Roddenberry Pilot Gets Green Light

[Wee67]

He may have came up with the idea in the early 70's, but Gene Roddenberry's proposed pilot, "The Questor Tapes" has been OK'ed for production. Who knows how it will edn up without Roddenberry to lead it, but I thought it might be interesting for the Trek fans here

From The Hollywood Reporter -

The son of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry has struck a deal to try to bring one of his late father's forgotten projects to TV.

Rod Roddenberry has formed an agreement with Imagine Television to develop "The Questor Tapes," which is based on a 1974 Roddenberry pilot that ultimately aired as a TV movie.

The team is in negotiations with Tim Minear ("Dollhouse," "The X-Files") to produce.

"My father always felt that 'Questor' was the one that got away," Rod Roddenberry said. "He believed that the show had the potential to be bigger than 'Star Trek.'"

The original "Questor" is about an android with incomplete memory tapes who searches for his creator and his purpose. Roddenberry will develop the project along with Trevor Roth and Imagine Television's President David Nevins and executive vp of development Robin Gurney.

The announcement was made at the Academy of TV Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame induction ceremony where Roddenberry accepted the posthumous honor, presented by Seth MacFarlane, on his father's behalf.

Gene Roddenberry pilot gets a deal

[EMCE Hammer]

"Memory tapes?" Wouldn't it be awesome if they went retro and had his head look like a 2XL? He could have a door on his stomach that opened to reveal a stack of damaged 8 tracks.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

I haven't seen that original movie/pilot in years. Mike Farrel from MASH starred in it as the human companion. It was definitely where the idea of Data for TNG came from.

[TrueDave]

I remember reading an old Starlog about TV pilots that never went anywhere or were never released. A whole list of great stuff we will never see.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

In the era of name recognition I'm surprised we haven't seen MORE of this. Maybe 'cos they tried a few of Roddenberry's undone shows in the 90's, with varied success?

Don C.

[wyldpny]

In the 70's "tapes" may have seemed futuristic I suppose but these days where we have micro chips the size of your finger nail that can store tons of data, I would think they will have to update the tape part of the story at least.

[palitoy]

"Memory tapes?" Wouldn't it be awesome if they went retro and had his head look like a 2XL? He could have a door on his stomach that opened to reveal a stack of damaged 8 tracks.

I would applaud the story if it used old school 70s low tech in a sort of steam punk way but that's way too unconventional for TV.

[EMCE Hammer]

I honestly think it did "get away." There have been so many variations on the "who made me/why am I here?" routine that I'm just not too psyched about it. Is he Wolverine, is he V'ger, is he Kyle XY, one of the Final Five...... I'll give it a go, but this plays more like a subplot to me.

[samurainoir]

I always thought Rodenberry just took Questor and recycled him into Next Generation where he became one of the most popular characters.

[johnmiic]

The Questor Tapes was really the blueprint for the TV series Highway To Heaven. It would be interesting to see if they could launch his other concept, Spectre. It would do well in the era of post-X-Files.

[Thor]

I hope this series does well. Both Andromeda and Earth: Final Conflict degenerated after the first 2 seasons imo.

[ddgaff1132]

That TV Movie stuck in my brain. I remember the end of the movie was staged in a secret mountain vault of some kind and Questor meets all the androids who came before him. I cant really remember what the big revelation was though. If the pilot would have been greenlited back in the day. It would have been just another "Fugitive" type show. A wandering hero doing good as he was persuded by a constant enemy (ala HULK/Jack Mcgee). I recall a lot of TV sci-fi Movies coming out back then. Probably from Roddenberry. I also remember hearing that the Gary 7 character was meant to be a spin off. That would be cool if they could do it and keep it in that 60's time era.