Space 1999

Richard Dower

Oh man, i loved this show as a kid!...anyone out there have found memories?

ejmaztec

Richard Dower wrote: »

Oh man, i loved this show as a kid!...anyone out there have found memories?

It was crap.:P

Beeker

Richard Dower wrote: »

Oh man, i loved this show as a kid!...anyone out there have found memories?

Great show!:) Loved it and bought an Eagle model with money from my Communion back in the 70's

Doodah7

Legendary show. I see that the first (and way superior) First Season is out on blu-ray this month...

Snake Plisken

Favourite Episode was Dragon's Domain, RTE broadcast during childrens tv in the afternoon it freaked the hell out of me as a 7 year old :eek:

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

Venom

Beeker wrote: »

Great show!:) Loved it and bought an Eagle model with money from my Communion back in the 70's

Iv still the original Dinky toy of that Eagle sitting on a shelf :cool:

Richard Dower

The Eagle was a great looking and realistic ship, i read it was an early design for Kubric's 2001?, wasn't there a fighter as weell?, the Hawk?

Ah, gotta love Wiki! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Transporter

Technocentral

Have the DVD boxset of Season 1 any point in getting it on bluray?

emo72

Snake Plisken wrote: »

Favourite Episode was Dragon's Domain, RTE broadcast during childrens tv in the afternoon it freaked the hell out of me as a 7 year old :eek:

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

it wasnt just me so:eek: absolutely disturbed by that episode i was. what were they thinking putting that out in the daytime. and we all must have seen it because there was only one channel back then basically.

but i loved the show, and the intro music was, still is, fantastic.

Technocentral

emo72 wrote: »

it wasnt just me so:eek: absolutely disturbed by that episode i was. what were they thinking putting that out in the daytime. and we all must have seen it because there was only one channel back then basically.

but i loved the show, and the intro music was, still is, fantastic.

That one didn't really spook me, the really scary one was "The Troubled Spirit" where an experiment in telekinesis with plants went wrong and produced a disfigured ghost that avenged its future death, I was terrified, even now the opening is spooky!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWFhsqg9NPg

mike65

RTE Friday afternoon 4.30, had to be home by then!

Technocentral

mike65 wrote: »

RTE Friday afternoon 4.30, had to be home by then!

Think it was 4pm on Thursday's on ITV when I was watching it, don't remember it on rte, strangely enough.

mike65

It was 1980/81 when RTE screened the first series but they never showed series two, mind you I understand it wasn't as good overall.

Yakuza

mike65 wrote: »

It was 1980/81 when RTE screened the first series but they never showed series two, mind you I understand it wasn't as good overall.

That was the one with Maya (?) the shapeshifter. I saw it on ITV I think. S1 was better, some characters didn't appear in S2 - notably Bergman, Kano and Paul Morrow. I have them on DVD, I doubt if BR would make them any better (having been only filmed for TV and in 4:3).

I have fond memories of it, but it is totally cheesey watching it today (all flares and bom-chicka-wah-wah music). In terms of toys, I had an Eagle and a belt with a gun (the n-shaped one) that shot out little discs and some form of radio thingy (but not as cool as the comlock things they all had).

Edit: Apparently, the HD (remasters) do make a difference, judge for yourselves : http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/pguide/upimhd.html#wg

Technocentral

Yakuza wrote: »

That was the one with Maya (?) the shapeshifter. I saw it on ITV I think. S1 was better, some characters didn't appear in S2 - notably Bergman, Kano and Paul Morrow. I have them on DVD, I doubt if BR would make them any better (having been only filmed for TV and in 4:3).

I have fond memories of it, but it is totally cheesey watching it today (all flares and bom-chicka-wah-wah music). In terms of toys, I had an Eagle and a belt with a gun (the n-shaped one) that shot out little discs and some form of radio thingy (but not as cool as the comlock things they all had).

Edit: Apparently, the HD (remasters) do make a difference, judge for yourselves : http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/pguide/upimhd.html#wg

The dvd's were down converts of the HD masters so the picture would be better on blu ray with them alright especially as it was shot on 35mm, I was thinking more in terms of would the new extras that are on the BD make it worthwhile splashing out on it. Those caps you link to are actually from when ITV HD showed it not from the blurays, ITV showed a 16:9 cropped version of it, the bluray version is 4:3, anyways I still think some of the S1 episodes like Earthbound, Guardian of Piri, Mission of the Darians and Black Sun stand up today as really good sci fi.

Technocentral

mike65 wrote: »

It was 1980/81 when RTE screened the first series but they never showed series two, mind you I understand it wasn't as good overall.

As a kid I liked them all but now I only remember season 1 episodes as been good, wonder why RTE never showed second season.

pixelburp

That's what I love about 1970s American telly - the networks had no issue simply changing the entire cast or setup of a show between seasons, completely on a whim & with no warning. Space 1999 did it, Battlestar Galactica did it, Buck Rogers & a few others too: you'd tune into the new season of your favorite show & suddenly the whole premise is different, characters gone & no lip service paid to what happened before.

Not sure why they don't anymore, but very glad they stopped that trend. Fringe Season 5 - now starring a crime-fighting ghost dog! Dexter: in space!

mike65

Space 1999 was a British production (Lew Grades ITC for ITV) with some Italian money from RAI thrown in.

excellent wiki article, the way the programme was made and got (badly) shown is from a whole different era.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space:_1999

Technocentral

mike65 wrote: »

Space 1999 was a British production (Lew Grades ITC for ITV) with some Italian money from RAI thrown in.

excellent wiki article, the way the programme was made and got (badly) shown is from a whole different era.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space:_1999

Indeed it was, but because it was the biggest market place ITC America called the shots.

Yakuza

pixelburp wrote: »

That's what I love about 1970s American telly - the networks had no issue simply changing the entire cast or setup of a show between seasons, completely on a whim & with no warning. Space 1999 did it, Battlestar Galactica did it, Buck Rogers & a few others too: you'd tune into the new season of your favorite show & suddenly the whole premise is different, characters gone & no lip service paid to what happened before.

I remember the Buck Rodgers change - The whole Searcher thing, no mention of Dr Huer, Theo or Ardala. (In the original pilot, Tigerman was killed off, but he made a miraculous recovery in the rest of season 1!).

I don't recall the BSG change - unless you mean the Galactica 1980 series which was meant to have a time-travel angle in it each week, but this got dumped after the pilot?

pixelburp wrote: »

Not sure why they don't anymore, but very glad they stopped that trend. Fringe Season 5 - now starring a crime-fighting ghost dog! Dexter: in space!

They would lose their audience in droves. We're much a more sophisticated audience these days, and expect rich character back stories, season-long arcs and continuity throughout the series. The first TV series I seem to remember doing this was ST:TNG (but that may be to do with the fact it came out when I was 17 and would have started to notice such things). Most TV I watched as a young teenager (A-Team, Knight Rider, Magnum, Bionic Man, Gemini man etc) had mostly stand-alone episodes; you could watch them out of order (or miss one) and not really notice much. Try doing that with The Shield, Supernatural or Fringe

ejmaztec

Thunderbirds with less string.

Skerries

ejmaztec wrote: »

Thunderbirds with less string.

no that would be more Invasion:UFO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GiAakNGuTk

mike65

A curious thing about Gerry Andersons productions was that the earlier Supermarionation ones sought lifelike puppets as much as possible and then when they went real actors they were made up to look like mannequins.

ejmaztec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC4frcXimz4

Doodah7

Just to mention that Amazon have the first series of Space 1999 on Blu-ray for £35. I purchased it recently and it is brilliant. The picture quality and the wealth of extras are superb. It also includes a 48-page booklet which gives a history of the production and even includes a technical explanation as to how they restored the images. It is evident that a lot of love and care went into this project.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Space-1999-Complete-First-Blu-ray/dp/B003XVGD68/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325859190&sr=8-1

Technocentral

tallpaul wrote: »

Just to mention that Amazon have the first series of Space 1999 on Blu-ray for £35. I purchased it recently and it is brilliant. The picture quality and the wealth of extras are superb. It also includes a 48-page booklet which gives a history of the production and even includes a technical explanation as to how they restored the images. It is evident that a lot of love and care went into this project.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Space-1999-Complete-First-Blu-ray/dp/B003XVGD68/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325859190&sr=8-1

I have the Network DVD boxset version of it since it came out in 2005, am mulling over whether to buy the blu ray one too.

Morlar

I remember it well and it was a classic. I remember some episodes were a lot scarier than Dr Who or anything else on tv for kids at that time. It was always a spooky version of space, not like the star trek happy lovey dovey friendly one. I remember that series being more sinister, angsty and spooky.

Doodah7

Technocentral wrote: »

I have the Network DVD boxset version of it since it came out in 2005, am mulling over whether to buy the blu ray one too.

Worth mentioning that the restorers took a policy decision to retain the original 4:3 aspect so as to ensure as faithful reproduction as possible. This results in black bars on either side of the picture on widescreen TV's. However I don't even notice this. Just a point as I don't know if this is the case with the DVD version.

Technocentral

tallpaul wrote: »

Worth mentioning that the restorers took a policy decision to retain the original 4:3 aspect so as to ensure as faithful reproduction as possible. This results in black bars on either side of the picture on widescreen TV's. However I don't even notice this. Just a point as I don't know if this is the case with the DVD version.

Yeah the DVD's are 4:3 too (as they should be)..

cregganna

Started watching this again on YouTube as I remember the series with great fondness from when I was young.

Just seen a Seat Leon advert on TV. Did the boy have an Eagle?

jenjenten

cregganna wrote: »

Started watching this again on YouTube as I remember the series with great fondness from when I was young.

Just seen a Seat Leon advert on TV. Did the boy have an Eagle?

It has the basic design of the Eagle...but obviously not an exact copy, looks more like if Lego did an Eagle...but its not made of Lego. Probably something made for the ad, but an obvious nod to the show