Video - Star Wars Crossed with Space: 1999!

A friend alerted me to this amazing combination of the classic season one opening theme from Space: 1999 and the original STAR WARS (1977). Barry Gray's music has always been a heart-pumping thrill ride and this edit of scenes works very well. Kudos! 

Dinky Space: 1999 Toys

 

Happy Breakaway Day!

On this day in 1999 (in a fictional universe) the Earth's moon was blasted out of orbit and began a mad journey through the cosmos. To commemorate this science fiction event you can watch an episode of the show or go over to the Gerry Anderson website for the festivities. Enjoy! 

Video - Space:1999 - Ice Lolly advert

This does not strike me as the best snack food tie-in for Space: 1999. Maybe if there had been Eagle shaped cheetos? 

Happy Breakaway Day!

Time to celebrate all things Space: 1999.  And for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about just check out the primer video above. 

Space:1999 Models

Spotted at Wonderfest in Louisville, KY. 

Video - The Metamorphosis of Space:1999

 

Gerry Anderson expert Chris Dale takes us through the complete story of how the hit show Space:1999 transformed from season 1 to season 2; the how, the why, the what and "what were they thinking?" Even if you're not much of a fan of the series this is a pretty interesting look at how things can go wrong on television productions.

Video - Space: 1999 Eagles Crashed and Lost in Season One

Chris Dale brings us the definitive guide to Eagle Transporters that get crashed and/or lost in series one of Space:1999! There are a lot of them. 

The Bloody Pit #141 - Space: 1999 with John Kenneth Muir

John Kenneth Muir has been writing about film and television for more than twenty-five years. His published works range in subject matter from the horror films of various decades and books focused on individual movie directors to in-depth tomes about several different science fiction television series. His first published book was about a much maligned Gerry Anderson produced science fiction show from the 1970’s called Space: 1999. The two seasons of that show have recently been released on Blu-Ray by Scream Factory, reigniting my interest in engaging with its highs and lows. Forgotten by most but beloved by many Space: 1999 has always been an odd series that is somewhat difficult for a broad audience to embrace, but its finer points are extraordinary, its special effects are superb and the production rarely lacked ambition. It is a television program ripe for rediscovery even in this age of endless streaming possibilities.

 

Mr. Muir and I discuss the show from the perspective of a novel he wrote several years ago called 'The Forsaken' that uses the first season episode ‘Space Brain’ as a starting point. Along the way we talk about our own history with Space: 1999 and how our opinions have changed over time. The stark differences between the first and second season are debated and we certainly engage in the age-old conversation about favorite and least favorite episodes. The scientific implausibilities inherent in the show’s set-up are hashed over with a number of details explained about how various writers acknowledged the biggest one within the body of their scripts. We discuss the philosophical approach taken by the show’s creators and how it differs from what people expected from sci-fi TV in the 70’s – and possibly today. We do get off track at one point and talk about a few horror movies, but we are soon back onto MoonBase Alpha – I promise!

 

If you have anything to say about Space: 1999 or any other subject we talk about in the show thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send your emails. We’ll be thrilled to hear from you. Thank you for listening to the podcast. 

John Kenneth Muir's Blog!

Podcast Apple LINK 

MP3 Download LINK 

Ennio Morricone's Space:1999 Score

Yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of the moon being blown out of Earth orbit and on that day I finally learned of this bizarre addition to the strange universe of Space:1999 ephemera. Because the first season of the show was partially financed by Rai Television of Italy, 3 episodes were edited together into a movie and screened in that country. Barry Gray's theme was dropped and replaced by this theme by Ennio Morricone. And boy, is it weird!

 

Video - The Metamorphosis of Space: 1999

This well produced video from the Anderson website does a good job of explaining what happened to make the two seasons of this 1970's television show so different from each other. I think the narrator puts it quite with this quote -

"Nowhere in the Gerry Anderson story is the power and influence of the American market more keenly or more tragically felt than in the story of Space: 1999’s transformation from Season one to Season two." 

Space: 1999 Power Records Adventure - Back to the Beginning

Someone has taken the time and put forth real effort to present this Space: 1999 Power Records tale on YouTube. The work is especially nice in the opening credits cribbed directly from the show with appropriate bits taken from the comic pages for the 'This Episode' interjections! It's very well done, leaving us to marvel at the (standard for the show) insane pseudo-science and bizarre plot. It's a fun ten minutes for fans or those interested in strange 1970's science fiction. 

Space: 1999 Comic Book Cover Gallery

The artwork on these covers were sure to make them leap off the spinner rack when I was a lad. Well - if they turned up on my local drugstore spinner rack, anyway. 

Space:1999 Inspired Short Film

Pretty funny and very short. 

Terrance Dicks' Space:1999 Adventure

Among classic Doctor Who fans Terrance Dicks is not just a legend, but someone to be revered. Longtime script editor for the show during its 70’s heyday, he was responsible for shepherding dozens of great stories through the process from concept to script to screen. After he stepped down from his editor role, he continued writing for Who  and contributed several scripts to the show including Robot, The Brain of Morbius, Horror of Fang Rock and The Five Doctors. His connection to Doctor Who goes even deeper because that during and after his time on the show he also was the main writer of the famous Target imprint that novelized various Doctor Who storylines in print. Indeed, he was the first writer to be tasked with this project that soon grew to be a major second career for him. His understanding of the show and his ability to translate scripts to novels made him the most beloved contributor to the series and set him up for a career in publishing that continued for the rest of his life. It was through the American reprints of these Who novels that I first became aware of him and began to seek out his name when prowling bookstores. In my youth, Dicks’ novels were the only way I could hope to experience several classic Doctor stories.

But of course, Doctor Who is not the only show that he wrote for and, although I've been aware of this for years, I never actively sought out any of his work on other television programs. That is, until lately. I recently learned that he wrote an episode of the mid-70’s Gerry Anderson TV show Space: 1999 and, since just last year Shout Factory was kind enough to put out both seasons on Blu-ray, I thought I would check this episode out and discover if it were any good. Luckily, I received that Blu set as a very welcome Christmas gift last year so the show was just a couple of button pushes way!

The episode is called The Lambda Factor and I have to admit that - of the handful of second season episodes that I've ever seen - it's actually pretty darned good. One of the failings of the Space:1999 second season is that in an attempt to create a more action-oriented show some of the first season’s cerebral attitude was thrown out. This figured to make the show less sleep inducing (because it could be dull as dirt) and better paced. Interestingly, The Lambda Factor splits the difference between these two approaches with a heady central concept married to a tense unfolding of dark emotions that trigger murder and despair. Dicks has some expressed surprise that his script made it to the screen with almost no changes and has stated that he was pretty happy with the finished episode. I was impressed enough with this one to slate into my schedule a possible reassessment of the much derided second season of Space: 1999. Such is the power of Terrance Dicks!