Retro Roddenberry: Genesis II & Planet Earth

Before the Star Trek franchise was reborn on the big screen in 1979 with the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the creator of the show, Gene Roddenberry, was attempting to produce a new science-fiction adventure for television. He made several attempts to launch a new series during the 1970s, the first of which was the telefilm Genesis II. The movie, which originally aired on CBS in 1973, tells the story of Dylan Hunt, a 20th century scientist working on an experiment that will provide long term suspended animation for astronauts on deep space flights. During an earthquake at a NASA facility in Carlsbad Caverns, Hunt becomes trapped in hibernation inside an underground bunker while testing the system.

Hunt is discovered and revived by an organization called PAX in the year 2133. There’s been a nuclear war while Hunt has been asleep. He finds himself in a post-apocalyptic society where several groups are vying for control of the planet. PAX, much like the Federation in the original Star Trek, is a peaceful, multi-national organization trying to preserve the best attributes of mankind. When Hunt is misled by the traitorous Lyra-a, a mutant who has infiltrated PAX, he becomes embroiled in a conflict between PAX and Lyra-a’s people, the Tyranians, an evil collective who want him to repair their failing nuclear power systems, thus giving them an advantage in their conflict with PAX. Will Hunt help the villainous Tyranians, or return to aid PAX’s more Utopian society?

Ted Cassidy & Alex Cord in Genesis II

Genesis II is an entertaining, old school style sci-fi adventure that mixes elements of Star Trek, the original Buck Rogers, and other post-apocalyptic tales like Planet of the Apes. Alex Cord plays Dylan Hunt, and he’s decent (if a bit stodgy at times) in the role, but it’s Mariette Hartley (who had appeared in the original Star Trek episode “All Our Yesterdays”) who steals the show as the duplicitous Lyra-a. The cast also includes familiar faces Ted Cassidy, Percy Rodrigues, Lynne Marta, Titos Vandis and Nurse Chapel herself, Majel Barrett, aka Mrs. Roddenberry, in a small role. The flavorful score for the film is by Harry Sukman, and the solid direction is by John Lllewellyn Moxey, best known to genre fans for helming the eerie Horror Hotel (1960) and the classic telefilm The Night Stalker.

CBS passed on a weekly version of Genesis II, opting to go with a Planet of the Apes television series, which lasted only one season. Roddenberry took his Dylan Hunt ideas over to ABC, who produced Planet Earth in 1974. This sequel to/relaunch of the Genesis II saga features John Saxon (of Enter The Dragon) taking over the role of Dylan Hunt. After a brief recap of Dylan’s origin, we learn he’s now a PAX team leader. While on a mission, one of PAX’s council members is injured, and needs a type of surgery which can only be performed by a doctor who went missing while on a mission. When Hunt’s team goes in search of him, they learn he’s been captured by the Confederacy of Ruth, a society where women rule and men are subservient. Hunt ends up in the clutches of Marg, a leader of the female led group, and it’s a race against time to get the doctor back to PAX in time, as well as defeat the Kreegs, a militaristic band of mutants who have attacked both PAX and the Confederacy.

Janet Margolin & John Saxon in Planet Earth

Planet Earth is a lot of fun, and is lighter in tone than Genesis II. It feels very much like an episode of the original Trek series, where the crew went on a mission engaging in fist fights, philosophizing and a dollop of sexual innuendo. John Saxon definitely plays Hunt in a more macho-oriented, Captain Kirk leaning style. The PAX team even record mission log entries, just as Kirk and his crew did on the TV series. The marvelous supporting cast features Ted Cassidy, returning in his Genesis II role as PAX agent Isiah, Janet Margolin, taking over from Lynne Marta as PAX’s Harper-Smythe, and Diana Muldaur, who guest-starred in two episodes of Star Trek, and later portrayed Dr. Katharine Pulaski for one season on Star Trek: The Next Generation, as Marg. She eventually succumbs to Dylan Hunt’s Kirk-like charm. The script for Planet Earth was written by Roddenberry and Juanita Bartlett, who went on to become a writer for The Rockford Files. Behind the camera this time out was another Trek veteran, Marc Daniels, who helmed the classic episode “Mirror, Mirror.”

Like CBS, ABC didn’t move forward with a series of weekly Dylan Hunt tales, though they re-tooled the concept once more (without Roddenberry) in 1975 as Strange New World, again starring John Saxon, as Anthony Vico, an astronaut lost in time. That third attempt also didn't lead to a weekly show. Roddenberry went on to produce pilot films for The Questor Tapes, about the adventures of an advanced android, and the supernatural thriller Spectre, neither of which went on to become a series. Some of the Dylan Hunt concepts later re-surfaced in the 1990s TV series Andromeda, which premiered after Roddenberry’s death. Genesis II and Planet Earth are now available together on a double-feature Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection, and these retro telefilms are worth a look for Roddenberry fans and devotees of 1970s sci-fi.