The Starlost and Metamorphosis Alpha

12 February 2010 9 Comments

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Metamorphosis Alpha was released by TSR in 1976. In the first edition, the game takes place on the giant starship Warden which some time in the distant past met with a cataclysmic event that killed most of the colonists and crew. The player characters initially think they’re on some sort of primitive planet having long forgotten the nature of their environment or how to understand and use technology. As they begin to adventure through the starship they begin to encounter strange mutated creatures. Sort of like Dungeons & Dragons… in space.

When I moved to Canada in the 1970s there was a TV show we liked on the local station called The Starlost. It’s a Canadian made Sci-Fi show the premiered in 1973 on CTV and a bunch of local stations in the US. The show is set on a huge generation spaceship called The Ark, which has somehow met with disaster and the command section is destroyed along with its crew. Centuries later, many of the decedents of the original crew and colonists are unaware they’re aboard a spaceship at all. The main characters in the show come from a biosphere with an Amish-like culture. They discover the world is more mysterious than at first imagined, and set off to find the back-up bridge for the ship before it crashes into a star.

I’m not sure if James Ward was a fan of Starlost, but if I had to guess I’d say so. Even if he wasn’t I think Starlost and Metamorphosis Alpha are so similar that if that game or Sci-Fi RPGs in general are your thing you might really enjoy some episodes of this old, and relatively obscure sci-fi classic. It’s got everything: space, disco, Amish, mutants, giant psychic bees, computers, mustaches, polyester…

9 Comments »

Joseph said:

I was (and remain) a big fan of The Starlost; I was lucky enough to catch the original episodes when they were on NBC here in the States.

However, if I remember correctly, Mr. Ward was more inspired by the novel “Starship” by Brian Aldiss (which features a giant starship, on which a catastrophe occurred in the distant past, resulting in the descendents of the crew forgetting they’re even on a ship…). I seem to remember him once saying he’d never even seen The Starlost, but I might be mistaken.

And I would certainly recommend Starship to anyone interested in M:A and its ilk. Terrific book with a lot of neat ideas.

# 12 February 2010 at 3:44 pm

Stuart (author) said:

Hard to know for sure. Reminds me of Gary’s comments about Tolkien.

Whichever one came first I think it’s kind of cool that there was effectively a TV show for this classic RPG that a lot of people might never have seen. I didn’t pay much attention to Metamorphosis Alpha back in the 80s, and didn’t make the connection to Starlost until… about 2 hours ago.

I think it was the photos from The Usborne Book of the Future I’d always associated with M:A.

# 12 February 2010 at 3:56 pm

James Maliszewski said:

If you get a chance to read Starship by Brian Aldiss, it’s pretty clear that Ward isn’t just blowing smoke when he claims that MA was inspired by it. There’s a very clear connection between the two and Starship was written in the late 50s, so it predates The Starlost by a considerable margin, assuming the show was even broadcast where Ward might have even been able to see it.

# 12 February 2010 at 4:18 pm

Stuart (author) said:

Very interesting (just read the synopsis of Starship).

I still think if you were thinking about running Metamorphosis Alpha you’d find The Starlost a fun resource. Particularly if you had the 70s edition rules.

# 12 February 2010 at 4:29 pm

Herb said:

For years prior to the internet I thought I’d imagined The Starlost. My memories are it wasn’t that great, but certainly for inspiration it might work.

Another novel that might have played a role in MA is Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky which pre-dates Starship.

# 12 February 2010 at 5:30 pm

Joseph said:

I still think if you were thinking about running Metamorphosis Alpha you’d find The Starlost a fun resource. Particularly if you had the 70s edition rules.

Couldn’t agree more. In fact, when I was thinking about designing a M:A campaign back in the day, it was most definitely going to have a series of domed habitats, just like The Starlost (and Silent Running, I might add; the geodesic dome was in vogue in the early 1970′s, it seems).

# 12 February 2010 at 6:26 pm

Timeshadows said:

I remember watching it on Saturday mornings.

# 13 February 2010 at 3:41 am

david kramer-smyth said:

I hate that for the US book buyers they changed the name of the book from “non-stop” to “starship” preventing new readers from enjoying the surprise ending.

# 15 February 2010 at 1:48 pm

Yesmar said:

The Starlost is fun, but bad TV. For a better experience, read the Harlan Ellison novel it’s based on: Phoenix Without Ashes. It’s got a delicious history of The Starlost at the beginning.

Starship is the U.S. title of Brian Aldiss’ wonderful novel. The original title is Non-Stop. It’s a terrific read. I tend to read it every couple of years. I love that story.

Hothouse, also by Aldiss, is another great novel. I’m sure Jim Ward was influenced by it when it came to conceptualizing MA and GW plant mutations.

# 17 February 2010 at 1:36 am