The Questor Tapes (1974)

Questor was the latest in a line of androids, his predecessor being the scientist who built him as a replacement (his own existence being finite). He was one of a long line of androids put on earth ages ago to "help us along". He escapes the center in which he is built in order to find his creator and complete his programming. John Vernon (best known as Dean Wormer from Animal House) played government agent Darro, who's mission was to find and facilitate the destruction of the "dangerous" Questor. Questor succeeds in finding Vaslovik, who is too far gone to be of assistance. Close behind, Darro learns the truth, and fools the government into thinking that Questor has been destroyed.

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.

A fun, light, probably-would-have-been-inexpensive-to-produce-a-series-from-it movie. The eponymous android was, though, perhaps a bit too superior to make it easy to believe viewers would want him. He's Spock-like in his lack of feelings and in his super-brain, but also in his naivete'. It would probably be fair to guess this was all very deliberate, but that's okay. It works pretty well in this film, except for the moments when it drifts into some of those annoying roboticisms that all movie robots must embrace, it seems. For example, he insists on referring to money as "specie." Why? Apparently because he's a robot and they get stubborn about things like that.This could and should have been a series. In some ways, it would have been what the series-version of "Starman" never reached, because the lead character had the same poignancy and innocence, but added more nobility and a loftier sense of mission. Alas, stories that hearken back to the Tin Man's wish for a heart all seem to have been shelved with the era that produced them, along with the ecology movement, the moon race, and the phrase "thinking machine." I miss two out of three of those, and also movies like this one.

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