The Man From Earth DVD Review

We could all be forgiven for not knowing who Jerome Bixby was. Unless you are a dedicated fan of the original 60's TV series Star Trek, Bixby's place in the annals of science fiction writers might not receive more than just a passing glance. Indeed, Bixby's big claim to fame was his credit as the writer for the famous Trek episode, "Mirror, Mirror," which helped establish the concept of a fictional parallel universe or better known in Trek-speak as a "Mirror Universe" (taken from the title of the episode). Bixby's other claim to fame was his 1953 short story "It's a Good Life," which was later adapted as an episode for the original Twilight Zone TV series by Rod Serling. This story about a child with unlimited powers also served as inspiration for one of the four segments in Twilight Zone: The Movie. In 1970, "It's a Good Life" was voted by the membership of The Science Fiction Writers of America as one of 26 best science fiction stories ever written.

As you can see, Bixby's works have had a lasting influence on sci-fi writing and television in general. Bixby's final piece was a screenplay titled "The Man From Earth," which he first conceived back in the early 60's and only completed it shortly before his death in 1998. Bixby's son Emerson, a writer himself, shopped the screenplay around but most of the directors that he went to wanted to expand the decidedly intimate story to one with special effects and whatnot. Bixby eventually agreed to collaborate with director Richard Schenkman, who, for both artistic and financial reasons, wanted to shoot the script the way it was written. Due to the production's low budget, the actors who were cast for this film worked for very little. Most of them probably came on board based solely on Jerome Bixby's reputation. It is of no surprise to find out that some of the actors--namely John Billingsley, Richard Riehle and Tony Todd--have had a previous history starring and guest-starring in some of the modern TV incarnations of the Star Trek franchise.

Here is a trivia question for all you Trekkies out there. Jerome Bixby wrote several noteworthy episodes for Star Trek: The Original Series. Which Season 3 episode's plot tells the story of the Enterprise crew encountering a man who is immortal and have lived the lives of many famous historical figures like Alexander the Great and Leonardo da Vinci? The answer is of course "Requiem for Methuselah" and not coincidentally, The Man From Earth takes that same fascinating tale of immortality and further expands on it, but not in a way that one might think.

Going from a TV episode to a full-fledged movie screenplay, one would expect the scope of the story to expand but on the contrary, The Man From Earth is a closed and very personal story that involves intense philosophical discussions that takes the audience in unexpected directions. Think of it as a thinking person's sci-fi film.

As a group of friends gather for an impromptu farewell party for a youthful-looking Professor John Oldman (David Lee Smith), questions arise as to why he resigned his tenure and more importantly, why the sudden departure. Those present include Harry (John Billingsley), Edith (Ellen Crawford), Art (William Katt), Sandy (Annika Peterson), Gruber (Richard Riehle), Dan (Tony Todd) and Linda (Alexis Thorpe), a graduate student. Most of these people gathered at Oldman's home are fellow professors themselves, with expertise ranging from anthropology, biology, philosophy and psychology. This sets the stage for some rigorous and passionate debates that are about to ensue when Oldman piques everyone's interest with a hypothetical question, what if a man from the Stone Age was able to survive for thousands of years and lived to the present? What would such a man be like? What started out as an interesting theoretical discussion among intellectuals takes a strange turn when out of the blue, Oldman reveals that he is that man, a Cro-Magnon from the Paleolithic era who has lived for an amazing 14,000 years.


Obviously, such a fantastic revelation would not be taken lightly, especially among this group of intellectuals. In fact, most of them do not really believe Oldman for one second (who would?) but they decided to play along anyway, if only to see if they can find a crack in Oldman's story. Oldman is able to detail his travels and some of the more famous historical icons whom he had met in his many lifetimes--people like Van Gogh and even the Buddha. Things eventually heat up when the discussion inexplicably turns to the question of religion (as it always does) and Oldman reveals some things that some people might not be willing to hear.

The Man From Earth is a rather small movie. What I mean by this is that all of the scenes take place within the compound of Oldman's home. This feeling of close quarters provides a great setting for the intimate and fervent philosophical discussions that dominate the film. Basically, in this movie, the principal characters sit around a room and just talk. It can't entirely be classified as a true sci-fi film but the essential elements are there, albeit inside your imagination and not on the screen. Picture Oldman as a caveman roaming the lands and then picture him again being friends with Christopher Columbus or Vincent Van Gogh. Just imagine the types of discussions he might have had with them.

In a film without much else going on, the all-important dialogue has to be pretty engaging and in this case, it really is. Supplemented by great acting performances from everyone in the cast, The Man From Earth is able to hold my attention for its entire 87-minute runtime, culminating in an unexpected twist in the story. It's an ending you wouldn't want to miss.

Score: 8 out of 10

Video and Presentation
Due to budgetary constraints and like most independent films, this movie was shot in DV format, which oftentimes produce a flat picture. However, this time, there are other issues that crop up instead. Film grain and noise is a big problem, creating softness in the images that just degrades the level of detail in the video. The picture quality is also uneven as it moves from one scene to the next. Presented in anamorphic widescreen measuring 1.78:1, the range of colors are somewhat muted and the black levels are slightly indiscernible, blending into the background.

Score: 6 out of 10


Languages and Audio
Two audio options are made available on this DVD. They are English language tracks encoded in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and Dolby Surround 2.0. Nothing really stands out here. It is a rather quiet movie with very little action and some background music. Except for a very busy center channel producing clear dialogue, the surrounds and the subwoofer channels are hardly utilized.

Score: 5 out of 10

Packaging and Extras
Two separate audio commentaries are offered on this DVD. One is with director Richard Schenkman and actor John Billingsley and the other is with producer Emerson Bixby and author/sci-fi scholar Gary Westfahl. Both commentaries offer some insights into the development background of this film, with the latter proving to be the more interesting one to listen to.

Apart from the commentaries above, there are also four featurettes. The first one, "From Script to Screen" is a short documentary featuring interviews with director Richard Schenkman and Emerson Bixby as they talk about how the script made its way to the screen. Next is "Star Trek: Jerome Bixby's Sci-Fi Legacy," a look at Bixby's legacy within the Star Trek universe. It also features interviews with the actors who talk about their affiliation with the franchise. Next, "On the Set" is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, narrated by Schenkman, as he details the various challenges of shooting on such a tight budget. Finally, in "The Story of the Story," the cast and crew discuss the various interesting ideas behind the film.

Score: 6 out of 10


The Bottom Line
The Man From Earth is a story about ideas, posing questions about immortality, life, death, religion, philosophy and the most important question of all, why is this immortal suddenly revealing a secret that he has kept for more than a millennia? It is able to challenge our deeply held beliefs in a way that many other films have tried but failed to do. It is fitting that Jerome Bixby's last written work has turned out to be his best, establishing a lasting legacy that should inspire future science fiction writers.

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