Talk:The Starlost

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Nice write-up. Still really needs some dates though! GregUbben 18:49 18 May 2003 (UTC)

This sounds very familiar to a Robert A. Heinlein story..."The Universe is Five Miles Long," or something like that. Adam Bishop 17:46, 15 Dec 2003 (UTC)

(It is Orphans of the Sky, actually. Adam Bishop 22:18, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC))

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This series was a great idea, too bad it didn't take off. The series is/was available on VHS at Amazon. It's very cheesy but we still like to watch it at our house. A couple of episodes guest star Walter Koenig as the alien "Oro".

I also tracked down a copy of "Phoenix Without Ashes", and the novel is an adaptation of the first episode, where the main character finds his way out of his dome and starts to explore the ship.

This would make a great movie. Commking

NBC or syndication?
I just noticed a contradiction: the article says Fox produced the series for syndication, yet information I have says it was aired on NBC. Can anyone confirm which is the case? All I remember for certain are the CTV broadcasts. 23skidoo 20:37, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

Fox did not exist as a TV network in the 1970s. I don't believe 20th Century Fox had a television production unit in that decade either. Perhaps Fox refers to a person's last name in this context, though I would tend to doubt it. Hope that little bit helps.


 * Hi 23skidoo. The anon editor above is wrong. Fox has had a TV production unit doing work as far back as 1949 as shown here . As to the syndication question I am not sure what information you have but I can tell you that here in Colorado it aired on Saturdays at 6pm on what was then our CBS outlet. In that era the 5-7pm timeslot belonged to the local station to use as they liked. News and sydicated shows were the most common programming. In later years The Muppet Show aired in the same 6pm time slot. I would suspect that this show aired on various networks in various markets. I will admit that the mists of time may have me confused so I would ask is your NBC info about a national airing or a local one? I also found the page as it stands a little confusing about this (in fact I came here to post the same question that you have) and if someone can clear it up it would be appreciated. MarnetteD | Talk 14:14, 22 October 2006 (UTC)
 * My source is the book TV North by Peter Kenter which states it was broadcast by NBC. 23skidoo 15:26, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

I read a 1973 issue of a TV trade magazine called Broadcasting and in it, there was a trade ad for Starlost, taken out by 20th Century Fox Television (now Twentieth Television). The ad stated that the show was available for first-run syndication and was sold to five Group W stations (two of which were NBC affiliates - one in Philadelphia, the other in Boston) and five NBC-owned-and-operated stations, which included the biggest three cities: New York (WNBC), Los Angeles (KNBC), and Chicago (WMAQ) for the "prime access" time slot for 7:00 on Saturdays (6:00 in Chicago). So while the program aired on some NBC stations in that hour in the largest markets, it was not a network show here in the States. Terehend72 08:36, 17 December 2006 (UTC)


 * According to TV.COM, STARLOST was produced Glen Warren Productions in Canada with some funding contributed by 20th Century Fox who eventually gained control of the rights to the series (probably because it was so bad and no one else wanted it - even Harlan Ellison changed his name to Cordwainer Bird because it was so bad)- it originally aired on CTV in Canada and was syndicated in the US.  Anonymous 4 January 2007 2:32PM. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.219.235.164 (talk) 19:32, 4 January 2007 (UTC).

"Humourous"
... is a POV word. I could say it was non-funny, that is of course a POV as well. thanks/Fenton, Matthew Lexic Dark 52278 Alpha 771 16:31, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I'd settle for satirical. HTH HAND —Phil | Talk 19:57, 5 February 2007 (UTC)


 * It seems I unintentionally put the disputed word back in while I was removing the link to the non-existent article. As I have not read the book I prefer not to express an opinion on whether it was humo(u)rous/satirical/whatever. Avt tor 02:18, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Personally I've not had much experience with that word so can't comment on it definitively. If it is NPOV then I'd be perfectly happy with it. thanks/Fenton, Matthew Lexic Dark 52278 Alpha 771 08:21, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

DVDs?
I don't think the series is legitimately available on dvd, If you see DVDs they are always bootlegs of the VHS tapes.70.79.153.158 (talk) 23:29, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
 * There is at least one legitimate release - "The Starlost: The Movie Collection", by Delta Music. Donners (talk) 07:10, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Official region-1 DVD set was released in late 2008. Macduff (talk) 01:02, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Excessive links
Why is almost every word in the tables linked to another Wikipedia article? Do we really need to be able to click on the word "controlled" to learn what it means? No. Such excessive use of linking disrupts the flow of the article and thus is counter-productive.

It also assumes the reader is stupid--an insult. You really think a reader needs clarification on what a 'dome' is? 68Kustom (talk) 05:07, 23 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Indeed, this violates WP:CONTEXT which says that there is no need to link plain English words. Feel free to delink as you see fit. Ground Zero | t 05:11, 23 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Done. I have a good squint now.  I took out all the unnecessary plain-language links but left in the more arcane tech- and astronomy refs.  Those are useful, as are links to cast and, uh, relevant crew.  ('Crew' was a big thing with this show.)  I took out a lot of the links to production crew titles--most don't exist in Wikipedia.  Some of the crew names pointed to the wrong person, so those links are gone too.  The tables are a lot cleaner now, but less colourful.  Maybe that's what the original editor was after.  That, or an Ark workstation feel?  But TMI is still TMI.  Thanks for the go-ahead. 68Kustom (talk) 06:33, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Nice work! It looks much better now. Thanks, Kustom. Ground Zero | t 13:35, 23 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Speaking of "relevant" crew, is there really any need for a long list of characters, such as "boy, medium-straight blonde hair". It seems a tad excessive to list every extra on the main page for the show.Donners (talk) 07:13, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I thought so too! I didn't want to go that far into such a change to the article given that Starlost is such a quirky show in the annals of sci-fi TV history.  I also figured that yanking out that table might start an edit war.  The 'dome table' is TMI too, I think.  I dunno ... try some reasonable editing?  The article--and the series itself--deserves a stronger presentation. 68Kustom (talk) 03:01, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Awright, some judicious editing on the point in question. Anonymous extras removed from the table (renamed to 'Major Characters') and a few blank entries in the 'Ark Elements' section trimmed out.  Reads a little better?  68Kustom (talk) 03:22, 19 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, indeed. Much better. Thanks. Ground Zero | t 11:33, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

The Starcrossed
The introduction and first 7 (of 17) chapters of The Starcrossed are online at http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1416555609/1416555609.htm?blurb.

If the award-winning original pilot script is online somewhere, that might make a nice link too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.96.169.198 (talk) 06:21, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

How Big Is It?
If by 'character' is meant the measurement of 'diameter', then the size listed - "8,000 miles in character" - makes little sense, for that's no size for any spaceship, that's about the size of the planet Earth! Maybe what's meant is 8,000 square miles. 74.10.198.105 (talk) 19:04, 30 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, not according to the information on the "The Starlost" fansite. They have the show bible and it lists the size of the ARK to be 200 miles long with the domes being 50 miles in diameter, and it has 36 domes. Each dome is at least 2,000 square miles in area, so I don't think it makes any sense. It may just be a mistake or it might have been taken from something else. Kedamono (talk) 06:31, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

16 or 18 episodes?
This article lists that there were 16 episodes. According to the IMDB page, there were 2 additional episodes that were never aired ("God That Died" and "People In The Dark"). I don't know whether or not these were included in the DVD release. Macduff (talk) 01:08, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Followup - The IMDB page is incorrect, the additional two episodes may have been outlined or written, but they were never filmed. Macduff (talk) 04:02, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

The Lost Ark ??
Does anyone else remember this being broadcast in Canada under the title "The Lost Ark"??. When I was young I would watch the intro showing the same scene as the "Starlost" intro shown in the article, but in what I remember as Amber White lettering it said "The Lost Ark" and was accompanied by a monologue done by the man who was the Computer Avatar that also ended in "...the lost Ark".

For years I tried to find out about the show and told people about it, but no one had heard of it and I couldn't find anything. I eventually found out about it in Robin Ward's list of roles he had done, but then it said the title was "Star Lost" which I later found out was a data entry error.

I watched it in SE Saskatchewan and occassionally in SW Manitoba. Anyone else remember this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by WolvenSpectre (talk • contribs) 01:10, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

Moved POV section from text
"Whoever wrote the above left out the fact that the final version of The Starlost was such a blatent steal from Robert Heinleins Orphans of the Sky that Ellison sued to have his name removed from the credits; numerous interviews in the press and on television make this fact difficult to ignore." I don't think this was the reason Ellison required his alias to be used. There's a lot of SF revolving around lost generation ships - Brian Aldiss' Non-Stop comes to mind, for one. Who ripped off who? --Wtshymanski (talk) 13:26, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
 * And the Star Trek episode, "For The World Is Hollow ..." from 1967 is also applicable.104.169.37.72 (talk) 05:11, 15 September 2019 (UTC)

Space craft models shared with Silent Running
Silent Running was also released in 1973 and the geo-domes and elements of the space craft are the same. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.6.108.20 (talk) 16:41, 5 February 2022 (UTC)


 * Incorrect. Completed in 1971, released early 1972. HammerFilmFan (talk) 02:19, 8 July 2023 (UTC)