Vintage TV Tie-In for the beloved comedy series (a spinoff from a "Happy Days" episode) starring Robin Williams as Mork from Ork and Pam Dawber as Mindy. This is the "video-novel" version of the "Mork: One Hour Special," which is entirely made up of color scan images from the episode in comic-book format, with cartoon balloons for text. Photo-Novels were popular in the late 70's and early 80's, were created in tandem with several film releases, and the inked photo pages made them quite solid and weighty.

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The show also starred Ralph James as the voice of Orson, Conrad Janis, Tom Poston, Jay Thomas, Gina Hecht, Elizabeth Kerr, Robert Donner (as Exidor) and later Jonathan Williams as Mearth. Guest stars included Morgan Fairchild, Shelley Fabares, Bill Kirchenbauer, Harvey Lembeck, Raquel Welch, Ronnie Schell, Corey Feldmen, Paul Reubens, Barbara Billingsley, John Larroquette, Richard Moll, William Shatner, David Letterman, John Houseman, Charles Lane, Roddy McDowall, Ross Martin, Kim Fields, Lyle Waggoner, Henry Winkler, Penny Marshall & Robby the Robot.

From IMDB:

Bizarre television comedy with Robin Williams as Mork from Ork, who is an alien sent to Earth in an egg, to investigate Earth and report back to his superiors. As an outsider, Mork is unfamiliar with human customs and often questions some of the strange traditions that we take for granted. Much of the humor relies on Williams' unique comic voices and mannerisms. The show was perhaps most famous for Mork's greeting, "Nanu Nanu".

During casting, when asked to take a seat, Robin Willams sat in the chair upside down. Producer Garry Marshall selected him because "He was the only alien to audition."

Many of the gags seen on the show were on-the-spot improvisations by Robin Williams, and later by Williams and Jonathan Winters. The improvisations proved to be so effective and popular that the series' writers soon included specific sections in the scripts where Williams was allowed to perform freely, marked as "Robin goes off here." If you pay attention to Pam Dawber, you can often see her having difficulty not laughing at the ad-libs.

The house used for the exterior shots of Mindy's home is at 1619 Pine Street near downtown Boulder, Colorado. Mindy's father's music store was actually a bookstore on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall. As of summer of 2015, the Mork & Mindy (1978) house is still the most popular landmark in Boulder, Colorado.

Mork's "Nanu Nanu" hand gesture greetings was inspired by Mr. Spock's "Live long and prosper" hand salute from Star Trek (1966). Plus, Mork's Orkan space suit had earlier been a costume from Star Trek (1966) season three, episode twenty-two, "The Savage Curtain", and Robin Williams was a big fan of Star Trek (1966).

* The name of Mork's Orkan Superior, Orson (they have a five minute conversation, before the closing credits begin) was chosen as a tribute to Orson Welles and his historic 1938 CBS Radio broadcast of H.G. Welles' "War of the Worlds", which was adapted for the American audience. Orson Welles chose to portray the Martians as landing in New Jersey.

* Jay Leno auditioned for the role of Remo DaVinci. According to Leno, he was told by an ABC executive that his face would "frighten little children".

* Producer Garry Marshall is said to have gotten the idea for the series after his eight-year-old son had seen Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) and was inspired to suggest a television show about an alien. The creation of Mork's character and personality were actually from Happy Days (1974). Director Jerry Paris got the idea directly from The Dick Van Dyke Show: It May Look Like a Walnut (1963). This guest-starred Danny Thomas, as an alien in Rob Petrie's science fiction dream).

* Season three, episode fourteen, "Mork Meets Robin Williams", was suggested to Garry Marshall after Robin Williams specifically requested it, which allowed Robin Williams to be himself and so viewers could get to know the real Robin Williams and Mork learning about the nature of fame on Earth. Two months prior to the broadcast, John Lennon was assassinated by a deranged fan and is mentioned by Mork as one of the celebrities whose lives had been destroyed by the pressures of fame, when Mork makes his weekly report to Orson, as each episode is nearing its conclusion, just before closing credits begin.

* This was the only Happy Days (1974) spin-off set in the present.

* Exidor is the son of Exeter who appeared in This Island Earth (1955).

* Mork & Mindy: Gotta Run: Part 1 (1982) aired the day after Robin Williams's friend John Belushi passed away. Robin Williams broke down crying during rehearsals and was unable to continue when he was informed of John Belushi's passing.

* Robin Williams was dating comidienne Elaine Boosler when this show was in production.

* In an attempt to boost ratings, the last half of the final episode was shot in 3-D. Since they were cancelling the show, ABC opted to air it in 2-D and run a different episode as the series finale.

Title: Mork & Mindy: A Video Novel
Editor: Richard Anobile
Publisher: Pocket Books ISBN #0-671-82754-5
Cover Illustration: Photo Cover
PBO (Paperback Original)
Printing: 1st, 1979