Revisiting Space: 1999...

[Warped9]

^^ Thanks. I checked those out. I agree with something you said about missed opportunities. Despite my reservations about the show's premise and other problems it can't be denied that there are worthy story ideas in the series. I feel a little bummed in that some of those stories with more polish could have been so much better than they were.

 

[Warped9]

"Mission Of The Darians" *****

A massive miles long spacecraft holds the few remaining survivors of a dying civilization.

I like this one. I think perhaps I'm being a little generous with a 5 rating, but there is a fine story here, not badly told and some big ideas in play. It's not bad when you start out with one helluva kit bash representing a spacecraft tens of miles long. Some nice model work going on here.

This episode reminded me of other stories I've read and watched: the short-lived series The Starlost, David Gerrold's passed over Trek story (which he novelized) called The Galactic Whirlpool, Star Trek's episode "For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky" and TNG's episode "Up The Long Ladder." 1999's flying city is actually a worldship just in a different form.

There are a lot of decently thought out ideas in this story and criticizing it would be in the form of nitpicking. Suffice to say that overall I think this is the best Space: 1999 episode I've seen to date.


"Dragon's Domain" ****

An Alpha crewman is haunted by a terrifying past.

I liked this, particularly with its bit of prehistory. We got to see some Earth politics at work as well as political lack of imagination. But the one BIG logic flaw not really addressed is how did the exact same collection of derelict ships find itself millions of light years from where Cellini had originally encountered them?

Nice touch having Russell reference them 877 days since leaving Earth. Thats almost two-and-a-half years at (we assume) relativistic flight. I like it also because it doesn't take the conceit that the past experiences have all happened within the framework of only one season or one year.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The title sure became obsolete awfully fast.

 

[Warped9]

The title sure became obsolete awfully fast.

For the series, yes. The danger of setting your series too relatively close to contemporary times. Back then the turn of the century looked so far away, but the years can pass very quickly.

If you're going to do space adventure you're best to set it at least about 100 years down the road.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

1999's got a great millennial ring to it though, I'm not surprised they went for it. And it's understandable to me that they didn't want to set it too far ahead, as the characters would need to represent the contemporary people watching. 25 years would still be within the lifetime of the majority of the viewing audience - a 20 year old watching in 1974 could imagine they might one day be in Koenig's position.

 

[Forbin]

.... and buy am I disappointed that NObody's in Koenig's position yet.

 

[Silvercrest]

I think RJ is pointing out that 1999 is not the actual year in most of the episodes.

 

[Galileo7]

"Dragon's Domain" ****

An Alpha crewman is haunted by a terrifying past.

I liked this, particularly with its bit of prehistory. We got to see some Earth politics at work as well as political lack of imagination. But the one BIG logic flaw not really addressed is how did the exact same collection of derelict ships find itself millions of light years from where Cellini had originally encountered them?

Nice touch having Russell reference them 877 days since leaving Earth. Thats almost two-and-a-half years at (we assume) relativistic flight. I like it also because it doesn't take the conceit that the past experiences have all happened within the framework of only one season or one year.

"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).

 

[CorporalCaptain]

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

 

[Galileo7]

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

Yes, "Dragon's Domain" was filmed in January-Febraury 1975 and aired during the 1975-1976 first season of Space:1999.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I think RJ is pointing out that 1999 is not the actual year in most of the episodes.

True enough. Even in 1975, I don't think anyone took the year in the title seriously given the way that the US space program was restructuring for low earth orbit operations. I think the title was more a nod to some interpretations of Nostradamus' prophecies. It combines a suggestion of high-tech action with end-of-world millennialism. Replacing 1999 with 2099 won't have the same feel if the reboot happens and they name it Space:2099.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

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

Yes, "Dragon's Domain" was filmed in January-Febraury 1975 and aired during the 1975-1976 first season of Space:1999.

The graveyard of ships theme, loosely speaking, is also in common, IMO, in that the Alien is recovered from a derelict (Bergman's hypothesis, as to what the graveyard in DD might be, notwithstanding). Of course, finding monsters in a graveyard is a common theme in horror stories.

 

[Warped9]

“The Testament Of Arkadia” ****

The Moon is stopped in space and the Alphans make a startling discovery on a dead world.

This certainly is no run-and-jump episode. It's a story that takes it's time to unfold, though I could have done without much of Koenig's omniscient narration until the end. On that note the episode and the season ends in such a way that you could have gotten away with ending the series right at that point. And with these last few episodes the season, IMO, ends on a stronger note than it began.

Along with the measured pace there's a creepy atmosphere to this episode. Of course we know they're on a soundstage, but somehow they managed to convincingly convey the idea of a dead world. “The Testament Of Arkadia” ****

The Moon is stopped in space and the Alphans make a startling discovery on a dead world.

This certainly is no run-and-jump episode. It's a story that takes it's time to unfold, though I could have done without much of Koenig's omniscient narration until the end. On that note the episode and the season ends in such a way that you could have gotten away with ending the series right at that point. And with these last few episodes the season, IMO, ends on a stronger note than it began.

Along with the measured pace there's a creepy atmosphere to this episode. Of course we know they're on a soundstage, but somehow they managed to convincingly convey the idea of a dead world. I'd have to say that they tried to hard to make the conclusion certain rather than leaving it somewhat murkier. A little doubt would have been more effective I think. Also they never answer the big mystical question: what was that that stopped the Moon in its tracks, drained it of power and then sent it on its way again?

Still, not bad.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It combines a suggestion of high-tech action with end-of-world millennialism. Replacing 1999 with 2099 won't have the same feel if the reboot happens and they name it Space:2099.

Yes to all this.

“The Testament Of Arkadia” ****

The Moon is stopped in space and the Alphans make a startling discovery on a dead world.

This certainly is no run-and-jump episode. It's a story that takes it's time to unfold, though I could have done without much of Koenig's omniscient narration until the end. On that note the episode and the season ends in such a way that you could have gotten away with ending the series right at that point. And with these last few episodes the season, IMO, ends on a stronger note than it began.

Along with the measured pace there's a creepy atmosphere to this episode. Of course we know they're on a soundstage, but somehow they managed to convincingly convey the idea of a dead world. Not bad.

In my minireview, I didn't rank it very highly, because I didn't like the Chariots of the Gods? overtones. I really thought those were out of place with the rest of the mythology and the narrative of the cosmic intelligence developed in the first season. I thought the episode would have worked just fine if the two Alphans had brought life back to a world previously inhabited by an unrelated but extinct race.

However, I really like the scene in the cave. I'm a sucker for 70's mysticism playing out to a hippie/classical fusion soundtrack, I guess.

 

[Warped9]

^^ I'd have to say that they tried to hard to make the conclusion certain rather than leaving it somewhat murkier. A little doubt would have been more effective I think.


So how do things stack up after watching the first season? Firstly it has to be said that while this would be a revisit for some others it's not really a revisit in the usual sense for me. I only watched a few episodes back in the day before I bailed and never looked at it again. So for me in a sense this is almost like seeing this new.


Excellent ***** (4.1%) - When criticisms are a matter of nitpicking then it means you got most of the important stuff right.
"Mission Of The Darians"

Good **** (20.8%) - Certainly not perfect, but the good far outweighs the bad. Could have been better, but not much.
"Collision Course"
"War Games"
"Space Brain"
"Dragon's Domain"
“The Testament Of Arkadia”

Fair *** (33.3%) – There’s just enough to hold interest, but there’s obviously room for improvement. A little more polish could have gone a long way.
"Breakaway"
"Ring Around The Moon"
"Earthbound"
"Another Time, Another Place"
"Force Of Life"
"The Last Sunset"
"Death's Other Dominion"
"The Troubled Spirit"

Poor ** (25%) – There are some decent ideas here, but the overall execution is sloppy. These represent what I originally thought of the series overall, but I’m glad to be proved I was wrong.
"Matter Of Life And Death"
"Black Sun"
"Alpha Child"
"The Full Circle"
"The Last Enemy"
"The Infernal Machine"

Bad * (16.6%) – This was just bad. Nothing left to say.
"Missing Link"
"Guardian Of Piri"
"Voyager's Return"
"End Of Eternity"


Overall Space: 1999 is a lot better than I remembered it to be. That isn’t to say I don’t still have reservations and criticisms, but I got more entertainment out of the series than I might once have expected. In some respects this series works better from an adult perspective because you can then appreciate some of the subtler ideas better than as a youth. It also helps, I think, to have grown up in that era when the show was made. Like UFO and other shows I can usually forgive the production standards from today’s perspective and focus on what the creators and writers were trying to do.

If you break down my ratings in another way you come up with 25% of the episodes being Good to Excellent. That’s certainly far more than I could have expected. If you add in the Fair episodes you have 58.3% or more than half the episodes being quite watchable without too many complaints. That leaves 41.6% or only ten episodes out of the first season that I could easily passover without a second thought. Those ten episodes are what I once believed to be representative of the series only to now find they’re certainly not.

Space: 1999 certainly won’t be my favourite SF series, but it deserves more credit than it often may get.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ That's very generous. I would have ranked them all a bit lower, because each one includes the idea of the Moon being blasted away from Earth and traveling intermittently faster than the speed of light. Still, you've made me interested in watching it again-- too bad it's not on Hulu.

I think RJ is pointing out that 1999 is not the actual year in most of the episodes.

Exactly. They were already in 2001 or 2002 by then.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

^ FWIW, the scale I used in my minireviews was a relative scale, with the high mark set at what I thought was the best of the series, which just so happened to be reached only in the first season.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Yeah, I was being kind of a wise guy there.

 

[Warped9]

And so on to Season 2.


"The Metamorph" **

A maniacal alien welcomes the Alphans for a deadly purpose.

I think I just saw the comic book version of 1999. The only good thing I saw here was an Eagle with a neat looking booster system added to it. There's an okay basic story buried in here, but it's delivered in such a quick-and-dirty way.

This was a real disappointment after the first season. I suppose I could really stretch and rationalize the change in uniforms and some of the equipment change particularly in Main Mission. I might even rationalize the change in some personnel. But the change of Russell saying they were three hundred and some days from Earth as opposed to the previously explicitly stated 877 days is a blatant continuity error.

There's an obvious effort to add more colour to the show, but it's not always in a good way. I could question some of the f/x of Season 1, but here the f/x don't even look that good. Maybe it was passable on a '70's era CRT television, but on a contemporary HD flatscreen it's less forgiving.

I also have to say I don't care one whit for the new opening theme. The earlier theme and opening credits was a lot smarter and more suitable.

This isn't a good way to start off the season.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

I'm not sure I'd give scores to the episodes, but I would definitely say my favourite episodes are:
Collision Course
Black Sun
Death's other Dominion
The Infernal Machine
Another Time, Another Place
War Games

But I love them all really. Ring around the Moon, The Last Enemy and The Full Circle are the only ones I find disappointing, but even those have things to enjoy about them. I've not got a problem with the premise, as incredible as it may be, I think probably because the show goes with it - it's big, bold and in-your-face, and they don't try to wrap it up in a mumble of unconvincing technobabble. The Moon's been blasted out of orbit - deal with it! Although of course, interestingly, the series itself questions the likelihood of the event, which leads to the idea of cosmic intelligence. Now, I don't know what cosmic intelligence means, and the series itself doesn't offer any definite conclusions - that's a plus point. If they explained these things, it would just be a mundane, generic sci-fi show. It's about the mysteries of life and the universe - it's about faith and hope (like the number of times Koenig broadcasts to the base his belief that they will survive).

Personally, I think of "cosmic intelligence" in terms of a sort of universal group mind, which is a bit of a Stapledonian idea. (Though Koenig, as a Jew, equates it more literally with an actual individual God - so who knows?) Presumably that's what happens to Arra and her people, they ascend to a new plane and join the cosmic intelligence. One assumes that the ancient Arkadians are part of the group mind too, which is why they use the Moon to bring life back to their original world.