Planet Earth

Before I get to my review I would like to thank Warner Archives for releasing several of my favorite old movies (many of which I watched on Sammy Terry's Nightmare Theatre or Thriller Theater in Indy); four of Vincent Price's lesser-known titles (The Story of Mankind, The Bribe, The Big Circus and While the City Sleeps), the extended Japanese version of The Last Dinosaur (yes, it's in English), the classic TV-movie Bad Ronald, Kristy McNichol's only horror film (Dream Lover), the cheese fest of The Green Slime and Legends of the Superheroes (sort of a reunion for Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin with all kinds of DC heroes and villains) and, of course, all four of Gene Roddenberry's cult films (Pretty Maids All In a Row, Genesis II, Planet Earth and Strange New World). Yes, they are DVD-on-Demand with no extras, which annoys some people, but they are also the official studio releases of many movies that introduced me to the realm that Forrest J. Ackerman (Famous Monsters of Filmland) called Imagi-Movies. Thanx, Warner. Now, how about releasing the Batman TV series as well as the Batgirl pilot?'kay, on to Planet Earth:I saw this with my dad one lazy Saturday afternoon and never forgot it (Pop informed me that the man who made Stra Trek also made Planet Earth, and Captain Kirk lives in John Saxon here; yeah, it reminds me of Mad Max (predates Max by five years, actually) and had the usual TV formula, but John Saxon never looked tougher, more confident and cooler than he did here as Dylan Hunt (remaking Genesis II, sort of); the uniforms worked this time, the plot works better, the female crew member was cuter (I loves me them Tomboys!) and Ted Cassidy was never as memorable or more agile (a lot more to do than just answer the door for Gomez or Morticia). A world where women rule? Say it ain't so! Not that much science fictiony since women with brains have ruled us fairer sex for centuries (let the man believe it was his idea and you own him). A fun little TV pilot that I'm glad was never made into an on-going series and ruined it; the networks never grasp sci-fi or horror and are always throwing them under the bus (Star Trek, Batman, Night Gallery, Kolchak the Night Stalker, Planet of the Apes, Logan's Run, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, V, Wonder Woman and Ark II come to mind). Saxon appeared a year later in Gene Roddenberry's third and final attempt at a post-apocalypse TV series, Strange New World, and then starred in Roger Corman's classic Battle Beyond the Stars, Dynasty and Wes Craven's uber hit A Nightmare on Elm Street and two of its sequels (Dream Warriors and A new Nightmare); Saxon was a very dynamic action actor whose career evaporated too soon, but I always enjoy seeing him pop up from time to time.Planet Earth is one of my all-time favs from that bygone era where Uncle Forry, Topps trading cards, comic books and Star Wars fired up this former child's synapses into believing in the fantastic and the impossible.

Generally good picture (good color and clarity with only intermittent "specks" in it), sound levels OK (but no closed captioning/subtitling so hopefully you won't need it), and will play just fine in my 2005 model Sony DVD player.Too bad the story (the case calls it a sequel to Genesis II, it's not…it's a complete rewrite) doesn't match the disc quality. On viewing it I remembered some details from the original broadcast but found this to be a weak example of Roddenberry's TV work. This time Dylan Hunt's story (revived from a 1979 suspended animation accident it's now 2133, the train system built in 1992) has him already settled into the new world as a member of PAX. This time around the mutants are uglier and lower tech, more warlike. A PAX leader is critically injured escaping from them, Dylan and his team must go into a female dominated society to rescue the only doctor capable of saving him. Most of the rest of the story is pretty badly handled (the women learn the error of their ways, the- briefly appearing- Kreeg are quickly defeated thanks to Dylan).I don't think this would have survived as a series yet the studio tried 3 times; Genesis II, Planet Earth and Strange New World (that one without Roddenberry) to get it going!

A decent sci-fi romp about a possible Amazonian culture in post-Apocalytpic America. This second take rebuffs the claim that Roddenberry's previous sci-fi outing, Star Trek, was the only show to have a second pilot requested of it.Planet Earth, and it's predecessor "Genesis 2", told the tale of a world after great social cataclysm, and how a former US Serviceman, with a lot of help from a central good society, goes about knitting frayed or over turned cultures gone awry. It was, in a sense, meant to be a kind of travelling policeman/therapist who visits homesteads that have malfunctioning social structures and norms. It might have been a good show. I would have watched it because it was compelling.But, both premiers never caught on because people were tired of social messages being shoved in their faces that didn't deal with family. Ergo Planet Earth fell in with all the other would-be TV series that had their moment in the sun when aired.This particular film is respectable, though the knowing viewer who lives in the LA area will recognize the campus on which much of the film was made. Oh well.check it out and see what you think

Not quite as good as "Strange New World" (also by Gene Roddenberry) but well worth a viewing.John Saxon is our hero again but this time he is part of "PAX", a sophisticated society trying to bring law and order to a splintered world.You can spot one or two cast members from the original "Star Trek" and theres lots of cheesy dialogue and costumes.Great fun.

The film was Great. Thanks.

Gene Roddenberry produced this pilot to attempt to sell a TV series with a fairly interesting premise -- after some devastating changes, only one city on the earth remains civilized (the way we recognize it, at least) and sends groups out to explore and help others, using an underground network of high-speed trains that somehow survived.A very workable premise, but as a pilot, telling a story about a part of the earth where the women enslave the men and refer to them only as "dinks," (admittedly, the word may not have had any meaning back then) wasn't a great idea for the pilot, not to mention a story that gives most of the main cast little to do. Several cast members literally reappear in the last five minutes.The dialogue is awkward, and some very heavy-handed attempts at a comment are made. I like John Saxon (probably best known for Enter the Dragon, and some other TV work), and he brings the film some dignity, but some of this is still unintentionally funny.For a release that isn't terribly cheap (and it's only a 75 minute film) there are virtually no extras, and nobody even designed a menu page -- it simply says "Play movie." Given that Roddenberry tried to spin this concept three times in the 1970s (the other pilots are apparently Genesis II and Strange New World), and one studio owns all three, you'd think it would make more sense to release all three together somewhat more affordably as the lost Gene Roddenberry pilots, or something. And surely a few people out there would be able to contribute to a short documentary about these wilderness years for Roddenberry?

Gene Roddenberry's PAX Trilogy is a standout series of TV Movies from the 1970's. No far out aliens here, just some buffed dudes in tight spandex fighting futuristic zombies. Sadly, even after three tries he still couldn't get network approval for a series. In the end, his wife, Majel Barrett reproduced it years later as "Andromeda" even using Dylan Hunt's (Saxon's) name. Be sure to see all three movie pilots: Genesis II, Planet Earth & Strange New World.

70’s kitsch- way ahead of its time 1 of 3 attempts by Roddenberry’s Sci-Fi imagination to create another TV series