The Starlost - The Complete Series

The Starlost - The Complete Series: I'd long forgotten about this series since watching it on TV in the early 1970's. I snapped it up from Amazon, after first finding that it's not streamed. Everything about the series seems dated (check out the hairstyles & music). But I'm glad to have the discs in my library. They load & play just fine in my Panasonic upscaling player through a mid-range Sony amp into a 55" 4K Vizio OLED TV.

I had never heard of this show until I was searching Amazon for cheesy 70's sci-fi. There's something I really love about old space shows before big budgets and fancy special effects became the standard. The tend to come across as really wholesome where the main characters were actually good people trying to do the right thing. With the nihilistic shows today with their morally conflicted heroes who often don't even seem to be decent people, it's a breath of fresh air to seem some 70's do-gooders wandering around a giant spaceship trying to help people and save the day.This show is a goldmine! It hits the sweet spot for 70's cheese. While the sets and special effects can barely outdo a high school theater production, the acting is surprisingly good. The writing is definitely inspired by Star Trek in that it often delves into philosophic questions and can be rather serious. For example, there's one episode where the main characters are asked by a self-aware computer to help it upgrade itself. They realize this computer could have so much control over the ship, they'd be putting the humans at this computer's mercy. But the computer is essentially a person leaving them to choose between helping the computer with the power to save or subjugate humanity, or commit virtual murder by destroying it.If you like good sci-fi storytelling and enjoy, or at least can tolerate, low budget 70's effects, I strongly recommend this show.

The Starlost was a victim of a lack of forethought and finance by the TV executives who had originally bought into the concept - and what a concept. Some 300 years into Earth's future, the best of the population design and launch a Space Ark to preserve what's left of humanity before the imminent destruction of our home planet.Each community aboard the Ark house a different aspect of Earth's culture, ranging from scientific to agrarian societies. Some 100 years into the journey, an accident damages the Ark's navigation system, and cuts off each societies Biosphere from each other. Each society then evolves seperately, with no knowledge of each other, or knowledge they are in fact on an Ark.400 years pass, and in one of these Biospheres a man called Devon falls foul of his Amish style community by constantly questioning the meaning of his and their existance. He loves Rachel who is betrothed to Garth a blackmith , and his antagonistic rejection of this arrangement have the elders ranging against Devon. He eventually finds a means of escape via an electronic portal key given to him by an older man, much like Devon in attitude, but not before persuding Rachel to join him.With the entire community ranging against him, Devon goes through the portal with Rachel, with Garth following soon after to bring Rachel back ...So begins The Starlost - sounds ingriguing doesn't it ? Unfortunately the execution was disastrous. Finance for special effects was not forthcoming when buyers for network TV in the US didn't materialise. Cheap (even by 1973 standards) chroma key effects with ineffective miniatures and very basic in camera effects set ups and sets defeated the whole sense of mystery and scale.Such a pity as the lead star (Kier Dullea - 2001) and guests were generally of A list quality: Sterling Hayden and Walter Koenig were just two of top echelon actors who guested.For all this, the show had it's moments and has huge nostalgia charm.All the episodes - 16 in all - appear uncut, the only extra being a 7 minute promo reel with Dullea and Doug Trumbull (effects supervisor) showing the proposed Magicam system that never materialised.With Dullea, Trumbull, Ben Bova, and Harlan Ellison on board, this should have been an epic - it never came close, and Ellison (credited as Cordwainer Bird) disowned it before production started.

I like the premise, and I feel this show had so Much more in it than is appreciable to most folk.It looks really very very good for a show shot on video as opposed to 35 milimetre, there is clever use of materials and colour, and the storyd are all of a grown up and intelligent nature.Others have covered more ground in more detail here, I just want to say I will watch again as this is a great series in my humble opinion.

"The Starlost" is a Canadian TV production from the early 70's. An intriguing sci-fi concept, the brainchild of writer, Harlan Ellison.The prologue to the series (with further details available on Wiki) is as follows: With the Earth doomed to future destruction, a massive starship, appropriately named "The Ark" is built to evacuate the last of humanity. Contained within are numerous "biospheres" - each with a size measurable in miles, with each 'world' containing inhabitants sharing the same culture. Shortly after setting off, the Ark meets with a disaster which leaves the ship damaged and those in command dead, each biosphere is then automatically sealed off.As the centuries pass, with the ship drifting through space, each community continues to evolve independently until all awareness of the spacecraft (and memories of any other world) are completely forgotten. One day, in the Amish-like community of Cypress Corners, a young man, Devon (played by Keir Dullea) rebels against the teachings of the elders, and along with girlfriend, Rachel (Gay Rowan) and friend, Garth (Robin Ward) eventually finds a way out of the biosphere. Discovering that they are inhabitants of a spaceship, and that said spaceship is on a collision course with a star, the sixteen, 50-minute episodes follow the trials & tribulations of the three wanderers, as the threat of impending disaster weighs heavily while the trio make contact with other isolated communities.While having the potential to achieve classic status, "The Starlost" is unfortunately let down by a number of factors. While undoubtedly looking cheap & low-budget, in such circumstances the need for high quality scripts is at a premium if the aforementioned shortcomings are to become less apparent. Although some of the themes are interesting, regrettably the scripts are not the best you will ever see. Personally I can live with (and cheerfully embrace) cheap sets & low-budget special effects, but the action & dialogue echoes around the studio like a deserted village hall. While the performances from the regular cast are OK, the guest stars include Barry Morse, who definitely brings an air of authority to his scenes. Impressive character actor, John Colicos, also manages to rise above the generally dull atmosphere with a suitably menacing performance.Interesting to note that the series was produced & broadcast around the same time as the 1st series of "Space 1999" (1973/74). While said series managed to fulfill it's potential, thanks to it's groundbreaking, intelligent scripts & often intriguing storylines, when watching "The Starlost" I couldn't help wondering what might have been, what with a decent budget & no production problems - if Harlan Ellison's contribution hadn't been altered - what would the finished product have looked like?.... As it was, the disgruntled Ellison showed his disgust by eventually disowning the series & used an alternative pen-name "Cordwainer Bird" on the credits.By viewing just a couple of episodes of "The Starlost" it becomes pretty obvious that the series would struggle to attain widespread appeal. Not a bad series IMHO, but a series that will probably only keep - and maintain a loyal cult following, which is why I would only recommend it for hardcore sci-fi fans & completists. I've satisfied my curiosity but cannot envisage watching the series again. From a slightly disappointed viewer.Please note that while currently advertised as Region 1 by Amazon, this VCI Entertainment release is in fact All-Region. Both the picture & sound quality are generally good, there are no subtitles.

This is clearly a Canadian production filmed in a time when these type of shows were treated as stage plays. With all of that, there is something nostalgic about this show, filmed in the late 60's early 70's that gives me many great feels! The video quality has been enhanced. light burn and other problems of video technology from those days has been remastered and the production quality is quite good. The story is compelling and Keir Dullea does a great job as the leading man. I have so many of my childhood memories wrapped up in this show. This was the beginning of my love of science fiction!

Just as bad as my memories as a child in the seventies but so entertaining in its less than B-grade quality.If you enjoy badly done sci-fi, this is for you.I give this 4 out of 5 cringes.

This was one of the most unusual Sci-Fi series I've seen to date. Though I was certainly around and old enough to have seen this when it aired - I hadn't, and having stumbled upon it recently, and being from an era that I particularly like in this genre, I thought I might find it interesting. I did - eventually, but it did get off to and have a very odd and peculiar start.At first I thought I could have been watching something from the past rather than something based on the future, and thus something from a very different genre completely! Clumsy though it was when it started, by episode four, it had really got going and I was able to get into it. The characters at first were a bit `wooden' too, but they gradually (ever so gradually) became more `faceted'. Episode five where there was a place ruled by children was particularly adventurous and interesting, and beyond this point in subsequent episodes had gotten quite exciting.Each episode sort of stands alone, but the same theme of trying to stop the Ark from crashing was the main story/plot throughout the entire series which consists of sixteen episodes.It's not something I would want to watch again and again within short gaps, as I do many sets from my large DVD collection, but it is good and pretty unique. I will certainly be keeping it my collection though, and I'm sure after awhile will want to sit down and watch it again, and will probably get more out of it from a second run.NOTE: Though this set is listed as `NTSC' format, these play fine on my Region 2 Player in the UK for those interested!