Quark

I was a preteen when this show aired and I loved it, but I was savvy enough to realize that most people wouldn't get it. I wasn't surprised at the cancellation. As an adult, I couldn't find ANYONE else who remembered it, even my husband who is a huge SciFi Fan. I finally found a copy of a small film clip in the Television Museum in L.A. Based on the condition of that clip, I fear that there may not be surviving episodes, but I would LOVE a DVD of whatever episodes still exist. I know a great many of my friends who would enjoy it now, even though they missed it then. Perhaps with so much communication through the internet, there will be enough interest generated to get a DVD released, preferably before the turn of the NEXT century!

I've read comments from folks that were just kids (7 - 15 years) when this show aired. I was an adult and found it hilarious! Except for my best friend who watched it with me, no one I've talked to seems to remember it! I've searched the internet on and off for years to find it again. It was a great show, some very clever writing, but too short-lived. I'm glad to find more information and renewed interest in this show. The Sci-fi channel should air it as a summer replacement and then Sony could release it on DVD, they'd make a killing. I'd definitely buy it, and I think from the comments, many more would like it, too. I think my favourite line (and episode) was "goodbye, Polumbus", cracked me right up!

Like "Police Squad" and "On the Air", "Quark" is another television series I caused to be cancelled. That's right, I'm responsible. Whenever I find a show I really really like, the series gets cancelled. So obviously it has to be my fault. I can't tell you to see it, there's no way you can. BUT... if you happen to somehow find it showing somehow, somewhere, then see it. If you don't, you'll never get another chance and your life will be poorer for it.

QUARK was a spoof on the STAR WARS craze and had a limited run in 1978. It's run was brief but it was ahead of it's time. The crew lead by a man named Quark got into weekly intergalactic adventures aboard a space faring garbage scow. The show was funny but it's fate was decided and it was never renewed. The show I believe was on a friday night and it made the ratings battle too hard for QUARK to compete with. However the show was created by BUCK HENRY who had done such things as CATCH 22, and GET SMART and THE GRADUATE. Buck Henry is known for high quality work. The audience henry was dealing with was not prepared for this kind of humor. The spoofing of the science fiction craze just didn't float in 1978.

Long available only from bootleggers, this series which played on TV very, VERY briefly (two months in the summer of 1977) and became a cult item among sci-fi and Get Smart fans is now finally out on DVD.

The look is cheap and cheesy and the humor is almost cringe-inducing at this point, so it hardly needs mentioning that the series has not aged well. Nonetheless, fans who remember the series and fringe-dwelling thrill seekers are advised to give this curious 70s reliquary a look. Basically, it's a lower budget Star Trek spoof with Get Smart level humor, courtesy of Buck Henry. Some gags still work, others just make you gag, but the cast is likable, especially Richard Benjamin as the eponymous Quark and his barely-clad twin female sidekicks, the Bettys. Like Get Smart there are several running jokes - each of the Bettys claim the other is the clone, while Gene/Jean the transmute flip-flops from gung-ho to girlie at random moments - but the show never ran long enough to wear them out, so some are still pretty funny.

A viewer seeking something a little different may find the series entertaining, but low expectations are a must.