| Spectre | |
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Title card |
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| Directed by | Clive Donner |
| Produced by | Gene Roddenberry |
| Written by | Samuel A. Peeples Gene Roddenberry |
| Starring | Robert Culp Gig Young |
| Release date(s) | 1977 |
| Running time | 98 min. |
| Country | U.K. |
| Language | English |
Spectre is a 1977 made-for-television movie produced by Gene Roddenberry. It was co-written by Roddenberry and Samuel A. Peeples, and directed by Clive Donner.
Contents |
William Sebastian (Robert Culp) is a criminologist who has taken to studying the occult to explain the problem of human evil. He has been cursed by one of his adventures, leaving him in constant need of medical attention. He summons an old colleague, Dr. "Ham" Hamilton (Gig Young) to his home to help him with a case involving the Cyon family (in co-operation with his London informant Dr. Qualus). Dr. Hamilton does not believe in the occult and thinks that Sebastian and his housekeeper Lilith (Majel Barrett) are playing tricks on him when he witnesses unusual events. As the pair are getting reacquainted a lady who claims to be Anitra Cyon (Ann Bell) unexpectedly visits and asks Sebastian to desist from investigating her family. Sebastian recognizes that this person is not Anitra Cyon, but rather a Succubus sent to stop Sebastian from investigating the case. He defeats her using the Apocryphal Book of Tobit and then sets out with Ham to the airport where they are flown by Mitri Cyon (John Hurt) to London. The journey is a dangerous one when the engines of the plane fail, something which Sebastian claims is as a result of supernatural intervention.
When they reach England Sebastian asks the Cyon chauffeur to stop off at Dr. Qualus' home. When they get there the house is on fire, and Ham and Sebastian find Dr. Qualus' body lying partially inside a Pentagram and fatally mauled. The police arrive, and an old acquaintance of the pair, Inspector Cabell (Gordon Jackson) escorts them to Cyon Manor. When they reach the Manor they are greeted first by Sir Geoffrey Cyon (Anitra and Mitri's older brother), the head of the family who is aware that Sebastian and Ham are there to investigate him. He challenges the duo to defeat him if they can. Following this meeting they share a meal with the Cyons where Anitra says that Geoffrey has changed into a different person and has turned Cyon Manor into a den of iniquity and extreme debauchery. The following day Mitri is attacked by dogs, and is left in a critical condition. Sebastian and Ham suspect Geoffrey is really behind the attack. That night the duo investigate the grounds of the Manor, and discover ruins which lead underground to a hidden temple devoted to the demon Asmodeus. They begin to suspect that the real Geoffrey is dead and Asmodeus is disguised as him.
The next day the pair prepare to do battle with the demon, and create weapons for the night where they will fight Asmodeus and his Satanic cult. Further investigation of the hidden temple reveals that Mitri is in fact the one who is dead and that Asmodeus has taken his form as a disguise. They witness the beginnings of a ritual that will involve Geoffrey sacrificing Anitra, presided over by Asmodeus. Sebastian fights and defeats Asmodeus, and the curse is removed.
Spectre was intended as the pilot for a television series, but was rejected. The relationship between Sebastian and "Ham" is deliberately reminiscent of that of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, although there are also some aspects that recall the relationship between Roddenberry's own Spock and Leonard McCoy (Roddenberry previously revisited this relationship in an earlier failed pilot, The Questor Tapes).
Spectre was one of a number of unsuccessful television pilots in the 1970s in the occult detective sub-genre. After its rejection by American television, an extended version of Spectre was released in the UK as a theatrical film with additional footage that includes nudity.[1] The version currently in television syndication is a heavily edited version of the UK theatrical release, which retains some of the less explicit nudity in the black mass finale.[2]
William Sebastian (Robert Culp) is a former criminologist who worked in partnership with Amos "Ham" Hamilton for eight years. He is a brilliant detective with incredible intuitive skills and a belief that there are things beyond science that are real. He came to believe that some unseen forces were causing a number of significant crimes, particularly after studying Charles Manson, Richard Speck, the Boston Strangler, and the Tokyo Bluebeard. After his split with Ham five years ago he immersed himself in the Occult, and has an extensive collection of occult artefacts. Recently Sebastian undertook an occult experiment which has damaged his heart.
Dr. Amos "Ham" Hamilton (Gig Young) is a medical doctor who worked as staff physician and forensic pathologist at Fairview General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, but thirteen years ago he started a partnership with William Sebastian as criminal investigators. He was the more down-to-earth member of the partnership and after eight years Ham became tired of working with Sebastian and returned to Fairview. Recently he has been getting in trouble at work because of his drinking and making advances with nurses.
Lilith (played by Gene Roddenberry's wife Majel Barrett) is Sebastian's housekeeper, a practicing witch who brews a remedy that "cures" Ham's alcoholism through aversion therapy.
A novelization of the movie was written by Robert Weverka, and published by Bantam Books in 1979 (ISBN 0553133020 / 0-553-13302-0)[3] Robert Weverka novelised a number of other television and movie productions including; The Waltons, Apple's Way, The Sting, The Magic of Lassie, and Murder by Decree. The Spectre novelisation is 154 pages long and adds significant background information not present in the script.
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