Assignment: Earth

[BigJake]

I ran across this list of Trek crossover ideas -- some of which are good, some of which are totes insane or just hilarious. But one in particular caught my eye, which is his idea for a crossover not really with a Trek show at all -- but between Assignment: Earth (the pilot that never quite became a futuristic spy show) and John Pertwee's incarnation of The Doctor.

That idea of course is fun, but what it puts me in mind of is. Assignment: Earth itself could actually be a pretty good idea for a new "Trek" show of sorts, maybe? Either as a period piece with Gary Seven and his "sidekick" adventuring in the actual Sixties, or as a modern spy drama-with-a-twist?

 

[Greg Cox]

Works for me. You could easily update Assignment: Earth for modern time. The biggest challenge would be untangling the rights from Star Trek . . . .

 

[Drone]

I could definitely see it with a Name of the Game style approach; hot, happening current events (read crises) that prompt the team to swing into action when and wherever needed!! Kind of neat to also have something similar to the above show's dynamic title sequence (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP8Ld9Yr_sc
but this time, to make up for the vivacious Susan St. James having been jobbed out of her proper attribution, make sure that the Terri Garr wannabee gets put up in lights!!!!

 

[BigJake]

^ Hey, thanks for mentioning Name of the Game. I hadn't heard of it, but I just watched the premiere episode on YouTube and it looks like good fun. Love the music especially. (Although I do wonder if their sound design improved as they went.) You're absolutely right about Susan St. James -- she deserved co-star billing.

 

[Wadjda]

Isn't the basic idea to preachy for today's audience?

 

[BigJake]

Advanced aliens trying to help Earth? No more preachy than Superman, Green Lantern or your average Doctor Who episode, surely?

 

[captainkirk]

If this did ever happen, should it be completely separate from Star Trek or take place in the same universe? So Vulcans or Klingons could show up at some point. I can image though that the legal issues would get complicated.

 

[CRM-114]

I have long thought an Assignment: Earth series would be amazing; the problem is the premise is a little too similar to the already-popular Doctor Who and if you remove the sci-fi elements, it just becomes a generic spy series.

 

[Wadjda]

Advanced aliens trying to help Earth? No more preachy than Superman, Green Lantern or your average Doctor Who episode, surely?

Trying to prevent self destruction. The Cold War is over but i suppose they could improve humanity just a bit here and there trought it's history. I would like to see some morally gray stuff since historical figures are not nice people.

 

[Metryq]

Isn't the basic idea to preachy for today's audience?

As I've argued in other threads, my gripe with "Assignment Earth" or THE QUESTOR TAPES is the patronizing treatment of humanity as a child that needs constant nannying. A child needs to make mistakes to be able to mature, however all these "superior" aliens are not our parents. What makes the aliens superior anyway? What is "right" for them may not be right for us.

TREK's Prime Directive is a great idea, even though everyone seems to violate it. (I know, they did it to save the ship. But in "Bread and Circuses" Spock admitted that the ship and crew were considered expendable to preserve the Prime Directive.)

THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO was, in a way, similar to "Assignment Earth." The difference is that Gary Seven was effectively an alien (human stock, alien upbringing), while Ralph Hinkley and Bill Maxwell were totally human. Ralph and Bill (polar opposites) were given leverage, but how to apply it was up to them. (Fans of the show know that the aliens briefly stepped in during the third season to tell Ralph and Bill that they were flubbing their mission.)

Still, managing individual crises doesn't do much in the long run. Cops arresting perps doesn't address the root cause of crime. And well-intentioned "social programs" often make things worse.

So, if a race isn't allowed to make its own mistakes and learn from them, they will become perpetual baggage, eternal children. And if they make mistakes too big to survive, that might be for the best.

In the novel 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, Arthur C. Clarke described advanced aliens as farmers in the fields of stars—"They sowed, and sometimes they reaped. And sometimes, dispassionately, they had to weed." This suggests that intelligent life is abundant. It also suggests that the aliens had some ulterior motive, which Clarke addressed in CHILDHOOD'S END.

So why are Gary Seven's people tinkering with Earth? Because it gives them a warm, fuzzy feeling?

"Beware of altrusim. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil."
—from THE NOTEBOOKS OF LAZARUS LONG


EDIT:
DOCTOR WHO is typically helping Earth fight off alien invaders, not cleaning up Earth's own messes—although there have been such episodes. It depends on which Doctor you choose. Pertwee spent a lot of time on Earth.

 

[Drone]

Being a bit punchy I suppose, but I just flashed on repurposing the show as an update of Rumpole of the Bailey. Gary still gets to fight the good fights, though in a rather more idiosyncratic way. How annoying might Roberta be as "She who must be obeyed"????

 

[BigJake]

It's a fine line between madness and genius, and I can't quite tell which side that's on.

 

[Drone]

^^^^ Hell, that's good enough for me!!! Going forward, I must resolve to be barely coherent at least 50% of the time I'm visiting this forum!!!!!

THANKS

 

[urbandefault]

I could definitely see it with a Name of the Game style approach; hot, happening current events (read crises) that prompt the team to swing into action when and wherever needed!! Kind of neat to also have something similar to the above show's dynamic title sequence (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP8Ld9Yr_sc
but this time, to make up for the vivacious Susan St. James having been jobbed out of her proper attribution, make sure that the Terri Garr wannabee gets put up in lights!!!!

^ Hey, thanks for mentioning Name of the Game. I hadn't heard of it, but I just watched the premiere episode on YouTube and it looks like good fun. Love the music especially. (Although I do wonder if their sound design improved as they went.) You're absolutely right about Susan St. James -- she deserved co-star billing.

I haven't thought about that show in decades. But back in the day, it was must see tv in my house.

They just don't make guys that cool any more.

 

[Drone]

I haven't thought about that show in decades. But back in the day, it was must see tv in my house.

They just don't make guys that cool any more.

Each of the principals had his own form of panache, but the word for Gene Barry was SUAVE!!!!