Genesis II (1973 TV Movie) User Reviews

Roddenbrry first post Star Trek pilot

[doctardis · 7/10 · 23 December 2004]

This was supposed to be a possible series that combines several themes from Star Trek. It takes place on Earth after a nuclear war, and some of the inhabitants faired differently depending on the area. This is similar to the Omega Glory. Some of the people have adapted and evolved into stronger humans as in Space Seed. Some lived under ground like in Spocks Brain. As in Star Trek, this is a small morality play.

The main character is a man from the 20th is awakened, and he has lost scientific knowledge needed by everyone. It found by a group called Pax. They want to end violence on Earth and restore it. They get around the earth in a high speed underground train called a "sub-shuttle." This survived the war. You can clearly guess that in each episode they would visit a different part of Earth in the same way Star Trek visited other planets.

This was not turned into a series, but was reworked into another pilot starring John Saxon. He was more of a Captain Kirk like lead.

Either version would have made a good series.

An underrated film about social doom

[leemrmg · 7/10 · 11 March 2001]

An underrated film about social doom, typical of the 70s for this genre, yet permanently relevant. The budget was not huge, but the atmosphere is there. Mariette Hartley gives a beautifully subtle performance, and is perhaps in her most physically attractive and visually memorable role.

Only a Roddenberry fan could love this one

[psykldoc · 6/10 · 3 January 2007]

Call me a geek, but I was 13 years old when I first saw this pilot, at a pre-release screening at a Star Trek convention.

It exhibits numerous elements characteristic of Roddenberry's finest, including a compelling premise, focus on recognizable human interactions, and some light, thoughtful humor: e.g. a reference to the teachings of "Saint Freud".

Sadly, it didn't have quite the kick of some of his better work, but rather plays like one of the weaker episodes of one of them. That is to say the story is pretty good, some of the characters display a potential for significant depth, but it drags a bit. I see it as kind of a "Star Trek - The Motion Picture", without the million dollar light show, or the established relationship with the characters that would have brought us back for Star Trek II no matter how excruciating it was.

It ain't easy maintaining the emotional pacing necessary for a "human adventure" while interspersing enough action (and scifi eye candy/gadgetry) to keep the plot moving. I thought it was not just watchable, but endearing in it's way... which is more than I could say for "Planet Earth"; which I thought came across as a rather superficial remake, dumbed down a bit for the masses.

Filmed at my college alma mater

[sanford468 · 21 November 2003]

The architecture referred to by another reviewer is actually the campus of the University of California at Riverside. It was filmed while I was a student there, during spring break so no students were around. While I loved the film, it was hard to suspend my disbelief looking at buildings I saw every day. We hoped it would take off as a series, since the campus got a paint job, some landscaping, and a few thousand dollars for our scholarship funds in exchange for letting them film. That "futuristic" architecture was mostly built in the early to mid 1960's. But it still has that "future" look. One of my fond memories of my undergraduate alma mater.

Not bad

[stealthman · 7/10 · 29 March 2006]

I enjoyed this movie. Alex Cord and Mariette Hartley were rather good. The underground people trying to avoid capture, and fight for their freedom, were quite believable. The mutant people with the stun sticks, were wickedly tyrannical. *************************Spoiler************************************ The exchange between Dylan Hunt and Primus, is quite remarkable. (he took lives destroying the old missile silo). And discussing the unisex discipline, with the underground women, was amusing. While this was not an Oscar winner, I thought it was pretty good, for a TV movie. I also thought Ted Cassidy, was good in this. This would have made a good movie, or mini-series.

Anything written by Gene Roddenberry is defintely worth a look

[Jo-26 · 5/10 · 3 August 1998]

As you would expect from Roddenberry there are many themes about the good and bad sides of human nature explored, and his optimism about the fate of the Human race shows through as it often does in Star Trek.

The plot follows a scientist who is researching suspended animation in deep underground caverns. He is supposed to be asleep for a week, but due to an Earth quake he is buried for 150 years.

When he awakes, he finds his world has been destroyed by war. PACS - a group of Unisex humans live underground, while the mutants (the only outwardly sign being 2 navels!)live outside.

Little is know about the ancient technology of the Nuclear Power plants and both sides fight to have the "man from the past" help them.

The moral dilema for out hero is which side he chooses to help.

Despite its age, this film ain't too bad. There's no flashy special effects , but an entertaining moral tale against slavery and oppressive regimes.

Look out for Gene Roddenberry's wife making an appearance (better known as Counsellor Troi's Mother in Star Trek The Next Generation).

Badly rushed ending kinda ruins the experience

[donald-martin-175-873978 · 6/10 · 18 June 2021]

I loved the concept and characters in this movie, but it seems like they ran over budget and had toncut the story short. It kinda ended up like this " I was gonna sacrifice my freedom to save the others, but I got away in the end and just also sabotaged the bad guys' nuclear silo but the sexy female lead/antagonist probably didn't die in the exposion 'cause she told me she would go to a safe location. And oh yeah, I'll join your organization and help preserve the good bits of my world." THE END.

You should've added chimps, Gene

[straker-1 · 5/10 · 26 September 2005]

Legend has it that ABC TV asked Gene Roddenberry if he'd mind very much putting an ape of some sort into his TV series Genesis II. Apes were very popular at that time, of course...these were the days when a new Planet Of The Apes movie came out every ten seconds. Gene told them where they could stick their apes, and so the network cancelled the proposed 13-episode trial run for Genesis II and made...Planet Of The Apes: The Series instead. And what a triumph that was.

Whether that's true or not, the fact is that ABC goofed in pulling the plug on Genesis II after the pilot movie...because of the three goes at the idea made by ABC and others, this is by far the best one. Our hero, Twentieth Century native Dylan Hunt, wakes up after a cryogenic snooze of umpteen decades to find himself in a bizarre post-holocaust world. Underground cities linked by "sub-shuttle" tube trains are host to various stratified castes of Humanity...some with two navels!

Roddenberry was never a man to do deft satire when a clunkingly obvious allegorical piece would do, and here we have a classic example. Genesis II plays like an episode of Classic Trek without Spock and company, only with a somewhat higher budget. The story's pretty terrible, as is most of the dialogue, but there's enough giddy 70s frills to make it worth watching. Trek vets Ted Cassidy, Mariette Hartley and Majel Barrett (Nepotism? What's that?) are along for the ride with our hero, played by Alex Cord. Cord's no great shakes acting wise, but he does the hero bit well enough.

There was definite potential for a series here...a series which would've lasted about as long as Planet Of The Apes did, admittedly ...so it's a great pity the promising potential of the pilot was never followed up.

The two remakes of the concept which followed, Planet Earth and Strange New World (both starring John Saxon as our modern day Rip Van Winkle), were so bad they defy description. Glen Larson lifted more than a wee bit of Gene's ideas when he presented Buck Rogers for the small screen 8 years later...and finally, more than two decades after GII was shot, the idea became a series in the form of the rather derivative Andromeda.

Of all of Gene's 70s pilots, The Questor Tapes was probably the one that deserved to be a weekly show the most, but Genesis II comes a close second. Bot brilliant, but certainly good enough to be worth 13 or 14 more episodes.

Why this is not available on DVD or VHS baffles me...hell, none of the Gene pilots are. Planet Earth is shown on TV here very rarely...it's appalling, but at least it's rerun now and then. All I can remember of GII are fragments from the NZ broadcast when I was about 4 years old. Surely every Trekkie worth his phaser would snap these pilots up on DVD? Hell, I'd even watch Planet Earth again...something I vowed never to do...if it came out on disc.

Interesting, strong premise

[EmprKarr · 8/10 · 12 April 2002]

Originally filmed as the pilot for an aborted television series, this television movie from the creator of Star Trek stands as a strong piece of entertainment on its own. It's rarely seen today; there has never been official VHS or DVD release in America, in fact.

The movie demonstrates a lot of ingenuity (the sub-shuttle and the idea of Freud as a saint come to mind). It also captures some of the magic of the original series in its themes, but presents them with a 1970s mentality. It also has some of the camp charm of the original Trek (especially in regards to the underground cave set); the futuristic city's architectural style reminds me of a better realization of the planet Deneva from the original series episode "Operation--Annihilate!" The parade of former Trek actors -- Majel Barrett (Christine Chapel), Percy Rodgriguez (Commodore Stone), Ted Cassidy (Ruk), and of course, Mariette Hartley (whose two belly buttons here is a "gotcha" to the censors, who wouldn't permit her belly button to be shown on the original Trek) is also sure to please any original series fan.

While the film occasionally lapses into weak moments (the reactions to the nuclear shockwave at the end are among the laughable moments), it is nonetheless indicative of a series with great potential. A rare find, and well worth the watch to catch a glimpse of one of a Roddenberry series that never was. (This film was remade as Planet Earth, another failed pilot, a year later.)

If you are into groovy '70s movies or Gene Roddenberry this one is for you.

[ed-503-465183 · 7/10 · 20 December 2019]

OK, I need to warn you right off the bat, this movie hasn't aged well. The fact that it was made with a pilot-sized television budget probably didn't help either. Also, if you're looking for hard science fiction, you're not going to find it here. This is typical Gene Roddenberry fare. But with all its limitations and faults, I enjoyed it.

The acting and character development were rough in spots, and the dialogue might have made me cringe a few times. But remember, this was the early 1970's. The story itself was interesting, although there was no groundbreaking here. If you actually choose to watch this pilot, you've probably seen the themes it plays with many times.

I guess for me, it's because of the nostalgic value that I gave it a couple of extra stars that the work itself really doesn't deserve. It's a reflection of the time it was made and by an author I like. For the total package, I give it 7 stars.

Anti-Utopian theme failed

[midge56 · 4/10 · 16 November 2010]

This was the first of 3 pilots which started with Roddenberry's theme about someone from the past waking up in a post apocalyptical future. Roddenberry also wrote a second movie, Planet Earth with the same concept and characters. But despite the fans love for Roddenberry, he really missed the mark on this one. This theme was just the opposite of what the baby boomers wanted to see and the opposite of the Star Trek Utopian society. Even the third film without Roddenberry, had the same problems.

The reason Star Trek was so popular was because it was a Utopian futuristic society which had risen above wars, violence, disease, poverty, racism and discrimination. It depicted mankind learning from its mistakes and building a peaceful society of exploration, cooperation, invention and forward progress. That Utopian approach appealed to the war weary viewers of this era.

This Trilogy about Pax did exactly the opposite. It showed the degradation of society. Each film, while claiming Pax peace... was filled with violence, segregation, themes of hatred and slavery. Themes of technological regression. These were the very things that this generation of viewers hated. No one wanted to see shows depicting societal disintegration and backward momentum into archaic, violent existences. These were offensive themes which no one wanted to view even once, let alone on a weekly episode.

Even worse, the interpretations of ideal societies as depicted on these shows such as an ancient Rome type of society... were the perceptions and desires of people born in the 20's instead of the views of the generations who were the target audience... the baby boomers.

Our generation hated wars and poverty, discrimination, big brother, environmental damage and establishmentarianism most of all. They wanted to see peace, progress, no poverty, no disease, clean air, no fossil fuels, technological advancement... just like Star Trek.

This trilogy was just the opposite of the themes preferred by both the peace generation or the yuppie generation that followed. Both generations were antiwar. Conversely, this PAX series was one violent conflict after another despite the fact that they called their society by a name for peace. It was just the opposite. Even worse, the core character from the past was a violent man who managed to judge and then destroy one society after another. In this story, it is the Mr Macho main character against an entire Amazonistic society. This kind of macho mentality did not go over well with the baby boomers either.

The first 2 movies written by Roddenberry had the same core problem as the last version which he was not affiliated with. Don't get me wrong. I also idolized Roddenberry but it seemed like no one involved with these movies understood why these three movies failed to generate a series. They simply did not get it... which is surprising considering that Roddenberry was the one who originally understood the concept of the Utopian society during the strong anti-war, pro-peace sentiment of the 60's and 70's.

Perhaps if they had created a truly peaceful, technologically advanced, futuristic society for this series... it might have worked. But all three of these movies were simply unpleasant to watch. Most of us watched them out of respect for Roddenberry in the hope that he had come up with a new series. We continued to hope that they would learn their lesson in the 2nd and third movie but no such luck. It just went downhill from the onset.

At the time these pilot movies were made, we had no conception that society would truly degrade as it has over the past 10 years. Who could imagine that it would go backward and not learn from its mistakes. Fortunately, Roddenberry never saw what society finally became in the 21st century. But when these shows were made, our generations still believed it would improve. How could we have guessed otherwise. While there may be some truth in how a post apocalyptic society might degrade in some distant future... our target generations were not interested in seeing it. We wanted to see forward momentum and progress... not the opposite. Thankfully, they brought back Star Trek until Berman finally managed to destroy that as well... with the same narrow minded thinking as was depicted in this violent trilogy

Clearing up some misconceptions.

[stephe1605 · 8/10 · 3 June 2007]

Genesis II was made for CBS, who turned it down in favor of the Planet of the Apes series, with the thinking that a network could have only one science fiction show on its schedule at a time.

Planet Earth was made for ABC, and it wasn't a sequel, rather, the next episode of the same premise, with a new male lead and a lighter tone.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture's script was written to be an episode of Genesis II. (and was in turn, stolen from an older episode of Star Trek! (Earth satellite comes back looking for its maker))

Andromeda uses two of the characters' names (Dylan Hunt and Harper Smythe)though it has little to do with the original concept. By using the names I suppose the producers could call it "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda") I really wish they would have made a Genesis II series instead,

IMHO: I liked that Mariette Hartley was set up to be a recurring, love-interest/villain for Dylan. It could have been a good show, though I have to agree with the poster who said it probably would have only lasted one season. Still, 26 episodes would have been great to have.

Idiocracy: A New Beginning

[blurnieghey · 6/10 · 31 December 2022]

Unlike a lot of reviewers on here, I can't claim to have any sort of expectation for something that "Roddenberry" was involved in and all I have to say is that, if his other stuff is as full of massive plot holes and huge leaps of basic logic as this thing, then I think I'll pass. So, these guys thought it would be a good idea to build an underground network across massive fault lines (in California no less!) and not expect an earthquake? And how does this suspended animation contraption work again? You stick the guy in a massive Tupperware jar and what did he do for air for 150 years? And no one owns a gun in the future? This is never explained, nor is it explained how the "mutants" were able to subdue the humans to the degree they did in such a relatively short period of time (without guns!). So, they are twice as strong and have these stinger thing-ma-doohickeys? Big deal--they are drastically outnumbered and obviously not twice as smart, or they would have figured out their energy problem. And so on.

But don't get me wrong--this movie is entertaining as hell. Stupid, yes, but fun. Ending leaves a lot to be desired and they decided to skip a huge chunk of action where the hero rigs a nuclear warhead to explode and then escapes (not like anyone would want to watch that or anything), presumably to fit it into time constraints and save a buck or two. Pretty dumb stuff and bad overall, but I got some good laughs out of it and would watch again. Recommended.

Postnuclear vision, hippie style

[SMK-4 · 4/10 · 20 June 1999]

In case you're wondering: this is not a sequel to Genesis I, it is about the re-birth of life and human civilisation after the age of technology collapsed. Watching this, it was never entirely clear to me how seriously the film was taking itself. Some ideas were genuinely wacky, for example that Sigmund Freud was revered as a saint. There were moments when I wanted to smack the scriptwriter right in the face, e.g. when a woman calms her children with "It's only the wind!" while this wind was actually the shockwave of a nuclear explosion.

Without giving too much away: the ending has surprising similarities in structure and motives to endings of many classic westerns, e.g. in the way the boy doesn't get the girl or the problem of the former 'gunfighter' finally joining a peaceful society, a society he helped preserving.

"I bet you've got a great pancreas"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 4/10 · 8 December 2020]

Dylan Hunt, played by a dull Alex Cord, takes part in a cryogenic experiment in the Carlsbad Caverns but an inconvenient earthquake isolates his chamber until he is woken up 154 years later into a different world. Am not surprised this pilot never want to a full series. It's somewhat pedestrian and it's ideas are not that original in the science fiction genre, going back to H.G. Well's 'The Sleeper Awakes' in 1896, or even Irving's 'Rip Van Winkle' in 1819. The caverns look cheap and most of the budget seems to have gone on the underground train. Percy Rodrigues adds intelligent dignity as usual and Lynne Marta (and her pancreas) is cute as Harper-Smythe but that's all the pleasures, apart of course from the Mariette Hartley character Lyra-a's two navels.

A great and lousy TV movie

[skinnybert · 5/10 · 3 October 2022]

First: if you're interested in this because Gene Roddenberry created it, congratulations; you've found what you were looking for. Star Trek connections abound, with no less than three actors who appeared in that venerable series (four, if you count the location). Plus we've got Finnerman on camera and Theiss on costumes. So that's the good news.

Then there's the actual movie. It's terrible in the way that most sci-fi movies tended to be terrible: not enough budget, plot-heavy script, too much time creating and/or explaining the premise. The plot can be summarized as: accident brings protagonist into the future, where two groups vie for supremacy; this takes ten minute to begin. Our protagonist teeters between them while Mariette Hartley changes costumes.

This isn't to say there aren't good spots. It's certainly high-concept, with some decent effects. Percy Rodrigues gives his scenes a great dignity; Ted Cassidy does the same, if more reserved. Once in a while, Mariette Hartley almost shows some sort of feeling, but largely confined to same stony quality which en-deadened Earth II. Fortunately, support actor Lynne Marta has a bit more charisma, though we don't see her much. Leon Askin's voice enlivens his two or three scenes, for those who spent too much time watching Hogan's Heroes.

Ultimately a movie which competently fills 70 minutes of time -- no mean feat -- but accomplishes little else.

Very Underrated Concept; Thoughtful and Lyrical; Fine Series Concept

[silverscreen888 · 8/10 · 21 July 2005]

This film was made for television by Gene Roddenberry, under his NBC contract to develop new properties. Its provocative title referred to a new ecological beginning for Earth, after WWIII had been fought, 150-plus years had gone by, and the ravages of nuclear bombs had been all-but-obliterated. The series was turned down by network 'tsars', although scripts for it were authorized. Two more versions of the concept, including "Planet Earth" were produced as 'pilot' films for a series also. The storyline opens in the near future with Dylan Hunt working at a huge underground facility in Carlsbad Caverns. His project is served by magnetic-slide underground tunnels through which run high-speed trains. His subject is cryogenics, which is a technology with many potential uses from freezing men against the time their diseases will be cured to space-travel applications. Once he arrives on a sub-shuttle train back at the Project, he tries to help as something tectonic goes wrong; he is trapped in a life-sustaining cryogenic environment and sleeps for a century and a half. Those who eventually awaken him are people from the city of Pax, whose teams are combing the Earth contacting and influencing civilizations everywhere. She who finds him first is Lyra-A, a gorgeous mutant from the totalitarian city of Tyrania, set in the mountains near Phoenix; we learn later she is only pretending to be an escapee but really spying, learning what Pax's leaders are planning. Once fully restored, after her nursing and indoctrination of him(quite against Pax's leaders' policies), he sees classrooms and other rebuilding activities, and he meets the city's leaders, the Primuses; and of course they want him to join their effort. They are against the use of nuclear power, against killing for that matter; as a scientist, their attitude does not persuade him to adopt their radical solution to Earth's problems. Feeling he is only hearing one side of the story, he runs off with Lyra-A to see Tyrania. The problem with the mutant city, the abject fear and worship shown to her from the beginning by folk near a train departure station and once within the City, is disturbing to his assumptions. He finds out why the folk were afraid very soon. The city's leaders want him also, to help them repair the defective nuclear power station supplying their city. And they are willing to use the "stim"--an electronic pleasure-pain rod--a Roddenberry hangup-type device--that is the lineal descendant of the agonizer pain device used in the "Star Trek" episodes "Mirror, Mirror" and "Spocks' Brain" plus certain alien race Klingons' devices from the same TV series. Lyra-A begs him to join them; she loves him. But he must refuse and is sentenced to slavery, in the hopes he can be broken. The Pax Team he met earlier, three operatives, rescue him, and get him out of the infernal mutants' city. He goes off alone and, for his own reasons, blows up the nuclear plant. Then he returns to Pax, being willing to help them rebuild the world--to give it "Genesis II". The script for the project was written by Gene Roddenberry; the direction was well-done by John Llewellyn Moxey. Robert M. Anderson did the art direction, William Ware Theiss the costumes. "Star trek" veteran Gerald Perry Finnerman was its cinematographer. This is a beautiful production, using UC Riverside settings to augment its low budget; and its sub-shuttle trains are an excellent device by my standards--the magnetic equivalent of the "Star Trek" starship's less- believable transporter molecular disassembly machines. The mutants with their two navels are well done; the costumes, sets and exterior landscape shots are far-above-average for any film. Alex Cord lacks the classical speech to play the scientist Dylan Hunt, but he is attractive and manages to put the part across. Mariette Hartley is beautiful and effective as Lyra-A; in this period, she was US TV's busiest guest star and this part demonstrates why. The Primuses include Percy Rodrigues as Isaac Kimbridge, the leader, Titos Vandis as Yuloff, the Russian-born Security Chief, Roddenberry's wife Majel Barrett and Beulah Quo, plus Ted Cassidy as the white Indian Isaiah, Lynne Marta as a unisex follower of St. Sigmund Freud's Way, and Bill Strigloss as his Team partners, Harry Raybould as a villainous Tyranian, Robert Swan and Liam Dunn, among others. This is not a preachy film; it is a 1960s film within which the writer expected people to be able to understand the difference between ethical individuals conjoining their efforts in a society and those who prey on victims, the collectivists of any era, including the present. Without this categorical conceptual basis, of distinction, the film cannot be comprehended. So it is both a very-good low-budget entertainment and series concept, and also a litmus-paper test for objective thinking. Because, note--the scientist here rejected both total peace and total war--and he expected to persuade his new fellow citizens in Pax toward something between the democratic and republican extremes. In the meanwhile, there was world to be reclaimed. By the way, the series was probably rejected because it lacked a logical leading man as strong star and because in a long sequence in the original script, which I have read, Roddenberry described World War II (it was not allowed into the production; and Israel among others was on the wrong side of it; all TV network tsars could see was letters of protest; they seem to have missed the excellence of the conception entirely. This was to me as a writer and one who adapted elements of the story into a dramatic sci-fi novel the best of Gene Roddenberry's ideas for a series project.

Echt Roddenberry -- ech!

[williams-27 · 30 May 2004]

Gene Roddenberry did for TV science fiction what Rod Serling did for fantasy -- he choked it full of pretentious, self-aware social commentary.

Roddenberry was never interested in simply telling a good story and letting the critique of contemporary society remain implicit. Instead, the "satire" was brought to the forefront and unsubtly shoved down the viewer's throat.

Genesis II is Gene Roddenberry at his preachy, pompous, pontificating worst. Recommended only if you want to see Majel Barret with two navels.

Tedious and claustrophobic.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 29 July 2022]

The first of several TV movie pilots by Gene Rodenberry about a post apocalyptic world divided into several civilizations where it seems there is no peace and no complete freedom for everybody, a class system in play that makes certain people treated like pets or personal slaves, and enjoying that position. Like "Planet Earth" afterwards, there's an Amazon society where men are either pets or slaves, but in this movie, that community is not shown.

Alex Cord plays a scientist who has been in suspended animation from before the nuclear destruction, and he is taken away from where he wakes up by the emotionless Mariette Hartley who takes him where she calls the desired place to be, and indeed, it looks to be the most civilized but obviously is not. Ted Cassidy costars in this pilot that was difficult to stay awake through. I wouldn't recommend watching this with the other two pilots. As a triple bill, they could put the viewer into suspended animation.

Stunning sci-fi with an absorbing dilemma.....

[ccmiller1492 · 8/10 · 14 January 2007]

Genesis II is stunning sci-fi with an absorbing dilemma. A scientist (Alex Cord) volunteers for a suspended animation experiment, and due to an earthquake is buried. When he is finally excavated it is over 200 years in the future. He finds himself with the choice of joining one of the two factions left on future earth after nuclear war, both factions rather authoritarian in different ways. In ignorance, he chooses the wrong (worst) one and then has to figure out how to extricate himself and return to the original faction which found him (PAX). Mariette Hartley is wonderful as the manipulative beautiful mutant who cozens Dylan Hunt (Alex Cord) into joining the Terraneans. Cord makes a terrific hero, note particularly the scene of his defiance when commanded to repair the Terranean nuclear generator when he is tortured with a "stem", the Terranean pain-inducing taser. The contrast between the two factions is fascinating, with Dylan caught on the horns of a dilemma. Unlike most other stories of this kind, there is no way for Dylan to return to his past, he must live in his present on the best terms he can make.

A pilot for a series that hasn't aged well.

[wtdk123 · 4/10 · 1 October 2020]

Amazingly bad even for its time, "Genesis II" featured some very good actors with clunky dialog and exposition. The premise itself isn't bad just poorly written. Roddenberry's ability as a dramatist could good At times but this strikes me as one of the worst pilots I've seen for a series even if it is from 1973.

It's not a surprise that the show wasn't ordered to series. The second pilot had the same flaws as this one as did the third try "Earth II

Outstanding!

[StuOz · 5 October 2016]

A scientist is placed in our distant future.

Star Trek (1966) has been a lifelong interest of mine so it was great see the maker of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, do this in 1973.

Genesis 11 held me from beginning to end, however I saw it in the form of a terrible print on YouTube, so it was a bit hard to make out some images/sets clearly.

The middle sections of the film needed a bit more punch but it all comes together in the later sections. The star of the show, Alex Cord, does a fine job here.

Another TV movie like this came the following year, Planet Earth, and it contains one of the best 1970s sci-fi theme tunes.

What the hell was this? Cheap story, acting, sets, cinematography, lighting, music, etc

[Bababooe · 3/10 · 26 March 2017]

What the hell was this? Cheap story, acting, sets, cinematography, lighting, music, etc

Interesting idea, but the story and dialogue was just plain poor. Some interesting parts.

Rating is a D, for effort, or 3 stars. Not worth seeing!

What the hell was this? Cheap story, acting, sets, cinematography, lighting, music, etc

Interesting idea, but the story and dialogue was just plain poor. Some interesting parts.

Rating is a D, for effort, or 3 stars. Not worth seeing!

if it wasn't for roddenberry, this would have been horrible

[alrk66-1 · 5/10 · 18 August 2002]

unfortunately, it wasn't to memorable at that. it might have developed into something viable, all things considered for the 70's, but didn't. i love roddenberry's work, but the characters in this series given the relationship between time of the catastrophic event and the changes in the world and rather unbelievable acting lead to a very lukewarm movie at the least. Alex Cord just barely carries off the role of Dylan Hunt. Almost all the undergrounders are rather forced and unbelievable. Mariett Hartley does not do the concept of Terran any good, neither do any of the others portraying this unrealistic and unbelievable mutated race. it just didn't work for me. i'll be adding it to my collection if i can ever find it only because of roddenberry, not for anyother reason!

Classic Roddenberry

[volcanocowgirl · 10/10 · 18 April 2001]

I watched this show when it first came on the air in 1973. GenesisII is classic Roddenberry. The characters and situations are similar to those seen in the original Star Trek. I really liked this show and was hoping it would have been chosen as a series. Alex Cord brought the main character, Dylan Hunt, to life. When this show repeats on a station I can get it is a must watch.