Planet Earth!

Gene Roddenberry's attempt to get back into science fiction television failed with the pilot Genesis II. Despite a clamor for sci-fi from CBS and other studios, they failed to take up the series perhaps because of its relative dreariness. They wanted a new Star Trek and they got a post-apocalyptic yarn that preached that mankind needed peace. Roddenberry was not a quitter, so when ABC expressed some interest in a retooled program, he went to work on making it more Trek-like. 

So that brings us to Planet Earth. Dylan Hunt is still around, but he and his world have altered a little with a bit more modern detail worked into the mix. The world is somewhat less grim in some ways and more in others. The great John Saxon plays Hunt in this new pilot and he and his team working for the PAX organization seek to bring a tattered world together. To that end they confront an amazon culture in which men are slaves called "Dinks" and the world is harassed by apparent mutants called "Kreeg". This strikes closer to the formula Roddenberry had hit with Star Trek.

Diana Muldaur steps in as the top amazon, playing it to the hilt. Ted Cassidy is back as the giant savage "Isiah" who has decided to work for PAX, but alas he gets very little to do in this particular show. A young lovely named Janet Margolin plays a chick named "Harper-Smythe", and she gets a lot to do. A character named "Baylock" is played by Christopher Cary, and his offbeat nigh albino appearance is meant I guess to fill the Spock spot. He's an esper to boot. 

Arguably my favorite characters are the mutant Kreeg, a band of wild soldier types who carved their skin and are possessed of odd knots along a ridge on their heads. They are top-notch menacing and delightfully ludicrous at the same time. The drive around in hopelessly beaten down cars powered by coal and wood trailing plumes of black smoke. In a story which has a environmental theme their role is obvious. John Quade, a name you might not know, but a face you'll recognize instantly leads this gang of gun-toting misfits. I loved these somewhat more dangerous "Keystone Cops" of the future, and wanted to see more. 

Sadly despite the changes Roddenberry and his team made to the show it still was not picked up by the network. But he wasn't done yet, there was a third attempt. More on that tomorrow. 

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