Space 1999, Set 1

Space 1999, Set 1
by Val Guest, Kevin Connor, Bob Brooks (III), Robert Lynn (II)

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• When Earth s moon is blasted out of orbit by a spectacular series of nuclear explosions, the men and women on Moonbase Alpha embark on the greatest adventure of their lives. In each episode they mus fight to survive amid bizarre life forms, undreamed-of civilizations, hostile environments and mystic phenomena. With storylines that are both adventurous and cerebral, Space: 1999 has a worldwide foll

DVD Reviews of Space 1999, Set 1

DVD Review: Underappreciated television classic
Summary: 4 Stars

The faults attributed to the series were almost always erroneous, grossly exaggerated or merely fabricated by the critics. Space: 1999's scientific flaws were completely inflated by its detractors, and it is easy to see in hindsight that some critics merely lifted chapter and verse from other reviews, thereby perpetuating the misinformation. Admittedly the series' premise-that the moon is torn out of earth's orbit by a massive explosion-while fascinating and highly original, is preposterous. But it was done so utterly convincingly you almost believed it was possible. In fact, it was the series' unparalleled realism that set it apart from anything that came before, or indeed after. Cinematically, the series has never been equalled. Its stunning visual design, feature-film style cinematography and edgy editing techniques put it in a class by itself. To its credit, the show took risks-something very few series have ever done. The show was widely uneven because of this; sometimes the risks paid off, sometimes not-but even the worst episodes were riveting if for nothing more than the sheer creativity and ingenuity that went into putting them together.

In its day, the show was heavily panned for the performances of its two top-billed stars, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. Bain in particular bore the brunt of the criticism, labeled "wooden," "stiff," and even "zombie" like. In hindsight, the economical and measured performances of the two stars were perfect for the cool, clinical, unemotional tone of the series. Someone like William Shatner, with his scenery-chewing soliloquies would have been completely out of place. Indeed, the scripts for the show deliberately subordinated character for content and the stoic attitude of the main protagonists was intentional. But alas, at the time nobody saw it as such. It was just so much bad acting and lousy scripts.

Throughout the first season, there was a pervading atmosphere of predetermination and some higher force guiding the journey...a sense of a higher purpose to their uncharted odyssey into the deepest reaches of space and it was a fascinating dramatic angle to perpetuate. But that too was seen as so much metaphysical garbage in the eyes of the critics. Pity, because it really did lend a philosophical bent to the series that played out over the course of its first twenty four episodes in wonderful narrative style.

Unfortunately, much of what made Space: 1999's first season so promising was lost when wholesale changes were instituted for the show's second season in an attempt to make it more appealing to American audiences. The result was something closer to Lost In Space than to its debut season. It isn't that the second season is without its merits. It's just that instead of improving upon an already well-crafted show, the producers opted to trash what was and in essence start from scratch. Throwing out the baby with the bath water, so to speak. The show lost its trademark visual identity-due mostly to the fact that sets were greatly scaled down under the presumption a smaller set would foster more "intimacy" and "greater dramatic tension." When in reality what they did was stagnate the camera work by forcing most scenes to be shot in textbook "head-on" fashion. Occasionally a particularly promising director like Peter Medak would work like hell to break out of that rut, but for the most part the second season in shot in typical format television style. Head on. Medium close-up. Nothingt edgy or innovative. The show also lost the meticulous attention to detail that characterized the first season. As the second season wore on, it became unbelievably sloppy. Helmets open up on the surface of the moon with nary an injury, passenger pods on Eagles change back and forth from one type to the next between scenes in a single episode. And science was almost entirely abandoned in favor of technobabble. One has only to watch an episode like "A Matter of Balance" to see that science-indeed reason in general-has been thrown out the door. And the man-in-a-rubber-suit monsters that frequented the second season don't even deserve commentary. What makes the series' second season so difficult to watch is not really what it was, but what it could have been. What opportunities were wasted. Because there was still a great deal of talent working on this show, and a number of episodes held great promise. It's just that their execution was so sloppy and amateurish. The aforementioned "A Matter of Balance" is a fascinating story...that a cataclysmic event has somehow caused a whole civilization to move backwards through evolution rather than forward. Unfortunately, it ends up being a showcase of some truly horrific acting by the late Lynne Frederick and boasts a silly-looking alien running around in what is essentially a cape and a pair of yellow diapers.

By the end of its second season, the show had lost much of its original following and failed to gain the new supporters it had hoped and it quietly and uneventfully died after 48 episodes of widely varying quality. Ironically, the elements for which the show was so heavily criticized in its day-the pervasive "mysterious unknown force" that permeated most episodes, the open-ended epilogues and meanings open to interpretation, the cool, detached performances of its stars and the uneven character of the show as a whole-are the very things for which a show like the X-Files is so lauded for today. Perhaps if the series had been set farther into the future and debuted some twenty or so years later it might have received the serious recognition it deserved.

Description of Space 1999, Set 1