"Quark"

-created by buck henry
1977
What a bizarre little slice of TV history. QUARK lasted only eight episodes, and understandably so. It wasn't great, particularly the first four episodes. Much of the humor was flat and groan-inducing. Yet there was lovely potential. With winks to STAR WARS and STAR TREK (they used the same audio library), it was obviously a labor of love. The hero is quark (a well-cast richard benjamin - WESTWORLD, CATCH-22), the long-suffering commander of an interstellar garbage ship. His first mates are betty and her clone betty (cyb and patricia barnstable, the Doublemint twins), both in love with him. He's in love with her too, but can never consummate because he can't figure out which one is the original (another beautiful moment lost to monogamy's insidious grasp, or just the ugly face of anti-clone prejudice?). Crewmember gene/jean (tim thomerson - TRANCERS 1-5, CAR WASH) is a transmute, whose personality shifts unpredictably between macho male and fey female. The snarky HQ supervisor palindrome is well-played by conrad janis (MORK & MINDY, FRASIER). There's a homemade robot who is (gee, surprise) annoying. The greatest character is vegeton crewmember ficus (richard kelton - THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR, LOGAN'S RUN), a plant-creature who looks human. His dry debates with quark (no slouch at dry himself) are beautiful, and he takes his place admirably in the emotionless humanoid continuum. Guest stars include henry silva in "May the Source be with You", and joan van ark in "All the Emperor's Quasi-Norms", the high point of a too-brief run.