 Harlan Ellison originally created a series to focus on an "enclosed universe" concept that was to focus on an ark one thousand miles long, with hundreds of separate biospheres, each containing its own culture. The secret of the accident that sent the ship onto a collision course with a star wasn t to be revealed until the final episode. The main character, Devon, would have tried to convince the different biospheres to work together to repair the ship. What emerged from this original idea was a disillusioned creator and a television series crippled by a low budget and television executives who didn t understand science fiction.