Quark - The Complete Series

Quark - The Complete Series
by Hy Averback

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DVD details

Actor: Richard Benjamin, Richard Kelton, Tim Thomerson
Director: Hy Averback
Brand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 222 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-09-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: SONY PICTURES

DVD Reviews of Quark - The Complete Series

DVD Review: Memory is a tricky thing
Summary: 5 Stars

I originally watched Quark when it was aired back in the late `70s and fondly remembered it as a funny, hip sci-fi spoof. When I found it had been released on DVD I had to get it, eagerly sat down to watch it with my teenage daughter having told her several times how much I enjoyed it at her age.

YIKES! What was Buck Henry thinking? Was this thing a product of a lost weekend at studio 54? Exactly how much coke would one have to do to believe this was a good idea? I mean I was a stupid kid, they were entertainment professionals! Re-watching this drek has put in question all of my opinions and memories from back then. Do I need to rethink my old friends? Do I need to discard all my warmest high school memories as now suspect and unreliable?

Luckily there are only eight episodes to get though and as another TV show once observed: "Eight is Enough". Thank you Sony Pictures for driving yet another nail into the coffin of my youth. PS - I am still glad I bought it and will watch it again and am glad I have it.

DVD Review: Another TV show that got lost...in space
Summary: 4 Stars

I like TV shows on DVD because it lets you whatch what you want whenever you want. It doesn't matter if any channel airs it in syndication or not, and most channels pick from the same pool of shows to air in syndication anyway it seems. I really like discovering obscure and short-lived series on DVD. I like seeing something that I never knew of, or only vaguely remember. This short-lived series "Quark" falls into the "Never Knew Of" category, but I'm glad DVD has let me find out about it.
This show is a space adventure spoof, kind of like "Spaceballs" but from years earlier. This show is about the crew of a garbage collecting spaceship who end up saving the galaxy from dangers other that just overflowing waste-baskets and dumpsters. I love the low-budget, quirky design of the props, sets, and costumes. The ship itself is hilarious when they show it collecting garbage, which itself is in a gigantic garbage bag! I also like how the costume department was inconsistent with the insignia patches on everybody's uniforms. I'm glad that they included the pilot episode, even though it includes the old ship's engineer as the one who built Andy the nervous robot instead of Quark himself as stated in the other seven episodes. I like the rest of the crew - the non-emotional plant-man Ficus (spoof of Spock) who replaced the old guy, Gene/Jean the tough guy/sensitive woman, and Betty & Betty who argue about which is the clone and which is real. I also like the crew from the space station headquarters - Otto Palindrome the sniveling bureaucrat, his assistant who was introduced in episode two and looks and sounds like a cousin of Cousin It, and The Head the main guy in charge of the galaxy who is a big floating head, and of course the other ships' captains who each episode are given exciting assignments while Quark is sent on a suicide mission or a mundane garbage collecting run that somehow turns into a suicide mission.
I wish there was more of this series made, but at least I'm glad that I got to see what there is.

DVD Review: Qark is Quirky but fun
Summary: 4 Stars

Star Wars really had the nations attention in the late 70's and suddenly outer space was cool again. Shows like Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rodgers & Blake's 7 were riding out the Star Wars craze while Quark was poking fun at it. This short lived sci-fi comedy from 1978 stars Richard Benjamin as Adam Quark the captain of an intergalactic garbage ship who dreams of glory but ends up collecting trash instead. Tim Thomerson ("Trancers") in an early role here credited as Timothy Thomerson plays Gene/Jene a transmute who has the DNA of both male and female (he/she will switch personalities without warning) is a stand out. Conrad Janis ("Mork & Mindy") is Quarks' supervisor Palindrome and Cyb and Patricia Barnstable (The Doublemint girls for anyone who is old enough to remember those ads) as Betty & Betty, twins who claim that the other is a "clone" who are both hot to trot for Quark keep your attention with their... shall we say assets. Slinky sexy half naked women applenty in this low budget comedy created by Buck Henry (co-creator of "Get Smart" & writer for "Saturday Night Live") that cleverly pokes fun of the conventions of sci-fi, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Star Trek and countless other sci-fi staples. A must own for lovers of Get Smart, Mork & Mindy, ALF, Red Dwarf & Hyperdrive.

DVD Review: Funny Stuff
Summary: 5 Stars

Yes, it's corny, not as good as some comedy, even lame by some standards. But Quark was a good idea. Poorly dealt with, but a good idea. If you like to see parodys of Star Trek, this is it. All that stuff you laugh at Trek about is ribbed here. I never thought Richard Benjamin can be so funny. And keep an eye open, or you will miss the subliminal references to other sci fi greats. For the price, it's worth it. Enjoy.

DVD Review: An SF Spoof once lost to the Dustbin of History
Summary: 3 Stars

I remember watching this on the TV as a kid.....and thought it funny.
Now it's on DVD and watching it again, I can see why it was cancelled after only 8 episodes.
I kinda regret now buying the DVD. Man this show (in retrospect) was pretty lame!
Perhaps it should get the MST3K treatment?

Description of Quark - The Complete Series

A spoof of science fiction films and TV series, these are the adventures of Adam Quark, captain of a United Galactic Sanitation Patrol ship. His cohorts include Gene/Jean, a "transmute" with male and female characteristics; a Vegeton (a highly-evolved plant-man) named Ficus; and Andy the Android and Betty and Betty (who always argue over who's the clone of the other). Based at Space Station Perma One are Otto Palindrome and The Head. Though Quark is supposed to stick to his sanitization patrols, he and his crew often meet adventure with such colorful space denizens as the evil High Gorgon (head of the villainous Gorgons), Zoltar the Magnificent, and Zargon the Malevolent.

The cancellation of Quark after a mere eight episodes makes us ponder yet again the existence of intelligent life in the television universe. Created by Buck Henry, who with Mel Brooks, sent up the spy genre with Get Smart, this quite funny 1978 series spoofs space operas like Star Trek and Star Wars. Richard Benjamin stars as Adam Quark, an "ordinary human," who commands a United Galaxy Sanitation Patrol ship. His mission: "To boldly seek out grime and grit, to collect the uncollectible space baggie, and to always leave the area cleaner than when I found it." His eccentric crew includes Ficus (Richard Kelton), a Spock-like Vegeton; Gene/Jean ("Timothy" Thomerson), a male/female "transmute"; the gorgeous, hot pantsed navigators Betty I and Betty II (Cyb and Patricia Barnstable, who gained commercial fame as the Doublemint Twins), one of which is a clone; and Andy; the cowardly robot. The hapless Quark yearns for greater adventures, but gets no votes of confidence from bureaucrat Otto Palindrome (a pre-Mork & Mindy Conrad Janis), who administers Space Station Perma One as the behest of the behemoth The Head (Alan Caillou). Proceed with warp speed past the pilot episode. The series really takes off with the second episode, "May the Source Be With You," featuring the voice of Hans Conreid as the galaxy's supposed greatest weapon, but, that, after 200 years of inaction, is a little rusty. The Force may not be entirely with the cheesy-looking Quark, but, like Mel Brooks' When Things Were Rotten, this dimly remembered curiosity rates rediscovery. May it live long and prosper on DVD. --Donald Liebenson

Stills from Quark - The Complete Series (click for larger image)

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