Craig Littler plays Jason, the space-age soldier of fortune who commands the Starfire spaceship while battling Sid Haig's villainous Dragos across 28 episodes produced by Filmation between 1978 and 1979. The pocket robot Wiki accompanies Jason, along with Professor E.J. Parsafoot, as they operate from a secret section of Space Academy, reusing the asteroid prop from the 1977 series Space Academy. The first season adopted the cliffhanger format of old movie serials, with sixteen 15-minute chapters forming a single continuous story, while the second season expanded to standalone half-hour episodes after the show moved from its slot within Tarzan and the Super 7 to its own programme.
James Doohan appeared as Commander Canarvin during the first season before departing to rejoin his Star Trek colleagues for The Motion Picture, replaced by John Russell as the blue-skinned Commander Stone. The production team made deliberate choices to minimise violence, equipping Dragos with unmanned drone fighters so their destruction wouldn't involve killing pilots, a necessary concession for Saturday morning broadcasting. The series concluded its CBS run in January 1980, replaced by Shazam!, though episodes continued in various weekend slots for another fourteen months before disappearing from schedules permanently.
Production Details
CBS / 2 Seasons / 28 Episodes / 1978
Created by: Arthur H. Nadel
Writer(s): Chuck Menville, Samuel A. Peeples
Producer(s): Norm Prescott, Lou Scheimer
Main Cast
Julie Newmar as Space Queen
Sid Haig as Dragos
Susan Pratt as
Charlie Dell as
James Doohan as Commander Canarvin
John Russell as The Commander
Angelo Rossitto as Bork
