The Man from the 25th Century

I just saw an old copy of "The Man from the 25th Century." It should be tossed back to the 25th century so nobody will have it inflicted on them and perhaps by then historians will look at it some interest as they wonder if TV could have caused the doom of our society.

I wasn't expecting much but even my rather low hopes weren't met. I guess I am not an Irwin Allen fan. Perhaps I am too much of a snob. Lost In Space isn't Sci Fi in my book. Well, this was stock footage from Lost in Space and Time Tunnel chopped together with a few new pieces shot on reworked parts of the Lost in Space Jupiter 2 set. It had all the elements of Irwin Allen. Evil big headed aliens in shiny "futuristic" costumes, right out of Time Tunnel and Lost in Space, lots of fighting and equipment spitting sparks.

It's pretty obvious why this one wasn't picked up. It wasn't good, even by the standards of his TV epochs like "Land of the Giants."

Irwin Allen was running out of ideas for series after "Land of the Giants", because all he came up with was "City Beneath the Sea", a kind of sequel to his "Voyage" series, and "Man from the 25th Century," the latter being a sort-of retread of "The Invaders" with a bit of Gerry Anderson's "Captain Scarlet" thrown in for good measure.

"The Man from the 25th Century" went no further than a 10-minute presentation film (similar to a theatrical trailer), that depicted the basic premise of the series for the purpose of getting an OK by studio execs. I'm sure the suits were as confused as I was over this hokey and disjointed film.

First, we see James Darren -- the title character -- a human taken to an alien planet as a infant being trained by his 'elders' for a mission involving the destruction of the earth's alien-defense installations. He displays nice martial-arts skills and disposes of his opponent. He is then sent to earth in one of their flying saucers (the Jupiter 2 from "Lost in Space") and lands in Glacier National Park where one of the installations is located. Why the defense installation did not notice his ship coming down and landing is one of the first in a series of head-scratching moments in this mess. After being accepted as "Robert Prentice" (the human he is impersonating), Darren is given a guided tour of the complex. Given a moment to be alone, he gains access to the complex's atomic-core control-room (a cleverly re-dressed Jupiter 2 upper-deck) and begins to wreck havoc in a typical Irwin Allenish fight scene complete with short-circuiting control panels. Darren is overpowered and taken into custody, but it soon becomes apparent that the aliens must do away with Darren now that he's caught. So, what do they do? The alien leader sends a robot/duplicate(?) of Darren and we soon have yet ANOTHER well-choreographed fight scene with sparking and exploding computer equipment whenever someone leans against them! All the while, the humans in the complex have MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED in typical "Lost in Space" 'pop-out' effect, only to REAPPEAR after the human James Darren has eliminated his opponent. The military leader of the complex asks Darren 'What happened?' and all Dareen can say is "You couldn't begin to comprehend......this is only the beginning." And the film ends with that line! No wonder it was never picked up as a series!

Oddly, Irwin did not give up on the concept as he had two of his trusted writers, Anthony Wilson (LIS), and Arthur Weiss ("Time Tunnel"), write a two-hour made-for-TV version of "Man from the 25th Century" in May of 1970. This time around Allen's intentions were likely to try and sell the concept to ABC to use "Man" as a possible series for the Sunday night time slot in Sept. 1970, a spot vacated by recently canceled LOTG. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Allen only had the funds for one project that year and NBC okayed "City Beneath the Sea" as a TV film and that's the project that got the green-light.

An earthman is kidnapped by space aliens and trained into fighting his fellow humans. The man is then returned to earth but things don't go as the aliens wished.

Don't get too excited about this one folks! Granted, the sight of a very 1960s looking American car driving out of the full scale model of the Jupiter 2 (seen in The Derelict and Visit To A Hostile Planet) is thrilling.

It is just a bunch of 20th Century Fox blinking light computers and regular often seen Irwin Allen stars getting together to form something that never went anywhere (in sales I mean).

But despite the flaws, I do like it and it is apart of all that is Irwin Allen.

Very hard to review as the general energy and gusto of the thing draws you in - that is the appeal.

This pilot is sometimes compared to QM's The Invaders (1967) and remembered for stock Lost In Space (1965) music cues.

Irwin Allen was on top of the TV world back in the late 1960s. He had several hit shows and was looking for yet another with "The Man From the 25th Century". However, unlike some pilots, this one is not an entire episode but more a snippet--like half an episode. Several shows began as snippets, such as "The Munsters" and apparently Allen's snippet didn't elicit enough network attention to make a full episode.

The main character is played by James Darren. He was born on Earth in 1951 but was soon taken to another planet by big-headed aliens to train him for a mission back on Earth. He is to stop Project Delphi. But there are some warning signs that these might not be the most benevolent aliens and Darren't character must decide whether to complete his mission or not.

It's hard to rate this one--mostly because it's only about 16 minutes long. But it is interesting and if you want to see it, it's on YouTube.