Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Does anyone here remember the old TV kids show, "Ark II"?  It's coming out on DVD November 7th and I'm thinking about picking up a copy.  I remember seeing comic-book ads for the show back in the 70s, but I never managed to catch an episode.    I've always been curious about it and the idea finally seeing it is pretty tempting - but not if it won't hold up after all these years.

I like the idea of a super high-tech RV travelling the post-apocalyptic ruins of the planet, attempting to restore civilization and ecological responsibility. It appeals to the Roddenberry fan in me.

Plus, I figure it's hard to go wrong with a talking monkey.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000IU37UC/theamalgamatronA/

I was a little old for the series and not around on Saturdays, what impressed me most was the vehicle itself, the episodes were kind of slow-moving compared to the premise, but I figured that had something to do with the budget for the show...yeah, there was a talking chimp, I forgot...

I think I liked it better than "Starlost", which ran in the early evening, the budget really made that one a "talker"...

http://www.tv.com/the-starlost/show/4869/summary.html?q=Starlost&tag=search_results;title;0

As a kid I loved Starlost, but when I went back to watch the show as an adult I thought it was absolutely horrible.  If Ark II has any smilarity at all with Starlost then I'm keeping far away from it.

Its was for a younger audience, lots more outdoor scenes and simpler stories...but I think I may have only watched 1 or 2 shows.

Starlost really shut me down with the acting and the week by week slog through the spheres that made up the ark...and it did look weird to have a sci fi drama on videotape rather than film...

Ark II had superior production values but the post-apocalyptic setting was really some fields around LA. Very similar to the Shazam tv series from the same time period except with mutants and primitve villagers instead of toubled teens and petty thieves.  Like a more white-washed version of Lost-in-Space or the Planet of the Apes tv series.  And not as plodding as Starlost.  I can hardly remember it, actually --it was at the end of the Saturday morning cycle, when cartoons gave way to live action and then to sports and fishing shows, with the occasional Tarzan movie.  These more "adult" shows were the clue for kids to go outside and play, I think.  Now I'm curious to see it again.  There must be something on Youtube...

Well, at least ARK II wasn't as guilty as the crimes against color theory that the Sid and Marty Krofft productions were, with those white jumpsuits.

Is it possible that some shows just attract weirdoes? Because I have never, ever met anybody that was a fan of ELECTRA-WOMAN AND DYNA-GIRL, who didn't immediately set off my pervert alarm.

ELECTRA-HAI!

The saturday morning show I'm most pleased just hit DVD was the Filmation 1970s SPACE SENTINELS a while back, mostly for their leader, an afro-clad black woman that can change shape.

Funny you should mention Gene Rodenberry because didn't his unaired series, GENESIS II, have the same basic concept?

Does anyone know what MAGMA was about?

I don't know, I haven't seen Ark II yet, but I hope it's better.  GENESIS II was about one guy who went in suspended animation in the 1970s with a specific mission to go to the future.  Civilization rose and fell around him, until he and his mission was completely forgotten about, and all the infra-structure that had been created to support him and his mission was gone.  He doesn't get revived until sometime in a post-apocalyptic future when he is accidently stumbled upon during some sort of earthquake or something.  No talking Chimp; no high-tech RV.  Just pockets of bizarre societies.  The group that revived him were a bunch of female scientists who kept men as pets.  The show was somewhat like Planet of the Apes or Kamandi, but without any talking animals.  It was horribly boring and nigh-unwatchable.  Made The Questor Tapes look like high art.

Has Space:1999 ever been released on DVD?

Space: 1999 has been on DVD for some time now. 

http://search.deepdiscountdvd.com/search?p=Q&ts=custom&w=space+1999&search.x=0&search.y=0 (http://search.deepdiscountdvd.com/search?p=Q&ts=custom&w=space+1999&search.x=0&search.y=0)

Borrowed a copy recently and didn't like it nearly as much as I did when I was a kid.  But I still love its predecessor and once-meant-to-be prequel, "UFO."

I remember really not liking "Ark II" as a kid, though I don't remember many details, other than there being a kid named "Loki" and I always wondered why he didn't look like Thor's brother.  :)  As I began typing this post, I was sure the vehicle was left over from a film called "Damnation Alley," but thanks to the wonder of the Wikipedia I see that is not true.  The same entry reveals the Ark was built on a dump truck chassis. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_II) )

Check out this site for pictures and clips.  And other neat tidbits for kids of the 70s, like me:

http://www.70slivekidvid.com (http://www.70slivekidvid.com)

And if you really hated Roddenberry's "Earth 2" that much, you may enjoy this legendary clip where John Saxon gets his face knocked clean off his head by Lee Majors:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OKSL5oTxee0 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=OKSL5oTxee0)

Hands down my favorite clip on the web.

Oops, sorry I meant to say "Genesis II."  And it was Alex Cord.  Saxon starred in the re-tread, "Planet Earth."

But what the heck, I don't have a video of Alex Cord getting his face punched off.  :D

Thanks for those links!  Bigfoot and Wildboy rock!

And for those of us who like to see John Saxon kick a little butt, watch Enter The Dragon.  There's this other guy who gets billing along with him...  some minor sidekick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rtfG28ENh8

I remember Ark II.  I used to watch it when it was on the air when I was younger.  I liked the premise and got into it a bit but I was much more interested in cartoons than live action.  The concepts were a little older than I cared for at the time - but heck I'd probably enjoy it now.

However, if I'm gonna start collecting the Saturday morning DVDs, my list would start with...
1. Thundarr the Barbarian (Kirby rocked)
2. The Filmation Flash Gordon
3. The Filmation Zorro, Lone Ranger and Batman series (the 70's ones),
4. The Filmation Star Trek
5. The Superfriends series
6. Any vintage JOnny Quest stuff I could find.
7. The 80's Superman series

To start.

As a side note, boy, it would have been nice to let Kirby off into animation land.  Only Thundarr, and the Superman/JL/JLU series (outside of Hanna Barbera's Fantastic Four), old Marvel Superheroes shows and such, really explored how perfect Kirby stuff was for animation.  Some wonderful stuff there.