The Starlost - Beginning [VHS]
	Release Date: 2003-01-23
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Average Customer Rating: (4 reviews)

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Review by: Mark Savary, Seattle, WA
Rating:
Interesting sci-fi attempt...
After an Earth-destroying threat endangers the planet, Mankind builds a gigantic Earthship Ark spacecraft to save the best of humanity. Different populations and cultures inhabit individual habitat domes on the Ark (think, "Silent Running"), and when an accident damages the Ark and kills the crew, the domes are sealed off from the rest of the ship. As the centuries pass, each culture evolves in an enclosed society, each a world unto itself that is fifty miles in diameter. One such dome is an Amish-like agrarian society called Cypress Corners.<p>There are so many good ideas evident in this series, that it really is a shame the execution of the individual episodes is so poor. First off, the names Ellison and Trumbull mean nothing. Both Ellison and Trumbull abandoned the series before it ever aired, as they were both so disappointed with the results. Originally intended to be 24 episodes (if not multiple seasons), the show only lasted a mere 16.<p>Keir Dullea (in his biggest screen credit since "2001"), is very good as a 19th Century farmer-type, reacting with an apporpriate sense of wonder throughout the first episode, as he leaves the safety of the Cypress Corners habitat and discovers the futuristic systems aboard the Ark. Dullea, Robin Ward, and Gay Rowan as the regular cast each play their parts with such a sense of conviction that they are instantly believable, despite the oversights in writing and production. <p>In this first installment in the five-tape "quintology", we are treated to two early episodes of the series (#1 and #3, respectively). While the regulars are good, the real winner here is the performance turned in by John Colicos (better known as Baltar from "Battlestar Galactica"). His performance completely outshines the rest of the cast (with the possible exception of Barry Morse), and you get a real sense of an actor who doesn't just collect a paycheck and phone in a performance; in other words, a professional. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that his guest turn is one of the few highlights of the series as a whole.<p>Personally, the shot-on-video look of the series does not bother me. "Doctor Who", "Star Cops", and "Moonbase 3", not to mention "Red Dwarf" were all shot at one time or another on videotape, and although film is always better, it's usually the acting and writing that carries these British shows. "The Starlost" was made in Canada, and I suspect that the production staff simply did not have the experience with video to be found across the pond at the BBC.<p>Truthfully, the effects are very, very poor. But while the worst of "Doctor Who" puts "The Starlost" to shame in the effects department, I found the sets pretty interesting. Obviously low-budget affairs, the set designs are still better than I think most folks give the show credit for. I hate to think what they could have achieved with just a few more bucks! <p>I still like the ideas for the show, despite the low budget. I suspect that fans of British sci-fi like me will probably be able to appreciate "The Starlost" more than others. <p>Perhaps a remake, with a few more dollars behind it, would help expunge the bad reputation of this oft-maligned attempt to create an intellegent science fiction program.

Review by: Glenn Nichols, Broad Brook, CT USA
Rating:
Classic bad Sci-fi
In the year 2790 A.D., a giant Ark, drifts through deep space, out of control, its crew having been killed five-hundred years earlier. When the accident that killed the crew occurred, the airlocks connecting the ship's domes that housed the last survivors of the dead planet, Earth, were sealed. Cut off from the outside world,: many communities simply forgot that they were on a spacecraft. They accepted that their world was fifty miles in diameter and the sky was metal. Content with their lot, no one knew that their world was in grave danger. Without a crew at the helm, the Ark was on a collision course with a sun.<br>Another short-lived SF series that probably looked exceedingly good on paper, but lost something in the translation to video. The only survivors of a ravage Earth roam the galaxy in their spaceship looking for a home. What they find, however, is alien menace and alleged adventure week after week. Harlan Ellison (along with Ben Bova) created the show, then aborted the mission upon seeing its maturation<p>Beginning<p>With Barry Morse (Space:1999) and John Colicos (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica)<p>A secret passageway in EARTHSHIP ARK leads a group of explorers into an unknown area of the vessel: a world inhabited by ancient warriors from an all-male society--with a passion for female specimens.<p>(Compiled from Episodes #1 Voyage of Discovery & #3 The Goddess Calabra)

Review by:
Rating:
Oddball timepiece from the 70's
This show didn't enjoy a long television run and most people haven't seen it. However, there has been quite a lot written about it because Harlan Ellison has tried to shift the blame for this turkey on everyone involved except himself. He ought to take his lumps like everybody else; in spite of some glimmers of intelligence in the pilot, this series is pretty bad. The premise is lifted directly from the novel "Non-Stop" by Brian Aldiss: a gigantic spacecraft, designed for interstellar travel over a number of generations, goes off course, and its inhabitants can't fix the problem because they are initially unaware they are on a spaceship. The protagonist is Devon, a member of an Amish community preserved in one section of the spaceship. We are to learn there are many different micro-societies hidden throughout the ship. This offers a lot of dramatic possibilities week-to-week, but the show didn't live up to its potential. The only interesting thing about the show was the character of Devon himself. As an Amish man (even a non-conformist one) he is honest, forthright, dependable and -- at some of the most crucial moments -- incredibly trusting and naive. Even the most transparently malevolent character could earn Devon's complete trust by telling him an obviously bogus and self-serving story. "The Starlost" is an oddment from the 70's. You might get a kick out of it -- but why not read "Non-Stop" instead?

Review by: , Red Bluff, CA United States
Rating:
Get lost with The Starlost!
This cult classic / rarely seen Caadian television opus is now avaliable on video. This tape contains the two episodes of the series. <p>First up is "Voyage of Discovery" - by Cordwainer Bird AKA Harlan Ellison. The pilot for this series was written by the popular fantasy author. Not only did he write the show he created the concept. at least until it went from a big budget show filmed in Hollywood to a low budget show videotaped in Canada. <p>In the pilot we are introduced to a society of farmers living off the land in Cypress Corners. Cypress Corners happens to be inside a dome on a giant spaceship, but our main characters do not know that yet. Right away we meet Devon (a bit of a questioning rebel) who is not in favor with the elders of the community. he is deeply in love with Rachel. Unfortunately she is to be married to Garth, a local blacksmith with a promising future. Devon eventualy find out they are living in a sealed off dome, one of many aboard a jiant space ship. Later he and Rachel flee into the fast interior of the spaceship. They are pursued and then joined by Garth. the embark on a quest to save the Earthsip Ark as the bridge crew have been killed in an accident and the Ark is drifting out of control towards a star. Keir Dullea, best known for his role in 2001, was cast in the leading role. <p>"The Goddess Calabra" by Martin Lager (From a Story by Ursula K. Le Guin) Finds out heroes in a strangely Romanesque society inhabited only by men. Rachel does not fit in all that well but she happens to look just like the image of thier goddess! Great fun and some interesting revelations about the ark and the posibility of our three heroes ever being able to repair it.<p>This episode features John Colicos the actor who played Baltar on Battelstar Galactica and Bary Morrse the actor who played the scientist in the first season of Space: 1999. <p>Unlike most movie compilations of recent years the Starlost has not been hacked and slashed together to try to make it look like a movie. So what you get are the two episodes back to back minus the nice credit sequences.