Saturday, March 22, 2014

Gary Seven as a genetically enhanced human

first broadcast on March 29, 1968
Assignment: Earth is an episode of the original Star Trek series. There is a curious parallel to the present UFO mythology woven into this story. I am tapping into ideas from Christopher Knowles in this post. Here is a great post about the episode with some cool info.

Mister Seven to you.
In this episode the Enterprise time travels back to 1968 Earth, but somehow an interstellar agent, along with his black cat Isis, beams aboard. This mysterious man is Gary Seven, played by Robert Lansing, and he is planning to intervene in 20th Century events with motives uncertain to Kirk and Spock. Also in this episode is Teri Garr, in a psychedelic mini skirt.

Terri Garr and Robert Lansing, both sporting extremely hip outfits
Kirk is wary of the motives of Gary Seven, and tells McCoy to perform a physical. Afterwards, there is a conference where his motives are debated.

MCCOY: Well, I must admit the sensor readings seem too good. Human readings, yes, but not a single physical flaw. Totally perfect body.

KIRK: If an alien needed a body.

SPOCK: He might be inclined to prepare a perfect one, Captain. But then again he may be telling the truth.

Could this perfect human be a product of some alien hybridization process?

Gary Seven is on earth to finish the mission that had been assigned to two agents who had been sent ahead of him, but they both died in a car accident before they could complete their assignment. He describes his comrades and their mission like this:
Agents are male and female, descendants of human ancestors taken from Earth approximately six thousand years ago. They're the product of generations of training for this mission. Problem. Earth technology and science have progressed faster than political and social knowledge. Purpose of mission. To prevent Earth's civilization from destroying itself before it can mature into a peaceful society.

I can’t help seeing the parallels in this episode to elements within the overall UFO phenomenon.

Gary Seven clearly states that descendants of human abductees are now working as alien spies. The idea that genetically enhanced humans could be walking among us is also part of the modern UFO lore. It is often reported that there are perfectly ordinary humans working side by side with the aliens onboard their craft. The immediate assumption is that our government has signed some sort of treaty and we are now in cahoots with these aliens. Could it be that these humans are, in essence, exactly like Gary Seven? 

Humans abducted in some previous time, then genetically tinkered to have all the powers that would be required for them to play the role of Gary Seven.

Gary Seven is on earth to complete the task that was assigned to the two previous agents. His plan is to blow up a nuclear armed rocket as a way to prevent World War Three and save the earth from total inhalation. It has been well documented that the UFO occupants have taken a great interest in the nuclear bombs held by the Americans, and there are rumors that similar interactions were experienced by the Russians too.

The line: “Earth technology and science have progressed faster than political and social knowledge...” is straight out of the UFO abduction literature. It is repeated over and over, though often with more etheric term spirituality replacing more pragmatic political and social knowledge.

 
fake ID's in the hands of a human raised by aliens!

Gary Seven, despite his dark blue pinstripe suit and paisley tie, plays the quintessential Man in Black. He carries fake ID's for the CIA, NSA and NYPD Homicide Squad, so he's set up to impersonate a federal officer. I mean, what better definition of a MIB than a well dressed, very serious, alien enhanced human from the future. (thanks Frank Zero)

This episode was meant to be a spin-off series, but it was never picked up by the network. Six years later, Roddenberry used this theme of an outside force benevolently aiding human development in the made for TV movie, The Questor Tapes. This was produced as a pilot for a potential series about an android (portrayed by Robert Foxworth) who is searching for his creator and his purpose, which turns out to be (like that of Gary Seven) to help mankind avoid disasters. The Secret Sun examines The Questor Tapes HERE.

The Questor Tapes was conceived by and executive produced by Gene Roddenberry, the script is credited to Roddenberry and fellow Star Trek alumnus Gene L. Coon. Like Assignment: Earth, this series was also never produced.

Angela Dorian, Playboy's Playmate of the Year for 1968

Terri Garr sees thru the alien screen imagery

There is even an overt alien screen image where the cat is not what it appears to be. Cats, like owls and deer, are a common screen image noted by UFO abductees. The name Isis is a curious nod to the Egyptian goddess, the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic.

The alien cat was played by Angela Dorian, (her real name is Victoria Vetri) and she was Playboy's 1968 Playmate of the Year. Angela means angel or messenger of God.

When Apollo 12 astronaut Pete Conrad started his first moonwalk he reviewed a checklist of duties, this list was attached to his space suit sleeve in little booklet. He flipped a page and suddenly, he saw this nude picture of Ventri.

The caption under Angela's read "seen any interesting hills and valleys"

Those wacky ground crew technicians at NASA had added Playboy images to both Conrad's and fellow Moon walker Al Bean's checklists. When they spotted them they stopped their moonwalk activities to compare Playmates!

In more recent news, Vetri was charged with attempted murder in 2010 for after shooting her husband, Bruce Rathgeb, at close range. She was tried on charges of attempted voluntary manslaughter, and sentenced her to nine years in state prison.

For anyone searching for even more synchromystical clues, Vetri was also in Roman Polanski's 1968 film Rosemary's Baby.

Rosemary meets Terry, the coven's first choice

Vetri plays the role of Terry, the young woman who seems to have been the first choice to bare the child of Satan. She is later found dead on the sidewalk (very near where John Lennon was shot in 1980) and it was assumed to be suicide. But it might be that she was killed by a cult of devil worshipers.

There were dates for the story given in Ira Levin's book. On September 11th, 1965, Rosemary met Theresa "Terry" Gionoffrio on the basement laundry room. They strike a conversation, and because they find the basement "creepy" they plan on doing their laundry together.

But hold on, it gets even weirder.

In 1969 Charles Manson's Family murdered Sharon Tate, Polanski's then wife. Vetri was a close friend of Tate, and after the gruesome slaying of Tate, Polanski was so worried about Vetri, that he gave her his handgun for protection. The pistol was a Walther PPK .380 (yes, the gun used by James Bond). Forty-one years later Vetri used this same gun to shoot her husband in the back. (more here)

So, an alien-Isis-Angel was seen nude on the moon, and then this 1968 Playmate of the Year shoots her husband in the back with a gun given to her by Roman Polanski to protect her from Charlie Manson!

And... this essay was posted on 
William Shatner's 83rd birthday!
SPOCK: Quite a lovely animal, I find myself strangely drawn to it.


All this and an owl too!
(well, a fluffy space owl anyway)
_____________________________________________________

9 comments:

NS said...

I suppose a Gary Seven might actually do some good. But there are a number of more sinister possibilities:

He's lying about his real mission (like a lot of visitors to "primitive" societies);

He's well-intentioned but his superiors are lying to him about what THEIR real intentions are (Lawrence of Arabia comes to mind);

He and whoever sent him are all well-intentioned but don't have a clue about what their actions will actually do (plenty of examples of this from missionaries etc.).

So we'd be wise to be highly suspicious of any Gary Seven types we encounter.

Mike Clelland! said...

NS wrote:

"So we'd be wise to be highly suspicious of any Gary Seven types we encounter."

Mike C replies:

Tell that to Terri Garr!

Anonymous said...

The line: “Earth technology and science have progressed faster than political and social knowledge...” is straight out of the UFO abduction literature.

There is a reason that it is present in UFO abduction literature in the first place. It's because it's an actual reality on planet Earth right now.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I like the comment on missionaries come to mind. Caucasoids that have lost their mind, answering to a fake un-earthly God (which is really a forced ejection of an aspect of their intelligence and masquerades as something alien), and then tra-la-la-ing all over the planet to 'save' the natives and convert them to "the better way".

Anonymous said...

We're so used to everything being computerized nowadays, with even cars being made with minimal human contact, that it's hard to envision an astronaut carrying a little notebook with him on the moon, filled with notes printed off an old-fashioned typewriter.

Angela Dorian reminds me a little bit of Bettie Page--naturally curvaceous and sensuous, but with a wholesome quality about her. I personally think Page was the sexiest pinup woman of all time. Dorian even looks a bit like her in the Star Trek episode.

One last note: I wonder if there was a wardrobe artist on hand with a lint roller, to rid Mr. Spock's shirt of cat hair!

BethArzy said...

Roddenberry was amazingly prolific....
Beth

Anonymous said...

Teri Garr was also in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Lucretia Heart said...

Given our conversations about some of the writers and producers of Star Trek-- I think this episode is very interesting. It was also one of my faves as a kid, although I didn't appreciate all the nuances then.

GarySeven said...

Hey, this has long been a love of mine. Liked your entry on Gary Seven. I have my own version of what the show might have looked and sounded like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6lmBbV3VWo

or this version...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmynXHrR74w