Ancient Geeks episode 68: Harlan Ellison, part 4, The Starlost and A Boy And His Dog

In this episode, the last of our four-part series on Harlan Ellison, Steven and Tom discuss more of Ellison's works on the big and small screen. Come for A Boy And His Dog, both the novella and the movie version. It's the rare film version of anything that Ellison wrote, and it's also not bad. You want to know what's really bad? Stay for The Starlost, the monumentally awful Canadian science fiction TV series, based on Ellison's idea for a show set on a giant space ark. But it was so mangled that Ellison disavowed it, as did its co-creator, Ben Bova. It's remarkable the actors and everyone else involved with this show didn't take their names off it, too. Is it the worst SF ever on television? We'll tell you our very strong opinions on that subject.  Apocalyptic disasters! Screenwriting disasters! Acting disasters! A telepathic dog who's fun! Walter Koenig in his least fun role! The guy from 2001! The guy from Miami Vice! Piles of literal wreckage! Piles of metaphoric wreckage! It's all here.   Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of popular culture. We were geeks before it was chic! For feedback, contact [email protected]. You can also find us on Facebook, Reddit, and Bluesky. Also, check out the Ancient Geeks blog on Substack! And if you like what you hear, please tell a friend. Also, we always appreciate a review on the podcast platform of your choice. © 2026 Tom Grant and Steven Taylor