From the people who brought "Shazam!" and "Isis" to Saturday morning television, this less-remembered series probably rests in the bottom of the memory banks of quite a few men who were preteen boys when it aired. It's now the 25th century and the Earth has been scorched by pollution and societal unrest. The title vehicle roams the countryside, either on specific missions or coming upon various tribes of people who have formed in the wake of the apocalypse. Lester, the blonde, bearded leader, Hon, his Asian assistant and medic, Flores, a Latino boy and Adam, a talking chimpanzee, form the team of do-gooders, who cruise around in the interesting looking, but oddly cumbersome Ark II, trying to help those in need or thwart those who are causing problems. Each episode found use, also, for Lester to strap on the "jet jumper" and fly around in the sky for a while (the shots of the real-life machine, which could only stay aloft for 30-40 seconds at a time, were all done on one day and the footage was recycled ad nauseum throughout all the series episodes.) Most of the episodes found the team coming upon a primitive tribe with simplistic ideas that needed to be either corrected or further enlightened. Some of the tribes might be practicing slavery or living under the threat of a leader practicing deceit or perhaps sending anyone unwell out to die so that the food supply would only be for those who can contribute, etc
Lester, who would go on to create the almost legendary character of Jack Abbott on "The Young and the Restless" (until a dispute over storyline and airtime led to his evacuation of the role!) is an appealing enough lead here, but has a very awkward sense of movement in his boots and polyester getup, so he isn't exactly the most heroic person ever to appear on a kids' show. Han had practically no acting experience apart from commercials, and it shows, but she was attractive with her "Charlie's Angels" style hair. Flores manages most of the time to be less annoying than a lot of the token children are in enterprises like this. Adam the chimp was voiced by one of the series creators who inhaled while talking instead of exhaling to reach the desired (and bizarre) effect. Guest stars ranged from Jonathan Harris, who appeared twice as a latter day take on Dickin's character Fagin (spelled here "Fagon"), to Geoffrey Lewis as the head of a cult who don't seem to mind what happens to anyone outside their bubble of security. Little Helen Hunt made an appearance, too, as a girl who lives in a village where the young people are in charge. A couple of really unfortunate and ridiculous episodes included modern day versions of Robin Hood and Don Quixote. Even with only 15 episodes in all, the writers were already desperately running out of storyline material, evidently. As with all Filmation projects, the budget is low, the music is hypnotically repetitive and drone-like, footage is recycled continuously and yet there is an appeal that forces the viewer to hearken back to those simpler times and wallow in the tacky, but mysteriously compelling worlds of their programs!
Review of Ark II
