Gary 7 spinoff?

[RobertScorpio]

My wife and I watched ASSIGNMENT EARTH last night, just before HELL's KITCHEN, and we really like that episode. We all know that it was a backdoor pilot to a possible spinoff show...but then I got to wondering; why? Even by the end of SEASON TWO, Star Trek was a ratings flop. And yet NBC was willing to roll the dice on a sequel?

I also wonder, had the GARY 7 show gone forward (and looked lot more cheaper to produce than TREK) if NBC would have just cancelled Season 3 and gone with Gary-7 and if Roddenberry would have been okay with that...my gut tells me "YES". Roddenberry would have thrown TREK under the bus if it meant he could do GARY 7 show.

What do you think???

Rob

[M]

You mean like this?

[JustKate]

Would you really say it was a "ratings flop"? My recollection is that while it didn't have great ratings, it wasn't a flop. If it had been a flop, no letter-writing campaign would have been enough to save it.

[RobertScorpio]

JustKate wrote:

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Would you really say it was a "ratings flop"? My recollection is that while it didn't have great ratings, it wasn't a flop. If it had been a flop, no letter-writing campaign would have been enough to save it.

I am not sure where I read this..but I think the highest rated episode of TREK was CITY..and it was like #28 or something like that. The show was almost cancelled because of low ratings and only the letter campaign saved it. But from what I have read through the years, shatner-nimoy books and others, it wasn't a hit in the way they gathered ratings in those days...

Rob

[Ensign_Redshirt]

NCC-1701 wrote:

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You mean like this?

Or maybe like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH8h_FxVWts

[Gary7]

Ensign_Redshirt wrote:

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Or maybe like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH8h_FxVWts

THAT is funny! Pretty good timing of the video with the theme music, too.

[Gary7]

NCC-1701 wrote:

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You mean like this?

Excellent mock-up of an Assignment Earth TV series intro. I couldn't find enough details from the comments about the theme music. I wonder if the submitter created it or borrowed it from some other period work. It definitely goes well with it... kind of a Man from U.N.C.L.E. flavor.

Personally, I think it would have been a good show if talented writers could have been found. Certainly the actors were "just right" for the roles. Plenty of material, especially with the Cold War still on. Kind of a "Mission Impossible" but with a "friendly alien" stepping in with superior technology to dispense with the baddies. And a little hint of James Bond, too.

[M]

Gary7 wrote:

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Excellent mock-up of an Assignment Earth TV series intro. I couldn't find enough details from the comments about the theme music. I wonder if the submitter created it or borrowed it from some other period work.

It's original music done by some very passionate fans. Here's a link. They also did a second version. What I find so good about them is that they sound like genuine 60s theme songs.

[RobertScorpio]

NCC-1701 wrote:

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It's original music done by some very passionate fans. Here's a link. They also did a second version. What I find so good about them is that they sound like genuine 60s theme songs.

That was pretty cool...I am really impressed with how imaginative some of us fans are...

Rob

[Nerys Myk]

RobertScorpio wrote:

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My wife and I watched ASSIGNMENT EARTH last night, just before HELL's KITCHEN, and we really like that episode. We all know that it was a backdoor pilot to a possible spinoff show...but then I got to wondering; why? Even by the end of SEASON TWO, Star Trek was a ratings flop. And yet NBC was willing to roll the dice on a sequel?

I also wonder, had the GARY 7 show gone forward (and looked lot more cheaper to produce than TREK) if NBC would have just cancelled Season 3 and gone with Gary-7 and if Roddenberry would have been okay with that...my gut tells me "YES". Roddenberry would have thrown TREK under the bus if it meant he could do GARY 7 show.

What do you think???

Rob

IIRC, it was originally a show without a connection to Star Trek. Roddenberry reworked the pilot's script into a Star Trek episode as a way to sell the show to NBC. Sorta like changing Majel's hair color and recasting her in a different role after the network said dump her

[Praetor]

^That's what I understood to be the case, too.

[RobertScorpio]

Praetor wrote:

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^That's what I understood to be the case, too.

But if it had sold, had they used ASSIGNMENT EARTH as a 'pilot' and had sold it to NBC, I think TREK would have been cancelled,because of its cost, and they would have gone with GARY SEVEN simply because it looked like a cheaper show to do....

I contend that by not selling GARY SEVEN, STAR TREK got one year of life...even if it was the must derided season three...

Rob

[Praetor]

But why would they have to pick one over the other?

[Nerys Myk]

Yeah, I'm sure Star Trek wasn't the only show NBC could have canceled that year.

[RobertScorpio]

Praetor wrote:

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But why would they have to pick one over the other?

Because, at that time, they had already axed TOS because its lack of ratings. Had they given Roddenberry a choice, one or the other, I think he would have ditched TOS for many reasons; budgets being one, and increasing friction between him and Shatner/Nimoy....sure, the letter campaign saved it for a third season..a third season that Roddenberry was MIA for and suffered in quality as well...

IMO of course..

Rob