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.

In his book "Star Trek Movie Memories" William Shatner describes Roddenberry's career in the early 70's.With regards to "Planet Earth", it's stated that the network passed on the series because it was felt that it could only afford 1 expensive science fiction television series.The other choice was "Planet of the Apes". Because of the franchise success of the "Apes" films, it was felt by network bigwigs that an "Apes" TV series was the better bet and had more of a chance of being a hit.As it turned out, the "Apes" series tanked after 13 episodes.Hal

This movie was pretty awesome, with great acting(especially by Ted Cassidy and Diana Muldaur), decent special effects, and a good story. Star Trek's Gene Roddenberry, his friend Robert H. Justman, and Star Trek legend director Marc Daniels wove this tv-movie really well. It's available for rent and if you are a sci-fi fan, rent this. I guarantee you you'll like it!