Claim That Tune

I don’t know how much longer this will remain available, but at least for now, the unsold 1974 TV pilot film, The Questor Tapes--conceived and executive produced by Star Trek’s Gene Roddenberry, and still not available on DVD--can be watched on YouTube

in its entirety. (It also appears to be available on that site in a 12-part collection of videos, beginning here.)

Not only is The Questor Tapes an interesting boob-tube artifact, but that science-fiction film about an android contains a surprise. Beginning at the 1:13 mark, we first hear a piece of music that will later become familiar as the main theme of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, starring Darren McGavin. (The introduction to Questor appears at the top of this post, while the Kolchak intro is embedded at left.) Sure enough, the composer responsible for the Kolchak theme, Gil Mellé, is also listed in the cast and crew credits for The Questor Tapes. Roddenberry’s teleflick debuted on NBC on January 23, 1974; Kolchak began its seven-month run on September 13, 1974.

Now, I can’t be the only one to have noticed this shared tune ...

READ MORE: “Return to Tomorrow: Old Sci-Fi Series from ‘Star Trek’ Creator May Get New Life,” by Dave Itzkoff (The New York Times).