Avid readers will know how much we love Warner Brothers and their Archive Collection, but this one makes us pause. Yesterday, WB released (via the Archive Collection) Strange New World, which is in reality yet another mixture of two episodes of a failed television show. There must be a market for this type of “film” as Warners continues to release them. Granted these are burned on demand rather than pressed discs, but still…..
SNW is the third attempt at putting the same Gene Roddenberry story on the small screen. The first two were Planet Earth (1974) and Genesis II (1973). All three tell roughly the same story of astronauts waking from a long cryogenic freeze to find a very different planet Earth. At least the first two involved Roddenberry directly, this one does not.
There is a lot of action here and there is much to see, but the plot is razor thin. The characters are thinner. It must have seemed tired to the viewers when originally aired and looks worse now. It is little wonder that this was not picked up by the networks. Video and audio are very watchable but about what you would expect.
I will say that this does continue the newer trend in packaging, which includes better graphics on the slipcase. The shaded blue field with the inserted still was getting a bit tired. This is much better.
If you dare, you can get it direct from Warner Archive at Strange New World.