Space 1999 DVD/Blu-Ray Question (1 Viewer)

[Randy*S]

I know that the Blu-Ray would have the better picture but is it really worth twice the price? Does the Blu-Ray version have exclusive extras or is the content the on both versions? Thanks for the help!

Randy

 

[Elite.hometheater]

Not only the picture but the sound quality if also much improved, another perk are the speacial features..

isaiah
elite home theater
www.elitehometheateraustin.com
Home theater tv audio video installations

 

[Randy*S]

Thanks Isaiah, I appreciate it.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

since the US never got the Network DVD release (which was prepared from the same HD masters as the blu-ray sets), there's a much bigger increase in picture quality and amount of extras versus people in R2 land (and importers like myself) who bought the Network DVD.

 

[PatrickGoodluck]

I got the R2 dvd releases also but it sounds like the B-R release would be worth buying in terms of superior quality and extra features.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

I got the R2 dvd releases also but it sounds like the B-R release would be worth buying in terms of superior quality and extra features.

If you got the Network R2 DVDs, the bonus features are mostly the same (if not identical). If you got the earlier Carlton DVDs, then yes, there are many different extras and much improved picture quality (they were made from different, non-HD masters, as was the case with the A&E set).

 

[PatrickGoodluck]

If you got the Network R2 DVDs, the bonus features are mostly the same (if not identical). If you got the earlier Carlton DVDs, then yes, there are many different extras and much improved picture quality (they were made from different, non-HD masters, as was the case with the A&E set).

Ahh I see. I have the complete Carlton DVD set as well as the R2 Year 1 30th anniversary edition, which I bought in addition purely for the improved quality and extra bonus features.
http://www.ezydvd.com.au/DVD/space-1999-year-1-30th-anniversary-edition-7-disc-box-set/dp/808898

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Ahh I see. I have the complete Carlton DVD set as well as the R2 Year 1 30th anniversary edition, which I bought in addition purely for the improved quality and extra bonus features.
http://www.ezydvd.com.au/DVD/space-1999-year-1-30th-anniversary-edition-7-disc-box-set/dp/808898

Yes, that 30th Anniversary one is the Network one (though the link shows the R4 release instead of the UK R2 one). No idea which country you're in, but the US blu-ray of Year One is in DeepDiscount.com's buy-one-get-one-free TV on DVD sale. I should point out that the US and UK sets are identical except the US set has an edit or two in the special features, deleting some of the Sylvia Anderson interview footage that is a bit critical (either about her husband or the Landaus, I forget which). Also, the US boxart is a bit rubbish, but that's purely superficial.

 

[kingfish]

when is season 2 coming to blu-ray?

 

[AndyMcKinney]

when is season 2 coming to blu-ray?

Still "under construction", presumably. As mid-2014 will soon be upon us, it would be nice for an official update, but I don't know of any additional news since this announcement was posted in 2012: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Space-1999-Season-2-Blu-ray/17503

We should probably assume that it's still (slowly) being worked on.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Although this isn't an update about a blu-ray release, here is at least a sign that Network haven't been sitting on their backsides:

Via Gerry Anderson's official Facebook "Thanks to our lovely sponsors - Network - we'll be screening (for the very first time) the brand new, and fully restored, HD transfer of both parts of The Bringers of Wonder at Andercon!"

Here's hoping that maybe there will be an update at the convention on when we might expect a blu-ray release (or, at least, an update on how much work has been done vs. how much still needs to be done).

 

[Bryan^H]

Here's hoping that maybe there will be an update at the convention on when we might expect a blu-ray release (or, at least, an update on how much work has been done vs. how much still needs to be done).

Yes, hopefully.

 

[kingfish]

bringers of wonder was one of the best episodes of season 2.

 

[Kevin EK]

Sorry I didn't notice this thread earlier.

I did a review of the Space: 1999 Series One Blu-ray back in late 2010. I found it to be completely worthwhile and gave it a high recommendation.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/300899-htf-blu-ray-review-space-1999-season-one-highly-recommended/

I noted that, yes, the Blu-ray sets for Network in the UK and A&E in the US are nearly identical. The Sylvia Anderson interview is actually identical to what is on the UK release. From my review: "The only extras not included in the Blu-ray set are a 2 ½ minute segment on the Space: 1999 visual effects from the BBC series Horizon, a 30 second commercial for a Lyons Maid “ice lolly”, a reprint of the 2005 booklets, and some PDFs (of scripts, Annuals, a flyer and some episode synopses)."

I also noted that the extras are actually expanded from the earlier Network R2 DVD release, in that the "These Episodes" materials now cover several further episodes of Series One.

So if you have the 2005 R2 Network DVD set, this one has more extra features. If you only have the earlier A&E DVDs, this one has WAY more features. And in either case, you're getting pristine high definition copies of all the episodes, plus an HD copy of Series 2's "The Metamorph" as a bonus from another source. To my mind, it's a no-brainer to pick this one up if you're a fan of the series and have an HDTV.

I also noted at the time that there was one set of extras that was actually exclusive to the A&E DVDs - from the Bonus Disc that was put out originally in the Megaset in the US and then was made available separately by A&E. That disc included several odds and ends, one part being the "Message from Moonbase Alpha" short done for the 1999 Convention. It also included three commentaries for episodes that had been remastered by A&E for various reasons. Again, from the review: "“Death’s Other Dominion” had a commentary by Scott Michael Bosco, “Dragon’s Domain” had one with writers Chris Penfold and Johnny Byrne, and “The Testament of Arkadia” had a scalding talk with Sylvia Anderson, who pulled no punches in her description of the lead actors. These commentaries unfortunately were recorded at a low level, making them harder to hear than I would prefer, and they are not scene-specific. Instead, the participants just talk freely about the series, only occasionally referring to anything onscreen. (Sylvia Anderson notes in her commentary that she’s actually recording it in the same dubbing theater where they used to do voiceovers and looping for the show back in the day.)"

I've looked at the Gerry Anderson Facebook page and the Andercon website and can't find the note about a screening of "The Bringers of Wonder". But I did find that they will be screening pieces of what could be a bonus feature on a Blu-ray in the future - behind the scenes footage shot on the set of "The Mark of Archanon" in May of 1976. This material was shot by film students at the time for a short documentary on TV and film production and apparently Network got their hands on whatever was there, including the raw footage. The idea that they're screening this footage and are discussing HD restorations of eps like "Bringers of Wonder" makes me think they may have made some progress on the Series Two Blu-ray set. The last I'd heard it was a discussion between Network and A&E over how all the work was going to be funded. It is my hope that they had compiled interviews for such a set at the same time that they did so for Series One, back in 2004 or so. It is also my hope that at some point Gerry Anderson did commentaries for a couple of episodes before time ran out. If they didn't do this back then, it will be extremely difficult to get the level of detailed information we got on Series One. Too many key players have passed, sadly.

 

[Kevin EK]

To be fair, I've just checked the Andercon Programme for this weekend, and they do indeed have screenings of HD transfers of "The Bringers of Wonder", with pt 1 playing on Saturday and pt 2 playing on Sunday.

 

[MBrousseau]

Ahwooo! "Bringers of Wonder" in high definition? The dream....

 

[kingfish]

if gerry and sylvia did not get a divorce there would have been more seasons of the show.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

if gerry and sylvia did not get a divorce there would have been more seasons of the show.

Sorry, but their divorce had absolutely nothing to do with it. Even if they had stayed together, there is no guarantee that Sylvia would have been allowed to stay on as producer.

After Year One, there was much increased pressure from ITC's New York Office/Abe Mandell to make the show "less British" and "more American". Even if Sylvia had remained in the producer's chair, Frieberger (or someone else) would have been installed as the story editor (New York wanted an American story editor, which is a role that Frieberger also filled--though not credited on-screen as such--in addition to being producer).

Frieberger (and Gerry Anderson himself) had both said that the show was on the verge of cancellation, and Fred's idea of Maya is what helped "sell" the show to ITC for a second season. Sadly, ITC weren't going to pay for another season in the same style as Year One.

It has been suggested by Martin Landau (and others) that one of the reasons there wasn't a Year Three was due to ITC chief Lew Grade wanting to get into the motion picture business and that by not producing another year of Space, he had more disposable income for Raising the Titanic.

Now, whether this is actually true (or wishful thinking on Landau's part) is probably unknowable, but I think it's safe to say that Gerry and Sylvia's split is not the reason that only 48 episodes of Space were produced.

 

[Kevin EK]

Andy is correct that the Andersons' divorce was not the cause of the demise of Space: 1999. It was definitely part of the wreckage happening in Anderson's life at that time, but one did not cause the other.

I also wonder whether Silvia Anderson would have wanted to continue on the series as it was anyway - she was clearly fed up with the American cast members, and has said so in spectacular fashion many times since then.

The perception of Space: 1999 at the time between Series One and Series Two was that the first year was too slow and strange. Starlog magazine reported on this at the time when they reviewed "The Metamorph" at the top of the second year - noting that they were happy not to be wrestling with the "mysterious unknown force" and enjoying that the episode had a clear plot and a clear resolution, as well as the characters being more relaxed around each other. Again, this was contemporary perception - from the United States.

There was very much a push to have an American producer get involved with the show to make it more palatable for the US audience. Getting Fred Freiberger was considered a plus, in that he'd worked on Star Trek in the States. Freiberger also brought a more cost-conscious operation into place, designing multiple episodes to be done as double-ups, where they'd have Martin Landau featured heavily in one episode and Barbara Bain in the other, so you could shoot both at the same time. They also reduced the size and number of the sets they were shooting. All of this meant that they could make the second year's episodes in far less time than what it took to make the first series. I believe the cost-cutting was another requirement they had to meet to make the new episodes.

Multiple people have stated, including Johnny Byrne and Catherine Schell, that ITC's movies were the actual cause of Space: 1999's demise. There had been discussion of a reduced third year of only 13 episodes, as well as a possible spin-off series with Maya, but Lew Grade needed to use the budget for publicity for his movies, including Raise the Titanic. As Schell stated "the series wasn't made and the films flopped". Barbara Bain doesn't remember the discussions about a third series but says that she felt it was time to move on anyway. Freiberger's only quotes about this indicate that a third series would have looked pretty much like the second one. He wasn't going to change anything - although he did hope that ITC might given him a bigger budget for each episode and allow them to get better guest cast.