Planet Earth

This is a tough-minded and quite intelligent script, by Juanita Bartlett and Gene Roddenberry. It is, as those who have seen "Genesis II" and an inferior sequel know, the second attempt to create a pilot film that would sell as a television series. It might be instructive I suggest to study the primary changes made from the first to the second attempt; this one was written not as an original concept but from a story treatment called "Poodle Shop" that was one of more than a dozen developed by Gene Roddenberry, when he had hoped "Genesis II" might be picked up by a network's 'tsars' under its unarguably better title. First, we have John Saxon a suspended-in-cryogenics 20th century scientist Dlan Hunt instead of Alex Cord, an improvement in accent and general acting. Second, we start with Hunt in the 22nd century, not in his own time. Third, he is here a member of a Pax City team, one of many that comb the world from their southwestern location in North America discovering what changes a 150-plus year period has made after a devastating nuclear conflict altered the lives of the planet's peoples. Ecologically, the world has been given a second chance; but there are strange peoples, tribes and cities everywhere. Fourth, he is accepting from the beginning the idea championed by Pax not to use force for its ends, a notion which he did not buy in the first script. And fifth, the aristocratic aliens of the city of Tyrania have been replaced as villains in this feature by Kriegs, aliens with a raised skull ridge whose mutation leads them to be warlike, not very bright and just smart enough to run wood-burning war-vehicles, cars kept running somehow, for their purposes of enslaving everyone they meet. The story-line involves Pater (formerly "Primus" in the first film) Kimbridge being grievously injured during a Krieg attack away from Pax. The Team tries to get him away by diverting the Kriegs, but by the time they get him into sub-shuttle tunnels and back to Pax, he is beyond all but the best medical help. Since he is Pax's leader, Hunt takes the team, consisting of a giant white Indian, a skinny blond cockney and a young female unisex worshiper of St. Freud in search of the doctor they need, who had been reported lost a long while ago in a nearby territory. They know only that it is a zone ruled by a matriarchy, so they plan to try to penetrate it several ways. Harper-Smythe, played by Janet Margolin plays her role by ear, asking to join the group and having to fight to defeat a challenger. Having done so, she is warmly welcomed into a home, where she finds men are slave-servants, kept in check emotionally by a special gruel that saps resolve when they ingest it. Hunt tries his own entry and with his men he is captured and tossed into a pen with other slaves, bossed over by lovely Johana De Winter as Villar. He is vended to Marg, the best warrior of the Confederacy of Ruth; and all the women slave-owners can talk about is that there is too-much resolve being removed from their males, "dinks", since no babies are being born. Hunt is fed the gruel and gets frightened; but he fights it with better results than others have, and learning what it is, he avoids a second dose. He also finds the missing doctor. He plays on Marg's pride by telling her of his fantastic prowess as a lover; angrily, she lets him come to her and show her his method--it is booze. They get closer and closer to the right moment of "balance", and when he is inebriated and ready--she has fallen asleep entirely. The next day, Harper-Smythe challenges Marg for her "dink", her slave, and defeats her. It is soon after that the Kriegs attack; Hunt and his team, the others also captured, fight, with Harper-Smythe's help. even the male slaves joining in. The old way it now seems will be altered in the Confederacy; and Marg invites Hunt to visit any time and finish the experiment. "On balanced terms?" he asks. "On any terms", she adds. Then they have rescued their medical man, so they take him back to Pax City. Will they be in time to save the Pater? There is little music, but what there is is good. The film was decently directed by Marc Daniels, who is better with actors than camera angles, a veteran of "Star Trek" assignments. Costumes were provided as in the first pilot by "Star Trek" costumer William Ware Theiss and they are very imaginative indeed. The very fine alien set decorations were the work of Edward Baer. Among the cast, Jo De Winter is superb, and Diana Muldaur very good as the fiery Marg. Others in the mix include Ted Cassidy as Isiah the white Indian, Christopher Cary as the new team member, Baylok, Sally Kemp as Treece, Harper-Smythe's hostess, Claire Brennan, Corinne Camacho, Majel Barrett as the new Pax Security Chief and Aron Kincaid and Jim Antonio in support. This is an interesting, often thoughtful attempt I assert to make a feature-length film of an intended series episode. The color in the effort is pretty, but perhaps it belonged in B/W as a drama; however, the unusual use of comedy in the sexually-charged portions works rather well because it is kept satirical. "Women's lib--or women's lib gone mad?" Hunt asks at one point. This entertaining and well-mounted story does a good job of presenting the women's reasons for suppressing males--who had all-but-destroyed the Earth with their wars. Their way, historically, seemed to be better; but as Hunt reminded the Confederacy's members, there are other ways to rule men than by drugging their food, for a real woman.

This was a second TV pilot for a proposed sci-fi series by Gene Roddenberry. The first, Earth II, starred Alex Cord. This time, things are almost the same, though John Saxon plays the lead. Saxon's characterization is less serious than Cord's and seems to be very much like Captain Kirk placed in an alternate version of Earth.

The plot involves a group from PAX (a group of goody-goodies who are a lot like a planet-bound Federation--they try to make sure the world runs in peace and try to interfere in other cultures only when it's necessary). They are looking for an important scientist who disappeared in an amazon-like culture. It's up to Saxon and the others to infiltrate and return him before it's too late.

FYI--Another team member is played by Ted Cassidy (Lurch the Butler from the Addams Family). I would have loved to see him return to a weekly series, though he died just a few years after this pilot was completed (died on the operating table while undergoing heart surgery).

It plays kind of like a rejected Star Trek episode, but not one of the better ones but that does give it a bit of nostalgia value. The opening is loaded with voice over narration to explain the whole set up for those who didn't watch Genesis 2 the previous year. The basic idea is the same as one Rod Serling had for a series or show that he never had an ending for, that didn't stop Roddenberry. Of course since this is kind of weak stuff the network actually let Roddenberry have two pilots but it still didn't go to series.

This also shows where some of the "new" ideas for the first Star Trek film came from. The enemy characters have a sort of spine on their bald foreheads like the Klingons soon would have and the main uniforms are sort of the same "Jammies" that the first Star Trek feature featured.

It's poorly structured with characters disappearing for long periods of time and the whole thing stops totally dead during the horny Roddenbery staple which was part of all his things during this period of time. That would be the scene where the man has to prove he's the world's greatest lover to the less experienced woman to save the day. And it takes forever for this section to be over with. It just seems like dirty old man material, kind of leering and juvenile at the same time.

John Saxon does strike some good Kirk poses and it's nice to see Cassidy with a meaty role--he does a couple of impressive stunts during the big brawl ending.

This really feels like the Planet of the Apes series that came shortly after this.

It's perfectly fine this didn't go to series, too bad that far superior Spectre and Questor Tapes didn't even get 2 chances that this one didn't deserve.

In his book "Star Trek Movie Memories" William Shatner describes Roddenberry's career in the early 70's.

With regards to "Planet Earth", it's stated that the network passed on the series because it was felt that it could only afford 1 expensive science fiction television series.

The other choice was "Planet of the Apes". Because of the franchise success of the "Apes" films, it was felt by network bigwigs that an "Apes" TV series was the better bet and had more of a chance of being a hit.

As it turned out, the "Apes" series tanked after 13 episodes.

Hal

This movie was pretty awesome, with great acting(especially by Ted Cassidy and Diana Muldaur), decent special effects, and a good story. Star Trek's Gene Roddenberry, his friend Robert H. Justman, and Star Trek legend director Marc Daniels wove this tv-movie really well. It's available for rent and if you are a sci-fi fan, rent this. I guarantee you you'll like it!