Cult Culture: Space 1999 (Season One)
Now that A&E has been good enough to
produce the bonus disc they promised several years ago, I feel a little
better about reviewing the series. Since I love to ramble drunkenly
about bikini-clad women being gored by green plant-aliens, I’ll split
the Space:1999 review into two sections. Part one will cover
the gloriously gothic, dark and moody first season. The second part
will cover the doomed ship of the second season, the final episodes of
which you watch out of a sort of pity.
The lights come up. It’s 20 years later with original co-star Zienia
Merton addressing the fans, sending a final message from Moonbase Alpha
and finally giving us a conclusion to the journey. This is the power of
the show – not only to maintain a fan base for so long, but to enjoy
short fan-produced films. There is talk of reviving the program and,
depending on the success of Battlestar Galactica later this year, we’ll see what happens.
Staring Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Barry Morse (season one) and
Catherine Schell (season two), and with guest stars that included Joan
Collins, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Leo McKern and other acting
giants, Space: 1999 was a sci-fi departure, for the time. 1975-1976, it was the logical good daughter of Star Trek and Lost in Space.
Yes, it’s a road traveled, but with a new twist. This crew of 311 souls
is not ready for the journey, and they come from an Earth that hasn’t
yet encountered alien life and has only once before left the solar
system, and that mission was unsuccessful.
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Even in 2003, it has a fun element that can lend enjoyment to your gin
soaked evenings now that your significant other has left you for her
yoga instructor. Unlike the Star Trek
franchise and other sci-fi shows, there’s no refuge for this crew. No
way out, very little experience and a clumsy sort of paranoia that
assumes every encounter to be potentially lethal. Oh, and need I
mention the best opening sequence in Sci-Fi? 70’s guitar funk, with
each title sequence featuring the most exciting clips from the episode.
It’s gets the blood pumping.
Created and produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (who brought us Thunderbirds, soon to be a major motion picture), Space: 1999
had a rocky beginning. The entire first season was filmed in 73-74 and
sold to the studio as a set, which was probably the only thing that
kept season one as cohesive and enjoyable as it was. In fact, I rather
believe season two was destroyed by the studio out of spite. They had
no power over the pre-filmed first season, no ability to change
anything in the 24 episodes sold to them. The show also sold on the
power of husband and wife team Landau and Bain, who were fresh off of
the original Mission: Impossible. Based on the strengths of
past hits, the Andersons sort of bluffed their way into our prime time
living rooms. Selling a new sci-fi series in the mid-70’s was no easy
task, especially if you were going to deviate from the base formula.
The story begins on Earth’s first moonbase, Alpha, where a very young
world government akin to the U.N. is disposing of hazardous materials,
most especially nuclear waste. A strange madness is affecting some
astronauts assigned to the moonbase, a sickness that has delayed the
second interstellar mission – a probe designed to follow a recently
detected artificial signal. Though the pilot episode throws the moon on
the same course as this signal, the story arc is immediately dropped in
favor of Space Warps R Us, tell me more of this human thing called
kissing, I am Chuck the Brain and I’ll destroy you with giant
antibodies.
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Though often criticized as lacking a human element, the opposite seems
true to me. Knocked out of Earth’s orbit by a massive nuclear explosion
in one of the poorly maintained radioactive waste dumping fields, the
moon is hurtled through space at an incredible velocity, causing
cataclysmic damage to Earth in the process. The Alphans have no way
back, no hope of returning, and so they face a journey through unknown
space. My favorite twist on the old story is that this is an unwilling
crew, not bound by family or the military. These are scientists and
technicians, none of whom are used to the idea of being under the thumb
of a commander, let alone cut off from Earth forever. Martin Landau’s
authority is repeatedly called into question and the crew often bucks
the system, giving us a few episodes where mutinous crew members do
insane things. The psychological toll is briefly explored, with people
going quietly insane here and there. The crazy crewmember episodes are
the most entertaining. But audiences in the mid 70’s wanted fuzzy space
aliens who laughed heartily then stole your women. They still want
that, I suppose. Space: 1999
was one of the few sci-fi shows that actually took the time to have
crew-related episodes, and not just so they could be nameless
fatalities on Bizarro World. Maybe I’m the crazy one, but I think
having your top officers stranded on Bizarro World threatened by
nothing other than Crazy Bill from Reactor Room 2 who misses his wife
on Earth is a great story line. No groovy aliens, just Crazy Bill and a
rifle. Goddamn you, Commander! I said I wanted more mustard for Ham
Sandwich Thursday’s and you said we couldn’t afford the strain on the
food processing units! AAAAHHH!!
There’s your human factor.
Barry Morse (Lt. Gerard from the original Fugitive series)
is the brain, a brilliant scientist doomed to be replaced by Catherine
Schell in the second season, who was a shape-changing alien scientist
with cleavage. Barbara Bain played the chief medical officer and Martin
Landau’s love interest (a story arc that played out very well, no doubt
due to her real life marriage with Landau and despite her hideous
wooden acting). Surrounded by strong supporting stars that you’ve seen
in tons of bit parts, the show will easily take a hold on you once you
sit down and get into the groove.
The tone for the first season was dark, with gothic episodes and
internalized tales about Alpha crewmembers gone wrong. It had alien
babies, parallel universes, guitar solos, crashing spaceships, warriors
from distant stars, scary old women in robes and nude supermodels. It
had exploding doors, gods and devils, power failures and sickening zoom
work on flashing red alert screens.
The Alphans, while traveling through the unknown, have one mission – to
find a new home and to leave their dead moon behind. But no matter
what, they would always encounter an intelligence greater than their
own or, ultimately, fuck everything up and miss their chance. Another
undeveloped story arc was the idea that Humanity came from a highly
advanced, doomed civilization. As the series progresses, we get a
snoot-load of hints that Humanity’s role in the universe is more than
we imagine. The first season concludes with an episode exploring
Mankind’s ancient homeworld – Arkadia. Thanks to the actions of
Moonbase Alpha, several ancient races are allowed to ascend to a higher
plane and new races are given birth. By the second season, our
reputation precedes us.
Again, though, the Humanity as a once great interstellar race (and now
returning to their old power) story arc is dropped for the second
season.
Though flawed, the series ranks high on my list of quality sci-fi. It’s
daring stuff that you don’t often see today. Many modern sci-fi critics
will begrudgingly admit that, when the Star Trek franchise was revived by the Next Generation, it borrowed more from Space: 1999 than the original Star Trek
series. This is a series that aimed high and, on several occasions,
fell short… But when you get a show that’s smart and tries to push the
envelope, you can forgive the failures.
Your episode list:
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Breakaway
The two hour pilot is mostly people saying “What are you doing? Are you
crazy! NO! Don’t shoot the window! You fool, you—” WHOOSH! The pilot
also introduces evil Commissioner Simmonds, who could have been the Dr.
Smith of the series…again, a story arc not developed. Simmonds
reappears in a later episode, but only to suffer a terrible death that
would have meant more if he had been a recurring bad guy. Also, the
Moon heading towards the alien signal story arc is dropped. Now, if
you’re making the show before selling it and shooting all the episodes
together, why would you purposely build in story arcs and then “forget”
about them the next day? Oh well…it’s a beginning.
Matter of Life and Death
Helena Russell (Barbara Bain) had a husband, lost on a mission to
Jupiter. Now, in unknown space, he reappears. Except he’s an anti
matter alien dude and everyone’s going to die unless Barbara Bain can
save the day. Can she do it? Will she survive being caught in a
romantic love triangle with her commander and her dead husband? Will
Alpha survive?
Black Sun
Yes, they will. But only to face a black hole that will not only propel
them halfway across the universe, but give them a chance to meet a
being that may or may not be our creator. (A woman, by the way. Try and
find another female God in 1975 prime time TV.) Keeping with the
mystical, metaphysical attitude of the first season, this episode is
the first step towards the idea that Mankind is something more than we
think, something far more powerful. It’s also a much needed character
development story, which is what you should do before you introduce
dead husbands and love triangles.
Ring around the Moon
Hi, remember Star Trek: The Motion Picture? Good, you’ll
recognize this story, then. An alien Voyager probe takes the moon
hostage, possesses people and attempts to download files from the
computer. In what should have been a half hour episode, Martin Landau
has to convince the probe that its masters are dead and its mission is
meaningless. Will he succeed? Will they survive? Oh my god! I don’t –
oh, okay, everything’s okay now.
Earthbound
Christopher Lee and the last survivors of his race, the Kaldorians, are
headed to Earth for refuge (you and I know why, because I’ve just spent
20 pages telling you how Mankind turns out to be a superior, ancient
race). They have room for one Alphan, though their journey will take
thousands of years. Evil Commissioner Simmonds returns (I guess he’s
been asleep for the months that the moon has been traveling in space)
and hijacks the ship, forcing the Kaldorians to take him along. Ho, ho,
ho. Joke’s on Simmonds, and his unrealized character is written out
horrifically.
Another Time, Another Place
A rift in space returns the Moon to Earth’s orbit – along with a second
Moon! It’s a parallel universe, bitch, and the Earth is a wasteland.
The other Alpha crew has resettled on the now barren Earth, and the
parallel Alphans can either live with each other or await their death
when the two Moons collide. Or will the collision return our Moon to
the normal dimension? Yeah, that sounds like a better plan. Who wants
to live on a wasteland with only our parallel selves for company, let’s
get back to bashing some alien heads! An accomplished episode in terms
of spooky atmosphere (exploring the ruins of parallel Alpha).
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Missing Link
After his ship crashes, Martin Landau’s soul is stolen by a curious
anthropologist who wants to study him… Which is fine, except Martin is
too busy fucking his daughter. So, tell me more about this Human thing
called – What? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!
Guardian of Piri
Note to self: Piri doesn’t like visitors.
Force of Life
Classic first season gothic horror story stuff. A technician is
possessed by an angry spirit and kills women in skimpy bikinis. Creepy
murder spree in space? Oh, yes.
Alpha Child
In a plot line stolen by a Star Trek: TNG episode, we got ourselves an
evil alien reborn in the body of the first child delivered on Alpha. He
ages 30 years in a few hours, turns his mother into a host for his long
dead lover and plans to take over the rest of Alpha because, of course,
it’s just about time to destroy the universe.
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The Last Sunset
Aliens fearing the Alphans give the moon an artificial atmosphere in
the hopes that they’ll stay the fuck away. Unfortunately, that means
Alpha’s going to corrode and the Alphans will lose their ability to
make enough food to survive, so the aliens send psychedelic mushrooms
to eat. Our co-stars all go on a bad trip as the moon drifts away from
the alien planet, the inhabitants of which apologize for causing such a
ruckus.
Voyager’s Return
The now insane Voyager probe returns to find its master. The big
problem is that its star drive uses a fuel that’s killed everything
it’s came across. Voyager has inadvertently wiped out countless
civilizations, the survivors of which are now in hot pursuit to find
and destroy the Human race. To make matters worse, the creator of the
star drive is on Moonbase Alpha. Oh, he doesn’t handle the idea that
he’s responsible for the deaths of billions of innocents very well.
Collision Course
The Moon is going to collide with a planet. Doing so would allow for
the ascension of an ancient race, as was predicted millions of years
ago. Nobody believes Martin Landau after a creepy witch woman gives him
the scoop.
Death’s Other Dominion
The missing astronauts from a mission to Uranus are alive and well on a distant ice planet…and they’re insane!
The Full Circle
Sylvia Anderson: “We will not have people turning into monsters.”
Full Circle plot: The Alphans turn into cavemen.
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End of Eternity
Peter Bowles guests as an immortal blood drinking ass fucking demon
that the Alphans discover entombed within an asteroid, which they
gleefully cut open.
War Games
Everyone is killed by aliens who think Humans are a universal plague,
and Alpha is a vanguard force. But, it’s okay, it’s all a dream. OR IS
IT? No, it is. OR IS IT?
The Last Enemy
The Moon passes between two worlds at war. One world is populated by
women and the other by men. So each world lands an atomic launch vessel
on Alpha. Comedy ensues.
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The Troubled Spirit
A high class gothic horror tale that leans more on the crewman guest
stars and puts the main characters in a secondary role. The frenetic,
powerful guitar music that fills this unusual episode always gives me
chills. A group of crewmen raise a vengeful spirit during a séance – a
spirit bent on avenging a murder that has not yet taken place.
Space Brain
The Moon passes through a giant brain. Barry Morse and Martin Landau do
battle with antibodies or, to be more accurate, soap suds.
The Infernal Machine
Leo McKern guest stars. Note to self: An immortal, sentient computer
with a strange fixation on your girlfriend makes for a bad dinner
companion.
Mission of the Darians
Joan Collins is among the last survivors of an advanced species on a
city-sized spaceship, adrift these 500 years. The ship is plagued by
stone age freaks…who come from the same species. Something went wrong,
and the two groups of survivors evolved into a Doctor Who episode!
Obviously, the stone aged folks are the bad guys! I mean, as long as we
don’t discover that the advanced survivors are cannibals. Ha, ha, ha!
That would be crazy, wouldn’t it? Come on, it’s not true, is it Joan?
Why are you looking at me like that?
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Dragon’s Domain
The story of our first interstellar mission to a habitable world,
doomed with only one half-mad survivor returning. His madness returns
as Alpha drifts towards the space graveyard where the main ship was
lost, years ago. He must again face the giant spider that ate his crew
in one of my favorite episodes – genuinely frightening, even today. The
spider is a goofy monster with a bright light for an eye, but it’s
still damned scary. Anything like that which gives you chills, 25 years
later, on a sunny Sunday afternoon is a sign of quality.
The Testament of Arkadia
The final episode has Alpha locating Mankind’s ancient homeworld –
Arkadia. Our once almighty ancestors destroyed themselves and sent the
seed of life off to Earth. Now, two humans have been chosen to bring
life back to our original home.
The end of the series left us on cool note – the answer to the purpose
of our existence. Oh, but the second season would get raped. Gerry and
Sylvia Anderson divorced, and a new production team took over command.
Many of the supporting characters, as well as Barry Morse, were canned
and the expansive sets would be changed for tighter sets. So, next
time, we’ll visit doomed season two.
Nacho’s gin rating: Space 1999 rocks my boxers. It makes my
socks roll up and down. If you haven’t suffered through 24 hours of
madness like me, then you must do it! Or else I’ll free the violent,
ass fucking demon that your people imprisoned 3000 years ago. See if I
don’t!