Rating: 
Summary: How cool is this?
Review: I bought Box set 1 and 2, and although there aren't many extras on the DVD's, the episode were really great! For 1975 it really had pretty good effects and interesting plots. The actors are good, and come on, it's so cool to see a futuristic space show with analog clocks, bell bottom pants, and pre-mousse hair styles!!!What a fun ride.
Rating: 
Summary: The power of DVD- to make you BUY BUY BUY!
Review: I have a theory: millions of people are buying films and television shows on DVD that they never would have on VHS, and not necessarily just the films and shows that go into creating the ultimate collection, but often, just stuff you might be mildly interested in. I bear out this theory myself in that I purchased perhaps ten VHS films throughout the history of it's existence, but have purchased about fifty DVDs in just the past 9 months. Space: 1999 was a very unusual show. Soft on the science, heavy on the fiction, with jaw-droppingly good models, sets and costumes (with the exception of the occasional stinker) and generally well-written, well acted stories. However, the series (I own both sets of the first season) has a coldness and a distance to it that prevents me from attaching myself to this world as I have done with Star Trek and Star Wars. When we are with the Alpha crew in Main Mission, even during a scene of tense crisis, there is a lack of rapport, closeness and comradery that makes me feel as isolated from the show as the Alphans are from Earth. There is a lack of realistic human connection that one would expect of a situation as desperate as theirs allgedly is. Perhaps this was the intent of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, to impart the show an unspoken sense of melancholy and enuii. If that's the case, I may credit their vision, but unfortunately the translation to compelling television ultimately fails. I give this show a generous four stars, though 3.5 would be more appropriate- because of it's scale, it's grandeur, it's good writing and reasonably good acting. It was ambitious, bold, beautiful, but well shy of a home run. Nevertheless- for any fan of the genre, there is goodness and decent value here. Don't buy it for the sparse extras, but for about $25 you get six nearly one hour episodes of a pretty good sci-fi show: and that's not too shabby.
Rating: 
Summary: A Cult Show For Many 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 these days). 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, who people think all Science Fiction leader characters should emulate. Landau's Koenig was a different, sometimes more subtle creation than Kirk. Although Shatner had many more years and opportunities to refine James Tiberius. 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:
Summary: Thanks for the Memories
Review: I was only seven years old when Space:1999 first aired here in Canada. The adventures of the brave crew of Moon Base Alpha became the meat for many hours of childhood playacting. Space:1999 is perhaps one of the reasons that to this day I have an abiding love for science fiction in all it's forms. Some might quibble with using the term 'science' in regards to Space:1999. And they may be right. The science is questinable at best. However, this show is still one of the most enjoyable bits of space opera around. The special effects are head an shoulders above anything produced up to that point, and in some cases don't appear dated even by todays standards. Costuming and props were both excellent and well executed. The sets are the most expansive I have seen in any science fiction episodic television. At least for the first season! While I shant degenerate into bashing the second season, I will say that the retooling of this show to make it over into something an American audience might enjoy certainly destroyed much of my enjoyment. The production values on these discs are excellent. The video tranfer exhibits very small amounts of noise or artifacting. The soundtrack, while mono, is clear and crisp. The packaging is excellent. My only fault with this set is that there is very little in the way of extra features. It surprises me that they did not seek out interviews with cast and crew where available to include as something of a retrospective. Aside from that one rather minor quibble, I have totally enjoyed being taken back to the days of my childhood. I look forward to adding all of the Season 1 DVD's to my collection!
Rating:
Summary: Space: 1999 at its best
Review: In this set are some of the most complex and chilling episodes of the series. One of my favorites is the "Force of Life" episode, because it is so heavy on concept and doesn't rely on the gratuitous actions sequences that would come to be the norm in the second season. "Guardian of Piri" asks and answers the age old question, wherein lies the ideal life? "Missing Link" features an excellent performance by Peter Cushing and examines the extremes of human nature-can these extremes be bridged somehow? The second disc contains more action oriented episodes. "Alpha Child" concerns and outside menace brought onto Moonbase Alpha. "The Last Sunset" transforms the moon into a breathable planet. "Voyager's Return" is a fable about the hubris that often goes with the quest for knowledge, and the consequences that must be paid when you allow that quest to become unstoppable. These are all very solid episodes from a series that should've been so much greater than it ended up being.
Rating:
Summary: Space: 1999 at its best
Review: In this set are some of the most complex and chilling episodes of the series. One of my favorites is the "Force of Life" episode, because it is so heavy on concept and doesn't rely on the gratuitous actions sequences that would come to be the norm in the second season. "Guardian of Piri" asks and answers the age old question, wherein lies the ideal life? "Missing Link" features an excellent performance by Peter Cushing and examines the extremes of human nature-can these extremes be bridged somehow? The second disc contains more action oriented episodes. "Alpha Child" concerns and outside menace brought onto Moonbase Alpha. "The Last Sunset" transforms the moon into a breathable planet. "Voyager's Return" is a fable about the hubris that often goes with the quest for knowledge, and the consequences that must be paid when you allow that quest to become unstoppable. These are all very solid episodes from a series that should've been so much greater than it ended up being.
Rating:
Summary: Star Trek or Space 1999? A good barometer of your taste
Review: It is interesting to see that Space 1999 elicits strong emotions from both its fans and detractors. Unlike one reviewer who claims that he used to love the show when he was 10 year old and has since grown to dislike it, I have had an exact opposite experience. When I first caught it when I was a kid, I thought the show was dour and weird, devoid of a sense of humor, especially in comparison with Star Trek. Now that I have had a chance to review the series on DVD two decades later, I find the show much more thoughtful and dramatically interesting than (at least for me) Star Trek. Yes, the basic premise of Moon hurtling into outer space at (or even beyond?) the speed of light is unscientific, to say the least. Yes, some of the designs and special effects are pretty dated, although I don't find CGI effects used in an average Sci-Fi channel movie any more sophisticated than meticulous model works used in Space 1999. But for the same reason that you do not stop reading classical science fiction novels because they are based on outdated scientific premises, I do not find the lack of scientific accuracy a great hindrance in allowing me to enjoy the series. At this juncture of my life, I actually appreciate thoughtful, somber approaches to almost-metaphysical problems that Space 1999 employed. Thank God there is no horsing around with a hammy space captain spewing one liners! Obviously some episodes deal with their themes better than others (Among those included in Set 2, for instance, "Missing Link" is embarassing in its hackeneyed view of human evolution, while "Voyager's Return" is an excellent exploration of the potential human costs of technological progress), but as a whole the show works for me. I am looking forward to purchasing and reviewing more episodes on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Two really good episodes, four not-so-good episodes
Review: Missing Link - I didn't care for this one at all. Koenig is captured by some aliens that think humans are the "missing link" in their evolutionary chain. There's a whole lot of standing around talking in cheap acid-trip looking sets. The premise isn't interesting or believable. The ending is really dumb.
The Guardian of Piri - The moonbase crew goes to the planet Piri and lays around acting really stoned. Only Koenig seems immune to the powerful LSD trip that affects everyone else. Kind of like Woodstock if you dressed everyone up in Moonbase uniforms and didn't have any bands playing. Pretty stupid overall. The worst part was watching the Moonbase crew having a party before they left Alpha, like a bunch of 9 year olds at a birthday party looking forward to watching the clown show.
Force of Life - A truly excellent episode. A man who works in one of the reactor rooms is taken over by an alien spirit and starts killing people and consuming Alpha's power. Some great nightmarish sequences and marvelous sets. One of my favorites of the whole series.
Alpha Child - Not very good. Alpha's first child is born and grows up rapidly. A lot of scenes of the Alphans giddily playing with the kid, rather neauseating. The ending was somewhat good, but ultimately unsatisfying.
The Last Sunset - Another great episode. Alpha gets an atmosphere, and Barbara Bain is stranded when her Eagle crashes. Another of my favorites of the series.
Voyager's Return - I didn't like this one at all. The Voyager space probe was launched from earth, but something went wrong with it's drive system and it ended up killing a bunch of people. Now it returns with angry aliens in hot persuit. The doctor who built it just happens to be on Alpha, but everyone hates him because of the previous accident. There are a lot of Nazi overtones in this for some reason (the doctor has a heavy German accent and is treated as some sort of horrible criminal). Doesn't really make sense - do the family memebers of the victims of the space shuttle disasters hate and want to beat up the people who work at NASA? It was an accident for pete's sake. Everyone acts very out of character and I found the whole thing rather painful to sit through.
Overall, a real mixed bag. I give it 4 stars on the strength of the two good episodes, which is being very charitable.
Rating:
Summary: Another quality re-release of this sci-fi classic
Review: My standard disclaimer applies. I am not reviewing the artistic merits of this release. I happen to like this series but that does not mean you will. I am reviewing the technical merits of this release. As in the first set, the image is stable and clear. There are very few decompression artifacts to be seen and you have to hunt for those you do see. Edge enhancement is at a bare minimum -- on a par with an uncompressed NTSC studio source. Colors are consistent and stable. This release was also re-mastered from the original 35mm source film and it shows. There are some film flaws and grain on the image but, for the most part, it looks as good as it did when it was originally broadcast. The sound is a faithful and stable 1970's mono. This should come as no surprise. The series was mono when it was originally broadcast. The quality of the video and audio are faithfully reproduced on this spartan; yet good DVD. The extras are lean but the video and sound are so good, I just don't care. I wish all DVDs were made with the care these were. And they're not all that expensive, either. If you liked this series, I think you will like this DVD set.
Rating:
Summary: FINALLY!!
Review: Oh, what a relief!! "Space: 1999" on DVD!! Six episodes for $30.00!! No more buying the laserdiscs on eBay!! What more do I need to say, except maybe "hurry up with the Maya episodes!!""
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