Beyond Westworld

I am lucky enough to be able to say I've seen this rare tv series. It was a great series, Quaid was always up to no good with the Delos robots as Moore tried to keep them at bay. The hot looking Connie Selleca was added to the show after the pilot but that couldn't even save this show from the corporate axe and the annals of obscurity. They made six episodes of 'Beyond Westworld' but only four were actually shown on tv. A guy on e-bay was selling this show complete with the two unaired episodes included and was raking people over the coals per copy(some over 30.00 USA). The late Art Sholl did the aircraft/chopper flying stunts for the show. He worked on hundreds of tv shows, films and advertising projects before crashing into the ocean filming a action sequence for the popular 80's movie 'Top Gun'. Thumbs up for this rare show.

After buying the bluray of Michael Critons masterful directory West World it had the pilot of beyond WW. WELL, this is one of those extraordinary appalling spin-off that is so bad its actually worth watching, only once. I cried with laughter. The acting, the script, the effects, the direction are impossibly disastrous. Watch this after Westworld and enjoy the HILARITY

Largely forgotten TV series spun-off from the two successful films "Westworld" and "Futureworld" is a total dud unfortunately. Premise of rogue scientist Simon Quaid(James Wainwright) hijacking the androids of Delos to infiltrate and conquer the world, and the attempts of it's security chief John Moore(Jim McMullan) to stop him makes little sense, either within the continuity of the two films, or even within the constraints of logic, since Moore always seems to go it alone(with the help of fellow agent Pam Williams, played by Connie Selleca) when a threat of this magnitude should be handled by the FBI or other agencies right? Apparently not... Plots of the 5 episodes are dismayingly trite and mundane, failing to involve the viewer in any way, and it all ends inconclusively, making this series a waste of time.

Now on DVD from Warner Archive, so people can judge for themselves.

After the success of Westworld (1973) and it's follow-up Futureworld (1976) it was time to make a series about the robots. Beyond Westworld was created in 1980 but it wasn't what the fans of both films thought it should be.

It was short-lived even as it followed in a great line the story of both full features. In fact, the first 15 minutes do pick up on Westworld were we do have problems with the robots working at Westworld. But once Westworld is destroyed, as the title of episode one says, this series moves further away and goes on in the real world were world dominators are using robots to conquer earth. Quaid (James Wainwright) is the bad guy using the robots of Delos to conquer earth. Security Chief John Moore (Jim McMullan) of the Delos Corporation has to stop Quaid.

The series was nominated for an Emmy for the make-up only 5 episodes were developed and only three were aired before cancellation.

Nevertheless, it did deliver some good moments but as I said earlier, after 15 minutes it moves away from Westworld to become something different, not bad but they should have given it another name in stead of trying to clock in on the success of both flicks.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

It is not unusual for a good show to be canceled in under 5 episodes. But as we write this, we can only remember BEYOND WESTWORLD because it still makes us angry when remembering its failure to live up to the premise. Whatever it was, it was not WESTWORLD. WW was a virtual reality adventure that let people cast off their stultifying realities and escape into the worlds and the roles that they think they would prefer. This review suggests that fans coming to BW hungered for more of Westworld, more exploration of the other parts of the WW park, such as Roman world and Medieval world, and the introduction of other divisions (like, ah, Marsworld?). Did any movie fan really come to the show hoping for corporate intrigue plots set in a modern milieu? We honestly don't know whether our devotion to the original movie could have brought us back for more than the 3 hours actually broadcast.

Ironically, the same sort of TV plotting wrecked similar shows, including TOTAL RECALL 2070 (which also unnecessarily focused on corporate intrigue). I loved Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie and wanted to see a series featuring other people getting lost in grandiose fantasies. The TR (2012) remake was okay, but lesser. Wherever the original had a better idea, the remake dropped it. In effect, WESTWORLD and TOTAL RECALL were sf versions of FANTASY ISLAND, done in a grownup style. On that score, we enjoyed the too-cute Fernando Lamas version FI at first, but found it kid-stuff over the long grind. 1998's FANTASY ISLAND with Malcolm McDowell offered the intriguing idea of darker and stronger fantasies hanging somewhere between heaven and hell, but immediately let us down. Under all the window-dressing, the 1998 fantasies were just as ephemeral and happy-happy as they had been on the old show. This is to say the remake fell between stools. The more sinister characters must have put off the holdovers who wanted the old version unchanged, while the tame plot resolutions could not meet the expectations of people who wanted unsweetened darkness and depth. (Like someone who craves "Supernatural" and instead gets "Scooby-Doo.") I'm suggesting that at least one of these three series should have explored the psychology of dreams and nightmares, of deep-seated aspirations and ambitions. The core of a good show should have been guests' fantasies, and the acting out of those fantasies should have typically left the subject haunted, substantially changed, and endowed with new wisdom, and perhaps even new lives.

So far, HBO has not offered plot descriptions of their upcoming series. I'd like to see it go where 1973's WESTWORLD (forget about the weak sequel, FUTUREWORLD) had pointed the way. We can only hope. But, hey, because FANTASY ISLAND (1998) and TOTAL RECALL 2070 were such fiascoes, those settings, too, remain ripe for remakes with better ideas.