Well it's made very clear in the first season that it's all going according to some kind of cosmic level plan and that some kind of "cosmic intelligence" is behind it all.
Which I had totally not caught on to, or had forgotten when I watched it as a kid, but was surprised at when I watched them as an adult. So part of the show where you would say "But realistically...." just insert vast cosmic intelligence to explain it away. At least I do, and it works surprisingly well.
I still don't get the level of vitriol hurled at BSG and not say, Buck Rogers, which has many of the same flaws.
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That's probably because we haven't had people insisting for the last several years that the original show was a "classic" compared to that "horrible" new version.
It's a backlash against the backlash against the remake!
Plus, I don't think anybody has ever insisted that BUCK ROGERS was anything more than just a goofy, kid-friendly space opera, so people don't resent it for being nothing more than that.
This does make me wonder if there was any friction fans of the series and the Buster Crabbe serial back in fanzines or whatever... frankly, I'm sure if I google it I'm sure I can find some kind of argument like that.
Brace yourself. We're probably going to spend the rest of our lives listening to people argue the relative merits of old Trek versus nuTrek . . . .
Like Fred Astaire, Lloyd Bridges, Patrick Macnee, Jane Seymour, Anne Lockhart, Jonathan Harris, Loretta Spang, Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict? No, no notable talent at all. Funny man, Dennis.
Well it's made very clear in the first season that it's all going according to some kind of cosmic level plan and that some kind of "cosmic intelligence" is behind it all.
Which I had totally not caught on to, or had forgotten when I watched it as a kid, but was surprised at when I watched them as an adult. So part of the show where you would say "But realistically...." just insert vast cosmic intelligence to explain it away. At least I do, and it works surprisingly well.
Is it still a bit dodgy? Sure. But IIRC nuBSG had a similar "God did it" or "Part of something larger than your ability to understand" vibe (not to mention 3 or at least 2 planet Earths that looked exactly alike). I think I can cut Space:1999 a little slack in that department.
Plus the model work, alien worlds and sense of space being really vast and mysterious were all very well done. Those aspects of the show made a bigger impact on me than Trek's.
Spang? Benedict? Hatch?
Really?
That the stunt casting of guest stars was sometimes impressive is less arguable. It's a shame that Astaire wasn't brought on to dance. Seymour was certainly tearing up the big screen playing James Bond's "love interest." That said, if you wanted to impress someone you might at least have mentioned Bolger.
Face it - oldBSG is a bit of nostalgic kitsch whose flame's been kept alive by a very small coterie of devoted followers. It was written for kindergartners, performed by a forgettable cast most of whom attacked their parts with all the skill and relish of day players on an afternoon soap of the time. If there had been anything in it to engage an adult's attention for more than a week or two it might have survived beyond a couple of dozen episodes - it's not as if it weren't entirely in the interest of the network that had invested so much money and promotion in it to keep it alive a bit longer.
There's every reason for this thing to be included in a list of potential "worsts."
Well it's made very clear in the first season that it's all going according to some kind of cosmic level plan and that some kind of "cosmic intelligence" is behind it all.
Which I had totally not caught on to, or had forgotten when I watched it as a kid, but was surprised at when I watched them as an adult. So part of the show where you would say "But realistically...." just insert vast cosmic intelligence to explain it away. At least I do, and it works surprisingly well.
Is it still a bit dodgy? Sure. But IIRC nuBSG had a similar "God did it" or "Part of something larger than your ability to understand" vibe (not to mention 3 or at least 2 planet Earths that looked exactly alike). I think I can cut Space:1999 a little slack in that department.
Plus the model work, alien worlds and sense of space being really vast and mysterious were all very well done. Those aspects of the show made a bigger impact on me than Trek's.
Hate to point this out, but Space:1999 DOES NOT deserve to be on the list of worse sci-fi shows post 1964. It was a cool show for its time, and for a pre Star wars era show, that's saying a lot.
If anything the Logan's Run TV Series, the second season of Buck Rogers, Galactica 1980, the Battlestar remake, and Caprica DO BELONG on that list. And I might add DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise, too!
