TV Movie Time Tunnel: "Strange" Indeed!

The iconic sci-fi series Star Trek ran for three seasons between 1966-1969 and all the while had network execs nipping at its heels with threats of cancellation. But then in syndication, the show's appeal skyrocketed and a new, far larger, fan base was generated. The series' creator, Gene Roddenberry, had a dry spell after Trek's cancellation with only a bit of writing (an episode of Alias Smith & Jones and the saucy big screen murder romp Pretty Maids All in a Row, both 1971) to fill his resume. Once his most famous creation began to catch on again, he generated the animated Saturday morning version while also trying to get lightning to strike twice with an all new prime-time series. 

 

Attempt one was the NBC TV-movie Genesis II (1973), a pilot for a show that would feature Alex Cord as a 20th century scientist in suspended animation who awakens to a post-nuclear, primitive planet in the year 2133. In it, Cord and others were called upon to don costumes of the sort that cause actors to phone their agents and fire them (not that we'd have it any other way! We adore the crazy creations of William Ware Theiss and mourn the revealing get-ups of 1960s-'80s sci-fi.) 

When that pilot failed to sell, Rodden- berry developed a pilot called The Questor Tapes, but there was discord with NBC over its direction. So, he then reworked the concept from Genesis II, but instead over at ABC. He came up with Planet Earth (1974), in which John Saxon took over the leading role as one of several future post-nuclear earthlings who stumble into a primitive settlement in which men are subservient to powerful and brutal women. Donning a tailored uniform for much of the program, he eventually is placed in tattered togs and is shirtless for an auction scene. (This project can claim Planet of the Apes, 1968, for some of its inspiration. In fact, Genesis II had not picked up for series because a TV version of Apes was deemed a better bet. It wasn't...) 

After this second attempt to get the concept picked up as a series, Rodden- berry moved on. He created yet another failed pilot called Spectre. But ABC opted to work out another version of Genesis II/Planet Earth on their own and that (finally!) brings us to today's TV-movie, Strange New World (1975.) 

It doesn't take long for the lunacy to kick in... A whirling spaceship is seen careening around the earth with three inhabitants in suspended animation. As you can see, these folks are shown in heavy space suits with helmets. 

However, when we view them in close-up, it's a whole 'nother story! On board for this project is John Saxon once more, albeit as a different character than he played previously. 

Kathleen Miller (who is bare-shouldered in her shot, when she's supposed to be in the aforementioned spacesuit and helmet!)

Keene Curtis rounds out the trio of travelers. 

Once awakened from their slumber, we find them trundling around on the planet's surface in their Tesla truck all-terrain vehicle. 

Inside, the trio is unaccountably filthy. This TV-movie was clearly put-together from at least two episodes of what was going to be a regular series. But, like its predecessors, no series came to be. Saxon provides voice-over narration in order to plug the holes. 

As they continue roaming the land, they are suddenly rendered unconscious...

...and their bodies are scanned by some unseen personage. 

Saxon groggily begins to come to, but now he's in a whole different locale and in different clothing. 

So are his compatriots! Saxon is in a one-shouldered number, Miller has a flimsy gown on and Curtis, as the eldest, is granted a patterned cover-up for his toga. (Unlike the Roddenberry-produced versions of this concept, the costumes this time come courtesy of Dodie Shepard. This was her first credit as a "designer" after years of working on Mannix and Mission: Impossible in their wardrobe departments. Ironically, she would later supervise the clothing for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, 1989, and design the costumes for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, 1991, in the wake of two Emmy nominations.)

Whatever the case, I have a thing for chiffon and a thing for men in as little as we can get by with, so I have no complaints.

What did crack me up, though, was having our space travelers wake up in what looks like Accounts Payable at a local office -- redressed with some throw pillows and furniture from a Moroccan take-out restaurant!

Suddenly comes Martine Beswick, all aflow with billowing lavender chiffon.

She tells them something, but I don't know what it was because all I can think of is humpy li'l Saxon in his toga! 

Granted a trip outside, the trio gets a glimpse of the sort of people they've found themselves amongst... 

Uh, check.... please....! 

Well, I only have myself to blame! I am always blathering on about my love of chiffon and my adoration of tight movie and TV costumes!! 

The leader of this place is portrayed by James Olson. Y'ain't gonna find him tumbling or boogieing down outside. You see... he's OLD. I mean, like 400 years old! 

Miller is sort of taken with the place while Saxon is still adjusting to the clothing provided.

If you're wondering about Miller, she was a stage actress (appearing as a replacement in Broadway's Butterflies Are Free) and then appeared in the 1973 Jack Nicholson film The Last Detail as well as 1975's Shampoo. By 1978, she had exited the biz for the most part. 

Curtis, on the other hand, was a familiar, highly-prolific TV actor who also appeared in movies as diverse as Orson Welles' Macbeth (1948) and Joan Rivers' Rabbit Test (1978!) He'd won a Tony for The Rothschilds in 1970 and, as you might guess, later played Daddy Warbucks in Annie as well, among other things. 

Anyway, as Saxon tries to escape the admittedly lush surroundings, he tussles with a guard, inexplicably killing him with one little shove to the ground! 

But then he (and we!) looks on in amazement as the coffin of the dead guard is brought forth in a ceremony and he's suddenly alive again! 

The place is big on regeneration. (And we're big on Saxon's darling little silver high-top tennis shoes.) 

Saxon is informed that he's free to leave, anytime he wants to. And he wants to! By the way, the chick on the right? You'll never guess who that is.... 

He traipses out into the wild to locate his vehicle and there it is, parked next to a tree and near a piece of statuary! Sadly, for him, it's missing a component that will allow it to start.... 

Back to that aforementioned lady... It's Catherine Bach, four years before becoming a household name for her roles as Daisy Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard! She explains to Miller that there are no children in their settlement. 

And why? Because everyone there except Olson is a clone! They've perfected the art of cloning to where a fetus becomes a grown person in a flash, so there's never any childhood. (Sounds like heaven to this old crank who avoids most children like the plague! LOL) The fetus that Olson shows his guests looks like something you'd find in the "lucky" piece of a Mardi Gras King Cake! 

This laboratory was interesting to behold. Note the "nude" (with frosted glass over her naughty bits) figure to the left...

It's the next rendition of Beswick. 

The chambers behind Olson hold similar beings. 

The male subjects have only one frosted area on their glass. (Would this culture really be so intrigued with/offended by nudity at this point?! No... but ABC viewers are another matter.)

The reincarnated guard, seen here fretting over the fatigued Olson, is played by Underworld favorite Reb Brown. We're always happy to discover Brown in any project!

Saxon is annoyed that his rover is disabled. 

But the matter has to be tabled for the time being as Olson is growing weaker by the moment. 

Saxon and Miller enjoy an outdoor picnic and discuss the need to get the hell out of this place. (By the way, said place was filmed at El Miradero, a one-time mansion owned by the founder of Glendale, California. It is now a library and arts center.) 

Saxon (and his gymmies) attempts to delve into the situation further, but is discovered by Beswick. 

He turns on the charm in order to not be turned in or punished, but soon enough some clones come in and another scuffle breaks out. 

Saxon, who'd appeared in Enter the Dragon (1973) prior to this, did many of his fight scene stunts himself, affording us some "up the skirt" shots...! 

"See what I mean, Vern?"

Meanwhile, Olson is convincing Curtis to help him use some of the blood from Saxon and Miller to perfect the cloning system that's in place there. Some mumbo-jumbo about immunity paired with Olson's own mental decay.

That, along with the promise that Curtis can inherit the mantle of leadership from Olson, coerces him into helping get Miller and Saxon onto the operating table for their "transfusions." However, before the procedure begins, it becomes clear that Curtis has been hornswaggled and that his friends are actually not going to survive!  

When Curtis frees Saxon from his restraints, we're off to the races again with yet another fight scene. Brown takes on Saxon and the two begin going at it. 

As the two men struggle, they repeated bang up against the housing of Brown's clone (also played by Brown, natch.) 

I was hoping that Saxon would knock the door open and Brown's naked body would careen out onto the floor. Ha ha! 

It's another revealing encounter. 

As the diminutive Saxon somehow begins to overtake the hulking Brown...

...Brown's clone begins to suffer and the actor goes through some painful (yet erotically orgasmic looking) machinations within his chamber. 

Once their captors are vanquished, Saxon's toga is half off and even Curtis has a moment of upper bareness (which, if I'm reading it right, was unintentional... his opponent tugged on his toga too hard and Curtis seemed more surprised by that than anything else!)

The trio heads outside once more to find that...

..."everybody daid!" No more rainbow & chiffon parades around here anymore. 

Now we find them back in their (working) vehicle, still dirty in clothing if not in face. 

Even though quite a few reviewers prefer this second half of the pilot film, I'm not even going to pretend that I was interested in it after all the toga action of the first half! Ha ha! I'm only going to hit a few brief points about it and if it's something you wish to see, it's on Tubi for you. Anyhoo, the trio is looking for water and come upon this, literal, cement pond. They're confounded as to who built it and how it's there. 

Dehydrated and dirty, they explore around the area a bit and Miller eventually becomes separated from the two men. 

She's kidnapped by a raggedy mountain man and his tribe.

Said captor is played by character actor Gerrit Graham, who began in films through an association with Brian De Palma and proceeded to work in quite a few projects which developed cult followings. 

It turns out that the locale was once the site of a zoo (!) and that's why the pond had a concrete bottom. Graham and company are locked in battle with a band of others who they refer to as poachers whenever they attempt to utilize the resources there. 

Graham's leader is played by longtime character actor Ford Rainey, buried under a scruffy wig and beard. 

Perhaps the biggest surprise was seeing this man as one of the poachers, who becomes embroiled in the drama over the enclave. 

No, silly, it's not Brian Bosworth.... 

It's William McKinney, who in Deliverance (1972) played one of the most paralyzingly cretinous mountain men one could ever hope never to come upon! 

His presence here, just three years later, lends an eerie tone to the proceedings. 

I'm just Saxon was never so glad to be out of that toga and in something with more coverage! 

As this was culled from what would have been an episode of the series, everything eventually becomes resolved and the trio are soon back in their vehicle for the next adventure, which never came... All of the movies mentioned in this post are currently available on Tubi in beautiful prints. If you wish to partake, here you go:  Genesis II, Planet Earth and Strange New World.

Saxon was a compact and very cute doll-baby in his youth, and I've paid tribute to that before.

I really prefer him as he matured a bit, though. Wowza!

And, of course, we adore Brown, who later went on to play the title hero in two 1979 Captain America TV-movies and was Yor: The Hunter from the Future (1983) among other things. His physical beauty always helped one get through a movie, no matter how preposterous it may be. (If you missed it back in 2016, DO check out the end of this April Showers post...!)  

We're almost to the end...!

The End!