 Originally a parody of _Silent Running (1972)_ (qv) with Joel being  captive on a satellite going nowhere, wearing a blue jumpsuit with  patches all over it and having several robots as his companions to  help him keep sane. Also the first episode was more of a direct  parody as Joel finds some "vacuflowers" which start poisoning the  crew similar to the way Lowell Freeman in Silent Running tries to  keep his flowers alive.