Gerry Tries Again (Space 1999)

Member Name: shroud

Product:	Space 1999
Date:	04/07/08 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fresh storylines, funky theme tune, classic Anderson special effects, iconic white themed look

Disadvantages: Bain and Landau come across a trifle wooden, usually only found now on DVD

With the cancellation of the most excellent UFO due to a lack of funds, Gerry Anderson's production company was left not only with the need to come up with a new concept, but with sets they had specially designed for the now cancelled series. The hoped for next season was to have seen the expansion of the Moon base in storylines, so set alterations had been made to accommodate this. What to do, what to do, especially given that the backer wanted a sci fi show with American actors to broaden the appeal? The answer Gerry Anderson came up with was Space: 1999, a series about a moon base that gets hurtled into space after an accident on Sept 13, 1999. Seems us humans had been foolishly storing nuclear waste on the moon, and a dump site or two exploded, ripping our moon from orbit and throwing it out into space. Ok, it was really BAD science, but hey, we will give them that one as it's just the background idea as to how they came to be driving the moon and its base about.

Yes, it has American actors in the lead, but it is a British sci fi show, filmed at Pinewood studios, and like UFO, had some international (and extraterrestrial) characters as well. Martin Landau and his wife Barbara Bain agreed to play the leads of Commander John Koenig and Doctor Helena Russell, seemingly on the strength of it being an Anderson production and being intrigued by the proposed special effects. While there was more crew and staff in the background, only 14 got regular appearances, and most of those fairly trivial. Of those cast regulars, only a handful really stand out memorably as being key players:
Nick Tate's Alan Carter, who was third in command and a pilot
Zienia Merton as Sandra Benes, the data analyst
Anton Philip's turn as Doctor Bob Matthias, Helena's second
Barry Morse as Professor Victor Bergman, third in command and the science advisor
and Catherine Schell as the mysterious shape shifting alien science advisor they pick up along the way

One might well be forgiven for thinking the whole "gone out to explore space for some reason and have a crew made up of a daring male commander, an alien science officer, a minority or foreign female communications/data bridge officer, a beautiful blonde medical officer, and an alien science officer et al" might sound somehow achingly familiar. On this score, however, we should be a bit more forgiving, as Gerry and Sylvia Anderson were having to bow to heavy outside pressures from their bankrolling backer, who wanted a formula that HE thought American audiences wanted, but with a bit of originality. So, likenesses aside, although they might be demographically similar, this is no mere trek to the stars. Uh uh.

This is after all, Gerry Anderson, so we DO get an original spin on the stories, not to mention that signature look and love of funky music. Forget the polyester pullovers and funny short trousers, this was jumpsuits, bellbottom flares, and silvery white space suits with the sets made to match. Those moon base sets that were all set for another season of UFO were expanded upon yet again, so we were treated to the cool, white, minimalist lines that Gerry imagined to be the future of space living. It was after all, an environment that relied heavily on science to keep ticking over, and he gave us the clean , spare lines that became so associated with futuristic space travel, that we saw the look again when 2001 hit our big screens. It looked great, and the twanging electronic funky music suited it strangely well. Unsurprisingly, as it is Gerry Anderson, we once again got treated to models being used for special effects shot, often involving the Eagle space crafts and alien space stations and the like.

Where it all began to fall down a bit was not so much with the stories, as there were many fine scripts, nor with the special effects, which as they were Gerry Anderson, goes without saying were pretty darn good. No, it's with the acting. Martin Landau was a fine actor, as was Barbara Bain. Indeed, Landau went on to win many awards, included the coveted Emmy, and is still in demand as an actor today. Likewise, his wife Barbera Bain herself was a three time Emmy and a Golden Globe winner and she too, is still in demand and working. Add to this the critical acclaim they got for their iconic roles in the original Mission: Impossible TV series, and it should have been a sure fire casting winner. But despite these facts, it remains that their acting is a bit, well, wooden in these rolls. The characters are made rather two dimensional by their portrayal, and because of it, the show fails to have that zing that UFO imparted. The addition of Maya, the shape shifting alien, was admittedly to try to raise ratings, and she provided a bit more interest, but how many times can you pull off a hat trick before it gets a bit old? I mean come on, even Klinger came out of the dress!

The rest of the cast do make up for the shortcomings somewhat, and the stories were entertaining and more than occasionally thought provoking, with lots of nice special effects to look at. Nonetheless, it has dated somewhat, but is still quite watchable, not having gone down the cringe worthy routes that have made the later sci fi series Buck Rogers in the 25th century such a modern day giggle. Rather, it stands more in the niche with other short lived sci fi worthies such as UFO, Logan's Run, and Blake's 7, that of iconic 70's sci fi that though a trifle dated by costumes, are nonetheless so fresh story wise, that they would not be out of place today. Seen rarely in syndication, your best bet to catch this is to grab a release of the two series on DVD and sci fi lovers should as it's great popcorn and soda pop TV for the hiatus season.

Summary: Not as fantastic as UFO, but great for hiatus season when even more of nothing than usual is on