Revisiting Space: 1999...

[Navigator_NCC2120]

As I understand it Matter of Life and Death was completed before Breakaway, and it's also based on another script, so that accounts for (a) the stiffness in acting (eg. the actors are on their first outing as their characters) and (b) the oddness of the script.

Not quite. According to this website, Studio filming on "Breakaway" was from November 12, 1973 to January 1974, then "A Matter of Life or Death" was filmed, then they spent 3 days of reshooting "Breakaway", then started filming "Black Sun" on January 31, 1974 through February 21, 1974.

So, "Breakaway" was the first episode for the actors to play their characters and "A Matter of Life and Death" was the second episode.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
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[Navigator_NCC2120]

"Dragon's Domain" is like combining the movies Alien(1979) and Aliens(1986) into one episode by just substituting the character Tony Cellini for Lt. Ripley.

In "Dragon's Domain" , after escaping the Ultra Probe(with creature on board), Cellini survives in the Command Module until he is recovered..then with disbelieving others returns to confront the monster and prove it existed.

In Alien(1979) , after destructing the Nostromo, Ripley survives in Narcissus Shuttle until she is recovered....then with disbelieving others returns to confront the monster and prove it existed in Aliens(1986).

Interesting observation. Dragon's Domain of course aired years before Alien was released.

True, but there is another connection. Brian Johnson and Nick Allder both worked on "Space: 1999" and "Alien" as Special Effects Directors/Supervisors.

Here is a picture of them when they worked on "Space: 1999".

Here is a picture of Brian Johnson with the Nostromo model.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
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[RJDiogenes]

Next shows I am considering revisiting or getting into:

Kolchak: The Night Stalker (original)
Magnum, P.I.
Murdock Mysteries
Hawaii Five-O (original)
Barney Miller
All In The Family
Frasier

Uh oh. The Night Stalker is one of my all-time favorite shows.

 

[Starkers]

I'd be interested in that, I recently bought the box set and watched Kolchak all the way through.

 

[Warped9]

Way back when I really liked The Night Stalker.

 

[23skidoo]

Not quite. According to this website, Studio filming on "Breakaway" was from November 12, 1973 to January 1974, then "A Matter of Life or Death" was filmed, then they spent 3 days of reshooting "Breakaway", then started filming "Black Sun" on January 31, 1974 through February 21, 1974.

Interesting that by the time it first aired, Breakaway was nearly 2 years old. That's an unusually long gestation time for a TV show. I wonder if Anderson had trouble shopping the series to American broadcasters. Actually, I think I read somewhere he tried to get a network interested in it, which might explain the long lead time. This would have been around the time Starlost crashed and burned so maybe the networks were a bit gun shy about buying another non-American sci-fi series.

Alex

 

[Marc]

Not quite. According to this website, Studio filming on "Breakaway" was from November 12, 1973 to January 1974, then "A Matter of Life or Death" was filmed, then they spent 3 days of reshooting "Breakaway", then started filming "Black Sun" on January 31, 1974 through February 21, 1974.

Interesting that by the time it first aired, Breakaway was nearly 2 years old. That's an unusually long gestation time for a TV show. I wonder if Anderson had trouble shopping the series to American broadcasters. Actually, I think I read somewhere he tried to get a network interested in it, which might explain the long lead time. This would have been around the time Starlost crashed and burned so maybe the networks were a bit gun shy about buying another non-American sci-fi series.

Alex

Though some-one must have been ponying up the money if they were in series production for 2 years before the first ep aired. Wouldn't generally happen these days, well unless you're Syfy channel pissing around with Caprica and Blood & Chrome!

I gather that Anderson wasn't very happy with the original version of Breakway but not sure if there were any major differences storywise from what was filmed and what was released.

 

[Peacemaker]

Excellent ***** (0%) -
If I were revamping this for a relaunch or reboot I'd keep many of the same elements, but the whole Moon blasted out of orbit thing would have to be thoroughly rethought. I'd also push the time setting forward more to at least 2099. I probably wouldn't use the Moon but rather a large asteroid base further out in the solar system. And I'd find another mechanism for getting it on its way.

Same here...generally, I've always favored the idea of a wormhole experiment gone awry. I just read the original idea. I have to admit, I've never thought of that alternative.

 

[Galileo7]

"Dragon's Domain" is like combining the movies Alien(1979) and Aliens(1986) into one episode by just substituting the character Tony Cellini for Lt. Ripley.

In "Dragon's Domain" , after escaping the Ultra Probe(with creature on board), Cellini survives in the Command Module until he is recovered..then with disbelieving others returns to confront the monster and prove it existed.

In Alien(1979) , after destructing the Nostromo, Ripley survives in Narcissus Shuttle until she is recovered....then with disbelieving others returns to confront the monster and prove it existed in Aliens(1986).

Interesting observation. Dragon's Domain of course aired years before Alien was released.

True, but there is another connection. Brian Johnson and Nick Allder both worked on "Space: 1999" and "Alien" as Special Effects Directors/Supervisors.

Here is a picture of them when they worked on "Space: 1999".

Here is a picture of Brian Johnson with the Nostromo model.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

Interesting connections.

 

[Galileo7]

... If I were revamping this for a relaunch or reboot I'd keep many of the same elements, but the whole Moon blasted out of orbit thing would have to be thoroughly rethought. I'd also push the time setting forward more to at least 2099. I probably wouldn't use the Moon but rather a large asteroid base further out in the solar system. And I'd find another mechanism for getting it on its way.

Like SPACE ACADEMY.

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

Interesting that by the time it first aired, Breakaway was nearly 2 years old. That's an unusually long gestation time for a TV show. I wonder if Anderson had trouble shopping the series to American broadcasters. Actually, I think I read somewhere he tried to get a network interested in it, which might explain the long lead time. This would have been around the time Starlost crashed and burned so maybe the networks were a bit gun shy about buying another non-American sci-fi series.

Alex

It was not Gerry Anderson that tried to sell the show to one of the 3 USA Television Networks, it was ITC Entertainment's second in charge, Abe Mandell, and he almost succeeded. Mandell had a handshake agreement with a network executive in 1974, but when this network executive was terminated all of his projects were abandoned.


Here is an excerpt from the wiki website (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space:_1999):

Broadcast and reception of Series One

In the United States, efforts to sell the series to one of the three networks for the 1974-1975 or 1975-1976 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. (Actually, Mandell had secured a 'handshake' agreement with a network executive in 1974, but after the man's termination, all his projects were abandoned.) Undaunted, Abe 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.

Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
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[Navigator_NCC2120]

Though some-one must have been ponying up the money if they were in series production for 2 years before the first ep aired. Wouldn't generally happen these days, well unless you're Syfy channel pissing around with Caprica and Blood & Chrome!

Sir Lew Grade, head of ITC Entertainment, paid for "Space: 1999".

Here is an excerpt from the wiki website (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space:_1999):

Conception and development

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.

I gather that Anderson wasn't very happy with the original version of Breakway but not sure if there were any major differences storywise from what was filmed and what was released.

No, it was not Gerry Anderson that was not happy with the original 2 hour version of "Breakaway" it was ITC Entertainment's second in charge, Abe Mandell.

Here is another excerpt from the wiki website (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space:_1999) in regards to the "Breakaway" reshoot:

Production of Series One

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.

Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

"Dragon's Domain" is like combining the movies Alien(1979) and Aliens(1986) into one episode by just substituting the character Tony Cellini for Lt. Ripley.

In "Dragon's Domain" , after escaping the Ultra Probe(with creature on board), Cellini survives in the Command Module until he is recovered..then with disbelieving others returns to confront the monster and prove it existed.

In Alien(1979) , after destructing the Nostromo, Ripley survives in Narcissus Shuttle until she is recovered....then with disbelieving others returns to confront the monster and prove it existed in Aliens(1986).

Interesting observation. Dragon's Domain of course aired years before Alien was released.

True, but there is another connection. Brian Johnson and Nick Allder both worked on "Space: 1999" and "Alien" as Special Effects Directors/Supervisors.

Here is a picture of them when they worked on "Space: 1999".

Here is a picture of Brian Johnson with the Nostromo model.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

Interesting connections.

Thanks.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Production of Series One

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.

Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
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For the interested, the Catacombs has five pages devoted to the lost scenes of Breakaway:

http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/tscript/zx01b.html
http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/tscript/zx01b2.html
http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/tscript/zx01b3.html
http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/tscript/zx01b4.html
http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/tscript/zx01b5.html

 

[MANT!]

Space 1999 season 1 was on my must have blu-ray sets..and I do have to admit, it looks stunning in HD..

Warp, have you thought of reviewing "The Starlost"?..I do own the series on DVD (an entire series for 5 bucks!) and it's quite the study in just how BAD one can make a science fiction series with damn near no budget..


http://www.amazon.com/The-Starlost-Complete-Series/dp/B001DW2BG0

it had some really well known actors and guest stars, but the writing was lackluster..


just a thought..

 

[Warped9]

I remember The Starlost very well. Pass.

 

[Zaku]

Are you sure you don't want to try any not American/not English scifi shows..?

 

[RJDiogenes]

The Starlost was absolutely, irredeemably awful. But I liked it as a kid and have the DVD set.

 

[Gary7]

^^ It's just hard getting past the premise; if they had been on an O'Neill colony that fell into a wormhole or something it might not have been so bad. And that brings up another question: What's the point of them being on a runaway moon? How does it define the theme or direction of the show? It adds nothing and detracts quite a bit.

I can't disagree. The basic premise isn't bad if they had gone about it differently. Charles Sheffield wrote some great stories as part of his Great Ship chronicles about a massive jovian sized starship that enters our galaxy and seems to be coursing through it. Enroute many races including humans hitch a ride aboard while trying to unlock its secrets. It's effectively a rogue planet only of artificial construction. The first novel in the setting was called Marrow. If 1999 had been something like that it might have been different, but they were basically trying to do Star Trek only without the actual starship. Problem is that somewhat like DS9 you mostly have to have the action come to you rather than going out to deliberately meet it. To me thats another part of the flawed premise, that all this weird shit will come your way as opposed to you actively seeking it and having freedom in where you want to go. In 1999 they have no such freedom.

Thats the flaw of the premise. The writing and the rest are further problems in their own right.

UFO was a pretty decent show for it's time, and given it was Anderson's first attempt to make a live action series with human beings (instead of marionettes). There were a lot of qualities about UFO I really liked. But, there were also plenty of qualities I didn't like. For me, most of the episodes end very abruptly, sometimes with no real ending at all--it just stops. Ed Bishop was too stiff for my liking. I think he could have eased up a bit, although that may have been the choice of the director for him to be this way. Also, the progression in understanding of the aliens is haphazard. All in all, I would have liked to see a 2nd season. Instead we got "Space: 1999".

I too came to this series having already developed a strong liking for Star Trek. Right off the bat, I found the special effects to be spectacular. The models looked so realistic and plausible. The sets were quite grand and the heavy use of real video screens, including the comlinks, brought a nice degree of realism.

But the premise... I was a young kid, but still knew enough about physics that "blasting the moon out of orbit" was just pure folly. A ridiculous premise. Even if the moon survived it intact and the people survived the immense G-forces in consequence, there remained the issue of the moon's path. Habitable worlds would be thousands of light years away. And for so many to "line up" in the moon's path? Well, it's just nonsense.

I would much rather have seen a Charles Sheffield Jovian sized vessel as Warped9 mentioned. A variation on "Rendezvous With Rama" (by Arthur C. Clarke), with a massive ship passing through Earth's solar system. A team of people hitch a ride, then manage to get stranded... a kind of "Stargate Universe" theme in a 1970's sci-fi show.

Incidentally, if you visit the "Eagle Transporter" forums, you'll find a bunch of guys dedicated to the Eagle spacecraft and who are also die-hard fans of the show. It's rather amusing to see all of their explanations for everything, the rationalizing to "make it all sensible". The people there are very protective and will gang up on you if you try to punch holes in their illusion of sensibility. I appreciate their desire to make it work... and they do a pretty good job of doing this for the Eagle transporter. But for the show? I don't think there's much you can do to save it.

Most of the writing for Space: 1999 was just utter crap. The production values were the only thing that kept me watching, in addition to not much else on TV worth watching at the time. But, I've found it does NOT hold up well over time. Going back and seeing episodes from it disappoint to no end. Only a handful I found appealing enough to say "I enjoyed it" (like "The Infernal Machine", "War Games", "The Darians" and "Dragon's Domain"). I really wish there had been a UFO Season 2 instead.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

UFO was a pretty decent show for it's time, and given it was Anderson's first attempt to make a live action series with human beings (instead of marionettes).

It always interests me to see how people can view the same things so differently. For me, you see, UFO is easily one of the top 5 sci-fi shows ever. When it was made is irrelevant to that argument.

There were a lot of qualities about UFO I really liked. But, there were also plenty of qualities I didn't like. For me, most of the episodes end very abruptly, sometimes with no real ending at all--it just stops.

Which is fantastic. Economy in all things. Less is more. When the story's over, just stop. That's actually something that's quite common to British drama tv and films. We don't need peple to explain what's happened, we don't need cosy wrap-up scenes and family moments.

Ed Bishop was too stiff for my liking. I think he could have eased up a bit, although that may have been the choice of the director for him to be this way. Also, the progression in understanding of the aliens is haphazard.

And... Ed Bishop is incredible. It's one of the best drama performances I've seen in anything.

All in all, I would have liked to see a 2nd season. Instead we got "Space: 1999".

Well, I'm not so sure. As much as I love the programme, I did find it starting to tail off towards the end, as they moved away from affecting human drama and more into high concept "bizarre alien plot of the week stuff" and I really don't think it could have sustained doing that for another series. Thanks God we got Space: 1999.

Of course, what's rarely mentioned is that the proposed second series was not going to be a direct continuation of the first. For a start, Anderson and his team didn't even start to work on it until 2 years after the original show had wrapped. It was going to be very different, set entirely on the Moon in the year 1999, with a new Moonbase. Different writers were involved - notably Christopher Penfold who went on to be the chief writer on Space: 1999. That's why it was so easy for them to adapt the pre-production work into the concept of Space. It's not even certain if any of the original cast would have featured in UFO 1999 - so I really think the show would have been closer to what eventually became Space than it would have been to the original UFO series.

But the premise... I was a young kid, but still knew enough about physics that "blasting the moon out of orbit" was just pure folly. A ridiculous premise.

Well, I'm not going to defend the physics of the breakaway. As a former astronomy student, I'm well aware that it's nonsensical. But does it matter? No, it does not. It's fiction, it's a fantasy. It's the nature of the show that strange and inexplicable things happen - what I love is that the show rolls with the idea and bloody well makes it work. It's big and it's spectacular. They don't shy away from questioning the very fact that they've survived something they couldn't possibly have done, which opens up the whole notion that higher alien powers (or God maybe) are guiding and protecting them on their journey. It's this thematic material, the existentialist drama that makes the show what it is, that maintains my interest in it. There's plenty in there to get one's teeth into, an emotional, spiritual, philosophical depth that I don't find in many other tv shows. And that's why it work. The lapses in science, well, that's just something I don't worry about, because that's not what I'm watching it for. (Though there are plenty of interesting uses of science in there too.)

Most of the writing for Space: 1999 was just utter crap.

And there we differ, you see (apart obviously from the majority of the second series episodes). But Series 1 is the finest space opera type programme I've ever encountered - depth, complexity, and an examination of the mysteries of life and the universe; subtle and well-drawn characters.

The production values were the only thing that kept me watching, in addition to not much else on TV worth watching at the time. But, I've found it does NOT hold up well over time. Going back and seeing episodes from it disappoint to no end.

Well, might I suggest... don't watch it then! Don't put yourself through that trauma.