QUARK, a sci fi spoof from the mind of Buck Henry, aired in the fall of 1977. It lasted only eight episodes, and understandably so. It wasn't good, particularly the first four episodes. Much of the humor was flat and groan-inducing. Yet there was lovely potential. With nods to both STAR WARS and STAR TREK (they used the same audio library), it was obviously a labor of love. The hero is Quark (a well-cast Richard Benjamin), the long-suffering commander of an interstellar garbage ship. His first mates are Betty and her clone Betty (Cyb and Patricia Barnstable, the Doublemint twins), both in love with him. He's in love with her too, but can never consummate because he can't figure out which one is the original (another beautiful moment lost to monogamy's insidious grasp, or just the ugly face of anti-clone prejudice?). Crewmember Gene/Jean (Tim Thomerson) is a transmute, whose personality shifts unpredictably between macho male and fey female. The snarky HQ supervisor Palindrome is well-played by Conrad Janis (MORK AND MINDY). There's a homemade robot who is (unsurprisingly) annoying. The greatest character is Vegeton crewmember Ficus (Richard Kelton), a plant-creature who looks exactly like a human. His dry debates with Quark (no slouch at dry himself) are beautiful, and he takes his place admirably in the emotionless Vulcan/android continuum. Guest stars include Henry Silva (BUCK ROGERS) in "May the Source be with You", and Joan Van Ark in "All the Emperor's Quasi-Norms", the greatest episode of a too-brief run.
Review of Quark
