Review Space 1999 (1975)

[Doctor Omega]

Memories and thoughts on this series...?

And did you prefer season one or two? And why?

 

[Doctor Omega]

I have to be honest and say that I much prefer watching season 2.

Only yesterday I was watching The Bringers of Wonder for the umpteenth time, which is, I would say, my favourite story of them all. I love the idea of these ghoulish looking monsters duping everybody like they do.

Koenig acting like a crazy man when, if he had stayed calmer he might have convinced people earlier, is one of the dafter things about it. And Maya's transformation abilities are very odd. She changes wearing a spacesuit, into a monster, then when she changes back, she is in the spacesuit again. And a small medical probe that she is carrying turns into a samurai pole or something. All very daft, but fun.



Message From Moonbase Alpha was not intended to be the ending, however, but was actually meant to be a launching pad for a mooted revival series.

It was to have been set twenty five years after the show ended and the survivors of Moonbase Alpha have long been settled on a new planet. Terra Alpha, mentioned in the above short film. However, Moonbase Alpha has now come back into orbit and half of the Terra Alphans want to stay and half want to return to Moonbase Alpha.

The tv movie pilot would have shown this debate and would have ended with the moon going back out of orbit with the returning Alphans back on board. John Koenig would have appeared in the pilot only. He would have refused to leave Terra Alpha, because Helena was in a coma/suspended animation there after an accident. This would have meant a guest appearance for Martin Landau in the pilot only, and the series itself would have focussed only on Moonbase Alpha.

The mooted series never happened, despite returning cast members being ready to jump aboard, including Paul Morrow.

But we are left with Message to Moonbase Alpha, so at least the series got a wrap up and conclusion of sorts....

All of the above I got from this great book...

 

[johnnybear]

Space 1999 is one of my favourite television series of all time! Series one far excels series two with it's superior music and more believable stories! Dragon's domain and Earthbound being just two of the best shows!
JB

 

[Doctor Omega]

I must admit to a soft spot for certain episodes of Season 2, in particular THE BRINGERS OF WONDER - and I though Maya, despite being a far fetched character, was nicely played by the actress.

 

[johnnybear]

Bringers of Wonder and Séance Spectre were two of the best in series two I agree!
JB

 

[Doctor Omega]

 

[johnnybear]

I joined Fanderson a few years back just to get the three part documentary! Yes three parts. On Bravo part one was the UFO episode and part two was both parts of the Space 1999 episodes spliced together!
JB

 

[McQualude]

Another one of my all time favorites. I had the Eagle lander playset, wish I still had it. My friends and I used to make up games based on Space 1999. I told my teenage daughter about it and she insisted on watching it but I think my description was more exciting than the series ... she zonked in about five minutes.

 

[ant-mac]

Another one of my all time favorites. I had the Eagle lander playset, wish I still had it. My friends and I used to make up games based on Space 1999. I told my teenage daughter about it and she insisted on watching it but I think my description was more exciting than the series ... she zonked in about five minutes.

I had a bit more luck with my lad when he was younger.

He liked most of the old stuff I liked as a kid. Even black and white TV series didn't bother him.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1959), MY FAVORITE MARTIAN, DOCTOR WHO (1963), UFO, STAR TREK and so forth...

 

[johnnybear]

Strangely enough Fanderson sent me a magazine yesterday (from last November oddly enough) and said they'd just realised that I had forgotten or didn't want to resign up with them!!! It must be three years at least since I was a member and I'm not forking out another king's ransom to join again, although those two Space 1999 CDs do look mighty handsome!
JB

 

[ant-mac]

Strangely enough Fanderson sent me a magazine yesterday (from last November oddly enough) and said they'd just realised that I had forgotten or didn't want to resign up with them!!! It must be three years at least since I was a member and I'm not forking out another king's ransom to join again, although those two Space 1999 CDs do look mighty handsome!
JB

How much is it?

And what do you get for this king's ransom?

 

[johnnybear]

Can't remember! They didn't actually include any registration papers as such just a quarterly magazine, and a list of their new stuff to buy and which you can't purchase anywhere else!
JB

 

[ant-mac]

Can't remember! They didn't actually include any registration papers as such just a quarterly magazine, and a list of their new stuff to buy and which you can't purchase anywhere else!
JB

A local bookshop near me can get in the entire DVD set of SPACE 1999 for about $80 and UFO for about $60, but they're both currently free on YouTube.

What else is needed?

 

[johnnybear]

For me though I'd have to have the thing in my hands! I mean youtube isn't always the best copy available and it can be taken down at any time!
JB

 

[ant-mac]

For me though I'd have to have the thing in my hands! I mean youtube isn't always the best copy available and it can be taken down at any time!
JB

I agree.

However, owning DVDs or Blu-ray discs is not necessarily any better.

As a computer tech once told me, they're like light bulbs. They can "pop" and stop working at any time - no matter how well you look after them. I own between 8 000 to 10 000 discs and I've had my fair share of disc failures - all of them inexplicable and unexpected.

 

[johnnybear]

Don't..tell..me..that..Ant! I've got thousands myself and have had a few trouble making discs but luckily not that many! Probably the same ratio between bad video tapes and good from fifteen years back too!

JB

 

[ant-mac]

Don't..tell..me..that..Ant! I've got thousands myself and have had a few trouble making discs but luckily not that many! Probably the same ratio between bad video tapes and good from fifteen years back too!

JB

I know how you feel, mate. I was equally horrified when I learned the truth. I expect it has something to do with the manufacturing process used to make them. As with the parts of the Challenger space shuttle, the contract to mass produce discs probably goes to the lowest bidder.

As for your comments about VHS videocassettes, they sound awfully familiar. I lost count of how many of those I had. Actually, I still have them and a couple of working VCRs.

They're all sitting in my study, collecting dust.

 

[johnnybear]

We got rid of ours sadly plus all my Trek tapes, TOS,TNG, DS9 and VOY on E-Bay! Who set, Avengers, Space 1999, UFO etc...
JB

 

[ant-mac]

We got rid of ours sadly plus all my Trek tapes, TOS,TNG, DS9 and VOY on E-Bay! Who set, Avengers, Space 1999, UFO etc...
JB

I've got everything TREK except THE ANIMATED SERIES, STAR TREK BEYOND and STD on DVD. I've also got everything in existence from AN UNEARTHLY CHILD through to the last DW serial broadcast on either DVD or HDD.

 

[johnnybear]

STD sounds nasty!! HaHa What is Star Trek Beyond? I've got TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VOY and the films. UFO, Space 1999, Captain Scarlet, The Invaders, Highlander films, Highlander:The Series, Highlander:The Raven, Doctor Who (Everything up to Time of The Doctor) Blakes 7, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, Voyage To The Bottom of The Sea, Land of The Giants, Kolchak, Six Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, V, Laurel & Hardy, Planet of The Apes films and TV series and cartoon, Robinson Crusoe 1960s French TV serial, Scooby Doo Where Are you! Spider-Man cartoon and Tobey Maguire films, Danger Man, The Prisoner, Abbott & Costello sets, 007 series, Hammer films and House of horror, WWF/E 1985-2010, Randall & Hopkirk 60s, On The Buses series and films, The Avengers & New Avengers, Babylon 5 & Crusade, Ever Decreasing Circles, Some Two Ronnies, Chronicles of Narnia, Fawlty Towers, first two series of Monty Python, Adam Adamant, Starsky & Hutch, Later sets of Married With Children, Minder (Waterman episodes) Benny Hill, The Tripods, Battlestar Galactica (original) and 80, Vincent Price horror films, Outer Limits (original and first new series) Incredible Hulk, Universal horrors, The Sopranos, Love Thy Neighbour, Police Woman, Sliders, Walking Dead and Fear, plus numerous films and horror movies...phew! :P
JB