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'Force of Life' (where Ian McShane is taken over by an Unexplained Alien Force - get used to 'em, folks - and drains the heat out of people before turning into a glowing-eyed burn victim who sucks all the atomz from a nuclear reactor) and 'Dragon's Domain' (the one with the screaming space tentacle monster that eats people and spits out their steaming, slimy husks) both absolutely terrified me as a kid. Yes, I'm old enough to have seen the show on its original airing. The Eagles are among the best fictional spaceships ever. Fight me.
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May 5, 2019 07:53
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 12:29 |
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An effortpost, and it's about Space: 1999, of all loving things.  Anyway, 1999 was originally going to be the second season of the previous Gerry Anderson live-action show, UFO. Audiences had apparently reacted better to the episodes set largely on the Earth defence moonbase, so the revised premise was that the aliens attacking Earth would, through some sort of extraterrestrial woo-woo, cause the Moon to break out of orbit, taking the base and its inhabitants with it. The failure of UFO to get a US network slot meant the second season was scrapped, so the premise was retooled into a completely new show that Anderson and production company ITC hoped would be a kind of British Star Trek. IIRC, the first season of 1999 was the most expensive British TV show to date, with the pilot 'Breakaway' going massively over-budget and over-schedule. The money's on the screen, though - the Moonbase Alpha sets were huge (at least in season 1), and the modelwork was pretty much movie quality. The big issue that critics and many viewers alike had was the characterisation, or lack thereof. Martin Landau was a talented and respected actor, but Commander Koenig's defining personality trait as written was... "stern", I guess? There was little of Captain Kirk's humanism and empathy; Koenig tended to do a lot of silent brooding, then march out of his office to bark orders. The other regulars got even shorter shrift, with only Nick Tate's Alan Carter having any particular defining characteristics, even if they were merely "amiable" and "Australian". The less said about Barbara "dull surprise" Bain, the better - which considering that she'd proven in Mission: Impossible that she could act, albeit within a certain range, only goes to show how little the writers gave her. So the first season was kind of cold, with attempts at 2001-style cosmic mystery and profundity that were more on the level of Kubricks than Kubrick. It drew enough of an audience worldwide to warrant a second season (but again, not that precious US network slot) - but ITC decided that A: it had to be done for less money, and B: it needed retooling to appeal specifically to the American market. So they hired the perfect man for the job - a former producer of Star Trek! Specifically, the producer of the third season of Star Trek. The season with the space hippies, Space Abraham Lincoln and 'Spock's Brain'. Welcome aboard, Fred Freiberger. Freiberger gets a lot of poo poo from Star Trek fans, some of it justified and some in reaction to the mandate he was given by the studio to jazz things up. With 1999, though, it's basically all on him. His approach was "More monsters! More jokes! More romance! More shooting and lasers! More sexy aliens!" Profundity was out, Space Beer was in. There were some decent episodes in season 2, but there were also many truly terrible ones - including, yeah, the one with the antimatter people. (BTW, Landau hated him because his attitude to actors complaining that something in the script was out of character was essentially "I don't give a poo poo, we're on the clock so just read your lines.") The best Freiberger anecdote was that after arriving in England, he thought a place name on a road sign was tremendously exotic and would make a great name for an alien planet. That name was 'Luton'... which drew nothing but mockery in the UK because it's a very boring satellite town of London known only for its airport. Season 2 was the last, and while there have been several attempts to revive it, so far none of them have come to anything. The main problem is that the ridiculous central premise would have to be changed for a modern audience to accept it... but that ridiculous premise is central - without the Moon whizzing off into space, you don't really have Space: 1999, you just have Generic Space Show.
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May 9, 2019 11:57
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The main characters and their defining features: Commander John Koenig (blue sleeve). Stern, stoic, prone to shouting. Almost always shot from his best side. Dr Helena Russell (white sleeve). Is a doctor. Shot mostly in soft-focus. Victor Bergman (shirt-coloured sleeve): Old. Spock-analogue. Ridiculously calm because he has an artificial heart. Alan Carter (orange sleeve): Australian. Generally laid-back, but sometimes prone to shouting. Paul Morrow (red sleeve): Has a moustache. Bad-tempered. Prone to shouting. Sandra Benes (yellow sleeve): Woman. Usually worried. Prone to screaming. David Kano (brown sleeve): Black guy. Very protective of "Computer". Added in season 2: Tony Verdeschi (blue jacket): replaces Morrow. Italian. Likes beer. Prone to shouting. Maya (red sleeve): replaces Bergman. Alien with unusual eyebrows (Spock-analogue v2.0). Can morph into any creature. Probably the best character in the show who isn't played by BRIAN BLESSED!!!.
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May 10, 2019 10:25
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The Star Trek thread just reminded me that Nick Tate (who played Alan Carter) became one of Hollywood's top voiceover men in the deep-voiced "In a world..." era of movie trailers.
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May 19, 2019 22:51
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20 years ago today, 311 brave souls were flung into deep space when the Moon was blasted out of orbit. September 13th 1999: always remember Moonbase Alpha. 
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Sep 13, 2019 13:29
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