The Starlost

The Starlost

1973
The Starlost
The Starlost

The Starlost

6.2 | NR | en | Drama

A huge generational colony spacecraft called The Ark has gone off-course. Many of the descendants from the original crew and colonists are unaware that they are aboard a ship.

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Seasons & Episodes

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EP16  Space Precinct
Feb. 08,1974
Space Precinct

Garth plays detective when some visiting space cops stop by.

EP15  Beehive
Feb. 01,1974
Beehive

Rachel, Garth and Devon are trapped inside a giant food production center for the ark. It is a giant beehive where some sonic experiments are causing the natives to become restless.

EP14  Farthing's Comet
Jan. 25,1974
Farthing's Comet

A spacewalk is undertaken when a comet threatens the ark.

EP13  The Return of Oro
Jan. 11,1974
The Return of Oro

Oro (Walter Koenig) returns to the Ark to pilot the ship to his home planet of Xar. Granted special Gold Security Clearance and summoned peremptorily to Master Control Devon is surprised to find all the Ark systems monitored by mobile robots commanded by Tau Zeta, a "female" holding flag command rank. But the real power is exercised by Oro, (of "The Alien Oro" episode) who has been sent back to the drifting space vessel to seize it as "salvage" for the planet Xar. To our 4rloD however, Oro represents this trip to landfall a~ a generous act to solve the Ark's problems. To get back to their own lives quickly, Rachel and Garth welcome Oro's leadership and support him. But Devon, who learns from the computers that life on Xar, for humans, would be at the level of vegetables, resists. Oro challenges Devon to a "debate to the death", to be scored objectively by the computers on a game-show type of scoreboard. Though Oro is a superior being, Devon defeats him because the computers, built by humans

EP12  The Implant People
Dec. 07,1973
The Implant People

The trio happen on a dome (after Garths crossbow is stolen) inhabited by people ruled by fear via electronic brain implants.

EP11  The Astro Medics
Nov. 30,1973
The Astro Medics

Devon, venturing unknowingly into a quarantine area, is stricken by radiation sickness and is near death when a father-son medical team from a nearby shuttle clinic -- Isolated since the Ark's disaster -- rescue him. They literally bring him back from the dead -- but tell Rachel and Garth that sensitive, sophisticated neuro surgery will be necessary to restore Devon as a reasoning human being. And there is no time or this surgery: the shuttle clinic is about to cast off from the Ark, to answer a distress signal from a nearby planet threatened by a plague. The doctors are persuaded to stay long enough to try the operation -- and while the window for their escape is still open, leave the Ark having restored Devon to life and health.

EP10  The Alien Oro
Nov. 23,1973
The Alien Oro

Rachel, Devon and Garth come to an uninhabited dome where they find Oro (Walter Koenig), an alien from the planet Xar who has been living a Robinson Crusoe style existence on the Ark for several years. Oro,has acquired the services of Ydana as his' girl Friday. Ydana is an inteligent but fickle woman, a wanderer from another dome. She has been helping Oro repair his space ship in the hope that she might find a "paradise" on Xar. By trickery, Oro commnands the services of Devon, Rachel and Garth to aid him in repairing his ship.

EP9  Mr. Smith of Manchester
Nov. 16,1973
Mr. Smith of Manchester

Devon, Rachel, and Garth are lured into a dome where the inhabitants are trapped in a highly industriaiized, hell-bent-for-leather society which is choking itself to death on its own noxious effluents; the purification and filtering system of the dome simply cannot keep up with the mad pace these people have set for themselves. The leader of the Liverpudlians is Mr. Smith, an absolute ruler who knows his people would displace him if he took the hard but necessary decision to simplify their lifestyle. Smith is finally overthrown and the poliutive machines stilled as our three push onward.

EP8  Gallery of Fear
Nov. 09,1973
Gallery of Fear

In one of the service modules of the Ark, Devon, Rachel and Garth come upon a bizarre pop-art museum. of the future where circuit-breakers, plastic cubes and the common incunabulia of the future is preserved in silent, empty grandeur stretching as far as the eye can see. Without warning, ""people"" begin to appear; but special people -- friends and relatives of Garth and Rachel with whom they enjoy emotional reunions. The final person to appear is a beautiful girl, the ""curator,"" Doris, in whom Devon is instantly attracted. But the girl reveals that all the ""people"" were recreations of Magnus, the most talented and sophisticated computer ever made. Doris assists Devon In his desire to recreate,through Magnus, the original Captain of the Ark in order to learn its secrets. But the recreation of the captain warns Devon that Doris is a creation of Magnus, too, and that she is part of Magnus' plan to get himself re-programmed for totally independent existence.

EP7  Circuit of Death...
Nov. 02,1973
Circuit of Death...

An electronics engineer, Sakharov, despairing of the slow death which he believes in store for all inhabitants of the Ark, bypasses the fail-safe mechanisms in order to activate the Ark's self-destruct system. In doing so, he inadvertently trips the fail-safe alarms, alerting Devon, Rachel and Garth. Sakharov, with his daughter Valarie (who opposes his plan) intends to escape the Ark at the last moment aboard the rocket designed to jettison the Ark's logs and cassette recordings of Earth history prepared, 'for the benefit of other life in the universe'. But when the rocket fails to leave, Sakharov, with Devon and Garth's help, undertakes to rewire the fail-safe and stop the self-destruct. Since all the mechanisms are in micro circuits, they must be projected miniaturized into the circuits through an astounding electronic procedure. It is a race against time to re-connect the minute circuits before the whole Ark blows.

EP6  And Only Man is Vile
Oct. 26,1973
And Only Man is Vile

This episode is set in a lavishly appointed spa in a dome called New Eden Leisure Village. At first it seems completely deserted, but Garth hears someone moaning. He finds a young girl seemingly in a state of shock and attempts to find out what's happened. The girl will not speak. However, Rachel is able to gain her confidence and determines that something horrible frightened everyone else away, and she was left behind in the confusion. The trio decide to stay and try to solve the mysterious evacuation.

EP5  Children of Methuselah
Oct. 12,1973
Children of Methuselah

Devon reports back to Rachel and Garth that he's found the ARK's backup bridge. The trio attempt to enter the restricted computer area, but are temporarily thwarted by an electronic security system. When they do get through, they are shocked to see a group of children efficiently operating the complex navigational consoles. The youngsters also demonstrate the ability to ""think pain"" upon others and use this device on Devon and Garth. Rachel and the two men are taken to their commander, a fourteen-year-old boy who immediately orders that the intruders be placed under arrest.

EP4  The Pisces
Oct. 05,1973
The Pisces

Devon Rachel and Garth are awakened by a voice announcing the arrival of the ""Pisces."" As the craft's crew complete their linkup, a man and two women emerge and identify themselves as Commander Garroway, Captain Janice and Navigator Teale. They explain that they were launched from the ARK ten years ago to search for settling places for the ARK's population. They are shocked to return to find the ARK off-course, her crew vanished.

EP3  The Goddess Calabra
Sep. 28,1973
The Goddess Calabra

Devon, Rachel and Garth are exploring one of earthship Ark's huge freight chambers. Pushing past loud radiation warnings, they are suddenly lifted to the surface of the dome Omicron and find themselves in a strange city of geodisic domes and angular buildings. A siren sounds as the trio is bathed in a hot, blinding light and surrounded by soldiers demanding identification. But the moment they see Rachel, they drop reverently to their knees and hail her as the goddess Calabra. The dumbfounded visitors are escorted to a palatial building where the Governor interrogates them as an awed court watches. Rachel's attempts to explain her origin are in vain, for the Governor indicates a portrait of the goddess Calabra who bears an extraordinary resemblance to Rachel and orders that arrangements be made at once for their wedding.

EP2  Lazarus from the Mist
Sep. 21,1973
Lazarus from the Mist

The segment begins with Devon, Rachel and Garth at the ARK's communications board trying in vain to contact other parts of the earthship. A sudden ""Emergency"" signal flashing from the Medical Center sends the trio In search of the trouble. Just as they reach their destination, they are ambushed by a club-wielding mob of raged-looking tube-dwellers who scream threats of death to the ""thieves"" who dare to invade the forbidden ""Dome of the Dead."" Devon and Rachel narrowly escape by barricading themselves in the Medical Center, but Garth, arriving too late, is forced to flee into the darkness.

EP1  Voyage of Discovery
Sep. 14,1973
Voyage of Discovery

In Cypress Corners Devon is desperate to marry Rachel, but the people are against the union because Rachel is promised to Garth. Devon is forced to flee, and finds himself on the other side of the iris door of the dome. Here a screen explains to him that Cypress Corners is one of 53 similar biosphere domes aboard the Ark. ""In the year AD 2285, a series of atomic explosions threatened all earth life with extinction. The committee of scientists and philosophers selected segments of earth life to seed other worlds. Then they set about to build the Ark, the most monumental construction undertaken by humans, and when it was complete, it was launched on a centuries-long journey to the planets of Alpha Centauri."" The screen added that during the journey an accident occurred in the Ark's vast controls and the only way to prevent its drifting off course and ultimate collision is to inform the bridge. Devon finds himself back in Cypress Corners where he is taken prisoner. Garth releases him an

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6.2 | NR | en | Drama , Sci-Fi | More Info
Released: 1973-09-22 | Released Producted By: , Country: Canada Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

A huge generational colony spacecraft called The Ark has gone off-course. Many of the descendants from the original crew and colonists are unaware that they are aboard a ship.

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The tv show is currently not available onine

Cast

Keir Dullea , Robin Ward

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Reviews

Valerie KL Wonder of wonders....I found this series in ROKU's channel store! While it may be low budget, the premise and all its little metaphors are timeless. It was taped but is a fine example of green screen techniques used before the advent of cgi. It's also nice seeing Dullea before his 2001 Space Odyssey appearance.Since it is on ROKU, it may also be available through specialty stores.
interstel I am surprised at the Harlan Ellison connection having just watched all 16 episodes back to back. As the story more correctly resembles a book called the Star Seekers from Milton Lesser in 1953 for the first part. The mix with strong elements of Robert Heinlein's Orphans of the Sky from 1963. Then add the ship design from Silent Running modified for more domes. You get the story concept of the Starlost. So if considering how much these earlier these stories predate Ellison it more likely he adapted them and the other authors were never given credit.Oh and in case no one corrected the commented about Silent Running. It predated Starlost and it was the Silent Running footage that was used to pitch the project to US television networks.
mhlong I discovered StarLost when it was first broadcast, late at night. Recognizing Keir Dullea immediately from 2001: A Space Odyssey, I found the plot interesting, the acting fairly stiff, the sets basically cheaply done. Yet, here was a 'live'-action television series post-Star Trek about space and had what looked like an interesting plot (and didn't seem as pretentious as Space1999) .Basically, Earth had been destroyed and near the end, the world (at least the US, for most the people seemed to speak the same language), built this gigantic space 'ark' with spheres connected by tubes. Each sphere held a community that seemed to be plucked and plopped into this sphere and shut off with no outside contact. I suppose the plan was to move as much of Earth culture in-tact to another habitable world and start anew with a significant part of the various cultures little affected by space travel and ready to continue the human experience.The story starts with Keir Dullea's character (Devon) in one of the spheres, some fundamentalist religious community (like Amish). He wonders about something more outside the sphere and thinks there must be a way to find out. (no concept of stars or galaxies exists to these people). Being at odds with the elders who seem to have dictatorial control over the peoples' lives, he also loves this young woman, Rachel, who is promised to someone else, Garth. It's decided he's a trouble maker and should be restrained (or worse). He escapes and starts his search for a way out.Stumbling upon a hatch door by accident, he makes his way into one of the connecting 'bounce' tubes, learning to 'bounce' to the next sphere. Along the way, he comes across a computer monitor that has a man's image who occasionally answers some but not all of his questions.Going back to his sphere, he tries to convince the others of what he has found but is considered a real problem and is not believed. He gets Rachel to join him and Garth goes after them to bring our hero back to 'justice'. The remaining episodes are their adventures as they go from sphere to sphere trying to find out what's going on.I saw a few episodes again about 5-10 years ago when it was re-broadcast somewhere, seeing about 10 or 12 of the 16. I had several problems with the show and even more when I read Harlan Ellison's (aka Cordwainer Bird) account in one of his books and his original script.First, the three characters eventually team up as Garth begins to understand what is going on. Garth went from antagonist to just a hanger-on. I assumed the reason for him was for tension – two men competing for a woman. But that plot device disappeared rather quickly. Mostly he just glowered, doing little to further the plot.Each sphere these characters visited was similar in many ways to the one they came from, totally self-contained and basically unaware of any other sphere or the space ship (apparently there had been more generations of lives during the space travel then expected). Part of the plot revolved around the fact that the computer monitor was constantly saying that the space ship was on a course to plunge into a star and be destroyed but it never said how long until that would happen. Also, the command bridge apparently had been destroyed at some time and the secondary bridge was uninhabited causing the space ship to wander.Our characters went from sphere to sphere and came upon problems that needed to be solved. At the end of each episode, they left each sphere a better place, but with that sphere still practically cut off from any other. Not once did anyone say, Hey, what IS out there? Can I join? Nor for the most part, did our trio ever seem to find someone smart enough to maybe find the controls and divert the space ship from possible catastrophe.One episode had our trio coming upon a docking port - and a small scout ship with several people on board - which at that moment returned from some expedition. You would think the ship's commander of that would want to know the situation, forget whatever issue was the 'problem d'jour' and go immediately to the secondary bridge and take control. Nope. Our trio had to help them solve some very mundane problem, and I think the scout ship left again. Our trio even came across a highly advanced society who had gone nuts over schematics and things, but eventually left them to solve their own little problems and pushed on.Finally, the real issue I had was with Harlan Ellison's whine about the show, which can be found in several places, i.e. Strange Wine. I read his original script which he seemed to believe was the best ever written, which really wasn't much better then anything else on TV at the time. Also, he whined that the TV representation of the space ship was laid out in a grid like pattern, but his idea of something like a grape cluster was so much better. Please, who really cares.Actually if you want to read a better story (which Ellison must have read but never gave any mention of), read Heinlein's novella, Universe. Almost exactly the same plot, but handled a little better and far more believable (and written much earlier).I have fond memories of The StarLost because so little else in the SF genre was available as the impetus from the success (or buzz) of 2001:A Space Odyssey was now in serious decline. However, with the cheap budgets, mediocre acting, and behind the scenes fighting, I'm sure the show did nothing to help further the cause. We had to wait for Star Wars to put SF back in popular standing.
bbbl67 You know, I was just sleeping and having a dream about a huge generational spaceship, with separate hanging living complexes, which carries most of the population of Earth away to a distant world. Then I realized, I'd seen this concept before on TV, when I was a kid. Reaching through my own memory banks to the distant past, I could only come up with the words: "lost", "ark", and "Walter Koenig" (Chekov from Star Trek). Did the search for Koenig through IMDb, and sure enough found this entry. If I had instead done a search for "lost" and "ark", I'd have probably ended up in "Raiders of The Lost Ark", so it's a good thing I didn't do that search. :-)Wow, now that I'm looking at the list of stars of this show, I am surprised by how many of them are well-known. Walter Koenig was just a guest star on it. I didn't realize that one of the stars was Keir Dullea, Dave from 2001: A Space Oddessy. Also Robin Ward, I remember he used to be a weatherman or something later on. Ah, ancient Canadian memories. Koenig seems to have a knack for memorable guest appearances on sci-fi shows. He also had a memorable turn as Bester on Babylon 5.