Sci-Fi Storm

I found out about this late last night, but was too tired to post: The 70s SF spoof Quark came out on DVD two weeks ago. This is one of those shows I remember from my childhood, and naturally the memories were better than the reality by today’s standards, but it was still a humorous take on the state of SF at the time. Created by Buck Henry (Get Smart), it starred Richard Benjamin as the title character who is captain of a space trash ship. Other characters included Gene/Jean (Tim Thomerson, Trancers), a “transmute” – sort of a dual male/female personality; Betty and Betty (Doublemint twins Cyb and Trish Barnstable), clones who argue which one is the clone; Ficus (Richard Kelton, in his biggest on-screen role), a humanoid emotionless plant; and Otto Palindrome (Conrad Janis, Mork and Mindy), the station commander. Episodes would often start with two other commanders being given prestigious assignments, while Quark would inevitably “take out the trash” somewhere, yet still end up embroiled in some sort of galactic issue.