Space 1999
In the late 70's, the twin forces of Poo-TV, Gerry Anderson and Lord Grade launched another classic upon a bewildered and unexpectant public. Space 1999 told the story of the luckless inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha, crossing the galaxy in an attempt to find a new home. Moonbase Alpha was located on the moon, which is, after all, the best place for it. The moon itself having been blown out of earth's orbit for some reason to do with nuclear waste or something. Space 1999 was an early cautionary tale of man's ability to be the accidental creators of environmental disaster.
Space 1999 was standard Anderson fare. Live action mixed in with cutting-edge airfix kits fitted with sparklers. Once again, Sylvia Anderson was responsible for costume design. (If you've never seen a space suit with flared trousers - you haven't seen Space 1999.)
Behold. Flares
The stars of Space 1999 were Martin Landau and Barbara
Bain, who played Commander John Koenig, and Doctor Helen Russell respectively.
Clearly, Landau must have had an enormous mortgage to pay. Probably brought
the house during Mission Impossible, and was then stuck for cash.
"Oh no! Space 1999 is all
that's on."
The two stars were joined by a regular troup of supporting actors. Tony Anholt (also of "The Persuaders" and "Howards Way", two quality shows if there were any) and Catherine Schell. Tony played Tony Verdeschi, and Schell played his love interest, Maya. Maya had funny eyebrows and too much blusher. But that was all right because she was an amazing alien who could turn into a whole host of animals and alien monsters. As you'd expect, the special effects used to facilitate this change were predictably underwhelming. Other regulars included a bald bloke with big sideboards called Victor something. He died, I think. And some other bloke whose character was called Paul Morrow. That's all I can remember. Oh and there was Alan Carter, Chief Eagle Pilot, who was Australian, and looked a bit like Paul Hogan.
Each week, the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha would come across a promising new planet. Hopes were raised. "Could we have finally found a home? It almost seems too perfect." Said hopes were then quickly dashed. The leader of the Alien world would usually be played by a guest star who should really know better (Brian Blessed, Patrick Mower, etc.) Sylvia would normally dress them in something particularly unsuitable: a pair of silver shorts and a top that showed their nips, that kind of thing. The sort of costume which denied the poor actor any attempt at injecting the part with any gravitas or pathos.
It was the job of this alien leader to ultimately disappoint the hapless Moonbase crew. This disappointment always took one of two forms:
Either way, each episode would end with the planet difting away from Moonbase, whilst our forlorn friends looked on.
....And as far as I know, they're still out there.
"Space: 1999 is like a Star Trek shot full of methedrine. It is the most flashy, gorgeous sci-fi trip ever to appear on TV."-Benjamin Stein, Wall Street Journal
If you sing from the same hymnsheet as Benjamin, or if you want to try and spot where I stole the above pictures from, you may enjoy these links. At least one of the sites allows you to download the theme tune from the second series, which was quite funky, in a naff sort of way:
Theres also a site called Gaybase Alpha. Enjoy!
