The Starlost: Difference between revisions

Line 8:

Devon (Keir Dullea of ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'') is an inquisitive young man native to the Amish-like culture of Cypress Corners. In love with [[Love Interest|Rachel]], he refuses to accept her [[Arranged Marriage]] to his friend Garth. His disruptive ways win him no love from the Elders of Cypress Corners, and eventually expand his world beyond anything he imagined: he discovers in one night both the corruption of the Elders and an access hatch to the rest of the ship. Fleeing the Elders through the hatch, he explores the ship and uses its library computer system to discover a disturbing truth: within five years the ARK will plunge into a star. Devon returns to Cypress Corners to warn his friends and family, but is tried for heresy and sentenced to be executed. Garth helps him to escape the night before his execution, and Devon convinces both Garth and Rachel to follow him into the ship on a quest to find both the backup bridge and someone who can pilot.

Originally an award-winning script for a miniseries by [[Harlan Ellison]], it was changed into a series and [[Executive Meddling|ruined by the producer]]. For the complete, unvarnished story of what happened to the series, see Ellison's forward to Edward Bryant's novelization of the original script, ''Phoenix Without Ashes''. For a hilarious fictionalized version, see Ben Bova's novel ''The Starcrossed''.

Originally an award-winning script for a miniseries by [[Harlan Ellison]], it was changed into a series and [[Executive Meddling|ruined by the producer]]. For the complete, unvarnished story of what happened to the series, see Ellison's forward to Edward Bryant's novelization of the original script, ''Phoenix Without Ashes''. For a hilarious fictionalized version, see [[Ben Bova]]'s novel ''The Starcrossed''.

Despite (or perhaps ''because of'') its legendary badness, a ''Starlost'' DVD box set was released in 2008.

Line 36:

* [[Planet of Hats]]: The biospheres, and any other groups encountered outside them.

* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]: All of the titular "Children of Methuselah".

* [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale]]: Every writer but Ellison. The broadcast version of the ARK is allegedly ''13,000 kilometers'' long, although the model ship seen throughout the series didn't look anywhere that big. The Earth itself is only 12,756 kilometers in diameter. (One suspects a couple numbers got swapped somewhere after it left Ellison's hands.) Worse, the domes are repeatedly described as fifty miles across, but as you can see from the image on this page, the domes on the model have diameters about a fifth or sixth of the ship's total length. So either the domes are actually over 2000 km across, or the ship's only about 300 miles (482 km) long. (According to the [[~~Series~~ Bible]] linked above, written by a real SF author with a clue, the ARK is two hundred miles long.)

* [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale]]: Every writer but Ellison. The broadcast version of the ARK is allegedly ''13,000 kilometers'' long, although the model ship seen throughout the series didn't look anywhere that big. The Earth itself is only 12,756 kilometers in diameter. (One suspects a couple numbers got swapped somewhere after it left Ellison's hands.) Worse, the domes are repeatedly described as fifty miles across, but as you can see from the image on this page, the domes on the model have diameters about a fifth or sixth of the ship's total length. So either the domes are actually over 2000 km across, or the ship's only about 300 miles (482 km) long. (According to the [[SEries Bible]] linked above, written by a real SF author with a clue, the ARK is two hundred miles long.)

** Similarly, despite being on a random course, the out-of-control ARK manages to be on a collision course with a star; given the sizes and distances involved, this is practically impossible.

*** To be charitable, the gravitational effects make it more likely -- if you go near a star then you will be pulled closer to it. If you manage to hit a high fraction of C so time dilation is very high, then the odds go way up since you'll go past a lot more stars. This is, however, being very very ''very'' kind.

* [[Series Bible]]: Available [http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Misc_Bibles/The_Starlost_Bible.pdf here] (in early 2017).

* [[Series Bible]]/[[Universe Bible]]: Written at least in part by SF author [[Ben Bova]], who briefly served as science adviser to the series, and who later wrote a comic novel about the entire disaster. Available [http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Misc_Bibles/The_Starlost_Bible.pdf here] (in early 2017).

* [[So Bad It's Horrible]]: Normally this is a YMMV trope. Not in this case. The only people who ever said a good thing about this show had a financial interest in getting people to watch it. And not even all of them!

* [[So Bad It's Horrible]]: Normally this is a YMMV trope. Not in this case. The only people who ever said a good thing about this show had a financial interest in getting people to watch it. And not even all of ''them!''

* [[Space Amish]]: The people of Cypress Corners. Literally. They are a Mennonite or pseudo-Mennonite culture.

* [[Universe Bible]]: Written at least in part by SF author Ben Bova, who briefly served as science adviser to the series, and who later wrote a comic novel about the entire disaster.

* [[Writer Revolt]]: After watching the [[Executive Meddling]] get started, Ellison bailed on the project and forced the producers to use his "red flag" pseudonym "Cordwainer Bird" for all his credits.

* [[You Fail Physics Forever]]: Just about every writer other than Ellison.