
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.




Cmdr. Adam Quark's United Galaxy Sanitation Patrol saves the world.
When the dreaded Gorgons declare a star war in the galaxy, Commander Adam Quark is sent to blow up their doomsday vehicle with the help of the mysterious, almost all-knowing "source." The High Gorgon is displeased when Quark's ship penetrates his incredibly huge planet-sized ship. He stops worrying when he senses Quark has the "source" at his side, because the "source" is as correct as a broken clock.
Assigned to save the galaxy by having an extended romantic interlude with the incredibly sensuous Princess Carna, Commander Adam Quark catches a space virus and suddenly ages to 80 years old just before the big rendezvous.
Trapped in a black hole in space, Quark and his crew are split into their good and evil counterparts, except for the plant Ficus -- because plants don't have good and evil counterparts. When the Good Quark suggests a meeting to reconcile their differences, the Evil Quark agrees to a fight to the death. The Good Quark's reaction: "Fight to the death? I just wanted to meet with him..."
On a planet where dreams come true just by thinking about them, Adam Quark conjures up his dream girl while chief engineer Gene/Jean thinks up his comic strip idol, Zoltar the Magnificent, along with Zoltar's arch-enemies, the Krelex warriors. Pursued by the warriors and madly in love with his dream girl, Quark must decide whether or not it's worth it to remain in paradise.
Emperor Zorgon captures Quark and his crew and demands to know where "it" is. Quark would be glad to tell him -- if he only knew what "it" is. Quark hopes to be saved from certain death when Zorgon's daughter, Libido, falls in love with the logical, unemotional plant, Ficus, and tries to pollinate with him.
All seems to be going well until Quark leads Zorgon right to "it" and makes him one of the most powerful men in the galaxy.
Vanessa is the new computer installed on Quark's ship that is designed to eliminate the need for a human commander. Quark is upset over Vanessa's omnipotence, not to mention the fact he might soon be unemployed. Vanessa doesn't help matters when she gases the crew and closes the door on Quark's air hose while he's out for a space walk.