Godspeed, Jack Horkheimer

Back when I was in late grade school/early high school, every Friday night, my local PBS station would run two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, plus one episode of the Original Series, all commercial free. In between ran episodes of Jack Horkheimer’s Star Hustler:

I’m not ashamed (now) to confess that, in those awkward adolescent years, this three-hour block of TV was the highlight of my week. (Yes, I was that kid, mad for Star Trek and astronomy.) Star Hustler is where I probably first heard Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1—and certainly where I first heard Isao Tomita’s electronic music. (And it’s also, along with Tom Carvel’s deranged ice cream cake commercials, probably where I first gained my love of cheap 1980s video art.)

RIP, Mr. Horkheimer, sir. Thanks to you, I’ll keep looking up.

A. D. Jameson is the author of five books, most recently I FIND YOUR LACK OF FAITH DISTURBING: STAR WARS AND THE TRIUMPH OF GEEK CULTURE and CINEMAPS: AN ATLAS OF 35 GREAT MOVIES (with artist Andrew DeGraff). Last May, he received his Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the Program for Writers at UIC.

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