The Star Wars Holiday Special's, first, and only, broadcast on
November 17, 1978, on CBS, is an infamous entry in the Star Wars canon. The plot centers around
Han Solo getting his faithful Wookie co-pilot Chewbacca back to his home planet
Kashyyyk for the Life Day celebration. Of course, Imperial troops are after them
and the bulk of the story shifts between the search for the two rebels and
small vignettes of everyday life on the Wookie home planet. Widely regarded as an embarrassing flop, the show has nonetheless acquired a cult following. Two segments and the complete
program are provided above from the Aeolus 13 Umbra YouTube channel.
Various problems quickly emerge. First, the special is modeled as a variety show — a then-popular format near the end of its lifetime on American TV. Layered with songs, dance, humorous sketches, and not-so-witty one-liners, the result feels like your grandparents' version of Star Wars. The special effects typify late 70s video and computer technology. Blue screen
chroma key effects are rather obvious. Instead of custom-built futuristic-looking
computer housings, off-the-shelf systems are used, like repurposed commercial desktop
computers, or cassette tape players disguised as data playback decks, with a little electronic flash to jazz it up, resulting in very cheap-looking stage props.
The special features several set pieces, including Harvey Korman in two short segments where he plays
an alien chef and a malfunctioning robot. The alien chef bit is the better of
the two items, showcasing Korman’s knack for accents and broad comedy;
however, the malfunctioning robot bit is just painfully slow and unfunny. On a side note, famed fashion designer Bob Mackie, who previously worked with Korman on The Carol Burnett Show, did the costumes for the special. Ralph McQuarrie, tasked with making the preliminary concept drawings for Star Wars, did the illustrations. Also, James Earl Jones gets his first on-screen credit as the voice of Darth Vader.
Diahann Carroll sings "This
Minute Now" to Chewbacca’s father, Itchy, in a virtual reality set-up (who seems to be enjoying it just a little too much). The Jefferson Starship shows up
as a hologram performing “Light the Sky on Fire,” which, notably, is Marty Balin's last recorded performance with the group until 1993, having departed the band in October 1978 (see clip below). Bea Arthur (Maude, The Golden Girls) plays a
bartender at the Mos Eisley Cantina, trading banal dialogue with an enamored
alien barfly played by Harvey Korman before closing out the segment with an entirely forgettable song.
Carrie Fisher solves the age-old question of “Are there lyrics to the Star Wars
theme?” and immediately makes us regret the answer. To her credit, however, the young Fisher has
a surprisingly pleasant singing voice, apparently having inherited the vocal cords of her parents,
Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.
Other segments include
holographic circus acrobats played by the Wazzan Troupe Dancers and Art Carney
fumbling about trying to put Imperial troops off the scent of Han and
Chewy. Bruce Vilanch, one of the writers, in a December 2008 Vanity Fair article, noted that Lucas insisted
that no subtitles be used with the Wookies, which meant that someone who spoke
English had to be around in every scene in order to repeat what the Wookies
said in their own language. This slowed down the action and dumbed-down the story, as if that were even possible.
Of course, the stand-out segment
is the animated sequence introducing Boba Fett to the Stars Wars universe (see below). The impact was immediate and fans couldn’t get
enough of the grim, mysterious, cunning bounty hunter. While Darth Vader is a
great villain, he’s the sort of character you save for the epic showdown. Fett
fills in the space in-between, providing a sense of danger and threat to the protagonists without overusing the primary antagonist.
George Lucas, whose participation in the production was minimal, was so embarrassed
by the final result that he disowned the program and once famously said that if
he could destroy every copy, he would. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending
on your opinion, fans who videotaped the program on early VCRs preserved the
show and shared bootlegs at conventions, where I first came across it in 1992 after having seen it on TV during its only broadcast in 1978. Despite all that,
and probably a little to Lucas’ chagrin, the program has secured such a unique
place in the hearts of Star Wars fans
that it is considered a canonical work.
For me, The Star Wars Holiday Special holds a nostalgic place. It
aired exactly two weeks before my mother moved us out of the family home after
the divorce from my father. In her rush to move, and recognizing the realities
of going from a house to a small apartment, she left almost all of my toys
behind, including my precious Stars Wars
figures, as well as many other relics of my childhood. In that sense,
our experiences can raise a simple piece of overblown pop culture ephemera, such
as The Star Wars Holiday Special, into
something a little more significant than if judged on its artistic merits
alone.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is
a ubiquitous part of the holiday season; so much so, in fact, that it is easy
to overlook the power of this simple story. Two of my favorite iterations of
this classic tale include the 1970 musical version Scrooge, starring Albert Finney, and the 1971 animated version, A Christmas Carol, starring Alastair Sim
recreating his role from the superlative 1951 film version, also titled Scrooge. Both are available below form
the Aeolus 13 Umbra YouTube channel.
For me, the
exuberant musical version Scrooge
(1970) is a must-see for the holiday season. Though receiving mixed reviews at
the time of its theatrical release, this version received wide airplay in the
1970s and 1980s, consequently gaining many Baby Boomer fans. Albert Finney and Alec Guinness star as
Scrooge and Marley, respectively, and fans of British TV and film will notice many
familiar faces, including Gordon Jackson (The
Great Escape and Upstairs, Downstairs),
Roy Kinnear (Help!, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,
and The Three Musketeers), and Anton Rogers (The Prisoner, May to December,
and Upstairs, Downstairs). The
choreography is tight and a number of songs, including “A Christmas Carol,”
“December the 25th,” “I Like Life,” “Happiness,” and “Thank You Very Much,”
linger long in the mind well after the film is over.
The film was
nominated for several Academy and Golden Globe awards and was later turned into
a stage production in 1992 starring Anthony Newly in the title role. The full
version is available below from the Aeolus 13 Umbra YouTube channel.
The 1971
animated version of A Christmas Carol is a brief
25 minutes, but all the essential elements from the book are covered, reminding
one just how short a story it is. The animation can be both whimsical and dark,
and, indeed, this is a darker version of Dickins' story. At its heart, A Christmas Carol is more of a ghost
story than a traditional feel-good Yuletide tale. In fact, the full title of
the book is A Christmas Carol. Being a
Ghost Story of Christmas; nevertheless, it has an optimistic and
life-affirming message.
As the film
progresses the imagery grows more disturbing, evocative of Edward Gorey's work
in tone, if not in composition. This is apparent in such scenes as when the
Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come visits and is so intense that it may frighten
some younger viewers. Alastair Sim ably demonstrates that he is the
quintessential Ebenezer Scrooge, and his performance provides the character
with depth, nuance, and subtlety. The legendary Chuck Jones, of Warner Bros.'
Looney Tunes fame, lends his hand as executive producer.
First released on television Dec. 21, 1971, which I remember seeing, it was given a theatrical release and won a 1972
Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film (which led to the rule banning
programs first broadcast on TV from Oscar consideration). This is as much an
underrated classic as ever there was one and deserves much wider appreciation
by the general public. The full version is available below from the Aeolus 13
Umbra YouTube channel.
That both these
films date back to the earliest years of my childhood, it is no wonder that I
recall them so fondly. As Christmas is for children, each year we can revisit
our youth by enjoying the tales told to us as children. For more great
Christmas programs, please visit these other Aeolus 13 Umbra articles: CBS Seasons Greetings (1966): Animation by R.O. Blechman
and J.T.: An Urban Christmas Carol.
The giant Earthship Ark — man’s greatest and
final achievement — out of control, drifting through deep space over 800 years
into the far future. Its passengers, descendants of the last survivors of the
dead planet Earth, locked in separate worlds, their destination long forgotten,
heading for destruction unless three young people can save the Starlost! — Opening Narration to The Starlost
The series was
intended to be a co-production of the BBC and 20th Century Fox for prime-time
viewing with the hope it would be shot in London. Unfortunately, the BBC
declined; however, the Canadian CTV television network joined in, though with
less funding, and the series was broadcasted in Canada and syndicated in the
United States to a total of 48 stations. Because of the loss of the BBC's
potential investment, the budget was much smaller as were the Toronto studios
the series was eventually filmed in. Both restrictions contributed to the
general dissatisfaction from Ellison and his departure from the series.
How many
episodes Ellison developed story ideas for is not quite certain from the
information available. The pitch film (below), likely produced by the late
Spring/early Summer of 1973, features footage from Trumbull's Silent Running
(1972) and promoted the use of the ill-fated Magicam system (more about that
later). Some details are different, such as Dullea's character’s name being
Victor Rann (spelling of the last name unsure) instead of Devon. Notably,
Ellison is referred to by his real name rather than Cordwainer Bird, the name
he used as his series credit (indicating his dislike) after leaving the
production in September 1973.
The film also indicates Ellison would be
contributing six scripts, but which those were are unclear. He authored the
story for the first episode, “Voyage of Discovery,” but the Internet Movie Database credits him with
contributing to every episode as “creator,” including the episode “The
Goddess Calabra” based on a story by Ursula K. Le Guin (The Lathe of
Heaven, see separate article on Aeolus 13 Umbra). Consequently,
the writing credits listed below reflect those indicated on the episode credits
themselves, or as otherwise noted through other sources.
Background
The series
originated in February 1973 when a 20th Century Fox television producer, Robert
Kline, asked Ellison to develop a prime time science fiction TV series of eight
episodes, which he would then pitch to the BBC as a co-production. Ellison was
cold to the idea of limited-run series, but Kline persisted and Ellison
eventually tossed out the idea for what would become The Starlost. While Ellison was certainly a creative genius,
Douglas Trumball, who would co-executive produce the series, explored a similar
idea of a biosphere ship in 1972’s Silent
Running, so one wonders if Ellison wasn’t just spinning off that idea to
some degree.
Earthship Ark model.
Sci-fi author
Ben Bova served as science advisor and, much to his dismay at working with
producers who had such little concern for technical accuracy, left after the
first episode aired. He later used the experience as the basis for his novel The Starcrossed.
The per episode
production budget in 1973 for The
Starlost was approximately US$100,000, or about US$569,560 in 2018. This
was a little bit less than what an average episode of Star Trek: The Original Series cost in 1966 when the same
US$100,000 equals approximately US$780,409 in 2018, so the same amount of money
bought more in 1966 than it did in 1973. To put it in better perspective, the
per episode budget for the live-action Saturday morning children’s series Jason of Star
Command (see separate article on Aeolus 13 Umbra) produced a few
years later in 1978 by the notoriously cheap Filmation, was US$200,000, or approximately
US$773,454 in 2018. The Starlost's
budget should have been about US$50,000 more in 1973 dollars to compensate for
inflation and keep it on par with other sci-fi shows of the era.
Synopsis
The Starlost (left to right), Garth, Devon, and Rachel, look at a star rising above the massive Earthship Ark for the first time from the ruined main bridge.
The series takes
place on the immense Earthship Ark, containing the last remnants of the planet
Earth, in the year 2790. The Ark is approximately 200 miles (320 km) long and 50
miles 80 km) wide and home to dozens of self-contained biospheres, each
containing a unique culture, totaling about three million people. An accident
four hundred years in their past isolated the biospheres from each other and
set the vessel on a direct course for an eventual collision with a star.
The not very helpful computer.
The
lead in the series is Keir Dullea, who played Dave Bowman in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dullea plays
Devon, a farmer in an agricultural Amish-like community in one of the
biospheres. The action in the series begins when Devon’s love interest Rachel
(Gay Rowen) is betrothed to another man, Garth (Robin Ward). This causes Devon
to begin questioning the authorities, their way of life, and mysterious aspects
of their existence, such as why the sun moves as it does, where the water comes
from, and what lies beyond the door marked, “Beyond is Death.” Chased
by the villagers, Devon escapes from the biosphere and discovers that
he is on the Earthship Ark and that it is headed into a star. To save
the ship, and the biospheres, Devon must find the backup bridge and restart the
main engines.
Unfortunately, the ship’s main computer is damaged and not always
useful. Further, after 400 years, there seems to be no records of where the
backup bridge is, so with help from Rachel and a wary Garth, the trio begins a
journey of exploration and danger.
Making the
protagonists agricultural workers unfamiliar with technology at first seems like
a nice trick to present a logical scenario for the inevitable long expository
common to sci-fi. Indeed, Devon, Rachel, and Garth are stand-ins for the viewers
and their need for information about the Ark mirrors or own, so at first this
seems like a convenient literary device. Nevertheless, it quickly becomes
apparent that this often results in such plot holes as Devon, a farmer from a technically
backwards society, frequently operating technology far outside his primitive
skill set. After viewing the series, it may have been better for at least one
of the three protagonists to be from a more technologically advanced biosphere.
Special
Effects
For sci-fi fans
of the 1970s, the special effects of The
Starlost are somewhat on par with Blake’s
7 and Dr. Who of the same time
period. Gerry Anderson’s UFO(1970-1973) and Space: 1999(1975-1977) show clearly superior effects work,
as do the live-action Saturday morning series Space Academy(1977) and Jason of Star
Command (1978-1979) (click on links for reviews of the aforementioned series on
Aeolus 13 Umbra). While the shots of Earthship Ark are impressive and the
modeling detailed, they lack movement due to the limitations of the technology.
The lighting is poor, the backgrounds are dull, and star fields almost
virtually absent. Consequently, for a show that takes place in outer space,
very little is seen of it.
Part of the
pitch of The Starlost to Ellison, as
detailed in his essay “Somehow, I Don’t Think We’re In Kansas, Toto,” in the preface to the novelization of Ellison’s script for the pilot episode by
Edward Bryant (Phoenix Without Ashes),
was that video, rather than film, would allow for high production values at a
lower cost. Not only were the promised superior special effects not
forthcoming, but the use of video tape rather than film further cheapened the
look of an already financially-strapped venture. The results were not what were
anticipated by either the actors or the TV stations that syndicated the series.
As previously
noted, director/producer Douglas Trumbull released the film Silent Running in 1972 featuring a
similar vessel with biospheres. Trumbull touted his Magicam system as a way to
allow actors to move inside an effects shot and provide a heightened sense of
realism. An example is provided in the pitch film, but Magicam, still in its
early development, was a troubled and problematic system that was eventually
abandoned for the series. As Trumbull’s effects ability is amply demonstrated
in such films as 2001: A Space Odyssey,
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and Blade Runner, the technical problems
with The Starlost were not with him,
but with the production companies 20th Century-Fox Television, CTV Television
Network, and Glen Warren Productions, who quite literally nickel-and-dimed the
series into an early death.
The video
effects, despite some occasional creative applications, are generally just
random functions from an early video effects generator board. I am somewhat
familiar with the technology from interning at a public access television
station in the early 1980s. If that was all they could afford, it was a
penny-pinching production indeed.
The studio they
filmed in was so small even shots of long corridors were difficult. In the
first episode,“Voyage of Discovery,” a simple shot of a
long corridor (at the 41:40 time mark) needed a blue screen effect to
accomplish the shot. In the scene, Dullea and Rowen are recorded on tape looking
towards the camera. Then, Ward is recorded on the other side of the corridor
looking at a blue screen, upon which the footage of Dullea and Rowen is later
inserted over in post-production. It seems like a complicated and expensive fix
to accommodate an inferior studio they had to use because of budgetary
limitations. Another technique to show long corridors was to have a full-scale
photo-realistic painting simply mounted to one side of a doorway. On a 70s-era
19 inch, or smaller, color cathode-ray tube TV, the effect probably wasn’t very
noticeable; however, on today’s high-definition TVs it is clearly visible.
The Pisces scout ship makes a pass below the Earthship Ark. The difference in quality between the two vessels in this shot is even greater on high-definition television.
Other than the
impressive Earthship Ark, the other spaceships that do make the occasional
appearance, such as the Astro-Medic ship or Pisces scout ship, look hastily
conceived, or, in the case of Oro's flying saucer, just outright ridiculous. When
the buildings inside the biospheres are shown, as in “Mr.
Smith of Manchester,” they look more like children’s toys just
repainted and thrown together. Matte paintings would have been the better
choice for such scenes and it is curious why they are not used.
The use of matte
shots, where scenery is painted on glass with an area left clear for previously
shot footage to be played through, allows for actors to move through various
fanciful locations without the cost involved in creating such sets. Curiously,
this technique is not really utilized (likely for budgetary reasons) despite
having had been used in sci-fi movies for decades prior to The Starlost. The use of matte shots could have provided a sense of
space in a series where most of the action takes place inside a room of some
sort (apart from a very few exceptions, such as Devon’s EVA in the episode “Farthing's
Comet”). The Magicam system was meant to replace, or at least
supplement, this process, but it proved to be an unreliable alternative.
Castaways
Keir Dullea is
an accomplished actor and was well-known even before his role in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Gay Rowen and Robin
Ward keep pace with Dullea, and Ward’s Garth makes for a good foil to Dullea’s
Devon. The guest stars feature an array of talented character actors who have
appeared in various sci-fi series of the era and later, including John Colicos,
Commander Kor, Star Trek: The Original
Series and Deep Space Nine and
Baltor in Battlestar Galactica
(1978); Barry Morse, Prof. Victor Bergman, Space:
1999; Lloyd Bochner, Commandant Leiter,
Battlestar Galactica (1978) episodes “Baltar's Escape” and “Greetings from
Earth”; Simon Oakland, Kolchak: The Night
Stalker; Donnelly Rhodes, Dr. Cottle, Battlestar
Galactica (2004); and Walter Koenig, Ensign Chekov, Star Trek: The Original Series, and Alfred Bester in Babylon 5. Indeed, the actors often,
with some exceptions, generally rise above the material they’re given to work
with, but it is seldom enough to move an episode into the “must-see” category.
Conclusions
In the end, The Starlost frequently leaves the
viewer unsatisfied. Despite an intriguing premise, too often the phrase “If
only they had done things differently,” comes to mind. That happens in even the
best of series at times, but with The
Starlost it is more the rule than the exception. That’s not to say there
aren’t a few good episodes, but there are distracting inconsistencies. Devon,
Rachel, and Garth, despite being from a primitive agricultural community become
pretty adept at using highly advanced technology.
While we meet a wide array of
people on the Ark, including medical staff, security officers, scientists, artificially
intelligent computers, and the various biosphere residents, few seem
particularly concerned that the ship is headed straight into a star. A scout
ship travels 10 years at near light-speed, but the crew seems ignorant of the
time dilation effect which results in them being over 400 years out of time. Although
the Ark is highly technically advanced and automated, the one robot seen (in
the episode “The Return of
Oro”) looks like an antiquated relic from a 1930s Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers film serial.
The anti-war and
environmental themes, questioning society, and the concept of three young
people who come from an agricultural, communal society to try and save the
Earth are very 1970s sorts of ideas, so the series in some ways typifies the
era in which it was produced. The use of video tape, video board effects generators,
and early computers provides a point of research for TV and film production
historians, but more as oddities and as examples of what not to do.
If you enjoy
1970s sci-fi or just want to see what all the controversy is about, at least some
episodes of The Starlost are worth
checking out, such as “Voyage of Discovery,” “The
Alien Oro,” and “Circuit
of Death.” Indeed, these episodes are the only ones I can recall after
first watching the series back in 1973. If I can remember even those few
episodes from a long-forgotten series I haven’t seen in 45 years, there must be
something pretty good about it after all . . . or something awfully, if not
gloriously, bad.
The Starlost: The Complete Series
Descriptions by G. Jack Urso. Click on the links below to view the episodes on the Aeolus 13 Umbra Starlost TV YouTube channel!
Cast(left to right): Keir Dullea (Devon),Gay Rowen (Rachel),Robin Ward (Garth).
Episode 1: “Voyage of
Discovery” | Original
Airdate: September 22, 1973 | Writer: Harlan Ellison (as Cordwainer Bird)
(story), Norman Klenman (teleplay)
Devon, a young
man from a small agricultural community, accidently finds out his world is
actually part of an immense spacecraft, the Earthship Ark, comprised of dozens
of huge biodomes, and on a collision course with a star! Condemned by his
people when he shares this knowledge, Devon escapes with his friends Rachel and
Garth to try and save the ship and the last remnants of the dead planet Earth.
Guest Star: Sterling Hayden (The
Godfather).
Episode 2: “Lazarus from the Mist” | Original Airdate: September 29, 1973 |
Writers: Doug Hall, Don Wallace
Devolved descendants
of the Ark’s security forces capture Garth. Meanwhile Devon and Rachel discover
some of the ship's engineers in suspended animation and revive one of them to
help them repair the Ark. Note: The entire action takes place mainly on two
sets which creates a claustrophobic feeling, a periodic issue with the
cash-strapped series.
Episode 3:“The Goddess
Calabra”|
Original Airdate: October 6, 1973 | Writers: Ursula K. Le Guin (story), Martin
Lager (teleplay)
Devon, Rachel,
and Garth discover the Omicron biosphere where only men live. The governor decides
to marry Rachel who resembles a goddess the men worship. Guest Star: John
Colicos (Commander Kor, Star Trek: The
Original Series and Deep Space Nine;
Baltor, Battlestar Galactica (1978); and
Barry Morse Prof. Victor Bergman, Space:
1999). Note: The costuming is cartoonish and anachronistic for a future
society. The final fight between Colicos’ and Dullea’s characters is poorly
choreographed and shot.
Episode 4: “The Pisces” | Original Airdate: October 13, 1973 |
Writer: Norman Klenman
A scout ship
from the Ark returns after a ten-year voyage travelling near the speed of
light, but while only ten-years have passed for the crew, over four hundred
years have passed on the Ark due to the time dilation effect.
Guest Star: Lloyd
Bochner (Commandant Leiter, Battlestar
Galactica (1978) episodes “Baltar’s Escape” and “Greetings from Earth”).
Note: This episode is
largely a talkfest and it seems incongruous for scientists in the year 2790 to
be ignorant of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity as it applies to the time
dilation effect.
Episode 5:“Children of Methuselah” | Original Airdate: October 20, 1973 |
Writers: Jonah Royston, George Ghent
Devon, Rachel,
and Garth find what may be the backup bridge, but it’s manned by a group of
immortal children with psychic powers who believe they have been navigating the
Ark for hundreds of years — or have they?
Note: It is not convincingly
explained why the adults abandoned the children and it seems to be more of a
last-minute afterthought to resolve a plot hole. Additionally, the child actors’
performances wildly vary and are less convincing than the children’s
performances in the Star Trek: The
Original Series episode “And the Children Shall Lead.”
Episode 6: “And Only Man Is Vile” | Original Airdate: October 27, 1973 |
Writer: Shimon Wincelberg
Leisure Village,
a biosphere with deceptively peaceful scenery, turns out to be an experiment in
creating a superior breed of savage humans through survival of the fittest.
Guest
Star: Simon Oakland (Kolchak: The Night
Stalker).
Episode 7: “The Alien Oro” | Original Airdate: November 3, 1973 |
Writers: Mort Forer, Marian Waldman
An alien, Oro, who
crashed into the Earthship Ark, has been gathering parts from the giant
spacecraft to repair his ship and return home. Garth, however, falls for a
woman with Oro who must leave the Ark with the alien if she is to live.
Guest
Star: Walter Koenig (Ensign Chekov, Star
Trek: The Original Series; Alfred Bester, Babylon 5).
Episode 8: “Circuit of Death” | Original Airdate: November 10, 1973 |
Writer: Norman Klenman
An angry, bitter
man, Dr. Richards, sets the Ark to self-destruct and tries to escape with his
daughter; however, when his escape ship is unable to leave, he and Devon must undergo
a dangerous process to shrink themselves to microscopic size in order to
deactivate the self-destruct and save the Ark and his daughter.
Guest Star: Percy
Rodrigues (Star Trek: The Original Series
episode “Court Martial”).
Note: Despite being heavy in expository elements, and
dubious scientific technobabble, this episode is regarded as one of the most
watchable efforts.
Episode 9: “Gallery of Fear” | Original Airdate: November 17, 1973 |
Writers: Alf Harris (as Alfred Harris), and George Ghent
Magnus, an
artificially intelligent sociopathic computer, tries to trick Devon, Rachel,
and Garth into helping complete his programming so he has complete autonomy and
control. Keir Dullea (2001, A Space Odyssey),
however, has some prior experience with psycho A.I. computers that he puts to
use in this episode.
Note: Magnus’ sexy, but illusionary, servant woman has
abilities that seem to have not been well-thought out (she can hand out drinks,
but can’t press buttons), and Devon, Rachel, and Garth, seem to keep falling
for Magnus’ tricks even though they know he is trying to deceive them.
Episode 10:“Mr. Smith of
Manchester” | Original
Airdate: November 24, 1973 | Writers:
Arthur Heinemann, Norman Klenman
The tyrannical
ruler of a highly industrialized polluted biosphere dedicated to making weapons
tries to convince Devon, Rachel, and Garth to show him, and his army, the way
out.
Guest Star: Ed Ames (Mingo, Daniel
Boone).
Note: The biosphere’s buildings look little more than a children’s
playset filmed by high school students.
Episode 11: “Astro-Medics” | Original Airdate: December 1, 1973 |
Writers: Paul Schneider, Martin Lager
Devon is injured
and Rachel calls for help, which arrives in the form of a medical ship orbiting
the Ark; however, an alien ship requesting assistance forces the medical staff
to decide whether to continuing helping Devon or leave him and assist the
aliens.
Note: Despite knowing of the Ark’s trajectory into a star, the medical
staff seems little concerned about it.
Episode 12: “The Implant People” | Original Airdate: December 8, 1973 |
Writers: Helen French, Martin Lager, John Meredyth Lucas (uncredited), Allen
Spraggett (uncredited)
Devon, Rachel,
and Garth are taken captive in a biosphere where the workers are controlled by
implants and the lower classes starved. With the leader unaware of what is
happening, her assistant plots to take over.
Note: Shot in about five indoor sets, the episode as a claustrophobic feeling
and the brief shot of the biosphere’s buildings look like various parts of a
children’s playset cobbled together.
Episode 13: “The Return of Oro” | Original Airdate: December 15, 1973 |
Writer: Alex C. James
Oro the alien
revisits Earthship Ark with promises to repair the ship and bring them to his
home world of Exar, but is he telling the truth? Of course not, and the episode
ends with Oro being abandoned by his people, stranded on Earthship Ark, and on
the run from the Ark’s security forces.
Guest Star: Walter Koenig (Ensign
Chekov, Star Trek: The Original Series;
Alfred Bester, Babylon 5).
Note: The
robot, Tau Zeta, has completely useless arms and looks like a refugee from a
1930’s Buck Rogers serial.
Episode 14: “Farthing's Comet” | Original Airdate: December 22, 1973 |
Writer: Douglas Hall
A scientist
alters the Ark's course to pass through a comet's tail so he can study it;
Devon must make an EVA to rewire a panel so the service reactors can be fired
again; cometary debris damages the biospheres.
Guest Star: Edward Andrews (The Twilight Zone episodes "Third
from the Sun" and "You Drive").
Note: Why in the year 2790 do
people need to wear 1950’s style black horn-rimmed glasses? Additionally,
Devon, for a farmer, seems to be particularly well-adept at Extravehicular
Activity (EVA) and piloting a small craft despite never having piloted a vessel
before.
Episode 15: “The Beehive” | Original Airdate: December 29, 1973 |
Writer: Norman Klenman
GIANT MUTANT MIND-CONTROLLING
BEES! ‘Nuff said.
Episode 16: “Space Precinct” | Original Airdate: January 5, 1974 |
Writer: Martin Lager
Garth is
recruited by the Inter-Ark police to help put an end to an interplanetary war
but gets framed for a crime he didn’t commit.
Note: Oddly, the Inter-Ark
police show no concern that Oro the alien is running around loose on the Ark or that the ship is headed straight for a star.
Episode 17: “God That Died” | Original Airdate: Unproduced | Writer:
Unknown
Episode 18: “People in the Dark” | Original Airdate: Unproduced | Writer:
Unknown
Note: The Starlog Photo Guidebook TV Episode Guides Volume 1 (1981) and the Internet Movie Database list “God
That Died” and “People in the Dark” as the unproduced episodes
17 and 18, respectively. Additionally, in the late 1980s, five “movies”
comprised of editing together two episodes each were released for broadcast on
cable television. These include:
Danger hides in the stars! This is the world
of Jason of Star Command. A space-age soldier of fortune determined to stop the
most sinister force in the universe: Dragos, master of the cosmos. Aiding Jason
in his battle against evil is a talented team of experts, all working together
in a secret section of Space Academy. Jason of Star Command!
—Opening
Narration to Jason of Star Command
Jason of Star Command is a CBS
Saturday morning children’s sci-fi series that aired in the 1978 and 1979 TV
seasons. The show is a spin-off of 1977’s short-lived Space Academy, which was often referred to in the series, and used
many of the same sets and props. The first season aired as a 15-minute segment
as part of Tarzan and the Super Seven
from 10:30 a.m. to 12 Noon, followed by reruns of Space Academy. For season two, Jason
of Star Command was expanded to a full 30 minutes and got its own spot at
12 Noon. Both seasons aired first-run episodes in the fall and in reruns
beginning in January, similar to Space
Academy’s run. The complete series is available below. For more information
on Space Academy please visit the Aeolus
13 Umbra article.
Even
though Jason of Star Command takes
place “in a secret section of Space Academy,” none of the regular Space Academy cast makes an appearance
nor are they or the events in the series mentioned. Peepo turns up for six
episodes in season two and Lt. Matt Prentiss (John Berwick), who appeared in
the Space Academy episode, “The Cheat,” turns up
in the Jason of Star Command “The Disappearing Man,” and that is pretty much it. It was a lost
opportunity to exploit the popularity of Space
Academy which was still being shown in reruns at the time.
Casting
Season 1 cast.
In the
starring role of Jason is Craig Littler, who was active from the 1960s to the
1990s mainly in guest starring and supporting roles on TV, and for whom Jason of Star Command seems to be his
only lead in a series. Jason occasionally demonstrates feats of strength,
though not much about this ability is explored. Jonathan Harris was to continue
his role as Commander Gampu from Space
Academy but was unable to come to terms with Filmation over his contract. James
Doohan, Lt. Commander Scott on Star Trek:
The Original Series, stepped in as Commander Canarvin, but really isn’t
given much to do and comes across as a bit bland when compared to the
scene-crewing Sid Haig or the very earnest Craig Littler. Doohan left the
series in 1978 to film Star Trek: The
Motion Picture and was replaced in season two by John Russell, more noted
for his Western roles (including Clint Eastwood’s 1985 film Pale Rider) as the blue-skinned alien
Commander Stone. Character actor Sid Haig, who appeared in many popular TV and
film projects starting in the 1960s (including THX 1138), appears as the malevolently
persistent evil space lord Dragos.
Season 2 cast.
Other cast
members include Charlie Dell as the wonderfully eccentric Professor E.J.
Parsafoot. Dell pretty much steals most scenes he appears in. His quirky, yet
empathetic, performance as Prof. Parsafoot makes him a fan favorite. Dell, as of this writing, still
turns up from time-to-time but has spent the majority of his career in small
character roles. Season one included Susan Pratt as Captain Nicole Davidoff.
Dobson had a few roles before Jason of
Star Command and afterwards appeared mainly in daytime soap operas. In season
two, Pratt is replaced by Tamara Dobson as the enigmatic and “powerful” Samantha,
a refugee of Dragos’ war. Dobson was notable for playing Cleopatra Jones in two
Blaxploitation films previous to Jason of
Star Command and helps broaden the appeal of the show. Wiki, Jason’s faithful micro-robot, is in
every episode, and Peepo, the resident R2D2 clone from Space Academy,also turns
up for six episodes in season two.
Production
Sid Haig
confirms in the documentary The
Adventures of Jason of Star Command that the budget per episode was US$200,000
in 1978 (approximately US$773,454 in 2018), likely the highest ever for a
live-action Saturday morning series. We can see evidence of this in the
expanded range of models and special effects. Nevertheless, despite the
popularity of the series, the high production costs limited how many episodes
Filmation could commit too without it affecting other productions.
Jason’s Starfire spacecraft in flight.
Series
creator and director Arthur Nadel provides a single unified vision for the
series, establishing a continuity that would have been impossible to achieve
with a contract director approach. Chuck Cominsky, special effects supervisor
for Space Academy, continued his work
with Jason of Star Command, providing
an added measure of continuity to the production. New personnel were added to
the crew, including directors of photography who improved the optical effects
design, stop-motion artists, and microcomputers, which gave the capability for
repeat moves on spacecraft flight tracking shots, compositing effects, and
coordinated in-camera mattes so spacecraft and star fields could move together,
rather than having a static background.
The line
of spacecraft models was greatly expanded and the shots of planets and flybys
have much the same quality as was being produced on Space: 1999 just a couple years previously. Nevertheless, despite
the larger budget, Filmation still sought to cut corners in sometimes rather obvious
ways, such as reusing background music composed for the company’s earlier Star Trek: The Animated Series, usually to
underscore dramatic moments of crisis.
Star Command drone fighters race out to defend Space Academy.
Seasons
One and Two
Season one
debuted in the Fall 1978 with sixteen 15-minute episodes, much
in the same spirit of the Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers/Commando Cody serials with a
cliff-hanger at the end of every chapter. The segments ran as part of Tarzan and the Super Seven, 10:30 a.m.
to 12 Noon, opposite the 90-minute Scooby's
All-Stars Laff-A-Lympics which started at 10 a.m. on ABC. On NBC, the
competition included The Fantastic Four
at 10:30 a.m. and The Kroft Supershow
hosted by The Bay City Rollers at 11 a.m. Reruns of Space Academy followed Tarzan
and the Super Seven at noon.
Advertisement for the show from period promotional material.
For season
two in the Fall of 1979, Jason of Star
Command produced twelve thirty-minute episodes that aired at 12:00 noon,
and, much to my frustration, my local CBS affiliate WAST (later WNYT) Channel
13—Albany, usually preempted the show since stations could begin to cutaway at
noon for local programming. Additionally, cable companies at the time had a
“blackout policy,” which would blackout the programming of out-of-area stations
if they were running the same show as a local station. This was to keep the ratings
for local stations from losing share to out-of-market stations. Our local cable
company, Capital Cablevision, offered WCBS, Channel 2 in New York City, which
also ran Jason of Star Command at
noon; however, that was blacked out by Capital Cablevision ostensibly to
protect Channel 13 who didn’t run the show anyway since it cut away from the
network at noon. This prevented me, and many other local fans, from seeing season
two of Jason of Star Command until
the 2007 DVD release.
Conclusion
Jason of Star Command and its
predecessor Space Academy are
transitional series in the aftermath of Star
Wars. Aspects of the cliff-hanger movie serials from the 1930s through the
1950s remain, but a stronger emphasis on, and a larger budget for, special
effects ramped up the standard for children’s television programming. Members
of the special effects crew went to work on Battle
Beyond the Stars, E.T. The
Extraterrestrial, Raiders of the Lost
Ark, Star Trek: The Next Generation,
as well as the current crop of films from the DC and Marvel Cinematic
Universes.
Jason holding his faithful micro-robot W.1.K.1. — aka Wiki.
The show
has its short comings. Jason gets captured as often as Lois Lane, the Dragos
storyline goes on too long and gets repetitive, Peepo is a direct rip-off of
R2D2, and, despite the increased special effects budget, Wiki (actually
W.1.K.1.) comes across as little more than a wind-up, off-the-shelf toy. Still,
the show is an exemplary model of creative children’s programming while
exploiting a current trend in entertainment—in this case the space opera. While
clearly designed for children, it doesn’t talk down to them, but simply strives
to entertain. Lessons of cooperation and responsibility are integrated into the
storylines without devolving into the dreaded “very special episode.”
As noted
in my article for Space Academy, the
rights to Space Academy, and
consequently Jason of Star Command,
are somewhat undefined right now. Filmation folded in 1989 and the rights to
both shows subsequently went to “Sleepy Kids,” a media company specializing in
children’s programming that coincidently formed in 1989. Sleepy Kids was later
renamed Entertainment Rights who licensed the series to BCI Eclipse for the
2007 DVD release. In 2008, BCI Eclipse went out of business as did
Entertainment Rights in 2009.
There
remains a small fandom for both Jason of
Star Command and Space Academy. Customized
figures and models turn up from time to time, but they are scattered efforts
usually by dedicated fans themselves. The shows are overshadowed by other
sci-fi programs of the era, such as Space:
1999, Battlestar Galactica, and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
Nevertheless, Jason of Star Command
and Space Academy remains excellent
examples of sci-fi written specifically for children and featuring strong women
and different races, often in leadership positions. Not a bad way to raise the
kids on a Saturday morning in that or any era.
Jason
of Star Command: The Complete Series
Descriptions
by G. Jack Urso. Click on the links below to view the episodes on the Aeolus 13
Umbra Star Command Spaceport YouTube channel!
Season One Cast (left to right): Commander Carnarvin, Jason, Capt.
Davidoff,
At Star Command, Commander Canarvin is
revealed to be a clone created by Dragos. Back at Dragos’ ship, Jason helps the
real Commander Canarvin escape, though Jason remains a prisoner.
Season
1 Chapter 4: “A Cry for Help”|
Original Airdate: September 30, 1978
When Canarvin’s clone disables Space
Academy’s shields, Dragos attacks! Meanwhile, Jason discovers his cellmate is
beautiful princess.
Jason’s small helper robot Wiki helps
rescue his master and the princess. In order to stop Dragos from destroying the
Space Academy asteroid, Jason launches his spacecraft at Dragos’ ship.
Jason and Nicole protect the princess
and are rescued by Professor Parsafoot and Wiki, but Dragos is on their trail!
In order to save the princess Jason, Nicole, Professor Parsafoot, and Wiki draw off Dragos, but get stranded on the Planet of the Lost!
Season
1 Chapter 7: “Marooned in Time” | Original Airdate: October 21, 1978
On the planet called “Limbo of the
Lost,” Jason, Nicole, Professor Parsafoot, and Wiki are captured by the
legendary Captain Kidd! To repair his vessel, Jason needs Captain Kidd’s hoard
of gold and silver, but ends up having to save Kidd himself!
Professor Parsafoot repairs Jason’s
ship and Captain Kidd agrees to join the fight against Dragos and Dragos ship
is left adrift at the end of the episode.
(Left to right): Jason, Capt. Nicole Davidoff, and Dragos.
Reluctant companions Peepo and Wiki
are captured while on patrol on a planet. Jason and Laura help rescue the
wayward robots — but has Dragos reprogrammed Peepo?
In a take from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode,
“The Wink of An Eye,” Jason must rescue a Space Academy officer, Lt. Matt Prentiss, caught in
a time dimension moving faster than his own.
Jason and his Star Command crewmates
go out looking for the missing robot Peepo, but are captured by the beautiful
Queen of Kesh.
Season
1 Chapter 12: “Escape from Kesh” | Original Airdate: November 25, 1978
Professor Parsafootshrinks Jason down to help them escape from
Kesh, but after stealing the queen’s spaceship, they soon find themselves her
prisoners once again — and this time they’re headed to Dragos!
Jason escapes Dragos — once again —
while Dragos disables Space Academy’s guidance system and send them towards a
space typhoon! Peepo is rescued, but no one knows that the robot has been
reprogrammed.
Season
1 Chapter 14: “Peepo on Trial” | Original Airdate:December 9, 1978
Peepo sabotages Space Academy plunging
the asteroid towards a “galactic storm.”
Season
1 Chapter 15: “The Trojan Horse”|
Original Airdate: December 16, 1978
Space Academy is caught in the space
typhoon, but survives due to the efforts by Jason and Commander Canarvin.
Information from Peepo about Dragos’ crew inspires Jason and Nicole to sneak
back aboard Dragos ship, but — big surprise — they are captured, yet again.
Wow. Totally did not see that one coming.
Dragos is back, a new commander for
Star Command takes over, and Jason discovers a derelict spaceship with a woman
in suspended animation. Also, Peepo from Space Academy joins the crew.
Season
2 Episode 2:“Frozen in Space”| Original
Airdate: September 22, 1979
Vanessa, an ally of Dragos, tries to
lure Jason to her side with promises of riches. Since he gets paid by
Filmation, the offer is probably tempting . . .
A wandering space pilot (secretly
working for Dragos) needs help repairing his ship, and a mysterious device in
the ship’s hold sends Jason, Wiki, Samantha, and Professor Parsafoot into
another dimension!
Season
2 Episode 8: “Face to Face”|
Original Airdate: November 3, 1979
Still caught in another dimension, Jason
must work with an alien to escape.
Dragos’ drone fighters come in for the kill!
Season
2 Episode 9:“Phantom Force”| Original
Airdate:November 19, 1979
Samantha rescues a boy in a lost
spacecraft and a number of mishaps occur on Space Command. Are the two related
and is Dragos responsible? Uh, yeah . . . duh!
Season
2 Episode 10:“Little Girl Lost”| Original
Airdate: November 17, 1979
A little girl named Heidi and her doll
are recovered from a crashed ship. Dragos and his minions are once again after
Jason.
Season
2 Episode 11: “Mimi's Secret” | Original Airdate:November 24, 1979
Heidi’s doll contains secrets that
both Star Command and Dragos want.
