George R. R. Martin's Canceled '90s Sci-Fi Series Could Have Been A Classic

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Science fiction television in the 1990s was kind of a wild thing, evolving as new computer technology allowed for more advanced special effects. The police procedurals and standard dramas continued, but throughout the '90s there was a huge push towards sci-fi TV with dozens of shows that most folks today have never even heard about. Among them was "Doorways," a 1993 ABC pilot about a woman from a parallel Earth run by aliens who seeks refuge in our world, written by none other than "Game of Thrones" creator George R. R. Martin. 

"Doorways" starred George Newbern as emergency room doctor Thomas Mason, who treats the injuries of Cat (Anne Le Guernec) after she comes into his hospital. Cat has escaped to our Earth using magic and is on the run from the servants of the alien Dark Lord. The show would have seen them taking different "doorways" into all kinds of alternate Earths as they attempted to escape and then fight the evil aliens on Cat's own world, but unfortunately the 90-minute pilot was never picked up to be made into a series. While "Doorways" never ended up being a show, the pilot featured some fun cast members, including "RoboCop" villain (and great on-set improvisor) Kurtwood Smith as an FBI agent investigating Cat and a pre-"The Matrix" Carrie-Anne Moss as Dr. Mason's girlfriend, Laura. It's kind of a shame "Doorways" was never picked up, because it could have been a real classic today.

The "Doorways" pilot features some pretty goofy special effects and a few costumes that have not stood up to the test of time, but it's a fun sci-fi romp that feels like a cross between something like the "Stargate" franchise mixed with the canceled-on-a-cliffhanger mid-1990s series "Sliders." It's not perfect by any means, but has plenty of room to grow into something that could have been truly great. Unfortunately, ABC didn't pick up the show and we never got to see what it could have become, leaving us with just a rough-looking pilot you can buy it on digital. For fans who really want the full scope of George R. R. Martin's work, he also published the first draft of the script in his short story collection "Dreamsongs: A RRetrospective." 

Of course, this isn't the only time the author best known for writing tales of swords, sorcery, and dragons has been a part of a little-known science-fiction project. In 1987 his nightmarish sci-fi novella "Nightflyers" was turned into a movie of the same name that's unfortunately almost impossible to watch today, although there is also a 2018 SyFy channel series adaptation for completionists. Maybe Martin needs to stick to dragons, because those adaptations seem to have just a little bit better luck in making it to the end — on TV, anyway.