The Questor Tapes

It was a very well done project for it's time and Robert Foxworth did a splendid job. Any criticism of his performance is totally unwarranted and it was a touching performance. His interpretation of the Android was touching and the humanity and feeling he brought to the character was memorable.

The end of the movie is heartwarming and it has stayed a cult classic for us fans for decades. I remember being mesmerized by the special effects at the time even though they would seem dated by today's standards. The most important thing is the feeling brought to the characters and the relationship between Questor and humans.

It is sad that it has not been made available sooner on DVD so that fans of today can enjoy it with hindsight.

Hopefully the DVD I ordered will arrive soon and bring back all the fond memories. Lew Ayers did a find job also as did Mike Farell.

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.

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.

The last time I saw Questor was probably twenty + years ago, but at that time I think it still held up well. It's amazing how many robots and androids came out in the years following the "Questor Tapes" with little Questor mannerisms, not the least of which was Data.

I have no doubt that if the series had been picked up we would have seen an "evil" Questor (Lore or KARR), lots of android type searching for meaning, maybe even a tie in to the Gary Seven "pilot" episode on Trek. Questor would have fit into the Trek universe really well, don't know why Gene never did a tie in on Next Gen. Heck, they could have done a tie in on Enterprise.

Oh well... I received a letter from Majel a few years ago indicating she was still interested in doing a Questor series, but that was the last I ever heard. Sadness.

-Dana Curtis Kincaid

IMHO this is one of the best sci-fi TV movies ever. For once they gave Roddenberry some money and it shows up on the screen, particularly in the stirring climax which still works today. The plot is witty and features a few nice surprises. The performances are uniformly solid. In particular, Robert Foxworthy brings surprising warmth and depth to what was obviously the prototype to the DATA character from STTNG; it is probably the best acting job Foxworthy ever did, which is doubly impressive since he is supposed to be playing an emotionless android. In fact, he slips in plenty of emotion, but the insertions are subtle and well-handled. Mike Farrell (right before his own far more lengthy and lucrative insertion in MASH) is also at the top of his game as the humanistic scientist and guide for Questor. John Vernon, fresh off all those venomous villain roles from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, is reliably intimidating as the aggressive (but ultimately conscientious) antagonist.

Why does QUESTOR still resonate thirty years later? Frankly, because all of the questions about what makes man unique are only more relevant today with the advent of cloning and super microchips which make today's computers even more intelligent and capable than the fiction Roddenberry envisioned back in '73. Most of the things forecast in QUESTOR have come to pass from the creation of the internet to the polarization of the class system and symbiosis of the world economy. Man will always question his place / role in the universe and QUESTOR gets to that issue of self-awareness and "what is my purpose" as productively and entertainingly as any other sci-fi offering I can think of. It's also thought-provoking and while it momentarily lurches toward preaching at the end, somehow it all comes out just right.

So why didn't it make it to series? My hunch is that since ABC had already added THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN on their fall schedule the feeling was that QUESTOR was too similar (or "too cerebral," which was the reason the original Star Trek pilot didn't fly.) The truth is, it probably would have been difficult to maintain the quality of the pilot given the limited format. However, it would have been an interesting try and I think it would have probably been more insightful than THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN. 9/10