The Worst Sci-Fi Series Of All Time? | Retro Recaps

Today we take a look at tv show from 1974 that has been dubbed the worst sci-fi series of all time.

Music credit to: Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio

[Jackr]

I used to love that show. Yeah I'm old.

[marvinbrock]

It was a cool series, just have to understand what it is.

[travishiltz]

Decent show, full of good ideas, and worked hard to overcome budget constraints, but there's a obvious downhill progression in the scripts.

Would be interesting to see someone bring it back.

[calowenby]

Man, it really seems like Garth is the MVP here. Also, it seems like this show is _packed_ with genuinely original ideas.

[dougmhd]

I remember watching this show as a kid; I was lucky enough to get the full series on DVD.
They were able to get some (relatively) well-known actors at the time to take guest roles. John Colicos was the Governor of Omicron in one of the episode clips. Later in the series, Walter Koenig (Mr. Chekov in the original 'Star Trek') appears in two episodes as an alien named Oro. If you want to see him running around in a gold jumpsuit and matching boots, this is must-watch TV.😅

[bruthamann]

Man, such a cool idea. Too bad it was doomed to fail due to all the production issues.

[christiancampagna]

I only discovered "The Starlost" about 11, 12 years back. I was renting the disks by mail from Netflix. Sure, It wasn't the greatest Sci-Fi series ever, but I really enjoyed it quite a bit. The low budget nature, sets, costumes and FX reminded me of Doctor Who from the 70's.

[RSF-DiscoveryTime]

To me, everything from that era looks great if it's in blu-ray.

[nsnopper]

I was 13 when this was first broadcast on CTV (CFTO Channel 9, Toronto). I still pine for Gay Rowan.

[MrBenjaminsisko]

This show sounds great I wish they would remake it

[Nyctonaut]

Hmmm I actually genuinely enjoyed the stories here. I'm sure the scripts were excellent even if the execution was great.

Thanks for the video!

[racookster]

Did Harlan Ellison ever get an adequate budget for anything he wrote? The Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" probably came closest to having one, except that Harlan would say that what was produced wasn't really his script, and in truth, no science fiction TV show from the 'sixties had an adequate budget.

[stiobhardgruamach]

I love this show... A premonition of so much to come decades later with SF in Canada...

[lurkerrekrul]

I only saw a few episodes of this show back in the 70s. It never seemed to air in a consistent timeslot, so I would just occasionally spot it listed in the TV Guide. I liked it. I was 7-8 when it aired, so I wasn't too critical of the special effects, I just knew it was a space show, and I loved space shows.

It's too bad it wasn't allowed to follow its story to a conclusion.

[Levomatic]

I love all ages of scifi and had never heard of The Starlost before this vide - so thanks for posting this! I agree that the story/plot arc seems very interesting. almost worthy of a reboot. The camera system you mentioned sounds very very similar to the one which was successfully used on the original Star Wars series (Ep 4-6) for filming the space and ship miniatures (tracking and scaling camera movements).

[PaulHFleming]

Two my personal favorites from the Star Lost were Gallery of Fear, when the trio come across a Sentient computer. And Circuit of Death, when a scientist from Alpha V bio-spear and his daughter attempted blow up the Ark by override Self destruction system. Devin and Scientist project their minds inside Self destructive system circuitry to make repairs.

[daverees]

Silly show disappeared so quickly that I had no chance to form an opinion! Keir Dullea's presence had me hoping...

[John-vxd]

That seems like a good show, I'd probably watch it.

[lp-xlld]

I was 11 or 12 when this aired originally. Hard to believe Keir Dullea went from the greatest SF movie of all time--if not the greatest movie PERIOD of all time--to this...

[PaulHFleming]

Harlan Ellison never seem satisfied with any of his stories adapted to film or Tv shows. He had no concepts of film production or how adapt short attention span of those audience. Nor time restrictions impose by technology of period.