Rating: 
Summary: good escapist TV
Review: I've always thought that the start of both seasons of Space 1999 weren't as much fun as the episodes that came after them. Set 5 has some good episodes and some good moments, but sets 6,7, and 8 are much more fun. As the start of season two, this set has both it's share of draw-backs and it's fun moments. I wont waste space reviewing every episode, but I will say that The Metamorph is one of my faves! Catherine Schell is introduced as Maya in this one. New theme music, cast members, costumes, and sets are introduced as well. Dr Bergman is gone, and the main control center has now been moved underground. Maya helps to fill the void left by Bergman, and after episodes like War Games the new location of the control center makes good sense. Smart move Koenig. Space 1999 sets 2,3,4,6,7,8 are my favorites, but 1 and 5 are important to the show and to finish your collection. There are some good epsodes in both so check them out. While you are at it, try the Space 1999 novel The Forsaken by John Muir. It sheds more light on just what happened between the program's two seasons and is an excellent read.
Rating: 
Summary: very fun stuff
Review: It would be easy to rip this show to pieces and there are plenty of reviews here that do just that, but I have a blast watching these episodes with friends. It's a wonderful mix of cool stuff, decent acting and writing, dubious acting and writing, and just plain silly stuff that both amuses and brings back the fun of being a kid and watching this sort of monster/space adventure show. My friends and I never saw the show when it was on tv, but it's the kind of thing that the kid in us adore and it's very funny when it isn't fantastic stuff. These episodes are all over the map, but they never fail to entertain.
Rating: 
Summary: "Re-tooling" gone too far...
Review: Many producers could really learn a lesson or two from the end result of "Space:1999". Initially a deep, intellegent, metaphysical, and moody series, the second season of "Space:1999" was radically altered until the show became an action/kid's program that was almost a parody of itself. Fans have seen the same kind of heresy with "seaQuest DSV", and "Galactica: 1980", and it begs the question, "Why go so far with re-tooling, when it just doesn't work?" In the case of "Space:1999", Gerry and Sylvia Anderson were in the middle of a very nasty divorce towards the end of Season 1, and Sylvia's hand would be sorely missing from the tiller of "Space:1999". No second season would ever have existed except that Gerry Anderson was able to get an American producer to speed up production, and make the episodes more marketable in the States. The new season would lean more heavily on Gerry's style of storytelling; less intellectual/metaphysical, more fast-paced action. I remember being a particularly disappointed youngster with Season 2 when it premiered. The music was all disco-funk. The uniforms were wrong. There was no Main Mission control center. Worst of all, no Victor, Paul, or Kano! Mathias inexplicably vanished, replaced by a series of Mathias lookalikes. Even Sandra got a new name and was pushed so far off into the background, whenever she appeared I wondered who she was! At least, I thought, the Eagle looks the same, and so did the exterior models of Alpha. Just about the only saving grace for the show, as far as I was concerned. As for Maya and Tony, they didn't do much for me. While at least Maya had some cool powers (though why she could turn into Earth animals without ever having seen them before was a mystery), Tony was just kind of aggravating. I thought, "Hey, who is this guy? Where did HE come from? And where's Paul?!" Everything took on a cheap, slapdash feel. Characters acted very strange, and the new cast (other than Maya and Tony), ranged from dull to just plain annoying (remember that Irish/cowboy/geologist from "All That Glisters"?). Science, which was always kind of sketchy on the show, went completely out the window in the new season. And don't even get me started on Koenig's pink/orange jacket! Still, I kept watching, mostly in the vain hope that the show would go back to the moody style of Year One, or that some of my favorite characters would appear again. No such luck. The new mood for the show was strangely... cheerful. Regardless of my venom, I have to admit that there is a soft spot in my heart for Season 2, just like there is for other shows I grew up with in the '70s. And there was that cool evil mirror-Koenig episode, and even the episode with the bad plants on the planet Luton, and still other installments, that were a mixture of action, effects, and sci-fi that was just right for kids. But Season 1 was always my preference, even back then. The hand of "The Show Killer" (a generally unfair title for Fred Freiberger), is evident in the "Star Trek-ization" of the second season. The "Star Trek" touches in Season 2 are the chief reason why "Trek" fans despise the series, whereas Season 1 was just too "boring" for them. Freiberger (who created the early '70s live action kid's show "Korg", and helmed the last season of the original "Trek", and "Six Million Dollar Man"), brought his own "action/humor" style to the series, which clashed with the already established "Space:1999" universe. To Freiberger's enduring credit, he was a special guest speaker at the Breakaway convention in Los Angeles back in 1999. Although he may have feared being stoned with commlocks, he told it like it was, and said that if the fans did not like the changes in Season 2 (or on "Trek", etc.), he did the best he could, but ultimately he was the one to blame. Fans, he said, should not have to settle for something they did not like. So, although Freiberger has gotten a bad rap in sci-fi circles (and especially from "Trek" fans), I have to say that he was a real straight-shooter who did his best with what he had. I got a chance to ask him what was the one thing about the show he really liked when he first took over, and he said that without a doubt it was the eagle spacecraft. You can see this reflected in Season 2, with extensive eagle use throughout, a huge model of the eagle hanger (spectacularly blown up in a later episode), and new attachments and equipment for the workhorse of Alpha Moonbase. In any event, I could not resist buying at least the first two sets in the Season 2 release. I recommend other Season 1 snobs like myself to do the same. The sets are nicely packaged, and I couldn't see any problem with the transfers. And the episodes? To be honest, they aren't quite as bad as I remember. Although full of cheap and cheesy elements, tiny sets, happy endings, forced jokes, and the overall style I hated as a kid, as an adult I find that I can more appreciate the concepts presented in Season 2. Some of the story ideas had merit, even if the execution of those ideas did not. And Maya's mecheivous sense of humor, along with the Koenig/Helena banter, and even Tony's beermaking skills (or lack thereof), were interesting additions. While I do consider Season 1 to be the definitive "Space:1999", Season 2 is still fun for nostalgia's sake.
Rating:
Summary: YEAR 2-BETTER THAN YEAR 1!!!!!!!
Review: Season two of Space 1999 has finaly arrived and it looks better than ever! I have never seen a year two episode that wasnt worn out and scratchy, the pristine quality makes you think your seeing these episodes for the first time. There are more bonuses than the previouse disks but still no "making of" documentary. A and E has again done a great job, making the wait worth it ...
Lets hope A and E puts out more bonuses and the special "MESSAGE" episode!
Season two begins with the addition of Maya, in the episode The Metamorph. After escaping her evil father she goes to live on Moonbase Alpha. Maya has the power of molecular transformation-she can change into any lifeform in the blink of an eye. Space 1999 was one of the first-maybe THE FIRST-television series to have a morphing character, and this was way before computer animation! Her changes were feats of camera work, who can forget her eye! The Exiles is about an alien Bonny and Clyde who hold Alpha hostage. Maya does a really cool midair transformation into a panther. One moment of humanity is about robots who want to learn to kill so they can eliminate their human masters. This episode sizzles with sex! Tony and Helena are pitted against each other and end up almost killing each other. Journey to Where is about time travel going amok. This episode has much in common with many first season episodes and even ends on a grim philosophical note. The minatures of Earths' future cities are very well done and realistic. The Taybor is about a trader who will stop at nothing to get Maya- and who can blame him!
If you want the best of weird and cool sci-fi Space 1999 season two is it.
Rating:
Summary: loved season 2
Review: Season two of Space 1999 is a great deal of fun if you understand exactly what to expect. Expect CHEESE with your Space 1999 and plenty of it. I think season one was great, but no matter how many times you watch a train roll down a track there's just something more compelling about a train wreck. Season 2 is a weird combination of quality elements and wacky cheesy elements that makes for entertaining viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Some fun episodes, but poor sound too
Review: Some of the episodes in this set have inferior sound. It's not unlistenable, but it is sub par. Fortunatley, I don't find it too distracting, but it's too bad they didn't make the sound as wonderful as the picture quality. Apart from the sound problems, I enjoyed this set.
This set contains shows from the second season of Space 1999 which was a more ridiculous season, but there are many guilty pleasure episodes here. My favorites include:
"The Metamorph" which is the first episode of the second season and introduces the new theme music and show opening. I like it. We also get a new command center, some new costumes, and the introduction of Tony and Maya. Tony brings some great humor to the show and he keeps trying to make beer. You have to admire a guy who tries to make beer and maintains a sense of humor while the moon is hurling through space. Catherine Schell is lovely as Maya the Psychlon and Maya can turn into all kinds of living creatures which is fun. She's also the sexiest woman with side-burns ever! Brian Blessed plays Mayas dad Mentor.
"The Exiles" has some very suspenseful moments as 50 missiles suddenly begin to orbit the moon and the intercepting of one of them for further study is pretty tense. There's a great sense of mystery for the first half of this episode, but then it turns silly, but I like silly. "Journey to Where" is a bit of Time Tunnel like adventure with a good performance by Freddie Jones, and "The Taybor" is extremely goofy and features some scantly clad female Alphans, and Maya turning into Mr Hyde. I wont comment on the disco dancing horny android epsiode, or the episode with the living rocks. These aren't the most realistic or brainy TV episodes ever, and Set 5 is the low point of the Space 1999 DVD sets, but there are plenty of fun moments in this one and let us never forget that Catherine Schell is the sexiest woman with side-burns ever.
Rating:
Summary: Space 1999 fan for over 20 years
Review: The first season of space 1999 is simply great atmospheric sifi. season2 is terrible by comparison.But I still recommend fans of space 1999 to buy the season2 dvds.Space 1999 lives on. I also recommend the new space 1999 novels that are coming out.I am glad space 1999 has renewed intrest.
Rating:
Summary: SPACE: 1999 Dont be fooled by the term Digitally Remastered
Review: The picture quality on the Season 1 DVDs was ok, but the picture quality of Sets 5 and 6 is worse! The beginning credits jitter back and forth, and there is almost always flicker & dirt smudges. Lots of scratches & debris too. It doesnt look like they tried to clean it up at all. To make matters worse, the publicity videos that are part of the 'extras' section, include various clips from season 2 episodes which in a few cases, offer far better picture quality than the actual episodes included on the DVD! These prints are definatly sub-par if they are supposed to be 'remasted' or 'restored'. Unfortunatly, these DVD sets are all there is for Space: 1999 Season 2 fans in North America (Region 1 DVD), so I guess its better than nothing. Bleh :P
Rating:
Summary: WE LOVE YOU MAYA!
Review: They have finaly released season 2 of this great show.Maya is so hot! The music is so great. Martin Laundau is the best actor to ever star in a sci-fi show, no wonder he won that award for Ed Wood. I am in a hurry to watch The Bringers of Wonder episode which has a story very simular to The Matrix. Space 1999 was so ahead of its time, after watching these episodes I now know were Star Trek The Next Generation gets most of its ideas, not from the original Star Trek! Hop on board Moonbase Alpha everyone for the trip of a lifetime!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Loads of Fun!
Review: This is a MUST HAVE for all Space 1999 fans and collectors. Despite all the critism you hear about the series, especially Season 2. Take a look for yourself and enjoy the episodes of this famous and classic series once again. If you happen to be watching for the first time get ready to be swept away with all the excitement and enthusiasm like a scifi series is intended for. A chance to be transported imaginatively into the episode itself and experience the intensity of the plot as it unfolds to the climax. I recommend this Set, as well as all the others to complete the incredible journey for which you will begin with the very first time you pick it up. Pure entertainment!
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