Saturday, April 10, 2010

Gary Seven

In 1967, the NBC television network had a new project on the drawing board. The series would feature a mysterious agent from another planet called "Gary Seven", who operated from a secret base in New York, assisted by a cat who occasionally turned into a woman.

NBC decided that the best way of introducing this futuristic James Bond would be to include him in an episode of Star Trek.

Gary Seven, played by Robert Lansing, made his debut in a story called Assignment Earth in March 1968. The episode was very well received and Lansing stole the show.

Here is a title sequence from the series. Can you spot the obvious mistake?



The answer is that the series was never made.

This highly accomplished pastiche, made from clips of Star Trek and a quintessentially 1960s soundtrack, is so well done that it's hard not to believe that you're looking at the genuine article.

Series or not, Gary Seven has now replaced David Hunter as my role model.

Sorry David.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, yes! I always rather liked Adam Adamant

Lucille said...

My brother-in-law is called Adamant, named after the series.

Mrs Jones said...

Ah, yes - Gary Seven - such a cool name and would have been a brilliant spin-off. I remember the Star Trek episode as being one of the better ones.

Annabel Gaskell said...

It was a great episode. You've made me want to watch it again - I'm sure it'll be on soon somewhere!

Jim Murdoch said...

Interesting, the first appearance of the sonic screwdriver was in March 1968 which is when the Star Trek episode that featured the very simiar device Mr. Seven is holding was aired.

Rob said...

Fabulous. A bit of Mission Impossible on the soundtrack too. Am I missing the Adam Adamant efeence? That was Gerald Harper wasn't it?

Rob said...

Urrgh, don't know what happened to my triping there - reference.

Steerforth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steerforth said...

I was too young for Adam Adamantand Jason King,but their spirit lived on in John Pertwee's Doctor Who, who was an early role model. I liked the rejection of macho, male stereotypes in favour of intelliegent dandies.

GarySeven said...

I did the fake title sequence and even I think it's a real show sometimes.

GarySeven said...

And by the way,...I should have said, if you'd like to see a little more of our take on Gary Seven check out our site at Supervisor194.com. Thanks.

Steerforth said...

Your title sequence is a masterpiece. The music is wonderful - is it Lalo Schifrin?

GarySeven said...

And,...not to run this into the ground me, me, me but here's my second version of a theme song. I find most people skip over this one. It's a jazzier take on things and I like it for different reasons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmynXHrR74w&feature=related

Steerforth said...

That reminds me of when the Lost in Space theme changed to a far jazzier tune.

Maybe this is the Season Three intro!

Doc Thompson said...

much as I like the Gary Seven project,Assignment Earth had a few problems.least of all,they never stated in the show,who he worked for"Aegis" and who he fought against the Omegans.Questions answered elsewhere,but should been mentioned in the episode.Two,why was it Mister Seven was fooling with warhead?Wouldn't have been the other guys the Omegans be better as the guys responsible for the warhead armed ?The Gary Seven would appear to dissarm it,but get intercepted by Scotty.