STRANGE NEW WORLD

   Made-for-tv film (1975). Warner Bros. TV/ABC. Dir Robert Butler, starring John Saxon, Kathleen Miller, Keene Curtis, James Olson, Martine Beswick, Gerrit Graham. Screenplay Walon Green, Ronald F. Graham, Al Ramrus. 100 mins. Colour.

   The 1970s are littered with tv movies representing Gene RODDENBERRY's repeated attempts at pilot episodes for new tv series, though in this case he is not credited. This editing together of 2 never-aired episodes is a sort of sequel to GENESIS II (1973) and PLANET EARTH (1974), sharing the same star, Saxon, with the latter. Threeastronauts, after 180 years in SUSPENDED ANIMATION, return to an Earth devastated by a meteor storm. What is left of civilization is balkanized, each group differing. The astronauts encounter two such groups. Eterna is a sterile utopia, with an obsession for cleanliness, that has conquered death; the wholesome travellers ensure that death makes a cleansing return to Eterna before they leave. They go on to restore peace in Arboria, a land divided by the Hunters and the Zookeepers, the latter being fanatical conservationists ready to kill to achieve their aims.

   JB/PN