Above: Dr. Linus Farthing, Chief Astronomer of the Earth Ship Ark
A Screen Capture
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EPISODE 13
Aired December 22, 1973
0:49:25
The episode is available here.
STARRING
Keir Dullea as Devon
Gay Rowan as Rachel
Robin Ward as Garth
GUEST STARRING
Edward “Supertrain” Andrews as Dr. Linus Farthing, Chief Astronomer
Linda Sorensen as Dr. McBride
Allen Stewart-Coates as Computer Voices
William Osler as Computer Host and Voice
BEHIND THE CAMERAS
Series created by Cordwainer Bird (Harlan Ellison)
Episode written by Douglas Hall (Credited)
Episode written by Norman Klenman (Uncredited)
Story Consultant = Norman Klenman
Director = Ed Richardson (the Associate Producer)
Producer = William Davidson
Executive Producers = Douglas Trumbull and Jerry Zeitman
Above: Our Main Characters at the Sphere Projector
A Screen Capture
SUMMARY OF THE EPISODE
This episode opens with Devon, Rachel, and Garth, clad in their usual Cypress Corners attire, in a tunnel. The Earth Ship Ark is rocking and shaking. The nearest sphere projector, which does not know the source of the external attack, refers the trio to the Director of Security and to the Chief Astronomer. Unfortunately, the Director of Security is available only by appointment. The Chef Astronomer is not taking calls either, but the sphere projector provides directions to the aft Astronomy Module. Devon, Rachel, and Garth head for the Astronomy Module and enter it.
Dr. Linus Farthing, the Chief Astronomer, is absorbed in his work. In the adjacent office, Dr. McBride is monitoring damage to the Ark.
Dr. Farthing has fired the auxiliary reactors of the Ark and altered its course so he can become the first (human) astronomer to get close to the nuclear of a comet. In so doing, he has placed the ark in the paths of meteors.
Both Drs. Farthing and McBride have known about the impending doom of the Ark and given up all hope.
Devon, forgetting that he is the Ark commander, argues with Dr. Farthing. Finally,, Devon wears Dr. Farthing down. The Chief Astronomer agrees to let Devon, Rachel, and Garth take the small repair craft, A.S.C. 45, and repair the auxiliary reactors, damaged in the meteor shower. This repair must occur outside the Ark. Drs. Farthing and McBride take turns telling our trio what to do. Devon conducts the repair. Rachel and Garth remain inside the A.S.C. 45. Perils and dramas arise, but they pass. Oh, and Drs. Farthing and McBride argue. He accuses her of bickering. She denies bickering.
Dr. Farthing fires the repaired auxiliary reactors and takes the Ark away from the meteors. Devon, Rachel, and Garth are back on the Ark, which is back on course to collide with a “Class-G solar star.”
Devon does nothing within his authority as the Ark commander.
Above: Dr. McBride
A Screen Capture
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?
Who educated, trained, credentialed and hired the Director of Security, Dr. Farthing, and Dr. McBride?
Does the Director of Security know about the Ark’s impending collision with a “Class-G solar star”?
If so, does the Director of Security care?
Who is the Director of Security?
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 did Rachel and Garth know how to pilot the A.S.C. 45?
Above: Green Egg Crate Foam
A Screen Capture
OTHER COMMENTS
Farthing’s Comet, which has too little story, is tedious and full of padding and drama that lacks suspense.
It I ever have nightmares about The Starlost, those dreams will feature green egg crate foam prominently. The foam is ubiquitous in this series. It is in the walls. People sit on it. They stop on it. And they recline on it. The foam must have been on sale in Toronto in 1973.
Devon, as the Ark commander, has the power to fire Dr. Farthing, I suppose.
The shooting model of the Ark is in Dr. McBride’s office.
Farthing’s Comet has more plot holes than a big block of Swiss cheese.
The Starlost has jettisoned the last vestiges of its premise with Farthing’s Comet. We still have three episodes to go, however. The sensible ending would have been (a) steer the Ark out of immediate danger, (b) fire Dr. Farthing, (c) revive some engineers in cryonic suspension, per Lazarus from the Mist, (d) get the main reactors back on line, (e)call in the children from Children of Methuseleh, (f) send them to the main Bridge, and (g) start searching for a planet to call home.
Some days, I wonder if most of the people who made The Starlost suffered from “space senility.” (The Pisces)
Next Episode: Circuit of Death
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 14, 2021 COMMON ERA
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All images in this post are screen captures from a series that is freely available at archive.org and YouTube.
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Above: The Sergeant of the Tunnel Dwellers
A Screen Capture
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EPISODE 2
Aired September 29, 1973
0:49:35
The episode is available here.
STARRING
Keir Dullea as Devon
Gay Rowan as Rachel
Robin Ward as Garth
GUEST STARRING
Frank Converse as Dr. Gerald W. Aaron
Vivian Reis as Dr. Jane Gregory Aaron
William Osler as Computer Voice and Host
Doug McGrath as The Sergeant
Clive Endersby as First Tunnel Dweller
Alan Blevins as Second Tunnel Dweller
BEHIND THE CAMERAS
Series created by Cordwainer Bird (Harlan Ellison)
Episode written by Douglas Hall and Don Wallace
Story Consultant = Norman Klenman
Director = Leo Orenstein
Science Consultant = Ben Bova
Producer = William Davidson
Executive Producers = Douglas Trumbull and Jerry Zeitman
Above: The Original Concept of the Earth Ship Ark
Scanned from the back cover of Edward Bryant and Harlan Ellison, Phoenix Without Ashes (1975)
ESSENTIAL FACTS ABOUT THE EARTH SHIP ARK
Harlan Ellison’s original concept for the Earth Ship Ark was that it would resemble a cluster of grapes. The version that went to screen, as seen in the previous post in this series, did not resemble a cluster of grapes.
In Ellison’s plan, the Earth Ship Ark‘s original course was for the solar system of Alpha Centauri. The accident, however, sent the vessel off-course.
The shipboard computers contain all the information required to save the Earth Ship Ark and its inhabitants.
Schematic plans of the vessel are in some tubes and corridors.
Some of the domes contain books, blueprints, and construction manuals that will prove useful in saving the vessel and its inhabitants.
Half of the chambers in the cryonic vault in Command Medical Center are vacant.
Command Medical Center is on Level G.
The Earth Ship Ark has thermonuclear reactors.
The ship’s medics (from episode #11, Astro-Medics) and police force (from episode #16, Space Precinct) are not in evidence. The police could have dealt with the the tunnel dwellers. The medics could have handled the medical emergency, whatever it was.
Above: Rachel, Devon, and Dr. Gerald W. Aaron in the Cryonic Vault
A Screen Capture
SCIENTIFIC ILLITERACY (DESPITE BEN BOVA’S NOTES TO THE PRODUCERS)
The infamous “Class-G solar star”
“Radiation virus”
Above: Primitives Dwelling in the Tunnels Outside the Cryonic Vault
A Screen Capture
SUMMARY OF THE EPISODE
Lazarus from the Mist opens at the end of Voyage of Discovery. Devon, Rachel, and Garth stand on the Bridge of the Earth Ship Ark. Garth wants to return to Cypress Corners, but Devon disagrees. Garth finds a message from the annoying computer: There is a medical emergency in the Command Medical Center, on Level G.
Outside the Command Medical Center, our trio encounters a small band of primitives dwelling in the tunnel–corridor–whatever. They are the remaining descendants of the security personnel (and their families) who lived near and guarded the cryonic vault in the Command Medical Center. The gnarly primitives accuse Devon, Rachel, and Garth (armed with his crossbow) of being thieves and robbers trying to enter the “forbidden place.” Garth holds off the primitives, permitting Devon and Rachel to enter the Command Medical Center. Unfortunately, the primitives capture Garth. They look at him as if he will be their dinner. The primitives do hunt and kill, after all. (Wasn’t The Starlost supposed to be a family program?)
The Command Medical Center is vacant, except for a sphere projector and a some engineers in cryonic suspension. The sphere projector has to explain to Devon and Rachel what cryonic suspension, but Rachel is slow to catch on. Even after the explanation, she thinks that the people in cryonic suspension are dead. The sphere projector explains that seventeen engineers responsible for the planning and construction of the Earth Ship Ark are in cryonic suspension. The sphere projector gets two names into the list, in alphabetical order, when Devon, like an idiot, chooses the first name: Dr. Gerald W. Aaron. Devon asks no questions about Dr. Aaron’s specialty and medical condition, for example.
Devon and Rachel manage to stumble their way into reviving Dr. Gerald W. Aaron, a communications engineer, who has terminal “radiation virus.” Dr. Aaron will die within two hours without medical attention–a cure, which does not exist. He is initially angry, predictably. But Dr. Aaron is a mensch, after all, so he does his best, as time and circumstances will allow. Meanwhile, the primitives, with Garth in tow, are trying to break into the cryonic vault. They keep doing this throughout the episode.
Dr. Gerald W. Aaron, aged 40 years, went into cryonic suspension on June 29, 2291, after the Earth Ship Ark had left Earth. His wife, Dr. Jane Gregory Aaron, was a nuclear engineer. She had begged the germane authorities to put her in cyronic suspension, too, but they had denied request. Only one Dr. Aaron was going into cryonic suspension, despite the availability of space for two of them. Jane recorded a farewell video for her husband. He watched it after reviving.
Above: Dr. Jane Gregory Aaron’s Farewell Video
A Screen Capture
Rachel, who had opposed reviving Dr. Aaron, makes a good suggestion: Return him to cyronic suspension and revive other engineers.
The primitives, upon learning about Cypress Corners, plot to go there, probably to hunt, kill, and eat. But they have to bang down the door to the Command Medical Center first.
Dr. Aaron helps Devon and Rachel rescue Garth and capture the Sergeant, as a hostage. Devon ties up the Sergeant. The barbarians, who have Garth’s crossbow, remain at the gates, so to speak. The Sergeant eventually unties himself, in time for one of the primitives to shoot him accidentally with Garth’s crossbow. Devon, Rachel, and Garth tend to the Sergeant’s injury. They have a new ally.
Dr. Aaron, weakening, must return to cryonic suspension. Before the gets there, he tells Devon, Rachel, and Garth some useful information. One immediately useful tidbit is that a vacant agricultural dome, once used for retired crew members, is nearby. The trio leads the primitives there and locks them in.
Devon, Rachel, and Garth do not revive any other engineers.
The trio embarks for another dome.
Above: A New Home for the Primitives
A Screen Capture
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
What was the medical emergency in the Command Medical Center?
How many “strangers” have previously tried to enter the Command Medical Center? From which domes have they come?
Why did Devon, Rachel, and Garth not heed Rachel’s suggestion and revive more engineers? Who knows how soon the ship will hurdle into that “Class-G solar star”?
Next Episode: The Goddess Calabra
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 COMMON ERA
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All images in this post (except for the scan) are screen captures from a series that is freely available at archive.org and YouTube.
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SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
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