Rating: 
Summary: Features the most adult themes the series would explore
Review: This second North American set of Space: 1999 DVD's is even stronger than the first. Although it lacks a standout spectacle like the first set's "Breakaway", it makes up for it with greater consistency, and the most adult themes of the entire series.The set opens with its weakest episode, the boring and implausible "Missing Link", featuring a disappointing guest turn by horror legend Peter Cushing. The dialog is atrocious and the actions of the main characters - particularly Koenig falling in love - are inexplicable. Even the music seems off. The matte painting of the alien city is impressive, but the gauze-wrapped sets just look cheap - an unusual failing for this series. In the production design department, "The Guardian Of Piri" wins, hands down. It's the most psychedelic episode 1999 ever produced - and that's saying something. The image of an Eagle, frozen in flight over the gigantic poppies and cotton bolls of Piri, is perhaps the single most surreal, even disturbing shot of the entire series. If it doesn't make shivers run up your spine, the eerie stock music utilized during the episode certainly will. There are a few wonderfully bizarre twists (as when Kano vanishes after being "plugged-in" to Alpha's computer), but the episode plods when it drifts away from the spooky, gaudy-yet-desolate atmosphere of Piri itself. The ending is as clichéd as it is improbable - no machine that powerful could be so easily destroyed. Still, the episode does a great job with its drug-related analogies, actress Catherine Schell delivering a great performance as the alluring "Servant of the Guardian". It all serves to elevate the show well above the kiddy-orientated science-fiction television of the day. Unfortunately, these DVDs reveal production details (like the wires supporting some models) that were invisible when the show was originally broadcast. As with the first set, these discs were mastered way too bright - blacks aren't truly black, and whites bloom severely. As a result, the painted backdrops in the background on Piri's surface are visibly fake (the first set's "Another Time, Another Place" had the same problem with its backdrops). Fortunately, the viewer can correct for this flaw simply by lowering the brightness (a lot) and boosting the contrast slightly. Tricks such as "edge enhancement" may have also been applied to these DVDs, revealing other production tricks (such as the occasional wire supporting a model) that weren't visible in the original broadcasts. "Force Of Life" is the first real gothic "science-horror" episode 1999 attempted. As with virtually all Space:1999 episodes, the pace is too languid, but this one is a masterpiece of mood and is well directed. Series designer Keith Wilson deserves high praise for his wonderful job on the sets - particularly the reactor room - and actor Ian McShane (of Lovejoy fame) turns in a great guest performance as the possessed technician Zoref. "Alpha Child" is yet another entry stuck on Moonbase Alpha, plodding in its development of a creepy concept - a newborn grows from infant to adult in a couple of days. Child actor Wayne Brooks is great in his wordless performance as young Jackie, while Julian Glover is wonderfully obnoxious (as always) in his portrayal of the adult Jarak. The almost incestuous relationship between Jackie and his lover - who has possessed his human mother's body - is a truly disturbing plot development that the writers wisely don't examine too closely (censors around the world would have gone apoplectic!). Still, even a casual observer will note how adult this program is compared to its contemporaries. The episode's only striking failing has to be Glover's silver hot pants jumpsuit! It makes it difficult to take anything that's happening on screen seriously. What were they thinking? "The Last Sunset" is also Alpha-bound, only this time the writers cleverly transform the Moon itself into an alien planet, as unseen aliens send devices to the moon that literally transform it into a habitable world, including artificial gravity and an atmosphere. Apart from the occasional visible wire the special effects successfully transform the moon into a habitable world (it looks a lot like New Mexico). The sequence where Helena uses a laser rifle to blow up an Eagle is particularly effective, especially when she's blown away (literally) by the force of the explosion. On the character front, Paul and Sandra are given something to do (for once), and Bain plays Russell as a sort of frontier doctor (Dr. Quinn in space). Landau is abysmal though, and some of the decisions the Koenig character makes (especially the initial decision to haul the alien device into Alpha itself - um, HELLO???) are inexplicable. Still, that's not enough to ruin this episode- it's certainly a candidate for the best of Space: 1999. "Voyager's Return" comes close to being a triumph for the series, but sadly misses the mark. A welcome attempt is made to write flesh and blood characters, but it's undermined. That's partly due to weak performances from some of the regulars, but mostly because of an awful guest appearance by Barry Stokes, who is dreadful as Jim Haines, Quellar's assistant. Jeremy Kemp is great as Dr. Ernst Queller though, playing the Edward Teller of 1990's (the name itself is a dead giveaway), and Bain shines as Dr. Russell, sporting some excellent scenes opposite Kemp. In fact, their interchange near the end of the episode is probably the best character interaction of the entire series. Strangely, the guest stars' material almost completely eclipses that given to the regulars (save Bain). The rest of the cast seems superfluous as the episode - suffering from its deliberate pace - drags thru its final act. In all, this second set of Space: 1999 episodes highlights a series on the mend after (at best) a rocky start. Although arguably the best run of episodes was yet to come, set two features fewer episodes choked by sophomoric philosophy and laughable scientific gaffes than any other sampling of the series, making it some of the most deliciously atmospheric science fiction ever captured on film.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally!!!
Review: Well, there's no doubt I'm a scifi lover. But kids, this series is the good stuff. IT's pretty rare they make a series that delivers the real deal. Story, good acting. This is one of those critical series that really gave my imagination a jump start when I was young. Share it with your kids. Enjoy it. There arent many series like this one.
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