"... and it's said that Data in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was an homage to that original project."
Which is precisely why this one goes down as a fail before it's even out of the gate. Data's still too fresh in the SF community's memory.
"If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director?" -- Charles L Grant
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=fQUxw9aUVik
To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com
From: tdli...@multicultur aladvantage. com
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:23:17 -0800
Subject: [scifinoir2] Roddenberry, Imagine Entertainment To Revive 'Questor Tapes
More than 35 years after Gene Roddenberry first tried to bring "The Questor Tapes" to television, it may finally happen thanks to his son.
Roddenberry Productions, run by Eugene W. Roddenberry Jr., and Imagine
Entertainment are working together to bring "The Questor Tapes" back to life.
Imagine Entertainment is the company run by
Brian Grazer
and director Ron Howard. It is expected the "Questor" project will be led by Tim Minear, known for his close working relationship with
Joss Whedon in projects like "Angel," "Firefly" and "Dollhouse." Roddenberry and Imagine are still looking to wrap up negotiations with Minear to bring him on board.
"My father always felt that 'Questor' was the one that got away," the younger Roddenberry said in a release. "He believed that the show had the potential to be bigger than '
Star Trek.'"
The original project was meant to be a television series about an android with incomplete memory tapes who searches for his creator and his purpose. The android was played by Robert Foxworth, and was the brainchild of both Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek producer Gene L. Coon, the latter who died before the project could get underway.
Although "Questor" was never picked up as a series, the pilot did air as a television
movie, and it's said that Data in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was an homage to that original project.
The younger Roddenberry will develop the project along with his right-hand man Trevor Roth. They will be joined on the Imagine side by president David Nevins and executive vice president of development Robin Gurney.
Roddenberry Productions is the current
incarnation of the shingle Gene Roddenberry himself originally founded in 1967 that was responsible for shows such as "Earth: Final Conflict," "Gene Roddenberry' s Andromeda," and
comic book series like "Days Missing," which will be released as a graphic novel next month.
It's not clear where "Questor" would air as it's too early for details like who would order a pilot and where it might get picked up to be finalized. However, if it doesn't end up on a network, its only other likely home would be cable. The avenues previous posthumous Roddenberry projects like E:FC and "Andromeda" aired -- first-run syndication -- is
no longer a true viable option for scripted dramas.
Roddenberry told Airlock Alpha that while the two sides are actively working on putting together a new series, there are still no guarantees it will ever make it to television. However, it would be hard to discount a partnership between two well-respected names having the ability to generate some interest and open a few doors.
