In an exclusive interview for the official STAR TREK web site, former ST:TNG producer Herbert Wright has announced that he has obtained the rights to develop a new series based on Gene Roddenberry's 1974 TV movie THE QUESTOR TAPES.

Wright and his partners announced their plans to bring back QUESTOR at the recent Grand Slam convention in Pasadena, California, and Roddenberry's son Eugene Roddenberry, Jr. is currently promoting the project on Roddenberry.com.

"Herb worked on NEXT GENERATION, and I knew his name and heard good things," the younger Roddenberry said. "I felt he'd do the property justice, and do the fans justice."

Originally produced by Universal Studios and shown on NBC in 1974, THE QUESTOR TAPES was a pilot for a proposed series called QUESTOR about a contemporary android. Questor, placed on Earth by aliens, was meant to be indistinguishable from humans yet designed to help continue humanity's evolution.

"A lot of what [Roddenberry] wanted to do originally for Questor, he transposed for Data - the whole 'Pinocchio' angle, the walking encyclopedia not that aware of the human condition," Wright said. "Even though [Questor] will certainly share traits with Data - his interests in humanity, his obviously tremendous intelligence - Questor will carry a deep spiritual wisdom. Think 'Data meets the Dalai Lama.'"

No distribution rights have been established yet, though the pilot could go into production as early as fall 2003. Wright is seeking any fans who may have rare QUESTOR script or publicity materials to write to questor@roddenberry.com.

For the complete story, including the history of the original QUESTOR TAPES, go here.