The Mark of Gideon
Stardate 5423.4: Kirk is planning to beam down to the overpopulated planet Gideon to meet with the leaders, but apparently arrives at the wrong place in a transporter malfunction (or so it seems to the Enterprise crew.) Kirk finds himself aboard the Enterprise, but cannot locate anyone else aboard except for Odona, who offers no answers to his bafflement at why no one is aboard the ship but him (or so he thinks). It turns out that the leaders of Gideon plan on using Odona – and now Kirk – as pawns in a horrific scheme to reduce the planet’s population…
written by George F. Slavin and Stanley Adams
directed by Jud Taylor
music by Fred SteinerGuest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Sharon Acker (Odona), David Hurst (Hodin), Gene Dynarski (Krodak), Richard Derr (Admiral Fitzgerald)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Guest Cast: James Doohan (Mr. Scott), George Takei (Lt. Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Lee Meriwether (Losira), Arthur Batanides (D’Amato), Naomi Pollack (Rahda), Booker Bradshaw (Dr. M’Benga), Brad Forrest (Ensign), Kenneth Washington (Watkins)
Ellison himself. Never afraid to rub the right people the wrong way, Ellison had a time-honored tradition of removing his name from scripts that he felt had been tinkered with to the point of unrecognizability by the producers of shows he sold stories to, replacing his credit with the pseudonym “Cordwainer Bird,” a signal to his fans that his work had been altered. He had threatened to use this pseudonym on the famous Star Trek episode 
science fiction television show. While taking place aboard a vast spaceship, The Starlost allowed for location filming by equipping that ship with enclosed ecosystem domes, each containing a different kind of terrain and society. Any location could be used, and any issue explored, within The Starlost’s format. Three main characters would escape from a dome whose enclosed society was Amish, discovering the innards of a ship brimming with technology far beyond their comprehension. Making their way to the bridge, they find that the ship is out of control and off course, barreling toward a star in its path. None of the original flight crew, or their descendants, remain alive to pilot the Ark, which contains representative cross-sections of Earth flora and fauna – and diverse human societies, with all of their foibles intact. The hunt is on to visit the other domes in search of someone who can steer the ship away from imminent disaster. This way, even un-redressed modern-day settings could be used: just another snapshot of society, frozen in amber in one of the Ark’s domes – a perfect recipe for affordable, weekly, issue-driven science fiction.
make the show affordable. Canadian writers would be hired to execute Ellison’s vision, with Ellison and his science advisor – respected SF author Ben Bova – steering things from their offices in Hollywood. Famed special effects innovator Douglas Trumbull, who had wowed the movie world with 
Trumbull’s best efforts, his patented system to superimpose live actors over detailed miniature sets failed to work convincingly in the medium of video. (Infamously, the “pitch reel” for The Starlost highlighted Trumbull’s technique to greater effect than the series itself ever did.) Rewrites were ordered to Harlan Ellison’s pilot script, in some cases quite drastic, and “Cordwainer Bird” swooped in once more; Ellison was disowning his creation before it had even gotten off the ground, and triggered an exit clause in his contract. Ben Bova had no such clause, and was trapped on the series, offering advice to a team of Canadian writers who ignored his scientific wisdom as often as they heeded it. (Bova would later fictionalize this experience in his novel “The Starcrossed,” while Ellison would rage about his singular shot at creating a television series in the introduction he penned for a novelization of The Starlost’s pilot script, “
shows of the time, most American-made drama series were made on film, and the use of video was perceived as “cheap,” or a necessary evil used by programs requiring a very quick production turnaround, such as newscasts and soap operas. The special effects of The Starlost had been reduced to technology that the Canadian studio could handle, abandoning Trumbull’s sophisticated two-camera system, frquently resulting in effects shots looking no more convincing than a nightly weather forecast. Despite guest appearances from past and future genre heavyweights such as John Colicos, Barry Morse and Walter Koenig, among other faces familiar to Canadian TV viewers, The Starlost couldn’t be saved; the show was cancelled after only 16 episodes.
the Ark as “8,000 miles in character” (and then describing the star with which it will eventually collide as being “5,000 miles in character” – or, in other words, smaller than the Ark – presumably it’s a dwarf star); these “movies” went out of circulation as quickly as they appeared, and represented the only time The Starlost was repeated after its original 1973/74 broadcasts. Having vanished into obscurity, The Starlost gained a reputation – usually by word-of-mouth, and frequently repeated by those who had never actually seen it – as the worst science fiction series in the history of TV. Harlan Ellison, in convention appearances, essays and book introductions, did nothing to attempt to salvage the show’s reputation; if Ellison was saying this about his own show, then surely it must have been true. A 21st century DVD release gave The Starlost its first airing since the ’80s, allowing curious viewers to judge its merits – or lack thereof – for themselves.
If nothing else, The Starlost represents a brave attempt to make something out of nothing – a perfect illustration of the law of diminishing returns. The series concept remains viable, though it’s doubtful that Ellison will ever overcome his distaste for Hollywood enough to allow it to be revisited. A recent comic adaptation claimed to hew more closely to Ellison’s original intentions for the pilot, but in reality didn’t change much aside from the “production values” thanks to a huge set costing as much as a small one in the realm of printed artwork. The Starlost is still one of the smartest ideas anyone’s had for a genre TV series – if anyone can ever forgive it for the cheap execution foisted upon its first attempt.
Cast: Robert Foxworth (Questor), Mike Farrell (Jerry Robinson), John Vernon (Dr. Darrow), Lew Ayres (Dr. Voslovik), James Shigeta (Dr. Chen), Robert Douglas (Dr. Michaels), Dana Wynter (Lady Helena Trimble), Majel Barrett (Dr. Bradley), Ellen Weston (Allison Sample), Reuben Singer (Dr. Gorlov), Fred Sadoff (Dr. Audret), Gerald Saunderson Peters (Randolph), Walter Koenig (Administration Assistant), Eyde Girard (Stewardess), Alan Caillou (Immigration Official), Lal Baum (Colonel Hendricks), Patti Cubbison (Secretary)
Notes: Co-writer Gene L. Coon was one of the driving creative forces behind the original Star Trek, responsible for such episodes as Arena, Space Seed, The Devil In The Dark, Errand Of Mercy, and Metamorphosis; under the pseudonym Lee Cronin, he also contributed later scripts such as Spock’s Brain. He is often credited as the creator of the Klingons and the contributor of such concepts as the Prime Directive. He died of cancer in 1973, several months before the premiere of The Questor Tapes. Walter Koenig gets a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it walk-on as the assistant who gives Jerry Robinson’s credentials to Darrow – it’s easy to miss him behind the giant ’70s sideburns and moustache.
(Enik), David Greenwood (Sleestak), William Laimbeer (Sleestak), John Lambert (Sleestak)