Thursday, November 10, 2016

What Might've Been: Beyond Westworld (1980)

With a reimagined Westworld currently running on HBO, I thought I'd serve up the first attempt at adapting the 1973 movie, and its sequel, "Futureworld", into a television series.

CBS picked up Beyond Westworld in 1980, but this was where the era of itchy trigger-fingered network executives kicked into full swing. Five episodes were produced, but three were shown before CBS pulled the plug without finishing the story.

Little did I realize at the time, but the original "Westworld" came from the pen of novelist Michael Crichton. It can be said that Crichton would revisit the concept, albeit with a very different theme, 20 years after the original movie. Simply substitute humanoid androids with replicas of prehistoric creatures, and, well, I'm sure you know the story of "Jurassic Park" by now, don't you, after 4 movies?

Never saw Beyond Westworld, so there won't be a rating. We'll simply present a trailer courtesy of Warner Archive.

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