Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Amazon often mixes reviews for similar products. To clarify, this review is for the Space 1999 seasons One and Two Blu-ray set that was issued by Shout Factory in July, 1019. For the uninitiated, Space: 1999 starts off in the year 1999 (astute viewers will immediately take notice that 1999 has come and gone, so the series now takes place in the past). The action is centered on Moonbase Alpha, which is located at the bottom of Plato Crater on our moon – the far side of which holds Atomic waste brought from Earth. On September 13, 1999 (Friday the 13th, of course) a massive nuclear explosion on the far side of the moon sends it hurtling out of Earth’s orbit and on a journey into the great unknown. I was very into this series when it aired locally on WUAB Channel 43 when I was 8-10 years old. Indeed, I liked it better than Star Trek – mostly on the basis of Space: 1999’s superior visual effects and set design. After its initial syndicated run, it seemed to disappear, and I didn’t see it again until the 1990s, when I spotted a marked down Laserdisc at a local mall. I bought it and was appalled at how bad the scripts were, how glacially paced the action was (and this was a second season episode, which is generally faster than the first) and how poor the acting was – despite a rather prestigious cast. But, since this new Blu-ray set had many stories I hadn’t seen since Gerald Ford was President, I decided to give it another try. Mutual fans invariably compare Space: 1999 with the first Star Trek series – even though the two have very little in common. Trek is primarily a plot-driven character drama which happens to be set in futuristic outer space and is optimistic in tone. Space: 1999 is pessimistic – to the extent that Moonbase Alpha owes its existence to mankind’s growing difficulties dealing with nuclear waste, and the characters don’t have much to do except respond to situations as they arise. The science of Space: 1999 is a mix of the realistic and the laughable. Certainly the design of Moonbase Alpha itself is eminently logical (despite the 1970s aesthetic of the furniture and uniforms): placing it at the bottom of a crater means it’s likely close to any remaining ice; the base appears to be constructed of interconnecting modules, which is how a real base would be built; the landing pads for the Eagles are appropriately far from the center of the base – which provides safety in the event of a crash or from contamination; the whole base is connected by a pneumatic Travel Tube subway system that's rather like a futurized version of London's Underground. Much of the science doesn’t hold up under any rationalization. An explosion on the far side of the moon (not the dark side, as it’s described in the pilot episode) would send the moon hurtling toward the Earth, not out of orbit. The moon encounters a new planet nearly every episode, but given the great distance between solar systems, that’s not possible with sub-light travel. Fans will point out that Moonbase Alpha encountered a Black Hole in an early episode, but that doesn’t account for a new alien every episode. Fans will also counter that Trek had its fair share of bad science, and that is true as far as the Transporter is concerned. But much of the science in Star Trek was cutting edge for its time, including parallel universes and anti-matter, and has since become credible theory or established fact. As with Trek, the cast and characters are multi-ethnic and multi-national – although the actors are mainly British, which is amusing since Britain has made no significant real-world contribution to space exploration. Commander John Koenig (note that unlike Trek, which uses Naval ranks, Commander outranks Captain here), portrayed by Martin Landau, is an unusually temperamental leader. Minor crises send him into a sweaty, eye-popping, nearly psychotic rage - to the extent that one wonders how such a person could be appointed to a leadership position. If you thought Shatner overacted, wait till you see Landau. (Both actors, incidentally, wear toupees.) Barbara Bain (Koenig’s then-wife in real life) is the cool Dr. Helena Russell. Alan Carter, played by Nick Tate, is the can-do Australian pilot. Space: 1999’s two seasons were radically different from each other. Season one was cerebral, somber, and talky. There was little chemistry between the two main characters, even though the actors playing them were married in real life. Season Two represented an attempt by the new producer, Fred Freiberger, to make the show more popular with American audiences: Barry Morse’s Victor Bergman, the 60-ish science officer, father figure, and arguably the most nuanced character from the first season, was unceremoniously dumped - and Maya, a sexy alien shape-shifter was introduced as the new science officer; Maya, played by Catherine Schell, had a prolonged flirtation with security chief Tony Verdeshi (also a new character), who spent his off-hours brewing undrinkable beer; The romance between Koenig (whose wife was killed in 1987’s World War III) and Helena Russell (whose husband was lost in space) was emphasized; Episodes ended with a laugh, as in the original Star Trek; The score, which was broadly symphonic in the first season, was replaced with a jazzy/pop synth soundtrack in season two; Pacing was tightened, but there were episodes which still dragged and seemed padded. Some of the visual effects hold up well, particularly establishing shots of the base and other planets, and flying shots of the Eagles. Many of the alien makeups and costumes look downright silly – particularly in The Rules of Luton in which human necks are clearly visible when the actors turn their heads. Watching the discs, I occasionally noticed wires suspending the Eagles during takeoff and landing sequences. In fairness to the producers, they were probably not visible on 1970s broadcast television. Occasionally Catherine Schell’s real eyebrows are visible under her Psychon makeup. High definition TV is very unforgiving. Despite their differences, Space: 1999 owes a lot to Trek. Even their computer voices are similar, although 1999’s computer sounds like it needs Prozac. At least two episodes are blatant rip-offs of Trek stories: Guardian of Piri is based on This Side of Paradise, with a dash of The Naked Time thrown in; The Rules of Luton is lifted wholesale from Arena. In both cases, the Trek version is superior in content and execution. Trek and 1999 also share a flaw made in the name of dramatic license: The Captain/Commander is always on the Away Team – but in a real-life scenario the leader would never be allowed to be put under such risk. In season one, this puts Victor Bergman in command, where he is easily more capable and professional than Koenig. As it turns out, later Trek incarnations owe a bit to Space: 1999 as well. The Next Generation episode The Child (itself adapted from a script for the aborted Phase II series) is obviously influenced by Space: 1999’s Alpha Child. Patrick Stewart as the cerebral Captain Jean-Luc Picard is eerily similar to Victor Bergman, right down to their artificial hearts ( here’s even a character named “Picard” in one 1999 episode) ; and Dr. Beverly Crusher is obviously based on Helena Russell - her cool manner masking feelings for her Captain/Commander. The show has never looked better than it does on blu-ray. Colors pop without being oversaturated – although the color palette during the first season is muted in comparison with the second, which piles on the reds and oranges. There’s very little grain, and most visual effects shots were made in camera rather than composited. The Blu-ray defaults to the original mono soundtrack, rather than the 5.1 surround – the latter is quite robust without sounding anachronistic. Bonus features include contemporary interviews with much of the cast and crew, new interviews with Barbara Bain, Nick Tate, and Sylvia Anderson (who recalls how difficult Landau was to work with), a photo gallery for each episode, original promos, and much more. For all its weaknesses, the primary feeling I encountered while re-watching Space: 1999 was one of regret: humans have not even returned to the moon since the series was filmed, much less built a moon base. Humanity seems more mired in mediocrity than ever.