One of those legendary series from the childhood of anyone who grew up in the 1970's and 1980's.
It was a fantastic idea, and (in part, for its time) had amazing production values. The design of the famous Eagle vehicles was a milestone for TV sci-fi - they were designed to be utterly believable, and were modular in nature. I seem to recall that they had input from genuine aerospace experts to make sure the craft were something that would actually be practical and functional on the moon. Nothing fantastical, just rockets, RCS thrusters and modular pods that were carried in the middle for a variety of specific tasks. Everyone I knew had a toy one in the 70's, and they rocked!. Even today I would say that for me the Eagles are probably the coolest space vehicles of any sci-fi series, closely followed by the original Colonial Vipers.
Sadly, despite the cracking idea and awesome design, the series was let-down by truly awful ideas - the aliens were always rooted more in the fantastical than the sci-fi, were often "energy beings" (i.e cheap VFX), and the stories got more and more silly through its two seasons (Maya, for example, was a dumb character). Watching it now is a bit like watching old Battlestar Galactica after they added the stupid kid and robot dog thing, and wishing that the writers were more like those on the new series (of BSG). What could have been...
But, it still sits in the memory, despite its poor execution, as, when you were a kid, it was awesome!
Incidentally, although the actual TV series proper only ran from 1975 - 1977 - a very short run - the "final episode" you posted was called "Message From Moonbase Alpha", and was created in 1999 for a convention, almost like a fan-film. The set on which it was filmed, costume and props were actual originals that some guy happened to have lying around. At the time, it started rumors of a remake of the series, but this was not to be.
I reckon that the idea was strong enough that it actually would make a good "reboot" idea, like BSG, but I doubt that will ever happen. One can hope.
Writing this, I have realised that I know waaaay too much useless information.
1 comment:
Ahhh, good old Space:1999.
One of those legendary series from the childhood of anyone who grew up in the 1970's and 1980's.
It was a fantastic idea, and (in part, for its time) had amazing production values. The design of the famous Eagle vehicles was a milestone for TV sci-fi - they were designed to be utterly believable, and were modular in nature. I seem to recall that they had input from genuine aerospace experts to make sure the craft were something that would actually be practical and functional on the moon. Nothing fantastical, just rockets, RCS thrusters and modular pods that were carried in the middle for a variety of specific tasks. Everyone I knew had a toy one in the 70's, and they rocked!. Even today I would say that for me the Eagles are probably the coolest space vehicles of any sci-fi series, closely followed by the original Colonial Vipers.
Sadly, despite the cracking idea and awesome design, the series was let-down by truly awful ideas - the aliens were always rooted more in the fantastical than the sci-fi, were often "energy beings" (i.e cheap VFX), and the stories got more and more silly through its two seasons (Maya, for example, was a dumb character). Watching it now is a bit like watching old Battlestar Galactica after they added the stupid kid and robot dog thing, and wishing that the writers were more like those on the new series (of BSG). What could have been...
But, it still sits in the memory, despite its poor execution, as, when you were a kid, it was awesome!
Incidentally, although the actual TV series proper only ran from 1975 - 1977 - a very short run - the "final episode" you posted was called "Message From Moonbase Alpha", and was created in 1999 for a convention, almost like a fan-film. The set on which it was filmed, costume and props were actual originals that some guy happened to have lying around. At the time, it started rumors of a remake of the series, but this was not to be.
I reckon that the idea was strong enough that it actually would make a good "reboot" idea, like BSG, but I doubt that will ever happen. One can hope.
Writing this, I have realised that I know waaaay too much useless information.
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