Starstuff

Starstuff is an hour-long children's television program taped at WCAU-TV Studios on City Line Avenue in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. It was shown in the Philadelphia television market only. There was only one season of Starstuff with a total of 18 episodes. The debut episode was aired on Friday, August 29, 1980 at 7:00pm,[1] with the following episodes shown at 7:30am on Sunday mornings for the rest of the season.[2]Reruns for Starstuff were shown repeatedly until the spring of 1991,[3] usually airing at 6:00am or 6:30am on Saturday mornings. The opening and closing music consisted of a mélange of music from Gustav Holst's The Planets suite, movements four and six, Jupiter and Uranus.[4][5]

Starstuff
Title card
GenreScience fiction
Children
Written byDorothy Louise
Don Matticks
Directed byDon Matticks
StarringTodd Porter
Johanna Hickey
Voices ofMark Ritts
Theme music composerGustav Holst
Opening themeThe Planets
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes18
Production
Executive producerInez Gottlieb
EditorFrances Harty
Running time60 minutes
Production companyCBS-TV
Release
Original networkWCAU-TV

Format

Starstuff centered around a boy named Chris (Todd Porter) and a girl named Ingrid (Johanna Hickey), both 12 years old. Chris lived in a house in Philadelphia, PA in present day 1980, and had built himself a computer with a video terminal in his bedroom. Ingrid lives in the year 2010 on Alpha, Earth's first space colony, and was the first child born there. For her 12th birthday, she was given an Earth Study Center, a computer system designed to educate its user on all things having to do with life on Earth. Chris and Ingrid meet each other after their computer systems manage to establish two-way video transmission, and the rest of the show centers around their secret conversations with each other through their screens.[6] These conversations were broken up by various segments in which they'd watch short films together, such as clips from Laurel and Hardy's Laughtunes as well as snippets of the educational children's news show, Kidsworld. Episodes tended to focus on particular topics such as divorce, loneliness, and crushes.

There was a sub-show within Starstuff titled The Edge Of Space that was shown about halfway through each episode. Lasting approximately 10 minutes, it was a space-based puppet segment starring Krikles, Zornad, and their robot assistant, Giz, as they explored the universe in their spaceship searching for life. From puppeteer Mark Ritts: I taped the puppet bits separately, perhaps a half dozen at a time, on a day when the main cast was off learning their lines. So I don't remember even meeting them ... Krikles's voice was a simple, light character voice that I have used years, variously adapted, for a string of characters, including Storytime's "Kino" (PBS). Zornad's voice was a bit of a steal from a favorite comic of mine who used to be a regular on the old Steve Allen Show—Dayton Allen, whose signature line was "Whyyyyy not??!"[7]

Starstuff Cast
  • Chris: Todd Porter
  • Ingrid: Johanna Hickey
  • Aunt Val: Margaret Hunt
  • Uncle Pete: Johnnie Hobbs
  • Chris' Mom: Elowyn Castle
  • Ingrid's Dad: Gary Silow

Starstuff Staff
  • Writer: Dorothy Louise
  • Director: Don Matticks
  • Executive Producer: Inez Gottlieb
  • Associate Producer: Suzanne Hansberry
  • Production Assistant: Nan Gilbert
  • Set Design: John Ferlaine
  • Set Construction: Chuck Wells
  • Lighting Director: Al Vanaman
  • Videotape: Pat Lynch
  • Field Camera: Phil Carroll
  • Technical Director: Charles Cleveland
  • Camera: Art Pitcairn, Pete Cain, Jim Manning, Irv Gubin, Joe Sidlo
  • Audio: David Bowa
  • Video: Bill Wagner, Ted Vawter, Al Strelau, Dan Falzani
  • Floor Managers: Jess L. Schooley, Raymond Fiedler, William Cawley
  • Field Audio: George Schumaker
  • Editing: Frances Harty

The Edge Of Space Staff
  • Writer: Don Matticks
  • Puppeteer: Mark Ritts
  • Puppet Design: Eli Bauer
  • Puppets Built By: Kathy Rogers

References
  1. "Proof that the half hour Star Stuff premiere listing was a mistake". The Morning Call. 29 August 1980. p. 47.
  2. "Whole One Page Article of Star Stuff". The Morning News. 21 September 1980. p. 100.
  3. "Startstuff (WCAU-TV 10, Philadelphia PA) - Last documented airing". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 21 April 1991. p. 571.
  4. Emmett Plant (December 19, 2009). "Sci-Fi Rewind: Memories of 'Starstuff'". io9.com. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  5. WCAU-TV (July 9, 1980). "Starstuff Episode #11 – Tape No. 417-60P". CBS-TV. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  6. "Whole One Page Article of Star Stuff". The Morning News. 21 September 1980. p. 100.
  7. "WCAU-TV Philadelphia - About Starstuff". Archived from the original on 2007-08-14.
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