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In the year 2790 A.D., a giant Earthship, 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.
Devon - Orphaned when his
parents' farm burned, he is somewhat of a dreamer. He has
also had to teach himself by asking questions.
Unfortunately, he asks the wrong questions which causes his
banishment from Cypress Corners. He is naive about some
things, but learns quickly when he discovers the truth.
Rachel - She is in love with
Devon and, because of this love, followed him into the depths of the
Ark. Raised to be nothing more than the servant of the
man she is promised to at birth, she soon learns to enjoy the control
over her own destiny her departure from Cypress Corners gives
her.
Garth - (Robin Ward
-- One time host of the Canadian game show, "Guess
What?") Rachel was promised to Garth for
marriage. Garth, a blacksmith by trade, does not love
Rachel and wishes the Elders would give Devon permission to marry
Rachel. When Devon and Rachel escape, Garth is forced by
a code of honour to bring Rachel back and kill Devon.
The Starlost premiered on television
loosely based
on a concept created by Harlan Ellison. Meticulously and
lovingly devised by the brilliance of Harlan Ellison and thought out
to perfection by Scientific Advisor Ben Bova, the series promised to
be a monumental step for SF television. Ellison had
contracted great SF writers such as A.E. Van Vogt, Frank Herbert,
Joanna Russ, Thomas M. Disch, Alexei Panshin, Phillip K. Dick, and
Ursula K. Le Guin to write storylines that would be scripted by the
best Canadian writers available. Douglas Trumbull would
be Executive Producer and create the special effects via the Magicam
system.
It looked good. It sounded good. It fell
apart. The Starlost regressed into a low-budget,
syndicated show with all the SFX being accomplished ineffectively
through chroma-key, the method used in TV newscasts to put pictures
behind the commentators. Trumbull left before production
began as did Ellison, who used his pen name as series creator and
writer of episode one. Only Ursula K. Le Guin's storyline
made it into production. The end product was a dismal
reflection of the glories promised. After only 16
episodes, The Starlost vanished into the void.
Yes there were only 16 episodes produced! You can stop hunting for more now!
The entire series is now out on a very nice DVD set!
http://www.amazon.com/The-Starlost-Complete-Series/dp/B001DW2BG0
The following information is compiled from various press releases
about the show:
THE STARLOST: the incredible adventure of a giant
spacecraft carrying the survivors of a dead planet Earth on the most
critical mission ever launched by man: an endless journey
across the Universe in search of a new world. Earthship
ARK: hundreds of miles long... a huge grapelike cluster of
metal domes, each a tiny world isolated from all the
others. In the countless generations that have lived and
died since the launching of the ARK, everyone has forgotten that the
Earth ever existed... forgotten that they are streaking through space
on a collision course with disaster. Forgotten... until
one man stumbles on the truth: that they are THE STARLOST!
Tall, quick, intelligent and -- this is the keynote word -- resourceful. He is not cut from the impossible and unbelievable mold of mightily-thewed warriors, but speaks by his entire nature to the hero in each of us, average and ordinary humans thrown into the burning center of events that demand heroism and ingenuity.
He can be surprised and awed, but he will not consider supernatural that which he doesn't at first understand. He is a pragmatist, but a dreamer.
He learns quickly, remembers lessons learned, and only resorts to violence when all other, more intelligent avenues are closed to him. He feels deeply, he can be hurt, he can cry, he can laugh. He is simply putŠa man like all men. He has no superhuman powers, and he will not be required to act in a manner that has come to be known in television as "the protagonist ever-triumphant." He can fail, he can be saved, he can err, and lose no points for it. He can even look the fool occasionally. Don't we all. Occasionally?
He is a product of an agarian society, remember, and he is frequently innocent, even naive. But he learns fast.
A girl you will remember. Because Rachel will change from the outset of the series through its various segments, in the way modern women are changing. Reared to be a chattel, an unthinking toy for the man she marries, a pretty thing who tends house, Rachel will become a self-reliant, witty, resourceful woman of quick intelligence and enormous personal stores of strength. She will change more than either of the men, and in some ways her character will be the most fascinating. Because we live in a time when the role of women is changing, and Rachel will be a paradigm for today's woman, shucking off the fetters of ancient preconceptions as to what a woman is, building for herself a personality and an ambience that will make her memorable. She will not be the tittering courtesan, nor the helpless Fay Wray-like victim, whimpering helplessly.
She will be a strong and determined woman who has a mission that she has come to believe in. A woman who has perceived the futility and pointlessness of her former life, and subscribed to a new way of life that demands fleetness of foot and thought if she is to survive.
 |
 British "Savoy" pringint 1978 |
The NovelizationThe original script for the pilot episode won a Writers Guild award as the most outstanding teleplay of the year! As I understand it the scripts (as with many writing contests) were sent in minus an authors credit pages and judged that way. In the introduction Harlan Ellison talks about how he watched six months of his life turn into a nightmare. I might point out that even after this experience three years later he was writing an episode of Logan's Run! Quite a trooper! |
His introduction "Somehow, I don't think we're in Kansas, Toto" Mr. Ellison tells an interesting tale of deception and betrayal and generally the way television works. I highly recommend the novel however which is a very enjoyable read. You can still find prints at used bookstores and in 1991 a British company issued a reprint with a blue foil-like cover. This was a large softbound version, and very striking. The story tells, basically the pilot episode of the Starlost show. Except for the fact that it is enthralling, and leaves you wanting more. When i read it back in high school I had vague memories of the show. Unfortunatley it took quite a few more years before I was able to get any of the episodes on videotape.The writing is dramatic and has a style that the television series completely lacked. When the novel is over you want to read the next one in the series, only to discover that there is not another book in the series.
The script was published (evidently without legal permission by Harlan) along with the novelization in " Phoenix without Ashes: The Original Teleplay and Novel for the TV Series the Starlost" Harlan Ellison, Hardcover, 272pp. ISBN: 0942681118, Published by Ursus Imprints But evidently there was a legal action and very few copies ever made it out the door.
A copy of Harlan Ellison's original script for "Phoenix Without Ashes", the pilot episode of The Starlost, can also be found in the paperback anthology "Faster Than Light", edited by Jack Dan and George Zebrowski. ACE SF 22825-9 ISBN 0-441-22825-9. It was published in 1982, so good luck hunting for it! A few illustrations add interest to the story. Thank you to D.Rosenbaum for the info on the paperback!
When I was in high school I let one of my friends read this novel. He loved the book. When he got done he asked me if he could borrow the next set in the series. He was rather upset that there were no further books in the series! I still think it would make for an wonderful series of novels!
 |
Before that it was published in a hardbound version of the same anthology back in 1976. This description comes via Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections, Combined Edition by William G. Contento http://www2.best.com/~contento/0start.html and more directly at http://www2.best.com/~contento/t42.html#A673 A CD-ROM version of the fantastic database ( a must for anthology hounds ) is now only $28 to William G. Contento 802 Katrina St. Livermore, CA 94550 |
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Faster Than Light ed. Jack M. Dann & George Zebrowski (Harper & Row, 1976, hc) |
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€ Introduction: Dreaming Again € Jack M. Dann & George Zebrowski € in |
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€ There Was a Young Lady Named Bright € A. H. Reginald Buller € pm Punch Dec 19 '12; |
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€ Epigraph [from The Science in Science Fiction] € James Blish € ex Vector Sum '75 |
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€ The Ultimate Speed Limit € Isaac Asimov € ar Saturday Review of Literature Jul 8 '72 |
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€ Possible, That's All! € Arthur C. Clarke € ar F&SF Oct '68 |
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€ The Limiting Velocity of Orthodoxy € Keith Laumer € ar Galaxy Dec '70 |
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€ But What If We Tried It? € Ben Bova € ar * |
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€ Sun Up € A. A. Jackson, IV & Howard Waldrop € ss * |
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€ Dialogue € Poul Anderson € nv * |
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€ Longline € Hal Clement € nv * |
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€ Phoenix Without Ashes € Harlan Ellison € pl * |
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€ Phoenix Without Ashes € Tim Kirk € il * |
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€ The Event Horizon € Ian Watson € nv * |
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€ Nor the Many-Colored Fires of a Star Ring € George R. R. Martin € nv * |
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€ Dead in Irons € Chelsea Quinn Yarbro € nv * |
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€ Seascape € Gregory Benford € nv * |
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€ Seascape € Gregory Benford € nv * |
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€ Fast-Friend € George R. R. Martin € nv * |
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€ Hyperspace € Dick Allen € pm Edge Fll '73 |
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€ Afterword: Our Many Roads to the Stars € Poul Anderson € ar Galaxy Sep '75 |
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€ The Contributors € [Misc. Material] € bg |
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€ A Selected Bibliography: Interstelliar Travel € [Misc. Material] € bi |
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The Starlost experience also inspired
the science editor on the show, Ben Bova, to write a sarcastic book
called The Starcrossed. From the back cover... "It's the
twenty-first century. The aluminum sky-scraper that houses
Titanic Productions is built to earthquake specifications.
Should the earth tremble beyond desired tolerances, the whole tower
will take off like a rocket, hurtling itself and its occupants to a
splashdown in the Pacific!" |
Series collaborator Ben Bova also wrote a trilogy (early 70's, probably post series) called The Exiles. The three books were titled, "Exiled from Earth", "Flight of the Exiles", and "End of Exile." Though the plot elements of the three books seem to be highly derivative of "The Starlost", it is the final volume that is uncannily close. A giant spacecraft - in this case a series of concentric rings revolving around a central hub to procure artificial gravity rather than domes on a scaffold - has suffered a calamity on its bridge; the crew has been dead for centuries. Now the ship is adrift and on a collision course with a star. The protagonist - whose name I remember as "Linc" - is a character very much like Devon; like his shipmates, he doesn't believe there is any reality beyond the confines of the ship. Something - I forget what - causes him to question this and he is banished from the habitable, outermost ring of the ship. He journeys up a long spiral staircase to the hub and there encounters an ancient survivor who has to live in zero gravity because he is obese. Linc eventually learns how to correct the guidance system of the ship, journeys back to the outer ring, convinces a character somewhat reminiscent of "Starlost's" Rachel, and manages to teleport the survivors to a habitable planet before the ship smashes into the sun.
Looking for more cult television pages? Check out http://culttvman.com/cultvideo/
The five movie versions are now avaliable through http://www.amazon.com ! They cost about $12 each.
Also pick up the cool new Graphic Novel made form the award winning screenplay "Phoenix Without Ashes" Sure to be a rare item and it is really well done! I would post a link, but it has already gone out of print, though resellers on Amazon and e-bay still have it!
http://www.scriptsales.com/DDScriptSales.htm
Title: Phoenix Without Ashes
Log Line: Set aboard a 2,000 mile-long space ship that houses 400 biospheres that has been travelling for thousands of years and generations and generations have come and gone. Through theses years, the ship has veered off target and nobody even knows that they are aboard a ship at all--except for one figure who knows and must convince them that they are, indeed, on a space ship and are about to crash into a star.
