The Ravagers

While The Ravagers (TR) is not the second sci-fi film of 1979, it’s close, AND it is a prefect follow-up to Mad Max. Both feature post-apocalyptic settings. Both feature a protagonist who loses his wife to an evil gang. TR is more of a major Hollywood effort. It stars Richard Harris as Falk (the protagonist). Art Carney and Ernest Borgnine get supporting roles. Ann Turkel plays Faina, Falk’s eventual love-interest. Anthony James plays the sinister leader of the evil gang of Ravagers. In this post-apocalyptic world, mankind separated itself into two groups. Flockers are normal folk who band together for safety, and Ravagers who roam and prey on any and all.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Amid a desolate cityscape in ruins, Bob Falk scavenges for anything. He finds a pair of canned goods and hurries home to his wife, Marion. He is spotted by members of a Ravager gang. They follow Falk to his hidden lair. They attack and ravage/kill Marion. Falk lies in wait, and that night, kills one of the gang. He flees into the night, but the gang leader becomes obsessed with catching and killing Falk. Falk encounters one Flocker band who drive him away with thrown rocks. Through his travels, Falk remembers Marion talking of a promised land named Genesis where plants grow and people have babies. Falk thinks it is only a myth, but keeps wandering with no particular place to be other than where he was. He stumbles upon a rocket graveyard, guarded by an old (and somewhat senile) sergeant (Art Carney). From Sarge, he gets an Uzi. Sarge says he knows a Flocker group with food and women. He leads Falk there. The Flockers live in large cave (former salt mine?). They have food and supplies and like to hold hoedown dances. Falk sees a pretty brunette dancing. He tells her he has tobacco, so she takes him to her bedroom. The transaction is made. Falk tries to sneak out, but Sarge and Faina follow him. Falk wants to travel alone, but they are not cooperating. They hole up in an old country hotel. Evil Leader has followed them. His gang attacks at night. Falk and Faina flee while Sarge gives them covering fire with his M14. Sarge is not killed, however. Evil Leader keeps him. Meanwhile, Falk and Faina come upon another group of Flockers loading supplies into small boats. They convince them to let them come along. Evil Leader released Sarge, to lead the gang to Falk. Sarge goes with Falk and Faina to the Flocker base. This turns out to be a hulk tanker, grounded near shore. They too have lots of food and supplies, and a generator and diesel fuel. The Flockers are ruled by the despotic, though not very menacing Rann (Borgnine). Others ask Falk about Genesis, but he keeps saying it is only a myth. They think he is just being cagey. The Ravagers storm the ship and a sprawling, protracted brawl ensues. Rann is shot, but before he dies, he shoots a flare into a pile of munitions. Explosions ensue. One such explosion breaks up a fight to the death between Falk and Evil Leader. Falk is blown overboard. Evil Leader is burned alive. More explosions consume the ship, presumably killing the last of the Ravagers. In the morning, the refugee Flockers are on the beach. They ask Falk about Genesis. He says “I guess we’re it.” He becomes their defacto leader as they follow him and Faina off the beach. The End.

Why is this movie fun?

Cultural Connection
Bi-Polar Apocalypse — As with Mad Max, the culture of the times imagined the post-apocalyptic world as polarizing mankind into good and evil tribes. The "good" would be constructive, compassionate and civilized. The "bad" would be their polar opposite: destructive, cruel and savage. Both Ravagers and Mad Max exhibit that post-Watergate mindset where traditional authorities (government) are swept offstage as irrelevant. What remains is the rugged individualist — the lone survivor motif. The hero becomes the new authority. This seems like the nascent roots of the Gen X ethos.

Notes
Based on the Book — The script for TR was based on the 1969 novel, “Path to Savagery,” by Robert Edmond Alter. Fans of the book decry the film as deviating too far from the book (and not being as violent). Going from reviews of the book (not having read it yet), it appears that Donald Sanford’s screenplay added Falk’s wife and the promised-land notion of “Genesis.” In the book, Falk starts out as a Loner, and has a Thompson submachine gun as his equalizer. In the film, he later acquires an Uzi. Both the book and the novel have Flockers. The book’s bad guys were called Neanderthals, not Ravagers. Both novel and screenplay have Falk encounter the Flocker camp and “acquire” Faina. The book has people desperately searching for potable water. The screenplay ignored this. In the book, Rann rules over a Flocker colony in a flood-isolated department store, not a ship. The book has Rann as a more significant despot character. Falk fights his epic battle with Rann, not Evil Ravager Leader. The battle amounts to a contest for Rann’s über-desirable “queen” Lara. In the film, Lara is only briefly seen as a mousey brunette beside Rann at the table. The book has Falk (who wins, btw) eschew Lara and leadership of the colony. Instead, he sets off wandering again as a Loner, but now with Faina in tow. No Genesis.

People Want Heroes — In Mad Max, the Fifi character monologues about how, in difficult times, people want heroes. Max did not want to be that hero. Falk, similarly, is not interested in becoming a leader. Both battle evil and triumph — though Falk less by himself than Max. The remnant of Rann’s group are obviously looking for a heroic and righteous leader. Falk shows up and somewhat reluctantly accepts the mantle. “Genesis. I guess we’re it,” he says at the end. The people (hungry for a hero/leader) follow him, even though he has no idea where he is going. People in the late 70s were weary from the government corruption, scandal, and impotence (the Carter years). Clearly, “Government” was no longer seen as the leader. People hankered, instead, for a more personal (tribal level) leader they could believe in again. TR has an element of wishful thinking about personal leadership.

The Promised Land — This is a recurring trope in several post-apocalyptic films. Planet of the Apes (’68,’70) had its vague something out in the Forbidden Zone. In Glen and Randa (’71), Glen seeks a utopian Metropolis beyond the destruction. In Logan’s Run (’76), people imagined there was Sanctuary, beyond the despotic domes. In Damnation Alley (’77), beyond the atomic deserts there was Albany (which turned out to be a Norman Rockwell idyll). Somewhat akin to the 50s Seeds of Hope plot device, the 70s mythos imagined that there had to be a “better place” out there…somewhere, where things were not as bad as we all feel they are here. Falk’s wife was certain there was a real Genesis place. Falk seemed to have internalized the notion back to the personal-action level. People make their own Promised Land.

Infinite Ammo — The usual Hollywood paradigms still apply to the world in TR. In the book, Falk searches for both potable water, AND .45 caliber ammo for his Thompson. In the film, both Sergeant and Falk, fire off long bursts of gunfire — which stereotypically stitches across walls in little explosions and makes lots and lots of ricochet zing sounds. Yet, Falk is never seen carrying any other magazines or ammo. He does not search for any 9mm rounds, or finds any. Nor is he seen reloading. His Uzi just has infinite ammo. Note too, that Falk’s Uzi is pictured as having the ballistic force of a .50 caliber (or larger) weapon. It pushes bad guys through windows and sends them sailing over railings. Gun buffs argue that 9mm rounds don’t have enough force to assure a “kill”, let alone knock people over. But, that’s how Hollywood imagines guns work: infinite ammo and as powerful as tanks. They’re like magic!

Termination Fees — Sanford’s screenplay played with a subtle notion in his view of the post-apocalyptic world. Group membership was not very flexible. The blind lawyer was kicked out of his group for (presumably) not having sufficient utility to merit his consumption. Rather than take him back, or accept Falk, they stone them. The group that Laina was in appeared less rigid, but it was assumed that Falk would simply join and stay. Falk had to sneak out (which wasn’t too hard).  Laina said she could never go back, as that was that Flocker group's rule. Once-gone, always-gone. Rann’s group also had strict membership. Falk and Laina could join, but no one was allowed to leave. This meshes with some popular-wisdom among present day post-apocalyptic thinkers. If People were allowed to leave a group, they could tell others of their location and amount of valuables (food/water/ammo, etc.) and bring back looters. To keep a survival group’s location secret from ne’er-do-wells, members were not ‘free’ to go. Membership contracts did not allow for early termination.

Bottom line? TR is more of a big-budget Hollywood spin on the popular post-apocalyptic tale. Some viewers belittle the movie as too tame, with insufficient action and violence. Others enjoy another foray into imagining what the world would be like post-apocalypse. The visuals in TR give it some interest, particularly the rocket graveyard (which is actually the Alabama Space and Rocket Center, dressed up to look abandoned. There is not much sci-fi to the story, beyond the post-nuclear setting. Viewers who want more sci- in their -fi, may not care for TR. Those who like post-apoc tales in general, may enjoy another spin on the topic.

Mad Max

This Australian indie film is the ancestor to a sub-genre of a post-apocalyptic narrative that lives on today, some 35 years later. It is also the first “sci-fi” of 1979. The story, as told, is more of an automotive recast of a Western, and not particularly sci-fi. But the post-apocalyptic-world genre is, by tradition, a sci-fi realm. George Miller wrote and directed Mad Max (MM). A very young Mel Gibson stars as Max Rockatansky — an anti-hero type that would prove popular. In fact, popular enough that there were two direct sequels and scores of knock-off copies over several decades. Miller was on to something.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The film opens to a pursuit by MFP (Main Force Patrol) police cars, of a criminal fugitive who calls himself The Nightrider. Through some car chase action footage, the comic relief team is put out of action. The straight-man pair are also disabled. Only Max remains, and begins his masterful pursuit. Nightrider becomes un-nevered and eventually dies in a fiery crash. Max returns to his cozy private life of pretty wife, Jesse and their baby boy. Max wants to quit the MFP, but his boss, Fifi tries to bribe him to stay with a black suped-up V8 interceptor. Max still wants out. Meanwhile a motorcycle gang, led by Toecutter, roar into a country town to collect the body of Nightrider, which arrived via train. The gang terrorize the town awhile. A young couple flee (in a highly customized red 1959 Bel Air), nearly running over Toecutter in the process. He summons his gang to pursue them. The gang catches up, disables the car, demolishes the car and terrorizes the pretty young woman. Later, Max’s co-worker friend, “Goose” is called to the scene. He comforts the girl, and apprehends one of the gang — Johnny the Boy — because he was stuck there with a malfunctioning bike. Goose vents his outrage on Johnny, but lawyers get him off because no one would press charges. Toecutter’s gang decide to get even with Goose. They stage an ambush, causing him to crash the little truck he was driving. He is trapped inside. Toecutter insists that Johnny kill Goose to prove he is worthy to be in the gang. Johnny reluctantly complies. Goose lives, but only a disfigured vegetable. Max is upset and tries to quit. Fifi tells him to take a two-week vacation instead and think about it. Max, Jesse and son take a vacation grandma’s farm, near the coast. This inadvertently puts them in close proximity to where the gang was camping. Toecutter tries to score on Jesse, but she knees him in tender regions. The gang pursue, eventually finding her and running her (and her son) down. Both die. Max goes ‘mad’ at the loss. He dons his black leather MLF attire and fires up the black interceptor. He kills a couple of the gang, but they stage an ambush. Max is shot in the knee, but shoots one attacking biker. He hobbles back to his car to pursue Toecutter, who dies in a head-on with a semi. Max later finds the only gang member remaining, Johnny, looting a dead pickup driver. Max handcuffs Johnny to the wreck with a lit lighter, a container filling with dripping gasoline, and a hacksaw so Johnny can escape by saw off his own ankle. Max drives off, the pickup explodes. Max drives off into the forbidden out-lands. Fade to black. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
There is a lot of fast road-based action in MM. Fans of things automotive will see that George Miller is a kindred spirit. The driving stunts are fairly impressive for a modest-budgeted film. The scenery of the vast Australian countryside has stark beauty to it too.

Cultural Connection
Fearing Societal Collapse — MM touched a cultural chord in its portrayal of a society in mid-collapse. The usual authorities — courts, law enforcement — cannot cope with the rise of lawlessness. Cruel and sadistic gangs of criminals terrorize the helpless civilians. This comes to the screen just as President Carter is describing a “crisis in confidence” in his famous Malaise Speech. Gone are the 50s when the government and army would rush in to save the populace from the monsters. Also gone are the late-60s-early-70s days when the government was seen as an all-powerful all-controlling tyrant. The new era of the 80s would see government as fundamentally powerless and society itself as crumbling into anarchy. Note the decay in the “Hall of Justice” sets. Disrepair, decay, clutter. “Justice” was crumbling away. Later MM movies, and many of its clones, would weave in punk culture as symbolic of the anarchy of the collapse.

Notes
Missing Backstory — Miller chose to start telling his story in the middle, instead of from the beginning. This disconcerts some people. Without the backstory, the characters, scenes and events can appear disjointed and random. The more attentive viewer is given hints throughout the film as to that backstory, but it is never stated overtly. Miller must have felt the criticism for this, as he starts his second Mad Max film, The Road Warrior (’81) with a preamble that both recaps MM, the first film, and provides the overt backstory that he left subtle (too subtle?) in MM.
Before MM opens, there was WWIII. Nuclear exchanges wiped out much of the “old” civilization. Australia misses the brunt of it (ala On The Beach), but the remaining “authorities” were too few to control the vast expanse of the world. As such, outlaws ruled the hinterlands. The MFP is what little is left of a highway patrol, in a losing-game battle against the lawless forces of evil. In MM, society has not completely collapsed (as in RW). Instead, there is the shell of old-world normalcy as people try to carry on as they always had, despite the shortages, privations and growing lawlessness. THIS is the world MM opens to.

People Need Heroes — At one point, Max’s boss tries to talk him into staying on the MFP with a pep talk about people needing heroes. Max scoffs, and Fifi wasn’t too sincere, but his comment resonated, nonetheless. Movie audiences in 1979 did want a hero — an individual hero. The old days of the government saving people, or the army, were past. The mid 70s were a dour period of gloom about oppressive, corrupt government (think Andromeda Strain, Soylent Green, Z.P.G. in which there were no happy endings. Amid the Malaise, the notion of a single hero (not a government agency) seemed like a good idea. This new hero could be a bit rough (think Dirty Harry), but would deal harshly with a cruel (new) world. That is one of Max’s appeals.

Car Nuts — The three multi-colored MFP cars in the opening chase scene, as well as Max’s suped-up black interceptor, were all Ford Falcons — Australian. When Ford/Australia introduced their Falcon in 1960, it was made on identical tooling as the American version. Viewers can spot a few of those old-style Falcons in the film too. But, in 1972, Ford/Australia introduced an all new design (and unique to Australia), but kept the traditional nameplate. Max’s interceptor was a modified 1973 XB coupe. Miller doted on scenes to show of the coupe’s supercharger in action — a real car-nut sort of thing to dote on. Max’s black coupe captivated audiences almost as much as Max did himself, so it returned with Max to start the sequel. The team might have also been an inspiration for American television’s “Knight Rider.”

Bottom line? MM has its strong points and weak points. It’s a low-budget production, and Miller’s first feature film, so some “roughness” should be expected. MM has its fans and detractors. The more outlandish sequel proved more to audiences’ liking, making the first film feel a bit dowdy in comparison. There is little sci-fi to MM. This linkage comes from the post-apocalyptic future angle. For people new to the MM franchise, watch the intro to the first few minutes of the second film (The Road Warrior) to get the backstory, then watch MM. Mad Max has become a cultural icon, so his first film is worth seeing, if only to understand that icon better.

Deathsport

Roger Corman tried to create a sequel to his moderately successful Death Race 2000 (’75) with Deathsport (DS) The setting was also in the dystopian post-apocalyptic future and featured gladiatorial-style combat via vehicles. This time, however, it was dirt bikes. David Carradine stars, Claudia Jennings co-stars. A dozen or so Yamaha dirt bikes, dressed up with welded aluminum faces also co-star as the over-hyped “death machines”. DS had several writers and several directors, and it shows. SEE many things explode. HEAR the stars speak in psuedo-zen aphorisms. MARVEL at mighty dirt bikes! But, be patient.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A thousand years after the neutron wars, the world is divided up into city states. Between them lies desert wastes call The Range. Kaz Oshay (Carradine) is a Range Guide — a sort of High Plains Drifer cum Jedi knight. Deneer (Jennings) is a female Range Guide. The ruler of the city state of Helix has his men capture Kaz and Deneer so he can have men on his much-vaunted Death Machines (dirt bikes) kill the Guides in gladiatorial combat. This, to prove to the people of Helix that he has a super weapon so they can win a war against another city state, Tritan. Lord Zirpola also has a brain tumor and is going off the rails. After much pointless footage, the dirt bike battle begins, but Kaz and Deneer not only prevail, they escape. Ankar Moor, Zirpola’s dressed-in-black lieutenant, purses them with still more dirt bikes. After a long chase with lots of dash-cam footage from the dirt bike’s POV, there are some battles and skirmishes. Kaz and Deneer detour to save a little girl taken by mutants. While Deneer and the girl press on to the city of Tritan, Kaz and Ankor have their much-hyped duel with glass swords. Ankor loses his head. Deneer comes to Kaz with some horses, they ride off into the sunset. The End,

Why is this movie fun?
If one is fond of seeing fireball special effects, and things blowing up, DS will be an entertaining film. Quite a few times, things blow up for no apparent good reason. The dialogue is unintentionally funny.

Cultural Connection
Nightmare to Fantasy — As lame a movie as DS is, it is still one of the early examples the shift in how the culture viewed the nuclear apocalypse. Instead of being seen as a terrible fate, the apocalypse would wipe away the old world (which prior generations controlled) and usher in a new blank slate in which the young, buff and beautiful could live idyllic lives. Fantasy notions of stone age, or medieval life could mix with technology. This proved to be a popular formula for films in the 80s (think Mad Max and variants), as the late Boomers, eary-GenXers could fantasize about romantic simplicity, yet still have their techno-toys.

Notes
Conan and the Dirt Bike — As befitting the fantasy mix of old and new, the hero (Carradine) runs around in a fur-hooded cape (for warmth?) and a loin cloth. He carries a big glass sword (a “whistler”), and gets to woo the beautiful blond in a leather bikini (and a matching glass sword). YET, he also gets to tear up the desert on a dirt bike, doing jumps and tricks AND see lots of stuff blow up. DS is a Chex Party Mix of adolescent male fantasies.

Film Fads — There must have been something in the water in the late 70s. This is the third film — almost in a row — in which there were (1) many fireball explosions filmed from multiple angles and played back numerous times, and (2) rolling rubber heads. Did someone publish a study in the mid 70s that said audiences wanted to see rubber heads rolling around? Melting Man, Fury and now DS all had rubber heads rolling around.

Fireball Fun — Roger George is credited with the pyrotechnics. He and the aluminum welder appear to have gotten the bulk of the budget. Watch for how many dirt bikes blow up and go sailing into the air. Watch for the chase through the fuel factory. It is a pointless scene as far as the plot goes, but it allows George the opportunity to burn many things and stage several explosions. The multiple oil barrels set must have been a favorite.

Weapons of Mass Indifference — Perhaps the writer and/or directors had a fascination for dirt bikes which transcended reality. How else to explain mere dirt bikes as supposedly terrifying and war-winning “Death Machines”? The dozen or so Yamaha bikes were dressed up with some welded aluminum face plates and some add-on tubes. They were overdubbed to make sounds like Imperial tie-fighters so they did not sound like a pack of angry chainsaws. But, as a terror weapon, the dirt bike fails miserably. If a rock or a patch of sand can stop your Death Machine, how terrible is it, really? Audiences were unimpressed too.

Type 2 Sequel — Roger Corman produced DS, and appears to have been trying to find out just how cheaply a film could be produced. DS is fashioned as a sequel to Death Race 2000, though not as a Type 1 sequel. The storyline or characters of DS do not continue that of DR2K. Instead, DS is a repeat of the formula in a new place, with new characters and subtle tweaks. It is another motorized sport-to-the-death imposed by a tyrant in a post-apocalyptic world.

If You Can’t Be Good, Get Naked — Corman must have seen that DS was turning out to be a milk toast film. In a flagrant attempt to boost ticket sales he inserts two scenes of full-frontal nudity. The first is with Jennings. (the torture by string lights scene). He repeats this, for little good reason, with a second young woman who dances erotically for Lord Zirpola. Corman knew his flim was no good, so his only hope was to include naked women. Even that was not sufficient to save DS.

No Third Film — Plans were, for there to be a third film in the “Death” series — DeathWorld. This third film was abandoned when DS turned out to be a box-office dud. Perhaps one could justify a third film on the grounds that it simply had to be better, but this logic may not have wooed funding.

Bottom line? DS is a very poor film. The writing is insipid. The directing testifies that all three directors did not quite know what sort of film they were making. Carradine is bland as Conan the Dirt Biker. Jennings is okay. Lynch is at least a melodramatic villain (in his Goth black with studs). There are fans of the post-apocalyptic fantasy world genre. They might be amused with DS as an early example. Other viewers may find boredom or annoyance in lieu of amusement.

Damnation Alley

20th Century Fox released in October of 1977 a film which they had hoped would have been the memorable sci-fi epic of the year. Damnation Alley (DA) had a big budget, some known actors, and a story developed from the traditional Atomic Angst mythos. The tale is essentially a post-apocalyptic survival road trip. What Fox had not counted on when they started the project in 1976, was George Lucas releasing Star Wars in May ’77, just a few months ahead of their 'epic'. When it hit the theaters, DA was instantly a pair of dockers at a tuxedo wedding. George Peppard plays Major Denton. Jan-Michael Vincent plays Tanner. Both are actually co-stars to the real star of the film, The Landmaster armored personnel carrier.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Major Denton (Peppard) and Lt. Tanner (Vincent) arrive at an Air Force missile base in California, for their shift in the deep launch control room. While they’re going through their checklist, the radar lights up with dozens of incoming missiles, each headed for a US city. Interceptor missiles are launched. Denton and Tanner launch theirs. Only 40% of the hostile missiles are intercepted, so most US cities are destroyed. In fact, the whole country is laid waste. Atomic storms rage in the atmosphere. The earth is tipped off its axis, so freakish storms wrack the wasteland. Due a technician falling asleep with a lit cigarette, in the room where explosives are stored, most of the base is blown up. The survivors, Denton, Tanner, Lt. Perry and Airman Keegan set out in two jazzed up 12-wheel personnel carriers: Landmaster One and Landmaster Two. Their objective is Albany, NY which is the source of a repeating taped message. During tornado storm, Landmaster Two is wrecked and Lt. Perry killed. Keegan joins Denton and Tanner. They stop in Las Vegas for some pointless playing of slot machines. There, they meet Janice, who thought she was the last person on earth. The four of them set out, bound for Salt Lake City, to find fuel. When they get there, they find out there are killer cockroaches. Tanner and Janice barely escape on a dirt bike. Keegan does not. He is eaten. The three set out east again. They find an orphan pre-teen named Billy, who is very good at throwing rocks. He thought he was the last person alive too. The four set out again. They come upon a remote gas station. When they scout for fuel and supplies, they are captured by four ‘mountain men’ with guns. They want Janice for their ‘comfort’. In some quick action, the mountain men are defeated and/or killed. Denton blows up the gas station with some missiles. After a couple of montages meant to depict long travels, they come to Detroit. The Landmaster has mechanical trouble. Denton needs semi-truck parts to fix it. While salvaging the parts in a junkyard, an even stranger storm blows in. They all huddle in the Landmaster as flood waters crash in. The Landmaster is tossed, but floats, Ark-like on the angry waves. The skies clear to a normal blue. Eventually, they spot their version of Mount Ararat. They land in bucolic northern lake country. Their radio crackles a non-recorded message from Albany. Everyone is excited. Tanner and Billy race ahead on the dirt bike and are greeting with hugs from a community of survivors. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Fans of Atomic Angst films can appreciate the big-budget effort to show the post-apocalypse after a nuclear World War III. The first 15 minutes of the film actually present a good drama of what the opening minutes of that sort of war might be like. The Landmaster machine itself is the real star of the film. It cannot help but appeal to a viewer’s inner little boy. (more on that below)

Cultural Connection
Anti-War Vogue — An occasional subtext running through DA is the 70s-contemporary ‘disdain’ for all things military. Both the Tanner and Keegan characters are disgruntled airmen who quickly resign after WWIII. Tanner is the archetypal youth who loathes authority figures. This was a popular meme in the day. This was undermined by the fact that the authority figure (Denton) saves Tanner’s butt several times. In one bit of exposition, the Keegan character gives the 70s-trendy monologue about how people should never fight wars, but just stay home and make babies. The mountain-men scene pretty well explains why the youthful-naive sentiment doesn't pan out.

Notes
Based on the Book — Based, but only lightly. Roger Zelazny wrote a novella in 1967, entitled “Damnation Alley”. This, he expanded to a novel in 1969. The basic plot for the film was developed by Lukas Heller. Heller kept the basic premise of a nuclear-war-ravaged world and a cross-country trip in a jazzed up vehicle. He also kept the main character’s name of Tanner. From there, Heller’s script diverged. In the book, Hell Tanner is criminal, bribed with a promise of a pardon, if he will drive across the inhospitable middle of the country (called Damnation Alley) to bring a serum to plague-ravaged Boston. Heller has survivors of the war emerge and go across country in search of survivors in Albany. Tidbits that Heller kept include: Tanner being a motorcycle occasionally, a storm damaging one of the other vehicles, a stop in Salt Lake City, finding a lone woman, and a quasi-idyl outside of Albany. What Heller changed? It’s a team driving across, not a lone convict. He added the killer cockroaches and the mega-flood. He also turned Albany into the rosy destination. Zalazny had Tanner complete his mission, but fade away anti-climactically. Where the movie DA was not too highly received by the critics, Zelazny’s book had its critics too, who thought it read like a flat B-movie. (though one might ask why that’s a bad thing.)

Suped-Up Star — The real star of DA is the Landmaster. Make note of how much screen time the Landmaster gets. (a lot) Surprising, in the era of virtual-everything via CGI, the big 12-wheeled behemoth was an actual, functioning vehicle. It was built for the movie by Dean Jeffries of Jeffries Automotive. A single big gasoline engine drove two axles, each

equipped with a triad of wheels which could rotate about the axle. The Landmaster did not have brakes, however. The driver had to use downshifting to slow down. It was steered by hydraulics bending it in its middle, like a big loader. Watch the driving scenes and you will see the stretchy fabric between front and rear halves wrinkle occasionally, as the unit articulates. A small model was made of the Landmaster, for the flood scene, but the unit floating in calm water and paddling to shore via its wheeled triads, is the real unit. The Landmaster cost $350,000 to build, so there was only one made. One suspects that Fox invested so much in a single huge prop, expecting there to be a television series or sequels. None came. The Landmaster itself got a few bit parts in other projects, but languished for the most part. It is said to still be in California someplace, either restored, or undergoing restoration.

On The Beach, On Land — The faint repeating radio signal, and the all-out quest to see if there are any other survivors of the holocaust, is strongly reminiscent of On The Beach (’59). Where OTB was a dour tale of doom unaided, DA turns it into a happy story with the seekers finding happy survivors.

Sappy Handy Ending — Critics of the film usually agree that the ending was too handy, and too sappy. Denton sets up the foreshadowing when he tells Billy how the earth is all nasty and stormy because the nukes tilted it on its poles. If it could just right itself, everything would return to normal. Why Denton believed that, was never explained. But, sure enough, while they’re in Detroit, a mega storm (and subsequent flood) somehow cleanse the Earth of all unrighteousness. The skies clear. The storms abate. Overnight, stately spruce trees line the wetland shores. Then, once they make contact with Albany, they find a bucolic landscape of rural horse farms, quaint farmhouses and white painted fences. Even for scriptwriter Alan Sharp (who did most of the dialogue, not the plot), Heller’s plot was a little too “Norman Rockwell”.

Star Gazing — Those who watched too much television in the 80s will recognize George Peppard as “Hannibal” from The A Team. His faux-southern accent fades in and out, providing more distraction than color. Jan Michael Vincent starred in many films as the hunky and clean “rebel” youth. HIs Tanner comes across obstinant than hearing a different drummer. A couple of minor cast notes: Jackie Haley, who plays young Billy, would go on to play Freddy Kruger in Nightmare on Elm Street. Seamon Glass, who plays one of the rapacious “mountain men” at the gas station, was the star-crossed deputy in This Is Only A Test (’62)

Bottom line? DA is a throwback to the old fashioned narrative of nuclear apocalypse. it even has some big bugs (scorpions, cockroaches) to keep up the 50s tradition. The story is moderately entertaining enough to pass the 90s minutes. For the pre-CGI world, the sets and effects were pretty big. The Landmaster is just plain cool. If George Lucas has not blown away the old Atomic Angst paradigm, DA might have been remembered. As it was, however, DA was eclipsed by a galaxy far far away. DA is not great, but makes a pretty good 50s B-movie.

The Ultimate Warrior

The 70s appetite for post-apocalyptic tales rolled on with the American release of The Ultimate Warrior (TUW) in late June of 1976. The story is not really “science” fiction, as much as it belongs in the post-apocalyptic genre. Yet, this genre often included sci-fi stories, so the two are popularly associated. Yul Brynner stars as a freelance “warrior” amid the tribal societies of a post-apocalyptic New York City. Max von Sydow stars as “The Baron”, leader of one of the tribes. William Smith stars as “Carrot”, leader of a ruthless rival tribe. Robert Clouse, famous as the director of martial arts films such as, Enter The Dragon, wrote the story as well as directed. Taking place in far off 2012, Clouse imagined things could get really bad in 40 years.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Text on screen: New York, 2012 A.D. Still images paint a picture of ruin and desolation. In the city, there is a compound, fortified with junk ramparts, in which a remnant of civilized mankind lives. They call their leader: The Baron. They are puzzled by a man who just stands in front of the library, for days, in a meditative trance. Convinced that the man is the warrior he needs, The Baron makes him an offer of food, lodging, freedom and cigars. The cigars get Carson’s attention. They have a deal. The Baron’s son-in-law, Cal, has gardens on the rooftops. He is growing food plants that are immune to the plague that decimated the earth decades ago. The Baron’s real plan is not just to have Carson be their warrior. He wants Carson to take his pregnant daughter, Melinda and Cal out of the city via subway tunnels, to go live on an idyllic island off the North Carolina coast. Civility within the compound is breaking down. People accuse each other of secretly hoarding food and not sharing. One shrew of a woman ventures out beyond the gates, assuming that she knows where some powdered milk is hidden. Members of the rival (and criminal) gang, led by a read-headed man named Carrot, catch the couple in the bakery and kill them. They use the baby as bait to lure more out in attempted rescue. Carson goes out and kicks a lot of butt, but the baby was dead. Carson’s men sneak up to the roof gardens at night via ladders. In the fighting, Cal is killed, as are many of Carrot’s men. This attack moves up The Baron’s timetable. He sends Carson and Melinda off through the tunnels. The rest of the people see this and turn on the Baron, accused of hiding food. He is killed by his own people. Meanwhile, Carrot’s men also know that Carson and Melinda are on the run. They want the seeds, so track and follow them through the tunnels. Carson defeats a few, but Melinda goes into labor. He helps deliver the baby boy, just in time for Carrot and his gang to arrive. There is more fighting. Carson keeps an upper hand, so Carrot’s men all run away. Carrot and Carson go mano a mano. Carrot wields a steel ball on a cable, like a mace. Eventually, Carson grabs it and they struggle. Carrot falls down an access shaft and hangs by the cable twisted around Carson’s wrist. Carson tries to cut the cable with an axe, but cannot. So, he pulls it up a bit, and chops off his own hand. Carrot falls to his death. Carson sticks his stump into a torch flame to cauterize the wound. He and Melinda keep traveling, eventually seeing an island off the coast. Freeze frame, The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Seeing the civilized world we like to assume is permanent, in a state of abandon and decay, has a curious fascination. The trope isn’t new, by any means, but TUW presents it an understated stage. Yul Brynner does a good job as Carson, giving the usual stoic hero a bit more human depth. Max von Sydow does a good job as The Baron, the world-weary (yet resolutely hopeful) leader of a decaying society.

Cultural Connection
TEOTWAWKI — Exploring the notion of The End Of The World As We Know It, has shown up periodically in books since the early 1800s, and later in movies. Writers and audiences had a sinking feeling (every now and then) that the civilization to which people had grown accustomed to might fail. Then what would people do? In the industrializing era of the 19th century, teotwawki fiction did not get a lot of traction. Mankind just seemed to be solving problems left and right. How could civilization not just keep getting better and better (meliorism). Still, the occasional prophet in the wilderness asked the question: what if? With the advent of the nuclear era, the prospect of comfy civilization crumbling looked a lot more plausible. When the late 60s-early 70s added angst over pollution and overpopulation, people had even more reasons to picture teotwawki. The end of civilization was taking on more of a "when" than "if" quality.

Notes
A Tale of Two Tribes — Mankind is shown as reduced and polarized into two social groups. The Baron’s group represent the leftover civility, if not quite the “goodness”. Carrot’s group clearly represents the consortium of badness. To underscore this, Clouse has their headquarters be a prison block. Between the two tribal camps were the “street people” — unorganized feral humans who preyed on the weak or the stray.

BioHazard — Just what crashed civilization is not given much ink in the script. Clearly, why civilization fell was not crucial. That it did, is a given. Mankind must deal with it. A few lines of dialogue explain that there was a plague which not only affected people (in the subway tunnels are skeletons wearing gas masks), but more importantly, the plague killed the world’s food crops. Those who did not die of plague, or starved to death, were reduced to scavengers of whatever food existed before the plague. TUW shares this food-doom theme with No Blade of Grass (’70). This was a background them in Silent Running (’72) and Soylent Green (’73). The 70s was a time of food angst.

Taint of Doom — Within The Baron’s group, can be seen the legacy problems that plagued mankind since Cain slew Abel. They cling to hope, and try to maintain some semblance of order, but the fallen nature of humanity shows through the widening cracks. Shortages lead to jealousies and suspicions. Tempers are short. One man, a sort of Judas character, steals a tomato (forbidden fruit) and plants it in another man’s hut. The framed man gets no support from his neighbors, hinting at offstage tensions or rivalries. When The Baron arranges the escape of Carson and Melinda, the people turn on The Baron. They accuse him of taking food, or even simply the crime of having food he had not shared. In a jealous rage, the mob kills The Baron. Only The Baron’s lieutenant seems to realize afterward how they had suddenly decayed into a savage mob, ala The Lord of the Flies.

Symbolic Hope —The Baron saw the decay of his group growing. That is why he recruited Carson. It wasn’t to protect the group from Carrot’s gang, although he did do some of this. The Baron saw the only hope for the survival of civilized man, was to once again become producers of food, not scavengers. Symbolic of that hope is the bag of seeds which Cal had grown. Also symbolic is the unborn child within Melinda. The fabled island off North Carolina is a neo-Promised-Land where mankind can start over. Carson and Melinda, while never cast as a romantic pair, become a sort of Adam and Eve with their Garden sanctuary off the coast.

Why “Ultimate” Warrior? — In the usual melodrama formula, an “ultimate” warrior would be a Schwartzeneger type who defeats all enemies. Here, though, the “ultimate” describes Carson’s role as the archetypal heroic MAN. He cares for and protects the maternal figure (Melinda). With the seeds, he prefigures his role as homesteader/provider. He delivers a baby! He was even willing to sacrifice his own hand to insure the micro-family would be safe from evil. Yes, he battles all the baddies, but all that in protection of the micro-family. This is ultra-manhood, not mere machismo.

Which Wrist? — A viewer might ask (and has) why Carson did not cut off Carrot’s hand instead of his own. There are a few problems with this “obviously” better plan. One, Carson may not have had the strength left, after all those fights, to pull heavy Carrot up high enough. Second, is that Carrot would not have simply held still enough for Carson to make the chop, which leads to: Third, to have his cable-gripped hand within range of the axe, would put the axe within range of Carrot’s free hand. To swing at Carrot’s wrist was to risk Carrot grabbing the axe and pulling Carson down too. Fourth, is that pulling Carrot up high enough to chop his wrist, would put Carrot's free hand within grabbing distance of the edge of the hole. No, it was no sloppy mistake by the scriptwriter. Carson had to sacrifice his own wrist to avoid the risk of Carrot getting out.

We’re Not in New York Anymore, Toto — Even though the story takes place in the ruins of New York City, the filming was actually done in California, mostly on sound stages and back lot generic “city” sets. The only visuals to place the action in New York, are still photos at the beginning and end. It interesting to see in the beginning montage, that the Twin Towers were still standing in “2012”. Of course, who in 1975 would have guessed what 2001 would bring?

Bottom line? TUW is an interesting post-apocalyptic tale that predates the more famous Mad Max series. There are several tangents to muse upon. The acting is convincing, the sets bleak and the cinematography reasonably good. Fans of Clouse for his martial arts and fight scenes may be disappointed, as fighting is not the focal point. Fans of post-apocalyptic tales can enjoy the usual stories of bravery and survivorship. TUW is not well known, but worth the time to watch.

A Boy and His Dog

The last sci-fi film of 1975 was A Boy and His Dog (ABHD). This was a somewhat peculiar film in that it was partly a classic post-apocalyptic tale, partly a black comedy, also partly a social commentary, but intermixed with misogynist elements that disturb quite a few viewers. Based on the 1969 novella of the same title by Harlan Ellison, adapted for the screen by L.Q. Jones — who also directed. A young Don Johnson (pre-Miami Vice) stars as Vic, the boy with the dog. Actor-dog “Tiger” co-stars as Blood, the telepathic partner.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The year: 2024. Vic and Blood eek out a living on the barren desert of the American southwest in the post-apocalyptic wastelands following World War IV. They’re “Solos” who forage and steal bits from other bands of foragers. Blood communicates with Vic telepathically. Vic just talks to Blood. Blood can’t hunt for his own food, for some reason, so Vic provides food for them both. In exchange, Blood locates “females” via his heightened doggy senses, so that Vic might have his way with them. Vic is a bit shallow and highly libidinous. Blood does locate a female in disguise. Vic follows her to a buried school. He plans to rape her, but she’s disarmingly calm and chatty. Quilla June is “cooperative” too, which surprises, and beguiles Vic. She knocks him out and flees. Vic follows her down into the “Down Under.” There, he enters the subterranean world of WWIV survivors who have recreated the world above (trees, grass, buildings, etc.) all done in the tone of early 1900s rural America. “Topeka” is run by The Committee. Quilla June was the “cheese” to lure Vic into the trap. She expects to get onto the ruling committee as payment for her service, but she’s put off with excuses. She bristles at this. Periodically, the women of Topeka fail to get pregnant. Underground living does something bad to their DNA. So, a young strong specimen from above is brought down to provide new ‘seed’. Vic thinks stud service would be okay, but he’s hooked up to a milking machine to extract his seed. No joy there. Quilla June helps Vic escape, hoping that he’ll help her and some cohorts kill the Committee so she and her cohorts can take over. Vic has no stomach for revolt and just wants to flee. The coup fails. Quilla June has no option but to go with Vic back to the surface. When they get there, Blood is near death from starvation, having waited all those days or weeks. Quilla June urges Vic to abandon Blood and run off with her. Vic gets a sinister look. Fade to black. Fade back in to a campfire. Blood is better, having eaten well. As Vic and Blood leave, Blood comments that Quilla June had remarkable judgement, if not very good taste. They both laugh at the pun. Freeze frame. Credits. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Once one gets over the disturbing aspects (rape, misogyny, etc.) the dark humor can be fun. The visuals are intriguing too. Long’s vision of post-apocalyptic life: with ragtag bands of scruffy people wearing tattered scraps of clothing and junk for structures, is much like the classic “Mad Max” motif — even if before Mad Max. Long’s vision of the Down Under world is also intriguing for it’s odd veneer of “normal” over a reality of “1984”.

Cultural Connection
Rural-phobia — 1975 was a “good year” for films expressing an urbanite’s fear of rural life. Giant Spider Invasion painted a grim picture of rural folk as crude and hopelessly backwards (as well as morally bankrupt and greedy). Just how city folk might imagine “they” are “out there.” The Stepford Wives painted a grim picture of suburbia. The banality, the conformity, were just too creepy for hip city folk to endure. In ABHD, that fear of the rural is exemplified in Topeka, the land “down under.” Again, the banality and rigid conformity. People go about with smiles painted on their faces, going about with routines of faux-normal — marching bands, barbershop quartets, etc. These three films together start to paint a picture of how big city people might “see” life in the hick middle between two “hip” coasts.

Notes
Misogyny? — Many viewers are disturbed by the apparent misogyny of Ellison’s story and Long’s adaptation. It’s true that the story paints a view in which women are little more than objects to be ravaged then killed (or eaten). Yet, consider the story to be told from the point of view of a hormone-charged 15 year old (the age of Vic in the novella). To a boy of that age, all that matters is getting his rocks off with no regard at all for the woman as a person. ABHD is as self-centered and insensitive as a sex-obsessed teen might typically be. Note that the title stays A Boy and His Dog, not A Sensitive Mature Man and His Dog.

Classic Split — The Down Under scenes are the most intriguing. The trope of post-apocalyptic survivors carrying on with civilization underground, has a long history in sci-fi film. 1952 has “1,000 Years From Now” (or it’s racier title, Captive Women) with the ragtag Mutants living on the surface with the corrupt “Normals” living beneath. Of course, H.G.Wells had his Eloi and Morlocks, 1956 had World Without End, in which the surface was populated with mutant cavemen and underground was civilized society, and with degeneration due to life under ground. In 1973’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes, there were the ragtag humans (and apes) on the surface. Beneath the ruined cities lived a society of “civilized” techno-enabled survivors — also with degeneration. In ABHD, that society is presumed to keep carrying on.

Pre-Max — Even though the make of Mad Max says ABHD was not an influence on him, we see much the same vision of what post-apocalyptic Earth would be like. Barren landscapes. Scruffy survivors wearing rags and mismatched odd things. Vehicles and structures made from junk of the “before” times. This vision was so much invented by any one artist, so much as it multiplied. Glen and Randa (’71) had ragtag survivors scrounging for old-world food amid a desolate post-apocalyptic landscape. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (’73) had ragtag humans and crude vehicles. Death Race 2000 (’75) introduced the “punk” element. Planet Earth (’75) also had ragtag mutants and odd junk vehicles in a desolate landscape (and with civilized normals living underground, from the Genesis II story line). As such, with George Miller’s Max-world came along, there was already a foundation of that view of what a post-apocalyptic world would look like.

Love Cynic — While Ellison might not have intended his story to be misogynist, he did appear to have a grim view of “love.” In ABHD, the men on the surface have no love. They only seek sex. Quilla June uses sex as a tool to get what she wants (power). The Committee use her (and sex) as bait for a trap. Vic hooked up to the milking machine is a fitting visual metaphor for the impersonal nature of sex in 2024. Quilla June tosses around the word “love” but only as a ploy. One minute she’s berating Vic for not doing what she wants. The next minute, she’s professing to love him, as a ploy to get him to do her bidding. Even in the end, she professes love for Vic, but even his simple mind can see through her ploy. She needed him to survive. Vic realized he did not need her nearly so much as he imagined. Hence his willingness to sacrifice her for Blood.

Bottom line? ABHD can be a tough film for some people to watch, given its (apparent) anti-woman elements. But, if one can see even those scenes as part of the selfish pubescent point of view, the rest of the elements can be appreciated. ABHD isn’t for everyone, but it is a well told tale with some intriguing subtexts. Don Johnson actually does a fair job of acting, given that he’s delivering his lines to a dog. ABHD is worth watching, as long as you’re braced for the harsh elements.
—

Strange New World

Someone at Warner television must have really believed in Gene Rodenberry’s “PAX” story line. In ’75, they tried a third variation on the PAX theme. This time, the title was Strange New World (SNW) — taken from the prologue of Star Trek. Roddenberry himself had lost enthusiasm for the project by this point and bowed out. Warner pressed on. John Saxon stars again as the leader, though renamed Anthony Vico instead of Dylan Hunt. This third and final installment in the PAX Trilogy is more of a derivative than a sequel. The establishing back story is different. This pilot also failed to engender enough interest to get development into a series. It had no theatrical release, hence the VHS box in lieu of a poster.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Set-up Story: The science community of PAX has an orbiting space station. It’s three-person crew are undergoing hibernation experiments. A swarm of deadly meteorites is headed for Earth. PAX extends the timers on the hibernation computers and sends the space station into a long orbit around the sun to get the station out of the path of the meteors. Earth is pummeled into the dark ages. The space station returns 180 years later. Upon awakening, their new mission is to find PAX where other survivors may be in suspended animation too. Captain Anthony Vico (Saxon), Dr. Allison Crowley and Dr. William Scott, zoom down in a shuttle. From there, they roam the “new world” in a eight-wheeled vehicle named Vestia. From this commences two distinct “episodes”. Eterna is an advanced civilization enclave that tricks the 3 PAX folk into range via a faked PAX signal. They are stunned and brought inside. Once in, it is clear that all is not right in paradise. There are no old people and no children. The 20-30-somethings live “forever”, doing nothing much. Their leader, The Surgeon, shows them advanced surgeries and science, since they’ve been advancing science for the missing 180 years. Surgeon wants Scott to take over as the new leader, as Surgeon is going senile. The Eternals use clones to provide donor organs to keep fixing themselves up, but with each cloning, their resistance to disease decreases. Surgeon wants to drain Vico and Allison of all their blood to rejuvenate the clones’ immune systems. Scott rebels and the cloning lab “blown up.” Somehow, this kills all of the Eternals at once. The PAX team flee. Animaland is a tale of mankind divided. The team first encounter the outsiders, the poachers. Allison is captured by the Insiders, so Vico and Scott employ the aid of a poacher named Badger to find her. Instead, they get captured too, and Badger gets the much-coveted flare gun. The insiders are descendants of park rangers, so their mission is to protect the animals — from the poachers. Eventually, Allison and Vico convince the old Warden that they are good-guys, when they stop an attack by Badger and four poacher henchmen. In parting, the wardens agree to share water resources with the poachers and maybe become friends someday. They also promise to not be so hide-bound to their old Fish & Wildlife Manual as their law book. The PAX team drive on, still in search of the PAX base out there…somewhere… The end.

Why is this movie fun?
The premise of SNW has some intriguing possibilities. Seeing some previous tropes recycled had some amusement value too.

Cultural Connection
60s Optimism Meets 70s Pessimism — Gene Roddenberry’s original Star Trek series placed its emphasis on an optimism about mankind and their future. This may be part of why the original series developed a cult following among the young. The 70s however, was a very different decade. Technophobia and pessimism about all the BAD things that science would do, was the rule of the day (decade). Roddenberry’s PAX story placed an emphasis on the gloomy side of humanity and its history. Whereas Star Trek’s Federation was a better upgrade of contemporary society, the background in the PAX Trilogy is of a post-apocalyptic Earth with mankind starting over in all its brutalism and bad tendencies.

Notes
Neo-Sequel — First, there was Genesis II in ’73. This was revamped as Planet Earth in ’74. The third installment of the PAX Trilogy was more a re-telling of the original premise in Genesis II, but with variations. Both feature someone from the past in suspended animation, awakening to a post-apocalyptic Earth, primitive survivors and getting captured by one side or another, or both. The PAX team roam from adventure to adventure, encountering “strange new” enclaves of survivors. SNW varies things in that the PAX team are all there is of PAX. In fact, PAX lives on in name only and as a sort of long-lost McGuffin for the team to search for.

Episode One: Eterna — James Olson stars as the leader of a supposed Utopia named Eterna. This episode has more than a passing resemblance to Zardoz. A colony of immortals who cheat mortality with clones. Where Sean Connery served as the outsider that crashes the system, Saxon does exactly that — also in a scanty red costume. Where Star Trek had its noble Prime Directive, the PAX folk seem unburdened by any such moral foundation. By blowing up the cloning lab, they manage to somehow kill all of the Eternals. The PAX team just walk off, stepping over the bodies, as if to say, “Oh well. That didn’t turn out very well, but let’s push on.”

Episode Two: Animaland — Somewhat recycling the premise in Star Trek’s “The Omega Glory” episode. Instead of Yangs and Kohms, the PAX team discover a community of wardens who care for (and almost worship) animals with a former state park, and a tribe of scruffy poachers who live on the outside. There is an environmentalist undertone to the episode. Friends of the Animals are nominal good guys, who, like the Yangs, have a pseudo-religious devotion to their pre-holocaust documents. In this case, it was a Fish & Wildlife book of regulations. This book has clearly been ignored or heavily amended over the years, as death penalties seem rife. Not quite SOP for the current Fish & Wildlife Service.

Weak Sister — Among fans of the PAX Trilogy, SNW is often regarded as the weakest of the three. SNW had a less complex plot line — 3 people roving in search of a lost base. It also had just the three main characters. These three were somewhat stock characters too: The macho/implusive/fight-prone leader, the token pretty female, the wise older guy. The woman is somewhat stereotypic in being the damsel in distress which needs rescuing by the hero. SNW doesn’t develop the three much at all. Perhaps this was what the series episodes was intended to do. But, in just the pilot, it leaves the 3 rather flat. The special effects were fairly modest too. The overabundance of stock library music and effects gives the production a generic-TV-show quality. Warner tried, but not terribly hard.

Enterprise On Wheels — The little multi-wheel vehicle, Vestia, serves a similar role to the starship Enterprise. Her mission was to be the vehicle that ferries the crew from weekly adventure to weekly adventure. Instead of planets, as on TOS, they would have been isolated enclaves of somethings “strange.” In this, Vestia functions like the tube trains in Genesis II and Planet Earth, but with more individuality, like the Enterprise.

Pre-Logan — The move Logan’s Run (’76) and subsequent TV series by the same name, made a much bigger impression on the culture than SNW did. People who see SNW after its original broadcast (via VHS and later DVD) often see it as a poorer version of Logan’s Run. This, despite the fact that SNW came first. In this case, being first was not a ticket to immortality.

Bottom line? SNW is passable entertainment, if one is accepting of 70s style television production values. Fans of TOS and/or the PAX story line, can find some additional fodder, even if in diminished quality. Fans of 70s style dystopias will find more of the same. Not great stuff, but not bad either.

Chosen Survivors

Combining several tropes, Chosen Survivors (CS) mixed animal attacks, government conspiracies, bunkerism and the small group dynamic. The cast included familiar names, such as Jackie Cooper as the rude self-centered tycoon, Alex Cord as the hip 70s leading man and Diana Muldaur as the sensitive congresswoman. Bradford Dillman plays the duplicitous scientist. Various other supporting cast, including an expendable nobody or two for the bats to kill. The notion of a safe haven turning into a deadly trap had some appeal.

Quick Plot Synopsis
An army helicopter brings 11 sedated civilians to a remote desert site, which is an elevator down to a secret high-tech bunker. They find out that they were chosen by a computer for their various skills. An automated greeting recording tells them they have food, supplies and space to wait the many months to survive a nuclear holocaust, which they are told just occurred. They and other similar bunkers' survivors will be the re-starting of humanity. The group go through various stages of denial, anger and bargaining. A young woman of the group cracks at the mental strain. Tycoon Ray Couzins (Cooper) tries to cajole and bribe passage back to the surface. Behavioral scientist Pete (Dillman) makes notes on how the group is holding up. The group discover that vampire bats have found a way into the bunker. An electrical short makes the lights fail. The bats attack the already frazzled Kristin, who goes into shock. After the bat attack, they rig up an alarm to warn them if the lights go out again. Ray, however, skulks around the computer room pushing buttons. He causes a short that lets in more bats. Luis (the expendable crewmen) tries to stop the bats, but is killed. Pete confesses that the whole thing was a government experiment to see how people would handle living in a survival bunker if there really was nuclear war. He tries to send a get-us-out signal, but there is no answer. The group decide to try and bait the bats with blood (a pint donated by each), and electrocute them. The trap works, but not completely. Kristin is killed. Ray convinces Woody, the over-the-hill olympic star (Lincoln Kilpatrick), to climb the conduit of the elevator shaft to open the door and trip another rescue beacon. After some drama, Woody makes the arduous climb, but is attacked by bats at the top. He opens the door, but falls to his death back in the bunker. Pete gets everyone out of the elevator bay before the bats come down, but not himself. The bats kill Pete. The others lay down to die as doomed. Army brass and soldiers rescue them and bring them to the surface. The recorded messages play ironic encouraging messages about getting along well with each others as they ride the elevator back up. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The story has a twist on the old bunker motif, which adds interest. Director Sutton Roley, a veteran TV director, does a good job of keeping the tension rising and falling. The gore is not made the focus, so fear and tension can get the focus.

Cold War Angle
Bunker mentality was well entrenched in the American culture. It was the popular notion for surviving the long-expected nuclear war. The unquestioned presumption was that the war would happen. It was only a matter of when. The bunkers and bunker programs were the logical conclusion.

Notes
Small Animal Attack -- Deadly animals were common in films since silent film days. Giant animals, or lone powerful animals were typical (King Kong, et al). A variant involved attacks by a mass of animals who alone would not be particularly frightening. The flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz ('39) are an early example. Alfred Hitchcock's Birds ('63) is a very famous example. There would be many lesser attempts of the mass small animal attack trope. Ants, bees, even frogs would be tried with variable success. In CS, Roley used bats in a fairly Hitchcockian fashion. One or two bats are startling or a bit gross. It's in the crazed swarm that it works.

Bunker Gone Bad -- Bomb shelters were the mental balm to debilitating atomic anxiety. But nothing could be pure "good." The rescue-shelter gone bad was an intriguing story. Rod Serling's "The Shelter" ('61) is one of the most famous examples. In CS, even the wonders of modern (70s) high-tech cannot create a purely safe haven. They fled the dangers of nuclear disaster (even if fake), only to be threatened by deadly nature. Moral of the story? There is no escape.

It's Da Gubbmint, I Tell Ya -- The early 70s were rife with government conspiracy story lines. Even before Watergate had verified in the public mind that "the government" was sneaky and self-serving, the conspiracy movies preached it. CS is right in line with the norm. Note that none of the eleven knew anything about the bunker and being chosen. They were nabbed and sedated without their consent. Even then, "the government" felt impunity enough to test the bunker plan on the eleven. Alana rather insightfully notes that the same government that could snatch them, would not want them telling about it when the experiment was done. She was sure they would all be killed to keep it all quiet.

70s Cool -- Alex Cord is the epitome of mid-70s cool. Longish hair, tinted aviator glasses, tall collars, even the mustache and moderate sideburns. For those not alive (or aware) in the early 70s, Cord was decked out as THE fashion plate the for cool 70s swinger guy. The standard of "cool" never rests, however. Disco and three-piece suits would replace the denim-jacket leisure suit, etc. But, CS is a nice snapshot of cool in the mid-70s.

Bottom line? CS has its flaws, but by and large is a reasonably well done people-in-danger story with a sci-fi foundation. The Cold War had receded from the front burner of movie-making consciousness, but it was not gone. The acting is pretty good and the effects hold up reasonably well (even though not amazing by 21st century standards). CS is fairly entertaining, even if not perfect.

Planet Earth

Gene Roddenberry was not one to give up easily. His series idea, Genesis II almost happened in '73, but not quite. He mooshed some things around with the premise and characters to try it again as Planet Earth (PE). Dylan Hunt (John Saxon) is still the 20th century scientist awakened in the year 2133, to a post-apocalyptic world. The PAX people are still there, and most of the same themes. The sets and shooting locations are reused too, so PE is almost a remake more than it is a sequel to G2. This pilot also did not result in a series, but Roddenberry did not give up. He would be back with another remix. This time, Dylan Hunt is played by John Saxon. Janet Margolin plays Harper-Smythe. Ted Cassidy returns as the "white Indian" Isiah. Diana Muldaur plays the ice queen Marg. Majel Barrett gets a tiny tiny role as a central command officer.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A narrator recaps the first quarter of Genesis II to explain Dylan Hunt, 20th century man, revived in 2133, now a member of the peace-loving people of PAX, the only city not destroyed by the nuclear war. They explore the strange new planet earth via their Sub Shuttles. On one such recon mission, their patrol is ambushed by Kreegs -- a brutish militaristic race of mutants. Pax's leader, Pater Kimbridge is gravely wounded. Hunt and his team must find a particular surgeon to save him. That surgeon was lost in a land of Amazons who keep men as servile slaves. Hunt has Harper-Smythe pretend to want to join their Amazon confederation, with Hunt posing as her captured male slave. Marg, the alpha-female, decks HS and steals Hunt to sell him in the slave market. There, Hunt finds the rest of his team, drugged into frightened servility. Don't eat the food, warns Baylock. Hunt avoids the food. However, he gets drugged directly by Marg. She buys him, but HS returns to challenge Marg for ownership. They fight like girls. HS wins. Marg invites her and Hunt to her ranch. Hunt fights the drug. There, they find the missing doctor, Conner, who pretends to be drugged. He gives Hunt the antidote. They plot an escape. Conner spikes the tainted gruel pots with his antidote, then leaves. Hunt flirts with and tries to seduce Marg, except the wine puts her to sleep. The next day, the Kreegs attack Marg's ranch, having captured HS and Conner too. The male slaves, no longer drugged, join Hunt and his team in fighting the Kreegs to protect the women. They win. The women then agree that maybe 'real' men could be handy and agree not to drug them anymore. Hunt and his team return in time for Conner to operate on Kimbridge and save him. Smiles all around. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
There is a nostalgic sort of movie serial quality to the setting and the action. This would be fitting since PE was intended as a television series. The script still offers some more thoughtful undercurrents that keep it interesting. There is an earth-bound Star Trek quality to PE.

Cultural Connection
Evil Military -- In keeping with the cultural mood of the early 70s, the villains are an almost flagrant caricature of the military. The Kreegs (a play on the German word, Krieg, meaning "war"?) dress in uniforms (jumpsuits), wear battered helmets painted gold and tote rifles. The Kreegs are said to be dim-witted mutants left over from the old pre-apocalypse world with an aptitude only for machines and warfare. They speak in broken english, have dull faces and call each other "soldier." The Kreegs give an interesting picture of how liberal post-Vietnam America saw soldiers.

Notes
Non-Violence -- An overt theme in PE is that of heroic non-violence. Only the Kreegs shoot to kill. Hunt's team have tranquilizer dart pistols. In a very representative vignette, Isaiah picks up one of the fallen Kreeg's rifles. He almost uses it to fire back at the Kreegs who pursue them, but doesn't. Instead, he smashes the gun against the cave walls. There ya go. Swords into…scrap. In another scene, HS is shocked when she thinks Hunt is going to stab and kill a fallen Kreeg. Viewers may recall from G2 the vow of non-lethality the Pax folk have. Fists and fighting, however, seem to be okay. Even petite HS is shown as pretty good in a fight.

Subtle Chauvinism -- Despite the overt facade of women-in-charge, the script of PE is quietly male chauvinist. The women talk of female domination as "the natural order," but rule the men by drugging them. Despite the high minded words about the superiority of woman-rule-culture and the terribleness of male-rule-culture, the women's world is no better. There's oppression, disrespect and even petty fighting over just about anything. Then too, note how the ladies paw admiringly at the bodies of the hunky Pax team while on the auction block. The women might rule, but a hunky shirtless male body melts them into kittens. Then there is the implied reality that all women -- even Amazons -- ultimately want to be mothers. "I'd give half my fields for a baby," says one. Their drugged males have no…um…zip, so the birth rate has been falling. In the end, it is the hunky outsider men who show the women what "real" men are like. Hunt, in the Kirk-esque role, is the super-suave male who defrosts even the ice queen, Marg, turning her into a silly giggling girl.

Trek Underground -- The "glue" that would connect the various episodes was to be the Sub Shuttle. Like the starship Enterprise, the Sub Shuttle system would whisk the characters off to strange 'new" places each week. The post-apocalyptic world would be imagined as isolated islands of strange wonders, each handily located near a Sub Shuttle node. The Pax science teams would be a repeat of the "Away Team" format so successful in Star Trek. That is, if the series had been picked up.

Losing to Apes -- Network execs did not opt to put PE into production. Instead, ABC went with Planet of the Apes. This series did not fare too well and was dropped. It is interesting that the Kreegs were much like the gorillas in the Apes saga -- brutish and militaristic.

Never Give Up -- Roddenberry would not give up yet. He would re-recast his idea for another try, this time with the title, Strange New World a year later. His concept in G2, PE and SNW would be re-cast yet again to spawn the television series Andromeda in 2000. There, a Captain Hunt (!) and his crew are frozen at the edge of a black hole, only to return to normal time to see their Commonwealth has been taken over by brutish militarists. They strive to restore the utopian order. Sound familiar? Roddenberry (and family) had tenacity.

Gas Power -- A minor point of interest is that the Kreegs use wood gasifiers to make the old automobiles run (since gasoline refining would have long since disappeared.) The old cobbled-together vehicles (no newer than the mid-60s, one can note) have a Mad Max quality to them. Curiously, after 150 years, all the rubber parts (tires and belts) are imagined to still be working fine.

Bottom line? PE is perhaps the weaker of Roddenberry's attempts, though still entertaining. The acting is pretty good for a television pilot. While some of the messages are overt to the point of being hammy, others are neatly subtle. PE is worth a watch if one is a Trek fan, or a fan of post-apocalyptic movies.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes

The fifth, and final, installment in the Planet of the Apes franchise hit theaters in June of 1973. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (BPA) is considered by many, even fans of the series, to be the weakest of the five films. Roddy McDowell stars again as Caesar. Natalie Trundy stars as his chimp wife, Lisa. Claude Aikins stars as the gorilla general Aldo. BPA is a proper sequel, in that it picks up the story where Movie 4, Conquest, left off. 20th Century Fox felt the Apes phenomenon had run its course, so produced one more sequel to wrap up what became a confusing story arc. But, Fox was not completely through with Apes.

Quick Plot Synopsis
North America, 2670 A.D. The Lawgiver (John Houston) reads, in psuedo-biblical wording, a recap of the third and fourth movies. He then tells movie five's story as flashback. The war implied at the end of Movie 4, Conquest, has left most apes and humans dead. The cities are bombed out radioactive ruins. Some 12 (or 27?) years afterward, a dozen or so humans live in relative peace among the apes. Caesar is their leader. Aldo, leader of the gorilla faction foments trouble, disliking the humans. MacDonald (brother of the character in Movie 4) says Aldo hates everyone who isn't a gorilla. Mac also tells Caesar that he can hear and see his parents, via tapes in the city archives, and learn what the future holds (since they came from the future). Caesar, Mac and the wise orangutan, Virgil (Paul Williams) set out for the Forbidden City. They find it, and make their way underground to find the old city archives. Their movements are watched, however, by the remnant of humans who stayed in the city. These people wear hood-caps and have facial blemishes from the radiation. Their governor, Kolp (Severn Darden, reprising his Kolp character from Movie 4.) thinks the three are advance scouts for an attack by the apes. He orders them captured, but the three elude capture. He orders them killed, but they escape the city. Back in Ape City, Caesar calls a general council to say they must prepare for possible attack by the city humans. Aldo makes trouble about all humans. He and his gorilla faction walk out. Later, Caesar's young son, Cornelius, goes out at night searching for his lost pet squirrel. Cornelius comes upon a secret meeting of the gorillas, plotting the overthrow of Caesar. They see Cornelius in the tree. Aldo hacks the branch Cornelius is hanging onto. Cornelius falls, badly injured. A human doctor lady tends to him, but it doesn't look good. Meanwhile, Kolp has a ragtag army formed. They set out in a few jeeps, old cars and a school bus to attack Ape City. The attack comes. A long protracted gun battle plays out. Cornelius dies of his injuries. Caesar orders everyone to fall back. The mutants ride in triumphant. Kolp sees Caesar and threatens to kill him. All the not-really-dead apes jump up and overwhelm the mutants. Kolp and a few others escape in the school bus. Aldo and his gorillas ambush them and kill them all. Back in Ape City, there is a showdown between Aldo and Caesar. It comes out that Aldo cut the branch that caused Cornelius's death. The crowd chants at him. "Ape shall never kill ape." Aldo climbs a tree to escape. Caesar follows. They struggle in the branches. Aldo falls to his death. Jungle justice is served. Everyone agrees to live in peace and harmony. Kumbaya. End flashback, the Lawgiver finishes his history tale to a mixed class of ape and human children. Behind them is a stature of Caesar. Zoom in to see that the statue sheds a tear. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
McDowall does a creditable job with the Caesar character. Paul Williams does rather well as Virgil. The story / plot, on its own, better than fourth-sequels tend to be.

Cultural Connection
The Apes series began, in '68, as an allegory on racism, via species-ism. Movies 2 through 5 shifted the theme to anti-militarism. The general anti-war drumbeat, so common in the late-Vietnam era, made anti-war films an easy sell. The villain in BPA is not really the mutants in the city, but the two characters, Aldo and Kolp, who maniacally push for war. The message in BPA is: If we could just get rid of the bad (warrior) people, life would be all flowers and hearts.

Notes
Alternate Timeline -- Move 3, Escape introduced the complexity of alternate timelines. The writers in BPA try to explain it in an easily missed small scene with the Virgil character. He talks of time travel and a situation wherein a performer dislikes a recording of some music he played, so travels back in time to not make that performance. In the Apes series, there are two timelines. The first is Taylor's. He travels to HIS future to see that apes have "evolved" slowly over hundreds of years, to eventually take over Earth. Movie 2 Beneath has timeline 1 earth's destruction. With Movie 3, Escape, a second timeline begins when future apes enter the past. New timeline. Apes don't evolve slowly, but start with Cornelius and Zira. The Alpha-Omega bomb existed before Taylor left, but in timeline 2, it is not used. Hundreds of years of conflict between man and ape does not happen. Instead, everyone lives in peace. That's how the writers wrapped up the series. They all lived happily ever after.

Important Deletions -- For some reason, Fox decided to cut two rather important scenes from the final theatrical release. The first deleted scene has Kolp showing Alma (France Nuyen) the Alpha-Omega missile and how to launch it. This scene comes just before Kolp leads his mutant minions on the attack of Ape City. He wanted her to fire it, if he signaled that the Apes were winning. The second deleted scene came near the end. Alma hasn't heard from Kolp, so feels she must launch the missile. Mendez talks her out of it. Give peace a chance, etc. The first deleted scene is important because it made a link to Movie 2, Beneath. The second deleted scene is important as it mirrors the peaceful resolution in Ape City. Once the mean-old-militarists (Kolp and Aldo) were dead, everyone else could smile again.

Sophomorism -- The husband and wife writing team of John and Joyce Corrington adapted Matthison's "I Am Legend" into The Omega Man ('71) with an undercurrent of biblical themes. In BPA, they seem to have pandered to sophomoric atheists. The Corringtons have the Virgil character repeat two popular "arguments" against Christianity. At one point he mocks the humans' religious idea of a happy afterlife. "If that were so, we'd all commit suicide so we could enjoy it." (ergo, since no one does, that proves no one believes it's true.) The second comes when he asks "how a benevolent god can allow a branch to break and cause the death of an innocent child." The question is left unanswered, as if it were unanswerable. The Problem of Evil is complex and too nuanced for reduction to sophomore levels.

Headed For Prime Time -- The look and feel of BPA is that of a made-for-TV movie. While BPA was not a pilot, Fox Television did launch a Planet of the Apes series in in 1974. It, too, starred Roddy McDowall as the lead "chimpanzee", though renamed Galen and unrelated to Cornelius or Caesar. The basic premise is a recast of Movie 1, but with Galen and the two astronauts as fugitives sharing adventures as they flee (ala, The Fugitive). The series only ran for one season, but sets of episodes were reworked into several made-for-TV movies, just like old Zombies of the Stratosphere serial of '52 was pieced together to make a Satan's Satellites movie in '58.

Never Enough? -- Film critics rejoiced that the Apes series was finally ended, The public seemed to have achieved Ape-saturation too, as the TV series only ran one season. But, satiety fades. In 2001, Tim Burton did a remake of the '68 original (though with less subtlety). In 2011, Rupert Wyatt started a new story line in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Caesar becomes sentient from genetic meddling (not hundreds of years of 'evolution' or future genes in the past). A sequel in this new story line is said to be in the works. Maybe people really can't get enough of Planet of the Apes.

Bottom line? BPA is not an especially good film. Yet, for a threadbare fourth sequel, it is better than one might expect. The sci-fi part present only by inference from the prior films in the series. The low budget makes itself apparent. Fans of the prior films can enjoy a concluding chapter. Viewers less keen on the earlier Apes will find only more of the same.

Genesis II

Gene Roddenberry tried (a few more times) to launch another sci-fi television series. Genesis II (G2) is the pilot approved by CBS. The premise is a 20th century man wakes up 154 years later to find a post-WWIII world. Things looked promising. A season's worth of scripts were written. But the nod went to a rival project, a series based on Planet of the Apes. G2 wasn't a theatrical release, but a made-for-TV movie. (hence the script cover in lieu of a poster) TV movies are normally outside the scope of this project, but G2 is included as a nod to Roddenberry and his Star Trek creation that would be many theatrical releases. There is also a root, in G2, to the 1979 film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Alex Cord and Mariette Hartley star. Many actors from the original Trek series also appear.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Scientist Dylan Hunt has new suspended animation process which might allow people to explore distant stars or save sick people until cures are discovered. He tests the chamber out himself. While suspended, an earthquake buries the chamber (in Carlsbad Caverns). He is found in 2133. He is nursed back to health by a pretty woman, Lyra-a (Hartley). She tells him how after a third world war, the underground-dwelling people who found him are called The PAX, but are really war mongers trying to repair 20th century weapons so as to dominate peaceful surface dwellers, the Tyranians. She is a Tyranian spy (and a 'mutant' with two belly buttons, for no good reason). She convinces Dylan to escape PAX. They travel on horseback to her city of Tyrania. Dylan surprised and put off by how the Tyranian underclass are fearful of their masters. The Tyranian council demand that Dylan fix their aging nuclear reactor. He refuses, so becomes one of the slave class. There he meets a revolutionary cell, by PAX spies. They want to spirit Dylan back to PAX. Dylan tricks Lyra-a into admitting that she loves him. So, now she's conflicted. Using a chaotic uprising as cover, they flee. Dylan lets himself be captured so the PAX team can escape. He agrees to fix their reactor. Later, Dylan shows up at PAX headquarters. They fret that the Tyranians will be arming old nukes that will destroy PAX. Dylan says he rigged a warhead to blow up nuclear plant. It blows up. The PAX leaders scold Dylan for taking any lives. He somewhat agrees to become a pacifist, and flirts up a new girlfriend. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
The look and feel of G2 is very reminiscent of Star Trek, TOS. For fans of TOS, that's fun. Many of the actors and actresses had parts in TOS episodes, adding to the reunion feel. Roddenberry's wife, Majel Barrett, for instance, has a minor role as female Primus. She played nurse Christine Chapel in TOS and many of the movies. In TG, the ambiguity of just who can be trusted, adds some depth that is rare in television scripts. The zoomy "sub-shuttle" was clearly Roddenberry's new solution (in lieu of a starship) for getting his characters into far-flung adventures around the globe.

Notes
Frozen Roots -- The opening premise, that of a man 'frozen' and awakened later in the future, was far from new. Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle slept 20 years and awoke to a post-revolutionary America. H.G. Wells wrote of his time traveler who zaps into earth's dark future. A technology race lives below and a 'rustic' race lives on the surface. Comic strip Buck Rogers, of 1928, was frozen (suspended animation), to awake in 2419 A.D. Rogers finds a rebel group who want his help fighting the oppressor group, the Hans. Just Imagine ('31) had "Single-O" wake after 50 years to the amazing world of 1950. The Man With Nine Lives ('40) had Boris Karloff waking after 10 years. Return of the Ape Man ('44) had a caveman thaw to a new world. World Without End ('56) had a crew of earthlings zap ahead in time to a post-WWIII world, which also featured a group of sciencey 'normals' living underground, and cavemen / mutants living above. Of course, the whole Planet of the Apes cycle began with another crew of earthlings zapped ahead to earth's post-WWIII future. The second film, Beneath also featured a group of science-y humans with cavemen on the surface. Roddenberry wasn't blazing any new trails with G2, but reviving a traditional trope.

Sex is Saved -- It is amusing to see 70s swingerism reassert itself. The people of PAX were all happy with their "unisex" culture. No more lust, passion and all the conflict that caused. So says the mousey Harper-Smythe. Perhaps the children Dylan heard singing were all in-vitro. Dylan's hunky shirtless bod (scientists must have done some serious gym time back in the 70s, apparently), manages to melt the ice queen, Lyra-a, into a blabbering doubt-riddled school girl. Then, not long after Dylan, the leaven of lust, contaminates the sexless PAX society, young people start necking again. Though it's worth noting that the Primus who points out the neckers did not seem too upset at sudden abandonment of their decades-old sexless philosophy. Oh well. Even the formerly frosty Harper-Smythe, looks Dylan up and down, smiles and blushes at Dylan's flirtations. Yay, sex is saved by a hunky 70s scientist !

Mariette's Two Navels -- Legend has it, that network executives would not let Roddenberry show Mariette Hartley's navel in the Star Trek episode "All Our Yesterdays." As a sort of inside-joke comeuppance, Roddenberry directed makeup to give Mariette TWO navels this time and he showed them. The whole double-circulatory system bit had no other role in the story. It seems it was all just a tweak to get a full-frontal shot of Mariette in a plaid bikini, showing off TWO belly buttons. Take that, network execs!

Roots of V-Ger -- G2 provided some material for 1979's Star Trek, The Motion Picture. One of the (unused) episode scripts, "Robot's Return," featured cyborgs coming to 2133 earth looking for the "gods" that created them. The cyborgs were 20th century astronauts who got cyborg-ized along the way. Even this 'lost' episode seems to draw from a TOS episode, "The Changeling" (1967) with hybrid space probe "Nomad" finding (it thought) its creator. All this factors into the plot of ST:TMP and the return of long-lost Voyager.

Try Again, and Again -- Roddenberry did not give up on his future-world series idea. Undaunted that CBS chose apes over his idea, he went to ABC. They liked the idea enough to authorize a pilot. Roddenberry reworked one of G2's scripts. It aired in '74 as Planet Earth. A falling out between Roddenberry and ABC execs scuttled the series. A third iteration was created, retitled as Strange New World ('76). Still, no series. But, it was clearly not for lack of Gene trying.

Bottom line? G2 is very Trek-like in many ways, including the cast, so Trekkies will find things to like. It's a notch above average for a made-for-TV sci-fi movie. The pacing is brisk enough, and the plot twists enough to keep it from being too predictable. It's not cinematic art, but it is entertainment.

Glen and Randa

Post-apocalyptic movies were, apparently, quite popular in the late 60s and early 70s. Glen and Randa (GaR) is very different from '71's big post-apocalyptic film: The Omega Man. Yet, the indie production of GaR is as obscure as the big studio film OM is famous. There are no hoards of zombies to battle. Instead, the story focuses on the two title characters (more clueless than heroic) and their quest for a mythical city. The film got an X rating for its full frontal nudity. GaR shares with OM, the use of Biblical imagery woven into this view of post-apocalyptic earth.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Glen and Randa are 17 year olds who frolic in the woods, naked, rather like a new Adam and Eve. They find a rusting car up in the branches of a large tree, leftover from an unspecified apocalyptic event 20 years prior. He wonders where all the people went from the before-times. He wants to find "The City" he imagines is out there. They rejoin their rag-tag tribe, (not naked) as they forage for canned goods amid the ruins of a Howard Johnson's. While camped there, a Magician rides up on his motortricycle, pulling a pop-up camper. He sets up a sideshow of wonders to impress them -- mostly prior technology like a blender and record player -- run from his generator. He tries to sell some of his wonders for gold or jewels, but the crowd is almost completely stuporous. Glen befriends him to learn more about The City. The Magician is full of blather, but shares a few bits, such as an old highway map of Idaho and a Wonder Woman comic book. The Magician (it is strongly implied off-screen) takes advantage of Randa's naive innocent "friendliness." She remains blithely indifferent. Glen and Randa begin their trek west over increasingly rough terrain. They find a horse, but don't know they can ride it. Randa is beginning to show her pregnancy. They press on despite hunger and hardship, eventually reaching the sea. They find an old man named Sidney, surf fishing. He offers to let them stay at a house, which turns out to be an almost-completely wrecked mobile home near the shore. Glen continues to obsess about The City. Sidney says the city he remembered was called Boise was about 10 miles up the coast, but it burned down. Glen is sure his city must lay beyond the sea. Glen also obsesses over being "Sy-vel-ized." He reads aloud from nothing in particular and paints the names of things, like "Stoov" and "Wall" on them in the mobile home, as if to reclaim civilization via literacy. Randa's time comes, but she dies in childbirth. Both Glen and Sidney are clueless about what to do with the baby boy. They feed it goat's milk. They load up the baby, the goat and a few odds and ends, into a small boat Sidney had, and set out across the sea to find Glen's city. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It's actually rather depressing, But, it also thought provoking, with many nice set-piece scenes, such as the one record the Magician plays for the crowd is the Rolling Stones' "Time is on my side." or the complete lack of reverence Glen shows for the skeleton of Arlene (whose wrecked trailer they adopt). The dead of the past era are just junk, like the cars and machines, etc. What if the survivors of WWII are not clever and resourceful rebuilders of civilization, but a rabble catatonics and simpletons? Lots to muse over.

Cold War Angle
Nuclear war is suggested as the cause of the collapse of civilization. Given the overall dark view of the surviving remnant, the big take-away message of Glen and Randa is the traditional cautionary tale. Maybe mankind might NOT rise from the ashes like some heroic phoenix.

Notes
Demons D'Jour -- GaR highlights how post-apocalyptic films create demons out of whatever the writers imagined was the underlying problem in their current cultures. In each, the apocalyptic breakdown of society allowed that problem element to rise into a threatening power. They each had their demons, but they were different demons. For Last Man on Earth, the danger was fascists. For Omega Man, the danger was anti-establishment luddites.(hippies)  In later fiction (such as the Mad Max trilogy) the demons were criminal punk rockers. In GaR, there is no evil-other to be battled -- only ignorance within. There remained only a trace of humanity, too clueless to feed themselves "when the cans run out."

New Adam -- There are some interesting Biblical parallels in the start of the film. Glen and Randa cavort in their idyllic woods, all innocent and naive. It is after his experience with a tree (of knowledge, of the before-times) that Glen becomes obsessed. The Magician character is a sort of serpent in the garden. He displays the wonders of the old world, piquing Glen's interest to the tipping point. They leave their paradise for rocky ground and "sin and pain", as the Magician describes it.

UnNamed Doom -- The disaster that threw mankind back into the stone age is never really explained. The poster suggests that it was nuclear war, as does Sidney's description that Boise was burned to the ground. The fact that there is a new sea at the foot of the Rockies suggests something, perhaps, bigger. But, the source of the doom is not the focus. Instead, the focus is on the feebleness of mankind.

Collapse of Man -- Quite the opposite of the heroic Omega Man, the surveyors in GaR are illiterate, foraging stone age gatherers, gleaners of old canned goods. Those old enough to have lived through the event, just stand speechless and disinterested. The only two old-ones who speak are The Magician -- who is a caricature of capitalism, and Sidney who is not quite well in the head. Sidney has an OCD routine of pacing the beach. He's not sure what to do with the new driftwood log "they send me," with each tide. Even Glen, the most astute of them, has little more than a 4 year old's grasp of reality. He and Sidney heading off into the open sea in a small boat did not suggest that mankind fared well at all.

Non-porn -- Despite the X rating, GaR is far from porn. Both characters are naked in their lush garden, but this is all done in a more documentary way than anything porn-exploitive. There are several points in which it is implied/suggested that Glen (or the Magician) use Randa for personal pleasure, though this always handled somewhat aloofly, with zero eroticism. This total lack of eros is, in itself, interesting.

Bottom line? GaR has no really science in its fiction. But, the post-apocalyptic genre is usually classified as sci-fi. It is a film of low production values, but very thoughtful writing and direction. It's not an action-packed thriller. In fact, on many levels, it's a fairly depressing portrayal of mankind coasting to a stop after the apocalypse. In this, GaR is a valuable addition to the post-apocalyptic genre. It's worth seeking out, if that genre is of interest. Be forewarned, though, about the nudity, etc