# Quark on DVD? When did this happen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240 "2009-01-07T17:25:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/1 "2009-01-07T17:25:40Z")
Just saw this on Amazon. Has anybody got it? Is it as good as I remember? ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/2 "2009-01-07T18:47:38Z")
Off to Amazon!! ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/3 "2009-01-07T19:13:17Z")
I’m waiting for reviews out of curiosity. I remember this show fondly, but I was just a kid. (I didn’t know it was Buck Henry’s show. What an interesting dude.) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/4 "2009-01-07T20:11:07Z")
I think it happened just recently, since it got a column in the Times a few weeks back - who loved it as much as I did. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/5 "2009-01-07T22:30:56Z")
Loved the show or the DVD, **Voyager**? I remember really loving the show, but I really loved _Mork & Mindy_, too, and I don’t want that in my house. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/6 "2009-01-08T14:01:59Z")
Netflix has it and I just added it and moved it to the top of my Queue. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/7 "2009-01-18T19:47:09Z")
I’m watching the DVD now. I am less than impressed so far. The humor is a bit off, the music is cheesy rip-offs and the acting is weak. Tim Thomerson stands out as extra terrible. It is amazing how well he has stayed employed. The Barnstable Twins are about as bad actresses as you would expect. It was fun watching Conrad Janis and Richard Kelton actually appears to be fairly good. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/8 "2009-01-18T19:55:20Z")
I’m with you. It was a quirky and fun show, but nowhere near as good as what I remember. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/9 "2009-01-18T20:56:07Z")
I stumbled across a bootleg DVD a couple of years ago. (Honest! It was just there. How was I not supposed to watch it?) I was surprised at how unfunny it was. Then I remembered that not only was I much younger the first time I saw it, but I hadn’t then seen **Red Dwarf** or **The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy**. **Quark** was pretty much it for TV geek comedy, and it hit the airwaves right after **Star Wars** had revived space opera as a hot genre. (Checking Wikipedia, I see that the pilot aired _two days_ after Star Wars opened. Coincidence, or did the producers know something the rest of us didn’t?) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/10 "2009-01-19T05:29:02Z")
Sounds like another childhood memory I should leave in childhood, then. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/11 "2009-01-19T14:15:54Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Sounds like another childhood memory I should leave in childhood, then. I don’t know why, but I watched all 8 episodes yesterday. I would recommend you pass on watching it again. Rent Get Smart instead. That has held up very well and the acting and writing and humor was far better. If you want Sci-Fi humor rent Red Dwarf. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/12 "2009-01-19T15:10:55Z")
I, and probably others, appreciate your taking the bullet for us on this one, **What Exit?** 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/13 "2009-01-19T15:42:44Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I, and probably others, appreciate your taking the bullet for us on this one, **What Exit?** > > 🙂 😃 No problem. Watching Quark did inspire me to see if the Wild Wild West is available yet. It is and I added it to my Q. Ross Martin of Wild Wild West played a Ming the Merciless like villain in Episodes 5 & 6. (7 was the final but the first was 0). ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/14 "2009-01-19T17:00:26Z")
::comes in to thread to find out how it is that **KneadToKnow** recalls QuarkXPress with such fondness as to ask “Is it as good as I remember”… and to learn about why QuarkXPress would now be distributed on DVD instead of CD, wow bloatware huh:: ::looks around:: ::blinks:: :🍃: ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/15 "2009-01-19T17:32:45Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Watching Quark did inspire me to see if the Wild Wild West is available yet. It is and I added it to my Q. I loves me some _Wild Wild West_. My ex kept the first two seasons when we divided up the DVD collection, but I’m planning on scoring that complete series box set when I have the spare change. Well played, **AHunter3**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/16 "2009-01-19T17:41:44Z")
I have them taped, not “bootleg”. The show was cutting edge for it’s time, but fairly dated now. It still should be watched and it still can be enjoyed, just not like when we first did. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/17 "2009-07-02T19:53:10Z")
I was going to let this thread sit, but then the final post just begs for a rebuttal. I did not see the show when it came out. I would have been a little young for some of the themes. Because of seeing it here and because someone else was discussing it, when it became available in a book group I’m a part of, I borrowed it. Oh… MY… GOD! Okay, for those of you who haven’t seen it, I’ll try to characterize it for you. It’s like someone said, “How can we make Star Trek better? I know, let’s add a laugh track.” Yes, it is cheesy as cheddar. It’s got Star Trek level special effects with Buck Rogers costumes and original Battlestar/Buck Rogers level writing - at best. It is a parody of every sci fi show or movie ever imagined all at once, and does it half as good as Spaceballs. No really, Spaceballs is hilarious compared to this dreck. There’s the Spock rip off character (I mean homage), the mangled use of the word “clone” (one girl is a clone of the other but not vice versa), a Robby the Robot knock off, and there’s an episode that uses “The Source”. There’s only about 8 hours of show in total, and they rip off at least 5 Star Trek plots. Remember the character _Hawk_ from Buck Rogers? That’s a _great_ alien and costume compared to what is on Quark. Okay, it does have Joan Van Ark playing the daughter of a space pirate and trying to mate with a sentient plant by trying to entice bees to come pollinate her. Um, wait, that’s a good point. **What Exit?** and I have suffered, so you don’t have to. Don’t let our sacrifice be in vain - save yourself! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/18 "2009-07-02T20:16:35Z")
OK, now I’m starting to remember this, I think. Is this the one with the ‘consuming tubes’ for eating? That’s almost all that I remember about it. Oddly, when I try to remember more, I start remembering bits of **When Things Were Rotten**. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/19 "2009-07-02T20:17:11Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > … > **What Exit?** and I have suffered, so you don’t have to. Don’t let our sacrifice be in vain - save yourself! I tried to warn you. Now you know, don’t trust **DrDeth**. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240/20 "2009-07-02T21:52:03Z")
😃 I have fond memories of Quark - but I suspect that they are better left as memories. I don’t doubt that it has not aged well at all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quark-on-dvd-when-did-this-happen/480240.md?page=2)