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From: 70sKidVid
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  • I loved this program as a kid. Now I realize how integrated region was into this program. Ark, Jonah, Ruth, Samuel, and Adam? Though I had to really put the kids show under the finger of scrutiny, what is the underlying message? What does the show really tell us of what was going on in America in the mid 70s? is this religious dogma infused into a children's program, or are the intentions more benign?

  • shit I forgot about this!

  • @eleeking  I believe Ark II was from 1976, and Damnation Alley was from 1977. So if anything, the one from Damnation Alley was a knock off from Ark II.

  • Didn't that monkey talk or something?

  • I was a teenager during this show's run. I watched it every week. If I only knew then what I know now. Straight-forward indoctrination of young people into the environmentalist whacko movement.

  • I loved this show as a kid. My favorite episode was about a giant computer that was being worshipped as a god. There as also an episode where a current era guy who had been cryogenicly frozen was thawed. He did NOT like the world of the future at all.

  • cool

  • I loved this show as a kid, and I wanted an Ark II of my own SO bad. And, that Jonah sure was cute. Great memories.

  • I'm sure that the chimpanzee was vital to the mission to bring the hope of a new future to mankind.

  • Where is this car today?

  • Hey 70sKidVid, just wondered if by any chance, were you also into video games as a kid (or still are)? Arcade games, Atari, Intellivision, Commodore 64, etc?

  • As a child of the 70's (b71) I vaguely remember Ark 2, but it seemed so cool I bought the complete series on DVD ($17.99). IMO, quality wise, it wasn't "ready for prime time", but it seemed a little too good for a Saturday a.m. serial, falling somewhere about in the middle. Anyway, if I got enough requests, I might consider posting some episodes. They'd be my 1st ever uploads, & I never tried "splitting" a DVD RIP, so I'd have to learn all that stuff..... Let me know if there's any interest.

  • @gjc82071

    I'm interested.

    Since I was born in 1975, I was too young, of course, to know of the show when it was on.

    I found out about it in 1982 when I happened to catch one episode of it on a filmstrip that was randomly shown at my local library. That random viewing has remained with me as an interesting, but now hazy, memory, and I've wondered here and there over the years how I might see the show (and more of it) again.

  • tommyp888, that movie was Damnation Alley

  • terry lester as jonah is the same blonde that plays

    jack abbott rip

  • I had no idea that Barack Obama had a part playing Adam in this series.

  • this is on dvd. Aroudn the same time where is an obscure tv show that is basically a rip off of "CHiP's",

  • The character's names were all Biblical. Another sign of the times, that they would be so openly honorable of Christianity in an otherwise secular "science-celebrating" program.

    Boy, that's long dead. Today's television, if there's ever a Christian depiction, it's the psychopathic, right-wing villain among us. Can't stand TV anymore. It's a self-loathing liberal wasteland struggling to find new ways to offend us.

  • @TheJediCharles You just hit it on the nose my friend. Thank you for sharing your comment.

  • @TheJediCharles Most people DO have 'Biblical' names. (Oh, by the way, they're almost ENTIRELY JEWISH names.) "Liberal" and "Conservative" aren't necessarily connected with a religion, either...

  • hahaha..i remember this! 

  • You know he originated the role of Jack Abbott on the Young and the Restless right?? 

  • I remember having a big crush on Ruth...she was hot.

  • terry lester rip

  • I remember this show very well - I used to watch it every Saturday morning while eating cereal in the den. I always wanted them to use the jet pack, but I think it was only featured in one episode. Only now ,as a parent myself, do I realize that all of that Saturday morning TV allowed them to sleep in!

  • Now that I think about it, it seemed like every kid back in the 70's, including myself, didn't take one step outside until all the Saturday morning kid shows were over. If I recall, this was one of the last to air before noon. We may have lacked the cool toys and video games kids have today, but we had the better Saturday morning shows. LOL

  • every show had to have a chimp.

  • My God I remember watching this from the 70's as a kid but could never remember it's name and after all this time only now found it here. Thanks so much!

  • I remember this show. I think it was on Saturday mornings for like half a year.

  • Why did there have to be a chimp?

  • Where the hell is skynet?

  • @terminator123abc1Skynet?! Hey, aint that a different movie. :-)

  • @terminator123abc1 Skynet!? Hey, aint that a different movie? :-).

  • that narrator sure stayed busy can anyone tell me who he was?

  • @lavvy2585 Lou Scheimer one of the two heads of Filmation.

  • My God! That was one of the stupidest shows ever made in the history of television! I hated it when i was a kid!!!

  • Wow! Its funny what the we percieved as an advanced computer looked like back in the 70s. You know, with the big tape reels, see 0:35. That was a primitive computer. Nothing like the computers of today that don't have anything big like that on them our perception is nothing like that anymore. Nice show thow. Brings back memories of my youth watching Saturday morning kid shows eating my Frosted Flakes.:-))

  • Thanks for posting!! A friend told me about this and I couldn't believe I didn't catch it back in the day...then I remembered what I was up to in 1976---it's a wonder I can recall that year at all, let alone specifics!

  • Hey, this was a great Saturday morning show as I used to watch it all the time! Boy do I feel old!

  • @patsaxon I'm with you patsaxon.

  • I thought Terry Lester reminded me more of the superhero Green Arrow.  May Terry RIP.

  • I really thought by 2000 we'd all have those jet packs. Loved this show.

  • Same here. I remember seeing a program many years ago that said one day kids would travel to school using jet packs. I wonder how advanced they've come since the 70s.

  • @Attila709 No, they don't have jet packs, but they're using the hell out of those cell phones.

  • O my god thier,s my dad. I swear my dad played as samual. sadly he had to change his name from jose flores to John Fost due to family dispute. His step fater treated him badly so my dad changed his last name florse to fost and that made him convince himself to change his first name to match his last name which was john. John, Jose, not a BIG diffrence. btw if you have any more questons about my dad AKA Samual just ask

  • OMG terry lester the first jack on Y& R -- he committed suicide

  • @delidude1999 What's your source for the suicide statement? All reports state multiple heart attacks.

  • Early programming for the Eco-Cult! Neato!

  • LOVED-IT!!!

  • they scour the globe to save mankind but it seems the whole p[lanet turned into the S Cal desert.

  • the latte terry lester was the original jack abbott on the cbs daytime soap the young and the restless. until he was fired in a salary dispute in late 1986.

  • I bet that ark was putting out Some serious carbon emissions!! Shame, Shame!!!

  • Wow. I remember this. It was soooo amazingly cool when I was 5 to 8 years old. Now it's soooo amazingly schmaltzy. lol

  • that was a great show i wished i had that jet pack . and that car in the back i always wanted 2 be a part of that team

  • Brings back memories.......

  • Loved this show as a kid. Now realize how weird it was to watch a post-apocalyptic show while eating cereal on Saturday mornings.

    Is it me or does the blonde guy look like he should in the band ABBA? I always thought it was weird that they had a monkey on the team. I mean, the scientists trained the monkey to do ... what??

  • @AnnaGrayScott

    I think it is symbolic of Noah's Ark, which obviously is supposed to be echoed as Ark II. Noah carried animals to safety, so shouldn't there be a monkey? Monkey's were omnipresent in 70's entertainment, we seemed to love to see them in everything from Smokey and the Bandit to B.J. and the Bear.

  • @AnnaGrayScott LOL! Notice that it is no accident that they named the Monkey Adam. All the names of the crew are biblical characters. Noah, Jona, Ruth and Adam. The monkey was kind of the slap in the face at creationists. LOL! I loved the show as a kid. :-)

    '

  • @AnnaGrayScott

    Holy cow! I was just talking about this show with my brother and I said the same thing! He looks like the keyboard player from ABBA!

  • A show like this is now more relevant than ever.

  • I watched this show when I was very young. It was kind of a heady, experimental concept for Saturday morning children's television (and few episodes), so I didn't appreciate it at the time. But it primed me for 'post apocalyptic' fiction and I was ready to love 'The Road Warrior'.

    Now this intro seems prescient with out nation sliding backward to a religious right, anti-scientific culture. Perhaps some young, idealistic scientists in a Winnebago can counter the drift toward creationism.

  • Yup I watched this as a kid, it was one of my favorite shows from saturday morning.

  • This was like my favorite show when I was 6 or 7. No one else ever knew what I was talking about when I brought up Ark II. I almost began believing I had dreamed the whole show. Now I know. It was REAL!

  • I vaugly remember this show.

    Note all the biblical names of the characters.

  • Dang, I remember this show! I don't care how old it is, I would still rock that land rover!

  • ok im actually old enough to rememder whachting this show as a child.. I think it came on after "land fo the lost"

  • I just saw a recent photo of Jean Marie Hon-She's still hot

  • When I was a kid, I wanted to live in the Ark.

  • "Highly trained crew of young people" who would now be in thier late 50's

  • - "then pollution and waste took their toll...". Which is why they are running around in a mini-van with the windows down 0:24

    -"men who vow to re-build what has been destroyed. This is their achievement"... a camper.

    -"Jonah, Ruth, Samuel and Adam"... who begat Jebbediah who begat Abisantia who begat Josephus who begat Zadok who begat Mordecai who conquered the kings of Canaan. And there was much rejoicing.

    -Post Apocalyptic kid's shows, god the 70's were a nutsy decade.

  • -And it's gotten a lot nutsier since. Now, when we turn on our tvs we can watch "reality".

  • @starstarstar42

    I noticed the wind blowing their hair in that clip.

    I'm guessing they removed the glass to get rid of glare and reflection.

  • "Highly trained," says the narrator. Who trained them? I'm searching my childhood memories of this show, and I can't remember if that question was ever answered.

  • Looks like the Landmaster from 'Damnation Alley'

  • I am looking for footage of Lester Jean. He is a wide receiver who plays college football for the Florida Atlantic Owls.

  • Oh man this was my show when i was a kid. i thought it was so futuristic, little would i know that everything they said is coming to pass right now. i'm finding so many shows on here, i'm having a time not feeling like a kid while watching them.

  • Thanks! I had forgotten the title of this show. I love the, ahem, high tech hardware. Awesome.

  • Thanks for this. I was telling a friend about this show and he didn't remember it. I loved this and Planet of the Apes.

  • HA! I used to try to make that vehicle with legos back in the 70's. There is a funny joke about the various races in "Ark II", but I will let you guess because people are so damn sensitive these days. Good times.

  • Al Gore can play Jonah in a current day global warming propaganda remake and Adam can be played by.. Bush Jr! ehehehe

  • The Land of the Lost movie was just released so your idea already makes sense to me,

    I would like Ed Beagley Jr to play Jonah, and Bush said that everybody in history is dead anyway, so he has no future.

    But keep the chimp because every lab will need a primate because stem-cell science will still be illegal in the "Green Future".

  • i must admit, I got a little misty watching Shazam. I haven't seen that show in 30 years. i can remember " The Shazam/ IsIs

    Hour" every Saturday. My friends and I didn't even go outside until after these shows went off. Thanks so much for giving me just a glimpse of what made my childhood special.

  • I remember that too. God I miss that stuff. Remember Grape Ape and Hong Kong Phuey? And what was the superhero one with the superdog? Remember when they would do a show on the Friday Night before all the new cartoons were coming out the next morning? I'd stay up and watch that show and make a list of which shows I was gonna watch the next morning. Get up real early and not budge till afternoon. Superfriends!

  • Is it just me or does The Ark II look like a giant "Apple Newton" on wheels ?

  • Loved the jetpak!

  • The jetpak was real, but could only carry a small person a short distance.

  • These are the same guys who produced the Star Trek animated series. I remember the roataing circle with the names Lou Something and Norm Prescott

  • Well they produced more than just Ark II. they also produced other series such as The Archies, Fat Albert, Isis, Shazam!, Space Academy, He-Man, She-Ra, Ghostbusters, BraveStarr,Fantastic Voyage, Journey To The Center Of the Earth and Mission:Magic to name a few. Saturday morning tv hasn't been the same ever since Filmation closed in 1989, but thank goodness for YouTube!

  • Don't forget the animated Star Trek and Tarzan!

  • Anyone seen the first one called "Ark?"

    I saw it on film at school.

    I cannot find it anywhere though IMDB has it listed.

  • man 1970's saturday mornings were the best - remember the big preview shows that would launch the new cartoons each year? must see tv for an 8 year old in 1976! (and mom don't forget to buy me an Ark II lunch box!)

  • The RV was used in a movie with George Peppard/Jan Michael Vincent. It is an old 727 fuselage with the wings removed. I used to love the show.

  • Although they look similar, they were different RVs.

  • i was going to post the same thing

  • That is not true. This vehicle was made from a dump truck chassis & fiberglass while the Damnation Alley alley vehicle was built from the ground up. It is called the 'Landmaster' and created by Dean Jefferies

  • @tommyp888 They are two different vehicles. The one from "Damnation Alley" had sets of three wheels set up like a triangle so they could ride over rocks and stuff.

  • @tommyp888 You are wrong. The ARK II is built on the platform of a garbage truck. Look it up on Wikipedia.

  • @tommyp888 The Ark II was built specifically for Filmation Studios. It was built on a dump truck chassis- later it was modified and used as the Seeker for Space Academy- It was built by The Brubacker Group. The Landmaster from Damnation Alley was designed by Dean Jeffries(Jeffries Automotive) Neither vehicle was a 727 with wings removed, and the Landmaster is silver with "tri-star wheels"(so it has 12 wheels in all)

  • @tommyp888

    Wrong! It was built from a fiberglass body of a dumptruck. I still feel as I got the shavings from the fiberglass on me

  • @tommyp888 The movie was damnation Alley and the two vehicles are different

  • @tommyp888 OK, it's been 2 years since your comment but the movie you are thinking of is "Damnation Alley" and yeah, it's a totally different vehicle.

  • @tommyp888 No actually the RV i guess you could call it wasnt the one from Damnation Alley it's a knock off of it.

  • They get a group of people together to rebuild civilization. OK, thats fine. The group could have been made up of anybody. But they made it a point to have ONE white guy, ONE hispanic, ONE asian girl and...

    A MONKEY.

    How racist....

  • The asian gal is in her 50s, but damn still looks hot.

  • She's got those good Asian genes. I really liked this show.

  • this is making me feel so bloody old. I am a child of the 70's and remember waiting to watch this, and when they stopped, I was so mad, I stopped watching CBS for years LOL.

  • Likewise. Remember Time Tunnel? But what was the name of the show where groups of humans from different time periods were trapped on a space ark made up of different "eco-pods" (or something like that)? Does anyone remember that one?

  • Starlost was the name of that show (made up here in Canada!).

  • I used to watch this. I thought the RV they rode around in was really cool.

  • Sweet Jesus, this brings back memories! I've spent the last couple days trying to remember this programme, i could only think of glimpses of it. Classic old skool tv!

  • cons would hate this show it shows what global warming is going to do

  • WHAT is WITH the chimp? "adam!" ha ha

  • That would make for one kick-ass RV

  • Dude looks like Chris Elliot. That vehicle looks a little like the one in the movie Damnation Alley. I kinda remember this show and it was pretty good for 70's Saturday morning tv. Jean was smoking, smoking hot, and one of the biggest reasons I tuned in. 25th century heck its gonna be 2012 the way thing are going. :P

  • You are right! Get the ark ready!

  • Dude looks like Chris Elliot. That vehicle looks a little like the one in the movie Damnation Alley. I kinda remember this show and it was pretty good for 70's Saturday morning tv. Jean was smoking, smoking hot, and one of the biggest reasons I tuned in. 25th century heck its gonna be 2012 the way thing are going. :P

  • Dude looks like Chris Elliot. That vehicle looks a little like the one in the movie Damnation Alley. I kinda remember this show and it was pretty good for 70's Saturday morning tv. Jean was smoking, smoking hot, and one of the biggest reasons I tuned in. 25th century heck its gonna be 2012 the way thing are going. :P

  • W. Bush you listening? Pollution & waste. Wake up dude & get your head out of the sand. Ta hec with oil companys. This is the only planet we got.

  • these shows & frosted flakes! FILMATION!

  • i loved this show! it put the JetPack on the map! oh yeah, i forgot that terry lester from Y&R was on this show..jack abbott for years..remember now that he died.

    LONG LIVE FILMATION, KING OF ALL SATURDAY MORNING ENTERTAINMENT!

  • I think the monkey was the brains of the outfit. Always wanted to slap the girl's ass though - same thing with the babe who played Isis.

  • Gawd, haven't seen this since I was about 7.

    That jet pack was the shit.

  • I always used to wonder why they all had biblical names.

  • Well.... Ark II..... Noah's Ark?

  • I remember this show. Terry Lester was on for years on the Young & The Restless. He died too young not long ago of Cancer

  • i always was in awe of the scenes with the jet pack. i thought if i wait long enough (like say, 2000), i'll have one of my own. uh... hello?!!

  • I am 37 and I am utterly blown away that I remember this show!!!

  • I LOVED this show when I was 10!:D God, I'm OLD!lol

  • I think this was based on "Ark," (1970) a short film about a post apocalyptic future where this guy sees a growing plant amidst all the pollution, then starts building a green house around it. Thus becoming an Ark where he takes in plant and animal life where they will be in a better environment to proliferate.

    Anyone seen it?

  • The Jonah character was the 1st Jack Abbott on the Young and the Restless.

  • The Jonah character was the first Jack Abbott on the Young and the Restless.

  • I remember this show. The main thing I remember about it was the guy using a Jet Pack. I never could recall the name of the show though.

  • I used to watch this every Saturday morning. I tell people about it and no one knows what the hell I'm talking about.

  • dayum....

    Haven't seen this in ages..Thanks for preserving

  • Ruth is hot! I'd get stuck on an RV with her any day.

  • There is a recent pic of her on the net. Even in her late 50s still hot.

  • Better than i remembered....born Earth yr.'66.

  • Does anybody have the scripts of the episodes?

  • One of my favorites Saturday mornings on CBS and I have it on DVD!!!

  • Wow! Nobody Knew What I Was Talking About Concerning This Program! I Loved It As A Kid! I Had Such A Crush On Samuel! Thanks For The Memories!

  • LOL! I remember watching this in the Philippines in 1984 during primetime (evening)! They only showed about 3 episodes before it was canceled.

    I had very vague memories of this and had been wondering for more that 20 years what happened to this show. Finding this on YouTube and in Wikipedia finally answered my question. :-D

  • I always watched this. They sure do smile alot or people in a post-Apocalypse.

  • Saturday morning CLASSIC! Right up there with LAND OF THE LOST.

  • I remember a saturday moring show that came on that had a guy with a jetpack but could never remember the name of the show until now.

  • The "LandMaster" was an ALL-TERRAIN RV! with it's "12-wheel drive" It could climb rocks that the Ark II could never navigate.

  • HAH-HAAAHHHHH!  I Loved that movie!!

  • Oh my God, Samuel, the Chimp. I remember this...

  • I vaguely remember one episode of this. The vehicle looks like a dildo on wheels these days though.

  • AL Gore must have saw this show.

  • WOW! any idea what happened to the Ark II Vehicle?

  • They rettoled it as the shuttle on "Space Academy!"

  • As a kid, I loved watching the live-action Filmation series, especially Isis and Space Academy. But I only saw one episode of AII because for some strange reason, my local station always pre-empted it! Thanks, KPIX 5, San Francisco :( Ms. Hon is a looker!!!

  • is this on dvd please let me know ... iwas 6 or7 but i loved this show

  • Yes, you can get it through Amazon, Best Buy, etc...

  • It's been a long time since I've seen this. It wasn't until I saw the closing credits that I remember this show- and the theme.

    A sidenote: I never knew that the guy who played the first 'Jack' on "The Young and the Restless" played the leader. But otherwise, this clip brings back memories. Thanks.

  • I thought he looked familiar! Thanks for pointing that out.

  • I'm glad somebody posted this video...nobody--and I mean nobody remembers this show and they all think I'm crazy... By the way, is that the same vehicle that was in Damnation Alley (George Peppard film) ????

  • There was plenty of stuff that sucked in the Seventies too.  There was no Bush, but there was Nixon (OK I have to admit, Bush is even worse). There was no Iraq War, but there was the Iran hostage crisis, we were fresh out of Vietnam, and the Soviet Union had ten thousand nuclear warheads pointed at us. AIDS started in the Seventies, it just took until the Eighties before anybody figured out what it was. I mean, we were all ten or so; what did we know about the general suckiness of the world?

  • You admit Bush was worse then Nixon?, I mean your mother was a worse lay then your aunt but I never let it slip out that I feel that way-basically keeping my opinion to myself...darn-did I just say that aloud?

  • Brian Bekker...yeah, you're so very right. I just said something like that to my brother just the other day. The world has become a mess...and the Federal Government really sucks!!! I hate those sell-out globalist too!!! They are destroying America and the entire planet!!! Strangely, years ago, Ark II predicted what we are heading for in our near future, thanks to the World's currupt governments, I fear!!!

  • I always thought the ARK 2 sorta looked like a "Fudge Newton" on wheels...LOL!!! These shows always had a positive message (ARK, Shazam, ISIS, Bigfoot n Wildboy, etc) at the end. I miss that.

  • you can buy the complete ARK II series on Amazon..

  • This was a fricking cool show in 1975...this was before the days of Computer Graphics...

  • Oh my...I am 10 years old again...I remember this show..

    Just think...when this show was originaly aired..there was no fucking Bush..no 911..no AIDS...no Iraq war...

    I want to be 10 again..

    I hate our Federal Government

  • Man! You made me get all teary eyed. I miss the 70s too.

  • And we hate you Brian, as a matter of fact we'll be stopping by with a body bag...no need to thank me but you're welcome nontheless.

  • Damn...Those were the good ol days.Where's a flux compacitaor when you need one.

  • "Oh my...I am 10 years old again...I remember this show..Just think...when this show was originaly aired...no 911..no AIDS...no Iraq war..I want to be 10 again" - Brian

    You got my all teary eyed dude ! I know what you mean. Don`t worry, after the sh&% hits the fan in March, we`ll all be living 1930s style again. xD!!

  • A van full of cheese-dicks and a chimp; the totality of Human Scientific Progress.

  • wow,..I am SO glad that is back in my memory again..

    I had completely forgot loving that show

    thank you !!!

  • This is what the world will be like if Hillary wins.

  • But that's good!

    Didn't you hear what he said? A crew of YOUNG PEOPLE!

    YOUNG PEOPLE.

  • Hm, you know what would be a good way to teach kids about not polluting the environment? A show about a 35-foot Humvee with a dune buggy in the caboose! And a liquid-propellant jetpack. I wonder if they had an air conditioner in that bus to keep the chimp from smelling too chimpy.

  • Is there any full eposodes of this that can be put up?

  • julito - that is HILARIOUS. never woulda thought of it that way, but hilarious.

  • I kept building my own little Ark out of a Legos "Fire Station and Fire Truck" kit, heh heh.

  • Holy crap. Yeah, I used to wish I had an Ark like this one. The carrier of Damnation Alley was only cooler because it could swim, but the Ark had that cool chariot for open air motoring...but then if the earth was that polluted, would you really want to cruise around in a t-top?

  • My brother was sure he used to cruise by this vehicle,parked by a house off I-10 in California outside LA,just sitting there in the early 90's,ragged tarps flapping in the wind. Would be cool to confirm this.

  • ark III any one?