Revisiting Space: 1999...

[rRico]

She looks much more life-like in HD.

 

[Skipper]

She looks much more life-like in HD.

Are you sure that it isn't a remastared version and they CGIed her...?

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Really, if she occasionally didn't speak or move, you might think that she is a wax dummy.

Something Cracked also pointed out when it came to Barbara Bain's performance.

 

[Skipper]

Something Cracked also pointed out when it came to Barbara Bain's performance.

 

[johnnybear]

Barbara Bain was more lifelike in the second series but it always sounded like she had a nasty cold too!
JB

 

[locutus101]

I think too much is made of Barbara Bain's acting. She wasn't the most important part of the show.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Perhaps Bain was directed to play Helena Russell as controlled and reserved because of the loss of the character's husband Lee on the Astro 7 mission to Jupiter in 1994, although 5 years is far too long to carry on grieving. I think she lightens up a bit during the series, especially after she finds out what happened to her husband and as she develops a relationship with Koenig.

 

[Skipper]

I think it was a deliberate choice of the director. Because 2001 taught us that who work in space must be cold and emotionless.

 

[Skipper]

I think too much is made of Barbara Bain's acting. She wasn't the most important part of the show.

Well, the most important part of the show is that the moon is a kind of giant interstellar ship that can travel in few days between solar systems. It is such a scientific nonsense that it is better to focus on the actors.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Or perhaps act in a detached, professional manner, keeping emotion under control, demonstrating sangfroid. Neither Russell not Bowman were English though.

 

[locutus101]

Or perhaps act in a detached, professional manner, keeping emotion under control, demonstrating sangfroid. Neither Russell not Bowman were English though.

Or maybe it was the kind of behavior that was expected of postulant astronauts.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

...or petulant ones...

 

[Skipper]

I understand very well what was the intention. The problem is that we are talking about a TV show and viewers should become attached to the characters, at least a little.

And Mr. Spock was detached and professional too, but the viewers cared about him.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Spock started off a bit shouty though.

 

[locutus101]

...or petulant ones...

Not really no.

 

[locutus101]

Spock started off a bit shouty though.

And grinning. It made him look kinda creepy.

 

[Warped9]

She might have been trying to channel Number One from "The Cage."

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

And grinning. It made him look kinda creepy.

True, that.

Not really no.

I haven't seen Bain's acting skills in anything else other than Mission Impossible and, from what little I recall, she was much the same in that. Her daughter seems a lot better at it.

 

[Skipper]

I found this about the perceived lack of scientific accuracy of "Space: 1999". Interesting.

Regarding scientific accuracy and a critical review of Space: 1999 by Isaac Asimov, Gerry Anderson commented: ‘I think that a show that is absolutely scientifically correct can be as dull as ditch-water. But I think the point he was making was that, if you are going deep into the universe, then you can say whatever you like and that’s fine; but if you’re dealing with subjects that we have up-to-date knowledge on, like the Moon, then you ought to be correct. I think that was a reasonable criticism. But I think the problem with scientific advisors is that if you had a scientific advisor in 1820 he would have told you that it was impossible to fly and to travel beyond the speed of sound. And today they’re telling us that it’s impossible to travel beyond the speed of light. I think, therefore, they are inhibiting to a production, and since the heading is science fiction – underline the word fiction – I don’t really think there’s any place for them.’

By the way, I don't think that a scientific advisor in 1820 would have told that it si impossible to surpass the speed of sound.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

He's correct -- it's entertainment not a documentary.