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Space 1999, Set 1

Space 1999, Set 1

List Price: $39.95
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Space: 1999....what? It didn't really happen like that?
Review: Funny how I realize I am reviewing a slice of my childhood sci-fi indulgence years later after it was 'supposed' to have happened in the series itself. Yet, there is so much appreciation and awe from myself towards this rather dated yet accomplished episodal experience. I can still remember watching it on Philadelphia TV in 1976 at 7pm on Saturday nights and feeling rather singular because all the other kids in school were doing anything else then watching the tube at such time. And there I was- entraced by a nearly mystical blend of fantasy, technological extrapolation and futuristic foresight.

Today we can still see Space: 1999 and it doesnt appear quite as dated as did 'When Worlds Collide' to that 10 year old watching this show in 1976. Perhaps it is my own unwillingness to accept that the present has overshadowed the past, or perhaps the artistes who sculpted the 'Space: 1999' series stood on giants shoulders compared to thier pre-space aged counterparts. Never the less, this series was the apex of Gerry Anderson's future vision (remember all his horrid marrionation series which beleagured us with emotionless acting similar to the recent 3D animation plague of sci-fi series?). Within the first season resides a rare glimpse into the rather lush science fiction/science fantasy realms portrayed in the French and American comic art works of that era. There seemed to be a slight connection to the failed cultural revolution of the sixties while maintaining a fervent hold on a rather technologically superior and compatmentalized vision of the future earth. Brilliantly, it didn't neglect the sliver of possibility that disasterous consequences might result from mankinds uninhibited expansion into the physical universe. Topping it off was a cast of characters which still seems rather efficient and perhaps more subtle then the Star Trek crew of the 1960s. The blend of effects and models which recall the adept space aged visions of '2001: A Space Odessy' of Kubrick and Clarke gave me a renewed interest in scince fiction which the current(then) Japanese giant robot series didn't allow due to an over exaggerated fantasy element. Within the year, 'Star Wars' would errupt on the scene and overshadow this small but inspired step toward enjoyable, fairly plausible science fantasy.

In my book, the first season has all the meat. The second season has all the glitz. Where the first season had a subtle yet undeniable logic, the second had sex and raw power. As far as I am concerned, the first season is still 'it' while the second season was a desperate attempt to gain viewers through obviously boring, pandering characters and sequences. Even as a child I saw the rather abrupt, and tassteless, change in the direction of the series and to this day I believe the keen edge of the first season was blunted as it progressed into the rather sensational second season. Recently at work I was watch 'The Guardian of Piri' (DVD 2) and the younger unitiated viewers were in awe over the amount of modeled detail while rather amused by the homely innocence of the filmicly stunted quality of the effects. Have I become my father who was amazed at the 'Flash Gorden' serial's effects from the thirties? 'Space: 1999' has perhaps made me see more clearly how dated I am in 2001 then it ever allowed the viewing audience of 1976 percieve a future reality when the earth bids farewell to it's only satellite.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Classic, under-rated SF series (But avoid the second series)
Review: An amazingly moody, downbeat, existential-metaphysical SF series. How's that for an opener? With SFX that (for the most part) still hold up til this day, fantastic sets, brillant directing and powerful music, this show still captures my sense of wonder like nothing else, as it did the first time I saw it way back in 1975.

It is one of a very few select tv series (Prisoner/Twin Peaks the other two) that took chances and created unique, individual worlds never before experienced. Out of the 24 episodes from the first series (There was in reality a second season, but the less said about that the better. See below), about 18 of them run the gamut from good to excellent, and the remaining six fall into the "just ok" catagory, with only two of those being real stinkers.

I can't really add any thing more that hasn't been said better here allready, but a word of caution: Avoid the second season. Fans complain about it so much simply because it truly is that bad, and bears absolutely no relation to the first. About the only remaining thing carried over from the previous season is the name and the Eagle spacecraft. All the promise of the first series premise is completely abandoned and ignored. Thus the maddeningly frustrating thought nags that we could have had another 24 episodes in this vein; a thought that will always haunt us (to quote the series itself "To everything that could have been." "To everything that was"). The second series is a juvenile saturday morning live-action cartoon. At least campy things like the Batman tv series and the Flash Gordon movie were intended to be campy. This second series is campy but tries to be serious at the same time.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that alot of the bad memories people have of the series as a whole is the remaining after taste of the second season. If out of some sick, morbid sense of curiosity you would like to see it, I would recommend renting.

And for those of you who haven't seen the first season in over 20 years, and who like dark, original 2001-like serious cinematic SF, please consider checking out one of the four volumes from the first series.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great for what it is . . .
Review: Space: 1999 - at least, during its first season - is impeccably designed, pretentious, gothic and self-aggrandizing. It's the Brothers Grimm, on acid, in outer space. Many episodes - perhaps a majority - sport improbable deus ex machina endings, tacked on to juvenilely philosophical scripts. It features an incredible classical soundtrack (especially considering it was produced prior to Star Wars), cinema-quality sets, costumes and special effects. Important guest stars (such as Christopher Lee) stagger through lifeless appearances as if their makeup is laced with Novocain, while the regular cast alternates between screaming histrionics and a catatonic state. Through it all, they improbably traverse the cosmos in their sterile, Italian-designer Moonbase Alpha, while the psychedelic universe outside repeatedly threatens to blow up around them (courtesy 2001's Brian Johnson and his team of effects wizards).

In other words, Space: 1999 is an overproduced mess - high on production values, and short on virtually everything else.

Visually, it's the greatest science fiction television series ever produced, bar none. The sets are enormous - frequently two stories high - and like some intergalactic showroom, are littered with outrageously expensive, cutting edge Italian furniture. Apart from the occasional accent piece, Alpha is a monochromatic place - white space with black and gray accents - to emphasize the Alphans' bleak predicament. The costumes, courtesy fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, are similarly monochromatic. His beige, unisex affairs sport only a hint of color to denote the wearer's function on the base (blue sleeve for command, white sleeve for medical, etc.). Apart from their bell-bottomed trousers, they look like something you'd find at your local Banana Republic today.

Even the miniatures are masterpieces of design. The Earth ships (and indeed Moonbase Alpha itself) reflect the then-contemporary space program, often improving upon designs found in films like 2001 and Silent Running. Alien vessels cleverly derive their form from their function. A set of aliens who stumble across Alpha while fleeing the destruction of their own world traverse the universe in a comforting (if somewhat psychedelic) blue egg - a symbol of survival and rebirth. Malevolent aliens attack the Alphans with scary laser-spewing wasp-like ships, vaporizing everything in their path. The ensuing blaze of pyrotechnics is something the small screen has never again approached (with the possible exception of the all-digital Babylon 5). 1999's production elements generate a sense of realism and - perhaps more importantly - scale that has never really been equaled by a science fiction series.

In spite of the impeccable production, most of 1999's first season episodes make precious little sense. Major events often occur without any rational explanation, sending the Alphans scurrying to cope. The authors apparently want to examine philosophical concepts and dilemmas, but lack the time (or the ability) to frame them within the context of an involving (or even remotely plausible) storyline. Whether this was due to their abilities or interference from the program's American financiers is a subject still open to debate. Regardless, many of the concepts - God, immortality, human origins - are approached in an embarrassingly juvenile fashion. It sometimes seems as though you're watching a class play put on by a group of stoned teenagers.

Apart from Barry Morse's fatherly Professor Victor Bergman, there's little human warmth or compassion emanating from the series' leads (Martin Landau's Commander John Koenig and his then-wife Barbara Bain's Dr. Helena Russell). While the portrayals - particularly Bain's coldly professional Dr. Russell - are often the most realistic element of a given episode, they're hardly becoming. I will say that Bain's aloof coolness is positively appealing though, next to Landau's often-oily arrogance and impatience as Koenig, an unlovable character at best. Credit should be given to the actors though for attempting such bold portrayals in what had hitherto been a children's genre. Had they been given stronger scripts and better dialog to work with, their approach might well have succeeded.

When it came to the fundamentals of television drama - plausible scripts, appealing (or at least sympathetic) characters, and dynamic pacing - Space: 1999 flopped, and flopped big. If you're watching the first season for the plots or character interaction, you're going to be sorely disappointed, or bored to tears, or (most likely) sore from laughing at the implausible adversaries and scientific gaffes.

On the other hand, if your idea of a good time is watching beautifully constructed, beautifully filmed sets and models get blown to smithereens by psychedelic alien menaces, Space: 1999's first season delivers. It's the only gothic science fiction series ever produced for television -- the sterile sets were a surprisingly effective environment for the kind of horror elements filmmakers typically plop down in a castle or some Victorian mansion, and 1999 wound up doing several effective "science-horror" episodes. It sports the best designed effects design ever done for television, and the best standing sets ever constructed for a science fiction television series, and . . . well, you get the picture. The old joke is that 1999 was "marked-down" from 2001, and that's not far from the truth. Like Kubrick's classic, Space: 1999 is a glorious, stylish, spooky, atmospheric, seemingly drug-induced state, where a great deal of what's going on doesn't make a bit of sense and you're not supposed to care. And I have to confess that sometimes - lost in the moments - I don't.

This first DVD set contains some of the best-looking episodes of the series. Unfortunately, many of the scripts are stillborn, and the actors are still trying to get a handle on their characters. Standouts include the series debut, "Breakaway" (which borrows heavily from "hard" science-fiction films of the era like 2001 and The Andromeda Strain, then adds a lot of explosions), "Black Sun" (with excellent character moments, but infantile "philosophy" and laughably poor science), "Earthbound", and the haunting (if completely implausible) "Another Time, Another Place". Unfortunately, this set also includes the spectacular but pointless "Matter of Life and Death" and "Ring Around The Moon", the latter quite possibly the worst hour of television ever produced, and certainly the biggest waste of money.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best TV Sci Fi of the '70s Finally Released on DVD
Review: "Space:1999" is simply one of the best science fiction television series of the last 30 years. There are a number of reasons as to why the show still holds up so well even after all these years. Some of the best actors around were recruited for the show: Martin Landau (Golden Globe winner) as 'Cmdr Koenig' and Barbara Bain as 'Dr. Russell' (3 time Emmy Award winner), both from "Mission:Impossible"; Barry Morse (5 time Canadian Best Actor Award recipient) from "The Fugitive"; and numerous notable guest stars including Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Joan Collins, Leigh Lawson, and Roy Dotrice. Special effects were by Brian Johnson ("2001:A Space Odyssey"), music by Barry Gray ("Thunderbirds"), and costumes by famed designer Rudi Gernreich. Episode directors include such notables as Ray Austin, Lee H. Katzin, Charles Crichton, Bob Kellett, David Tomblin, and more. While the series did have a heavy reliance on effects (as most sci fi shows do), there were also interesting and thoughtful storylines approaching subjects that hadn't been tackled in TV sci fi before. The show took a different approach from other popular sci fi series by stranding and taking this group of 300 people from Moonbase Alpha and sending them out into the solar system against their will. They were forced to survive using the limited resources at their disposal and little reliance on outside help. As well, they didn't know where their journey would take them. All of these are factors that set the show far apart from "Star Trek" (which some reviewers continue to use as the measure for reviewing and analyzing "Space:1999"). I recommend "Space:1999" without reservation.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A hauntingly beautiful idea -- poorly executed
Review: Accidentally, I encountered Space: 1999 in 1975. On a Saturday afternoon, I turned on a black and white TV and started watching a show already in progress. As I would later discover, this show was titled "Force of Life" -- an episode of the first season of Space: 1999.

"Force of Life" captivated me -- I was only 10 years old at the time. This episode's gothic horror coupled with the show's characters and the clean and crisp MoonBase Alpha created a strange surreal sensation inside of me that (though largely lost) still echos faintly in my memory.

In many respects, Space: 1999 is a follower of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Like 2001, this show captured the mystery of space far better than Star Trek or any other sci-fi series that I've seen.

Having watched the entire first season on a black and white TV, I was disappointed when I watched these episodes in color. The reason is that I expected to see white wall panels all over the place and ended up seeing green and orange panels. I know this sounds crazy but the colored panels seemed to detract from my first experience with this series.

I've often heard the phrase "excellent production values" applied to Space: 1999. Sadly, this was NOT the case. This show suffered from a lack of continuity and many bloopers. For example, in one episode, a reference is made to launch pad seven -- MoonBase Alpha only has five launch pads. Chronological errors are made in other episodes. Furthermore, other first and second season episodes show eagles merging into each other and a brief shot of an astronaut on the lunar surface with his helmet open. (I could go on.) Being a perfectionist, I find that these bloopers detract from the series.

I often think that Space: 1999 could still reach a higher potential if the following items could be dealt with:

1) Cleanup as many bloopers as possible.

2) Improve the special effects. (They were good for their day but don't hold up to Star Trek Voyager's effects.)

3) Digitally edit out some of the British-speaking aliens and replace them with more realistic aliens. This is possible: just look at the DS9/TOS cross-over episode "Trials and Tribble-ations."

4) Provide some explanation at the end of the final first-season episode "Testament of Arkadia" that properly explains the disappearance of Professor Bergman, Kano, and Paul Morrow. These characters are never present in the second season.

5) Replace the "stinker" episode "Ring Around the Moon" with the "Eyes of Triton" remake that appeared at a recent Space: 1999 convention.

Unfortunately, Space: 1999 fans are very resistant to such changes. As a result, Space: 1999 will die out once its few (300 or so) fans have died out.

I will buy these DVDs for sentimental reasons. After all, Space: 1999 did affect me in a positive and mysterious sort of way.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awe and mystery
Review: I maintain a great deal of awe and respect for the originality and production values of this series. I have never before, or since, viewed a series that so effectively captures the awe, the grandure and the mystery of being in space. If you are looking for bubblegum Sci-Fi this is not it. Space:1999 is as intelligent as it is artistic as it is original. At last a format (DVD) deserving of this spectacular series.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Underappreciated television classic
Review: No other series in television history has been as much maligned and misunderstood as Space: 1999. From the outset, a series which had little in common with Star Trek beyond the very basic premise of space travel nevertheless found itself critiqued against its more famous and beloved predecessor-and almost always unfavorably-rather than reviewed on its own considerable merits. The negative reaction to the series was no doubt due in part to the brash and rather obnoxious marketing blitz waged by the American distributing arm of its British financiers. Touting it as "the ultimate space adventure series" left it wide open to damning commentary and probably deservedly so. The series was set up as the greatest thing committed to film in entertainment history, and while the show had considerable merits that's an expectation that was impossible to meet. Adding insult to injury, the first few critical episodes following the impressive pilot-in particular "Ring Around the Moon" and "Matter of Life and Death"-were so godawful they only served to validate the series' harshest critics as fodder for the claims levied against the show. Sadly, few legitimate critics stuck around long enough to see the show truly hit its stride with episodes that deserve to be considered television classics.

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.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fair-minded reviews, anyone?
Review: Only Space: 1999 reviewers would deign to use the release of first season episodes on DVD as a pretext for attacking Season 2. I'm taking the higher ground here because I'm giving the earliest first season episodes five stars and do appreciate both seasons on different but by no means unequal terms.

These attacks on the show as a whole and against second season are the usual glib generalizations of people of inflexible or non-existant imagination. There were not rubber monster suits in every episode of Season 2. Aside from 4 or 5 episodes, the use of men in latex was limited to only a minute or two per episode, and several episodes had no rubber monsters at all. Besides, why can't some aliens be rubbery and bipedal? Star Wars had rubber monster suits (several Cantina creatures), as did The Empire Strikes Back (the bounty hunters), and Return of the Jedi was filled with rubbery otherworldly denizens. Star Trek had them, too (the Gorn, the Mugato). As did Dr. Who. Why pick on Space: 1999- Year 2? As for living, sentient rocks or plants, why can't life on an alien planet in another galaxy evolve that way? Moreover, there were as many planetary systems encountered in the first season as there were in the second, which spaced such encounters apart over periods of 3 to 6 months. Both seasons implied such intervals between solar systems traversed by the Moon. It's a dramatic licence for the series in both seasons. Why allow it for one and not the other?

Yes, the series is fantastic. It made no bones about that. Its promotional tagline was, "The Future is Fantastic". There is fantasy in every contemporary opus of film or television science fiction. Warp drive exponentially exceeding the speed of light, matter transporters, artificial gravity. Yet, Space: 1999 is singled out and reviled, with the tired, old refrains. Bad acting. Why is the acting bad? Because the reactions are bad? Why are the reactions bad? Because the science fiction phenomena to which the characters are reacting are bad? Why? Because they are. That's the type of argument that belies the attacks on Space: 1999.

How can a series of 48 episodes with a wide variety of regulars and guest stars (including Britain's top talent), casting personnel, and directors be uniformly bad in the acting department? To dismiss 24 or 48 episodes as being a litany of bad acting is generalization. Again, why is the acting considered bad? Why are the concepts dismissed as stupid? Because they just are, is essentially the usual reply. Or because everybody, or everybody who is anybody, thinks so. Blinkered thinking that should be apparent to any fair-minded person. Yet, Space: 1999 seldom seems to receive fair-minded attention.

It is a visually beautiful series in any case. Contrast ratios (whites and blacks) were extreme, juxtaposition of color was at its most striking. Special effects were superb for a television series of its time. A great deal of money went into the visual aesthetic of the show, which was realized by men who did the models and/or SFX for 2001- A Space Odyssey, Alien, and The Empire Strikes Back. Cheesy means cheap. Space: 1999 certainly was not cheap. Only by unfair comparison to present-day feature films with computer-generated visual effects can Space: 1999 be thusly described, and even that is ignoring the visual beauty in Space: 1999's sets, costumes, colors, and spaceship model designs.

The DVDs, if properly mastered, will showcase Space: 1999's beauty like never before, and they deserve full opportunity to do so.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Cult Series For The Right AND Wrong Reasons
Review: I used to love this show! It was an early 70's slice of typical Gerry Anderson optimism for safe nuclear power (NOT an impossiblity) and unlimited funding for spaceflight (DEFINITELY an impossibility). The show had special effects that still look good today and a handful of first season episodes had a decent stab at creating some promising metaphysical space opera. OF COURSE you have to make allowances for the costuming and hairstyles. That is a given. It was the 1970's for goodness sake! The acting of the principals has sometimes been unfairly criticised. Martin Landau shined on this show only when the scripts were good, which was too infrequently. He gave a performance that was unfavorably compared to the thespian histrionics of Bill Shatner. Landau's Koenig was a different, more subtle creation than Kirk. John Koenig was a leader suffering under almost crushing responsibilty. And Landau occasionally managed to let that show. Space: 1999 had it's high points in it's first season. It later surrendered much of it's quality during an appalling, rubber-suit-monster-of-the-week second season, which I recommend you don't buy. And as for a sublight-speed Moon visiting several star systems through the season? Ummm...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "Star Trek" on acid!
Review: Space:1999 is by no means a great television series. Bad acting, ridiculous plots and bland characters are the series's trademarks, as the moon unbelievably rips out of earth's orbit and travels through deep space encountering the usual aliens/space phenomena. Despite these obvious flaws, the series has lasting kitsch appeal. Martin Landau has resurrected--and redeemed--his acting career in recent films, but as Moonbase Alpha's leader Commander John Koenig, he is terrible, prone to unexpected outbursts and mumbling. Then-wife Barbara Bain fares no better, portraying Dr. Helena Russell as if she's become a recent lobotomy recipient. In fact the only redeemable acting comes from Barry Morse as Professor Victor Bergman, Alpha's chief scientist and the only crewmember who smiles (I also dig his unkempt look: long, greasy hair and mutton chops.). The plots are bewildering and often incomprehensible. Intelligent lumps of rock, talking plants, a gigantic space brain that hurls deadly bubble-bath suds at Moonbase Alpha are characteristic of typical Space:1999 episodes. Science fiction is mixed with new-age mysticism and the results are unintentionally hilarious. It's as if Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry dropped a lot of acid and wrote a series premise. So how can I recommend it? In its short two-year run, Space:1999 nevertheless had its own distinctive look: lavish sets, groovy unisex bell-bottomed uniforms, elaborate pre-Star Wars special effects and impressive spacecraft miniatures (Who doesn't like the eagle spacecraft?). It's also a guilty pleasure to watch a series that has its writers throw out science and replace it with metaphysical hokum. Like Battlestar Galactica, Space:1999 is cheesy science fiction, but unlike B.G. it isn't an obvious clone of another science-fiction property. Space:1999 also boasts a cheesy/swanky theme song that begs DJs to remix the music and play it in the clubs. Its nice to know that with DVD technology, short-lived TV shows can be preserved in a few inexpensive sets (Thankfully other short-lived shows like The Prisoner and My So-Called Life are being released on DVD.) Though science fiction purists will blanch, Space:1999 will appeal to pop-culture gurus and lovers of all things kitsch.


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