Space:1999 Complete Series from SHOUT FACTORY! (1 Viewer)

[B-ROLL]

Maya was never to wear skirts that short on screen. From what I’ve heard, Barbara Bain had issues with anyone being more glamorous than her. Once joining the cast, Ms. Schell was not permitted to ever appear as herself in one of Maya’s transformations. I wouldn’t be shocked to hear BB kept Schell from displaying much leg. I had a massive crush on her as a wee lad, so I was always looking....

As for UFO, I enjoyed it, but yes, it was a fairly dead end series and too serious and grim for its own good. Anderson fans tend to give Year 2 of 1999 crap for dumping beloved characters without explanation, but UFO dropped a few prominent regulars during the break midway and brought in Wanda Ventham all without a word of explanation.

I don’t even know why they bothered to introduce Foster in his own episode.

1999 was a more enjoyable series for me but UFO could be fun in its own spooky way.

BB had more issues than that IMHO

 

[johnnybear]

Not that I have the UFO Blu but the sepia footage of the UFO taking off back in 1970 was done as to not disrupt the footage of the episode that people might not understand! Why the UFO was in colour while the rest of the scenes weren't has always been beyond me!
JB

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Maya was never to wear skirts that short on screen.

Maybe they had to hike it up a little so she could do that "high kick"? This was for a series of publicity stills, after all.

From what I’ve heard, Barbara Bain had issues with anyone being more glamorous than her. Once joining the cast, Ms. Schell was not permitted to ever appear as herself in one of Maya’s transformations.

That definitely goes along with everything I've read on the subject. Maybe Bain already knew of Frieberger's thoughts on the show's two leads ("they should be younger people").

As for UFO, I enjoyed it, but yes, it was a fairly dead end series and too serious and grim for its own good. Anderson fans tend to give Year 2 of 1999 crap for dumping beloved characters without explanation, but UFO dropped a few prominent regulars during the break midway and brought in Wanda Ventham all without a word of explanation.

I'm sure you're probably aware the reason for the recasting was due to the months-long gap in production, and several of the actors from the first block had found other jobs by that time. Probably the reason for no explanation was the fact that episodes (for the most part) had to be airable "in any order", so the fewer episodes that had to air at a certain point in the run, the better.

I don’t even know why they bothered to introduce Foster in his own episode.[/qutoe]

This is because Foster wasn't originally planned to be a major character. They liked him so good that they decided to go back and film an "origin" episode for him (so, that's two episodes in the run that have a prescribed order: "Identified" has to be first, and "Exposed" has to air second, third or fourth, so that it appears before any other episodes featuring Foster).

 

[Radioman970]

this is a relief. I'm working through UFO, taking way too long and S1999 was going to be next after done. I'm worried the dvds are rotten like some others in my collection. NOw I don't have to worry. otherwise not sure I'll upgrader or not. i don't even know how the dvds look.

 

[ScottRE]

That definitely goes along with everything I've read on the subject. Maybe Bain already knew of Frieberger's thoughts on the show's two leads ("they should be younger people").

I think I read in the Making of Space:1999 book (Tim Heald) that Koeng was supposed to be in his mid-30's in the 2nd year, even though Landau was obviously in his upper 40's. That was most likely Freiberger's doing, keeping the leading man the same age Captain Kirk was 10 years earlier. The same guy who considering Dr. McCoy to be Kirk's contemporary even though he was at least a decade older.

I'm sure you're probably aware the reason for the recasting was due to the months-long gap in production, and several of the actors from the first block had found other jobs by that time. Probably the reason for no explanation was the fact that episodes (for the most part) had to be airable "in any order", so the fewer episodes that had to air at a certain point in the run, the better.

Yeah, I do get that, but Virginia Lake just "appeared" (even though she had a cameo in the first episode) and was immediately familiar with Straker. They made no attempt to explain her, where they went out of their way to introduce Foster, which was probably not necessary considering this series brought in and removed characters without mention. Just a line of dialog ("Col. Lake took over for Alec Freeman last month") would have been fine and not totally confused the audience it was aired out of order. Sadly, Lake wasn't allowed to have a personality, where Freeman was at least the human side of the SHADO management. Straker was 100% the job, totally cold and impersonal. Freeman was the softer side, the one with some doubts and humanity. Lake didn't take that over, she was just as serious as everyone else. That was part of my problem with UFO. It was cold. The heroes weren't allowed to be human. Too many episodes were about the one-off guest stars and when the end credits rolled, nothing really changed. The episodes that worked were those that opened up the characters; obviously "A Question of Priorities" was amazing, "Confetti Check A-Ok" was also splendid. When the series became more high concept, it really worked for me: "Reflections in the Water" and "Timelash" were my favorites.

Space:1999 built on that and was more appealing to me. Martin Landau was a more approachable lead, who used a kind of nervous energy, and while Barbara Bain was a tad wooden at times, when she did open up, she was very good (she was a whiny crier, though and Landau couldn't shout without screaming). The stories were more involving to me.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Yeah, I do get that, but Virginia Lake just "appeared" (even though she had a cameo in the first episode) and was immediately familiar with Straker. They made no attempt to explain her, where they went out of their way to introduce Foster, which was probably not necessary considering this series brought in and removed characters without mention. Just a line of dialog ("Col. Lake took over for Alec Freeman last month") would have been fine and not totally confused the audience it was aired out of order.

I guess they figured "we've already had to do that once (with Foster), let's not bother doing that again, or the local stations will not be happy!" It just seemed like SHADO liked to rotate their crew members from assignment to assignment (Foster and Lake taking various turns on Moonbase, Nina Bary in an episode on Skydiver, Gay Ellis in an episode on Earth), etc.

As you say, though, a lot of the characters are wooden (people used to poke a lot of fun, given all the Andersons' previous TV shows were with puppets), but this was their first live-action TV series, and I'm sure what they learned here only benefited Space: 1999 (even though a lot of the same criticisms were levelled at that show, too).

 

[ScottRE]

1999 wasn't quite as bad with the woodenness, but sometimes the scripts in the first year didn't give them a lot to chew on. Most of the time, they were under a lot of pressure, but sometimes they would have some moments of levity ("The Last Sunset" and other episodes where they had hope of a better life). At least the second year addressed that, but almost too far in the opposite direction.

 

[Sam Favate]

We're six weeks away from the release and Amazon still doesn't have a blu-ray listing. Very frustrating.

 

[BobO'Link]

We're six weeks away from the release and Amazon still doesn't have a blu-ray listing. Very frustrating.

Sure they do. Ronald put this thread up on April 18th:

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/co...series-blu-ray-available-for-preorder.361694/

 

[Sam Favate]

Just as with the From the Earth To the Moon link, simply going to Amazon and typing the title in the search bar brings up nothing. Thanks for the reminder, ordering this now.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

If I must re buy S1 to Get S2 I'll wait for a Shout sale

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Yeah I double dipped looks like a nice set

 

[Brian Himes]

In today's TV 0n DVD New Round-up the extras for Shout's Space:1999 have been announced and. . . .the Message From Moonbase Alpha is not included. Here's the link to see all of the extras:

https://www.facebook.com/tvshowsondvd/posts/10157084152496063

Looks like if you want the Message extra you'll have to hold onto that old A&E Megaset.

 

[ScottRE]

Also aren't porting over the "year one" version of Seed of Destruction. It was just a "what if?" sort of thing, but I loved it. So I guess I'm keeping my UK set...

 

[Nelson Au]

I have the Year One Blu Ray but I’ll order this set too so I’ll have the second year.

Im not a huge fan of this series, but a fan still, I thought the first year was stronger. I screened a bit of The Metamorph and it was as I remembered it. Magnificent miniature effects work, but I wasn’t as enthralled by the new direction of the series. I did eagerly watch these whenever they would air it in 1976. In school everyone would say how much better it is compared to Star Trek. I was the one who was the Star Trek is better guy.

 

[Jack P]

Total bummer on Message From Moonbase Alpha. I've already for safety reasons ripped my copy to my hard drive for extra security!

 

[BobO'Link]

I have the Year One Blu Ray but I’ll order this set too so I’ll have the second year.

Im not a huge fan of this series, but a fan still, I thought the first year was stronger. I screened a bit of The Metamorph and it was as I remembered it. Magnificent miniature effects work, but I wasn’t as enthralled by the new direction of the series. I did eagerly watch these whenever they would air it in 1976. In school everyone would say how much better it is compared to Star Trek. I was the one who was the Star Trek is better guy.

I, too, have always been a "Star Trek is better than Space 1999" guy. I first saw Space 1999 on a local PBS station while in college in the early 70s and liked it but felt Landau & Bain were somewhat miscast which lessened my enjoyment of the series. I like it much better now than back then but still have that same opinion of Landau & Bain. I have a DVD set but there's a part of me that really wants the BR one - and I have it pre-ordered from Amazon.

 

[ScottRE]

Oh, yeah, I'm firmly in the "Star Trek is better category", but I adore this series. Watching it in the 70's on Saturdays, Star Trek at 6 followed by Space:1999 at 7 was just joy for this 10 year old. I love both years equally, but in different ways. As a kid year one was "the weird season" and year two was "the action season."

My top 3 all time favorite show order goes:
Star Trek
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Space:1999

 

[johnnybear]

Space 1999 is always a must have in my house! Although the original Star Trek is in that category as well!
JB

 

[ScottRE]

https://www.thedigitalbits.com/item...v-VoUApskT6s-Z8M8sQjpSoHVg4-P1mfKsIBUw0YJOLr8