Earth II Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Earth II Blu-ray Movie Review

In space, no one can hear you debate.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III March 26, 2025

Nestled in that cozy pocket of science fiction right after Stanley Kubrick's 2001 and Star Trek: The Original Series but before Gene Roddenberry's failed follow-ups Genesis II and Planet Earth, MGM's movie-length television pilot Earth II was a fusion of all these ideas, pairing the optimism of Roddenberry's vision with a somewhat sterile, documentary-like approach to slow-burning TV drama. (Its main star, Gary Lockwood, also notably portrayed "Dr. Frank Poole" in 2001.) Directed by Tom Gries (the prolific producer dad of Jon Gries, AKA "Uncle Rico" from Napoleon Dynamite) with ample cooperation from NASA, this 98-minute production earned a theatrical release overseas but remains something of blip on the radar of American audiences of a certain age. It was first resurrected on DVD via Warner Archive back in 2010, but now finally gets its due on a fully restored Blu-ray edition courtesy of the boutique label.

"That's no moon... oh wait, yeah it is."

This near-future drama begins with the sovereignty of its titular location as American astronauts David Serville (Gary Lockwood), Jim Capa (Scott Hylands), and Dr. Loren Huxley (Hari Rhodes) are chosen to lead a proposed space station after winning a nationwide vote. "Earth II", now fully completed several years later, orbits our home planet as an idyllic, weapon-free floating city populated by roughly 2,000 citizens from different countries. We only meet a fraction of them during this 98-minute pilot, of course, and its newest citizens are Frank Karger (Anthony Franciosa) along with his wife Lisa (Mariette Hartley) and young son Matt (Brian Dewey). Before their arrival, Earth II's otherwise peaceful existence had been interrupted by the discovery of an orbiting nuclear warhead of Chinese origin. After an unsuccessful meeting with Chinese diplomats at the UN (one of them played by an uncredited James Hong), it's soon decided that an Earth II summit -- which includes Frank and Lisa, with vastly different opinions, as well as Russians Anton (Edward Michael Bell) and Ilyana (Inga Swenson), among others -- will decide how best to proceed. Statements made by these participants are fact-checked in real time via computer, and the result is a vote to deactivate the warhead. But how?

It's a compelling story, sure, but one that's occasionally bogged down by a bit too much exposition and stiff diplomacy. This saps the momentum of Earth II at critical moments and, with precious few seeds planted for future episodes, it's no wonder that this pilot didn't get picked up as an ongoing series. While this at least gives the film -- again, Earth II was released theatrically overseas -- something of a self-contained lifespan not hampered by tons of dangling subplots, it probably would have been more interesting if conceived as a one-off feature to begin with. Even so, there's definitely a certain amount of era-specific appeal here and it's pretty fun to pick out a few well-known faces along the way, not to mention proportionately impressive special effects achieved by several crew members who worked on 2001. Add in a slight courtesy bump for anyone with but faint but nostalgic memories of this one and you've got at least a decently worthwhile production that's worth checking out for die-hard disciples of this iconic era in sci-fi history.

As mentioned earlier, Earth II made it to the silver screen overseas, where approximately four minutes of additional footage -- most of it apparently pertaining to space-based special effects -- can be seen and this "international version" is what we get on Warner Archive's Blu-ray. As far as I know this marks the slightly longer version's home video debut and, considering I count Earth II's special effects as a strength, I'll assume that most like-minded viewers won't mind sitting through those extra few minutes. Quality-wise, it's presumably leaps and bounds beyond the boutique label's older DVD-R edition and, for die-hard fans, likely as definitive a home video release as we'll ever get.

Earth II Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative and framed at its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio (it was hastily cropped for international theaters, which likely didn't turn out so great), Earth II is a knockout on Blu-ray and flies full speed past its DVD counterpart. This is a robust 1080p transfer that looks outstanding in optimal conditions, where brighter overhead light sources and sporadic outdoor scenes illuminate the compositions in an attractive way. Tighter close-ups and even medium shots reveal satisfying levels of detail and visible textures on clothing and other elements, much of them infused by early 1970s fashion and design trends. This extends to the color palette too, a mix of sterile whites and grays as well as bold oranges and warm browns and yellows, all of which contrasts strongly with the infinite, unforgiving blackness of outer space. Naturally, a rich layer of film grain remains despite its exceedingly clean appearance, while everything is capably encoded on a dual-layered disc and runs at a supportive bit rate from start to finish. It's a first-rate effort and, for most returning fans, will be like seeing Earth II for the first time.

Earth II Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track doesn't run too far behind, offering a clean and crisp presentation of its original mono mix in a split stereo container. It's hardly a wide or expansive-sounding affair and comes off much more like small-screen Star Trek than big-screen 2001, which applies not only to its overall dynamics but even certain musical cues by prolific composer Lalo Schifrin. Dialogue is cleanly recorded and easy to understand, and the sonic presentation as a whole comes through without any real problems except for occasional thinness on the high end, most regularly during those aforementioned music cues. Under the circumstances, though, it's a fine effort indeed.

Optional English SDH subtitles are included, but a few glaring typos are present: poor Frank Karger gets his name misspelled at least twice ("Carter" and "Kerger"), which might cause confusion for new viewers.

Earth II Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with retro poster-themed cover art, no inserts, and minimal extras.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:59) - A pure product of its time, this charmingly campy vintage promotional piece can also be seen here. Unlike that linked version, though, this one is cropped to 16x9 so you can more easily see why Warner Archive wisely kept its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Earth II Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tom Gries' Earth II was a made-for-TV movie that, like most from MGM during that era, would also be released for international markets as a slightly longer (and hastily cropped) theatrical presentation. Warner Archive's Blu-ray gives us the best of both worlds -- pun intended -- by finally releasing the "international cut" in a more appropriate 1.33:1 aspect ratio whose transfer has been sourced from a brand-new 4K restoration. It looks and sounds outstanding, so die-hard fans of this lesser-seen TV film (and early 1970s sci-fi in general) will want to indulge.