Space: 1999 The Complete First Series

Introduction

After the success of the first series of UFO and apparent rising ratings in the US, Gerry Anderson and his production crew received investment from Lew Grade to make a second series. Then rather abruptly, as Anderson was planning what to do next, things changed. US ratings dropped and Lew Grade cancelled the purple wigged defenders of the Earth. Rising from the ashes of UFO came Space:1999, a new show that in looks alone was light years ahead of UFO. Taking their cue from 2001: A Space Oddysey, Space:1999 had a filmic spacious look to it.

The premise was by 1999 there would be a base on the moon, so called Moonbase Alpha (as it was the first) and this base was inhabited by 311 international astronauts. The other premise was that Earth was sending its nuclear waste to be stored on the far side of the moon. Then on September 13th 1999, an event of cataclysmic proportions occurred - the nuclear waste reached critical mass, exploded with a bit of a big bang and blasted the moon out of Earth's orbit, turning the moon into a giant spaceship, albeit one that can't stop or manouevre of its own accord.

Moonbase Alpha is under the command of John Koenig (Martin Landau) and backed up by medical doctor Helena Russell (Barbara Bain). Both of these stars were forced upon producer Sylvia Anderson by US investment as they were both still 'hot' from the success of Mission Impossible and gave the new programme instant access to the US TV networks. The two stars were backed up by scientist Victor Bergman (Barry Morse) and chief pilot Alan Carter (Nick Tate) as well as second in command Paul Morrow (Prentis Hancock) and his beau, data analyst Sandra Benes (Zienia Merton).

Now for the first time, Network have decided the time is right to re-release this classic Anderson live action series on blu-ray. So what's it like?

Audio/Visual

The soundtrack has been revamped completely so you now have the option of 5.1 Surround as well as the original mono soundtrack. Personally I prefer the Surround soundtrack and the theme tune gets the power it always deserved.

The work on the soundtrack is fine but the picture? Well I think I honestly say that it has never looked so good. The studio have taken the original 35mm prints and really gone to town in their remastering. The detail on the model work is superb and the sets just look so much more impressive than they did when broadcast, and they did look quite impressive then as well with colour being well defined. The only drawback to this is that of course all the flaws become obvious, all the models and paintings now really do look like models and paintings. I can forgive the sfx as being mid-70's, some are more impressive than others. Also the fashion of the Moonbase Alpha uniforms and their protagonists can look rather outdated, although I doubt fans of the series will complain too much at that.

For those amongst us who were devasted at the decision to stretch the picture for the Thunderbirds blu-ray release, rest easy. The original 4:3 aspect ratio has been preserved...

Extras

There's a myriad of extras, although I was only given discs 4, 5 and 6 - and disc 6 was actually a DVD rather than a blu-ray disc with different menu's and containing only extras. I'm assuming that this is the same as the retail version and also that the final disc may have just been imported from the previous DVD release.

The extras cover all aspects of the production with a lot of them consisting of both colour and b&w production photo's. Surprisingly, for me at least, two extras contain the full sets of both Bassett Sweet Cigarette Cards and Donruss Chewing Gum Cards.

Those who prefer the more traditional featurettes are not left out. There's an episode commentary by Gerry anderson on Dragon's domain, although sadly it's more of a general commentary that would have made a better interview as Anderson sounds a little monotone in his delivery. The most fascinating extra in my mind is an interview with Sylvia Anderson that is more a general interview but then hones in with a lot of detail on her time with Space:1999, and her real misgivings with the casting of Landau and Bain - hinting that Barry Morse walked away at the end of Series 1 also due to conflict with the two leading actors.

There are also some featurettes credited to Fanderson that are retrospective pieces that cover most aspects of production with some of the crew plus cast member Zienia Merton plus a rather long one that provides analysis of various series one episodes.

Rounding off the extras is the Season 2 opener The Metamorph that introduced Katherine Schell as the thrid main star, replacing Barry Morse as chief scientist and general human characteristic observer. This episode also features a suitably over the top performance from Brian Blessed.

No idea what extras are on discs 1 thru 3...

Overall

There's always a danger when you go back to a childhood favourite that you'll be disappointed with what you find against what you remember. To my immense disappointment, this is what I get with Space:1999. I was initially thrilled by the chance to relive the adventures of John Koening and my childhood favourite Alan Carter, but alas it was not to be. Despite the fact that there was clearly a large budget at play and the picture looks fantastic, this is a complete waste of time if the story quality doesn't match. And it doesn't. In fact, I found the stories to be quite staid and I actually fell asleep watching three seperate episodes on three different nights. I wouldn't have minded if I had been doing late night viewing, but this was mid evening...

What I find fascinating is looking back on this series after discovering that the two main stars were foisted upon the Andersons, and that whilst Gerry seemed to find them ok, it was Sylvia Anderson in her role as series producer that found them completely objectionable. She though Bain to be rather wooden and if you watch the series again, you can see her point, despite the soft spoken words in soft focus there doesn't appear to be much emotion there. Landau apparently liked to rule the set and insisted on appearing in just about every scene and insisted on the best lines, I can't say that I necessarily agree with that one as there is some pretty dire dialogue within some very simplistic storylines - Star Trek this ain't...

In my opinion, whilst this series worked on TV at the time, it suffers from being pre-Star Wars science fiction in that the stories are pretty mundane and limited by what the model makers and sfx guys could do at the time. I know that I couldn't rediscover my love for this series I enjoyed as a child, and yes I had a die-cast Eagle with detachable pod, but I also know that there are plenty of fans out there who have bought both VHS and DVD copies of this series. They will not be disappointed in the same way that I was and this re-release is really for them, although I feel it's a shame I couldn't reconnect as I really wanted to.

Superb release for those who love this series...