Gene Roddenbury’s son Rod, who happens to be the CEO of Roddenbury production, Brian Grazer, and Ron Howard’s Imagine are teaming up to revive a series that never was. The Questor Tapes was written by Gene and was supposed to have aired on NBC in the early 70’s. As a matter of fact there was a 13 episodes go ahead from NBC and it was to be given the slot of doom or the death slot as they often called it which was 10pm on Friday nights. If you are wondering why that is the death slot just remember Star Trek had the same slot that eventually was its undoing. The project seemed to be all a go that is until NBC, Universal, and Gene had a falling out over the content, characters and plot. However there was a made for TV movie made out of the pilot episode which aired in 1974.
The plot of the story is kind of interesting and if done right in the remake can be a great sci fi drama. It begins with a team of scientist who are experts in robotics who then build an android that was developed by Dr. Emil Vaslovik a super genius in his field. The team goes ahead and builds the android following the directions left by the Dr but they never really understood how things worked.
When they were all done they finally loaded the tapes into his memory and it appeared at first to have failed. Later as the android was left on his own he came to life and then finished the work for himself. The android then became aware of his own existence and in doing so became more human as the show progresses. Which leads him on a search to find his creator to find out why he was really created in the first place and what was his true purpose in life. As you can see this sounds very much like Data in Star Trek TNG and is widely beleived that it was the base for that character.
A segment of the press releases that is posted on Roddenberry.com (visit site to see the rest of the press release).
(Los Angeles, CA: January 20, 2010)– CEO of Roddenberry Productions Rod Roddenberry announced today that Roddenberry Productions has entered into a deal with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Television to develop the Gene Roddenberry pilot “The Questor Tapes.” The announcement was made at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame induction ceremony where Rod Roddenberry accepted the posthumous honor, presented by Seth MacFarlane, on his father’s behalf.
“The Questor Tapes” was originally conceived as a television series pilot about an android with incomplete memory tapes who searches for his creator and his purpose. The pilot ultimately aired as a 1974 television movie. (The Questor character became the inspiration for Data, one of the most compelling characters in Star Trek: The Next Generation.)
“My father always felt that Questor was the one that got away,” said Rod Roddenberry. “He believed that the show had the potential to be bigger than Star Trek.”
Rod Roddenberry will develop project along with Roddenberry Productions COO Trevor Roth and Imagine Television’s President David Nevins and EVP of Development Robin Gurney. Team is currently in negotiations with writer, producer and show runner Tim Minear (Lois & Clark, The X-Files, Angel, Dollhouse) to produce…….
Visit these sites for more on the Questor Tapes
I found on Youtube parts of the Questor Tapes cut up into 10 minutes or less sections here is the intro video to give you taste of what you may see in the new upcoming series. If you are willing you can go search for all the other ones and watch the pilot in its entirety. Here is the Google list of them all. Enjoy.
0 thoughts on “Forgotten Roddenberry series will get new life”