Cool News
'Tis A Glorious Moment For Geekdom!! SPACE: 1999 Coming To Blu-Ray Soon!!
Merrick here...
In the midst of Comic-Con madness last week, we learned that SPACE: 1999 will soon be available on Blu-Ray for the first time.
Gauging from past posts on this series, there are quite a few folks out there who still don't know what this show is. But if you do remember it from back in the day, chances are you'll meet this release with great interest - and might even be astonished that it would appear on the format at all.
In short, SPACE: 1999 is a science fiction adventure drama from Gerry Anderson, who also brought us shows like THUNDERBIRDS
and UFO
. It's about a base on the moon...more like a self-sustaining, fully functional city...called "Moonbase Alpha." Calamity ensues, the moon is blasted out of Earth orbit, and Alpha and its occupants are sent on a cosmic pinball ride which throws a new adventure at them every week.
The first season of 1999 was dark, somber, and probably as close in vibe to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY 
as television will ever get. The second season, retooled by incoming producer Fred Freiberger, lacked the tonal and conceptual distinctiveness that made the first season so special; the series did not return for a third year. The dramatic shift in approach between the two seasons should've been (and probably was) predictable - Freiberger had previously wrangled the third (weakest, and final) season of the original STAR TREK series.
For the moment, the news here is that...amazingly and improbably enough...SPACE: 1999 is on its way to Blu-Ray. We'll definitely follow up this piece with more details in the coming months, but for now Season 1 is already up for pre-order HERE
. For all of its imperfections and inconsistencies, 'tis a strangely affecting show - featuring moments and ideas that are just plain cool even by today's standards. It impacted me quite profoundly as a child (it ran between 1975-1977), heavily influencing my interest in astronomy, the space program, and science fiction in general. I never really got into G.I. Joes, but I played with my Eagle Transport every day.
It carried me and it's fragile little occupants to worlds farther than Joe could ever visit - and I miss that toy to this day.
The big question here is: how does the series hold up when looking back on it from a modern vantage point? Are all the warm, fuzzy memories some of carry for it predominantly fueled by the excitement many of us experienced collecting SPACE: 1999 trading cards, or eating sandwiches out of of our shiny John Koenig lunch boxes? Certainly nostalgia plays a significant role in our affection here - there's no denying or escaping that. But I watched both seasons again a few years back, all the way through. You know what? The series still has something to say - most particularly its first season. When it hit the air, we'd never seen a show like this before, and it's probably a very safe bet that we'll never see anything remotely like it again.
They'll be far more discussion about SPACE: 1999 as the Blu-Ray release approaches later this year. Until then, consider taking a look at it - whether you pick up the Blu-Rays, borrow them from Netflix, or...whatever. This said, if you've any interest whatsoever, I'd reccomend holding out for the Blu-Rays - they aren;'t too far away now (if past patterns are any indication, Netflix should have the BRs available as well as standard DVDs). 1999's production design is pretty thick, it's photography rather interesting, and I imagine it'll look pretty grand in HD.
More to come...
--- Follow Merrick on Twitter! ---
It carried me and it's fragile little occupants to worlds farther than Joe could ever visit - and I miss that toy to this day.
The big question here is: how does the series hold up when looking back on it from a modern vantage point? Are all the warm, fuzzy memories some of carry for it predominantly fueled by the excitement many of us experienced collecting SPACE: 1999 trading cards, or eating sandwiches out of of our shiny John Koenig lunch boxes? Certainly nostalgia plays a significant role in our affection here - there's no denying or escaping that. But I watched both seasons again a few years back, all the way through. You know what? The series still has something to say - most particularly its first season. When it hit the air, we'd never seen a show like this before, and it's probably a very safe bet that we'll never see anything remotely like it again.
They'll be far more discussion about SPACE: 1999 as the Blu-Ray release approaches later this year. Until then, consider taking a look at it - whether you pick up the Blu-Rays
, borrow them from Netflix, or...whatever. This said, if you've any interest whatsoever, I'd reccomend holding out for the Blu-Rays - they aren;'t too far away now (if past patterns are any indication, Netflix should have the BRs available as well as standard DVDs). 1999's production design is pretty thick, it's photography rather interesting, and I imagine it'll look pretty grand in HD.More to come...
--- Follow Merrick on Twitter! ---
-
+ Expand All
-
Love those Eagles!
-
Jul 26, 2010 12:01:54 PM CDT
Remember when we had a space program?
by guy who got a headache and accidentally
Me either, I think it was before my time.
-
Jul 26, 2010 12:03:25 PM CDT
Maybe we'll return to the moon by 2725
by guy who got a headache and accidentally
And have a moonbase by 3924
-
You know it to be true!
-
The fans will still like it but there are better scifi shows even from that era.
-
I am a huge science fiction fan. I love most flavors of the genre. Gerry Andersen, who executive produced Space:1999, is a clever guy, and his "Thunderbirds" movies are brilliant. Having said all that, and recognizing set design, effects, props, and the like as well-crafted, this series is just dull. I even like ponderous stuff like Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The problem here is that for all the effort expended, the characters just seem to spend a lot of time looking at viewscreens. Very little character development, or serious thought put into scripts; instead of learning anything about people in a strange setting, which is what genre fiction is supposed to be especially good at, the plots serve to show off the cool stuff. Without any characters to care about, it's just a bunch of nifty models. Even if you're an effects geek, your time would be better spent elsewhere.
-
I could use a little more. But when oh when is ST:TNG coming to blu ray? Then and only then will I make the switch. And can they please get rid of the annoying blue-haze on the left hand side of the screen?
-
Yeah, I watched it weekly as a kid when it came out in Ellensburg, WA. Ah, memories. And I had that toy, too, for a small kid that think was huge, Millenium Falcon sized! I also receommend this, btw, I rewatched on old crusty VHS a few years back and it help up. My only beef is releasing them as separate seasons - just release the whole series in one boxset, c'mon.
-
... I remember a space 1999 iced lolly. It was watery green with a burgundy tip in the shape of a rocket, and inside it had a gooey substance not that far in consistency of snot. Tasted better than it looked......
-
I love most of Andersons stuff , but Space 1999 is tedious at best .Unlike ufo , which was slow moving , but engrossing and had a sexy 60's/70's vibe .Space suffers from a cast of old age pensioners in the leads and no thrills.Agreed the theme rocked though.
-
I confused this with Space: Above and Beyond. Not interested.
-
the episode with the space monster and burnt skeletons was probably the scariest thing I saw as a child.
-
She gave me the serious horn.
-
Check out this second season alternate credits music. If I remember correctly they only played it for the second season's end credits, not opening. Really cool tv show themes, nobody writes memorable themes like this for tv shows these days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqdMmH7UE_s -
....evah! Gave me the creeps for years.
-
Jul 26, 2010 12:38:23 PM CDT
Holy shit, I didn't even know that Eagle spaceship existed!
by lordporkington
I only ever had the little die-cast version with the detachable drop-pod. Also, Maya transformed into a monster once and scared the living shit out of me. I'll never forgive Gerry Anderson for that.
-
Which you'd expect from Anderson.
The big problem was that it was all so po-faced.
I used to get a headache watching this programme which had no joy in it at all---a soulless monstrosity. -
As a child in the '70s, I'd seen that spaceship design, but I never knew what it was from. Now I know and a mystery I hadn't thought of for decades is finally resolved.
-
I would beg my parents to let me watch this every Saturday during its original run. I also had the Eagle in the picture above. I remember being confused and disappointed when the second season premiered. It will be interesting to see if the first season at least lives up to my very fond childhood memories of it.
-
Never watched the show, but look at the space suits on the packaging from that toy. I'm guessing George Lucas was a fan.
-
Is like taking acid! Well, not really, but our opening will sure try to convince you of that!
I had that big Eagle ship as a kid, but I never really watched the show. I used it as an "expanded universe" vehicle for both Star Wars and Micronauts.
Speaking of, where the fuck is my Micronauts movie? -
saw it as a wee lad and it haunted me for years...
-
The premise was somewhat ahead of it's time.Obviously since it pre-dated X-Files and not to mention compelling storylines, character development and mind fucking scenarios.Oh, and of course cool vehicles and hot purple wigged chicks.Space 1999 lacks the gravitas IMO. Kinda liked the shape shifting chick, Myra..is it?
-
Pussy!
-
I think you had to be a certain age and have an imagination that was just a bit too active to really carry the full "scar" from that one. I watched a couple of years ago and laughed at it. I was excited to see it again though. Back in the day though I wouldn't sleep with the lights off for a few days after seeing it.
-
Sandra Romain runs a hotel in Romania nowadays too.i wonder why the actresses usually open a hotel when they retire.
-
This show and Star Trek re-runs helped define my love for science fiction when I was a kid. And that gorgon space monster episode gave me nightmares for weeks!
-
is put on disc (officially, not fuzzy bootlegs). Oh, and all the other cheesy yet entertaining 80's genre shows (Manimal, Automan, Misfits of Science, The Phoenix, The Master, Outlaws (time travelling old west cowboys), Masquerade, et al.
-
No movie yet? Only the coolest toys ever made next to starwars'. Never read the comics so I have no idea what was going on with them but they all had names with purpose. At least Gilliam put one of the coolest vehicles in time bandits. To this day there are people who don't realize everything in the climactic scene is one of the kid's toys seen in his room at the beginning including the Lego castle.
-
Space:1999 HD.... no!
-
totally bateworthy, even for this then-six year old.
-
Anyway, loved it, and "UFO" - watched them during their original runs. Good stuff.
-
Maya. From the planet Psychon. As played by Schnell, whom I regrettably still haven't slept with
-
from the FIRST season rock (the one with the psychedelic guitar). They inexplicably changed it for the 2nd-thereafter to some disco shit. Don't know why.
-
Wrong, man. One of the main reasons to check it out if nothing else is if you are an effects geek.
-
I just Googled her. Apparently, she's descended from German Royalty! Her father was a Baron who was cleaned out by the Nazis and fled to the US.I still choose to see her as shape-shifting alien totty though, because I am a very shallow little man...
-
I thought lucas's based his xwing pilots on the 2001 space suit and I've a feeling the egale toy came out after star wars (space 1999 finished in 1977) and was in fact cashing in with that box art. I could be wrong, but I don't think they were worn in the show.
-
in high def! Joy! Space: $19.99 is back.
-
One of the best, most accurate and detailed spaceship toys ever. Wish I still had mine, too!
-
they are wearing them in the clip above hehe. forget everything I just said
-
And even those were pretty boring. Which is odd, because they were all 3D and shit.
-
http://www.space1999.net/eagle/ - muck geek schematics joy here...
-
Edit function...?
-
looked too similar to the eagle craft, so they had to change its design, to the hamburger shape we know and love today. I caught some hi-def Space: 1999 last year, overlook the fashions, and sometimes dodgy acting, and fight choreography, and there's some real sci-fi there.
-
Jul 26, 2010 2:12:04 PM CDT
Watch a show in Blu-Ray that could have been filmed in my garage
by rhinosaur
Point?
-
which shot out discs and an Eagle that was on wheels so you could sent it flying across the kitchen floor. Ah, memories. I was 9 when the series first aired.
-
One with a box 'shuttle' undercarriage, and one with magnetic canisters. Landautastic!
-
if they pull the same re-cropping shit they did on the Thunderbirds Blu-rays. Fuck them. I'm going to wait and see on this - and then wait and see if they go back and do Thunderbirds the RIGHT way. OAR all the way.
-
I saw Space: 1999 during its first run in England, and I have to agree with some of you guys... I lost interest after the first few episodes, despite being a HUGE sci-fi fan. I distinctly remember Landau and Bain acting as if they were sleepwalking through the episodes; showing no signs of normal human emotions, but expressing awe at the weird stuff going on around them.
Now UFO, on the other hand, THIS is the Anderson live-action show that I'd like to see on Blu-ray (assuming they shot everything on 35mm.) The acting was great, the human stories were for grown-ups, yet it encapsulated that fabulous 60s/70s groovy view of the future that was so deliciously cheesy. Bring it on! -
I read that they produced both 4:3 and 16:9 HD transfers for Space: 1999, but I don't know which they'll use on the Blu-ray. Personally, I'm more concerned how well the framing/composition holds up on shows rather than the rigid OAR of broadcast argument. Space 1999 remastering has apparently opened up more horizontal areas of the frame than were shown on TV, so thwey may go 16:9.
-
Has anyone actually seen it? OMG, it's got good visuals, but the plots are Lost in Space silly.
-
...they say November 2 release, and in 4x3 ratio (but they've been wrong before :-)
-
Was the first TV chick I ever jacked to. I remember that fuck Tony always trying to get in her pants and it pissed me off. My parents used to go out to dinner on Saturday nights when they were trying to save their marriage and I would be left alone in the dark watching this. The monsters scared the shit out of me, especially since we lived way out in the country and if you screamed for help no one would hear you.
-
This was about SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND. Which I really liked when I was young.
-
"September 13, 1999" ... how quaint.
-
TNG will never be on Blue Ray because the effects were shot on videotape and would have to be redone.
-
And its easy to tell the difference between seasons 1 and 2 - 1 had the cool theme and great plots, 2 had a shite theme, a stupid woman that changed into animals, and token "monster" of the week!! And who the fuck thought "the rules of Luton" was a great title for an episode?
-
..."Gerry Anderson, known for his series starring puppets, such as Thunderbirds, produces a show starring actual people who act and move like puppets." Still, I cut my sci-fi eye teeth on this show as a wee tyke, so I still have a soft spot in my heart for it. When you're six, you just accept that in 1999, everyone uses nookyoolar power (apparently to fuel their CD players so as to listen to all their Smash Mouth and Chumbawamba albums, but I digress) and store all their leftover nookyoolar waste on the Moon. One day, all that waste blows up and WHAM(!) the Moon is a spaceship! Worked for me back then just as it worked for my Dad as a kid that Superman could just stand on his head and move the Earth. Anyway, I doubt I'll buy the Blu-Ray set, Space:1999 is better in my hazy childhood memories than it could ever be watching it again after so long and is best left right there in my memories where it belongs. One last thing, loved how the Moonbase apparently had an entire staff of architects, interior designers and fashion designers, as well as legions of construction workers and seamstresses in order to totally redesign all the base's exteriors, interiors and uniforms while everyone was still stranded in interstellar space between seasons 1 and 2.
-
But I already have the A&E DVD box set. So what is going to be better about it on blue ray than a 1080p upconvert?
-
All of us have stories to tell and am glad we can do so here. My horror was watching In Search of and they were doing the amityville horror. Had a semidark stairway and you could a rocking noise coming from one the upstairs rooms. Camera climbed stairs to room where a baby doll was in the rocking chair making the noise. Camera zoomed to dolls face with eyes closed which then slowly opened revealing glowing red pupils. Scared the shit out of me for a week.
-
Walking rapidly thru empty halls. Always thought it was because she had to go the bathroom.
-
One of his first assignments. Had one of them. Even back then you knew he had talent.
-
like a cat with a come thither look. Gave Julie Newmar a run for her money with that pose at the time for me.
-
The"Dragon's Domain" episode scared the Hell out of me with that Lovecraftian thing sucking in people and spitting out their bones! I welcome a revisiting of "Space: 1999" which was a much more cerebral sci-fi show than "Star Trek" as I remember it. I never expect this stuff to competely hold up for today's audiences. I'm sure kids today would be bored silly by it. Those kids are also making Justin Beiber a kizillionaire, so screw 'em.
-
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to mention this episode. Seems to be the one episode everyone remembers, and it was certainly my favorite. I thought it was cool the way the monster would just chuck out the smoking remains of its victims. I recall the majority of the episodes being really tedious and having a lot of bad science. I think there was an episode where they found Jesus or something as well. Weird. I also recall one where the captain and Maya are put on trial by a bunch of plants because they ate some berries, and having to fight off three monsters; and one episode that had them being attacked by soap suds that were supposed to be so dense that they crushed people. Granted, it has been about 25 years since I saw these episodes, so I'm probably mixing things up.
-
Using a mix of 16mm (studio work) and 35mm (model photography). There's been some HD remaster trials with cropping to 16:9 shown on TV in the UK. Details and screenshots here: http://bit.ly/cu5x94
-
Boin chicka boin boin boin chicka boin boin boin chicka boin boin boin
-
I used to see the Eagle-1, out of the box at the local AAFES because the kids would remove them so much from the packages. I also remember seeing the UFO Interceptor, and thinking it was from the same show or something, since I never saw those shows back then. I didn't see SPACE:1999 until I was an adult, and frankly, I never impressed me enough to seek it out beyond what I'd seen.
-
Here ya go, let the nightmares return: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tbXhu09m5sMAN that one freaked me out as a kid like many of you!
-
Holy crap, that was a huge turning point in television for me. It was the first time I saw something that struck me as both awesome and terrifying. My young mind soaked up that episode like booze - it hurt going down, but left me feeling a bit giddy and excited afterwards.Dragons Domain and a Dr. Who episode where people were fed to a wood chipper were the point at which I began recognising scary could also be great.
-
My friend used to get some Science Digest type of thing in the mail every month and they had a page in it that showed a still from an upcoming S:1999 and it was the soap sud scene, with people falling over each other to get out of the way, hahaha. I thought it was funny that a science type monthly would even cover a show like S:1999. Wow, I even had a S:1999 laser pistol, it wrapped around the front of your hand and shot water out. This article has opened my brain and forced me to remember what it was like to be 10 years old again, now I'm 45 with gray pubes.
-
are from Star Trek the motion picture. Or did 1999 come out first? Hmmmmmmm.
-
...Blu-Ray isn't going to help, except to see the wires the space ships hang on. Very Boring, needs naked Moon Maidens.
-
I'll grant you "Dragon's Domain," but other than the Derrick Meddings miniatures and the overall design of it, this show was a solid bore, and I grew up as a Gerry Anderson fan but still couldn't stand this.
-
Don't forget the stuntmen.
-
Considering all the other re-made/re-envisioned shows out there, and to be honest, it's the kind of show that a re-make might actually be good.
-
We're up to date on your Space 1999 and ESB news.
-
I loved Space 1999.
That said, the show made not one F'ing bit of sense. First of all the moon traveling though space at FTL speed was a non-starter. Secondly, every plot was some 70s drug influenced "mind expanding" BS, about how we were just about to go beyond the human condition.
All that said, the sets and FX were fantastic and looked like space should look, with that gleaming plastic white 70s aesthetic. The same white building materials we saw in various states in "2001", "THX", and "Star Wars". Simply put, Moon Base Alpha was the type of moon base you wanted to live in. Plus Martin Landau kicks ass.
However, I see absolutely no reason to have this on BluRay. For a show filmed in the 70s DVD resolution is closer to the original.
-
I am still disappointed SciFi missed an obvious opportunity and didn't run this show in a one day marathon (or at any time) back on Dec 31st, 1999.
-
My Ultimate Childhood Nightmare. I am still scared by it. Messed my whole life. Awesome!
-
hehe Actually I loved it as a little kid in the 70s. And after the show aired, whenever there was a full moon, I would look up and stare at it for a while, making sure it wasn't drifting away.
-
www.space2099.com may interest you if you love the original
-
About 6" long or so. Made by Corgi, the UK toy company that made all kinds of cool and authentic looking movie and tv stuff.
-
It was staffed by those hot purple-haired chicks. You can see a direct carryover from that to the moonbase in Space 1999. Did the aliens of "UFO" ever appear in Space 1999? That would've been neat. They could've referenced their earlier appearance by mentioning that back in the '80s (of the Anderson universe) there was a secret organization set up to deal with them and it was part of the reason for establishing Moonbase Alpha, but then the aliens stopped showing up after a while and nobody knew what happened to them ... then have our heroes encounter their home world and find out more about their origins, what happened to them, etc. Woulda been a cool episode.
-
This show was good for some awesome eye candy if nothing else because they damn sure were never interested in characterizations.
The effects were great for the time and today look great; far better than anything The Next Generation shit out, even though I like TNG. -
Awful. Right down to the bitch with the stupid purple hair.
-
Well their have been two companies that have released the Space 1999 DVDs. I ran across a site once that had a comparison of the two. One was much better looking than the other. Question is which one will be out on Blu Ray?
-
...He did do some of those old Space:1999 comics adaptations, didn't he? I think Charlton put those out. Yeah, Byrne's stuff really rocked, especially in the 80's, early 90's. But the dude is a real brittle, curmudgeon type. I remember if you posted on his old blog (this was back before they were even called "blogs", but I don't know what else to call it) that he took exception to, he'd fuckin' eviscerate you. On the positive side, I still prefer his version of Superman's origin.
-
...in the 70's they thought the 90's would look like the the old sci-fi version of "the future". So it's ironic that the 90's in real life actually ended up looking like a slightely updated version of the 70's!
-
...Yeah, I do wish the female staff of Moonbase Alpha had worn those silver lamé minidresses like the staff of the moonbase in UFO. First season it was all unisex jumpsuits, then in the second the women dressed like Delta Airlines flight attendants, both equally fail.
-
Jul 26, 2010 7:12:12 PM CDT
I LIKE HOW THE THEME IS FUNKY 70S RIFFS + ORCHESTRAL SCORE
by bringingsexyback
The ship looks like a lizard.
-
I remember playing with that alot and it fit right in with my Star Wars toys. The coolest part was that you could remove the rear thrusters and the front cockpit and make a smaller shuttle. In fact, I still have one or two of those thruster cones laying in boxes of toys in my Fathers attic.
-
the standard def. would be the same as the blu with it being so old 2 me
-
I had such a crush on officer Castle.
-
Don't know if anyone posted this idea, if so sorry. Wouldn't want to use 1999 as title but the concept is still a good one and with the right creative team would make a good sci-fi series.
-
If you liked Sci-Fi from that era, this will give you freakin GEEK_GASMS.
This is some very good photoshop work.http://www.scifiairshow.com/ -
Jul 26, 2010 8:45:31 PM CDT
Harry should play "Dragons Domain" at BNATron!
by the reluctant austinite
Wouldn't the "Dragons Domain" episode of "Space:1999" make a cool theater experience between features at BNAT 12? I'm just going to call it Butt-Numb-A-Tron this year cuz you know "Tron: Legacy" is going to be a sure thing.
-
...but there are a few other 1st season gems. The show really lived or died by its guest stars. Earthbound has Christopher Lee and Roy Dotrice and a nice TZ ending. Kevin Stoney in The Last Enemy. Leo McKern in The Infernal Machine. And even Peter Cushing in The Missing Link. When they stuck to "hard" science, it wasn't too bad, either. The Infernal Machine, Earthbound, The Last Enemy, War Games, and Voyager's Return. It's the hippy-dippy stuff like Black Sun (ooh, a female God), Matter of Life and Death, Another Time Another Place, Ring Around the Moon, and more are the ones that drag the show down.
-
Wow, that rocks! I know they're probably just plywood and balsa, but man that must've taken a frak load of work to build all those mock-ups. I will definitely be going there soon to see some of those things.
-
A UK company called "Product Enterprise" produced a line of die-cast replicas of the Transporter/Medical-Rescue/Cargo/Lab/VIP Eagles from 12-to-24 inches in size; starting back in 2004. These were physically manufactured in China and also imported through a company called Aoshima in Japan (fully legit, with the 24-inch replicas being endorsed by Gerry Anderson). These replicas were a little too heavy/expensive to be considered 'toys' but are sturdy and impressive, with all the outer framework and carriage detail. They were about $80-100 each at the time, and are about as damn fine a replica you could find without building a resin & brass kit yourself. The UK company seems to have turned into "Sixteen 12" collectibles and re-issued the Eagles again in a limited run (which seems to be sold out). Check on eBay for 'Product Enterprise Eagle' if you're wanting an Eagle to display...they're very accurate, even at the 12-inch size.
http://shop.ebay.com/?_nkw=Product+Enterprise+Eagle
http://www.sixteen12.com/s1999_eagle.html
http://www.hlj.com/product/AOS09095 -
kicked serious ass. Especially when you took the front and the rockets to make that small shuttle. The books and records were nice too, from Power records. A review coming soon on http://assmints.com/blog/
-
Case Study from the BBC's Post Production team that Re-Mastered the footage for conversion to HD.
Interesting read:
http://bit.ly/cWabSH -
Jul 26, 2010 9:51:55 PM CDT
I see I'm not the only one that got nightmares from Dragon's Dom
by yamato
Scared the crap out of me. The eagle, by the way is still the best sci-fi (and I mean sci-fi, not fantasy) ship ever made.
-
Lame effort by people with a distant, peculiar weirdness: The Andersons. I'm not sure they were human. Some of their shows were unintentionally entertaining, some were just plain poorly done, all had a feeling of terminal "off-ness". Gerry & Sylvia were not normal.
-
...that people are going to die in droves. I remember when I was a kid thinking that if there were lyrics for the theme, it would be something like "Doomed! Doomed! Soooo Doomed...Doomed! We're...all gonna die! We are so Doomed!!" Just insert doomed where the high brass notes hit. Really, has there ever been a show where the heroes were so totally screwed? Even with Galactica they could navigate. And man, even the NICE aliens were creepy bastards who didn't help very much. I haven't seen it in a while but it seemed to me like EVERYONE was out to get them.
Seriously, the only episode I remember that gave me a good feeling at the end was the one where they go to the extinct planet and the Aliens(ghosts of them or something?) convince two of the Alphans to stay and do the Adam and Eve thing. Does anyone remember any other episode that had a happy ending?
Dragon's Domain gave me nightmares as well. I still think it's one of the scariest things I've ever seen. -
...instead of those crappy, truly bad monster flicks they run. ugh.
-
They've been working on re-editing, correcting continuity/effects errors and pacing. It's an interesting project, but there are issues that just can't fixed, but it does show that the show could be re-imagined and updated. While I love the show, it's more for the concept and production design than the actual storytelling.
-
Yes, but there's a difference between the usual shooting "safe" in 4:3 where you shoot wide to account for old-fashioned overscan and there's a text-safe inner border, or shooting wide to allow for other aspect ratios. It happened with film-to-tv where you'd compose for 1.85 (American) or 1.66 to 1 but leave the header and footer on a 35mm frame clear so you wouldn't lose info on telly (still disrupts the composition but at least it's better than pan & scan) hence the occasional boom mike dip, but it generally never went the other way around.
So I will wait & see. Like I say, what they did with Thunderbirds sucked. I'll check that link though. Thanks guys. -
Jul 27, 2010 1:01:26 AM CDT
My penis had a mad crush on Catherine Schell / Maya...
by dickballsworth
Eyebrows and all.
-
Your penis has eyebrows?
-
The most plausible and realistic spaceship design in Sci-fi history ever. Fact.
-
I love Space 1999. It was around 1975 and I was very excited to be sitting down ready to watch this weeks UFO [the show was being repeated after being away for 4 years... I was 5 when I first watched it...TERRIFYING!!!] and some bloody show called Space 1999 was on.. WHAT!!! I sat down, very dissapointed and was carried away by Breakaway. I wanted to be Alan Carter and fly Eagles..I also began to realise that this show was from the same stable as UFO... I was totally hooked. Having said that UFO is my total favorite series...EVER! Does anyone know anymore about the film that New Deal/pacific Transmedia and Matthew Gratzner are putting together? Apparently filming starts in November with Joshua Jackson and locations include England and Costa Rica?? Any news much appreciated by all the members of FANDERSON!! Cheers.
-
Uh, SPACE $19.99 was what happened when the planned second season of UFO (a far superior series in my opinion) fell through due to CBS pulling out of the deal. They'd already designed new sets and figured "let's come up with a series to use them on." 1999 had terrific model work, yes, but a lot of the stories were pretty pathetic. Not to mention the basic premise simply doesn't hold up. In the pilot they clearly state the acceleration the moon is hit with, and the duration of that acceleration. Given this, we can easily calculate that the moon would still be trying to get out of our solar system by the end of the first season. And don't get me started on those silly laser pistols which looked like staple guns. If you're a fan, though, look up SPACE: 2261 where fans took the 1999 opening format, but used scenes from BABYLON 5 instead. It's a hoot.
-
It's one of the most atmospheric and dark sci-fi shows ever made. Plus the Eagles are my all time favourite space ship design!
-
Some shows were good like that guy who steals the ship to fly home but ends up awake alone screaming as his ship flies tiwards earth as he will die before he gets there As the cryo unit didn't work for him. Some were good but However most episodes sucked.
-
A submaring that launches a jet fighter from below was one of the best vehicles from UFO (Next to the gulf wing cars)but The Eagle, looked like a bloated Lego contruction. As far as I can remember, the fucking thing didnt have any weapon systems.Like I said, Lame!
-
That's the one where Koenig and Maya have to fight the three monsters on the survival planet. I'd have been like, "Yeah, whatever" and had sex with Maya all day and night
-
Grew up with the show, here in Canada it ran in 1974 and 1977. I also had the Eagle 1 toy (loved playing with that, made lots of the other ships from Lego)
Season 1 has some good SF stories, lots of weirdness (a good thing!) but it is very slow storytelling.
Season 2, not as good theme song, Catherine Schell's Maya (a plus), Tony (a minus), more mundane "adventure" stories and even more reliance on alien races with funny haircuts, makeup and stuff stuck to their faces.
Still enjoyed it but it was not possible to do more than 2 at a time. -
Loved how the back flipped over to reveal the gun. Thunderbirds toys too. Gerry Anderson was a big part of growing up in early '70s Canada.
http://www.theoldtoyguide.com/diecast/dinky/dinky-ufo-shado-2-mobile-353.html -
Worked on the effects for 1999 also was effects supervisor for Empire Strikes Back. Eagles were good, Millenium Falcon = best
-
From those fighter planes piloted by Female Spectre Agents (Rhapsody,Harmony and Destiny)to the tank like car.Now that was a great series and very violent for a children's show.The CGI series was even better. (Too bad it's no longer available on the cable networks.)never cared for Terrahawks or 1999 but that's just my tatses.
-
I'm concerned with how they're able to take a shit.
-
Jul 27, 2010 1:32:21 PM CDT
Brian Johnson from AC/DC worked on "Space;1999"?
by the reluctant austinite
-
Wish Gerry Anderson had got as much talent writing his scripts as he did for the Model makers and Theme tune writers. He stop developing writing talent them after Four Feather Falls
-
Stalkeyes - It is true the Eagle transports had no weapons in the first season, but they were transports, they weren't supposed to be armed. Look at the Hercules or the Galaxy transports the army uses. They're usually unarmed. In $19.99 fighting was left to specialized craft such as the Mk IX Hawks. But, by the second season, they had retrofitted a nose-mounted heavy laser on some Eagles.
-
This was the biggest landmark in my sci-fi nerd childhood, between Trek and Wars. Loved how the ships and hardware looked believable, like logical extentions of the machinery NASA was using at the time. It seemed so exciting to my young mind that I might have the chance to live or work in space. 1999 wasn't that far off after all. Well the future didn't quite turn out the way these shows predicted but I remember well the excitement they used to bring me every week. Watching them now, the nostalgia is still there but it makes me wonder... did people just not know much about science in the 70s? Was it aimed at children? Some of the moral questions the show raised are still interesting but the science is pretty silly at times.
I'm guessing these Blu-Rays will allow us to see the strings on the Eagle's even more clearly than the DVDs did! Flaws in the effects aside, the set design, lighting and photography was and still is really striking. On season one at least. -
Just read back over these and saw I'm not the only one with stand-out memories of this episode.
The main thing I remember is that my grandparents seemed to dislike the show and this happened to be the one that was on when I invited them to watch it with me and see why I liked it so much.
I had no idea we were going to be watching this tentacle-monster eating people and spitting out burned corpses! I'd never seen ANYTHING like that before at my age. My grandparents were actually shielding their eyes. From then on, I was banished to watching Space: 1999 on a tiny black and white TV in the basement.
It wasn't until the VHS tapes came out some years ago that I was able to finally see the show in color! -
to watch that show in '76 (we had to turn the dial first:click-click-click-click). I kept dreaming of a spacesuit, an Eagle and a Maya of my own! Good times.
-
Made me fill my jammies. And the other one where (SPOILERS) the caveman instantaneously rots into a putrid skeleton at the end of the episode, and the one where Koenig gets his face mashed into bloody pulp with a metal toy biplane, and, of course, the one where the moonbase director asshole wakes up in his sealed hypersleep cabin just after liftoff for a century long trip. Thinking about it, there was a lot of scary and twisted shit going on in the first season!
-
Season 1, the show was written for thinkers and it was awesome. It holds up well even though it is very much steeped in the memes of the 70'
Season 2 pandered to a lower denominator.
I would love to see a movie made from it by a fan of Season 1. I guess they would have to call it Moonbase Alpha though. -
Well worth seeing in Hi Def. Agree that the first season was the cerebral one, and Year 2 was made to be more like Star Trek, so it lost its originality. There is a web site of Canadian TV professionals working to update the show by enhancing the very good 70s effects with some additional CGI. They are renaming the show Space:2099. So far those who own the legal rights to Space:1999 haven't agreed to allow the show this updated life, but the Space:2099 web site shows examples of the improvements... There are lots of Space:1999 fans out there, and another convention dedicated to the show was held this year. I think it was the 17th or 18th Space:1999 convention held in the United States.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 455 total posts 231 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 127 total posts 118 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 108 total posts 108 posts
- Rest In Peace Bethesda’s Adam Adamowicz -- 84 total posts 84 posts
- Wanna smell like the Hulk? What about Cap? Consider yourself a Thunder God or a unisex God of Mischief? -- 65 total posts 64 posts
- Ridley Scott's Next Will Be Cormac McCarthy's THE COUNSELOR! -- 53 total posts 53 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 50 total posts 50 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 98 total posts 46 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 169 total posts 43 posts
- Quint travels to Barsoom and visits the John Carter set!!! -- 132 total posts 42 posts