It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Well its 12-06-2009 And I just got done watching episode 16 of the Starlost...as I write this I am hearing the endless loop of "My I be of assistance". I remember watching this show on TV... It is a shame the shows concept was not given more work and a better budget... I'd love to see it remade.... As others have said, the acting was poor, and the sets were nothing to write home about, but the never-the-less I found the idea of 200 mile long broken down ship interesting... Just think how much fun that would be to explore..And what a really good writer could do with it...What would say a Lucas do with such a platform to build upon. Just think of all the little details that could be build into such a story. (10 lines required really? how silly is that?)

"Cordwainer Bird" (not to be confused with "Cordwainer Smith," another gifted fantasist) wrote about his efforts to get THE STARLOST up and running in his superb collection STALKING THE NIGHTMARE; author Ben Bova even turned the sordid tale into a novel, THE STARCROSSED; and the end result, a cheesy shot-on-video series that makes even the early DR. WHO and the original DARK SHADOWS (bloopers and all) look like High Art, rates a pass. Only die-hard fans of Mr. Bird will find this alleged entertainment even remotely interesting: this is a clear-cut case of "the bland leading the bland" (as Bird himself might say). The Starlost itself looks like a leftover from Trumbell's SILENT RUNNING (another underwhelming experience in its own right). If ever a TV series deserved a second chance, it's THE STARLOST. Better still, A BOY AND HIS DOG or BRILLO (or any one of a score of other stories by "Cordwainer") would make for great ongoing shows.

I definitely enjoyed Keir Dullea's performance in The Starlost TV series episodes.It seemed to me at time a plausible scenario being a teenager at the time.Now I know that travel to a nearby star will not happen anytime soon,the last estimate I read to travel to our neighbor Mars was $130,000,000,000.oo US, and that won't happen soon, either.Using Starlost as a metaphor though,I think that the people of Earth are like the inhabitants of the Ark,in that,in our near future, disaster looms,there are too many people on our little planet already, polluting the environment beyond repair,with too many being born every day.Trying to feed billions of people,farmers are polluting the land and water with pesticides,herbicides,and fertilizers;not to mention all the people-made chemicals from our automobiles,trucks,and buses putting excess greenhouse gases into the air.I believe we should start building enough Arks to take most people off the Earth,now.To see how, please go to www.permanent.com.Sincerely,John Hadden.

I recently purchased a video cassette copy of "The Starlost, the beginning". While viewing the film, I could not help but notice the dismally poor quality of the sets and the weakness in the actor's portrayals of the characters.I enjoyed watching the film despite the obvious shortcomings, I mean after all, It was filmed way back in 1973. Again, I enjoyed the film and I intend to purchase other episodes of the short lived series as soon as I can. I remember when the show first aired in 1973. At the time, I was only 11 and was unaware of how poorly executed this fascinating story had been done.When the show was canceled, I had pretty much forgotten about the show. It has only been within the last two years that I rediscovered this rarely seen science fiction series.I can appreciate what the series producers tried to do with the show, but their ideas fell apart. Let's cut the producers and actors of the time a little slack.It was filmed in CANADA,on a extremely limited budget. The technically sophisticated filming innovations used to produce science fiction shows of today, was virtually non existent back in 1973.Although the television show that we first viewed back in 1973 was a complete disaster, the story is fresh and renewed for a new generation of science fiction fans yearning for something new to watch . I for one, hope to see this show revived just like they did with "Battlestar Galactica".A remake of "The Starlost" is a science fiction story that the television big-wigs, should really consider bringing back for a viewing audience of the 21st century.