Customer Reviews

Space 1999, Set 5

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've always thought that the start of both seasons of Space 1999 weren't as much fun as the episodes that came after them. Set 5 has some good episodes and some good moments, but sets 6,7, and 8 are much more fun. As the start of season two, this set has both it's share of draw-backs and it's fun moments.

I wont waste space reviewing every episode, but I will say that The Metamorph is one of my faves! Catherine Schell is introduced as Maya in this one. New theme music, cast members, costumes, and sets are introduced as well. Dr Bergman is gone, and the main control center has now been moved underground. Maya helps to fill the void left by Bergman, and after episodes like War Games the new location of the control center makes good sense. Smart move Koenig.

Space 1999 sets 2,3,4,6,7,8 are my favorites, but 1 and 5 are important to the show and to finish your collection. There are some good epsodes in both so check them out. While you are at it, try the Space 1999 novel The Forsaken by John Muir. It sheds more light on just what happened between the program's two seasons and is an excellent read.

This is a MUST HAVE for all Space 1999 fans and collectors. Despite all the critism you hear about the series, especially Season 2. Take a look for yourself and enjoy the episodes of this famous and classic series once again. If you happen to be watching for the first time get ready to be swept away with all the excitement and enthusiasm like a scifi series is intended for. A chance to be transported imaginatively into the episode itself and experience the intensity of the plot as it unfolds to the climax. I recommend this Set, as well as all the others to complete the incredible journey for which you will begin with the very first time you pick it up. Pure entertainment!

"Space: 1999" was a British-made sci-fi series which aired on American television in the mid-1970's. At that time it was the most expensive show ever produced on British television, and the money showed in the large, elaborate sets of Moonbase Alpha and the special effects. The plot is deceptively simple: in 1999 the United Nations has constructed a huge base, called Alpha, on the Moon. Although primarily a scientific and research center, the base is also used to monitor the vast amounts of nuclear waste which are stored on the moon's surface (in Space 1999's timeline, nuclear power is the Earth's main energy source). In September 1999 a freak accident causes the nuclear waste to explode, thereby blasting the moon out of Earth's orbit and hurling it - and the personnel of Alpha - across the galaxy. Space 1999's first season turned this show into a cult classic, and some diehard sci-fi buffs rightly consider the first season's episodes to be among the most unique and creative in sci-fi history. The vivid lighting and colors created a moody, creepy atmosphere not unlike the "X-Files", the musical score was both haunting and memorable, and the episodes themselves were often surprisingly mature, unique, and drew as much from the horror and fantasy genres as sci-fi. What truly made the first season of the show different was that not every episode had a happy ending, not every problem was neatly solved, and the crew of Alpha often appeared genuinely scared and bewildered by their encounters with all sorts of aliens and strange phenomena. Commander Koenig, the base's leader, was no heroic Captain Kirk, but a very human leader doing his best to help his people survive in an often hostile, or at least uncaring, universe. Unfortunately, for the second season the show's producers decided to "Americanize" the series, and the result was a definite drop-off in the show's quality in the second season. Cost-cutting led to cheaper special effects and sets, and too often the monster costumes looked like something out of a Grade-B horror film. The musical score was jazzed-up and sped-up, and thus sounded more like something out of a seventies disco than the first-season's original score. Several major characters from the first season simply vanished, with no explanations ever given for their sudden disappearance. Paul Morrow, Koenig's second-in-command and David Kano, the computer expert, were gone. But the biggest loss was that of Barry Morse, who played Dr. Victor Bergman, the base's chief scientist and father figure, and whose brilliance saved Alpha several times in the first season. In the second season these characters were replaced by Tony Verdischi, the hot-tempered Italian Security Chief, and the lovely Catherine Schell as Maya, an alien shape-shifter who joins the crew of Alpha. Although a fine actress, Schell is given little to do except flirt with the male characters and keep changing into lots of monsters (and with the cheaper special effects, her monster costumes are beyond fake). But the greatest difference between the first and second seasons can be seen in the plots. Whereas the first season's episodes were mature, adult-oriented, often creepy and eerie, and even made you think occasionally, in the second season Space 1999 quickly degenerated into just another juvenile, "shoot-'em up" sci-fi series. Character development and the "atmosphere" of the series were sacrificed for lots of gunplay with laser pistols and spaceships, and Commander Koenig was transformed from a brooding, almost grim leader into a macho, almost cartoonish tough guy who could outfight or outfox almost any alien imaginable (the producers were obviously thinking of Captain Kirk). I'm sure there will be a good deal of discussion about the merits of season one versus season two, and it's pretty obvious which side I'm on :). However, even the second season did have its' moments (the episode on this DVD set which introduces Maya is quite good), and it's still nice to see the second season being released after all these years. But, for this fan at least, it's still a shame that the producers didn't stick with the format of season one - in effect they created two completely different series instead of just one. Recommended, but I'd try looking at the season one DVD's as well, just so you can make your own comparison.

...Anyway, the Space:1999 series makes a drastic change of course for the second season. In an attempt to "Americanize" the series (which was already popular as a UK product), cast members are dropped, sets and costumes changed, music altered and stories pumped up. Where we gain action and emotion we lose the awe and terror of the unknown. Missing most of all is Barry Morse, who looked upon the moon's journey with a sense of utter fascination.

However, Catherine Schell comes aboard as the shape-shifter Maya. The Metamorph character was an unnecessary addition, but Ms. Schell is welcome and a wonderful personality.

After the first two episodes, there is a serious downslide in episode quality. The stories are dumbed down quite a bit, with macho posturing taking the place of desperation. I enjoy both seasons, but find season 1 to be much more sophisticated.

There is much to recommend here, but be warned...it's an almost a different series. The episodes improve toward the end of the series, but some of the worst are in these two sets (Mark Of Archanon, One Moment Of Humanity & Catacombs of the Moon are all stinkers).

Great effects, above par acting and a good musical score salvage some really pedestrian plots. When it's good, it's great. When it's bad...it's Lost In Space.

I'm a junkie of Sci Fi, Horror and Fantasy and I'd never heard of this show when I came across it. When I read the tagline about it being an "adventure beyond space" I had to get it. I bought set 3 and set 5. The episodes in set 3 are not unlike Kubrick's 2001. Set 5 is more like Dr Who. I enjoyed them both. This is classic stuff. Landau is especially good. The Eagle space crafts are cool. Catherine Schell is lovely. There's a good mix of action and horror and space elements. Why haven't more people heard about this show?

As I had stated in my review of sets 1 through 4 - I loved the first season of Space:1999. When they went to the second season, Fred Frieberger took over - former of the original Star Trek production team.

He wanted to make it "hip" for the 70's. But what he did is make it more unreal for me. He dropped my favorite set "Main Mission" and created "Command Center" a much smaller and more compact room to run the base of now 289 members. The Eagles got "mufflers" and "spoilers" and they dropped two of my favorite characters - Proffesor Victor Bergman (Barry Morse) and Paul Morrow (Prentis Hancock).

Almost every epsiode someone dies. They would have never made it to a forth season because by the time third season was over, there would only be a 100 people left.

The changes I did like were the Catherine Schell character of Miya. She orginally appeared as the Keeper in Gaurdian Of Piri in the first season and did so well the producers wanted her back as a regular. Tony Chelini (Tony Anolt) was an interesting character to add too.

Visually this series relized on Laser Blasts every episode and a new set of monsters every week. Yikes! The production value of the monster made some of Dr. Who's villians look like real creatures.

Overall the stories are not as good as well. But there are some interesting action moments and comedy. (The comedy was added with no real purpose - all of a sudden, every plays jokes!)

The DVD has an interesting feature as well. Some of the original station specific promos with Barbara Bain and Martin Landau promoting the show. Very unique. You decide.

They have finaly released season 2 of this great show.Maya is so hot! The music is so great. Martin Laundau is the best actor to ever star in a sci-fi show, no wonder he won that award for Ed Wood. I am in a hurry to watch The Bringers of Wonder episode which has a story very simular to The Matrix. Space 1999 was so ahead of its time, after watching these episodes I now know were Star Trek The Next Generation gets most of its ideas, not from the original Star Trek! Hop on board Moonbase Alpha everyone for the trip of a lifetime!!!!!!!!

I remember i couldn't wait for Saturday night to come along so i could watch my 2 favorite SCI FI shows UFO & SPACE 1999. The acting was nothing to write home about but the imagination, the idea that the moon could be blown out of its orbit, fly through space, the inhabitants would survive and meet other life forms with hopes of finding that perfect planet to settle down on is far fetched. However its still a classic in the classic form. Barbara & Martin make the show.

Space 1999, with all of its quirks, is still one of my all time favorite science fiction television series! It premiered in 1976, 30 years ago on a local station here in Arkansas, as the most expensive sci-fi series ever produced. As a 19 year old, I missed very few episodes from the first season (working night shifts, I missed some). Now, as a 49 year old, I have cried with joy as I watched the DVD episodes, some that I had never seen before! This is mind-candy for me!! Times were simpler then for me and for everyone. Viet Nam was a bitter memory, gas shortages were a thing of the past, space shuttles were the wave of the future. Thanks for giving me this chance to view something I thought that I would never see again and to walk down a memory lane when I didn't know what stress was!

Some of the episodes in this set have inferior sound. It's not unlistenable, but it is sub par. Fortunatley, I don't find it too distracting, but it's too bad they didn't make the sound as wonderful as the picture quality. Apart from the sound problems, I enjoyed this set.
This set contains shows from the second season of Space 1999 which was a more ridiculous season, but there are many guilty pleasure episodes here. My favorites include:
"The Metamorph" which is the first episode of the second season and introduces the new theme music and show opening. I like it. We also get a new command center, some new costumes, and the introduction of Tony and Maya. Tony brings some great humor to the show and he keeps trying to make beer. You have to admire a guy who tries to make beer and maintains a sense of humor while the moon is hurling through space. Catherine Schell is lovely as Maya the Psychlon and Maya can turn into all kinds of living creatures which is fun. She's also the sexiest woman with side-burns ever! Brian Blessed plays Mayas dad Mentor.
"The Exiles" has some very suspenseful moments as 50 missiles suddenly begin to orbit the moon and the intercepting of one of them for further study is pretty tense. There's a great sense of mystery for the first half of this episode, but then it turns silly, but I like silly. "Journey to Where" is a bit of Time Tunnel like adventure with a good performance by Freddie Jones, and "The Taybor" is extremely goofy and features some scantly clad female Alphans, and Maya turning into Mr Hyde. I wont comment on the disco dancing horny android epsiode, or the episode with the living rocks. These aren't the most realistic or brainy TV episodes ever, and Set 5 is the low point of the Space 1999 DVD sets, but there are plenty of fun moments in this one and let us never forget that Catherine Schell is the sexiest woman with side-burns ever.