The Questor Tapes

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source: The Questor Tapes

On one occasion I found a large movie collector that would put this movie on a disc in a common format and send to the buyer without guarantee. The cost was I recall about twenty dollars. I will add more information if I can again find it. This is a moderate movie but interesting. There are a number of large movie collectors that have most of the old movies that are not generally available. I am always looking for a few that are hard to find. Most of these movies were not well respected and hence are not in production due to economics. I think in some cases a major actor made a bad movie and wishes to suppress the release of it.

**** spoilers ***** This was a pilot for a possible series done by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenbary. Questar is android with no emotions and no understanding of them. He spends the movie searching for his creator with the help of friendly scientist. Like data and Spock, Questar very strong, knows a great deal of facts, and process data like a computer. He finally learns of his from his creator who is another android. Questar's mission it turns out is the same one as Gary Seven from the Star Trek episode "Assignment Earth." This Star Trek episode was itself a pilot. Qestar also has some similarities to the the android Norm in the Star Trek episode, "I Mudd." As with all Roddenbary projects he uses actors from other projects like his wife, Majel Barret.

Even for the 70's this was a pretty ridiculous movie. Regardless of the love for Roddenberry's creations and his correct vision of the future, when we would have to face autoanihilation or grow up, I can't really recommend it. That doesn't mean that is it not adorable, in the way little children are when you are looking at celluloid films of themselves from 40 years ago: "look dad, how cute you were when you were 5!" (and everybody laughs at his embarrassment) From the beginning you know something is strange when the best minds humanity can provide can barely assemble the android parts provided by mysterious professor Vaslovik. Later, when it effortlessly escapes from his human creators, you get to wonder what is its purpose? Itself it doesn't know, since part of his programming was accidentally erased (since then we learned to back up everything in the cloud, so there is hope), the only thing it knows for sure is that it has to find his creator before it explodes in a nuclear explosion. A nice story, and well played, in that '70s way. The fact that all technological, social and even bureaucratic development at the time look from the stone age is testament to the speed of our evolution, but also blocks any real enjoyment out of a clearly outdated film. Worth watching just to see where Commander Data came from.

I don't think I saw this more than the one time when it first aired. Back then he had a number of pilots Genesis II and Planet Earth among them that did not make it. As good as a concept as they were this was far better. Gene was putting together shows that were advanced for their time. People back then were still into the more real detective and family shows than science fiction. But these tidbits kept his fan base active, always hopeful, always watching, always willing to participate. What surprises me is that the Six Million Dollar Man started nearly the same time as this show. Makes you wonder why they chose one over the other and not both. Too similar for them? Robert Foxworth as a far better android. As much as I enjoyed Data, Robert gave the character a bit more feeling. A more natural yet robotic feel. It is a shame it didn't take off. What surprises me is that Genesis II (great concept) and Planet Earth has been mentioned far more often over the years over this one and this one is a better quality product. I wonder political dynamics played between the studio and Gene that interfered with this getting off the ground.

Another great Gene Roddenberry TV-Movie Pilot. The networks dropped the ball, on not making Questor Tapes into a TV series. It seems every time Roddenberry came up with a great new series(Questor Tapes, Genesis II, Planet Earth, Spectre) the networks failed to see his vision. Someday I hope someone remake's these into movies or pilots again they are sure deserving of it.

This film is beautiful. Since 1973 it has not aged a day due to its intensely human focus. The casting is first rate, and the performances spot-on. Perhaps it is better that it was never made into a series (this is a pilot film) because an ongoing series could never manage to consistently live up to the original work. Gene Roddenberry outdid himself with "Questor." I prefer it to "Star Trek" and I have been a "Trek" fan since that series began. The character of Data in "Next Generation" while very endearing shows no more than a hint of his far more emotively and philosophically powerful predecessor, Questor. I highly recommend this film.

After all these years, I'm still amazed how this film created a concept of a way to centrally identify worldwide needs and the resources to fill them and we are seeing it happen in various ways (Northwest Medical Team (free medical help to needy countries), the worldwide effort to save the two whales stranded in the ice years back,etc). The efforts so far have not come close to the scope in the movie, but I feel it will come. Precursor of the information super-highway!! The concept of a progressive mentor throughout history, guiding but not interfering with mankind's evolution to maturity -- well done!! Marcia

I'm wondering why this movie has never been released on DVD or VHS! This is one of the most fantastic concepts of the late, great Gene Roddenberry and would still play well today - more than 30 years later. I wish there was some kind of movement to get it released, as I would really love to add it to my collection of sci-fi movies. If you get a chance to ever see this movie and you like science fiction, don't miss it! Roddenberry is a master of the future-possible. He resisted the temptation that so many sci-fi writers fall prey to - the temptation to paint a dark and horrible future for mankind. Roddenberry believed in the future of humanity. You can see this in the uplifting spirit of his creations. Everyone immediately thinks of Star Trek when they think of Roddenberry, but he had a vast quantity of other great work - and The Questor Tapes was as good as any of them. So a word of advise - if you are looking for Science Fiction, but you want entertainment that is also positive in its approach to the future (as well as thought-provoking), then get your hands on anything Gene Roddenberry put his name on - you won't be disappointed. And as I said, The Questor Tapes is an example of one of his best works. I fear it is in danger of being completely forgotten. That would be a crime.