewhere that when the third incarnation of this concept was done as SNW that Gene was no longer involved directly,if at all,with this third version.
Most folks feel that GII is the best version followed by PE,& that SNW is awful.

I felt that this was a terrific premise for a weekly series & hope that it will be revived one day. With the astonishing FX,make-up,etc we now have available they could produce a stunning look for such a show. Far superior to what they were able to achieve in the 70s when these TV-Pilots were done.

I enjoyed GII & thought it was well done.
PE was cool with the team PAX crew & their nifty uniforms. Starts well but then bogs down into a dull look at a woman dominated society.
SNW had some intriguing points regarding cloning & human morality. The start with the principal characters in suspended animation on board a space station was well done & exciting. Much more interesting than simply having Dylan Hunt trapped in SA in a cave as done in the original GII film.

[Bud Brewster]

By gum, sir, you're right. Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia article
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Although he was closely involved in the previous two incarnations, this time Gene Roddenberry opted out. As a result the character names, as well as some of the main plot points, were changed in order to avoid any potential litigation.

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I stand correct!

I'm curious about the fact that Gene tried twice before to sell this idea to the networks and failed, but then somebody else tried a third time . . . and failed.

Who was it that still had hopes for the concept, even after Gene backed 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]

What's interesting to note, Bud, is that the Planet Earth TV-Pilot was the second attempt to sell this sf premise after the initial pilot of Genesis II.

Star Trek had the same exact situation happen.

The first ST pilot "The Cage" starring Jeff Hunter & Susan Oliver was not picked up. However, NBC ordered a ST pilot to see if the idea could still work.

Ordering a second pilot is pretty much unheard of, back in 1966 or today.

Sadly, whereas NBC did greenlight ST after the second pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before", GII/Planet Earth would not repeat such a miracle.

[Bud Brewster]

I guess it's probably not as easy as we think to predict the public's reaction to a TV series and to appreciate the value of a show -- especially if it's a new idea instead of a tried-and-true premise.

Hindsight is 20/20 and all that stuff . . .

At the risk of simplifying the situation, I think the problem is that to produce a TV series you need capable business people working with talented creative people -- and that often doesn't work out so well. The business people don't fully understand the creative end of the process, and the creative people don't completely grasp the business end.

And since the business people are the ones who make the decisions about funding a show, the gap between these two viewpoints can result in good shows being scrapped for bad reasons.

Like Lily Tomlin once said on the Tonight Show -- "That's why it's called show business . . . not show art."
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

[Pow]

[ralfy]

Full feature:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7jlyMpV-nA