I can see the network executive conference that led to this episode: a bunch of paunchy, silk-shirted boring middle-aged white guys with perms and loud, fat ties, sitting around an avocado green table, saying something like, “Glen, Glen, Glen m’boy, this whole ‘post apocalyptic’ thing you’re doing is so… apocalyptic, so grim. Couldn’t you, you know, bring the funny? And maybe involve Lorne Green a bit more in the action? People loved him on Bonanza or The Big Valley or The Virginian or My Mother The Car, or whatever the heck it was he was in.”

The only thing more frustrating than a crappy show that never quite lives up to its potential is a crappy sitcom that isn’t particularly funny, and *still* fails to live up to it’s potential. The only thing more frustrating than that is if the crappy, unfunny show *Suddenly* gets it right, and is immediately cancelled.

…and now we come to part two of the penultimate story from Quark. Why did I break it in half and run it in two reviews, rather than cover the story as a whole? Well, primarily because the writers felt this story was so sprawling it could only really be appreciated in two discrete halves, and the network agreed. But in a larger, less dishonest sense, it’s because my review was running long, and I got tired of typing. Also, I paid good money for these DVDs, and there’s only eight episodes total. I wanted to pad it out a bit.

Remember how I said that Quark’s purpose in 1978 was to make fun of (Or rip off) whatever Star Trek had been doing in 1968? Well, as limiting as that was, it worked for them. You’re unwise not to go with what works. Unfortunately they got a little more ambitious this time out and, well, ambition and status quo are not friends, you know? The results are mixed at best.