The story of Rip Van Winkle is one of the most endearing - and enduring - tales in Western literature. Too bad Roddenberry decided to rewrite it so ham-handedly. Mind you, it's not like he didn't try to front-load "Genesis II" with familiar and/or pretty faces, like Alex Cord as the stalwart scientist and the stunningly beautiful Mariette Hartley as Lira-a, or the hulking Ted "Lurch" Cassidy as Isiah. Problem is, this alone can't carry a series; other things help. Little things like good writing, decent sets, decent, if not state-of-the-art effects. "Genesis II" was short on all counts. One thing it wasn't short on was goofy ideas, like the deification of Freud, or Hartley's dual navels (what was THAT all about?). Taken on balance, the whole show probably started out as a good idea from a timeless classic that was run into the ground by an overdose of Post-Hippie murky philosophies, ridiculous dialogue, and a general air of "we've seen this before. Somewhere". Occasionally, in this life, some of us, if we're lucky, will publish a Pulitzer Prize book, write an Oscar winning screenplay, or perform to standing O's at Carnegie Hall. If we're real lucky, we may get to do it again. Roddenberry wasn't one of those people. He apparently had the Midas touch: everything he tried after "Star Trek" turned to manure, the worst being "The Questor Tapes". Now, that one you could fertilize the Sinai Peninsula with. As far as "Genesis II" goes, some things, as Alex Cord must have undoubtedly realized after being revived, are best left buried.
Review of Genesis II
