Above: “A sun, a real star”
A Screen Capture
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
EPISODE 16
Aired January 5, 1974
0:49:24
The episode is available here.
STARRING
Keir Dullea as Devon
Gay Rowan as Rachel
Robin Ward as Garth
GUEST STARRING
Ivor Barry as Rathe Mathers, Chief of the Intra-Ark Police
Nuala Fitzgerald as Reena, Chief of Planetary Police, Federation of United Planets
Richard Alden as Mike, the Pilot of I.A.P. Module Number One
Diane Dewey as “Tech,” Police Technician, Class A, Intra-Ark Police
William Osler as Computer Host and Voice
BEHIND THE CAMERAS
Series created by Cordwainer Bird (Harlan Ellison)
Episode written by Martin Lager
Story Consultant = Norman Klenman
Director = Joseph L. Scanlan
Producer = William Davidson
Executive Producers = Douglas Trumbull and Jerry Zeitman
Above: Garth, “Tech,” and Rathe
A Screen Capture
THE INTRA-ARK POLICE (I.A.P.)
Where have the Intra-Ark Police (I.A.P.) been for the previous fifteen episodes? They would have been helpful as early as the second episode, Lazarus from the Mist.
Diane Dewey’s character has no name. The end credits list the character as “Technician.” The character herself and all other characters who encounter her call her “Tech.”
Why do the Intra-Ark Police, who have long known about the impending doom of the Ark, tried to do nothing to save it?
Above: I.A.P. Module Number One
A Screen Capture
The I.A.P. modules allow for mobility on the Ark, a large vessel.
Most members of the I.A.P. are “textbook-trained graduates of the Ark Academy,” as Chief Rathe Masters refers to them dismissively.
Where is the Ark Academy?
Who controls the Ark Academy?
Does Rathe answer to the Director of Security, mentioned in Farthing’s Comet?
The I.A.P. violate the already-broken concept of The Starlost.
Members of the I.A.P., except for mini-skirted women, wear uniforms identical to those of the Astro-Medics. “Tech” dresses identically to Lethe, from And Only Man is Vile.
The I.A.P. knows much about the residents of the Ark.
The I.A.P. has been tracking Devon, Rachel, and Garth for seven months, since Voyage of Discovery. This timeframe contradicts The Alien Oro.
Chief Rathe Masters’s base of operations is I.A.P. Module Number One.
The I.A.P. has at least twelve divisions. We hear about yet never see Division 12.
Rathe has grand plans for the I.A.P.-F.U.P. police force. The result will be a force that “will be able to handle everything from a burglary to a space shootout.”
The Solar System of the Federation of United Planets
A Screen Capture
THE FEDERATION OF UNITED PLANETS (F.U.P.)
The name “Federation of United Planets” is terribly derivative of the United Federation of Planets, from Star Trek (1966-1969) and its successors.
The F.U.P., contained in one solar system of ten planets, consists of nine inhabited worlds. The habitable zone in that solar system is extremely unlikely, to understate the case. But recall, O reader, that The Starlost is the series that mentions a “solar star,” “radiation virus,” and “space senility.” Are you expecting science?
The worlds of the F.U.P. orbit what Rathe describes as “a sun, a real star.” I hope they do not orbit a “solar star”!
The F.U.P. is about to go to war over the mining rights on the uninhabited world of Apor. The two main planets, leaders of competing alliances, are Arak and Accombra. Arak passed on the opportunity to mine on Apor until Accombra staked its claim. Now Arak threatens to wage war and Accombra threatens to secede. The hijacking of Accombran ore freighters is increasing tensions.
Above: Federation Headquarters
A Screen Capture
The headquarters of the F.U.P. is an orbiting space station.
The F.U.P. and the I.A.P. have been in contact for five years. Now that the Ark is close to the solar system, a launch window is about to open. The next launch window will open in about a year.
Above: Reena
A Screen Capture
Reena, the Chief of Planetary Police, F.U.P., seeks Rathe’s help in preventing an interplanetary war. She says she needs his advanced police techniques in the F.U.P.
Reena’s uniform reminds me of clothes in Gallery of Fear and The Beehive.
Above: Chief Rathe Masters, I.A.P.
A Screen Capture
SUMMARY OF THE EPISODE
As Space Precinct opens, Rachel is consulting a sphere projector while Devon and Garth look on. The members of the trio are wearing their usual clothing from Cypress Corners, also known as M124. Rachel is gathering information about biosphere M71, a scientific, experimental, agrarian station. The last reported contact with M71 was in 2386, in the year after the Ark‘s accident. M71 was high-tech in 2386. The regular access routes are sealed, but access may be possible via service channels. The sphere projector provides directions.
Devon and Rachel are enthusiastic about going to M71, but Garth is not. He says goodbye and heads back toward Cypress Corners. Garth does not get far before Rathe Masters, Chief of the Intra-Ark Police (I.A.P.), detains him for questioning and takes him to I.A.P. Module Number One, docked in its assigned place.
Meanwhile, Rachel and Devon don spacesuits before entering a freight elevator with little air in it. They are en route to M71. The elevator gets stuck, and the supply of air in the space suits is limited.
At Module One, Rathe learns more about Garth than Garth may have known about himself. Rathe offers Garth a job as a detective in the I.A.P. Garth accepts the offer. Rathe is convinced that Garth can help him prevent a war in the Federation of United Planets (F.U.P.).
Rathe calls Reena, the Chief of Planetary Police in the F.U.P. He tells her that Module One will leave in a few minutes, when the launch window will open. Yet Module One can never leave because someone is jamming the system. “Tech,” Rathe’s trusted aide, tells him that the jamming signal comes from the F.U.P. He believes her. Yet she is lying; she keeps jamming the system. “Tech” spends most of the episode casting blame onto innocent people, mainly Reena and Garth.
Garth suspects that Reena may have a traitor on her staff. This turns out to be correct; he is Ragar, whom we never see. Ragar and “Tech” are working together. Ragar, responsible for protecting the ore ships, is orchestrating the hijacking of them and getting rich. He, planning to win the F.U.P. war and have Reena killed, has offered “Tech” Reena’s job in one year.
Poor Garth! Mike suspects him of being a traitor. Rathe suspects. Even Reena suspects him. Then she reveals that “Tech” is a traitor.
Back in the freight elevator, Devon removes his helmet then the helmet of the unconscious Rachel. The air in the elevator is all the air they have left. Reena calls in Division 12 to rescue Devon and Rachel. Then, when alone, she calls off Division 12. Next, she tells Garth that Devon and Rachel have died.
Soon, however, Garth overhears “Tech” speaking with Ragar. He knows that she is a liar and a traitor. She tries to kill him by stunning him and leaving him in an airless elevator. But one of his boots prevents the elevator door from closing completely. “Tech” tells Rathe that Garth is dead. He is alive, though.
Rathe sends Division 12 to rescue Devon and Rachel. Division 12 rescues them, off-screen, of course.
Until nearly the end of the episode, Reena suspects Garth of being a traitor. Then she tells Rathe that “Tech” is a traitor. “Tech” goes to the Ark jail. The plot ended, tensions in the F.U.P. begin to cool.
Reena says,
Garth, we’ll make a detective out of you yet.
Garth replies,
Well, I’ll let you know.
Le fin.
Above: Mike, Pilot of Intra-Ark Police Module Number One
A Screen Capture
OTHER UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Where is the laundry in the tubes and corridors of the Earth Ship Ark?
Where are the bathrooms and showers in tubes and corridors of the Earth Ship Ark?
How does Garth maintain that early 1970s haircut while on the run in the tubes and corridors of the Earth Ship Ark?
Given that Devon, Rachel, and Garth have been to the Bridge, why do they need to find the backup Bridge?
Why are so many people on the Ark fatalistic?
Why does Devon not invoke his authority as the Ark commander? (The Return of Oro)
Why does Devon’s level of interest in saving the Ark vary from episode to episode, and sometimes within an episode?
How many zoological laboratories are on the Earth Ship Ark?
What is M71 like in 2790?
Will Devon and Rachel go to M71 after all?
Will Garth rejoin Devon and Rachel?
Is the Ark doomed to collide with the “Class-G solar star”?
Above: “Tech”
A Screen Capture
OTHER COMMENTS
For the record, Garth, Identification Number 774833-BXL-871, was born to Rebecca and Old Garth on May 22, 2767.
Space Precinct was the final episode of The Starlost filmed. However, there were scripts for episodes #17 and 18: God That Died and People in the Dark.
The full season run would have been twenty-four episodes. However, NBC chose not to order the final eight episodes. Good riddance to bad rubbish!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 17, 2021 COMMON ERA
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
All images in this post are screen captures from a series that is freely available at archive.org and YouTube.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
One of my favorite scenes comes from Aaron Sorkin‘s The American President (1995). After environmental lobbyist Syndey Ellen Wade, sitting in the West Wing of the White House, condemns the environmental policies of President Andrew Shepherd as weak, she discovers, to her dismay, that his standing behind her. Then Shepherd invites Wade into the Oval Office. She begins to apologize. Then the President asks her,
Are you under the impression that I’m angry with you?
He is not angry with her. He has a thick skin.
I have noticed that thin skins seem increasingly commonplace across the spectrum. One may find thin-skinned people in positions of obscurity, in high offices, and in positions in-between at concentrations either greater or more obvious than in olden times in my memory.
Thin-skinned people have always been with us. Why not? Human psychology offers many constant factors. I have offended people by politely disagreeing with them. I did so in Sunday School in Sumner, Georgia, in the autumn of 1991, for example. Those who took offense were to my right. They probably spent much of their time upset, given their low threshold for taking offense. I have also offended people to my right by dispassionately reciting facts of ancient comparative religion without offering any subjective content. Those offended students were listening more to what they thought I was saying, not what I was saying. On the other hand, years ago, when I went through a similar litany of objectively accurate information about ancient comparative religion in an article I wrote for an online publication considerably to my right, I seemed to have caused no offense. The editor read what I wrote, after all. It passed a fact-check.
I have also offended people to my left by using pronouns such as “he,” “his,” “her,” and “she.” People need to get over taking offense at accurate pronouns. Besides, I respect the difference between the singular and the plural. In my lexicon, “they,” “them,” their” and “themselves” are always plural. One can speak and write inclusively in singular language, as well as in plural language, while respecting the distinction between the singular and the plural. One can, for example, use “one,” “one’s,”, and “oneself” in the singular.
Topics that expose one’s thin skin need not be political, religious, or gender-related. All of them are psychological, however. Some of them pertain to entertainment. I state without apology that modern Star Trek, beginning with Discovery and extending through Picard, so far, is a steaming pile of garbage. I make no secret of this opinion on this weblog. This opinion offends some people. Why not? Increasingly, I hear Robert Meyer Burnett (one of my favorite people, with whom I agree frequently and disagree strongly much of the rest of the time) repeat on YouTube that not liking a movie, series, or episode someone else likes is acceptable. Of course it is. Why would it not be? Obviously, many people have thin skins about their entertainment. Burnett should not have to keep repeating that liking or disliking something is okay.
The following thought is accurate and not original. Identity is frequently a cause of a thin skin. To be precise, insecurity in one’s identity is often a cause of a thin skin. I despise 2017f Star Trek. This opinion has no bearing on my ego, however. If John Doe thinks that Star Trek: Picard is a work of compelling storytelling, he may watch that series all he wants, in my absence. His opinion has no effect on me.
Life is too short to go through it with a thin skin.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 21, 2020 COMMON ERA
Above: The DVD Cover for Series Eleven of Doctor Who
Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Never underestimate the human capability to ignore one’s faults yet recognize them in others. All of us need to be vigilant in efforts to be honest with ourselves about ourselves.
Recently I spent much of a Saturday participating in Dismantling Racism Training at church. The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta offered the training, required for those who lead in their congregations. The training was valuable and has remained thought-provoking.
My society influences me, of course. It influences me for better and for worse. One cannot grow up without learning preferences and biases. In my case, the better angels of my nature affirm that any human being who has both a pulse and brain waves also has unalienable rights. Nevertheless, I admit that I learned certain sinful biases from my culture. I thank my parents for raising me not to be a racist and acknowledge gratefully that their lessons dominate my thinking. However, I am not immune to other influences, which I resist in my mind. I, as a heterosexual Caucasian male, have a different set of experiences than many other people do. I, as a decent human being, can learn from the experiences of others and question many of my seemingly innocent assumptions, rooted in ignorance. I do so and seek to continue to do so.
Social media have done much to unleash the ids of many people, unfortunately. Entertainment franchises have become targets for many online expressions of bigotry. For example, before Jodie Whittaker filmed her first scene as the Doctor, many people on social media complained about her because she was a she. Later, many of these individuals complained about socially progressive messages in the new episodes. How many of these people watched serials (Yes, I understand the difference between serials and episodes. A serial consists of episodes. Inferno, from 1970, is a serial consisting of seven episodes. Please do not refer to Inferno as an episode.) from the classic series (1963-1989)? (I covered some of that ground in a recent post.)
Sometimes I listen to people discuss a series I have watched then wonder if they have watched the same series I did. Consider Star Trek (1966-1969), for example. I hear people contrast it with the contemporary substandard shows, such as Discovery and Picard. Some points of criticism of Discovery and Picard are legitimate. I even agree with many of them. Dropping F-bombs in Star Trek makes me want not to watch a Star Trek series guilty of that. Nevertheless, the condemnations of socially and politically progressive messages, as if they are unusually preachy for Star Trek, contradict objective reality. As I consult my copy of The Star Trek Compendium (1986), part of my library since 1988, I notice many “bonk, bonk, over the head” episodes. I know that Gene Roddenberry designed the series to consist of morality plays. Cold War allegories pervade the series, as in Errand of Mercy (1967). The name “Vietnam” is absent from A Private Little War (1968), but the allegory is obvious, and dialogue hints at Vietnam. Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (1969), with the black-and-white inhabitants of Cheron fighting each other until all are dead, is hardly subtle. The Mark of Gideon (1969) addresses overpopulation, one of the major concerns of the time. The Cloudminders (1969) has to do with social stratification. Patterns of Force (1968) is a story about a recreation of the Third Reich, down to the uniforms, on another planet. I could continue, but why belabor the point? Who can legitimately claim that the original Star Trek series was not preachy?
The space Nazis in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are the Cardassians.
My theory, not original to me, is that many of these vocal critics of socially progressive messages in media feel threatened. Why else would they be so vocal? A basic grasp of human psychology points toward this conclusion. I also factor in an unfortunate social reality that is either worse that it used to be or seems to be worse that it used to be; offending people across the spectrum of opinions is easier to do these days. Too much is needlessly partisan. Objective reality is objective reality. The preponderance of scientific evidence points to certain conclusions. Not liking objective reality does not negate it. Finding scientific evidence offensive does not change it.
Other “offending” series full of socially progressive messages include The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) and The Outer Limits (1963-1965), two of my favorite classic series. They are full of “bonk, bonk, over the head” moments.
We should be less defensive and more self-critical, individually and collectively.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 13, 2020 COMMON ERA
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Above: Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Q in True Q (1992)
A Screen Capture
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mustering excitement about recent developments in Star Trek has been difficult for me. Stories of an upcoming movie with Quentin Tarentino directing have not inspired me to want to watch that film. The parallel universe of Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and Star Trek Beyond (2016) has proven less interesting than the Prime Universe. And Star Trek: Discovery (STD, for short, appropriately) has proven to be a shameful mess devoid of continuity in every respect, an unforgivable sin in what is officially a prequel yet really not one.
One piece of news does excite me, though. Patrick Stewart is on track to return to the role of Jean-Luc Picard in a new series, a continuation of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994). We will apparently see Picard about 20 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). If I can believe the early news, the new series will actually respect canon–a miracle, considering the fiasco of STD.
For years I have thought that Star Trek on screen should move forward in time from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999), and even the woeful Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001), where continuity and character development went to die by neglect. Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005), a prequel series, was, like STD, a major error replete with discontinuity. It was the series that proved to be a bridge too far for me; after suffering through the first two seasons, I stopped watching early in the third season. This recent announcement from Patrick Stewart has restored a degree of my enthusiasm for some of new Star Trek. I have decided to reserve judgment for later, when the series will be available for viewing, though. CBS/Paramount has disappointed me too many times.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 7, 2018 COMMON ERA
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
You must be logged in to post a comment.