Space 1999 Blu-Ray Review

[MANT!]

Recently bought the Season 1 Blu-Rays of this "Landmark Science Fiction series" from the mid-70s...

Sherman please set the "Wayback Machine" for 1974-1975..

Star Trek was in rerun hell with not even a peep about possible movies in the future.

The "Starlost" had thudded right into obscurity.

So "Space 1999" was almost the only new science fiction TV success of the period (except for some cheesy episodes of "The Six Million Dollar Man"). As a boy of 14, I watched Space 1999 every week.



On to the review..



The picture quality is light years beyond the 2003 Region 1 A&E DVD release with corrected contrast and hue very evident. As with most well crafted Blu-Ray releases, picture sharpness and detail are also very much improved. This really shows in the spacecraft models used as well as the sets..

Now this is where it gets dicey, the sets were obviously designed to be viewed by analog TVs as many of the control panels on Moonbase Alpha are simply decals applied over lighted white panels. But after a few episodes, this no longer caught my eye and I was able to enjoy the other aspects of this release.


One thing about this show is that it's mostly nostalgic for me and to modern audiences the stories run a bit slow and cerebral,(they were trying to channel 2001 in the first season) and the less stated about the science involved the better, But if one wants pure eye candy, this show has it.



A HUGE amount of extras are included..

"Memories of Space" featurette
Sylvia Anderson interview
Series One textless generic titles
"Concept and Creation" featurette
Special effects and design featurette
Text episode commentaries on The Last Sunset and Space Brain'
"Clapperboard" two-part special on the work of Gerry Anderson from 1975
"Guardian of Piri Remembered"
Barry Gray's theme demo
Alternative opening and closing titles
Martin Landau and Barbara Bain US Premier intro and outro
SFX plates and deleted SFX scenes - with music track.

All in all, a great buy for well over 24 hours of entertainment.


Check it out...

 

[Marc]

I read that much of Breakaway was re-written/re-filmed but I'll guess we'll never know the full details there.

When watching some of the eps back to back to the you do notice the re-use shots (especially when there's multiple Eagle lift offs - the moon buggy on the edge of the pad is a give away).

The turn and bank indictor on the Eagle set is another instance where it's a give away as sticker - should of had thing level.

Would have through an episode like "Journey Through A Black Sun" would of been more deserving a commentary.
Surprised that Space:1999 actually got this DVD release though - are they planning to do one for Season 2?

 

[MANT!]

They do have the Metamorph (1st episode from season 2) on the bonus list as well..Looks good, Season 2 is slated for release in October...

But no mention of the fan produced "Message from Moonbase Alpha" will be included as a Season 2 bonus.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nox6XjsS7Bs[/yt]

 

[Marc]

They do have the Metamorph (1st episode from season 2) on the bonus list as well..Looks good, Season 2 is slated for release in October...

But no mention of the fan produced "Message from Moonbase Alpha" will be included as a Season 2 bonus.

Speaking of fan produced, there's a 2 part fanderson documentary on Space:1999 that probably would of been worth including two - though it's being sold commercially so there would have been licensing fees.

 

[MANT!]

I read that much of Breakaway was re-written/re-filmed but I'll guess we'll never know the full details there.

I haven't gone over Gerry Anderson's "Breakaway" commentary yet, perhaps a better answer is there.

If you want, I'll try to do an episode by episode rating of the 1st season...similar to Warped 9s revisiting of TNG and TOS in those forums...

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

This release on Blu-ray is so stunning that I'll actually be willing to fork out for the season 2 release when it become available.

Now, when is UFO being released on Blu-ray? I'd buy that in a heartbeat as well.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

George Bellak's script for "Breakway" or "The Void Ahead" as it was originally titled, contained a great many scenes that never made it to the final cut. Director Lee Katzin shot a lot of coverage and multiple takes, and purportedly came up with a rough cut some two hours long. Some pick-ups then had to shot to cover over the excised material. The footage isn't thought to still exist, but tape reels of the raw studio sound have been preserved - you can hear them on Youtube by searching for "space 1999 rare audio". There are lots of additional sequences, and other scenes which are longer and saggier than what we ended up with. Still a fascinating listen though. I'm glad they decided to cut it down though - the tension and pacing of the finished episode is remarkable, and I wouldn't want it any other way: one of the finest first episodes of any series ever.

 

[Dr. Chandra]

They do have the Metamorph (1st episode from season 2) on the bonus list as well..Looks good, Season 2 is slated for release in October...

But no mention of the fan produced "Message from Moonbase Alpha" will be included as a Season 2 bonus.

Thanks for finding that!

 

[WillsBabe]

Every time I see Message from Moonbase Alpha I find it hard to believe that they filmed it in Zenia Merton's flat!

 

[Gary7]

Every time I see Message from Moonbase Alpha I find it hard to believe that they filmed it in Zenia Merton's flat!

Heh, that's pretty funny. I guess she had a big enough one to fit in all of the active wall gear. Pretty decent "closure", though a bit overly dramatic towards the end.


Nice to hear they did such a good job on the blu-ray version. I won't buy it, though. I borrowed the DVD's from a friend and after watching them once again (after a multi-decade break), it was a mixed experience. Nostalgic in some respects, but very annoying in others. Space: 1999 made so many glaring mistakes, the worst of which was the very premise of the whole series--that the moon could be blasted out of Earth orbit and remain intact, and that it would be propelled on a course taking it near habitable planets with sentient alien beings within several years. And even the idea of the base being able to provide replenished food supplies and water for nearly 300 people. Or the Eagles being so clearly non-aerodynamic able to enter planet atmospheres without any trouble... the list goes on. To me, the series does not age very well at all. Although Gerry Anderson's previous sci-fi series "U.F.O." had lesser production value and weaker stories, it seems to hold up a bit better.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

Space: 1999 made so many glaring mistakes, the worst of which was the very premise of the whole series--that the moon could be blasted out of Earth orbit and remain intact, and that it would be propelled on a course taking it near habitable planets with sentient alien beings within several years.

Well, what you call a glaring mistake, I call the grandeur of epic myth. You might as well decry the scientific accuracy of the Greek myths or the Viking sagas.

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

For those interested, you can read a short article reference the HD restoration here.

 

[Kegg]

One thing about this show is that it's mostly nostalgic for me and to modern audiences the stories run a bit slow and cerebral,(they were trying to channel 2001 in the first season) and the less stated about the science involved the better, But if one wants pure eye candy, this show has it.

Ii think that nicely sums up my own feelings about Space:1999.

It's a great looking series, I like that in the first season particularly the show was pretty self-important, but the pretention hardly matches the science and I mostly care about it for nostalgia reasons.

While this release looks nice, it doesn't appear to include any of the extras planned for the aborted Igyan Edition DVD run, which is a shame:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXWEh9kcGzM

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

Now see, this is interesting because unlike a lot of you, there's nothing nostalgic about the show for me at all. I mean, I know that I saw it in 1975 and I've still got a toy Eagle transporter from back then, but I never thought about the show very much at all in the subsequent years. Not until I rediscovered it in 1992 when it was released on VHS. I can tell you, that was an epiphany for me. Seeing it anew as an adult viewer. Since that day, I have lived with Space: 1999 as a major factor in my life. Probably no week passes when I don't watch at least one episode again. It says more to me on an intellectual and spiritual level than any other tv show I've ever seen.

 

[RAMA]

Sadly I liked the show more when I was a kid, looking at it now the actors have no personality and plots are mostly too familiar...it put me to sleep the last time I tried to watch a few episodes. Still, I'd be curious how the Bluray restoration looks.

RAMA

 

[23skidoo]

I didn't even know the Blu-rays were out yet. I'm a bit annoyed they're not doing both seasons at once. I still get a bit antsy when they don't do a complete series, cuz there's always a chance they won't release the rest. (My breath is still being held for Bionic Woman Season 3.)

I don't know if I'm going to bother with the Blu-rays. I have the full-series megabox that I paid $100 for back in the day and the video and sound quality looks fine on my plasma. I don't really see a pressing need. Though it's cool that they're doing Blu-rays for the show - proving the format isn't just for state-of-the-art or remastered-beyond-recognition shows.

Right now pretty much the only old shows that I already have on DVD that I might consider upgrading on would be The Avengers (even if they only reissue the Rigg and Thorson episodes), Farscape, Enterprise, Doctor Who (yeah right), and Red Dwarf, though like DW I doubt we'll ever see a high-def version of the early Red Dwarf except for the season they shot on film (and Back to Earth of course).

Alex