Island City (1994)

This movie was one that my daughter and I enjoyed watching when it first came out. Not the best of sci-fi. But as a lot of reviewers have cited, I agree that it had great potential to become a series of 20th century morality tales similar to what Star Trek offered in the late '60s. There were so many aspects of pitfalls of society coping with science gone bad and its impact on people's lives, social institutions, relationships, and morality. Also enjoyed seeing Brenda Strong, Eric McCormack, and Constance Marie early in their careers. We were sorry that the show didn't get a chance to develop its potential.Would love to find out where I can pick up a copy of the movie!

After all these years, I still remember this pilot as having a HUGE amount of potential. The characters were pretty solid and the premise was really interesting. I could totally see this becoming a series on the Sci Fi Channel. Granted, it had some minor problems. And I'm sure it didn't test well back in the mid 90's (back when the Sci Fi world had to rely on regular network TV executives, which have proved time and time again that they have absolutely no concept of what makes good science fiction).If any of you Sci Fi Channel execs are browsing IMDb, why don't you buy the rights to this one and make a series out of it? I'd sure watch it.

I really wanted to see this thin become a series when I saw the pilot. A lot of people tanked it, as you can see, but that doesn't mean it couldn't have been great. I've seen many a bad pilot that spawned long lived and enjoyable shows. The plot was great. Attempts to produce a "fountain of youth" medication succeed, but trigger a recessive gene present in a large amount of the population which causes them to sort of devolve to the stage of Cro-Magnon man. I really enjoyed the premise and some of the characters. Some of the details were hard to swallow, like the level of tech available to folks in the cities, but none of that is too terrible. I really enjoyed it. I'm a sci-fi fanatic and there are some things that just appeal to me as far as story elements and plots go. I'm willing to overlook some of the less than mediocre acting on the part of certain characters and lower production values if it has a story line that I can really get into. If you keep in mind that it's meant to be a series for a pilot and not expect feature film quality acting and cinematography, and are a fan of real sci-fi, you will definitely get into this.

Granted, it may be a cheapie pilot, with cheesy special effects and unknown actors, but this movie was fun to watch. Don't go into it expecting another Space Odyssey, but it's a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours if you have time to kill.