When the original
Star Trek series ended in 1969, show creator Gene Roddenberry moved on with other projects. Some were in film (notably
Pretty Maids All in a Row starring Angie Dickinson, Rock Hudson and Telly Savalas...and featuring appearances by
Trek veterans James Doohan and William Campbell). But the majority of his efforts were still in TV, as he tried to get the networks to pick up pilots and develop them into regular series. His first effort was the 1973 pilot
Genesis II, starring Alex Cord (who a decade later had a big role in the hit series
Airwolf).
Cord's character had a name that's familiar to
Andromeda fans: "Dylan Hunt." Yes, that's the same name as Kevin Sorbo's character from the more recent (2000) series. And the plot of
Genesis II may also ring a bell to
Andromeda fans: Hunt (the 1973 version) was a man from over a hundred years in the past, who woke up to a very different world but must nevertheless become a hero to help restore peace. Does any of that ring a bell?
In the
Genesis II version, events were Earth-bound, as Hunt was testing a new form of suspended animation (intended to be used for space flight), but instead of a few-days-long test he didn't get revived for over 150 years. He awakened to a post-apocalyptic-war world that had people who wanted peace (PAX), and the mutant Tyranians who wanted to control the world. Co-stars included
Trek alumni such as Mariette Hartley, Ted Cassidy and Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. Also among the cast was future
Star Trek: TNG guest star Harvey Jason.
When the
Genesis II pilot wasn't picked up (CBS was interested, but instead opted for a TV spin-off of the
Planet of the Apes films as their sci-fi entry that season), Roddenberry tried to re-work it. Reasoning that
Star Trek's original pilot, "The Cage," was passed over because it was said to not have enough action, he worked with writer Juanita Bartlett to add more action to the story, and re-titled it
Planet Earth. The role of Dylan Hunt was re-cast, with John Saxon (
A Nightmare on Elm Street) taking over the part. Majel Barrett and Ted Cassidy returned to the new pilot, and previous
Trek guest star (and future
TNG cast member) Diana Muldaur received a key role. It was directed by veteran
Trek helmer Marc Daniels ("Space Seed" and 14 others). ABC aired the pilot in April 1974, but passed on picking it up as a regular series.
A third attempt was made in the '70s to use Roddenberry's post-apocalypse story ideas to produce a pilot for a potential weekly series. But
Strange New World - which changed the main character's name (though Saxon still had the lead role) - was made without Roddenberry's participation. It also didn't make it to series. It wasn't until the year 2000 that Roddenberry's vision of a heroic Dylan Hunt came to the small screen, in the notably different form of
Andromeda.
But fans of Gene Roddenberry's works, or fans of
Andromeda who may be interested in these "lost" early versions of the show, may be interested to know that both of these failed pilots are coming to DVD. Tomorrow, in fact:
October 6th. But not in stores.
The Warner Archives, a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) program from Warner Bros., has this morning added listing for both
Genesis II and for
Planet Earth. Each is 74 minutes long, for $19.95 per title, and ships only to addresses in the USA.
Genesis II is listed as being in 4x3 video format, while
Planet Earth mentions "16x9 full frame" video format. Despite the "full frame" mention, this sort of wording from Warner almost always means a widescreen picture. A
half-minute-long video clip from
Planet Earth demonstrates the widescreen format picture. It's also used as an example for the "important note" at the listing, which warns "
this film has been manufactured from the best-quality video master currently available and has not been remastered or restored specifically for this DVD." So don't expect a like-new picture on this MOD title (or, we presume, on
Genesis II).
There is also
a separate listing for "
Roddenberry's Genesis II and Planet Earth Value Pak," with both MOD titles sold together. The price is shown as normally being $39.99, but with current savings of 25% off, bringing the cost at the moment down to $29.95 (we don't know how long this will last, so if you want the price then please act now...we don't control how much Warner charges for these). Cover art for both titles can be seen at the bottom.
No mention was made at the Warner Archives of the third (non-Roddenberry) pilot using that same story formula,
Strange New World. Nor, for that matter, is there mention of another Roddenberry-sourced "failed" pilot from 1974,
The Questor Tapes. But it will be interesting to have these two gifts from "the Great Bird of the Galaxy" (a popular nickname for Roddenberry). Normally at TVShowsOnDVD, we wouldn't bring up these kinds of one-shot TV events. But these are true pieces of TV history, and worth bending a rule to mention. We don't bend that for just any old thing, either (though some people have begged us to). Our thanks to reader Jason Bott, who didn't beg...just mentioned in passing a bit over a month ago that these could possibly be coming to the Warner Archive. We've been keeping an eye out for them daily ever since, and here they are. We'll keep watching that site for other TV-on-MOD releases, so stay tuned and we'll pass on anything else interesting that we spot!
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