Planet Earth (TV pilot)

"Planet Earth" was a science fiction TV movie that was created by Gene Roddenberry and written by Juanita Bartlett (from a story by Roddenberry). It first aired on April 23, 1974 on ABC, and starred John Saxon as Dylan Hunt. It was presented as a pilot 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..."

"Planet Earth" was the second attempt by Roddenberry to create a weekly series set on a post-apocalyptic future Earth. The previous pilot was "Genesis II", and it featured many of the concepts, characters later redeveloped in "Planet Earth". Sets and props from "Genesis II" also found their way into "Planet Earth".

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 character's served as prototypes of the later TV series (based on Roddenberry's ideas) Andromeda.

Plot synopsis

In the year 2133, and on an Earth devastated by a nuclear war decades before, a team from PAX (which means peace, and is the one city which escaped the destruction of the earth), is conducting a survey of central California. PAX is a scientifically based society dedicated to restoring civilization and peace to the world. Returning to PAX headquarters, the team is attacked by a group of mutant humans known as the Kreeg. After a struggle, the PAX team manages to escape in a subshuttle, a vehicle that can travel long tubes which connect settlements (these were built during the early 1990s, before the final conflict of the 20th century). One of the team, Pater Kimbridge (Rai Tasco), is badly wounded and needs a bioplastic prosthesis to repair the damaged pulmonary artery sheared away by the Kreeg's rifle shot, and save his life.

PAX Team 21, led by Dylan Hunt (John Saxon), with members Baylok (Christopher Cary), Isiah (Ted Cassidy), and Harper-Smythe (Janet Margolin) heads out to locate a missing doctor, Jonathan Connor (Jim Antonio), who is the only surgeon who can perform the delicate heart surgery in the time Kimbridge has left (a few days). 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, a woman in the PAX group, Harper-Smythe, binds Hunt and enters the city with him. Once there she meets Marg (Diana Muldaur), the leader of the women, who claims Dylan as her own property.

While captive, Hunt learns that the men are subjugated and kept under control by a drug that is put into the food.

Harper finds her way into the women's village where she befriends one of the women. Later, Harper challenges Marg for the ownership of Hunt. Harper defeats Marg and gains respect of the community. She then enlists aid to find Dr. Jonathan Connor.

Dylan and Harper finally meet Doctor Connor and learn he has developed an antidote to the drug. Meanwhile, the Kreeg are headed to attack the women's community. Harper convinces Marg to trade Connor for Dylan. While leaving, Doctor Connor places the antidote in the food supply. The Kreeg attack the village and are fought off by the help of the males, who have defended the females. The women of the village decide that the drug should no longer be used.

The PAX team returns Dr. Jonathan Connor safely to PAX where he successfully performs the surgery on Pater Kimbridge.

External links

*imdb title|id=0072000|title=Planet Earth
* [http://home.att.net/%7Epaxteam21/PE/pe.html Planet Earth at PAX Team 21]