I think Space: 1999's greatest achievement was its design. The whole aesthetic, from Alpha's styling to the clothing, is simply gorgeous, and easily surpasses the visuals of many series that followed.
The actual plots of Space1999 were pretty laughable but I don’t think the production design has ever been beaten, even it today’s shows. The sets and vehicles look fully functional, even the clothes look perfectly wearable despite being very 70s. Contrast this with Star Trek, with weird consoles and uniforms that look uncomfortable.
The theme is, of course, beyond reproach. I like to imagine the producers couldn’t decide between epic sci-fi chords, funk, and jangly surf guitar so the composer just said screw it and did all three.
The first sesason was solid for its time, a sort of twilight zone in space, or even a more fantastical take on Star Trek. It was less about an overarching plot or consistency or being based on a set of strict rules and more about exploring various themes, such as humans in the face of certain death. Nothing groundbreaking but the production and the actors make it work (some of them anyway - sorry, Barbara Bain is about as convincing as a piece of plywood).
Dragon's Domain has been living rent-free in my head for over two decades now even if I'm acutely aware how silly is the premise.
Long time Space:1999 fan here. I've been thinking about this a lot over the years and I agree with you; the show is best looked at as The Twilight Zone in Space. Well - first season anyway. You REALLY have to pick through the dung of second season to find a few "well, that bit was alright" moments.
I think the show worked best when it was a review of variations of loneliness.
* Dragon's Domain - Tony Cellini is burdened by the loneliness of a demon no one else sees.
* Guardian of Piri - John Koenig is surrounded by the best of the best in his senior staff. But under the "spell" of the Guardian, he has disagree with all of them and make some very lonely decisions.
* Voyager's Return - Ernst Queller is burdened by the memory of his mistake many years ago with development (and many deaths) of the Queller Drive. And it comes back to haunt him in real life, not just his imagination.
* End of Eternity - The alien Balor shows us that immortality could be the ultimate form of loneliness.
The plots are also extremely illogical and incoherent. I think though the greatest failure is in character development.
Rewatching it recently I felt like it was a drama about a really bad boss. Martin Landau's character is a terrible leader: shouty, over emotional, inclined to sudden bouts of despair, micromanaging.
It's obviously a great pity because as everyone agrees it's a beautiful show with a top notch theme.
> The actual plots of Space1999 were pretty laughable
And sooooo slooooooooow.
Given the fact that is was such an expensive (for the time) show, I really, really want to know how it is that they couldn't cough up for a writer that could produce something engaging rather than completely forgettable.
I mean it's not like SciFi was new at that point. Flash Gordon, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, etc. were more than a decade old and even Star Trek was more than 5 years old.
It took me 50 years, but I’ve finally started watching and rewatching classic and great old sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, and just good TV like: Space 1999, Blake’s 7, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Doctor Who (even Disney+ specials), Jabberwocky, Darkstar (the beach ball- a classic!), Wild Wild West (especially first season), Amazing Stories, The Ray Bradbury Theater (Drew Barrymore was in it!), IT Crowd (the Internet sits atop Big Ben), Black Books (secure door), It Came From Outer Soace, The Magnetic Monster (which actually is about radiation and theoretical “unipolar magnetism” physics which I didn’t know was a real concern then), and others.
The Omega Factor is another good one you’d like judging by the rest of your list.
Was terrified by the theme music as a child and never allowed to watch it. Managed to find it a little while ago and loved it. Only one season unfortunately.
I’ve been rewatching it recently and thought the first season was awful. The plots specifically, the aesthetics and theme music are awesome and worth watching for that alone. Haven’t gotten to the second season yet but was really hoping it improved…
Biggest disappointment was reading up on it and finding that the Anderson’s had originally intended to do a second season of UFO then changed it up to make Space 1999 instead.
Very cool seeing the old techniques described. The classic special effects teams had to be so creative. These days it’s all green screens and digital effects.
I think Space: 1999's greatest achievement was its design. The whole aesthetic, from Alpha's styling to the clothing, is simply gorgeous, and easily surpasses the visuals of many series that followed.
That, and the funky theme, of course.
I strongly agree.
The actual plots of Space1999 were pretty laughable but I don’t think the production design has ever been beaten, even it today’s shows. The sets and vehicles look fully functional, even the clothes look perfectly wearable despite being very 70s. Contrast this with Star Trek, with weird consoles and uniforms that look uncomfortable.
The theme is, of course, beyond reproach. I like to imagine the producers couldn’t decide between epic sci-fi chords, funk, and jangly surf guitar so the composer just said screw it and did all three.
The first sesason was solid for its time, a sort of twilight zone in space, or even a more fantastical take on Star Trek. It was less about an overarching plot or consistency or being based on a set of strict rules and more about exploring various themes, such as humans in the face of certain death. Nothing groundbreaking but the production and the actors make it work (some of them anyway - sorry, Barbara Bain is about as convincing as a piece of plywood).
Dragon's Domain has been living rent-free in my head for over two decades now even if I'm acutely aware how silly is the premise.
Second season is plain awful.
Long time Space:1999 fan here. I've been thinking about this a lot over the years and I agree with you; the show is best looked at as The Twilight Zone in Space. Well - first season anyway. You REALLY have to pick through the dung of second season to find a few "well, that bit was alright" moments.
I think the show worked best when it was a review of variations of loneliness.
* Dragon's Domain - Tony Cellini is burdened by the loneliness of a demon no one else sees. * Guardian of Piri - John Koenig is surrounded by the best of the best in his senior staff. But under the "spell" of the Guardian, he has disagree with all of them and make some very lonely decisions. * Voyager's Return - Ernst Queller is burdened by the memory of his mistake many years ago with development (and many deaths) of the Queller Drive. And it comes back to haunt him in real life, not just his imagination. * End of Eternity - The alien Balor shows us that immortality could be the ultimate form of loneliness.
The plots are also extremely illogical and incoherent. I think though the greatest failure is in character development.
Rewatching it recently I felt like it was a drama about a really bad boss. Martin Landau's character is a terrible leader: shouty, over emotional, inclined to sudden bouts of despair, micromanaging.
It's obviously a great pity because as everyone agrees it's a beautiful show with a top notch theme.
> The actual plots of Space1999 were pretty laughable
And sooooo slooooooooow.
Given the fact that is was such an expensive (for the time) show, I really, really want to know how it is that they couldn't cough up for a writer that could produce something engaging rather than completely forgettable.
I mean it's not like SciFi was new at that point. Flash Gordon, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, etc. were more than a decade old and even Star Trek was more than 5 years old.
For the time, it was OK. Audiences needed the time to digest some of it.
Erm, exactly? Space 1999 was "OK for the time" at its best.
You never got the equivalent of "The City on the Edge of Forever" or "Balance of Terror" or ...
Space 1999 had resources and star power. It should have kicked ass and taken names. And it just ... didn't.
Dat guitar. It lives rent free in my mind.
It took me 50 years, but I’ve finally started watching and rewatching classic and great old sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, and just good TV like: Space 1999, Blake’s 7, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Doctor Who (even Disney+ specials), Jabberwocky, Darkstar (the beach ball- a classic!), Wild Wild West (especially first season), Amazing Stories, The Ray Bradbury Theater (Drew Barrymore was in it!), IT Crowd (the Internet sits atop Big Ben), Black Books (secure door), It Came From Outer Soace, The Magnetic Monster (which actually is about radiation and theoretical “unipolar magnetism” physics which I didn’t know was a real concern then), and others.
UFO is also one I could recommend - I watched it when it first came out but didn't really understand any of it (I was about 6):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_(British_TV_series)
Part of the appeal of UFO was the music by Barry Gray. Great stuff. The opening montage always grabbed me.
And the Moonbase uniforms were very eyecatching to say the least. And some of the plots were almost as mindwarping as The Prisoner.
OTOH why did the alien craft always approach the Earth from the side where the Moon is ?
"why did the alien craft always approach the Earth from the side where the Moon is"
Presumably because they'd read the script? :-)
The Omega Factor is another good one you’d like judging by the rest of your list.
Was terrified by the theme music as a child and never allowed to watch it. Managed to find it a little while ago and loved it. Only one season unfortunately.
The Tick live action series with Patrick Warburton is unmatched. Too bad it got cancelled after nine episodes. But those are pure gold.
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Interesting, and in a way I can see a tiny bit of Space 1999 in some of Lucus's works.
I really liked the first season, but season 2 seemed to a been a bit worse, too bad the series ended too soon.
I’ve been rewatching it recently and thought the first season was awful. The plots specifically, the aesthetics and theme music are awesome and worth watching for that alone. Haven’t gotten to the second season yet but was really hoping it improved…
Biggest disappointment was reading up on it and finding that the Anderson’s had originally intended to do a second season of UFO then changed it up to make Space 1999 instead.
UFO was amazingly good
Very cool seeing the old techniques described. The classic special effects teams had to be so creative. These days it’s all green screens and digital effects.
A lot of the special effects and model work was done by Gerry Anderson of thunderbird fame. There is a lot to be said for practical effects.