Too much of everything

Awesome Movie

A Disappointing Continuation

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

When I first saw this TV Movie in 1974, at the age of eleven, I thought it was great, and now thirty five years later! I still think so... The cast is exceptional, the great JOHN SAXON perfectly cast as hero Dylan Hunt (previously portrayed by stalwart Alex Cord in Genesis II the year before), Lovely Janet Margolin, Icy Diana Muldaur, Gruff John Quade, and the always memorable Ted Cassidy are ably supported by Lew Brown, Aaron Kincaid (in a very entertaining performance), Christopher Carey (who is having a bad hair day!) and Jim Antonio as Dr. Jonathan Connor. Look fast for Majel Barrett as well. I bought a used VHS copy of this film a while back and I have been waiting patiently for it to be released on DVD. It is such a fun movie with great comedic moments, stunning action sequences and exceptional dialog. I would hope that one day they will release a boxed set of Gene's television PILOTS from the 70s, hopefully with commentary by surviving cast members. The loyal fans deserve it as do newcomers who only know Gene from Star Trek.

It plays kind of like a rejected Star Trek episode, but not one of the better ones but that does give it a bit of nostalgia value. The opening is loaded with voice over narration to explain the whole set up for those who didn't watch Genesis 2 the previous year. The basic idea is the same as one Rod Serling had for a series or show that he never had an ending for, that didn't stop Roddenberry. Of course since this is kind of weak stuff the network actually let Roddenberry have two pilots but it still didn't go to series.This also shows where some of the "new" ideas for the first Star Trek film came from. The enemy characters have a sort of spine on their bald foreheads like the Klingons soon would have and the main uniforms are sort of the same "Jammies" that the first Star Trek feature featured.It's poorly structured with characters disappearing for long periods of time and the whole thing stops totally dead during the horny Roddenbery staple which was part of all his things during this period of time. That would be the scene where the man has to prove he's the world's greatest lover to the less experienced woman to save the day. And it takes forever for this section to be over with. It just seems like dirty old man material, kind of leering and juvenile at the same time.John Saxon does strike some good Kirk poses and it's nice to see Cassidy with a meaty role--he does a couple of impressive stunts during the big brawl ending.This really feels like the Planet of the Apes series that came shortly after this.It's perfectly fine this didn't go to series, too bad that far superior Spectre and Questor Tapes didn't even get 2 chances that this one didn't deserve.

PLANET EARTH and GENESIS 2 were fun pilots. PLANET EARTH was set on a earth after a nuclear war yet, was ahead of it's time. It's a shame roddenberry couldn't get a syndication deal like Gerry Anderson of SPACE 1999. Syndication would have helped this show more than network airings.

As I've said many times before, the networks dropped the ball, when they didn't pick up Planet Earth for a TV series. It seems every time Gene Roddenberry came up with a great new series(Questor Tapes, Genesis II, Planet Earth, Spectre), the networks failed to see his vision. After recently watching this show again, I'm still puzzled why this Pilot wasn't picked up for a series. This show could have been a Star Trek on Earth.