Verdict
Summary
The Questor Tapes is done very much in the episodic structure of a TV show, setting up a plot that would see the android and its sidekick going from place to place and solving problems, making friends (and enemies) along the way. It’s not really aged well, but it’s still enjoyable and relaxing and simple, and fans of Roddenberry should enjoy it most of all.
Plot:
An artificial man seeks his creator before it self-destructs.
Review:
A genius named Dr. Vaslovik (Lew Ayres) disappears before his greatest and most complicated project is completed: The creation of an artificial man. The man, made completely of synthetic material and circuitry, is activated and becomes self aware like a full grown baby, and it begins to assemble its final pieces together – like hair, voice inflections, and the mannerisms of a man – and looks, sounds, and behaves (pretty much) like any other man (played by Robert Foxworth), with the name Questor, after Vaslovik’s top secret project. Questor is beyond brilliant right from the start and it has strength like a tractor, able to rip doors off their hinges if need be, and it can compute any equation to the point that it can predict worldwide catastrophes just by reading weather patterns. Questor picks up a sidekick, a guy named Jerry (Mike Farrell) who knows that it’s an android, and Questor allows itself to be exploited at a casino (the movie’s best scene) where it easily wins a boatload in cash on the craps table so that the two of them can go on a road trip to try to find its creator, who is supposedly located somewhere in the desert. Along the way, they pick up a tail of cops and military brass who begin panicking … because Questor has a nuclear bomb implanted in its circuitry that will go off soon if it can’t figure out a way to turn it off.
From co-writer and producer Gene Roddenberry, who clearly had an interest in artificial intelligence (see his Star Trek for more on that), and was able to explore it a little bit in this TV movie that was intended to start a series, The Questor Tapes is done very much in the episodic structure of a TV show, setting up a plot that would see the android and its sidekick going from place to place and solving problems, making friends (and enemies) along the way. It’s not really aged well, but it’s still enjoyable and relaxing and simple, and fans of Roddenberry should enjoy it most of all. From director Richard A. Colla.
Kino Lorber’s recent Blu-ray release of The Questor Tapes comes in a new HD master from a 2K scan of the 35mm Interpositive, and there’s a new audio commentary by a film historian, plus a trailer and a promo. There’s also a slipcover for this edition.
