Captain's bLog: What I'm Watching

Thanks to a couple of recent - and generous - reader donations and a well-timed tax refund, I've been able to pick up a few more additions to my Space: 1970 DVD library this month. (I also - as I mentioned here previously - ordered and received a VHS copy of the 1980 telefilm, The Aliens Are Coming, which I transferred to DVD-R. Overall, I rather enjoyed it and think it would have made an okay series, but I really disliked the lead character, played by Tom Mason. Or maybe it was the actor I didn't like. The miniature spaceship effects were pretty cool, though.)

At the beginning of the month, I finally acquired the Universal Vault Series edition of Gene Roddenberry's 1974 pilot film, The Questor Tapes, which I had never seen all the way through before. I enjoyed it a lot - it may be my favorite of Roddenberry's non-Trek genre efforts - and will be writing up a full review here on the site in the coming weeks.

(Now if someone would release Roddenberry's occult pilot, Spectre, on disc, I'd be quite content.)

Then, I traded in my Buck Rogers In The 25th Century - The Complete Epic Series set for the re-issued Season 1 and Season 2 volumes. I was hesitant to do so, since they cost more combined than the original package, but what finally convinced me to double-dip - aside from the fact that the re-issues were on single-sided discs instead of the trouble-prone flippers in the Epic Series set - was Universal's late inclusion of the TV version (as opposed to Theatrical Cut) of the first episode, "Awakening," as an extra feature on the Season 2 discs. It clearly was a last-minute decision, too: its presence is not mentioned on the packaging (I think there may have been a sticker), and the episode itself is presented without chapter breaks or subtitles.

Last night I picked up Universal's The Six Million Dollar Man - The Complete Third Season. This is probably my favorite season of the show, as it brought back (and spun off) Lyndsay Wagner's Bionic Woman, and featured the first of Steve's encounters with the "bionic" Bigfoot (in the very impressive shape of hulking Andre The Giant).

The season also features the return of several other popular guest characters from previous years, including Monte Markham's "Seven Million Dollar Man," John Fujioka's "Last Kamikaze," Oscar Goldman's favorite secretary Jennifer Darling, and adorable ESPer Robbie Lee.

Finally, I've ordered the 1974 Wonder Woman pilot movie from Warner Archive. I haven't seen this one in years - decades, probably - and I'm looking forward to giving it a spin. This is the one with blonde Cathy Lee Crosby as the Amazon princess, battling the evil machinations of Ricardo Montalban while wearing a star-spangled track suit. Whatever else it may be, this incarnation of WW is definitely a product of the Seventies! Obviously, I'll be reviewing this one here at the site sometime soon, as well.

News: Roddenberry's QUESTOR TAPES (1974) Now on DVD

As a follow-up to Wednesday's "Behind-The-Scenes" post, Star Kid Don Hilliard informs me that Gene Roddenberry's TV movie/unsold series pilot, The Questor Tapes, is actually available commercially, as a Manufactured-On-Demand DVD from Universal's "Vault Series" and Amazon. I'm not sure how timely this news actually is, because I have no idea how long Universal's been offering the disc - unlike Warner Archive, they don't seem to aggressively promote their MOD offerings.

Needless to say, I'll be ordering a copy as soon as finances permit, and will make a point of reviewing it here on the site.

The Questor Tapes was one of Roddenberry's several attempts to launch a genre follow-up to Star Trek in the Seventies (others include Spectre, Genesis II and Planet Earth).  Written by Roddenberry and his Trek cohort Gene Coon, Questor recounted the origin of an advanced android (Robert Foxworth) on the run from the government and searching for the scientist that built him. He's aided in his search by another scientist, Jerry Robinson (Mike Farrell). Directed by Richard A. Colla (director of the Battlestar Galactica pilot, as well as the TV movie, The UFO Incident), the cast included Trek veterans Majel Barrett and Walter Koenig in supporting roles. (Another Trek alumni, D.C. Fontana, penned the paperback novelization.)

As I mentioned in the previous post, this is the only one of Roddenberry's 70s sci-fi pilots I haven't yet seen. With luck, I'll be correcting that oversight soon.

Buy at Amazon: The Questor Tapes

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #28: THE QUESTOR TAPES (1974)

Actress Majel Barret and her husband, producer Gene Roddenberry, pose on the set of Roddenberry's 1974 TV movie/pilot film, The Questor Tapes. The telefilm starred Robert Foxworth as the highly advanced android, Questor, and Mike Farrell as the human scientist helping the 'droid search for his missing creator. Barret had a supporting role as another scientist in the film.

Although I have - and have read - D.C. Fontana's novelization of the teleplay, this is the one Seventies Roddenberry production that has continued to elude me. I didn't catch it when it was originally broadcast, and have never managed to catch it on television or home video in the past 38 years or so. Hopefully, one of these days, I'll get my hands on a copy.