Space: 1999 

The crew of Moonbase Alpha must struggle to survive when a massive explosion throws the Moon from orbit into deep space.

Stars:

Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Nick Tate

1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Martin Landau	...	Commander John Koenig 48 episodes, 1975-1977
Barbara Bain	...	Dr. Helena Russell 48 episodes, 1975-1977
Nick Tate	...	Alan Carter 42 episodes, 1975-1977
Zienia Merton	...	Sandra Benes 35 episodes, 1975-1977
Sarah Bullen	...	Operative Kate / ... 25 episodes, 1975-1977
Barry Morse	...	Prof. Victor Bergman 24 episodes, 1975-1976
Catherine Schell	...	Maya / ... 25 episodes, 1975-1977
Prentis Hancock	...	Paul Morrow 23 episodes, 1975-1976
Clifton Jones	...	David Kano 23 episodes, 1975-1976
Anton Phillips	...	Dr. Mathias / ... 23 episodes, 1975-1976
Tony Anholt	...	Tony Verdeschi 23 episodes, 1976-1977

Storyline

In 1999, Moonbase Alpha, nestled in the Lunar crater Plato, is a scientific research colony and watchdog over silos of atomic waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side. On September 13, 1999, magnetic energy builds to cause an explosive chain-reaction of the waste, blasting the Moon out of Earth orbit and off the plane of the ecliptic, out of the Solar System. The inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha are unable to return to Earth and must survive on their wandering Moon as it is displaced further into unknown space by freak space warps. Along the way, they are joined by an alien woman with the ability to change herself into any living creature at will.

---

Plot Keywords:

outer space | moon | year 1999 | moon base | atomic waste | 

---

Taglines:

An Adventure As Big As The Universe!

---

Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

---

Details

Official Sites:

Carlton Video Ltd

Country:

UK Italy

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 September 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cosmos 1999

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Group 3, Incorporated Television Company (ITC), RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min (48 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Special Effects Supervisor Brian Johnson was asked to helm the effects for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), but his involvement with this series took priority. He was subsequently involved with Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

---

Goofs

The Moon is shown to be traveling within the Lagrangian points of several planets during the series. Not only would this cause serious issues on those planets, it would likely destroy the Moon itself due to tidal gravity effects.

---

Quotes

Commander John Koenig: Now we're sitting on the biggest bomb man's ever made.

---

Crazy Credits

During the first season, excerpts for each week's episode were incorporated into the opening credits, which was something of a Gerry Anderson trademark.

---

Alternate Versions

In 1999, a special 7-minute film called "Message From Moonbase Alpha" was created for showing at a Space: 1999 convention held on Sept. 13, 1999 -- the day the moon was blasted out of earth orbit. Original series actress Zienia Merton appears as her character Sandra in this short, written by series writer Johnny Byrne. The film takes place 20 years after the time of the series, and has Sandra recording a final message as the crew of Moonbase Alpha prepares to abandon the moon once and for all.

---

Connections

Edited into Journey Through the Black Sun (1976)

User Reviews

A life-long fan

Very interesting to read many of the comments regarding the show. The best way to summarize is that either you "get" what Space: 1999 is all about or you don't.

Year One (Series One) was sci-fi fantasy of the highest order and was an incredible blend of mood, music, amazing sets, props and model work along with fantastic, even metaphysical/mystical stories that didn't merely take you there but actually PUT you in the action amongst the wonder and horror that the Alphans were facing. Admittedly, this is much heavier fare than what most tv viewers are looking for... simple, escapist, campy sci-fi this was definitely not. Year Two took that approach and while it had some successful moments (I'd say 1/2 of the 24 shows are fairly good, the other rather sub-par) it is pretty much a different and almost unrelated show and I leave that for others to comment on.

Up until that time, the only tv sci-fi/fantasy shows that had been so daring in their approach to tackle stories and situations that could be so dire for the characters involved were The Twilight Zone and the original Outer Limits. However, those shows involved a rotating set of stories with new actors and actresses. Thus, each episode presented a fresh set of characters and circumstances with a different set of problems and history to learn but without the psychological guilt and weight that resulted from the mistakes of previous episodes.

This of course made 1999 unique outside of perhaps MASH and All in the Family where viewers would continually recall tragedies or failures from previous episodes that would hang like a cloud over all future episodes giving the show itself a darker more pessimistic outlook. However, those shows relied on heavy doses of comedy to lighten the mood, something that 1999 rarely ever had.

Yes, Year One of 1999 is rather heavy viewing but in spite of this in 1975, as a 10 year old, I became an instant and life-long fan of the show while watching premiere of the first episode Breakaway. The 23 episodes that were to follow were a magnificent journey into the unknown that has never been replicated by any other tv show I have seen before or since. The show is certainly not perfect as one becomes quickly familiar with many faux-paus such as certain sets not corresponding with the model work but the show has aged remarkably well and the dvd's, with their generally excellent picture quality, reveal a quality of production nearing that of full-feature movies.

And complaints about poor science don't diminish its impact. I've always taken the mind-set approach of imagine if this could happen... the kind of leap of faith that we do with accepting all the abilities of Superman. Thus, if the moon was blasted from earth orbit and transported into another part of our universe where our known laws of science and physics don't always apply then these are the stories of what could happen to these men and women of Alpha and that we don't always learn the answer of what really happened or why.

I find this a better, even more realistic approach than that of so many Trek episodes where they technobabble the viewer to death every episode coming up with unbelievable solutions to every problem under the sun in a matter of hours every episode. Even in today's world we often don't know exactly what happened such as the exact reason why the latest shuttle burned up in re-entry... we have a good idea but will likely never know the complete answer.

Thus, for me Year One is like having 24 mini-movies and when one looks past its flaws you see a show that was unbelievably brave in its presentation. I find the acting to be reserved but quite intense at the same time... definitely not wooden. Also, the show abounds in caring character moments but they are very subtle such as a touch of the arm or holding of a hand, slap on the back or a subtle glance and smile. And significantly, it showed some of the most shocking scenes of any tv show in history such as the trapped Commissioner at the end of Earthbound, the laser-fried Alphan in Force of Life, the unfortunate scientist who lost his immortality in Death's Other Dominion or the life-sucking tentacle monster in Dragon's Domain.

Nearly every episode has an "always remember that" moment and that ultimately is the legacy of Space: 1999. It was incredibly memorable and set new standards for what could be achieved and if many deem that that it failed at least it had the guts to try.

On that note I say to the uninitiated "GIVE THE SHOW A TRY!" If you approach it with an open mind and enjoy it for what it is instead of what it isn't you'll probably be pleasantly surprised. Often there is a great deal more going on under the surface that you don't always pick up on until repeated viewings and the show really starts to hit its stride after the first ten episodes or so.

Some of my favourites are: Dragon's Domain Voyager's Return The Testament of Arkadia Black Sun Earthbound Mission of the Darians Another Time, Another Place Breakaway The Last Sunset End of Eternity War Games The Troubled Spirit The Infernal Machine