Rating: 
Summary: This DVD set has some good episodes
Review: One of the best episodes of Space: 1999 that I remember seeing as a child was The Last Sunset, which I did not see again for more than 25 years. I liked this episode as a kid, and I enjoyed watching it again on this DVD set. I thought that the story of having the moon develop an atmosphere like earth's was very interesting. Another episode that I remember as a kid was Alpha Child. I think that the most interesting part of the story was that the first child of Moonbase Alpha grew up and became an adult at an unusually fast rate, and was temporarily deaf and was incapable of speech for part of the episode. There was a certain sense of awe and wonder about this episode, the child was very enigmatic, and so was the story.
Rating: 
Summary: Space 1999 is a scifi classic
Review: Space 1999 has earned its place in the ranks of SciFi television. I was reminded of the episode "Voyager's Return" after seeing a, you guessed it, ST:Voyager episode dealing with the same theme, giving a unique oppertunity for comparison between the series. Strangely, the S1999 episode held up rather well and was in some ways superior to the Star Trek version.
Rating:
Summary: Space 1999 is a scifi classic
Review: Space 1999 has earned its place in the ranks of SciFi television. I was reminded of the episode "Voyager's Return" after seeing a, you guessed it, ST:Voyager episode dealing with the same theme, giving a unique oppertunity for comparison between the series. Strangely, the S1999 episode held up rather well and was in some ways superior to the Star Trek version.
Rating: 
Summary: Science fiction without the science
Review: Space: 1999 is a bit of an enigma. The show has both rabid fans that defend every aspect of the show, and very harsh critics, with very little middle ground. In this sense, the fan following is similar to that of Star Trek.That is where the similarities end, however. When I originally saw this series, I was a rabid fan. I was also 10 years old. Now that I have seen these episodes again, I have become a harsh critic, for several reasons. In every episode on these DVDs, at least one major scientific blunder is made, and the number is generally closer to 3 or 4 per episode. Clearly real scientists were never consulted; the writers obviously knew little or nothing about physics, biology, or astronomy. I have a big problem with a show passing itself off as hard core science fiction that can't even get high-school physics right. Another major detraction is the TERRIBLE special effects. I have read where people say how great the effects are, and I just have to wonder what they have been watching. Perhaps the problem is that people are lumping all of the effects together into one category. For example, I feel that the models and miniature work are TOP NOTCH, as is the overall design of the ships and the base itself. It has been said George Lucas built on Space:1999's special effects for Star Wars: A New Hope. With respect to the models and miniature work, I can believe that this is so. However, effects involving planets, ship movements, energy beams, explosions, and spatial distortions (basically, ALL special effects that are not models or miniatures) are some of the WORST I have ever seen. Star Trek did a much better job 10 years earlier and with a much smaller budget! There's just no excuse for that. The stories and acting are also not very good. The commander seems to lead by yelling at people. I guess this is supposed to be dramatic, but it just strikes me as absurd. The character interaction also feels forced and unnatural. And the Alphans are constantly flip-flopping between wanting to blow things up or giving in to alien domination. In other words, the characters behave inconsistently from one episode to the next. Getting back to the DVD set itself, I would only recommend it to people who are already fans of the show, or who enjoy the quaint campiness of "B" movies ("The Blob", etc.). Be warned that Space: 1999 takes itself very seriously. It does not recognize it's own flaws and laugh at them. In a way, that makes it even more amusing. I must admit that I derive a good bit of pleasure from watching these episodes. There are quite a few "you've GOT to be kidding" moments in these shows that will have anyone with a decent understanding of basic science rolling on the floor. I don't really recommend that you let your kids watch though, because they might actually think the bad science is real and have to unlearn it later. Each DVD contain 3 episodes, and essentially nothing else. The "bonuses" are DVD production credits (I am just amazed that this is considered to be a "bonus!"), and a few stills, most of which are just cells taking directly from the shows themselves. The only thing that the DVD medium buys you is random access to the episodes.
Rating: 
Summary: Space 1999 - At times flawed, but fun none the less
Review: Sure the characters are occasionally stiff, the science without basis, and the story lines loopy, but in many more ways Space 1999 is a winner. Unlike Star Trek the Alphans don't just figure everything out instantly. There is fear, puzzlement, and mistakes. The Commander doesn't always surrender and he doesn't always try to get himself killed to save the crew. He doesn't even fall in love with every guest start female. The rest of the Alpha team actually argues, flirts, and occasionally dies. It took the Star Trek mythos 20+ years to really allow things like that without blaming it on mirror universes, drugs, or alien takeovers. Up until DS9 it was either super-Camp or super-Whimp. Try out Space 1999, if only to give yourself a break from Star Trek.
Rating:
Summary: 1999 Forever
Review: The costumes, the special effects, the models, the music, and the actors all brought together to form a unique series that touched many a fan. The episodes of Space:1999 were thought provoking, and yes not every little thing was explained, but the series made you THINK!...instead of having every episode resolved, ala Trek, some of the episodes like "Black Sun" left you wondering "how did they survive that?" But that was the beauty of 1999, it was a show all it's own, and it stood up for itself. I was thrilled beyond belief when I heard they were releasing the entire series on DVD, unlike the last chance I had to watch the show on SciFi whom butchered the episodes to squeeze in more commercial time, releasing 1999 on DVD is a dream come true for all fans of the show. Watching the episodes on DVD brought back so many memories of getting a good seat in the living room just before the next episode was shown on TV. 1999 touched me like no other show has or probably ever will. I am surprised though that with today's computer technology in sfx used in movies....that no one has ever made a REAL Space:1999 movie. Wouldn't it be great to have a two hour movie based on the very first episode of "Breakaway"?
Rating:
Summary: A long-overdue release of a much-underrated show
Review: The first season of "Space: 1999" still ranks, in my opinion, as one of the best and most unique sci-fi shows ever made. Unlike more run-of-the-mill sci-fi shows such as the various Star Trek series, where episodes invariably ended with a perfect solution to any problem, and where the politically-correct, "perfect" Star Trek universe left the characters with no real "human" problems to deal with, "Space: 1999" is a refreshing, if often surreal, breath of fresh air. Basically "Space: 1999" combines the best of the sci-fi, horror, and fantasy genres into a funky, 1970's combination - The Twilight Zone meets Star Trek meets the X-Files. With the possible exception of the X-Files, no other sci-fi show has ever made such dramatic use of color and lighting to affect the show's mood and atmosphere. Planets on "Space 1999" are often colored in vivid blues, pinks and greens and cast an eerie light over the Moon as it passes by - creating a wonderfully creepy, moody effect that few other sci-fi shows have even approached. The set designs are also elaborate and unique - watch the "Guardian of Piri" episode in this DVD set and you'll literally see what I mean. The acting is sometimes wooden (especially Martin Landau as Commander Koenig and Barbara Bain as Dr. Helena Russell), but other cast members more than make up for this defect, as do the show's unique, almost surreal storylines. And if you're tired of the usual sci-fi fare (as I have grown tired of "Star Trek: Voyager" repetitive episodes that are basically retreads of earlier Star Trek series) then the six episodes on this DVD will come as a pleasant surprise. In "Missing Link" Koenig is kidnapped by an alien anthropoligist who wants to keep and study him as if he were a lab rat. In "Guardian of Piri" everyone but Koenig has their minds taken over by an advanced computer that convinces everyone to leave the Moonbase and travel to its homeworld, where the crew just lies around in a druggy, trance-like state of "perfect" happiness. In "Force of Life" a strange blue light takes over the body of a crewman at the base's nuclear power plant, and then begins killing Alphans for their body heat. One nice thing about most of these episodes is that not every question is neatly solved by the end of the episode (what WAS that blue light?), nor does every (or even most) of the episodes necessarily have a "happy" ending. And the special effects are still quite good even by today's standards (although some of the monster costumes and some alien ships are pretty bad). The musical score is also outstanding - in no other show will you hear the opening credits feature an electric guitar, violins, and trumpets (and it sounds great too!). To be sure, "Space: 1999" isn't for everybody, and if you're a fan of conventional sci-fi such as Star Trek or even Babylon 5, then this show may just be a bit too "odd" for you. But if you're craving something different - a series that comes closer to living up to the name of "Science FICTION", with a strong dash of horror and fantasy thrown in, then "Space: 1999" may be just what you've been waiting for. And I'll guarantee you of this - when you watch this show you'll never forget it's look and feel, even if you don't like it. A true landmark in sci-fi.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have
Review: The Picture quality is good. There are RESTORED lines of dialog that were originally edited out for comercials through out each episode. However, there are not subtittles, that I've found. Over all , a must have...
Rating:
Summary: Blunting the Sword of an Earlier Reviewer
Review: This is in response to the diatribes written against Space: 1999. That their author chooses to give it the lowest possible rating while at the same time so generously commending it for its set design and miniature work shows an inherent contradiction right there, for surely the show's achievements in this area should alone give it merit above the 0 stars he wishes to rate it. But moving into the main points of his argument... For starters, his comparison of the effects for Space: 1999 and Star Trek- TOS for the purpose of disparaging Space is completely off base. Star Trek only had a handful of planet shots recycled through the series (the red planet, the green planet, the yellow planet, and the continent planet), there were matte squares around the shuttlecraft as they launched from the Enterprise, spaceships were conveniently invisible or inexplicably borrowed the design of other alien races, explosions were usually shown off screen as the Enterprise crew threw themselves around the Bridge and corridor sets and when shown consisted only of flashes of colored light. Spaceship crashes were always off-screen too. Star Trek had a lot of good things going for it, but special effects were not its proudest achievement. Space: 1999 did recycle some planet shots, but the majority of planets shown were unique to the episodes in which they were featured. Most had cloud cover (which Star Trek conveniently failed to include even in its Earth shots) and halos of gas seen as Eagles neared the planets, to represent atmosphere. True, some of the special effects were sub-par. That is undeniable, but there were bona fide explosions in space always shown. Actual explosions, with debris flying out of them, not just flashes of light. Rather than matte squares we had wires suspending the spaceships, just as conspicuous, I suppose, but at least the models had more detail and weren't obscured in the matte effect. Eagles crash-landed in full spectacle. Of course, they crash-landed in miniature forests, but what else would have been possible? And do you have any idea how much work must be involved to create a forest in miniature? Also, when planets exploded, they left expanding, murky clouds of gas, as well they should. Even the SEs of Star Wars failed to take this into account. To say that Space: 1999 had the worst special effects ever done is utter fallacy. Ever seen Dr. Who? Or Blake's 7? Or Galactica? Or The Starlost? Or The Green Slime? Or Superman IV? There is a myriad of inferior effects work in media science fiction before and after the time that Space: 1999 was produced, and I would hazard to include the fake-looking computer-generated material in the "newer" Star Treks. When an argument against the visual aesthetic of Space: 1999 is so skewed, I find it difficult to take seriously any attacks on its other aspects, even if such attacks were more persuasive, but alas, they are not. Warp drive in Star Trek, exceeding the speed of light with no time dilation and no regard for relativity, is just as much pseudo-science as the Moon's breakaway from Earth in Space: 1999. There are metaphysical explanations offered for that, however, which shows that at the very least the writers of Space: 1999 acknowledged the tenuous scientific basis of the series' premise. Space warps, doors into hyperspace displacing the Moon, also occur in the series, and the Moon could theoretically cross interstellar space if its inertia of mass were reduced and time-dilation came into effect. Still, I'd be content to classify Space: 1999 as fantasy. I have no problem doing that whatsoever, but if it is, then so must be Star Trek and just about any other televised deep space opus. John Koenig may be prone to fits of temper, but he has a tremendous responsibility of preserving the lives of 300 people, a responsibility that he was not expecting to have to bear, but he bears it well, and as the series continues and we learn that his wife had been killed in a war, that his best friends died of a disease for which there was no cure and that John had no choice but to abandon them to, it becomes clear that Koenig is a troubled, conflicted, and nevertheless resilient man. A man of integrity. He doesn't boink every pretty alien who crosses his path. He doesn't crack jokes in the same episode that innocent crewmembers are killed. Not even in the unfairly maligned Series Two, where his tender side is clearly evident in his affection for Dr. Russell and his surrogate father relationship with Maya. Characterization in the first series isn't quite so developed, but it is adequate. I just can't see any substance to the sweeping put-down of Space: 1999. It is just as pointless as the one-sentence dismissals of the show in other reviews, and I can see no reason why anyone, let alone 5 people so far, would deem it helpful. Neither can I perceive any motivation for it beyond just a natural antipathy to any space science fiction (or, if you like, fantasy) television show that dares to challenge the preeminence of the almighty Star Trek, and a wish to subvert its success on DVD on that basis.
Rating:
Summary: Moonbase Alpha ROcks!
Review: This is the second in the Space:1999 series of episodes. The next six are just as good. I loved the first season with Barry Morse and the original cast. Drama, good stories, interesting characters and great speical effects. (Minus the ocasional wire that can be seen every now and then. If you got the first one. get this one!
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