Wednesday, November 26, 2014

STARSTRUCK (1979)


I have literally been looking for evidence of the existence of this 1979 failed sci-fi sitcom pilot ever since I started this blog. Couldn't find a reference to it anywhere online. Wasn't even listed on the IMDb.

Then, yesterday afternoon, Star Kid Traie Payne posted to the Space: 1970 Facebook page a link to an A.V. Club article that not only confirmed my 35 year-old memories, but even included video of the entire show - which aired only once, on CBS in June of 1979. Thankfully, Chuck Cirino, who worked on Starstruck as an effects technician, saved his tape of the show and uploaded it to YouTube for posterity. (And, coincidentally, to save my sanity.)

The half-hour show told the story of the Earth-born McAllisters and their family-run restaurant and hotel in space, catering to an intergalactic clientele of bizarre aliens, robots and other space travelers. I remember watching it when it aired, and it stuck in my head, even though I never found any reference to it after that original viewing. Watching it now, I can see that it's not particularly funny, so it's no surprise that it didn't go to series. But the effects, production design and make-up effects/monster masks, are all pretty good for the time.

Anyone else remember this one?

20 comments:

  1. This might be the worst thing I have ever seen. It makes the Star Wars Holiday Special look classy by comparison.

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow I totally remember this. my friend olivia was in a sitcom with the young teen guy, out of the blue, a year before this. the goat character looks like a creature that would turn up in a billy ocean video.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great find. Just when you thought you had it all this is uncovered. Many thanx!
    Reminds me of Quark.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chris I had the same experience as you. I watched it when it aired, I remember talking to classmates about it the next day, and then it disappeared and I could find no reference to it anyway and I began to doubt my very sanity. Was it real? Was it a fever dream?

    Thank you for confirming my sanity. ( well, sorta .... )

    I think even as a 10 year old I realized this wasn't very good but it had aliens and robots and I could be very forgiving to anything with aliens and robots back then. Still kind of am, actually.

    Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is on IMDB:
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3746526/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4

    It was mis-labeled as a "TV Movie" and there is no real info on it outside of the cast and crew.

    It is a show that is definitely screams “70’s!”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It wasn't there as recently as a year ago. I did extensive searches. I wonder if it was added just recently, once this video resurfaced?

      Just a thought.

      Delete
  6. Awesome that you found this. Even more amazing that I somehow missed it as a kid. I'll have to scan my old Starlogs and other genre mags to see if there's any mention of it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am so glad you found this. I was looking at a diorama at rebelscum.com created by forum member Empire (http://forum.rebelscum.com/t1097986/) Empire's incredible diorama reminded me of this strange show I had seen back in the 70s. I couldn't remember enough to attempt a search other than a robot and an alien in the band. Thanks for posting this!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I remember this! We had taped The Hobbit on CBS and left the VCR running. This pilot came on after. Excellent find!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I remember this one. We watched it while our family was on vacation in Biloxi, Mississippi. For years I thought I imagined the whole thing. Have to say, when I was 11-years-old I thought it was totally awesome, now at 47, not so much.
    Great find!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Thanksgiving Starpeople!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That was awful. But completely enjoyable nonetheless and instantly transported me back to 1979. Thanks!

    Awful or not the "restaurant at the edge of the universe" concept seems worth exploring.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sort of a cross between Star Wars cantina and Casablanca (which was also a failed TV series, I think) with a bit of Upstairs Downstairs with the domestic droids. The only part that made me laugh was the Tribble's encounter with the vacuum cleaner. Roy Brocksmith had a good scene in Total Recall about ten years later. Interesting, but you can see why a whole season of this would have shown the strain.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Someone mentioned above about a Starlog article, there was a Starlog article written about the same guy who uploaded the show Chuck Cirino. I haven't read the piece for years, but it deals more with Cirino's making sci-fi films in his hometown, then leaving for California and getting his first gig working on Starstruck. So it's more about him than the pilot, still a interesting read, and one I read over and over as a kid when I thought I would try to get in the business.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think I saw this, the alien critter at the dinner table, the robots, and the exploding cereal look like i saw them before and if it had aired after "The Hobbit" cartoon I'd have seen it. It's like DS9, fawlty towers and red dwarf but reallyy bad. Part of me hopes this is some sort of hoax because it so gawd awful its hard to imagine it was ever broadcast.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is great for obscure character actor spotting - ten minutes in and we have seen Joe Silver from two Cronenberg movies, and the guy who tries to get Arnie to swallow the pill in Total Recall. Thanks for posting this. I also have a dangerously high tolerance for anything featuring aliens, robots and most especially Interstellar Truck Stop type diners built into asteroids. Space1970 is therefore essential to my existance!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thank You. I have had fuzzy memories of Starstruck for years but no one I know ever heard or saw it. I remember the the apple pie and never knew why my memories were so strong about apple pie. Watching it was like being a kid again. The robots and aliens are the best part. I wonder what happened to the white fuzzy pet... I guess I have to watch the rest of the series in a parallel universe.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thank you for posting that. It wasn't very good but I don't recall it so I think I might have missed it when it got broadcast. I tried not to miss any sci-fi or space related programming but my Dad was not always as fond of this stuff and might have changed the TV channel. Just can't remember.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I remember watching this as well......oh lord, the things we tolerated when we were young. :P

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow, I remember this to. I was 12 when this aired. A nice piece of nostalgia I thought I would never see again or thought I imagined. Thanks for posting.

    ReplyDelete