Quark
Series

Quark (1977)

2 critics 8 lists ★ 6.8 TMDb 30 min 1 seasons ComedySci-Fi & Fantasy

Quark is an American science fiction situation comedy starring Richard Benjamin broadcast on NBC. The pilot first aired on May 7, 1977, and the series followed as a mid-season replacement in February 1978. The series was cancelled in April 1978. Quark was created by Buck Henry, co-creator of the spy spoof Get Smart. The show was set on a United Galaxy Sanitation Patrol Cruiser, an interstellar garbage scow operating out of United Galaxies Space Station Perma One in the year 2226. Adam Quark, the main character, works to clean up trash in space by collecting "space baggies" with his trusted and highly unusual crew. In its short run, Quark satirized such science fiction as Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Flash Gordon. Three of the episodes were direct satires of Star Trek episodes. The series won one Emmy Award nomination, for costume designer Grady Hunt's work in the episode "All the Emperor's Quasi-Norms, Part 2". The complete series was released on DVD on October 14, 2008.

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The Generation GapWhat our critics say

The Broadcast Fossil
The Broadcast FossilBoomer

Well, this was a short-lived one, but memorable. A space-age sitcom, can you believe it? Captain Quark and his crew, a collection of misfits, trying to clean up space junk. It had that distinct 70s sci-fi aesthetic, a bit cheap and cheerful, but with a surprising wit. It felt like a stage play in space, with those broad, almost Vaudeville-style performances. A lot of those early sci-fi comedies, they tried to balance the fantastic with the familiar, and "Quark" did it with a wink.

from “8 Broadcast Wonders You *Really* Should've Seen” →
The Cathode Rebel
The Cathode RebelGen X

This sci-fi sitcom starring Richard Benjamin as the commander of a garbage scow was pure cult gold. You’d catch it on some afternoon rerun slot, wondering if you were hallucinating. It parodied 'Star Trek' and other space operas with a delightfully absurd, almost proto-punk sensibility. The sets were wobbly, the aliens were goofy, and the humor was totally deadpan. A truly weird, short-lived gem that found its audience later on.

from “Rewind Reality: 7 Static-Scarred Gems Your Streamer Won't Show You” →

Featured in 8 lists

Rewind Reality: 7 Static-Scarred Gems Your Streamer Won't Show You 8 Broadcast Wonders You *Really* Should've Seen 6 Frequencies That Warped My Brain (And Should Have Yours) 6 Broadcast Wonders That Still Glow in the Static 12 Signals From The Edge: Your TV Never Looked Like This 10 Broadcast Treasures That Time Forgot (But Shouldn't Have) 11 Pixels of Pure Anarchy: TV's Underrated Edge 6 Broadcast Wonders That Deserved Another Look, Even With the Static

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