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SPACE: 1999 Season 2 Coming To Blu-Ray! (1 Viewer)

Mark Cappelletty

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So what happened to Season 2? I would have thought it would be a lock for an Xmas release, but it seems to have disappeared off the radar. What gives?
 

MBrousseau

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As much as I want it bad, I'm not surprised season 2 release seems delayed or push back to an uncertain street date. I'm afraid all this was a rumour. Network never had plans for series 2 to come out in blu-ray. So how could E&A possibly have a north american release?
 

Kevin L McCorry

Second Unit
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The last Season 2 release was in 2002. And that will be the last. This is twice now that Network reneged on an announced Season 2 release. It's not going to happen. Not ever. And the so-called fans are pleased for that. All they ever wanted was a Season 1 only release and for Season 2 to disappear into obscurity. Well, a proportional obscurity. The entire show is in obscurity, actually. ...
At the very least, getting Season 1 to visually appear a whole lot better than Season 2 has been accomplished. Of course, it hasn't been accomplished by fair and level means (BD Vs. DVD as opposed to BD Vs. BD). But when has fairness been modus operandi of the Season 1 "camp"?
Rant off. Back to my collection of Season 1 BDs and Season 2 DVDs. Which is how it always shall be.
 

Nebiroth

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For me the differences in the two seasons boil down to this: season one has a very unique feel to it, in many ways it is almost unique as a TV show, with it's coldy scientific, cerebral, clinical air. This tends to add to it's "epic grandeur" feel - many of the episodes feel more like excerpts from a movie rather than TV episodes - in many ways they remind me of the section of 2001 set aboard the Discovery. This is helped by the extremely ambitious, and very impressive, effects sequences which were utterly stunning for their time and remain impressive today, with an obviously lavish budget. The performances from Landau and Bain - and indeed, most of the cast - are derided as stiff and lacking in emotional content, but they absolutely fit with the series. I am hard-pressed to think of any series that is quite like S1.
On the other hand, S2 is really nothing more than a rather average SF "monster in a rubber suit" TV show. In fact, aside from the title it is almost unrecognisable, they are so different. The quality of the effects, for example, takes a big hit - I remember my first viewings of the episodes and wondering what the hell had happened, because the series that had previously given us extravaganzas like "The Last Enemy" and "War Games" was now producing such painfuly obvious and unconvincing model shots (like the disco-lights city in "Journey to Where").
Whilst S1 had some lacklustre episodes (like "Missing Link") I am hard-pressed to think of any actually bad ones. S2 on the othe rhand, had some plain poor stories that were badly written and had all the subtlety of a crowbar to the skull - it was just so obvious that the writers had been ordered "look, just get a monster in it, and big up the romance angle". So we got episodes like "The Rules of Luton" and "The Taybor"
It does rise above things on occasion, probably the finest episodes are "Bringers of Wonder", which is very good indeed.
 

Kevin L McCorry

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I can't be bothered arguing about S1 Vs. S2. On any level. Superficial or otherwise.
What does it matter? We're all Fukushima-ed anyway.
 

Nelson Au

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Woah, Fukushima-ed! First time I've seen anyone use that term.
Call me optimistic that it's just going to take a while longer before a release. It's not my favorite season either, but I'd like to own it.
 

Kevin L McCorry

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Perhaps nuked would be a better term. ... It refers to the amounts of radioactive particles coming our way since March and accumulating in our air, water, and food. Not just the short-half-life I-131 but the 30-year-half-life Caesium-137 and Strontium-90. To say nothing of Plutonium. I read that Neptunium and Americium have recently been detected in eastern North America (i.e. Boston). Both of them decay to Plutonium. And there's no end in sight to the release of radioactive particles into the jet stream. They're talking in terms of decades. The Russians got Chernobyl entombed within days.
You know, the Earth depicted in the Space: 1999 episode, "Journey to Where", may soon be a reality. I doubt if we humans have the ingenuity to build those enclosed cities, though. What "Journey to Where" depicted for the environment on Earth may turn out to be the one future development Space: 1999 got right. ... Unless a cure for cancer is found or we do build those cities, our generations will not live anywhere near as long as our parents did. :(
But however long we live, one thing we won't see is a full BD release of Space: 1999.
 

MBrousseau

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I don’t really see the point of discussing again of the quality of season 1 vs season 2 episodes. This thread is about that great interest, for some fans, to get season 2 in blu-ray, meaning having the complete Space :1999 series. I think we should respect that. There’s no reason to snob season 2. If Network or A&E are reading these comments, for sure, they won’t invest time and money into that project and I wouldn’t blame them.
 

Brett*H

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MBrousseau said:
I don’t really see the point of discussing again of the quality of season 1 vs season 2 episodes. This thread is about that great interest, for some fans, to get season 2 in blu-ray, meaning having the complete Space :1999 series. I think we should respect that. There’s no reason to snob season 2. If Network or A&E are reading these comments, for sure, they won’t invest time and money into that project and I wouldn’t blame them.
Good points, Martin. I love both seasons of this show for different reasons and want both seasons on Blu-ray.
Also, for anyone that's interested, I used the "contact us" form on the A&E website and asked them when Season Two on Blu was going to be released and this was the reply I received:
Subject
---------------------------------------------------------------
Space 1999 Season 2 Blu-ray
Discussion Thread
---------------------------------------------------------------
Response (Samantha) - 11/14/2011 10:49 AM
Dear Brett,
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, we do not have any release date information for that title at this time.
If you need any further assistance, please let us know.
Best regards,
Samantha
Customer Service
------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess it could have been worse and she could have said that they have NO plans for releasing this title.
Maybe we'll see some news about the release within the next month. I really wanted to see Season 2 released by Christmas but I would rather that A&E take their time and do it right instead of giving us some lame excuse of a release like some of the studios (....*cough* 20th Century Fox *cough*...) do with so many of their titles.
I know a lot depends on the prints that are given to A&E but I am hoping for the same quality and care for Season 2 that was put into the restoration for the first season of Space: 1999.
 

SWFF

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I emailed Network a few days ago asking them if there was any validity to that rumor they were working on season 2 for blu, well, here's the depressing reply I got. Perhaps, not too depressing since the only eps I like from that season 2 is the two-part THE BRINGERS OF WONDER:

Hello,

Thank you for your email.

I am afraid that this is just a fan rumour and we do not currently have
this scheduled for release.

Please keep an eye on the Network website for updates on all new and
forthcoming titles.

Kind regards,
Network
 

Kevin L McCorry

Second Unit
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Dec 13, 2004
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325
It's not being worked on. It never was. There's too much antipathy toward S2 and S2 fans on the part of so many influential people (including those who could have done the remastering work). They got S1 released and want that and only that to represent Space: 1999. There will never be a Blu-Ray release or even a remastered DVD release of S2. Not even a re-release by Network of the old Carlton sets.
There it is in black and white. No plans. Fan rumour only. That's all it ever was.
 

Kevin EK

Reviewer
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I'm not sure that this was all fan rumor. This whole discussion was started by Bill Hunt at Digital Bits. Maybe someone could contact him and see if he knows what's up?

His last update is at the top of this thread, saying that A&E was working on it but that there was no set release date due to the amount of work.
 

Kevin L McCorry

Second Unit
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Certain influential people doubtless scuppered the release at some early point after Bill Hunt's report. There will never be a release because there's no one in a position of influence pushing for it. We're fortunate to have had any DVD release at all and should be grateful for Scott Bosco's championing of the cause. Those DVDs upscaled are as good as S2 will ever look.
 

SWFF

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Just PM'd Bill Hunt through facebook asking if he has heard anything further. Now, we all just have to wait for him to reply.
 

SWFF

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Bill just got back to me saying: "All I can tell you is what I've been told by A&E, which is that it's coming.



  • No idea when, but it's still in the works."


Strange, why, then, would Network tell me it's not in the works? Assuming Bill has got the right info.
 

Kevin EK

Reviewer
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Network must not be involved at all, at least not at this time. A&E may be doing this on their own, and taking their time with it.
 

ReggieW

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Mar 6, 2001
Messages
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I trust Bill Hunt.
Perhaps Network is being a bit more tight-lipped about it than A&E. If year one sold well on Blu-ray, it seems only logical that they would release year 2. I'm not sold on the year 2 will not happen because of the fan displeasure angle, because if that were really the case, we probably wouldn't have had a year 2 dvd release to begin with.
 

Nelson Au

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Messages
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Straight forward answer based on what A&E has told him at the time. Thanks for passing that on!
 

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