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The Starlost - The Complete Series | DVD

Starring: Keir Dullea, Gay Rowan, Robin Ward, William Osler
Directed By: Joseph L Scanlon, Ed Richardson, Harvey Hart, George McCowan, Leo Orenstein

List Price:

~~$49.99~~

Price:

$44.99

You Save:

$5.00 (10%)

Available:

Usually ships in 24 hours

Binding:

DVD

Rating:

Run Time:

800 minutes

Format:

Color, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC

Studio:

VCI Entertainment

Number of Discs:

Aspect Ratio:

1.33:1

Release Date:

September 30, 2008

Sales Rank:

35,032th

FEATURES

After an Earth-destroying threat endangers the planet, Mankind builds a gigantic Earthship Ark spacecraft to save the last of humanity. After an accident takes place and kills the crew, the airlocks connecting the ship's domes are sealed. Cut off from the outside world, many communities simply forgot that they were on a spacecraft. As the centuries pass, each culture evolves in an enclosed soc

EDITORIAL REVIEWS

Product Description
After an Earth-destroying threat endangers the planet, Mankind builds a gigantic Earthship Ark spacecraft to save the last of humanity. After an accident takes place and kills the crew, the airlocks connecting the ship's domes are sealed. Cut off from the outside world, many communities simply forgot that they were on a spacecraft. As the centuries pass, each culture evolves in an enclosed society, each a world unto itself that is fifty miles in diameter. Unbeknownst to the ARK s inhabitants, they are drifting through deep space on a collision course with a sun. In 2790 A.D., a young man named Devon (Keir Dullea from 2001: A Space Odyssey ), a resident of a biosphere called Cypress Corners, discovers that his world is much larger than he was taught to believe and uncovers the Ark s fate. Devon and friends Rachel (Gay Rowan) and Garth (Robin Ward) must learn all they can about the Ark if they are to save it and the colonists aboard. The Starlost was a Canadian-produced science fiction television series that broadcasted in 1973 on CTV in Canada and on NBC in the United States. Now for the first time all 16 episodes are available in this collection. Some of these episodes have not been seen since their original airdates. Bonus Features: Scene Selection, Trailers Product Specs: 4-DVD9s; Dolby Digital; 800 min.; Color; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA NR; Year 1976; SRP - $49.99

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 23 reviews)

The horror, the horror! by Elmo Tobin (New York City)

1 Stars
September 21, 2009
I'm actually not surprised that someone out there found this releasable on DVD. Why not make a few bucks off the SF fans who were likely stoned when this was first on. One of the worst television shows ever (lame sfx, poor writing, absolutely terrible acting), this couldn't have cost much to get the rights to. Harlan Ellison removed his name from this, using a psuedonym, so what does that tell the reader? I've watched plenty of shows with terrible sfx, such as the original Doctor Who, but what set that apart from this is that the writing for Doctor Who was nearly always superb. This show goes down with pap like The Fantastic Journey, Galactica 80 and The War of the Worlds TV show. All horrible ideas, horribly produced. I don't recall any exciting bits in any of the episodes. Just plodding plots with barely any direction at all. They did have some of the earliest gimmick casting though, using Walter Koenig as the alien Odo (years before the light years superior Deep Space Nine, used the same name). I'm sure that for some there is some trivial memory to this, but I wouldn't pick it up if I found it in the street. I expect that the Starlost will soon be found in bargain basement racks very soon.

A good release, but... by John Nowak (Auburndale MA)

2 Stars
August 23, 2009
When this was first shown, I was ten, and watching it on a black-and-white TV. I thought it was pretty good. I'm very happy it's been released, and I was glad to see it again. But make no mistake, this is not by any means a lost classic. I can forgive poor special effects, cheap sets, and an occasional blown take making it into the final cut. That's par for the course for a television show, especially one made over thirty years ago. The fact it was a Canadian production done at a time the Canadian studios simply weren't up to the challenge should also mitigate its obvious shortcomings. But what I can't forgive are the scripts. It's incredible to me that so many TV scripts are as bad as they are. It's the cheapest part of a production; you wouldn't think it would be so hard to get them right. But no. Time and again, our three heroes meet people who should be able to save the Ark, and time and again the series ignores this. This reaches a bizarre climax in the second to last episode, where we discover that the Ark can avoid a nearby comet, but not a distant star. Hmm. Plot holes like that might be ignored if the scripts had any notable merit, but they do not. On rewatching the series, I cannot recall a single script that rose above mediocrity. Remarkably, Keir Dullea and some of the guest stars have some nice acting moments despite this. Walter Koenig's last moment in the show is a perfectly chilling sardonic smile, easily twice as frightening as anything in the script. The Starlost might have been a weird little gem, but the entire production seems to have been cursed by incompetence. Not just your normal, every day bad decision making, or production glitches, but a perverse incompetence. One which hired genuinely talented people like Ellison and Bova, and then went to great lengths to ignore everything they said. Ellison has been criticized for abandoning this production. Frankly, it was one of the best decisions of his career.

Starloat is lost by Westanna Elliott (Lexington,Kentucky USA)

1 Stars
July 17, 2009
This is pretty awful. The story may be interesting but I didn't watch it long enough to find out. The music accompanying the action is a a wavering high-pitched flute that is completely irritating and ruined the whole series for me. I jumped to the last episode and the same music was there, too, so I gave up on the whole thing.

It is what it is...Dr Who fans will enjoy it. by The (SC)

4 Stars
June 20, 2009
OK, this series has gotten such a bad rap that many sci-fi fans think it was the worst show ever made, but it isn't. Ok, so it wasn't Harlan Ellison's Star Trek as it should have been and it was on a very low budget, but that has not stopped anyone from enjoying cult classics like Land of the Lost, Dr Who, Red Dwarf, etc. This is watchable and creative. Perfect? No...far from, but it is not the worst show ever made. It stars Keir Dullea from 2001 and guest stars Walter Koenig (Star Trek) and Barry Morse(Space 1999). It is a fun series. Don't waste effort imaging what could have been and just enjoy it if you like lower budget sci-fi done well. Ellison is that good that the industry could not completely ruin this. The Starlost!!!

Interesting glimpse at early 70's Television SF by Juan Suros (San Diego, CA)

4 Stars
June 13, 2009
This show is an example of how a lot of stories can be told on a low budget in Science Fiction television. It was made just after the original Star trek series went off the air, and follows a "visit a new world every week" formula in exploring a giant starship of isolated sections that was terribly damaged in some unknown disaster. I've heard about this series for years, read the pilot in a collection of short stories, heard all the juicy rumors about behind the scenes turmoil. Low quality episodes have been sold at conventions for years, but this collection finally assembles everything together in about the best quality possible for a reasonable price. I wouldn't say that this series is very good, but nor is it very bad. The technical quality was only passable in the 70's. It lacks any kind of spectacular action or special effects. The plotting is slow for the modern taste. The acting can be good, especially when the guest stars bring a spark to their roles. Some random notes: There is conflict and tension in the episodes, but violence is rare. Everyone seems so civilized. The women who play Garth's "love interest of the week" tended to be very attractive, and I was never sure if he was supposed to be getting action all over the place or not. The set designs reuse modular elements like patterned foam and standard walls and doors, exactly what you would expect to see in a space habitat. I really liked that and they did a lot with it. The understanding and portrayal of computers is very primitive, but consider computers in the 1970s. Mainframes were all they could imagine. The "host" is not a bad guess at how a centralized computer network interface could be designed for a city sized spaceship.

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