Ark II

Before Mel Gibson took off for Australia and donned a black leather jacket for a post apocalyptic cult film, a dystopic future had a more "optimistic" future in the form of a Saturday morning kids show.

Having spent time in LA during the time this series was shot, I often wondered why a dystopic world resembled the San Juoquin valley. Somehow I had images the Ark II driving down Sunset Blvd to pull into the La Brea tar-pit's parking lot (which, if memory serves, was next to a Hispanic flea-market... but I digress).

It was a neat little show for kids, but, kid depending, it's another hit-or-miss vehicle for the young ones who like their science fiction with a little more zest. Still, Ark II has a kind of primitive whole-hearted charm to it. There will be many a face from 1960s and 1970s era television on the series, as well as many a location shot in and around Los Angeles.

The stories are pretty basic, and the violence never reaches anything above smoke and mirrors, with the occasional LASER blast striking the ground.

It was an interesting show that gave children of the 60s and 70s something to smile at. A bit of the future, good and bad, was shown to the young ones of the time. Today's kids probably will be a bit more demanding, but maybe your kids might like it. Let them have a chance to sample it. The worst they can do is say it's no good.

For me, I can't say I really liked it a whole lot. It was more or less a break from the awful Sid and Marty Kroft offerings that bracketed Ark II (or maybe they were on another channel... I can't really remember). Compared to the other live action kids fair of the time, Ark II was a cut or two above the rest.

ARt II was as silly as it was great entertainment for children. Yes, the show oozed with Biblical themes and moral issues but it was smarter than most programs today. That might be because today more children have access to technology that can deprive a developing imagination.

I don't think many children saw Ark II as adults saw it at all. Most kids watched the show because it had a cool looking van and it was set in the future. Not because they were dictating moral standards....It might seem that way today since we have become so desensitized.

Here is hoping that ARK II comes out on DVD one day soon. it wouldbe nice to see it live on and inspire some other young artist to graduate from Yale University....oops was I talking about me:(

I saw this series from the age of 8 to nearly eleven years of age. I hated the tortured morality of the dialogue, but loved the 'Logan's Run' aspects.

I left the US before the end of the run, and missed the show on arriving in Australia, as it never screened here. As kid shows go, it didn't have the music of 'Jonny Sokko' or the adventure, dialogue and crisp story lines of the original 'Ultraman.'

The poor production values of the time, poor dialogue, poor action and little adventure was more than made up for by the need to opine for a better world, with better people. It sort of made me want to be a better person.

The world as we know it has come to an end and two dudes, a young woman and a talking chimp are in a fancy space age bus attempting to re-start the human race.

I watched all 15 episodes as a child in the 1970s and I re-watched all 15 episodes in 2014 (on YouTube). Made by the makers of Shazam! (1974), I still like this show after all these years.

I almost view Ark II as a sister show to Shazam! As both shows deal with a large vehicle, with two or three people inside, driving around helping people in need. However, Shazam! Is set in the 1970s and Ark II is set in earth's distant future.

If you are a fan of the Planet Of The Apes TV series (1974), Star Trek (1966) and Lost In Space (1965) you will get a blast out of Ark II as the series has cross overs to those shows.

Both Shazam! And Ark II also have very good music cues playing over the shows that are so good you end up playing the cues in your head days after watching the episodes.

It is too bad Ark II has only 15 short 23 minute episodes as after watching the whole series back to back...the whole thing sort of comes and goes too fast.

13 of the 15 tales are very good. Also, unlike many shows of the period, the series survives repeat viewings very well.

And finally, unlike Lost in Space (1965) and Star Trek (1966), we are not stuck in a studio all the time - this has location filming with a great craft (the Ark) seen all the time! This is one of the very best looking shows of the 70s, better looking than related 70s show - Land of the Lost!

This Saturday morning TV series was set in the 25th century of earth.The world has been ravaged by wars & ecological pollution.One group of survivors who were technologically superior wanted to help out the rest of humanity.An immense vehicle called Ark II was constructed to go out into the world with a highly trained team & bring aid,comfort,& education to those less fortunate.Critics have found this show moralistic,preachy,& cornball.It could be those things at times,but I'm a sucker for a show that is about helping other people with no hidden agenda by the good guys.The Ark II group risked their lives each week in a world that could be hostile & unknown.They carried no weapons,tho they had hand held devices that could temporarily blind an opponent.As with many Sat a.m. series we were saddled with a kid sidekick & an animal,Adam the chimp.Neither a plus to the show.The Ark was futuristic & formidable looking,with hi-tech labs & gadgetry onboard.They also had use of a jet-pack.There was plenty of location filming that gave the series a sense of really being out in the world.It was not a perfect show & did not have the mature scripts we would come to see on such later Sat morning shows as Captain Power & Hypernauts.But it was a series that said there is both good & evil within mankind,here was a community that wanted to perform positive,humane works to benefit others.It spoke to our nobler nature,instead of being just another action/adventure program with little thought behind it.Can we ever have too many of these kind of shows?