Westworld Destroyed
Westworld has fallen. Security consultant John Moore, who set up security measures for Westworld before it opened, is brought in to help Delos Corporation account for all of the robots left over from Westworld. Simon Quaid, a brilliant but twisted cyberneticist who helped Joseph Oppenheimer create the Westworld robots, is fully capable of reprogramming any of them to do his bidding – including infiltrating the crew of a Navy nuclear submarine. Moore gets a crash course in how the robots work, and how there’s no one handy way to shut them all down: different robots have different programs, hardware and abilities for different tasks, and a different way must be found to shut down each one. Moore and a member of Delos, Laura Garvey, get special clearance to be aboard the sub before it ships out to sea…and once there, even if the robot is found, Moore will have to improvise quickly to keep it from nuking the mainland United States.
written by Lou Shaw
directed by Ted Post
music by George Romanis
Cast: Jim McMullan (John Moore), James Wainwright (Simon Quaid), Judith Chapman (Laura Garvey), William Jordan (Joseph Oppenheimer), Stewart Moss (Foley), Dennis Holahan (Captain Farrell), Morgan Paull (Parker), John Kirby (Dudley), Paul Henry Itkin (Horton), Mo Lauren (Jan), Nancy McCurry (Roberta), Nicholas Guest (Sailor), Larry Levine (Technician), Cassandra Peterson (Dance Hall Girl), Edward A. Coch Jr. (Chubby Gunman), Alex Kubik (Gunfighter)
Notes: Produced by Star Trek veterans John Meredyth Lucas and Fred Freiberger, Beyond Westworld actually has very little to do with Westworld itself; it uses Westworld as a “home base” for its recurring villain, and features “control room” footage from the 1973 movie. Perhaps most curiously of all, where Westworld took place in an unspecified future era where hovercraft travel is the norm, Beyond Westworld curiously rewinds things and places it in a setting much closer to the modern day. And yes, that is a pre-Elvira Cassandra
Peterson in a background part, and you do hear the familiar Enterprise bridge background sound effects in the Westworld control room – just the latest of a long string of appearances in other series since Star Trek had gone off the air in 1969. Somewhat unenviably stepping into the shoes of Yul Brynner for the small screen is actor Alex Kubik in an early TV role; he went on to appear in CHiPS, Airwolf, The Dukes Of Hazzard and Knight Rider.
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Cast: Jim McMullan (John Moore), James Wainwright (Simon Quaid), Connie Sellecca (Pamela Williams), William Jordan (Joseph Oppenheimer), Christopher Connelly (Nick Stoner), Jeff Cooper (Dean Stoner), Denny Miller (Earl Case), John Shearn (Jason), Jack Carter (Charles Vincent), Delvin Williams (End), Anthony A.D. Davis (Mike Roth), Bobby Van (Danny), Severn Darden (Foley), Ann McCurry (Roberta), Greg Lewis (Stickman), Inga Nielsen (Woman), William Elliott (Police Offier), Ben Fuhrman (Security Guard), David Bedell (Reporter)
Van makes one of his final appearances here, shortly before his death of a malignant brain tumor in July 1980 (he had been diagnosed in 1979 and continued working). One of the former stars of Wagon Train, Denny Miller (1934-2014) also appeared in Voyagers!, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, Quark, The Six Million Dollar Man, Battlestar Galactica, and the original V miniseries. Real football players Anthony Davis (formerly of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the L.A. Rams and the Houston Oilers) and Delvin Williams (San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins) appear as members of Dean Stoner’s unspecified (but presumably pro) football team.
Cast: Jim McMullan (John Moore), James Wainwright (Simon Quaid), Connie Sellecca (Pamela Williams), William Jordan (Joseph Oppenheimer), Ronee Blakley (Ruth Avery), Lawrence Casey (Ryder), Dirk Blocker (Mace), Ed Bernard (Doctor), Rene Auberjonois (Power), Severn Darden (Foley), Ann McCurry (Roberta), Louis Welch (Bobby Lee), Robert Ayers (Spooner), Dewayne Jessie (Lingo), Sirri Murad (Hakim Fadar), Mary Carver (Head Nurse)
Rene Auberjonois shapeshifted into the role of a rock star here, mere months before starting a regular stint on the sitcom Benson (and many years before starring in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Odo). Ronnie Sue Blakley had risen to stardom in the movie Nashville (1975), for which she was nominated for an Oscar; she later starred in A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), and in between made numerous TV guest appearances in the likes of Highway To Heaven, The Love Boat, Vega$ and Tales From The Darkside. She had a very real recording career in addition to her acting career, releasing several albums between 1972 and 2012, and wrote and performed her own songs in this episode. Like her character here, she often played in support of political causes, including the presidential campaigns of Walter Mondale and Jerry Brown; unlike her character, she probably didn’t run into any killer nuke robots.