The ship's crew consists of Lt. Doolittle (helmsman, and initially, second-in-command), Sgt. Pinback (bombardier), Cpl. Boiler (navigator), and Talby (target specialist). "Dark Star" Commander Powell was killed during hyperdrive as a result of an electrical short behind his rear seat panel, but remains onboard ship in a state of cryogenic suspension. The crew members perform their jobs with abject boredom, as the tedium of their tasks over 20 years has driven them "around the bend." The "Dark Star" ship is in a constant state of deterioration and frequent system malfunctions (for example, a radiation leak which is not repairable, their cargo of intelligent talking bombs lowering from their bomb bay without a command to do so, an explosion destroying their sleeping quarters, the food processing computer repeatedly serving chicken-flavored liquid meals, and a storage bay "self destructing" and destroying the ship's entire supply of toilet paper), and only the soft-spoken female voice of