Space 1999!!!

[LaxScrutiny]

I just saw Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's final collaboration pop up on Amazon Prime. Going to start binging. It'll make me feel like a teenager again.

Hoping they pick up UFO, Stingray, Fireball XL5, and Captain Scarlet soon too. (I have Thunderbird on the shelf somewhere.)

"Anything can happen in the next half hour!"

 

[cylkoth]

Hoping they pick up UFO, Stingray, Fireball XL5, and Captain Scarlet soon too.

Check to see if those are available thru Amazon's IMDB TV with ads. They are in the US, so if Space '99 is there, the others might be as well. A website called Just Watch has UFO listed as showing in Canada. You can watch them using the Prime Video app, or the separatre IMDB TV app.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Cool, I'll check it out. (BTW, look at us, both joining the board in 2003 and still at Commodore. )

Meanwhile, I just watched the first two episodes. It's been so long it's like watching for the first time. I'll try to avoid spoilers since I'm sure others are in my situation.

Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, and Barry Morse give the show a gravitas that keeps it from being cheesy, even though it should be. There is a total TOS vibe, and the second episode could very easily have fit into TOS season one. The sets on Alpha and the first planet they encounter are totally Trek inspired. If you can wrap your head around the Moon flying across the Galaxy fast enough to bring them to strange new worlds, still having time to send an Eagle down to explore, and you can suspend your disbelief, it is really Trek-like, and I'm sure that was intentional..

The incidental music throughout keeps calling back to the Thunderbirds' main theme music, which was actually nicely done. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[Saul]

I remember watching some or all of the first season of Space 1999 after reading that Ron Moore loved the show and that it inspired the opening credits of 'Battlerstar Galactica'. I really need to give it a good and proper watch through some day. Definitely need to watch U.F.O. also whenever I have the time or will power.

 

[matthunter]

If you have Prime, I'd recommend Thunderbirds Are Go (the CGI series, not the crap live-action film). It's not Anderson-written/produced, obviously, but is true to the spirit of the originals and really conveys - even within the first 30 seconds of episode 1 - just how much hope the arrival of International Rescue inspires for those in emergency situations (to the point that, if I couldn't hear the TARDIS materialising, the roar of a Thunderbird would be my next "most wonderful sound").

 

[Dar70]

I saw the first episode a few months back
Wasnt too impressed with it. Maybe I will give it a rewatch. Only two seasons and I hear the second season was awful. Even the actors hated it...

 

[Marc]

The incidental music throughout keeps calling back to the Thunderbirds' main theme music, which was actually nicely done. Looking forward to the rest.

Barry Gray revisted and recycled at lot of his music during his association with Anderson so piece from one series would show up in another a few years later.

Iirc the IMDB entries for the episodes often list the music cues that were used elsewhere.

Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, and Barry Morse give the show a gravitas that keeps it from being cheesy, even though it should be.

Morse and Landau yes, Bain, well the most common comparison for performance is to a wooden marrionette from one Anderson's earlier series.

I can't recall the name bu there's a multi-part retrospective on all of Anderson's shows on youtube. Apart from the issues with Frieburger in the second series, the departure of Sylvia Anderson also hurt things. She was the one cast members could go with issues (he admitted to be being the ideas man and not that good with dealing the actors) and a result, filming the second season wasn't as enjoyable for the cast.

 

[JD]

I watched a couple episodes when this was up on Hulu a while back, and thought it was pretty good. Might need to watch more once I finish up the stuff I'm watching now.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Barry Gray revisted and recycled at lot of his music during his association with Anderson so piece from one series would show up in another a few years later.

Iirc the IMDB entries for the episodes often list the music cues that were used elsewhere.



Morse and Landau yes, Bain, well the most common comparison for performance is to a wooden marrionette from one Anderson's earlier series.

I can't recall the name bu there's a multi-part retrospective on all of Anderson's shows on youtube. Apart from the issues with Frieburger in the second series, the departure of Sylvia Anderson also hurt things. She was the one cast members could go with issues (he admitted to be being the ideas man and not that good with dealing the actors) and a result, filming the second season wasn't as enjoyable for the cast.

You might be thinking about the official Gerry Anderson YouTube channel. I found it about two weeks ago and watched the documentaries on UFO and Seasons One and Two of Space 1999 and the link between UFO and Space 1999.

 

[Steve Roby]

I don't know how many territories this is available in, but Space: 1999 and some other Anderson shows (and other things, like The Prisoner) can be watched for free at https://www.shoutfactorytv.com/tv/sci-fi. The S:1999 and Prisoner episodes there are significantly better quality video than my DVD box sets.

 

[Marc]

I don't know how many territories this is available in, but Space: 1999 and some other Anderson shows (and other things, like The Prisoner) can be watched for free at https://www.shoutfactorytv.com/tv/sci-fi. The S:1999 and Prisoner episodes there are significantly better quality video than my DVD box sets.

Space:1999 and UFO both got remastered Blu-Ray releases iirc.

 

[Galileo7]

Here are two different recent Blu-ray Space:1999 releases reviewed:
Space 1999 Merchandise Guide: US Blu-ray Shout Factory
Space 1999 Merchandise Guide: Australia Blu-ray

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Space: 1999 is a "guilty pleasure" of mine. It's bad, oh it's awful. But it's still fascinating. Some elements are outstanding: the visuals and models, the sets and props, the music (both seasons, actually), certain concepts, the vibe, the atmosphere. I enjoy it.

 

[Steve Roby]

Space: 1999 premiered when I was 12, Battlestar Galactica when I was 15, Buck Rogers when I was 16. That's why I figure I must have started developing a bullshit detector when I was 15, because I loved Space: 1999 and still do, I was open to Galactica but came to realize it was not actually great, and I found Buck Rogers pretty bad from the start. Yeah, I can dump all over Space: 1999 for any number of reasons, but I can also still enjoy it. Some points made in Starlog magazine way back when helped. First, the notion of the Mysterious Unknown Force as a recurring thing in the show, even when not specifically discussed in a given episode. That helps with some of the more unlikely things happening on the show. Second, the idea that the show makes more sense if you think of it as horror set in space rather than science fiction. Those two points make the case that Space: 1999 is not playing by the same set of rules as Star Trek and shouldn't be judged by the rules that apply in Star Trek.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Space: 1999 premiered when I was 12, Battlestar Galactica when I was 15, Buck Rogers when I was 16. That's why I figure I must have started developing a bullshit detector when I was 15, because I loved Space: 1999 and still do, I was open to Galactica but came to realize it was not actually great, and I found Buck Rogers pretty bad from the start. Yeah, I can dump all over Space: 1999 for any number of reasons, but I can also still enjoy it. Some points made in Starlog magazine way back when helped. First, the notion of the Mysterious Unknown Force as a recurring thing in the show, even when not specifically discussed in a given episode. That helps with some of the more unlikely things happening on the show. Second, the idea that the show makes more sense if you think of it as horror set in space rather than science fiction. Those two points make the case that Space: 1999 is not playing by the same set of rules as Star Trek and shouldn't be judged by the rules that apply in Star Trek.

I just watched episode 5 (listed as episode 14 on Wikipedia, I guess the difference between production order and broadcast order.) I get what you mean about it being a horror series. "Earthbound" totally reminded me of some stories I read in the EC comics from the 50's. (I'm not THAT old, Mad Magazine reprinted them in the 70's.)

 

[CorporalCaptain]

First, the notion of the Mysterious Unknown Force as a recurring thing in the show, even when not specifically discussed in a given episode. That helps with some of the more unlikely things happening on the show. Second, the idea that the show makes more sense if you think of it as horror set in space rather than science fiction. Those two points make the case that Space: 1999 is not playing by the same set of rules as Star Trek and shouldn't be judged by the rules that apply in Star Trek.

I concur with all of that.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Space: 1999 is a "guilty pleasure" of mine. It's bad, oh it's awful. But it's still fascinating. Some elements are outstanding: the visuals and models, the sets and props, the music (both seasons, actually), certain concepts, the vibe, the atmosphere. I enjoy it.

In some respects Space: 1999 does seem like a logical precusor to '2001: A Space Odyssey' with its Eagle transports, Moonbase Alpha, moon buggies and spacesuits.

IMO, the only things that fails are the uniforms that the cast wore. Even as a 5-6 year old watching Space: 1999 when it first premiered in 1975 I found the costumes laughable. For something that was supposed to look futuristic, it looked dated even then. There's a good idea or two there, with the division colors on the sleeves as well as the zippers, but all too often, the flared pants and overall shapelessness make them very unflattering. And, all too often, it's obvious that except for Barbara Bain; most of the female extras aren't wearing bras underneath their shirts.

The second season redesign with the added coats to the command staff certainly helped; but then they went and added all those badges on them and made them too busy looking.

 

[Steve Roby]

IMO, the only things that fails are the uniforms that the cast wore. Even as a 5-6 year old watching Space: 1999 when it first premiered in 1975 I found the costumes laughable. For something that was supposed to look futuristic, it looked dated even then.

I agree that they look dated, and they didn't always do any favours to some of the people who had to wear them, but they were the work of a famous and influential fashion designer, Rudi Gernreich (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudi_Gernreich).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

In some respects Space: 1999 does seem like a logical precusor to '2001: A Space Odyssey'

2001 got there first - it came out in 1968.

 

[Nerys Myk]

2001 got there first - it came out in 1968.

I assumed he meant in an in-universe sense. Their tech compliment each other.