SPACE 1999 - Individual Card from the series of 50 cards produced in 1975 by Sunicrust Bread, in Australia.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:In 1975
Sunicrust bread produced a set of 50 cards, each approximately 5cm x
8 cm with colour photos. One card with each loaf of Sunicrust bread
(they were baked in the bread, with no protective wrapper, which goes
a long way towards explaining the note on the cards about a
protective coating). Some interesting and unusual photos, including a
fairly high proportion of SFX shots, and some wildly inaccurate text
descriptions.
The card backs advertised "Alpha Shirts Plus
Trip To Disneyland USA for 4 People". For a Alpha T-shirt you
had to cut the bottom section from all 50 cards and send them to
Sunicrust by November 14th 1975***. For the Disneyland competition
you had to send a drawing of a "Space: 1999 spaceman"
(there were 500 runners-up prizes of Timex calendar watches.)
(***Please note that this card is intact, as shown in the photograph – but you are a wee bit late for the T-Shirt offer or the trip to Disneyland...)
Space:
1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two
seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode,
set in the year 1999, nuclear waste stored on the Moon's far side
explodes, knocking the Moon out of orbit and sending it, as well as the
311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha, hurtling uncontrollably into space.
The series was the last production by the partnership of Gerry and
Sylvia Anderson and was the most expensive series produced for British
television up to that time. The first season was co-produced by the
British television ITC and the Italian television RAI, while the second
season was produced solely by ITC.
Storyline:
Two series (or seasons) of the programme were produced, each
comprising twenty-four episodes. Production of the first series was from
November 1973 to February 1975; production of the second series was
from January 1976 to December 1976.
The premise of Space: 1999 centres on the plight of the inhabitants
of Moonbase Alpha, a scientific research centre on the Moon. Humanity
had been storing its nuclear waste in vast disposal sites on the far
side of the Moon, but when an unknown form of electromagnetic radiation
is detected, the accumulated waste reaches critical mass and causes a
massive thermonuclear explosion on 13 September 1999. The force of the
blast propels the Moon like an enormous booster rocket, hurling it out
of Earth orbit and into deep space at colossal speed, thus stranding the
311 personnel stationed on Alpha. The runaway Moon, in effect, becomes
the "spacecraft" on which the protagonists travel, searching for a new
home. Not long after leaving Earth's solar system, the wandering Moon
passes through a black hole and later through a couple of "space warps"
which push it even further out into the universe. During their
interstellar journey, the Alphans encounter an array of alien
civilizations, dystopian societies, and mind-bending phenomena
previously unseen by humanity. Several episodes of the first series
hinted that the Moon's journey was influenced (and perhaps initiated) by
a "mysterious unknown force", which was guiding the Alphans toward an
ultimate destiny. The second series used more simplified
"action-oriented" plots.
The first series of Space: 1999 used a "teaser" introduction,
sometimes called a "hook" or "cold open". This was followed by a title
sequence that managed to convey prestige for its two main stars, Landau
and Bain (both separately billed as 'starring'), and to give the
audience some thirty-plus fast cut shots of the forthcoming episode. The
second series eliminated this montage. The programme would then offer
four ten-to-twelve minute long acts (allowing for commercial breaks in
America) and finished with a short (and, in the second series, often
light-hearted) "epilogue" scene. In 2004, the American science fiction
screenwriter Ronald D. Moore stated the style of the first season's
opening credits of Space: 1999 inspired the opening credit sequence for
his acclaimed remake of Battlestar Galactica.
Cast:
The headline stars of Space: 1999 were American actors Martin
Landau and Barbara Bain, who were married at the time and had previously
appeared together in Mission: Impossible. In an effort to appeal to the
American television market and sell the series to one of the major U.S.
networks,[3] Landau and Bain were cast at the insistence of Lew Grade
against the objections of Sylvia Anderson, who wanted British actors.
Also appearing as regular cast members were the Canadian-based British
actor Barry Morse (as Professor Victor Bergman in the first season) and
Hungarian-born, US-raised Catherine Schell (as the alien Maya in the
second season). Before moving into the role of Maya during the second
series, Catherine Schell had guest-starred as a different character in
the Year One episode "Guardian of Piri". The programme also brought
Australian actor Nick Tate to public attention. Roy Dotrice appeared in
the first episode as Commissioner Simmonds, and at the end of the
episode it appeared that he would be a regular character; however by the
second (transmitted) episode the character vanished, reappearing
partway through the first season in the episode "Earthbound", his only
other appearance on the show (in which the character is permanently
written out).
Over the course of its two series, the programme featured guest
appearances by many notable actors including Christopher Lee, Margaret
Leighton, Roy Dotrice, Joan Collins, Jeremy Kemp, Peter Cushing, Judy
Geeson, Julian Glover, Ian McShane, Leo McKern, Billie Whitelaw, Richard
Johnson, Patrick Troughton, Peter Bowles, Sarah Douglas, David Prowse,
Isla Blair, Stuart Damon and Brian Blessed. (Blair, Damon and Blessed
each appeared in two different episodes portraying two different
characters.) The English actor Nicholas Young (who portrayed John in the
original version of The Tomorrow People) appeared in an episode of Year
Two, "The Bringers of Wonder". Several guest stars went on to appear in
the Star Wars films, including Dave Prowse, Peter Cushing, Julian
Glover, Christopher Lee, Brian Blessed, Michael Culver, Michael Sheard,
Richard LeParmentier, Shane Rimmer, Angus MacInnes, and Jack McKenzie.
Production: Conception and development:
Space: 1999 was the last in a long line of science-fiction series
that Gerry and Sylvia Anderson produced as a working partnership,
beginning with Supercar in the early 1960s and including the famed
marionette fantasy programmes Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds,
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90 and The Secret Service, as
well as the live-action sci-fi drama UFO. Space: 1999 owes much of the
visual design to pre-production work for the never-made second series of
UFO, which would have been set primarily on the Moon and featured a
more extensive Moonbase.
Space: 1999 drew a great deal of visual inspiration (and technical
expertise) from the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The
programme's special effects director Brian Johnson had previously
worked on both Thunderbirds (as Brian Johncock) and 2001.
In 1972, Sir Lew Grade, head of ITC Entertainment, proposed
financing a second series of the Century 21 production UFO to
show-runners Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Grade had one stipulation: the
new series would be set primarily on the Moon within the environs of an
expanded SHADO Moonbase; the ratings indicated the Moon-centric episodes
had proved more popular with the viewers. The Andersons and their team
would quickly revamp the production, flashing ahead nearly twenty years
for UFO: 1999 with Commander Ed Straker and the forces of SHADO fighting
their alien foes from a large new Moonbase facility.
However, toward the end of its run, UFO experienced a drop in
ratings in both America and the UK; nervous ITC executives in both
countries began to question the financial viability of the new series,
and support for the project collapsed. In the meantime, Production
Designer Keith Wilson and the art department had made considerable
progress in envisioning the look and design of the new series. Their
work was then shelved for the foreseeable future.
Anderson would not let the project die; he approached Grade's
number two in New York, Abe Mandell, with the proposal for taking the
research and development done for UFO: 1999 and creating a new science
fiction series. Mandell was amenable, but stated he did not want a
series set featuring people "having tea in the Midlands" and forbade any
Earth-bound settings. Anderson responded that in the series opener, he
would "blow up the Earth". Mandell countered that this concept might be
off-putting to viewers, to which Anderson replied he would "blow up the
Moon".
The Andersons reworked UFO: 1999 into a new premise: Commander
Steven Maddox controlled the forces of WANDER, Earth's premier defence
organisation, from Moon City, a twenty-mile wide installation on the
Moon. Maddox would view all aspects of Earth defence from Central
Control, a facility at the hub of the base and accessible only by Moon
Hopper craft, which would require the correct pass-code to traverse
Control's defensive laser barrier. The Commander would also have access
to a personal computer called "Com-Com" (Commander's Computer), which
would act as a personal advisor, having been programmed with the
Commander's personality and moral sense.
In the half-hour opening episode "Zero-G" penned by the Andersons,
Earth's deep space probes have discovered an advanced extraterrestrial
civilisation. Maddox is kidnapped for an interview with the aliens.
Angered by humanity's innate hostility and WANDER's defensive posture,
they travel to Earth with the intent of isolating mankind within the
boundary of Earth's atmosphere. Having judged Maddox a noble example of
mankind, they return him unharmed. They then use a beam to reduce the
Moon's gravitational influence to zero, sending it careening out of
orbit into deep space.
The project continued forward. Group Three Productions (a
partnership of the Andersons and production executive Reg Hill) would
produce the series; ITC Entertainment and RAI Italian TV Broadcasting
would provide the funding. Grade, aiming for a US network sale, insisted
the series have American leads and employ American writers and
directors. George Bellak, a well-known American television writer, was
brought on staff. As stated by series writers Christopher Penfold and
Johnny Byrne, it was Bellak who created and polished the series'
defining concepts. Bellak wrote a ninety-minute opening episode titled
"The Void Ahead", which was a close forerunner of "Breakaway". Bellak
also set up a writers' guide defining the three leads, the facilities of
the Moonbase and potential storylines.
At this point, the staff seemed to make creative changes that
brought the series closer in concept and appearance to 2001: A Space
Odyssey. Even the title Space: 1999 evoked comparison with Kubrick's
film. (Before, the title of the new series had greatly varied: Space
Journey: 1999, Journey In Space, Menace In Space and Space Invaders —
the invaders of the last title being the Earthmen trapped on the runaway
Moon.)
For the lead characters of John Koenig and Helena Russell, Gerry
Anderson approached the husband-and-wife acting team of Martin Landau
and Barbara Bain. Landau and Bain were high-profile stars in America
after three years on the popular CBS espionage series Mission:
Impossible. Producer Sylvia Anderson let it be known that she would have
preferred British lead actors; since Grade insisted on Americans, she
would have chosen Robert Culp (star of the 1960s espionage series I Spy)
and Katharine Ross (co-star of 1960s blockbuster movies The Graduate
and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Lee H. Katzin, a highly
respected American television director with a speciality for pilot
episodes, was selected to helm the opening segment and brought into the
fold as a primary director for the remainder of the series.
Special effects, design and music:
The show's vehicles, including the Eagle space shuttle and the Moon
Buggy, were represented with a mixture of full-sized props,
photographic blow-ups, and detailed scale models. Dozens of models for
the various alien spaceships and the Mark IX Hawk from the "War Games"
episode were built by model maker Martin Bower, often at several
different sizes to account for the intended use.
Rather than relying on the expensive and time consuming blue screen
process, as for Star Trek, Johnson's team often employed a technique
that went back to the earliest days of visual effects: spacecraft and
planets would be filmed against black backgrounds, with the camera being
rewound for each successive element. As long as the various elements
did not overlap, this produced convincing results. In technical terms,
the advantage was that all of the elements were recorded on the original
negative, as opposed to blue screen, which would have involved several
generations of duplication. Another plus was that the camera's exposed
negative contained completed effects—once this film was lab
processed—thereby avoiding the costly, in time and money, blue screen
"optical" technique. The disadvantage was that the number of possible
angles was more limited; for instance, a spaceship could be seen
approaching a planet from the side, but could not move in front of it
without the elements overlapping.
Special effects director Brian Johnson and most of his team went on
to work on Ridley Scott's Alien, followed by The Empire Strikes Back.
Space: 1999 used Pinewood Studios sound-stages L and M. Each studio
measures 90' x 105' (27 m x 32 m), with a floor-to-grid measurement of
30 feet (9 m). For the first series, Stage L housed the "standing sets";
such as Main Mission, the Eagle interior, the travel tube, and a small
section of corridor. Due to the limited studio space, other sets
depicting Alpha interiors, such as Medical Centre, were assembled as
needed. Stage M was the "swing stage" – used for planet exteriors,
spaceship interiors, and whatever else was needed for a given episode.
The unisex "Moon City" uniforms for the first series were created
by renowned Austrian fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, a personal friend
of series star Barbara Bain. Other costumes were designed by Production
Designer Keith Wilson, who was also responsible for set design. Wilson's
innovative Moonbase set construction, using 4-by-8-foot (120 by 240 cm)
plastic foam-board panels, linked together Lego-like into whatever room
configuration was required, made for a uniform and realistic appearance
for the Alpha interiors (not to mention being relatively cheap and
quickly assembled). A muted colour palette and the integration of
recognisable equipment and accessories added to the verisimilitude.
For the second series, the Moonbase uniforms were updated and
coloured decorative stitching and turtleneck collars were added, as were
various badges and patches. Red, navy, or dark-green jackets also
appeared, originally on just the senior staff, then on many of the male
extras. The female characters tended to wear skirts and knee high boots
throughout the second series, rather than the flared trousers used in
Year One. The costumes for Year Two were designed by Emma Porteous, who
later designed the wardrobes for several James Bond films.
The Moonbase interiors were also upgraded for the second year, with
the existing stock of wall panels, doors, computer panels, etc. (along
with some bits from other Anderson productions) being assembled for the
first time—on Stage L--into a standing complex of interconnected sets
(the first series' sets had been assembled as needed and the size of the
Main Mission/Command Office complex was prohibitive for the
construction of a lasting series of rooms.) Vibrant colour was much more
evident in this series' Moonbase sets. Gadgets and equipment with a
futuristic appearance typical of contemporary science fiction were also
more evident. For example, Helena no longer used a stethoscope, but a
little beeping, all-purpose medical scanner similar to Dr McCoy's
whistling medical "tricorder" on Star Trek.
The opening credits for the first series featured a dramatic
fanfare composed by long-time Anderson associate Barry Gray, whose
scores for the series were his final compositions for an Anderson
production. Gray scored five episodes — "Breakaway", "Matter of Life and
Death", "Black Sun", "Another Time, Another Place", and "The Full
Circle" — Vic Elms provided a completely electronic score for "Ring
Around the Moon", and Big Jim Sullivan performed a one-off sitar
composition for "The Troubled Spirit". Library music, classical
compositions, and score excerpts from earlier Anderson productions
augmented the five Gray scores and gave the impression of an expansive
musical repertoire.
The second series was scored by jazz musician and composer Derek
Wadsworth; American producer Fred Freiberger wanted a more "driving,
searing" score for his new action-adventure format. Aside from the new
theme music, which was more synthesised than the theme for Year One,
Wadsworth also composed original music for the episodes "The Metamorph",
"The Exiles", "One Moment of Humanity", "The Taybor", and "Space Warp".
Much of this music was reused in other episodes.
Other Anderson shows influenced the Space: 1999 spacecraft and
elements. The cockpit of the Eagle has a slight resemblance to the
cockpit of an earlier Anderson Supermarionation series, Fireball XL5.
Thruster and engine sounds were similar to those previously used in
Fireball XL5, Thunderbirds, and Captain Scarlet. Lighting effects for
Moonbase Alpha were comparable to those from UFO, as well as the concept
of the elevating spacecraft launch pad.
After almost 30 years, the original Moonbase Alpha model reappeared
in the public eye online when a site gained exclusive access to
photomap the model and solicit its sale.
Series One:
As the November 1973 start date approached, George Bellak fell out
with Gerry Anderson over creative issues and left the production. Story
consultant Christopher Penfold acted as head writer, bringing in
American writer Edward di Lorenzo and Irish poet Johnny Byrne as script
editors. Penfold reworked Bellak's opening episode into a one-hour draft
first re-titled "Turning Point", then finalised as "Breakaway".
One week before live action filming commenced, Visual Effects
Supervisor Brian Johnson and his team began work on the visual effects
sequences for the first episode at Bray Studios near Maidenhead,
Berkshire on 5 November 1973. For the first six weeks, no usable footage
resulted until the team discovered a dragging brake had affected film
speed. Studio rehearsals commenced at Elstree Studios near Borehamwood,
Hertfordshire on 12 November 1973. During filming of the first episode,
it became apparent that the troubled Elstree was under the threat of
imminent closure. One weekend, the company secretly relocated sets,
props, costumes, etc., to the nearby Pinewood Studios at Iver Heath,
Buckinghamshire, resulting in a union blacklisting of the production.
Scheduled for ten days' filming, "Breakaway" overran an additional
fifteen days. Lee Katzin was a perfectionist and demanded take after
take of scenes; even coverage of reaction shots of the background extras
required running a whole scene from beginning to end. His two-hour
director's cut was assembled and sent to ITC New York for a viewing. Abe
Mandell was horrified by the finished product. Anderson re-wrote
several key scenes and, after three days of re-shoots, re-edited the
pilot into a one-hour episode that appeased the fears of ITC. Katzin was
not asked back to the programme after the filming of his second episode
"Black Sun", which also ran over schedule.
Scheduled for a twelve-month shoot, the twenty-four episodes took
fifteen months to complete, with the production experiencing as many
hazards as their fictional creations. Britain's mandatory three-day work
week and the unplugging of the National Grid during the coal shortages
of the early 1970s did not delay filming (as Pinewood had its own
generators), but it affected film processing (the lab was an off-site
contractor).
Group Three's commitment to its financial partner, Italian
broadcasting company RAI, to include Italian actors in the cast also had
to be addressed. Originally, two supporting roles were intended for
Italian actors; with the casting of Nick Tate and Zienia Merton in those
roles, a solution had to be worked out. Four of the later episodes
produced ("The Troubled Spirit", "Space Brain", "Dragon's Domain" and
"The Testament of Arkadia") featured Italian guest artists.
The necessity to telex story outlines and scripts to New York for
approval caused further production delays. The incessant re-writing this
brought about eventually caused Christopher Penfold to resign during
the shooting of "Space Brain", after completing his writing commitment
with the script "Dragon's Domain". In a later interview, Johnny Byrne
stated that "one episode they (New York) would ask us to speed things
up, forcing us to cut out character development; then the next episode,
they asked for more character moments, which would slow down the action;
then they would complain there weren't enough pretty girls in another."
Years later, Byrne and Penfold would agree that the process they worked
under made "good scripts less than they had been" and forced them to
waste time re-writing "bad scripts to make them acceptable". Byrne
remained until the end of production; his last task writing filler
scenes for the desperately short "The Last Enemy" and a re-shoot for the
troublesome "Space Brain". The scenes re-mounted for "The Last Enemy"
concluded principal photography on 28 February 1975.
Countries where the show was popular include France, Italy,
Yugoslavia, Poland, Ethiopia, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Greece, the
Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Peru, Japan, Malaysia, Canada, Mexico,
Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. One of the first
previews of the series was in Australia on the Seven Network in July
1975, but the station later split the first series into two seasons. The
second season was shown in 1979.
Reception:
Response to the series varied; some critics praised it as a
classic, citing the production values and multi-layered storytelling
("Space: 1999 is like Star Trek shot full of methedrine. It is the most
flashy, gorgeous sci-fi trip ever to appear on TV..." and "Space: 1999
is a visually stunning, space-age morality play..."); others panned it
for poor plotting and wooden acting, especially on the part of Barbara
Bain ("the plots and characterisation on Space: 1999 have been
primitive..." and "A disappointing collage of wooden characters, boring
dialogue and incomprehensible plots...").
Isaac Asimov criticised the scientific accuracy of the series by
pointing out that any explosion capable of knocking the Moon out of its
orbit would actually blow it apart, and even if it did leave orbit it
would take thousands of years to reach the nearest star. He did,
however, praise the programme for the accuracy of the representation of
movement in the low gravity environment of the Moon, and for its
realistic production design (Asimov's responses were based on the pilot
episode only). Subsequent episodes (such as "The Black Sun", third in
production order, and "Another Time, Another Place", sixth in production
order) suggest the Moon reaches the stars by passing through wormholes
and hyperspatial tunnels, a plot point made more overt in second-season
episodes, notably "The Taybor" and "Space Warp". This issue is left
somewhat enigmatic in the first season as episodes involving other
planets invariably begin with the Moon having already reached a planet
and in the first few episodes of this kind, such as "Matter of Life and
Death" and "Missing Link", the episodes actually begin with the Alphans
on their way back from a planet, an initial Eagle flight having taken
place before the episode even begins.
Gerry and Sylvia Anderson were surprised and disappointed that the
public (and critics) never granted them the suspension of disbelief
given to other science-fiction programmes. The characters seem aware of
the apparent implausibility of their situation. In "Black Sun", Victor
Bergman asserts the chances of their surviving the explosion which
knocked them from orbit are "just about infinite." In "Matter of Life
and Death", Koenig remarks "many things have happened since we broke
away from our own solar system, unexplainable things." How they survived
and are able to travel the Universe seems to be a central mystery to
which the Alphans, and the audience, have no concrete answers.
In speaking about the show in 2010, Bain reflected: "We had some
very good science fiction people as advisors who knew what they were
talking about. For instance, they knew that sound up there wouldn't
travel, and it would just be quiet up there. But then we wouldn't have a
series, so we couldn't do that. There were various considerations that
had to be made, but they were based on what is, or what was, known at
the time. For all I know now it's out of date. I don't really know."
She added that some of the technology on Space: 1999 has come to
pass: "We made up a scanning device for Dr Russell. Someone would simply
be lying on the floor half dead, and I would scan them with this funny
little thing that was a prop. I could read all his vital signs. They can
pretty much do that with a medical device nowadays. There were times
that we were playing with props that didn't read anything — I just had a
bunch of dialogue to say after. We had the Commlock. All of those
things were on the verge of happening anyway. Now we're way past it.
When we made it, 1999 seemed so far away."
Cancellation and revival
Following the completion of the first series, the production team
prepared for a second series to commence production in the autumn of
1975. Gerry Anderson had staff writer Johnny Byrne prepare a critical
analysis of the first twenty-four episodes, assessing their strengths
and weaknesses in order to mount a new and improved second year. Byrne
then commenced writing scripts in an improved first-series format: "The
Biological Soul", "The Face of Eden", and "Children of the Gods". He
engaged British writer Donald James to develop his first-series format
story "The Exiles".
The largest stumbling block for the staff had been having all
material vetted by ITC's New York office. ITC's compromise was to hire a
high-profile American staff writer-producer. At this time, Sylvia
Anderson left her role as producer and as Gerry Anderson's wife when
they formally separated (and subsequently divorced). Fred Freiberger,
whom Gerry Anderson had considered for the writing position, was then
brought on board to help guide the series as a producer and acted as
show-runner. Freiberger had produced the third and final season of Star
Trek in 1968–1969 and eight episodes of the first season of The Wild
Wild West (including one in which Martin Landau guest-starred) before
being dismissed. Immediately after Space: 1999 he would go on to produce
what would be the final season of The Six Million Dollar Man. His
writing credits included Slattery's People, The Iron Horse, All in the
Family, Petrocelli, and Starsky and Hutch. Though Anderson and Grade
were satisfied with this choice, Abe Mandell had concerns about why he
was unemployed and available at the time.
Then ITC Entertainment President Sir Lew Grade abruptly cancelled
the series' production in late 1975, when ratings in the United States
had dropped during the later autumn months of the year. Grade had
already been disappointed by the lack of an American network broadcast
sale. Gerry Anderson and Fred Freiberger rallied and pitched the idea of
a new series with the addition of an alien character to Moonbase Alpha,
who would shake up the dynamic of interaction on the Moonbase and
regain viewer interest in the United States. On the strength of Anderson
and Freiberger's proposal of adding an alien character from the planet
Psychon named Maya, Mandell approved a renewal of the series for a
second year.
In addition to the alien Maya character, to be played by Catherine
Schell, numerous other changes were made for what was branded Year Two.
The most visible change was the absence of Professor Bergman (Barry
Morse). Morse's departure was due to a salary dispute, but he later
claimed that he was glad to leave, and he had told Anderson: "I would
rather play with grown-ups for a while." With Morse gone, the role of
the boffin on Alpha was filled completely by Maya, whose people's
science was far in advance of mankind's. Also, her character was
conceived to be able to provide "outside observation of human behaviour"
as had been provided by the character of Mr. Spock on Star Trek. Maya
shared Spock's logical approach to problem-solving and advanced
intelligence, but differed in that she was a charming, fully emotional
person. Most importantly, however, her Psychon abilities as a metamorph
with the power of "molecular transformation" allowed her to convert
herself into any living thing for an hour at a time, were designed to
add a certain "wow" factor to the newly revamped series. Maya had an
impish sense of humour. When love-interest Tony Verdeschi offered her
some of his home-brewed beer, Maya tried it, then turned herself into
Mister Hyde. Schell had previously guest-starred as the Servant of the
Guardian in the Year One episode "Guardian of Piri".
In addition to the cosmetic changes, the characters were "warmed
up." Koenig and Russell went from a barely noticeable courtship to a
physically passionate, full-fledged romance, in which the devotion ran
so deep that they offered to die for each other ("Brian the Brain"). In
addition to Bergman, Year One supporting characters Paul Morrow (Prentis
Hancock), David Kano (Clifton Jones) and Tanya Alexander (Suzanne
Roquette) were also removed from the cast (Paul and Tanya's
disappearance is explained in the Powys Media book The Forsaken by John
Kenneth Muir). Dr Bob Mathias (Anton Phillips) was present in the first
two Year Two episodes, was mentioned in the third episode, and then also
disappeared without a trace. His character was replaced by several
recurring physicians. Alan Carter (Nick Tate) was to have been written
out of the series, but he had become so popular with fans that he
remained. Sandra Benes (Zienia Merton) remained with the series in an
on-again off-again association, but the character only appeared in a
fraction of the episodes, albeit more prominently in some than in many
of those of the first series.
Security Chief Tony Verdeschi also joined as a new character,
played by Tony Anholt. Verdeschi, who assumed the base's
second-in-command role, neither appeared, nor was ever mentioned, in
Year One. However, Moonbase Alpha personnel treated Verdeschi as if he
had been in their midst since "Breakaway". His character was designed to
serve primarily as a secondary male action hero, and became a romantic
interest for Maya.
No on-screen explanations were offered for the cast changes. One
scene in "The Metamorph" mentioning Bergman's death was scripted and
filmed, but cut from the final edit. The Moonbase Alpha Technical Manual
produced by Starlog magazine picks up this explanation, stating Bergman
died due to a faulty spacesuit per the scripted scene. Likewise, it was
mentioned in this publication that Morrow and Kano had died in an Eagle
crash between seasons, and explained that Dr Mathias, supposedly
Alpha's psychiatrist (although he seems to be more Russell's assistant)
was on sabbatical doing research. Fred Freiberger felt that these
characters were one-dimensional and had no fan support; he told Nick
Tate that the audience would not remember them and that, as far as he
was concerned, they were just "somewhere else" on Alpha, lost in the
crowd of three hundred other people. Freiberger failed to appreciate the
value of the supporting characters to the show and its fans.
Other changes included the main titles and theme music. Year One's
opening montage of events from "Breakaway" and the episode about to
unfold was dropped in favour of a special-effects sequence depicting the
Moon being blown out of orbit into space. With Morse gone, Schell was
featured in his place as a regular alongside Landau and Bain, and all
three were depicted in action-oriented images as opposed to the
mannequin-like stances Landau and Bain had assumed in the Year One main
titles. New series composer Derek Wadsworth's new theme dropped Barry
Gray's alternation between stately, orchestral passages and funky
rhythmic ones in favour of a more consistently contemporary piece.
Rudi Gernreich's minimalist costume was considerably modified from
the original unisex design to include an optional skirt and leather
boots for women and much more detail work on the tunic portion,
including turtleneck collars, coloured stitching, patches and photo ID
badges. In addition, colourful jackets (generally red, blue or green)
became part of most characters' ensembles. The expansive Main Mission
set, with its balcony and windows revealing the lunar surface, was
replaced by a more compact Command Centre, supposedly deep underground
(again, this change was explained in the Year Two Writers' Bible and
Technical Manual as necessary for security, but never explained
onscreen). Medical Centre, Generator Section, Life Support and the
Alphans' living quarters became smaller, while the interior of the Eagle
command module was updated with additional buttons, flashing lights and
television monitors, while the Eagle also lost a section of corridor
(the galley/storage area) between the passenger module and the cockpit.
(This was to accommodate its placement on Pinewood Soundstage "L", with
the other standing Alpha sets; the Eagle was permanently affixed to the
boarding tube/travel tube set and jammed between the travel-tube
reception area and the Medical Centre.)
The sombre mood created in Year One by the effective use of light
and shadow in the filming of Moonbase Alpha interiors was abandoned in
favour of a generally brighter cinematography, and even the lettering
used in signage and costuming—most noticeable on spacesuits and Eagle
Transporter doors—changed to a simpler, less futuristic style.
Production Designer Keith Wilson stated in an interview in
Destination: Moonbase Alpha that he was always being ordered by Producer
Fred Freiberger to make sets smaller, taking away the expansive (and
expensive) look of the first series' interiors. Freiberger was very
budget-conscious and, despite press releases to the contrary, the
production team was working with less money this series. If there had
been a budget increase, the 'stagflation' economy of the seventies would
have cancelled it out. When interviewed, many of the actors state they
were asked to accept less money, including Landau and Bain (who were the
only ones with enough clout to be able to refuse).
Freiberger emphasised action-adventure in Year Two stories to the
exclusion of metaphysical themes explored in Year One. Of Year One, he
commented, "They were doing the show as an English show, where there was
no story, with the people standing around and talking. In the first
show I did, I stressed action as well as character development, along
with strong story content, to prove that 1999 could stand up to the
American concept of what an action-adventure show should be." Since Year
One was quite serious in tone, one of Freiberger's ways to accomplish
this objective was to inject humour into Year Two stories whenever
possible, but much of it seemed to the more vocal fans to be forced,
especially at the conclusion of an episode, where the Alphans were seen
as jovial and light-hearted despite whatever violent or tragic events
might have previously befallen them. Freiberger had appropriated this
approach from Star Trek; the endings of many of that show's episodes
featured an upbeat discussion among the cast of the lessons learned
during the episode and closing on a joke; this approach was copied for
Space: 1999 with Koenig, Verdeschi, Russell, Carter and Maya enjoying a
laugh in the Command Centre. Given Landau's intensity and the brooding
nature of the Koenig character, the approach did not fit the series.
Members of the Space: 1999 cast were disenchanted with the scripts.
Martin Landau: "They changed it because a bunch of American minds got
into the act and they decided to do many things they felt were
commercial. Fred Freiberger helped in some respects, but, overall, I
don't think he helped the show, I think he brought a much more ordinary,
mundane approach to the series." One particular episode ('All That
Glisters', which dealt with the threat of an intelligent rock) was of
such allegedly deficient quality that it sparked a confrontation between
Freiberger and the cast. Landau disliked the story so strongly that he
wrote the following notes on his copy of the script: "All the
credibility we're building up is totally forsaken in this script.";
"...Story is told poorly."; and "The character of Koenig takes a
terrible beating in this script — We're all schmucks." Anholt revealed
that, "the more the cast complained about a script's flaws, the more
intractable and unyielding Freiberger became." Dissatisfaction on
Landau's part about scripts was not new to Year Two, though. Sylvia
Anderson remembers that he often voiced criticisms of scripts during
production of the first series.
Series Two:
With the last-minute renewal from Grade, the production team hit
the ground running. Byrne's script "The Biological Soul", involving the
Alphans' encounter with the unstable Mentor of the planet Psychon and
his biological computer Psyche, which drew sustenance from the mental
energy of intelligent beings, was re-written to include the new
character Maya and the rest of the format changes. Production began on
26 January 1976 and was scheduled to last a mere ten months due to the
already-late renewal order.
To fulfil the scheduling requirement, Freiberger came up with the
"double-up script" solution. During "double-up" instalments, two
first-unit production teams would film two episodes simultaneously.
Landau and some of the supporting cast would be given expanded roles and
would film an episode on location or on sets constructed for that story
in Pinewood's Soundstage "M", while Bain and the remaining supporting
cast (also in expanded roles) would film their episode in the standing
Alpha sets on Soundstage "L". Landau and Bain would then be given minor
roles in the opposing episodes. This cost- and time-saving measure was
used to complete eight stories as four pairs: "The Rules of Luton" and
"The Mark of Archanon"; "The AB Chrysalis" and "Catacombs of the Moon";
"A Matter of Balance" and "Space Warp"; "Devil's Planet" and "Dorzak". A
ninth episode, "The Beta Cloud", was intentionally scripted with only
one day's worth of work for Landau and Bain to allow their planned
holiday to the French Riviera not to delay the series' production; the
four supporting cast members (Schell, Anholt, Tate and Merton) were the
recipients of much greater than usual exposure.
Relations between new producer Freiberger and the Year One veterans
were strained. Landau complained about stories he felt were
light-weight or absurd when compared to the previous year's efforts. He
wrote on the cover of a script: "I'm not going out on a limb for this
show because I'm not in accord with what you're (Freiberger) doing as a
result ... etc. I don't think I even want to do the promos — I don't
want to push the show any more as I have in the past. It's not my idea
of what the show should be. It's embarrassing to me if I am not the star
of it and in the way I feel it should be. This year should be more
important to it, not less important to it ... I might as well work less
hard in all of them." Johnny Byrne said that Freiberger was a good man
and good producer, but not good for Space: 1999. He had gotten them a
second year after the cancellation, but the changes he made did not
benefit the programme.
Principal photography came to an end on 23 December 1976 with "The
Dorcons". An article regarding a third series was printed in the trade
papers: "Now entrenched in its successful second season boom, ITC is
looking forward to a third season with more fantastic events and
additions, although mum's the word at the studio. They will only say
that Maya and Miss Schell will be kept in and that the budget may be
raised again, but that's all until final preparations and an official
announcement are made."
Undeveloped Year Three:
The producers and studio intended to continue the show with a third
season. This was to be shorter than the previous two, with 13 episodes,
for budget reasons. Maya was considered to be a successful character,
and the producers began grooming her for a spinoff show that would run
concurrently with the third series of Space: 1999. Had this project gone
ahead, Maya would have been absent from Space: 1999. The "Maya" series
was also intended to run for 13 episodes a year.
As filming on Year Two came to its conclusion, it became apparent
that there would be no third season, and the series ended with the
episode "The Dorcons".
UK:
The series premiered in September 1975, on the ITV network but was
not simulcast nationally (this remained the case until a repeat airing
on BBC2 in 1998). Most ITV regions (including Yorkshire, Grampian,
Ulster, Scottish, Border, ATV, and Tyne Tees) premiered the series on
Thursday, 4 September 1975 in a 7.00pm slot. The London and Anglia
regions screened the first episode two days later on Saturday, 6
September at 5.50pm. The Granada region began showing the series on
Friday, 26 September 1975, initially at 7.35pm before moving to 6.35pm a
few weeks later. The HTV region did not begin showing the series until
October 1975, again in an early Friday evening slot. However, within a
few weeks, various stations had moved the series elsewhere in their
schedules.
The second series premiered on London Weekend Television (LWT) in a
non-prime-time slot on Saturday 4 September 1976 at 11.30am, with ATV
following on just a few hours later at 5.40pm. Granada, Westward and
Ulster started to screen the series in early 1977, Grampian, and Tyne
Tees did not screen the series until later in the year. Scottish started
to screen the series on 9 April 1978 on Sunday afternoons. HTV did not
pick the series up until 1984 and then only showed nineteen out of the
twenty-four episodes from Year Two (the last episodes were not screened
in Wales until the series was repeated in the 1990s). Southern
Television was the other ITV region known not to have broadcast series
two. Even its successor broadcaster, Television South, failed to screen
any series two episodes when Space: 1999 was reshown in various other
ITV regions between 1982 and 1985.
USA:
In the United States, efforts to sell the series to one of the
three networks for the 1974–75 or 1975–76 television seasons failed. The
networks were uninterested in a project over which they had no creative
control, being presented with the accomplished fact of twenty-four
completed episodes. Abe Mandell of ITC had secured a 'handshake'
agreement with a network executive in 1974, but after the man's
termination, all his projects were abandoned. Undaunted, Mandell created
what he called his own Space: 1999 Network and sold the completed
program into first-run syndication directly to local stations. Much of
the publicity mentioned the then-staggering three million pound budget:
as a part of the American promotion effort, a glossy magazine-sized
brochure was produced, touting Space: 1999 as the Six-and-a-Half Million
Dollar Series (an allusion to the then-popular American programme The
Six Million Dollar Man) featuring American stars, American writers and
American directors.
In the months leading to the beginning of the fall (autumn) 1975
television season Landau and Bain participated in special preview
screenings in select cities. Landau is said to have personally contacted
editors of the widely read and influential TV Guide magazine in some
markets to secure coverage of Space: 1999 in its pages upon learning of
ITC's somewhat poor promotional efforts.
While most of the U.S. stations that aired Space: 1999 were
independent (such as powerful Chicago station WGN-TV, Louisville station
WDRB-TV, Los Angeles station KHJ-TV, and New York City's WPIX-TV), a
handful were affiliated with the major networks (such as Charlotte,
North Carolina's WSOC-TV, at the time a strong NBC affiliate, and
Fresno's KFSN-TV, at the time a CBS affiliate) and sometimes pre-empted
regular network programming to show episodes of the series. Most U.S.
stations broadcast episodes in the weekday evening hour just before
prime time or on weekends.
Canada:
In Canada, CBC Television was the broadcaster of Space: 1999 from
1975 into the 1980s. The first season in 1975–76 was shown regionally on
some CBC owned-and-operated stations, the airtime varying. With the
start of the second season in September 1976, CBC Television upgraded
Space: 1999 to full-network status, airing it Saturdays on all CBC
owned-and-operated stations, with affiliated, privately owned stations
also offering the show on Saturdays. Most of the country saw Space: 1999
at 5 p.m. on Saturdays, a notable exception being the Atlantic
Provinces in which it was broadcast at 6 or 6:30 p.m. (their time) or -
as was the case in the summers - sometime earlier in the afternoon to
accommodate live sports coverage, the airing of which crossed into or
totally over the usual Space: 1999 airtime. After the 1976–77 broadcast
year (in which second-season episodes were run and rerun), the show's
ratings were sufficiently high for CBC Television to give the first
season a full-network airing - and with further repeats - from 1977 to
1978. The French-language CBC Television, Radio-Canada, showed Cosmos:
1999 several times (both seasons) between 1975 and 1980, first on
Mondays (1975–1976), then on Saturdays (1976–1977), then on Mondays
(1979), and finally on Wednesdays (1979–1980).
The series fared admirably on CBC Television in Canada, airing in
English in a family viewing period, late Saturday afternoons before
hockey broadcasts, with a mostly un-disrupted run and rerun of all 24
episodes from September, 1976 through September, 1977. The French
version was also broadcast, in early evening on Saturdays. Ratings were
sufficient for a full additional year's transmission of Year One in the
English CBC Saturday programming slot in 1977 and 1978. Episodes of both
Year One and Year Two were repeated regionally in Canada in English and
French through the early-to-mid-1980s. YTV Canada broadcast both
seasons with reportedly good ratings from 1990 to 1992, in a late
Saturday afternoon airtime closely matching that of the CBC English
network in the 1970s.
The full-network English CBC airing began with the series opener,
"Breakaway", on 11 September 1976, then "The Metamorph", the Year Two
opener, on 18 September. "The Exiles", "Journey to Where", "The Taybor",
and "New Adam, New Eve" followed respectively in the subsequent weeks.
Next were "The Mark of Archanon", "Brian the Brain", "The Rules of
Luton", "The AB Chrysalis", "Catacombs of the Moon", and "Seed of
Destruction". "Seed of Destruction" aired on 27 November, and then with
December there came a month of repeats. And after a pre-emption for New
Year's Day sports, new episodes resumed airing on 8 January 1977 with "A
Matter of Balance", followed by "The Beta Cloud", "One Moment of
Humanity", "The Lambda Factor", "All That Glisters", and "The Seance
Spectre". The two-part episode, "The Bringers of Wonder", was shown on
19 and 26 February. And then "Dorzak", "The Immunity Syndrome", "Devil's
Planet", and "The Dorcons" followed in March. "Space Warp" would not be
shown until 21 May, after many weeks of repeats. By 10 September 1977,
except for "The Exiles", all of the second-season episodes had been
repeated. And thereafter, a 1977-1978 run of first-season episodes began
with "War Games" on 17 September.
Finland:
In Finland the first season was originally aired by the commercial
MTV (Mainostelevisio) channel in 1976, but it was withdrawn after couple
of episodes on demand of the national programme board as the show was
considered too brutal and horrifying. The same thing happened when MTV
tried to air the second season in 1978. The complete show wasn't seen in
Finland until the 1990s when a small local channel, TV-Tampere, aired
it.
Elsewhere:
It was shown in Italy as Spazio 1999 , Argentina, Uruguay, Puerto
Rico, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, francophone Canada, and France as
Cosmos: 1999, Denmark as Månebase Alpha, Brazil and Portugal as Espaço:
1999, Germany as Mondbasis Alpha 1, Sweden as Månbas Alpha, Poland as
Kosmos 1999 (1977–1979), Finland as Avaruusasema Alfa, Greece as
Διάστημα 1999, Hungary as Alfa Holdbázis, Spain, Chile, Venezuela, and
Colombia as Espacio: 1999, Mexico as Odisea 1999, Turkey as Uzay 1999
and South Africa as Alpha 1999 (1976, dubbed into Afrikaans). The series
was also broadcast in New Zealand and Australia.
Fan and critic responses to the new series varied. Some missed the
mystical plotlines, feature-film ambiance and the "British-ness" of the
first series. Others said they enjoyed the new characters, down-to-earth
characterisations and action. Comparisons with Star Trek were used by
both camps to show how the series had been either saved or destroyed by
the format change. Reviewing the show as a whole, science fiction
historian John Clute described Space: 1999 as "visually splendid" but
criticised what he regarded as the show's "mediocre acting" and "rotten
scripts".
Message From Moonbase Alpha and planned revivals:
Filmed on 29 August 1999, Message From Moonbase Alpha is a
fan-produced mini-episode made with the co-operation and involvement of
Space: 1999 script editor Johnny Byrne, who penned the script. Filmed
inside a private house on a remarkable working replica of a small
section of the Main Mission set and utilising the original prop of
Koenig's Command Centre desk and Sandra Benes's original Year Two Alpha
uniform, the short film was first shown at the Space: 1999 Breakaway
Convention in Los Angeles, California on 13 September 1999—the day the
events in episode 1 of the series were supposed to take place. With the
permission of (then) copyright owners Carlton Media International, the
film included brief clips from seven episodes to illustrate the deserted
Moonbase Alpha and the Alphans' exodus to planet Terra Alpha.
Previously unused footage shot for the Year Two title sequence and The
Last Enemy was used to create a sequence showing the Moon being affected
by a gravitational disturbance and thrown into an unknown solar system.
Short excerpts from 12 other episodes appeared in a montage as Sandra
Benes recalls her life on Alpha.
The seven-minute film features Zienia Merton reprising her role as
Sandra Benes delivering a final message to Earth as the only crew member
left on Moonbase Alpha while a massive exodus to a habitable planet,
Terra Alpha, takes place with the rest of the crew. The evacuation was
also necessitated by the degradation and decay of Alpha's life support
systems. This basically gave the series the conclusion that it never had
in its initial run. Taking place twenty five years after the events of
"Breakaway", Commander Koenig and Maya are mentioned during Sandra's
message. It concludes with the termination of the message as Sandra
closes down Alpha's operational systems and transmits the message- which
turns out to be the mysterious signal received shortly before the
events of "Breakaway".
Modified versions of Message From Moonbase Alpha are available on
the Space: 1999 Bonus Disk in the U.S. and Canada, and on a DVD bonus
disc in France and in Italy. The original version appears as a bonus
feature on the Space: 1999/UFO - The Documentaries DVD produced by
Fanderson. It's also available on YouTube.
Around the same time 'Message From Moonbase Alpha' was being
filmed, Johnny Byrne and Christopher Penfold attempted to revive the
franchise as a movie series, similar to the way Star Trek had been
revived cinematically in the late 1970s. The first film would have
picked up the story several years after the series ended, and would have
featured a heavily redesigned Moonbase Alpha. Ultimately the project
failed, and nothing came of it.
In February 2012, ITV Studios America and HDFILMS officially
announced their intention to produce a reimagining of Space: 1999, to be
titled Space: 2099.
Home video releases:
UK: The series was released on home video in the 1990s, with each
cassette (or "volume") featuring two episodes. In 2001, it was released
on DVD in the UK by Carlton Media, both in single disc volumes (each
volume contained four episodes) and also as two complete season boxed
sets (titled as "Year One" and "Year Two") comprising six discs each.
Each DVD also contained various extra features, including a variety of
archive production material, memorabilia, and interviews with the cast
and crew from the time the series was being made.
In 2005, Network DVD re-issued Year One in the UK as a Special
Edition seven-disc box set. For this release, to coincide with the
series' 30th Anniversary, each episode was digitally restored by
creating new 35mm film elements (a new interpositive made from the
original negative which is then used to make further copies). High
Definition digital transfers were then made from the interpositives
using a state-of-the-art Philips Spirit DataCine. This vastly improved
the picture quality in comparison to the previous DVD releases, however
the restoration process has actually made some of the space scenes (that
involve special effects and model work) less realistic due to increased
brightness and contrast. This box set also included two booklets and a
new set of extra features that were not on the Carlton DVD releases,
including featurettes on "Concept & Creation" and "Special Effects
& Design" (edited from an earlier "Fanderson" documentary made in
1996), textless and alternative opening and closing title sequences, a
two-part Clapperboard special on Gerry Anderson from 1975, and also a
brand new 70-minute documentary entitled "These Episodes" in which
Anderson, Christopher Penfold, Johnny Byrne, Zienia Merton and David
Lane reflect on the making of key episodes from the first series.
Network DVD released Year One on Blu-ray in the UK on 1 November
2010, and simultaneously re-released their Special Edition DVD box set
of Year One with new cover artwork at the same time. The Blu-ray set
includes all of the extras on the 2005 Network DVD release as well as
some of the extras that were on the 2001 Carlton DVD release (including a
Lyons Maid ice-lolly commercial, and an SFX segment from the British
documentary series Horizon). It also includes several new extras
including a "Memories of Space" featurette, a Sylvia Anderson interview
(in which she frankly discusses the series and her thoughts about Landau
and Bain), an expanded version of the "These Episodes" documentary from
the DVD set, several PDF files containing scripts and annuals, an
extensive set of photo galleries with hundreds of stills, and the first
episode of Year Two, "The Metamorph", in digitally restored
hi-definition.
Network DVD began a similar restoration process for Year Two in
2007, however progress was slow due to higher production costs in
comparison to remastering Year One (the audio for Year One was already
digitised prior to Network's restoration, but Year Two was not). In late
2014, Network finally announced that Year Two would be released in
2015. As part of this announcement, Network released a limited edition
(of 1999 copies) of a special preview disc of the two-part story "The
Bringers of Wonder" on 8 December 2014. This release also contains a
restored version of the feature length Destination: Moonbase Alpha film.
The remastered Year Two was eventually released on Blu-ray and DVD in
September 2015, to coincide with the series' 40th Anniversary. Again
containing a wealth of extra features, the sets include galleries,
vintage interviews, a blooper, behind the scenes footage, original
source audio recordings, scripts and annuals PDF files, a stock footage
archive, a textless opening title sequence, trailers and promos, "music
only" options for all episodes, a stop-motion fan film from 1979, and a
specially re-edited/rescored version of the episode "Seed of
Destruction" as if it were made for Year One.
USA:
A&E Home Video has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1
in various incarnations. It was initially released in 8-volume sets
between 2001 and 2002. On 24 September 2002, a 16-disc "Mega Set" box
set featuring all 48 episodes of the series was released. On 31 July
2007, A&E released Space: 1999 - Complete Series, 30th Anniversary
Edition. This is essentially the same as the 2002 "mega set" release
(and does not use the 2005 hi-def remasters), but does includes a
special bonus disc full of extra features. Year One was released on
Blu-ray in the U.S. on 2 November 2010 by A&E Home Entertainment.
Other media:
The series has been translated into other media. Originally, all
the episodes had been adapted in novelisations, except, for some reason,
"Earthbound" (though this may be because E.C. Tubb was working from a
different script of "Breakaway" in which Commissioner Simmons was killed
when the Moon was torn out of Earth orbit) and "The Taybor" (from Year
Two). The authors of these works wrote a number of original stories and
have since written new stories and novels which were published after
1999. As well, the original authors participated in the revised versions
of their original novels.
At the time of the series' original run, several comic book series
were published and, in the US, a series of audio adaptations were
recorded on record albums with the younger audience in mind. After 1999,
many of these original comic book stories were revised and reprinted
along with new stories. See the list above.