KQEK. com DVD Review: Starlost, The (1. What is The Starlost? Besides Canadians, perhaps fans of 2. A Space Odyssey may be the only core group aware of this series’ existence, since Keir Dullea was the only name associated with this home- grown tale of a giant Noah’s Ark originally designed to take sealed domes of various human cultures to an Earth- like planet after the home orb became a polluted mess. Oh, and the series happened to be created by noted sci- fi author and occasional screenwriter Harlan Ellison (The Oscar, TV's Logan's Run), and featured special effects by Douglas Trumbull (2. Trumbull’s name is still on the show’s credits, but when Ellison’s concept was dumbed down because of budgetary cutbacks, the author used the name Cordwainer Bird as a signal to his fans and critics that The Starlost was a travesty of his vision. That, in essence, marked the beginning of what’s regarded by some as the worst sci- fi show ever made. The characters in Ellison’s original script for the pilot episode were expanded from two leads to three: instead of a Quaker- like rebel named Vic who flees the repressive world of Cypress Corners with his childhood sweetheart Rachel, Vic became Devon the farmer, chased from dome through dome by Garth the blacksmith, his loyal friend, but also the man designated by the elders to marry Devon’s love, Rachel the hausfrau, because Devon was deemed unfit by his peers. This Logan’s Run variation of an ex- buddy tracking down a pair of lovers was given the added twist of the three eventually becoming allies (episode 2 onwards) when they discover the giant ark is on a collision course with a star; bedside rivalries are neutered as the trio move from dome to dome in the hope of encountering someone with the knowledge of saving the ark’s ignorant inhabitants. The adventures seemed limitless – each dome literally yielded a new culture and conflicts aggravated by Team Quaker’s need to learn societal and technological concepts previously unknown – but when Ellison left the project and writers with little or no background in sci- fi took over the scripts (genre author Ben Bova is still credited as a consultant, although his involvement, along with Trumbull, also ended early), The Starlost devolved into a pale, often talky and weak attempt to dramatize present- day social issues, much in the way Star Trek (1. When Things Go Very Wrong. A key indication of The Starlost writers’ desire to exploit the Star Trek legacy is the guest starring of Walter Koenig (Star Trek’s Chekov), who played a selfish alien named Oro, determined to rebuild his spaceship for trip home with brainy assistant Idona, played by Alexandra Bastedo, from ITC’s The Champion (1. Idona was also an attempt to give third wheel Garth something to do, since most of his scenes tended to have him agree/disagree with Devon, and carry a crossbow with an apparently limitless supply of arrows. For the next episodes, Garth later returned to his third wheel status until the series’ final episode, “Space Precinct,” where Devon and Rachel were literally put out of commission in a locked elevator, gasping for air. Co- starring with Diane Dewey (from TVO’s goofy educational series Write On!) as a techie named, uh, Tek, Garth is bizarrely invited to join a team of inter- galactic police, and after a preposterously abbreviated passage of time, he’s given tasks the ex- blacksmith clearly has no knowledge of, and no business touching with his brawny hands: law enforcement, inter- galactic relations, and actually asked by a high council member whether he suspects his boss might be a mole. The writers’ attempt to maintain Garth’s legitimacy within The Starlost cosmos reached its zenith of hilarity here, but it’s equally laughable in “The Alien Oro,” in which he seduces Idona from snotty Oro by using his blacksmith skills to hammer out, reshape, and rebuilt complex computer components. There’s an actual montage where Garth bashes metal over an amber pilot light, and Idona is romantically emboldened by his determination to apply his obsolete skills in her tech- savvy world. The knowledge gap between the Team Quaker and the ark’s generally evolved cultures was supposed to narrow as the team learns new things from new people, and early episodes have them fumbling and discovering in fairly believable ways, like Devon realizing that if he sits in a chair in an information kiosk, a huge video screen nearby will turn on the ark’s interactive computer – represented by the bearded, stentorian visage and robotic movements of William Osler. Devon remains the anchor of evolving knowledge among the trio, but it’s clear that near the end of the series’ abbreviated run of sixteen episodes, almost any rough idea was hammered hastily into a full episode. The nadir – “Space Precinct” excepted – is “The Beehive,” where Devon helps . Also integral to this campy mess are mis- matched performance styles: Keir Dullea is always in Earnest Acting Mode, trying to convince the other actors and viewers he really knows a lot about mutant, mind- controlling bees; William Hutt (yes, one of Canada’s most esteemed stage actors) is quite awesome in his theatricality as a protective, bonkers bee keeper, sympathetic to the mutant insects; and Antoinette Bower (Larry Cohen’s The Invaders, and the “Catspaw” episode of Star Trek) mostly shrieks pseudo- scientific dialogue, and dons the biggest orange afro ever conceived for TV. Rachel is the love interest who was obviously designed to restart some friction between Garth and Devon in later episodes, but instead of any sexual tension among the trio, it’s more Garth still annoyed that he lost his promised wife to farmer boy Devon, and his ongoing frustration in never getting a lasting squeeze of his own (or maybe that’s actor Robin Ward channelling his own frustrations in being stuck in a lame role). From point A to Z, Rachel remains a pretty hippy chick who obediently follows Devon, and when she expresses her own contrary opinion, she’s always wrong, and endangers the group – like siding with Oro on his second return to the ark in that character’s two- episode arc, “The Return of Oro.”Foam Nipples. Wearing a ridiculously puffy gold jumpsuit and Go- Go boots, and flying through space in a bulbous, tinny octagon, the character of Oro and his accoutrements were ideal samplings of how Starlost had little money to create believable sets and costumes. The . Toronto’s now- dead Mc. Laughlin Planetarium, however, supplied the space photographs used in some of the background plates and wall hangings.“Circuit of Death” is also indicative of the chunks of sets that were marginally redressed from episode to episode; some new paint, new section names, different objects glued onto the walls, and voila! We’re in a different part of the ship! Of course, all the furniture was futuristic seventies (the same office and leisure chairs are used even in the spaceships), the circuit boards resembled clipboards syudded with hunks of cut translucent plastic, and everyone was always pressing five or ten . In the pilot episode, the device was fed a mini- cassette tape by Sterling Hayden when he attempts to convince the town (about 1. Devon is a rebel unfit to marry Rachel. The ark’s interior colours, through, are quite soothing, and foam nipples aside, the overall ship design is striking, particularly the canted cluster of domes pinned together and hung around the ark by long corridors or “bounce tubes,” where travellers are shot through at rapid speeds. The ship’s exterior makes regular appearances in every episode, but mostly as filler footage when stories don’t involve a ship docking or a cutaway to a commercial break. Produced by an amorphous entity called Score Productions, the composers mostly focused on TV themes and ads, but not unlike The Invaders (or for that matter Roger Corman’s ashcan version of The Fantastic Four), just a handful of cues were recorded for the production, and chopped up and tracked over every scene, so each episode bore zero new music material – making for a grating experience. Part of the production’s economical looks and sounds allegedly stemmed from the show’s German financier walking away from the project, leaving U. Advertising Programmes Business Solutions +Google About Google Google.com . Search; Images; Maps; Play; YouTube; News; Gmail; Drive; More. Search Results for 1973. Ice Door or Ice Chute. S. The problem is, even as a child, one knew something about The Starlost was . The once- cutting edge optical effects are grainy and clumsy, and many shots – still mattes, as well as moving ships – look cheap. The difference is Johnson’s Holocaust parable was part camp, part drama, and the acting style was much more uniform. Spot the Canuck, and Vestiges of Grand Themes. The dullness of the Starlost tales, coupled with amateur, film, and theatre- trained thespians uttering bad dialogue was and remains hypnotic. It’s a subjective thing, of course, but for some who grew up on the show’s reruns, there remains a fascination with this clumsy mess. Part of the fun for Canadians is spotting native talent (those who stayed local, and those who ventured to Hollywood), as well as familiar American actors: Sterling Hayden (just as hairy and weird as in Winter Kills) appears in the pilot episode as a duplicitous elder; veteran character Edward Andrews portrays an eccentric astrophysicist in “Farthing’s Comet”; and Star Trek’s Walter Koenig in the Oro diptych. Simon Oakland (Psycho,the Kolchak TV movies and original Night Stalker series) also popped up in a silver jumpsuit and gilded makeup as an alien who lures wandering humans into a game designed to fracture human relations. Titled “And Only Man Is Vile,” that episode has decisive shades of Star Trek – well, really any episode where Kirk’s team is teased into internecine combat, or convincing warring tribes to live in peace – but it’s unique on a local level for guest starring Trudy Young (TV’s. Razzle Dazzle, and the St. Start studying The Giver Chapter 19, 20. 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