''Space Force'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

starring

Fred Willard Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film ''This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries ''Wai ...

for the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

television network. It aired as a one-off on April 28, 1978,''Portage Daily Register'
Viewer's Guide
by publication staff, April 27, 1978 but the series was not picked up. The pilot set up a scenario not unlike ''

The Phil Silvers Show ''The Phil Silvers Show'', originally titled ''You'll Never Get Rich'', is a sitcom which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes were broadcast – all half-a ...

'' in which opportunistic Captain Thomas Woods (Willard) leads his starcraft crew in schemes under the nose of the overbearing Captain Leon Stoner and dotty station Commander Irving Hinkley (William Phipps). Actor Phipps stated the show was originally titled ''Fort Leo'' (after the name of the ship), and claimed it was passed over because of the short-lived series Buck Henry produced, ''

Quark A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly o ...

'', which was cancelled even before ''Space Force'' was aired.

Plot synopsis

Aboard space station ''Fort Leo'' Captain Thomas Woods (Willard) arranges a carnival to raise money for a children's hospital on planet Triton by selling unauthorized military equipment to civilians and joyrides on their starcraft. Meanwhile, Captain Leon Stoner presses station Commander Irving Hinkley to go to war with the planet Algon over the capture of a spy.

Cast

* William Phipps as Commander Irving Hinkley *

as Captain Thomas Woods *

Larry Block Lawrence Joel "Larry" Block (October 30, 1942 – October 7, 2012) was an American stage, film, television, and radio actor. Early life and education Lawrence Joel Block was born in New York City, New York, the son of Sonia (née Kutcher), a t ...

as Private Arnold Fleck * Jim Boyd as Captain Leon Stoner *

Hilly Hicks Hilly Gene Hicks Sr. is an American character actor. Early life Hicks was born in Los Angeles, California. Biography The role for which Hicks is perhaps best known is Lewis Harvey (the younger son of Alex Haley's second great-grandfather Chic ...

as Captain Robert Milford * Maureen Mooney as Sergeant Eve Bailey * Joseph G. Medalis as Lieutenant Kabar *

Richard Paul Richard Paul (June 6, 1940 – December 25, 1998) was an American actor who was born in Los Angeles, California. Early life Paul was born in Los Angeles, California. Richard earned a Bachelor of Arts in public affairs from Claremont Men's Coll ...

as D.O.R.C. (voice) * Billy Braver as Berkovitz *

Deborah Harmon Deborah Harmon (born May 8, 1951) is an American film and television actress. Harmon was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended The Second City troupe in Chicago until moving to Los Angeles to pursue an active acting career. She is probably bes ...

as Ship's Crier * Zitto Kazann as War Minister Dalan * Patricia Noble as Merivac (voice)

Legacy

reprised his role from the pilot in a comedy sketch for ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...

'' in 2018 and 2019. First, as interviewed by Kimmel after the announcement of the formation of the

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and the world's only independent space force. Along with its sister branch, the U.S. Air Force, the Space ...

, and again in response to a media soundbite from Senator

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

about a need for the U.S. Space Force to battle "space pirates" in which Willard appears in a trailer for "Space Force 2 - Attack of the Space Pirates," a sequel to the failed 1978 series.''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'
Space Force 2 - Attack of the Space Pirates
May 22, 2019 Willard portrayed an unrelated character for the 2020

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

Space Force A space force is a military branch of a nation's armed forces that conducts military operations in outer space and space warfare. The world's first space force was the Russian Space Forces, established in 1992 as an independent military service. ...

''.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1495952 1978 films 1978 television films Television films as pilots Television pilots not picked up as a series American science fiction television films Films directed by Peter Baldwin (director) 1970s American films 1978 science fiction films