Press Release Imprint Press Release: Space:1999 Ultimate Edition (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[ScottRE]

Interesting, I didn't know that. That would be fascinating to see.

 

[Dave Moritz]

With all the other titles on my list to buy and the fact I already purchased the complete blu-ray set already I might just have to pass on this.

 

[Randy Korstick]

I'm a huge Gerry and Sylvia Anderson fan and love all their super marionette shows and I'm a huge fan of the series U.F.O. but for some reason I always want to like Space 1999 more than I actually do. Its just a little too slow for me. It always feels like they are really good 30 minute episodes stretched out to an hour. I like it but my Network on Air season1 and 2 blu ray set is all I need.

 

[TJPC]

You have pointed out why very very few Canadians actually watched Canadian shows, especially of this era. Watch and try to like say “The Star Lost” for instance.

They all seem to be glacially slow and made on a budget of $1.25. Unless CBC was your only choice, all antennas were aimed at the US networks.

 

[ScottRE]

The Starlost had a great opening theme.

It went to hell from there.

 

[jcroy]

You have pointed out why very very few Canadians actually watched Canadian shows, especially of this era. Watch and try to like say “The Star Lost” for instance.

They all seem to be glacially slow and made on a budget of $1.25. Unless CBC was your only choice, all antennas were aimed at the US networks.

Similar sort of thing happened in East Germany, where most of the country could receive West Germany tv signals. So hardly anybody was watching the East German networks.

The exception was around Dresden, where the geographical location made it difficult to receive West Germany tv signals. An entire generation or two who didn't know any tv outside of East German propaganda networks.

 

[TJPC]

My relatives, who lived 600 miles north of us, near the Quebec border, with no access to cable had only 3 TV stations. One was only French, one was owned by the person who owned the local record store and who displayed only still ads and played music, and the CBC.

They would talk about shows I guess we also got, but which we never heard of.

 

[jcroy]

My relatives, who lived 600 miles north of us, near the Quebec border, with no access to cable had only 3 TV stations. One was only French, one was owned by the person who owned the local record store and who displayed only still ads and played music, and the CBC.

They would talk about shows I guess we also got, but which we never heard of.

Sounds like a cultural divide.

Strangest stories I heard of were folks who left/defected from East Germany during the cold war. The feds could tell right away if someone was from Dresden or other areas which didn't receive West Germany tv signals. Such folks had a very naive view of the west.

In contrast, folks originally from East Berlin, Leipzig, Thuringia, etc ... were familiar with the bad parts of the west from watching so much west german tv. No illusions of the west being much better.

 

[BobO'Link]

The Starlost had a very interesting premise but the lack of a proper budget absolutely killed any hope for the series. All that chromakey (aka blue screen) work looks pathetic - even by broadcast standards of the day (I worked in a small market broadcast TV station then and we could and *did* do better every day).

 

[ScottRE]

The Starlost had a very interesting premise but the lack of a proper budget absolutely killed any hope for the series. All that chromakey (aka blue screen) work looks pathetic - even by broadcast standards of the day (I worked in a small market broadcast TV station then and we could and *did* do better every day).

I'm not a huge fan of remakes in general, especially of successful films or TV series (since they already did them right the first time), but when a good concept is done in by poor execution, I think it deserve another go. The Starlost would make a potentially great serialized SF series. I would be okay with another try at it.

As far as Space:1999, my feelings about this series are irrational and strong. I never tire of it, my love for both years is unwavering. There are a handful of shows I'll buy over and over again until I get what I consider the most complete and perfect representation of it. As long as they keep adding content to the sets, I imagine I will keep on buying Space:1999.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

The New York office saw the two hours “Breakaway” and reported back to Gerry Anderson
who had to re-cut/re-shoot the pilot on the spot.

Here's an excerpt from Gerry's autobiography, for those who might be interested:

The New York office assured me that Lee Katzin was "the best pilot director in America, remembers Gerry. The schedule to shoot the first episode was ten days, but it overran and we were soon tens of thousands of pounds over budget.

Katzin finished editing his footage and screened the completed 'Breakaway' for Gerry. It ran for over two hours, he remembers, and I thought it was awful. He went back to America, and I sent a cutting copy of the episode to Abe Mandell. Abe phoned me in a fit of depression, saying, "Oh my God it's terrible - what are we going to do?" I wrote a lot of new scenes myself, and these were filmed over three days. I'm pretty sure I directed them myself. I then totally recut the episode to 50 minutes, integrating the new footage.'

As for whether this material still exists. Anything is possible, I suppose, but considering Network had access to all the original elements (including separate audio tracks) in their remastering, one would think that footage would have turned up if it existed in the archive.

As for the extended version of "The Metamorph", according to The Catacombs website, the longer version aired on a few stations as a 'sneak preview', so even though the 35mm film may no longer exist, it appears some off-air VHS/Beta recordings exist, since the article is illustrated with screen grabs.

 

[JohnHopper]

As for whether this material still exists. Anything is possible, I suppose, but considering Network had access to all the original elements (including separate audio tracks) in their remastering, one would think that footage would have turned up if it existed in the archive.

Thanks for the reminder. Like you stated, anything is possible. Network has the elements from the UK
but in America who knows: the New York may have kept the old copy sent by Anderson or
perhaps the estate of Lee H. Katzin has it. Who knows?

 

[ScottRE]

I'd really love to see The Metamorph in its earlier form. Just for giggles.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Thanks for the reminder. Like you stated, anything is possible. Network has the elements from the UK
but in America who knows: the New York may have kept the old copy sent by Anderson or
perhaps the estate of Lee H. Katzin has it. Who knows?

I highly doubt Katzin had it. Despite the fact he had a hand in the initial editing of his episodes, he was a jobbing director, and although he was supposed to be in the main rotation of directors for Year One, he wasn't asked back when "Black Sun" had just as much time over-runs as "Breakaway" did ('Breakaway' took 23 days to film--not counting Gerry's reshoots; 'Black Sun' took 3-1/2 weeks. Only two weeks were allotted for filming per episode).

ITC-NY might have retained the print, but suspect they'd have either sent it back to the UK or junked once the preferred, recut version was made final. I doubt it'd still be in NYC after all this time (and after ITC being bought/sold long ago).

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I'm happy with the shout factory set, but would jump for joy if Shout brought the UFO series to blu here in the states

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Thank you for supporting HTF when you preorder using the link below. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link. As an Amazon Associate HTF earns from qualifying purchases

 

[Wiseguy]

If a series as 48, 79 or 110, nobody says you have to go back and watch them repeatedly or binge. If you buy any series that you've already watched, it stands to reason that it's because you want to watch it again and again. If you binge watch it over and over, sure you'll run dry of shorter run shows pretty quickly. I tend to watch a show until the mood passes and I go on to another.

As far as TV reruns, Friends plays constantly. My wife watches it every night. I've walked into the same episode a few times now. I'm kinda sick of it. You can wear out a long running show too. When it's in your personal library, you're the one in control of when you watch something.

It's all personal preference but I have no problem with short run shows and revisiting them over time. There is a greater chance that I'll actually watch the entire series. With a really long running show, I'll give up long before it ends. Simply because I moved on to something else. I also don't binge so much. I watch an episode when I'm in the mood for it. So really, it's very rare that I'll watch a series from beginning to end and never do a full run more than once.

I don't binge anything. As I've already stated, I watched the original run of Space: 1999 (once a week), the original syndication run (5/week, hardly bingeing). This was all before home-recording was possible. Then comes the Columbia House videos (once/month), not even sure if I watched the Year 2 episodes. Then I got copies from another person's laser disc collection to fill the ones missing from the Columbia House videos around the time of the Sci-Fi broadcasts. Even though I taped them to have the edited versions, I'm not sure I watched them over completely. Then came the DVDs, and again I'm not sure I watched them completely until 2015 for the 40th anniversary matching the original local airdates (once a week). And still the repetition got to me. And I was a BIG fan of the series (Year 1 anyway). Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten the DVDs in the first place. Even if I were a fan of all 48 episodes it wouldn't have made that much difference.

And Friends has 236 episodes. If you don't like it, sure you'll get tired of any episodes, but if you're a fan those 236 episodes make it much more likely to endure repeated viewings.

 

[ScottRE]

I guess it's a matter of preference. Space:1999 - I never seem to tire of it. I do re-watches regularly. If something is in my library and on a shelf rather than say in a box where I keep the barely accessed stuff for historical value, I can rewatch it whenever and not really get tired of it. Wither it's 12 years of Hawaii Five-O or 39 episodes of The Honeymooners, I go back to them often. Obviously, I don't watch all 12 years of Hawaii Five-O over and over. I saw the series in its entirety twice and then cherry pick episodes according to mood. Some shows, like Dallas and St. Elsewhere, I'll rewatch from start to finish over time. But a show with a short run actually appeals to me more because watching the entire run is less time consuming. I'll revisit Space:1999, The Master, The Green Hornet, The Immortal, The Magician and other short run shows because I can get the entire experience in less time. I'm usually sad there aren't more episodes, but having fewer episodes doesn't count as a mark against for me. I just like spending time in those worlds with the characters, even if I've seen the same stories a dozen times. I've watched the 79 episode of Star Trek so many times over the last 50 years, I've lost count. It's like being with old friends who tell the same stories over and over.

 

[JohnHopper]

I guess it's a matter of preference. Space:1999 - I never seem to tire of it. I do re-watches regularly.

I agree with you. I own both the DVD and the BD from Network.
Incidentally, what's your top ten season 1?

 

[JohnHopper]

TOP TEN SEASON 1 FROM SPACE: 1999

1. Black Sun (MUF at its best)
2. Another Time, Another Place (the doppelgänger at its best, death figure)
3. Guardian Of Piri (the false idol, mutiny, AI as death, fanatism, possession, one man against the community, dystopia)
4. Force Of Life (Expressionism at its best, possession, vampyrism, invader killer)
5. Collision Course (MUF at its best, haunted house, one man against the community, mutiny)
6. Death’s Other Dominion (science without moral, fanatism, dystopia)
7. End Of Eternity Expressionism at its best, science without moral, one man against the community, the prince of darkness, invader killer)
8. War Games (MUF at its best)
9. The Troubled Spirit (Expressionism at its best, the doppelgänger at its best, invader killer)
10. The Testament Of Arkadia (MUF at its best, fanatism)