Customer Reviews

Space 1999 - Set 1 [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Once upon a time, a sci-fi television show was made that was as
visually amazing as "2001: A Space Oddessy". That show was
the often overlooked and much-maligned 1974 series "Space:
1999".

"Space" was created by Gerry And Sylvia
Anderson, best known in the United States for the Supermarionation
series "Thunderbirds". After Season One, the couple split
up, and the series was irrevocably altered, much to fans' dismay. It
quickly died after a disco-fied second season.

In the pilot
episode, a nuclear explosion on the dark side of the Moon blasts it
out of the Earth's orbit. Alpha Moonbase and the 311 men and women on
it are trapped as the Moon accelerates away from our solar system. As
time passes, the Moonbase crew struggles to survive and find a new
world on which to live.

An original premise to say the least, which
is echoed all through Season One of the show.

Even to this day, the
series is still unequalled in quality effects, lighting, and set
design. The minimalist score is haunting and yet hummable. The Eagle
spacecraft, the most memorable symbol of the series, is one of the
finest and most believable space vehicles of all time.

Unlike
"Star Trek" or "Lost in Space",
"Space:1999" unapologetically asked questions without
providing answers (in other words, it made you think). There was not
an action-packed fistfight every five minutes, but rather a
conversation about man's place in the Universe. Every pretty girl was
not an excuse to tape on a revealing tinfoil bikini. In fact, gender
and race were almost never an issue, as Alphans worked side by side as
professional space farers, surviving whatever the Universe has to
throw at them. Characters were interesting, with useful dialogue, and
even bit players have something to contribute to help in a
crisis.

Unfortunately, the show came along at the same time
"Star Trek" was getting hot in syndication. When local
stations played the two shows back-to-back, "Trek" with its
action and razzle-dazzle killed off the opportunity for "Space: 1999"
to share sci-fi greatness. "Space: 1999" appeared dull and
wooden by comparison (one reviewer at the time called it
"strangely lifeless").

The series was an interesting blend
of sci-fi and subtle horror, as several Alphans meet an untimely and
often gruesome ends. There is also an overwhelming feeling of
isolation created in many First Season episodes, reflecting how the
crew is trapped on Alpha.

This set (which has been a LONG time in
coming), contains several of the best episodes from Season One of the
series. Originally shown out of order on TV, the episode "Black
Sun" was supposed to be second or third in order. The episode
shows our heroes being transported across the galaxy to a place where
solar systems are closer together (which is why Alpha could pass by
new planets every week).

After the Moon is blasted out of orbit in
"Breakaway", we are treated to one of the "cliche"
episodes of the series, where everybody gets killed, but it is all a
dream. Then "Black Sun", a metaphysical journey for the
Alphans. "Earthbound" has both Roy Dotrice and Hammer Horror
legend Christopher Lee as guest artists.

Although the clothes and
hairstyles are a bit dated, and the science not straight out of a
"Star Trek: TNG/DS9/Voyager" textbook, the series is easily
the most engrossing and amazing and pure sci-fi ever produced for
television.

Both Set 1 and Set 2 have excellent examples of the
series' stylish and thoughtful storytelling, with wonderful effects
and sparkley explosions. Martin Landau and Barbara Bain (both fresh
from "Mission: Impossible"), as well as Barry Morse
("The Fugitive"), provide the core of command on Alpha.

If
you love sci-fi, you need this series in your collection.

I was fourteen when Space: 1999 came out. I even bought the original Moonbase Alpha Manual that Starlog sold. (Didn't know it become a collector's item or I would've kept better care of it.) Anyway, I was always anxious to see this series in a collected form worthy of my hard earned dollars one day. Finally! My wish came through. I even invited my wife (who had NEVER seen it) to view it with me. We went through BOTH VHS box sets in a day! Sure, time has passed and I noticed NOW a lot of the scientific 'errors' but --hey! That's why it's called science FICTION! Taking this too seriously isn't the point. Space: 1999, ocassionally makes you think, cheer and worry about the good guys, and as far as wholesome family entertainment is concerned -- you can't go wrong! Buy it.

"Breakaway" is like most first episodes of science-fiction series: awkward and boring. You have the obligatory "welcome back, Commander" introductions by the crew and not much of a plot to hang the special effects. It's a yawner. But in "Matter of Life and Death" the series really starts to pick up dramatically. A subtle love triangle develops when Dr. Russell's long-lost husband Lee shows up inexplicably on a planet "billions of miles" from Jupiter, where he was lost in space. It's interesting to watch the real life husband and wife team of Landau and Bain play off a Martin Landau look-alike (Richard Johnson) for the role of Lee Russell. Dr. Russell shows her obvious affection for the spectre of her long-lost husband, but she holds her emotions in check as she comes realize the personage may not be the real Lee Russel....

What happened to Barbara Bain and Martin Landau after they quit Jim's Impossible Mission Force? They donned trendy pajamas and went to work on Moonbase Alpha in Gerry Anderson's second live-action series, SPACE 1999. The series is set in the near future (??) where the lunar interior is being used as a dumping ground for nuclear waste - big mistake. All that volatile stuff goes ballistic and knocks the whole rock into Outer Space. Why travel the cosmos in a galaxy-class starship when you can trek in comfort and dine on an endless supply of blue cheese?
Seriously, this series (like all of Gerry Anderson's TV adventures) has achieved cult status and is well worth a look. The special effects are very much in the "2001" vein and the story lines are every bit as "out there" as anything you'll get on Star Trek or Babylon 5. Much more ambitious in scope than his previous live-action project, "UFO", I give only four stars because this has cult, rather than general appeal.

I was amazed at how well Space 1999 has stood the test of time. The so-radical uniforms and sets now seem somewhat...average, but in their time, they were almost shocking. How we have changed! On the other hand, I was amazed at how real the visual effects looked, unlike the CGI everyone has now come to know and expect. This looked like how I remember the actual footage from the moon landings, with a sharp-edged almost artificial look. Great camera and lighting work add ambiance. I think part of the appeal of this series is the metaphysical aspect of it, always reminding me of "Solaris" on some levels. Perhaps the entire voyage is a hallucination? You never know, but hints abound. Definitely not the old formulaic Trek stuff, this show took TV Science Fiction to places it wouldn't go again until the advent of Babylon 5 and Farscape. My copy will be watched again and again.

I think this is the best way to get the 12 most memorables chapters of Space 1999, in VHS.
The quality of the copies are excellent, and I recommend to all the Space 1999 lovers to buy this collections!

At time the series came out i was 5 to 7 years old, but i remember watching it. I fell in love with the series but, it fell out of sight after a few years. Then in the 90's it reappeared on the Sci FI channel. I hope they include the later years episodes so i can bring the rest of my childhood back when i enjoyed the series.

For science fiction, this set is very poor. The stories are boring. If you want science fiction, get Babylon 5, Star Trek, and others, but not this over rated series.