Comments on: Godspeed, Moonbase Alpha

By: CR

CR — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 07:58:47 +0000

Ridiculously obsessive Space: 1999 fan here. But hey, everyone has their favorite show. Don’t judge it based on incredibly inaccurate 30+ year old memories and 50 second YouTube clips, actually watch the show. (No, not all episodes are great, and I admit to preferring Season 1 to Season 2. But it wasn’t all terrible like so many people would have one belive.)

As for Space: 2099, Eric beat me to the punch; I was going to mention his website. DO check it out, as it makes the show watchable for today’s audiences, while keeping the stories intact. (And before anyone thinks that’s not a good idea, it’s not the first sci-fi tv show to do so. Star Trek Remastered, anyone?)

Oh, regarding the ‘opening window’ on Alpha… it was installed after the moon was (temporarily) terraformed by advanced aliens. The window had been blown out during the initial atmospheric ‘installation.’ WHY does nobody ever make that observation? Anyone who knows me knows of my disdain for this point constantly being brought up, ESPECIALLY when it’s brought up to try to tear apart the series. Sheesh!

By: Patrick Cahalan

Patrick Cahalan — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:02:13 +0000

I recently bought the series on DVD. It stands up amazingly well.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:08:33 +0000

For those of you who are wondering how cool Space:1999 can be. Take a look at my new website Space:2099. I am a director/video editor, and I’ve been working this past year on this project. I hope to be able to bring the original series back, but this time with a new chronology, a new pacing and new special effect where it is needed. All this while bringing moonbase alpha into a new future…2099. Take a look at http://www.space2099.tv

By: Joe Meils

Joe Meils — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:10:25 +0000

Actually, if they really wanted to bring one of Gerry Anderson’s shows back, they should try “Into Infinity.” The photon powered spacecraft “Alteres” and it’s two family crew, taking a relativistic flight to the nearest stars, but being thorwn into another part of the universe at the end… At least that show you could suspend your disbelief a little more than you could with the entire, freaking moon being blown out of orbit!

Check it out on Youtube!
Into Infinity / Day After Tomorrow

By: MarkH

MarkH — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:58:35 +0000

Hey, I loved it when I was 12 to0. (okay, technically I was 9). That doesn’t mean it didn’t suck.

By: Michael L

Michael L — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:48:14 +0000

@Jorge:

I know… but still…

By: Mark A. Siefert

Mark A. Siefert — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:03:21 +0000

I could see a re-imagining done ala Battlestar (hopefully better, without becoming drawn out and surreal. Though it originally had promise, BSG devolved into “Lost” in Space–pun semi-intended.). Luna could be blasted out of Earth’s orbit via an FTL drive experiment… it worked a little TOO well and the crew of Moonbase Alpha is left stranded in a unknown part of the universe and must now wander the universe.

We’d have to rename it “Space 2099″, or something.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:00:33 +0000

I never got the show but those photos are great. I wish there was one with Serenity from Firefly (a much better show). I’ve seen a few in parking lots but we could use more.

By: Jorge

Jorge — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 23:08:09 +0000

Michael, if they could evacuate the moonbase, there wouldn’t be a show. D’you want a better reason than that?

By: Tressa

Tressa — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:32:42 +0000

I loved this show! There is nothing better than the sci-fi of one’s childhood!

By: blf

blf — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:10:04 +0000

I’m one of those who absolutely hated—loathed—it from the first episode. I can’t really now recall any of the episodes, or if, in fact, I watched significant parts of any episode other than the first one.

By: Michael L

Michael L — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:39:40 +0000

The one thing I can’t figure out is why they couldn’t evacuate the Moonbase?

By: Joe Meils

Joe Meils — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:28:11 +0000

On a technical level, Space 1999 set a new standard. The sets, the effects… all were utterly amazing. I just wish they had spent a little more time on figuring out a better premise, and spent a little more on the scripts. As it is there are really only about a half dozen of the episodes that seem to hold up: Piri, Dragon’s Domain, Mission of the Darians, Earthbound, Voyager’s Return, WarGames…

It could have been a lot better…

(But I still think Zienia Merton was the hottest babe on TV at the time.)

By: Jorge

Jorge — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 13:27:19 +0000

Well, there are two things I still like about S:1999:

The eagles, first and foremost. I think they would work admirably well in a lunar-like environment. in particular, the modularity of the ship seems to be very well conceived.

All the departing/landing (mooning? Hm… perhaps not) sequence. I only wish they didn’t repeat it so often. Still, far better than seing the same fighter ejections over and over and over again in the original Battlestar Galactica show.

Ah, and, of course, Prof. Victor Bergman, and it’s almost unshakable rationality. So I guess there are three…

By: Ranillon

Ranillon — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 07:34:06 +0000

I think that some episodes of s:1999 still hold up quite well — while others are embarrassing drek. Definitely hot and cold, but certainly good for the time period and enjoyable today if you avoid choice episodes. In particular, the special effects were great for the mid-seventies. I certainly consider it superior to the original BSG (which suffered from far more bad TV cliches common for the time).

By: Mark A. Siefert

Mark A. Siefert — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 06:14:13 +0000

I LOVE the Eagles. As a child, my favorite toy was the large Mattel Eagle 1 Playset (http://www.plaidstallions.com/mattel/eagle.html).

By: Michael L

Michael L — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 06:06:27 +0000

Actually, I thought the Eagles were one of the more realistic space ships of sci-fi up to that point!

By: Adela

Adela — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:48:00 +0000

Oh yes that junkyard monster was the stuff of nightmares for kids. It’s giant eye mesmerized you into walking right to it and then it sucked you in and spat out a mummy.
For all it’s bad it did once and a while try to do some risky things that other scifi shows wouldn’t touch.

By: Chip

Chip — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:07:07 +0000

Ha! I actually found a 50 second clip from the episode I remembered seeing as a kid. A monster, (tentacles and a headlight,) lives in an orbiting junkyard full of (very cool) abandoned alien spacecraft. The Moonbase people visit to obtain parts. The beast apparently can transport victims into a roaring mouth before they have a chance to run away. Perhaps good for a chuckle today but when you are 10, 11 or 12, it was both cool and nightmarish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tbXhu09m5s

By: GaterNate

GaterNate — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 03:46:28 +0000

“Evil commenters may diss the show all they like. I still appreciate it. And I loved it when I was 12.”

Right on! Keep partying like it’s 1999!

By: Elmar_M

Elmar_M — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 02:08:33 +0000

Loved the show as a kid (also made a eagle + moonbase for the LightWave 8.0 content ). The design of the moonbase, the eagles and generally everything is still among the coolest until today. Some designs were quite reasonable as well, I think. The eagles totally made sense (until they had them land on planets with atmosphere). I really liked the effects (for the time)and the general mood of the show (claustrophobic).
Unfortunately the story… well… I mean we all know that

By: Jack Hagerty

Jack Hagerty — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:20:23 +0000

Pete G Says: “I’ve always thought the Eagle looks like a really realistic design for a future lunar transport. I love anything created by Gerry Anderson, and his set pieces and sci fi was, (to use the cliche’), ahead of its time.”

Those designs were all by Brian Johnson, Anderson’s chief model maker. He was so good that he was “loaned out” to Doug Trumbull’s team when they were doing 2001 (which explains the family resemblance between the moon bus and the Eagles).

As far as being ahead of his time, I just two days ago got a copy of “Journey to the Far Side of the Sun” (European title “Doppelganger”). I haven’t seen the movie since I saw it originally in the theaters in 1969. The opening sequence though, is jaw dropping in how accurately they nailed security checkpoints that would sprout up at airports. Herbert Lom plays a scientist-spy getting into a top security installation to covertly photograph some top secret documents. He has to take everything out of his pockets and put them in a tray, which is then scanned by an X-ray. He has to stand in a scanner (a fluoroscope rather than a metal detector) so that the guard can examine him for hidden contraband. Only after that, and his scanned credentials are approved, is he let in. Except for the antique look to the computer equipment, this could be a TSA training guide!

- Jack

By: Kerry Maxwell

Kerry Maxwell — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:32:01 +0000

I was a regular Space 1999 viewer, but I do recall my teenage brain, drug addled as it was, balking at the episode where an atmosphere was suddenly created on the wandering moonbase, and the denizens OPENED THE WINDOWS to let in the fresh air!! Who the hell was the contractor on that moonbase installation?

By: Michael L

Michael L — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 23:50:53 +0000

@Adam,

Space 1999 was originally intended to be a sequel to UFO, in it’s early development phase, but it was decided that it should be a stand alone series, and the 2 shows were totally separate entities.

By: Jorge

Jorge — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 23:48:17 +0000

@George,

Well, that might be the case. But the fact is that my father watched it with me and enjoyed the show almost as much as I did. I guess he saw the loopholes way better than I did back then, but it seems that whatever good it had (and I admit it did have some good stuff in it, all things considered) made it up for him.

I could never forget an episode with Maya where the “Alphites” find a graveyard of abandoned spaceships and end up in a battle with a terrifying monster (which, when I saw it the second time, I found very, very, poorly done). Man, that ep scared the crap out of me the first time around…