Space 1999 - Unsung 1970s Sci-Fi Brilliance

BIG TAM

Does anybody else have a fond affection for this 1974 British sci-fi series? It seems to get few plaudits but I love it. Sets, costumes & effects. Martin Landau, Barbara Bain & Barry Morse. And that terrific Barry Gray theme music. It really does deserve more praise.

Granted, the 1976 follow-up series wasn't quite as good, but still held entertainment value. And snazzy zip-up cardies for the leads to wear! )

I want this series re-evaluated. It deserves better than the dismissal it so often gets.

Thunderpussy

I was a huge fan of Space 1999. -{
It had a hard time in the UK as it was up against "Top of the Pops". I was
thought "Odd" as I was watching Space 1999 instead of the Pop show. )
It had some great stories.

minigeff

UFO was better

Thunderpussy

Oh, I was a fan of UFO too. )
and I even loved Blakes 7

Thunderbird 2

Sorry, Space 1999 was a firework with no spark for me as a kid. A few years ago I caught a couple of episode and I could not help but feel the characters were cold, antiseptic and flat. - Great visuals, miniatures, and effects, but something is seriously wrong when you can't give a stuff about the characters.


The most annoying thing is the format had promise, and some excellent actors, but it always seemed less than its parts.


I am another one in the UFO and Blake 7 vote too. UFO was great, it told stories that did not always have happy endings, and had an element of mystery re the aliens. Blake 7? One of my childhood favorites. Esp with the Torch come lasers, teleport bracelets and the computer that was a box of Christmas lights! (Can't remember the name)

Thunderpussy

The box of christmas lights was called Zen.
Apparently Paul Darrow ( Avon in Blakes 7) was a Doctor in DAD, although
as yet I've not been able to spot him.
Sure it was made cheaply, but great fun midweek. and that Servalan was one
hot villain .
Basically If it had a spaceship in it, I'd watch it. )

TonyDP

I remember reading something to the effect that Space 1999 started life as a proposed second season of UFO. Supposedly, SHADO would have expanded, the moonbase would have grown into what eventually became Space 1999's Moonbase Alpha and the Interceptors would have given way to the Eagles. At some point it was decided to ditch a second season of UFO and go in a nearly completely different direction and thus Space 1999 was born.

Personally, I enjoyed both shows. UFO definitely had a pretty unique vibe to it and the stories often had a darker tone to them that really appealed to me. Some of the trappings, wardrobe and music really date the show (I recall an episode with Foster going all hippy and dancing the night away at some party to the music of the Beatles which still kind of makes me cringe) but overall it was a lot of fun and I was delighted to finally score a full DVD set a few years ago.

Space 1999 was also interesting in its own way. Yes, the characters were often cold and the atmosphere antiseptic, especially during its first season. I think Gerry Anderson was going for a 2001 vibe, trying to convey the loneliness, isolation and mystery of outer space and a lot of those episodes from the first season had plots that sometimes bordered on the mystical but they were beautiful to look at and even stirred the imagination.

The second season is significantly inferior in my opinion. New producer Fred Frieberger was brought into sex up the show and amp up the action quotient but at the cost of the introspective tone of the first season. Barry Morse was gone and Catherine Schell brought in. Frieberger presided over the original Star Trek's last season - almost universally considered the show's worst - and Space 1999 suffered from many of the same problems. There were still a few good episodes - the one involving a space warp while Maya suffered from an alien fever comes to mind. as does the episode with the Dorcons - but the stories were largely more pedestrian and just not as interesting. Still a fun show and the recent BluRay release looks positively outstanding.

Moore Than

TonyDP wrote:

I remember reading something to the effect that Space 1999 started life as a proposed second season of UFO. Supposedly, SHADO would have expanded, the moonbase would have grown into what eventually became Space 1999's Moonbase Alpha and the Interceptors would have given way to the Eagles. At some point it was decided to ditch a second season of UFO and go in a nearly completely different direction and thus Space 1999 was born.

I believe you are correct. The US audience figures for UFO were not as high as expected so the second series was cancelled, but Gerry Anderson kept the idea alive and was eventually successful.

As for Space 1999, the first series was significantly superior, especially the opening episode Brakeaway, Voyager's Return, and Collision Course. Notably, there was a different theme tune for each series and I love them both.

zig zag

I loved space 1999 as a kid, and I have an "Eagle" space craft. It's a bit beat up but well loved. I have since watched it on some channel or other, and it evoked some real good childhood memorys, sunday mornings as a kid, if memory serves was when I watched it. Anyway I thought it was a good show for the times. 1999 seemed like a long time into the future.

Hardyboy

I watched the first season as a lad, and I even had a Space: 1999 lunchbox--it was in my parents' house until well into the '80s, but I have no idea what happened to it. By the second season, though, another show was aired opposite it--The Muppet Show--and, eventually, I drifted off to watch that on our second TV set while my parents watched Landau and company. Yes, kids, there was a time before DVR. Or videocassettes, for that matter!