As I've opined on this blog before, I think the show had a lot of potential, even if the handful of episodes aired were decidedly uneven in quality. I sincerely believe that had it received a full season to work out the kinks, it could have become something a lot more memorable.
Most people I have let borrow my Quark-The Complete Series DVDs returns them and makes the comment, "Why was this show not a hit show back in 1978?" Some reply, "What the Hell was that all about?" While the rest say, "That show was stupid!"
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the show had a lot of potential. I don't remember much about it (cannot remember if I ever saw it after the initial run), but my impression is that it suffered the fate of a lot of shows in the 1970s and early 1980s, which was that a lot of the people in television didn't take their jobs too seriously.
ReplyDeleteThe joke, of course, is that people in Hollywood were doing a lot of cocaine back then. Maybe that's not much of a joke. But you look back at a lot of TV from that era and there's a certain laziness to it, in the writing, the acting, and the production. You just don't get the sense that everybody was working as hard as they could, and they were willing to accept lousy takes, blown dialogue, and overall sloppiness, so that they could all break early and go get high. After all, they weren't working in the movies, it was television, so nobody cared about quality.
That started to change by the 1980s with a number of shows like Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, and others, where they really began to improve their writing, production and acting.
Still..., with Buck Henry and Rich Benjamin.., you'd think the quality would have been much higher.
ReplyDeleteBuck was in midst of his SNL-guest hosting.., Richard still looking good after Westworld. Just surprised at what we got.., but Ficus is still my fav guy.
Best of the bunch, Richard Kelton's deadpan discussions with Benjamin were among the only bright spots of the entire series.
I have always remembered this show, and with its ups and downs, quite enjoyed it. In my free time I have played around with cgi and decided to give an episode of Quark a bit of a Special Edition treatment. First one is the episode May the Source Be With You, and have it uploaded on youtube. Hopefully it will stay there! If anyone wants to check it out, here is the link. Not perfect, but hope some get a bit of enjoyment out of it.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UOhds6BeWc
Main youtube page is youtube.com/battlestar1999 Also have a few Galactica edits I've done there too. What a fun way to work with some of the shows that meant so much to me growing up in the 70's!