Operation Earth?

[DontFeedPhil]

So. I was watching Assignment Earth a week ago and I started thinking. This feels an awful lot like a spin-off episode. So was it? And why did this show never make it to the air?

 

[Michael]

Assignment: Earth?

 

[Andrew Harris]

So. I was watching Assignment Earth a week ago and I started thinking. This feels an awful lot like a spin-off episode. So was it? And why did this show never make it to the air?

It's what is often referred to as a "back-door pilot"--a pilot episode folded into a regular series as a way to get it on the air, showcase the new characters, generate public interest, etc. It was indeed intended as a spinoff/its own series, but NBC never picked it up; no real insight as to why not.

Lots of books & comics have picked up on the Gary Seven storyline, though; and in another week or two, the first issue of an Assignment: Earth five-issue miniseries from IDW Publishing hits the stands, written and drawn by comics legend John Byrne, telling the story of the TV spinoff that never came to pass.

 

[Christopher]

Roddenberry originally pitched a half-hour Assignment: Earth series proposal in late 1966, independently of Star Trek. When the networks rejected it, he reworked it into a backdoor-pilot episode of ST to give it a second chance (hoping, I suppose, that a "demo reel" of the show would convince the executives where the proposal alone failed, and also hoping for a show to fall back on if ST didn't get renewed for a third season), but it still didn't sell.

Why not? Well, most proposed series don't sell. They're competing for a limited number of slots, and so only the strongest survive. The book Inside Star Trek by Desilu executive Herb Solow and TOS associate producer Bob Justman says that as a pilot, "Assignment: Earth" was "well below average" and was "immediately discounted as a potential series by the network" (p. 373).

And I suppose I can understand that. Sure, it was fun watching Gary and Roberta's interplay, Gary's gadgets, and so forth, but the episode didn't really give a great sense of what Gary and Roberta would be doing on a weekly basis. Sabotaging a US nuclear platform and almost triggering a war probably didn't seem like a heroic enough sort of thing to the network execs, and "to prevent Earth's civilization from destroying itself before it can mature into a peaceful society" was a little too abstract. At least in the original pilot proposal, there were clear antagonists to be fought.

Which is not to say that I haven't enjoyed the Gary Seven followups in the literature or that I'm not looking forward to John Byrne's take on the series. But I'm not a 1960s network executive trying to decide which shows get the limited amount of money my bosses are willing to let me spend.

 

[doctorwho 03]

I've been tinkering with the idea of reworking this episode into the pilot episode it was supposed to be to get a sense of what the actual series might've been. This would require creating a new opening theme, editing out some scenes, adding new scenes to include the Omegans, and replacing some of the sound effects and maybe some of the music to differentiate them from Star Trek. For the moment I'm still deciding whether to use the original episode or the remastered version. Might as well use the original since not much new was added to the remastered version.

 

[Christopher]

I've been tinkering with the idea of reworking this episode into the pilot episode it was supposed to be to get a sense of what the actual series might've been. This would require creating a new opening theme...

That part's been done, superbly, and twice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6lmBbV3VWo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmynXHrR74w

 

[Nerys Myk]

Assignment: Annihilate was the better episode.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

doctorwho 03, while that sounds like a clever and fun idea, you do realize that very little of Roddenberry's original script survived to the episode we saw? Really, the only scenes that you could include would be Roberta's initial arrival at Seven's headquarters, and even that is a bit different. Everything else would have to be recreated with other actors, others sets. The pilot script is 47 pages long. Are you planning to do it as a fan film? I'm not sure you'd be permitted as it was written by GR.

Just curious. I'll loan you a copy of the script, if needed. I have it scanned in to a file.

Sir Rhosis

 

[Christopher]

^^Well, any fan film or printed fan fiction based on Star Trek (or another copyrighted property) is technically not permitted, because it's a violation of copyright. But the studio looks the other way so long as no attempt is made to profit from it.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

^^^Sorry, I was unclear. I meant that this script was written by Gene Roddenberry, and thus the studio may not look the other way this time. As I understand it, the fan films are written by writers who full well know they will not (must not!) profit from their work. As GR is dead, he could not give permission. Now, perhaps Majel Roddenberry could. . .

Sir Rhosis

 

[Christopher]

My point is, legally a fan film using a script written by Roddenberry is no different from a fan film with an original script using characters and concepts created by Roddenberry. It's just as much a theft of Roddenberry's intellectual property either way. Since they don't sue people who make original films based on Roddenberry's universe, I really don't think they'd sue people who made a film based on a specific Roddenberry script. Especially since I don't see the studio feeling that beholden to Roddenberry. They were never that close.

Indeed, I'd think that CBS Paramount Television would have even less reason to object to a fan film based on GR's original A:E proposal, because such a film would have no real Star Trek elements in it at all. It would have a character named Gary Seven and a character named Isis, but they would not be identical to the characters who appeared in the 2nd-season finale of ST. And you can't copyright a title. I'm not even sure CBS Par would have any legal claim over the original pilot script at all, given that their predecessor Desilu did not buy it. So the legal owners might still be the Roddenberry family rather than CBS Par TV.

 

[doctorwho 03]

Well, I wasn't exactly planning on doing this as a fan film. I don't have the resources at the moment for something like that. My plan was to just reedit the actual episode, much like the directors cut of TMP or the "Phantom Edit" of Star Wars Episode 1. My idea for the Omegans was to have them working in the background, observing Gary and his actions on 1968 Earth. The episode would start out with the death of Agents 201 & 347, then shift to the Omegan homebase planning their next move. After the new theme music, the episode would pick up where the original began, except the original opening teaser and act one would be edited into one act. After that the episode progresses as before except for some new music and sound effects during Gary's scenes. After the Enterprise leaves orbit and heads back to the future, the Omegans would appear again and begin to implement the next phase of their ultimate plan.

Not a major fan film production, just a fun little project just to see if it can be done. I'm hoping to post it on Youtube when it's finished unless CBS/P objects to that.

 

[Valin]

I've been tinkering with the idea of reworking this episode into the pilot episode it was supposed to be to get a sense of what the actual series might've been. This would require creating a new opening theme...

That part's been done, superbly, and twice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6lmBbV3VWo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmynXHrR74w

Very nicely done, and both openings have a real late '60s feel to them in style and music.

 

[Wowbagger]

I'm still hoping to see this show--with some heavy reworking around the "Omegans", who are lame--make it to air some day.

Of course, I'm also still hoping to see John Billingsley reprise the role of Dr. Phlox someday, so I'm a bit of a dreamer.

EDIT: Link to all sorts of useful A:E data.

 

[Kryton]

I'm working around all the legal issues by calling her "Bobbi Kennedy" and him "Jerry Eight and Three Quarters".