Plymouth - The Forgotten Lunar Colonisation TV Pilot

[Graham1973]

In the early 1990s Walt Disney, Lockheed and the Italian RAI TV network teamed up to create one of the most ambitious TV pilots ever. 'Plymouth' told the tale of a small Oregon town that gets trashed by a corporate mishap. The inhabitants are offered a chance to relocate to a failing lunar mining facility owned by the same company.

It was originally supposed to air in 1990, was delayed to 1991 and the ABC network which had put around $3.5million in 1990s money into the project decided the result "...didn’t meet our needs."

Thankfully it is available on YouTube.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWoQh8k0CRA

 

[Archibald]

Damn interesting. @blackstar probably heard about it and will explain us why, against all odds, it sucked and was nixed.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-05-25-ca-2119-story.html

 

[martinbayer]

Since English is only my third language, I have to wonder whether Plymouth refers to a mouth mock-up/denture (and if so, why?) made up at least partially of plywood??? I am aware that George Washington's dentures, contrary to popular lore, appear to have been composed of a rather complex mix of real human teeth, hippopotamus and elephant ivory, and cow teeth, all set into a lead or gold base with metal springs, rather than wood, but perhaps there were alternative material solutions at the time? An inquiring mind wants to know...

 

[Dew]

I have to wonder whether Plymouth refers to ...

Other than being the "small Oregon town that gets trashed by a corporate mishap" in the story, perhaps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrims_(Plymouth_Colony) would be my guess.

 

[martinbayer]

Other than being the "small Oregon town that gets trashed by a corporate mishap" in the story, perhaps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrims_(Plymouth_Colony) would be my guess.

In the vast and ever expanding universe of US TV dramedy bromide yarn, it certainly looks like a legit possibility, I'll grant you that.

 

[Sineva]

I liked the customized helmets,probably to aid individual recognition.A bit like individually colored space suits,an idea that dates all the way back to Destination Moon in 1950.

 

[Graham1973]

Well it made for a better solution than 'Outland's idea of putting lights inside the helmets.

 

[martinbayer]

Well it made for a better solution than 'Outland's idea of putting lights inside the helmets.

Yeah, that was a stroke of cinematic genius - let's blind the astronauts!

 

[robunos]

Well it made for a better solution than 'Outland's idea of putting lights inside the helmets.

This was also done in Alien and Battlestar Galactica . It's so you can see the actor's face when they have the helmet on . . .

cheers ,
Robin .

 

[martinbayer]

This was also done in Alien and Battlestar Galactica . It's so you can see the actor's face when they have the helmet on . . .

cheers ,
Robin .

Still crappy.

 

[PMI]

Since English is only my third language, I have to wonder whether Plymouth refers to a mouth mock-up/denture (and if so, why?) made up at least partially of plywood??? I am aware that George Washington's dentures, contrary to popular lore, appear to have been composed of a rather complex mix of real human teeth, hippopotamus and elephant ivory, and cow teeth, all set into a lead or gold base with metal springs, rather than wood, but perhaps there were alternative material solutions at the time? An inquiring mind wants to know...

My first guess would be as a parallel to one of America's foundation myths....the Pilgrims landing at what is now Plymouth Massachusetts.

First colonists in a new land and all that.

Would have a much darker tone if they called it Roanoke.

 

[martinbayer]

My first guess would be as a parallel to one of America's foundation myths....the Pilgrims landing at what is now Plymouth Massachusetts.

First colonists in a new land and all that.

Would have a much darker tone if they called it Roanoke.

I can see my feeble attempt at humor missed its mark by a wide margin...