Customer Reviews

Quark - The Complete Series

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Truly a bit of comic SF genius! It poked fun at every current SF blockbuster out there at the time...the take -off on Star Wars with Hans Conried as the voice of "The Source" is worth the price of the series by itself as it is one of the best of the early parodies of the movies.

The series is hokey, it *knows* it's hokey and revels in it. Like the equally little-known "Wizards and Warriors", it mercilessly impales and lampoons an entire genre with a few well-written quips.

If you enjoy good parody, buy this baby. We need to encourage the studios to both bring these gems out of the vaults and to create more.

"It" hit the television world on February 24, 1978 like a galaxy-class starship slamming into a Quasi-norm. Quark, NBC's fantastic science-fiction spoof from the mind of Buck Henry, was released about the same time as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Battlestar Galactica were making their impact on the science fiction community. The short-lived series featured Richard Benjamin as Adam Quark along with his crazy crew aboard a spacefaring garbage scow. Well ahead of it's time, the series has become a cult classic with precious few original copies available -- until now! Buck Henry's oddball creation will easily bring you back (and forth) in time. Although Amazon briefly covers what the series is all about, here's a little more information on the crew...

Our hero, Adam Quark (Richard Benjamin) commands the United Galaxy Sanitation Patrol ship. Quark's mission? To collect space baggies from United Galactic spacecraft. His other mission? Always getting himself into (and out of) trouble.

Quark's love interests are Betty I and Betty II (Cyb and Patricia Barnstable, the Doublemint twins of the 70s). The Betties co-pilot and co-co-pilot the 23rd century starship. The pretty one is the clone.

Ficus Pandorata (Richard Kelton) is a Vegeton. He is the ship's half-man, half-plant, Spock-like science officer. Wait until you see how he mates!

Gene/Jean (Timothy Thomerson) is a transmute. He/she has an equal number of male and female chromosomes (i.e., he's half-man, half-woman). His male half is never around when Quark needs it -- typically during a fight.

Quark's bosses are Dr. Otto Palindrome (Conrad Janis from Mork and Mindy) and an entity simply known as The Head (Alan Caillou). The head is a disembodied head floating through space. Together, they rule the galaxy! Well, not really. They rule Quark, and that's good enough for constant laughs. You'll see...

I like TV shows on DVD because it lets you whatch what you want whenever you want. It doesn't matter if any channel airs it in syndication or not, and most channels pick from the same pool of shows to air in syndication anyway it seems. I really like discovering obscure and short-lived series on DVD. I like seeing something that I never knew of, or only vaguely remember. This short-lived series "Quark" falls into the "Never Knew Of" category, but I'm glad DVD has let me find out about it.
This show is a space adventure spoof, kind of like "Spaceballs" but from years earlier. This show is about the crew of a garbage collecting spaceship who end up saving the galaxy from dangers other that just overflowing waste-baskets and dumpsters. I love the low-budget, quirky design of the props, sets, and costumes. The ship itself is hilarious when they show it collecting garbage, which itself is in a gigantic garbage bag! I also like how the costume department was inconsistent with the insignia patches on everybody's uniforms. I'm glad that they included the pilot episode, even though it includes the old ship's engineer as the one who built Andy the nervous robot instead of Quark himself as stated in the other seven episodes. I like the rest of the crew - the non-emotional plant-man Ficus (spoof of Spock) who replaced the old guy, Gene/Jean the tough guy/sensitive woman, and Betty & Betty who argue about which is the clone and which is real. I also like the crew from the space station headquarters - Otto Palindrome the sniveling bureaucrat, his assistant who was introduced in episode two and looks and sounds like a cousin of Cousin It, and The Head the main guy in charge of the galaxy who is a big floating head, and of course the other ships' captains who each episode are given exciting assignments while Quark is sent on a suicide mission or a mundane garbage collecting run that somehow turns into a suicide mission.
I wish there was more of this series made, but at least I'm glad that I got to see what there is.

If Buck Henry is behind it, it has to be good, right? If you believe that, then you may have never seen Quark.

Produced from 1977-78, Quark starred Richard Benjamin as Adam Quark, Captain of the United Galactic Sanitation Patrol ship, Richard Kelton as Fiscus (vegetable-human officer), Tricia and Cyb Barstable as Betty and Betty, clone twin engineers (for the price of one), and Timothy Thomerson as Gene/Jean, a transmute male/female officer. Conrad Janis of Mork and Mindy fame, played Palindrome, and the `Head' included the top half of the shoulders of Alan Cailou. While only lasting 8 episodes, the show has garnered an audience for memorable TV series viewers, if not for the sheer lunacy of the show.

Imagine, a garbage scow captain saving the universe from the evil High Gorgon, Zoltar the Magnificent and Zargon the Malevolent. Only on TV they say. But, you can do anything with the Source (this is not a commercial for Radio Shack) if you only believe in it...anything...except explain just how Betty and Betty manage to hang onto Captain Quark in times of trouble, and those darned Daisy Duke short sets in the middle of space. There must be some kind of fashion program at Perma One. Gene/jean is funny however, as the he-she character switches at the wrong (did I break a nail) times. As a science officer, Fiscus, is intelligent, but annoying. The `Head' used here is obviously inspiration for Third Rock (and Shatner) who did the floating head routine so much better inspite of needing singing lessons.

While the characters are memorable, the episodes suffer from something resembling too much effort for so little return. Even the laugh track seems strained. The stunts just stink at time. But, remember, it's all about the audience, and Quark screams "watch Me".

The 8 episodes presented are:

Quark (Give me garbage or give me death)
May the Source Be with You (Star Wars never had it so good)
The Old and The Beautiful (The blind and the bald)
The Good, the Bad and the Ficus (Just where is the `good' Quark)
Goodbye, Polumbus (Shore Leave redux)
All the Emperor's Quasi-Norms - Part I
All the Emperor's Quasi-Norms - Part II (Quest for `It')
Vanessa: 38/24/36 (Celebrate #11!)

Included on the disc are two minisodes, I Dream of Jeannie and Fantasy Island.

Hey, who needs high brow, just go for the twins!

Ignoring the laugh track, this series had so much potential! There were some hilarious moments making fun of all the sci-fi shows before it.

Of special humor was the two part episode about "IT". IT was more of a rock, but they made fun of the force. There is also a scene where Quark is granted a promotion to another ship, and does a Kirk-like stand up for his crew saying he doesn't want the promotion if his crew doesn't come with him. The "Head" says very well and vanishes. This leaves Quark saying how that isn't negotiation! Trust me, you have to see it to appreciate it.

For the price, I can't see why any sci-fi fan wouldn't want to own this. It isn't terrific, but you know what...it is 100x better than a lot of shows to come after it! (can you say Star Rangers?).

Yes, it's corny, not as good as some comedy, even lame by some standards. But Quark was a good idea. Poorly dealt with, but a good idea. If you like to see parodys of Star Trek, this is it. All that stuff you laugh at Trek about is ribbed here. I never thought Richard Benjamin can be so funny. And keep an eye open, or you will miss the subliminal references to other sci fi greats. For the price, it's worth it. Enjoy.

Quark? No, this is not a series about the DS9 bar owner. But, I have to wonder if Star Trek made its own tribute to this series by naming its funniest character (ever!) after this series. I diidn't realize it was only 8 episodes when I ordered it. That's a bit slim, but I suppose they have a to make some money on it to make it worth their effort. They included a couple of entertaining bonus episodes from other TV shows, just to fill the disc.
I thought this was hilarious when I was a kid, I thought the Barnstable twins were super hot! Well, friends, I was a gullible kid, what can I say! It's still entertaining and a worthy addition to any SciFi buff's collection. Like most Mel Brooks stuff, the more you watch it, the funnier it gets. The special effects are ok, actually not quite as good as Space Academy, but passable. It is a comedy after all. Enjoy!

I really enjoyed this show in its first run, and its parody still holds up well (even if it EFX don't). Another show killed before it could hit its stride. If you liked Spaceballs I think you'll like this one.

I never thought this would get to DVD, but I'm glad it did. Not as funny now as it was then, but still entertaining, at least from a nostalgic view. Decent acting and hilarious plots taken from classic movies and stories, with a Buck Henry bent. Ah, the Bettys... Andy is a great sidekick who was underutilized, but anything could have happened if they HADN'T CANCELLED THE SHOW.

... time being the great equalizer. However, at the time this came out it was a slapstick poke at all things science fiction and star trek/star wars directed.

It's dated, it's corny, but some ideas were actually rather advanced. The idea of a vegetable as a crew member (think Farscape's Zan) was weird at the time, but with time, became an interesting concept to explore.

I loved the clone connundrum for Quark. I think that is the most memorable part I retained over the years. Still funny.

If you like Mel Brooks' kind of humour, this just may appeal to you.