If
a 14,000-year-old immortal must disappear every ten years to avoid detection,
it stands to reason he would eventually live in Chico, California. John Oldman,
now using the name John Young, has finally reached that point. He has also
finally confided his secret in others, albeit under ambiguous conditions. The
Cro-Magnon who might also possibly be Christ and other characters created by
the late science fiction writer Jerome Bixby return in Richard Schenkman’s The Man from Earth: Holocene (trailer here), which premieres
at the 2017 Dances with Films.
Usually
John Oldman prefers to disappear like a thief in the night, but his faculty
friends got wind of his leaving a threw him the going away party that is Schenkman’s
original Man from Earth film. During
the course of the evening, he told them the fantastical story of his life.
Reactions were mixed, especially when he implied he was Christ—or rather a
disciple of the Buddha who was mistaken for a messiah when he started to preach
his master’s teachings in ancient northern Israel. Art Jenkins, the
archaeologist particularly resented being played a fool, but when he started
researching Oldman in the period between the films, he found himself unable to
disprove any of his claims. Unfortunately, his resulting “nonfiction” book
short-circuited his academic career.
However,
it is the start of a paper trail that intrepid anthropology student Isabel Chang
and her friends can follow. They have faithfully enrolled in “Young’s”
comparative religion courses, often observing he talks about all the major
religious figures as if he knew them personally. Based on a mounting pile of
circumstantial evidence, they start to suspect Jenkins’ book is gospel, so to
speak. However, the implications are different for each of them.
Chang
hopes Oldman/Young has transcendent wisdom he can offer the world. Her roommate
Tara is increasingly (and inappropriately) attracted to their professor, who
looks remarkably good for his age. The Born-Again Philip is not sure whether
the truth threatens or strengthens his Christian convictions, whereas his pal
Liko is mostly along for the ride.
The
original Man from Earth riffed on
themes Bixby first addressed in his Star
Trek episode, “Requiem for Methuselah,” but it was produced and released posthumously.
In a sense, it is quite fitting these characters continue to live on after him.
Setting aside the heavy-handed religious revelations, there is something about the
immortal that resonates on an archetypal kind of way.
It
helps that David Lee Smith hits all the right notes as the world-weary (he’s entitled
at this point) Young Oldman, clearly portraying all the guilt and loneliness,
as well as erudition that comes with immortality. Even though her fellow Scooby
Mystery Team-mates get all the foibles, it is still Akemi Look who commands the
screen as Chang. She really has presence and star power. As Jenkins, William (Greatest American Hero) Katt is
certainly convincing playing someone who has seen better days. Yet, it is
Michael Dorn (Star Trek’s Worf) gets
the best scene as the department chair contemplating his mortality with the sympathetic
Cro-Magnon.
Holocene is the sort of
speculative fiction that can get by without any special effects. In fact, there
is really no call for them here. It is all character and idea driven. Fans will
be happy to note the screenplay, co-written by Schenkman and Bixby’s son
Emerson maintains the internal logic and narrative consistency of the first
film remarkably well. Strangely compelling, Man
from Earth: Holocene is recommended for admirers of Richard Matheson’s more
spiritual work (such as What Dreams May
Come) when it screens imminently today (6/10) at the year’s Dances With
Films.