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Space 1999 - Set 1
List Price: $19.95 Our Price: $18.95
VHS Tape - 30 January, 2001
A&E Home Video
Availability: Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks
Director: Charles Crichton
Number of Media: 3
Features: - Box set
- Color
- Original recording reissued
- Original recording remastered
- NTSC
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| VHS Tape Description When it was first broadcast in 1975, there had never been a more lavishly produced science fiction TV series than Space: 1999, a British production whose budget for the first of its two seasons ran an astounding 3.25 million pounds. What keeps us fans enthralled after all these years has only partly to due with the first-rate production values, the plausibly constructed spaceship models, and expert special effects. The tone of the show is one of scientific dispassion, setting it apart from its TV sci-fi predecessors such as Star Trek, whose mood was more convivial. Our heroes here are in dire circumstances that require cool heads as a survival trait. Those circumstances: the 311 crew members of Moonbase Alpha experience a cataclysm that causes the moon to break away from Earth's orbit and travel endlessly through space, turning our heroes into unintentional explorers. No TV series has created a more palpable feel of hard science fiction than this. Of course the show is not without its detractors; it has been soundly lambasted for its many scientific errors. No less august a figure than Isaac Asimov criticized the show for its premise in the opening episode, "Breakaway" (included in this set), which had nuclear explosions on the "dark side of the moon" somehow propelling it out of Earth's orbit and flying through space without regard to any physical laws. While these are serious complaints, fans tend to remember the scientific seriousness of the series and the sense of awe created by the many strange creatures and phenomena that the crew members encounter on their journey through the galaxy. This set also includes the episodes "Matter of Life and Death" and "Black Sun." --Jim Gay |
| Selected Customer Reviews
space 1999 revisited At time the series came out i was 5 to 7 years old, but i remember watching it. I fell in love with the series but, it fell out of sight after a few years. Then in the 90's it reappeared on the Sci FI channel. I hope they include the later years episodes so i can bring the rest of my childhood back when i enjoyed the series.
This moon will self-destruct in 5 seconds What happened to Barbara Bain and Martin Landau after they quit Jim's Impossible Mission Force? They donned trendy pajamas and went to work on Moonbase Alpha in Gerry Anderson's second live-action series, SPACE 1999. The series is set in the near future (??) where the lunar interior is being used as a dumping ground for nuclear waste - big mistake. All that volatile stuff goes ballistic and knocks the whole rock into Outer Space. Why travel the cosmos in a galaxy-class starship when you can trek in comfort and dine on an endless supply of blue cheese?
Seriously, this series (like all of Gerry Anderson's TV adventures) has achieved cult status and is well worth a look. The special effects are very much in the "2001" vein and the story lines are every bit as "out there" as anything you'll get on Star Trek or Babylon 5. Much more ambitious in scope than his previous live-action project, "UFO", I give only four stars because this has cult, rather than general appeal.
Metaphysical SF that stands test of time I was amazed at how well Space 1999 has stood the test of time. The so-radical uniforms and sets now seem somewhat...average, but in their time, they were almost shocking. How we have changed! On the other hand, I was amazed at how real the visual effects looked, unlike the CGI everyone has now come to know and expect. This looked like how I remember the actual footage from the moon landings, with a sharp-edged almost artificial look. Great camera and lighting work add ambiance. I think part of the appeal of this series is the metaphysical aspect of it, always reminding me of "Solaris" on some levels. Perhaps the entire voyage is a hallucination? You never know, but hints abound. Definitely not the old formulaic Trek stuff, this show took TV Science Fiction to places it wouldn't go again until the advent of Babylon 5 and Farscape. My copy will be watched again and again. |
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