Re-Watching Space: 1999

[Marc]

He kind of became the de facto lead of Mission: Impossible late in its first season, once they dialed back Steven Hill's role -- even though Landau was technically only a "special guest star" the whole season. They offered Landau the series lead when Hill left, but he didn't want to be tied down to a show for more than a year at a time, so we got Peter Graves as a result.

I have recollection that it was their work on M:I that lead to Landau and Bain being cast in Space:1999 though by the the time it went into production both would have been off the first show for several years.

Have some other recollections. I can remember it airing in Australia during the 1970s but can't recall when exactly but I would have been very young the time (born in 71) so at the time I didn't comprehend that the moon was no longer in Earth orbit and it was only many years later that I saw Breakaway when it was editted into a 2 part tv movie.

I watched The Last Sunset late one night at my Grandparents. The tv was in the rumpus room where I was sleeping so I quietly turned it on and watched.

and when it aired on a Sunday night at 7:30 I went to tell my dad that it was on but he wasn't interested. Said the episode from the previous week was the biggest load of rubbish he'd ever seen. been 40 odd years of tv since so he's probably seen worse by now.

 

[diankra]

There is a general thing about Anderson (or the ITC America office) not spotting the difference between peogle who are hot in America now, and 6 years ago.
As Abe Mantel says of Freiberger, "He was available, so we hired him. With hindsight we should have asked why he was available."

 

[Marc]

There is a general thing about Anderson (or the ITC America office) not spotting the difference between peogle who are hot in America now, and 6 years ago.
As Abe Mantel says of Freiberger, "He was available, so we hired him. With hindsight we should have asked why he was available."

I'm not sure it was Anderson as much as ITC and Lew Grade as they were looking for American money to back the show.

Grade allowed many of the Anderson shows to be made but I think they suffered a bit. He frequently looked for money to get new shows rather than looking to keep existing shows running. This lead to one season of UFO and 1 season and 6eps of Thunderbirds (the again having a look a wiki, almost all Anderson shows only list as 1 season though they were quite long seasons - Space:1999 is very much the exception.

 

[DEWLine]

Do you suppose there were tax issues in play that we didn't and don't know about re: UK production practices at that time?

Reason I ask: a lot of TV and movie stuff used to get made in Canada for exactly those sorts of reasons.

 

[Marc]

Do you suppose there were tax issues in play that we didn't and don't know about re: UK production practices at that time?

Reason I ask: a lot of TV and movie stuff used to get made in Canada for exactly those sorts of reasons.

No it was simply to do with the amount of money available for production. I image that Space:1999 was probably once of the most expensive shows being made in the U.K at the time. Compare what was coming out the BBC at the time and even a couple of years later (Doctor Who and Blake's 7) the Anderson production qualities were almost cinematic.

And the amount of money available for production also related to the size of the market. The reason for American leads was to try and appeal to an American market. With UFO, Ed Bishop was American but he was based in the U.K at the time (and spent most of his career there).

The Avengers was also made with U.S money (from the ABC network) but don't know how well it went in the U.S and the pay for the stars was pretty poor (Diana Rigg has said she loved the show but the guy behind the camera got more money that she did).

As to producing shows in Canada, there can be tax breaks provided to attract production (Georgia in the U.S is picking up productions for this reason) but there's also cost savings. Your Americans leads get paid in $US but your local production costs are paid in $CA. At present the $1CA is worth about $US0.75 so the production budget goes about 20% further. Plus there's also a question of where there is production space.

 

[Marc]

I think up to 90 percent of the major films now that fake US locations are filmed in everywhere BUT Hollywood, for similar reasons. And they'll only admit it at the end of the movie's credits. Lots of our movies are Canadian now; many are Georgian.

A netflix sci-fi movie coming out next year was filming in my neck of the woods a couple of weeks back and the remake of IT was filmed in a town about 40mins away.

Nice thing about a runaway moon is you can film it anywhere

If it was ''Space Brain,'' I wouldn't count on that. Love to tell you why, but spoilers...

I think the episode was "Force of Life".

 

[Forbin]

One film I enjoyed Ross in was "Tell Them Willie Boy Was Here." She and Robert Blake starred as a Native American couple on the run in the early 20th century west.

Ad of course she was in "The Graduate", which is probably a must for anyone interested in film history.

 

[diankra]

Do you suppose there were tax issues in play that we didn't and don't know about re: UK production practices at that time?

Reason I ask: a lot of TV and movie stuff used to get made in Canada for exactly those sorts of reasons.

Doubt it, in 1975 British tax rates were very high and making an entire season would have meant the Landaus spent enough days in the UK to be taxable.

 

[JD]

Do you suppose there were tax issues in play that we didn't and don't know about re: UK production practices at that time?

Reason I ask: a lot of TV and movie stuff used to get made in Canada for exactly those sorts of reasons.

They still film a ton of stuff in Canada today, the majority of sci-fi and fantasy shows film in Canada these days. Even Star Trek: Discovery films there, and all of Arrowverse shows except Black Lightning film there. Supergirl's first season was filmed in LA, but when they moved to the CW, they also moved production to Vancouver with the rest of the Arrowverse shows.

 

[DEWLine]

I know. I live here, as you'll note anew from my profile.

 

[Maurice]

UFO apparently lost steam late in its run. The mess with the studio shutdown and move didn't help the show any.

[...]At present the $1CA is worth about $US0.75 so the production budget goes about 20% further. Plus there's also a question of where there is production space.

25%. C'mon.

 

[Marc]

25%. C'mon.

was allowing for some higher costs here

 

[Mysterion]

Full Circle
Silly. Meh. Alphans get turned into into cavemen by fog bank. And walking back through the fog bank turns them back. AND restores their clothing? Some nice location shooting, though. Yeah, okay. Next?

 

[Marc]

Full Circle
Silly. Meh. Alphans get turned into into cavemen by fog bank. And walking back through the fog bank turns them back. AND restores their clothing? Some nice location shooting, though. Yeah, okay. Next?

That one's generally a skip.

Story also goes that one of the Landau's daughter's (Julie iirc) bought a friend home around the time of filming to the sight of barbara bain going around the house howling like a made thing as she rehearsed.

 

[diankra]

Full Circle
Silly. Meh. Alphans get turned into into cavemen by fog bank. And walking back through the fog bank turns them back. AND restores their clothing? Some nice location shooting, though. Yeah, okay. Next?

Possibly the worst episode of season one (there's strong competition, but it's a photo finish).

 

[diankra]

UFO apparently lost steam late in its run. The mess with the studio shutdown and move didn't help the show any.


25%. C'mon.

Supposedly... UFO was doing very well in the States (long after the end of production, so it had no effect on the show), leading to the idea of of a follow-up, UFO 1999.
Then Confetti Check A-OK got dire ratings, leading to an order from ITC NYC that the follow up be cut off from UFO, and have no episodes on Earth.
I can spot several holes in this account, but it is the tale...

 

[diankra]

Watching Moonbase 3 off dvd, Fiona Gaunt plays a similar character rather better than Bain.

 

[Mysterion]

Watching Moonbase 3 off dvd, Fiona Gaunt plays a similar character rather better than Bain.

A length of 2x4 with Bain's photo stapled to it would have been as good if not better than actually having Bain there on set.

 

[diankra]

A length of 2x4 with Bain's photo stapled to it would have been as good if not better than actually having Bain there on set.

Doubt you can find a dvd easily, but despite its script editor Terrance Dicks comments ("Oh, can you lose it again") it's worth watching.
Made in 1973, set in 2003, on a European Moonbase threatened with shutdown due to budget cuts. As Terrance said, most stories could be on a submarine or an Arctic base, or any other confined environment, but they work because of that.

 

[Christopher]

Made in 1973, set in 2003, on a European Moonbase threatened with shutdown due to budget cuts. As Terrance said, most stories could be on a submarine or an Arctic base, or any other confined environment, but they work because of that.

I saw Moonbase 3 on cable once -- probably The Sci-Fi Channel while it was still called that. It wasn't the best thing ever, but I liked it because it tried to be grounded and realistic and to go more for drama than action and spectacle, unlike most SFTV. It was the diametric opposite of Doctor Who's fantasy.