Strange New World – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Some ideas for TV shows refuse to die. After Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry kept doing his best to launch a new series. He fixed on the idea of a human stuck in suspended animation and revived centuries after a planetary catastrophe. Normally when a show doesn’t get picked up, the production company moves onto a new concept. Roddenberry and his crew refused to let their 20th century man in a post-apocalyptic Earth project die. Strange New World was the third attempt to bring Genesis II into a series. This was the second time it features John Saxon as the man out of time after Planet Earth. The biggest change is the removal of Roddenberry’s name from the credits. His touch remained since the orbiting space center uses all the bridge special effects noises from Star Trek.

Instead of being a two hour pilot movie, Strange New World consists of two episodes stuck together. Capt. Anthony Biko (John Saxon), Alison Crowley (Kathleen Miller) and Dr. Scott (Keene Curtis) are inside an orbiting space center as part of a suspended animation experiment. The folks back on Earth detect an incoming meteor show and extend the trio’s sleep while they take shelter in a suspended animation lab deep under the surface of the Earth. The Earth gets knocked silly by the meteors. Nearly two centuries later the trio defrosts and take a shuttle back to the planet. Their goal’s to find the other frozen scientists. They’re not quite sure of the lab’s location so they must cruise around this new version of the planet in their post-apocalyptic van.

The first adventure has them taken hostage by a strange group of folks that have based their life on Greek ideals including wearing togas. John Saxon shows off his muscular body in his outfit. He has plenty of new admirers for his stud ways with Martine Beswick (Thunderball‘s Domino), Catherine Bach (The Dukes of Hazzard) and Playmate of the Year Cynthia Wood as part of the locals. However this is not a case where the ladies must breed with Saxon to insure the survival of the human race Turns out the ladies are part of a cloning cult. Dr. Scott gets lured into the braintrust since the process is based on his research two centuries ago. How can he reject his research? Saxon refuses to play along with these duplicate beauties and their nearly insane mad scientist leader.

The second adventure has the trio drive onto a former zoo that’s been turned into a battle field. The group inside the cages have taken he Fish and Wildlife Agency’s Field Guide as their version of the Bible. They defend the animals inside the zoo from another tribe that has developed into poachers. Crowley gets grabbed by the zoo keepers under the suspicion that she’s a poacher. Under the rules, her punishment will involve a giant “P” being branded into her stomach. Saxon must get deep into the zoo to rescue her from unwanted body art. His poacher ally is looking for any excuse to grab a flare gun from Saxon so he can take control of the zoo. Saxon must fight lions, snakes and chimps on his perilous journey. The leader of the zoo keepers is played by Richard Farnsworth (The Straight Story).

Why this series didn’t get picked up in 1975? Saxon was still riding high from his starring role in Enter the Dragon. This series let him show off his kung fu moves that he’d learned from Bruce Lee. Kathleen Miller gave off a fine mix of smartness with her sex appeal. The blame for the red light can be pinned on their post-apocalyptic van. It’s a rather dumpy looking with all the imaginative charm of a cookie tin with wheels. The idea of scientists tooling around in a futuristic van dealing with the ravages of humanity worked on the Saturday morning hit Ark II. The Ark II van was cool looking as it zipped around the wasteland. If only John Saxon had wheels that matched his charisma, this would have been a major hit. The nice thought is that this third strike wasn’t an out. Decades later, Roddenberry’s concept would finally become a series as Andromeda with Kevin Sorbo.

The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The transfer on the DVD-R doesn’t look too bad. The image gets extra dirty during special effects shots. Seems the guys at the optical house ate their lunch over the negative. The audio is Dolby Digital Mono. There’s a decent balance between Saxon’s voice over levels and his live dialogue.

None.

Strange New World is classic ’70 post-apocalyptic kitsch with John Saxon as humanity’s last hope. The movie gives us a glimpse of the first two episodes of this rejected series. This attempt is superior to Genesis II if just for the chance to see Saxon in a mini-skirt toga.


Warner Home Video presents Strange New World. Starring: John Saxon, Kathleen Miller and Keene Curtis. Running Time: 97 minutes. Released on DVD: May 18, 2010. Available at the WBShop.com.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.