Planet Earth (film)
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''Planet Earth'' is a 1974 American
made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...
science fiction film that was created by Gene Roddenberry, written by Roddenberry and Juanita Bartlett (from a story by Roddenberry). It first aired on April 23, 1974 on the ABC network, and stars
John Saxon John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1936 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing ...
as Dylan Hunt. It was presented as a
pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
for what was hoped to be a new weekly television series. The pilot focused on gender relations from an early 1970s perspective. Dylan Hunt, confronted with a post-apocalyptic matriarchal society, muses, "Women's lib? Or women's lib gone mad..." The film also stars
Diana Muldaur Diana Muldaur (born August 19, 1938) is an American film and television actress. Muldaur's television roles include Rosalind Shays on '' L.A. Law'' and Dr. Katherine Pulaski in the second season of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''. She als ...
,
Ted Cassidy Theodore Crawford Cassidy (July 31, 1932 – January 16, 1979) was an American actor noted for his tall stature at and deep voice. He tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction series such as ''Star Trek'' and ''I Dream of ...
,
Janet Margolin Janet Natalie Margolin (July 25, 1943 – December 17, 1993) was an American theater, television and film actress. Early life Margolin was born in New York City, the daughter of Benjamin and Annette (née Lief) Margolin. Her father was a Russi ...
, Christopher Cary, Corrine Camacho, and
Majel Barrett Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (; born Majel Leigh Hudec;
, ''
Marc Daniels Marc Daniels (January 27, 1912 – April 23, 1989), born Danny Marcus, was an American television director. He directed on programs such as I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Hogan's Heroes, and more. Life and career Da ...
directed the film.


Plot

It is the year 2133, and Earth was devastated by a nuclear war decades earlier. A team from PAX is conducting a survey of central
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. PAX is a science-based society dedicated to restoring civilization and peace to the world. Returning to PAX headquarters, the team is attacked by a group of militaristic mutants known as the Kreeg. After a struggle, the PAX team manages to escape in a
hyperloop A hyperloop is a proposed high-speed transportion system for both public and goods transport. The idea was picked up by Elon Musk to describe a modern project based on the vactrain concept (first appearance in 1799). Hyperloop systems compri ...
subsurface shuttle, a vehicle that can travel between settlements via tubes, built during the early 1990s before the final conflict of the 20th century. One of the team, Pater Kimbridge (Rai Tasco), is severely wounded. To save his life he requires a bioplastic prosthesis to repair the damaged
pulmonary artery A pulmonary artery is an artery in the pulmonary circulation that carries deoxygenated blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs. The largest pulmonary artery is the ''main pulmonary artery'' or ''pulmonary trunk'' from the heart, and ...
sheared away by a Kreeg rifle shot. PAX Team 21, led by Dylan Hunt (
John Saxon John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1936 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing ...
), with members Baylok (Christopher Cary), Isiah (
Ted Cassidy Theodore Crawford Cassidy (July 31, 1932 – January 16, 1979) was an American actor noted for his tall stature at and deep voice. He tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction series such as ''Star Trek'' and ''I Dream of ...
reprising his role from ''Genesis II''), and Harper-Smythe (
Janet Margolin Janet Natalie Margolin (July 25, 1943 – December 17, 1993) was an American theater, television and film actress. Early life Margolin was born in New York City, the daughter of Benjamin and Annette (née Lief) Margolin. Her father was a Russi ...
) tries to locate a missing doctor, Jonathan Connor (Jim Antonio), the only surgeon who can perform the delicate surgery in time. Their search leads the team to the Confederacy of Ruth, a society of latter-day Amazons, where women are dominant and men are enslaved. As a ruse, Harper-Smythe binds Hunt and enters the Confederacy's territory with him as her "property". Once there, she meets Marg (
Diana Muldaur Diana Muldaur (born August 19, 1938) is an American film and television actress. Muldaur's television roles include Rosalind Shays on '' L.A. Law'' and Dr. Katherine Pulaski in the second season of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''. She als ...
), the leader of the women, who claims Dylan as her own property. Harper-Smythe makes her way to a nearby farm and meets a woman who explains how the society operates (and how there are fewer and fewer children). While captive, Hunt learns that the men (referred to as "Dinks") are subjugated by a drug in their food. Despite his efforts, he soon succumbs to the effects of the drug. Harper-Smythe arrives at the village in time to reclaim her "property" by challenging and defeating Marg. When Harper-Smythe is unable to find Connor in the village, Marg invites her to see Marg's newcomer Dinks. Connor comes forward with an antidote for the drug and Hunt recovers. Connor, Hunt and Harper-Smythe decide that she should swap Hunt for Connor, allowing the doctor to return to PAX. Marg agrees to the exchange and Connor and Harper-Smythe leave for PAX after first distributing the antidote in the Dink food supply. That evening, free of the influence of the drug, Hunt seduces Marg. In the morning, a small party of Kreeg arrive and demand the secret to making men compliant. Hunt leads the un-drugged men in overpowering the invaders. They learn the men in the other households were equally successful in fending off the Kreeg. As a result, the women's council decides to suspend the drug treatment program on their males. Kimbridge soon recovers from the operation.


Cast

*
John Saxon John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1936 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing ...
as Dylan Hunt *
Janet Margolin Janet Natalie Margolin (July 25, 1943 – December 17, 1993) was an American theater, television and film actress. Early life Margolin was born in New York City, the daughter of Benjamin and Annette (née Lief) Margolin. Her father was a Russi ...
as Harper-Smythe *
Ted Cassidy Theodore Crawford Cassidy (July 31, 1932 – January 16, 1979) was an American actor noted for his tall stature at and deep voice. He tended to play unusual characters in offbeat or science-fiction series such as ''Star Trek'' and ''I Dream of ...
as Isiah * Christopher Cary as Baylok *
Diana Muldaur Diana Muldaur (born August 19, 1938) is an American film and television actress. Muldaur's television roles include Rosalind Shays on '' L.A. Law'' and Dr. Katherine Pulaski in the second season of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''. She als ...
as Marg * Sally Kemp as Treece * Johana De Winter as Villar * Claire Brennen as Delba * Corinne Camacho as Bronta *
Majel Barrett Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (; born Majel Leigh Hudec;
, ''
Jim Antonio as Jonathan Connor * Aron Kincaid as Gorda *
John Quade John William Saunders III (April 1, 1938 – August 9, 2009), better known by the stage name John Quade, was an American character actor who starred in film and in television. He was best known for his role as Cholla, the leader of the moto ...
as Kreeg Commandant * Rai Tasco as Pater Kimbridge * Sara Chattin as Thetis *
Lew Brown Lew Brown (born Louis Brownstein; December 10, 1893 – February 5, 1958) was a lyricist for popular songs in the United States. During World War I and the Roaring Twenties, he wrote lyrics for several of the top Tin Pan Alley composers, esp ...
as Merlo * Raymond Sutton as Kreeg Captain * Joan Crosby as Kyla * James Bacon as Partha * Craig Hundley as Harpsichordist * Robert McAndrew as First Dink * Bob Golden as Second Dink * Susan Page as Little Girl * Patricia Smith as Skylar (
Uncredited In general, the term credit in the artistic or intellectual sense refers to an acknowledgment of those who contributed to a work, whether through ideas or in a more direct sense. Credit in the arts In the creative arts, credits are an acknowledg ...
)


Production

''Planet Earth'' was the second attempt by Roddenberry to create a weekly series set on a
post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...
future Earth. The previous pilot was '' Genesis II'', and it featured many of the concepts and characters later redeveloped and mostly recast in ''Planet Earth''. ''Planet Earth'' was intended to be a second pilot for ''Genesis II''. A third and final movie, '' Strange New World'', was aired in 1975. This movie also starred John Saxon as Captain Anthony Vico. In this movie a trio of astronauts returns to Earth after 180 years in suspended animation to locate the underground headquarters of PAX and free the people placed there in suspended animation. None of these three pilots was ever developed into a series; however, some of the characters served as prototypes for the later TV series (based on Roddenberry's ideas), '' Andromeda''. Most notably, the lead character of ''Andromeda'' was also named Dylan Hunt.


Reception


Critical response

In the years since the movie’s release, many critics have focused on comparing the movie to other Roddenberry works, especially '' Star Trek''. In a three-way comparison between the earlier ''Genesis II'', ''Planet Earth'' and ''Star Trek'', Saxon’s character was considered closer to ''Star Trek''’s Captain Kirk in that he shared the same "physical beauty" and "charming arrogance" as Kirk, compared to the dark, brooding star of ''Genesis II'', played by
Alex Cord Alexander Viespi Jr. (May 3, 1933 – August 9, 2021), known professionally as Alex Cord, was an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Michael Coldsmith Briggs III, better known as Archangel, in 55 episodes of the television series '' ...
. Saxon's fighting skills were also complimented by critics, "... you have to love Saxon delivering a full-on Captain Kirk drop-kick to a Kreeg." Janet Margolin has also been compared favorably to some of the female characters in ''Star Trek'', including Yeoman Colt, featured in the first ''Star Trek'' episode "The Cage". Along with Muldaur, Margolin's fighting skills were also noted by critics as the sight of two barefoot women, one a fair, blue-eyed blonde and the other an olive skinned, dark-eyed brunette, fighting each other while wearing halter tops and slit skirts barely covering their bikini briefs, was difficult to ignore.
Marc Daniels Marc Daniels (January 27, 1912 – April 23, 1989), born Danny Marcus, was an American television director. He directed on programs such as I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Hogan's Heroes, and more. Life and career Da ...
brings professional polish and brisk pacing to the telefilm and the action sequences are very nicely-staged. Aside from the encounters with the Kreeg, there's a very well-done catfight between Muldaur and Margolin where it's clear that the two actresses are doing much of the stuntwork themselves."
Another fight scene, between the characters Harper-Smythe and Treece, was notable for taking place in front of Treece's children. The fight ends with the dark haired Harper-Smythe bringing her blonde opponent to her knees, unaware that the children are watching until they step forward, crying. Harper-Smythe, embarrassed, releases Treece and apologizes to the children for fighting their mother.
This mirrors a scene in ''Genesis II'' in which the shock wave from a nuclear explosion Hunt has triggered strikes a Pax lookout just as a mother has brought her young children out to see the stars. There and in the ''Planet Earth'' scene, the heroes witness the effect of their own violence on children, forcing them to rethink the use of force—a very effective and intelligent pacifistic touch from Roddenberry.


Release

''Planet Earth'' aired April 23, 1974, on ABC. The film was released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
on November 16, 2009, by
WBTV WBTV (channel 3) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located off Morehead Street, just west of Uptown Charlotte, and its transmitter i ...
.


See also

*
List of American films of 1974 A list of American films released in 1974. '' The Godfather Part II'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Highest-grossing films (U.S.) A–Z Documentaries See also * 1974 in the United States References External links 1974 films ...


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * *


External links

* {{Gene Roddenberry 1974 films 1974 television films 1970s science fiction films Post-apocalyptic television series American post-apocalyptic films Television films as pilots Television pilots not picked up as a series American science fiction television films Films produced by Gene Roddenberry Films scored by Harry Sukman Films with screenplays by Gene Roddenberry Films set in the 22nd century Films directed by Marc Daniels 1970s American films