Editing The Starlost (section)

== Development and production ==
[[20th Century Fox]] was involved in the project with [[Douglas Trumbull]] as executive producer. The science fiction writer and editor [[Ben Bova]] was brought in as science advisor.

Harlan Ellison was approached by [[Robert Kline]], a [[20th Century Fox]] television producer, to come up with an idea for a science fiction TV series consisting of eight episodes, to pitch to the [[BBC]] as a [[International co-production|co-production]] in February 1973.<ref name="toto">"Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto", essay in {{Cite book |isbn=978-0932096173 |title=Stalking the Nightmare |last1=Ellison |first1=Harlan |author-link1=Harlan Ellison |year=1982 |publisher=Phantasia Press |location=Huntington Woods, Michigan |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/stalkingnightmar00elli }}</ref> The BBC rejected the idea.<ref name="sf">{{cite book|title=Science Fiction Television Series|author=Mark Phillips, Frank Garcia|publisher=McFarland}}</ref> Unable to sell ''The Starlost'' for prime time, Kline decided to pursue a low budget approach and produce it for syndication. By May, Kline had sold the idea to 48 [[NBC]] stations and the Canadian [[CTV Television Network|CTV network]].<ref name="toto"/>

Ellison claimed that to get Canadian government subsidies, the production was shot in Canada, and Canadian writers produced the scripts from story outlines by Ellison.<ref name="toto"/>  However, several produced episodes were written entirely by American writers.

Before Ellison could begin work on the show's production bible, a writers' strike began, running from March 6 to June 24.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/tvwriters_4/|title=Television Obscurities - A Brief History of Television Writers: 1949-1979 (Part 4)}}</ref> Kline negotiated an exception with the [[Writers Guild of America|Writer's Guild]], on the grounds that the production was wholly Canadian&nbsp;– and Ellison went to work on a bible for the series.<ref name="toto"/>

[[File:Magicam-patent.png|thumb|301px|A drawing from the Magicam patent<ref name="patent" /> showing the basic arrangement of the system - a servo controlled dolly along with a secondary periscope camera filming a model background]]

Originally, the show was to be filmed with a special effects camera system developed by [[Douglas Trumbull|Doug Trumbull]] called Magicam. The system comprised two cameras, the motion of which was controlled by servos.<ref name="patent">{{cite web| url = https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=US&NR=3902798A&KC=A&FT=D#| title = US patent US3902798 (A)}}</ref> One camera would film actors against a blue screen, and the other would shoot a model background. The motion of both cameras was synchronized and scaled appropriately, allowing both the camera and the actors to move through model sets. The technology did not work reliably, however. In the end, simple [[chroma key|blue screen]] effects were used, which forced static camera shots.<ref name="sf"/>

The failure of the Magicam system was a major blow, as the Canadian studio space that had been rented was too small to build the required sets. In the end, partial sets were built, but the lack of space hampered production.<ref name="sf" />

As the filming went on, Ellison grew disenchanted with the budget cuts, details that were changed, and what he characterized as a progressive [[dumbing down]] of the story. Ellison's dissatisfaction extended to the new title of the pilot episode; he had titled it "Phoenix without Ashes" but it was changed to "Voyage of Discovery".{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Before the production of the pilot episode was completed, Ellison invoked a clause in his contract to force the producers to use his alternative registered writer's name of "[[Harlan Ellison#Cordwainer Bird|Cordwainer Bird]]" on the end credits.

Sixteen episodes were made. Fox decided not to pick up the options for the remainder of the series.