Re-Watching Space: 1999

[Marsden]

Amazon Prime has both seasons free now and I've started watching them.

What is wrong with Barbara Bain? She shows almost no emotion or even facial expression. Her eyes are open, but is she "in there". Yikes! Martin Landau is great.

I like that they make the point of saying it's Sept. 9th, 1999. Great galloping bass in the theme music, I'm wondering who was the instrumentalist.

I've watched a few, while I like them I'm having a hard time staying awake through all of them. Too many silent reaction shots and drawn out scenes of nothing happening.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Amazon Prime has both seasons free now and I've started watching them.

What is wrong with Barbara Bain? She shows almost no emotion or even facial expression. Her eyes are open, but is she "in there". Yikes! Martin Landau is great.

I like that they make the point of saying it's Sept. 9th, 1999. Great galloping bass in the theme music, I'm wondering who was the instrumentalist.

I've watched a few, while I like them I'm having a hard time staying awake through all of them. Too many silent reaction shots and drawn out scenes of nothing happening.

Yeah, even though I like the show enough to own it on blu ray, I don't watch them late at night unless I'm having trouble falling asleep.

 

[Skipper]

What is wrong with Barbara Bain? She shows almost no emotion or even facial expression. Her eyes are open, but is she "in there". Yikes! Martin Landau is great.

I often wonder what the heck the directors were doing. It was their job saying something like "Err, Barbara, do you mind, I don't know, just emoting a little bit..?"

 

[Christopher]

I often wonder what the heck the directors were doing. It war their job saying something like "Err, Barbara, do you mind, I don't know, just emoting a little bit..?"

Landau and Bain were the big stars (theoretically) that the producers brought on board to make the show appealing to the American market. The show needed them, so maybe the producers and directors indulged them more than they should have.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I seem to recall thinking Bain's acting seemed similarly stiff when I used to watch her performance in Mission Impossible.

 

[Christopher]

I seem to recall thinking Bain's acting seemed similarly stiff when I used to watch her performance in Mission Impossible.

She was usually much better there, at least in the first couple of seasons. That's why her stiffness in 1999 was so odd.

 

[Herbert]

Never watched Space 1999 as a kid in the 70s but I recently tried watching a couple episodes and I couldn't even get through one. Pretty awful. Of course, I have zero nostalgia associated with the show. I'm sure that doesn't help.

On the other hand, I did watch Lost In Space as a kid and I have very fond memories of it. Yeah, it was pretty bad as well but the nostalgia factor compensates for that, at least somewhat.

 

[Skipper]

Landau and Bain were the big stars (theoretically) that the producers brought on board to make the show appealing to the American market. The show needed them, so maybe the producers and directors indulged them more than they should have.

I suppose that was her interpretation of "professional woman in a sci-fi setting"...

 

[Christopher]

I suppose that was her interpretation of "professional woman in a sci-fi setting"...

Hmm, maybe. There was a perception in her generation that professional women had to be icy and unfeminine.

 

[Silvercrest]

I'm looking at picking up either the Shout! Factory DVD release or the Megaset DVD release from a number of years ago ... I've found both for about the same price. The biggest difference I'm aware of is that the Megaset includes "Message from Moonbase Alpha", which I really want. Shout! Factory does NOT.

Anyone know any other differences/recommendations between them?

 

[Skipper]

I'm looking at picking up either the Shout! Factory DVD release or the Megaset DVD release from a number of years ago ... I've found both for about the same price. The biggest difference I'm aware of is that the Megaset includes "Message from Moonbase Alpha", which I really want. Shout! Factory does NOT.

Anyone know any other differences/recommendations between them?

Well, you can find "Message from Moonbase Alpha" even on Youtube... it's the deal breaker for you?

You can find a comparison here:
http://catacombs.space1999.net/main/merc/vmnow.html

Hmm, maybe. There was a perception in her generation that professional women had to be icy and unfeminine.

Yep, I reckon so too.

 

[Noname Given]

I suppose that was her interpretation of "professional woman in a sci-fi setting"...

More like a dispassionate scientist. I honestly didn't have much of an issue with her performance. As I recall, she got emotional on screen a number of times; but it was only when things were really going downhill, or someone she cared for died,m etc.

 

[Christopher]

More like a dispassionate scientist.

Sure, but in the '60s and early '70s, the assumption was that women were naturally too emotional to be good at rational work like science, so women in science had to be twice as dispassionate as men in science in order to be taken seriously.

 

[flandry84]

Maybe she was just trying to mirror the cold remoteness of the show.
The producers extended the idea that the moon has no atmosphere to the show.Everything from set to costume design was bland,colourless and rather insipid looking.
Landau himself wasn’t exactly a barrel of laughs either.

 

[Silvercrest]

Well, you can find "Message from Moonbase Alpha" even on Youtube... it's the deal breaker for you?

You can find a comparison here:
http://catacombs.space1999.net/main/merc/vmnow.html

Oh, I know where to find it, but prefer to own a copy myself ... ANYTHING could happen with YouTube.
That comparison was useful. Thanks!

 

[Orac]

ANYTHING could happen to your material possessions too.

 

[Marsden]

I seem to recall thinking Bain's acting seemed similarly stiff when I used to watch her performance in Mission Impossible.

She was usually much better there, at least in the first couple of seasons. That's why her stiffness in 1999 was so odd.

You know, I was wondering that exact thing but I watched a Mission Impossible just to see and she was fine in that, very good actually. I mean, just look at the credits, she stares blankly away at something with absolutely no facial movement and her pivot is so stiff I'm wondering if she's on a turntable. Yikes. She does so emotion briefly at times but it's very brief and her voice is very monotone.

 

[Silvercrest]

ANYTHING could happen to your material possessions too.

Yes, but when that happens, the list of suspects is smaller.

 

[Push The Button]

Maybe she was just trying to mirror the cold remoteness of the show.
The producers extended the idea that the moon has no atmosphere to the show.Everything from set to costume design was bland,colourless and rather insipid looking.
Landau himself wasn’t exactly a barrel of laughs either.

I wouldn’t last a month living on Alpha after the breakaway. It would be like living on a submarine that could never surface, ever.

 

[Silvercrest]

I wouldn’t last a month living on Alpha after the breakaway. It would be like living on a submarine that could never surface, ever.

When I was younger I never quite got why the Alphans were constantly looking for a planet to settle on. It always seemed like a step down when they had this kewl high-tech moonbase that had everything they needed. But you're right.

It's similar reasoning to what happened at the end of the newer Battlestar Galactica series.