The Questor Tapes
| The Questor Tapes | |
|---|---|
Title card
|
|
| Created by | Gene Roddenberry |
| Written by | Gene Roddenberry Gene L. Coon |
| Directed by | Richard Colla |
| Starring |
Robert Foxworth Mike Farrell John Vernon Lew Ayres James Shigeta Robert Douglas |
| Theme music composer | Gil Mellé |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Howie Horwitz Jeffrey M. Hayes (executive) Gene Roddenberry (executive) |
| Editor(s) | J. Terry Williams |
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | January 23, 1974 |
The Questor Tapes is a 1974 television movie about an android (portrayed by Robert Foxworth) with incomplete memory tapes who is searching for his creator and his purpose. Conceived by and executive produced by Gene Roddenberry, the script is credited to Roddenberry and fellow Star Trek alumnus Gene L. Coon.
A novelization, written by D. C. Fontana (another Star Trek alumna), was dedicated to Coon, who died before the program was broadcast.
Project Questor is the brainchild of the genius Dr. Emil Vaslovik, Ph.D., a Nobel laureate. Vaslovik had developed plans to build a superhuman android. A team of the world's foremost experts is able to build the android even though they do not understand the components with which they are working — they are only able to follow the instructions and install the parts left by Vaslovik, who has disappeared. Attempts to decode the programming tape were worse than merely unsuccessful—they also erased approximately half of the tape's contents. They decide to substitute their own programming, over the objections of Jerome "Jerry" Robinson (Mike Farrell), the only team member who had actually worked with Dr. Vaslovik. He is overruled by the head of the project, Geoffrey Darrow (John Vernon). When the android's body has been finished, the new tape is loaded, but with no apparent results. In desperation, Robinson persuades Darrow to allow Vaslovik's tape — what remains of it — to be loaded. Again, the team is disappointed, as there appears to be no response.
However, once left alone, the android comes to life. It adds the various cosmetic touches to a previously featureless outer skin, transforming itself from an "it" to a "him," and he (Robert Foxworth) then leaves the laboratory to visit Vaslovik's office and archives; it is there that he first identifies himself as "part of Project Questor." The android then seeks out Robinson, whom he forces to accompany him in a search for Vaslovik, with Darrow in pursuit of both, following a miniscule datum in his original programming.
...
Wikipedia