Hey folks, Valkor here, digging through Warner's Archive collection and finding something quite interesting. John Saxon's Strange New World was to have been a third attempt of a new series, based around a Gene Roddenberry concept. It still didn't work, but we get a nice, remastered look at what could have been.
Strange New World stars John Saxon as Capt. Anthony Vico, who along with Dr. Allison Crowley (Kathleen Miller), and Dr. William Scott (Keene Curtis) were trapped in space on a space station, in hibernation, after the earth was rocked by meteor shower. Ground Control on Earth extended their hibernation for another 180 years. When the crew awakes, they seek out the signal of PAX Headquarters, who froze another set of people, which included family members of the crew. But when the crew arrives back on earth, they encounter… A Strange New World.
Earth is now taken over by pocket sects: clone cultures and barbarians… and that's about it because the series never happened and we never get to see who Tony and crew run into. But if a series or film were ripe for a remake, it would be this one as there's endless opportunities to not only explore earth destruction by the meteor shower, but the after effects of the disaster. Someone should get on that.
Until then here's what I think of Warner's latest induction into the Archive Collection.
The Good:
You know, Strange New World, isn't all that bad. It's too bad the series itself didn't take off because it really does have some potential. It's a shame we never got to explore the other regions of earth that have thrived through the fire shower. The acting is a bit cheesy, not the greatest cheese, but it's tolerable. There aren't any crazy special effects, again, had the show taken off, we could have possibly seen something amazing. Also I feel the film was ahead of its time, especially when dealing with Human Cloning. Talk about hitting close to home, we're on the cusp of it, if it hasn't already been done. Other than that… not bad.
The Bad:
The show is unevenly paced in one area – quick in some areas, too slow in others. And for a planet that was ravaged by meteors… it doesn't show.
The Ugly:
N/A
I'm all for films that take a look at a dystopian future of our planet and Strange New World would have ranked high in my favors had it gone full series. But even a taste is enough to warrant folks to give this Archive film a sample. And out of TOV 5 stars, I give John Saxon's Strange New World 4 stars, and it's been Valkor tested, TOV Approved.