Loved the show as a kid. I like S1 way better than S2.
BTW if anyone else used to watch the show, Barry Morse has died, he used to play the professer.
http://www.barrymorse.com/
Full Version: Space 1999
This was my show, much more so than BSG:TOS, and I have to admit, I couldn't watch it now unless it was with the volume off.
While they could certainly remake the show, after a sense, the actual plot would be even more ludicrous than RDM's BSG. It was never particularly realistic to begin with, and sadly, very little of the actual series had much to do with the actual premise.
There's probably nothing wrong with cheesy science fiction that employs it's familiar tropes as a kind of a backdrop to telling stories, but even still. What were the characters even about? You had an administrator, a doctor, a 'scientist' (assuming that one is still willing to consider the role synonymous with 'wizard'), a pilot and a really hot chick that turned into various BEMs.
If you wanted to re-do the story, you'd pretty much have to reverse the plot. Rather than having a nuclear explosion blast the moon out of orbit, you'd have everybody on Earth nuke themselves, and leave Moonbase Alpha to try and survive on it's own when it's chief source of supplies had become uninhabitable. You wouldn't have a lot of saucer men showing up to visit, but you would have a fairly decent story about the struggle to survive in a fairly hopeless circumstance, even though in all likelihood the end product would be for everyone to die off in the end.
While they could certainly remake the show, after a sense, the actual plot would be even more ludicrous than RDM's BSG. It was never particularly realistic to begin with, and sadly, very little of the actual series had much to do with the actual premise.
There's probably nothing wrong with cheesy science fiction that employs it's familiar tropes as a kind of a backdrop to telling stories, but even still. What were the characters even about? You had an administrator, a doctor, a 'scientist' (assuming that one is still willing to consider the role synonymous with 'wizard'), a pilot and a really hot chick that turned into various BEMs.
If you wanted to re-do the story, you'd pretty much have to reverse the plot. Rather than having a nuclear explosion blast the moon out of orbit, you'd have everybody on Earth nuke themselves, and leave Moonbase Alpha to try and survive on it's own when it's chief source of supplies had become uninhabitable. You wouldn't have a lot of saucer men showing up to visit, but you would have a fairly decent story about the struggle to survive in a fairly hopeless circumstance, even though in all likelihood the end product would be for everyone to die off in the end.
Maya the shape-changer was my godess when I was a kid. I so wanted to be like her!!!!
QUOTE(Max Bell @ Mar 6 2008, 06:39 PM) 
This was my show, much more so than BSG:TOS, and I have to admit, I couldn't watch it now unless it was with the volume off.
While they could certainly remake the show, after a sense, the actual plot would be even more ludicrous than RDM's BSG. It was never particularly realistic to begin with, and sadly, very little of the actual series had much to do with the actual premise.
There's probably nothing wrong with cheesy science fiction that employs it's familiar tropes as a kind of a backdrop to telling stories, but even still. What were the characters even about? You had an administrator, a doctor, a 'scientist' (assuming that one is still willing to consider the role synonymous with 'wizard'), a pilot and a really hot chick that turned into various BEMs.
If you wanted to re-do the story, you'd pretty much have to reverse the plot. Rather than having a nuclear explosion blast the moon out of orbit, you'd have everybody on Earth nuke themselves, and leave Moonbase Alpha to try and survive on it's own when it's chief source of supplies had become uninhabitable. You wouldn't have a lot of saucer men showing up to visit, but you would have a fairly decent story about the struggle to survive in a fairly hopeless circumstance, even though in all likelihood the end product would be for everyone to die off in the end.
While they could certainly remake the show, after a sense, the actual plot would be even more ludicrous than RDM's BSG. It was never particularly realistic to begin with, and sadly, very little of the actual series had much to do with the actual premise.
There's probably nothing wrong with cheesy science fiction that employs it's familiar tropes as a kind of a backdrop to telling stories, but even still. What were the characters even about? You had an administrator, a doctor, a 'scientist' (assuming that one is still willing to consider the role synonymous with 'wizard'), a pilot and a really hot chick that turned into various BEMs.
If you wanted to re-do the story, you'd pretty much have to reverse the plot. Rather than having a nuclear explosion blast the moon out of orbit, you'd have everybody on Earth nuke themselves, and leave Moonbase Alpha to try and survive on it's own when it's chief source of supplies had become uninhabitable. You wouldn't have a lot of saucer men showing up to visit, but you would have a fairly decent story about the struggle to survive in a fairly hopeless circumstance, even though in all likelihood the end product would be for everyone to die off in the end.
Too true Max. After all the moon did not get blasted into space at the speed of light, and even say it had, it would still take them many of years just to get to another solar system. They seemed to see an alien race with every ep.
Oh and yeah the music was...was...Disco.
Still as a kid, I loved it.
QUOTE(thesteeler @ Mar 8 2008, 12:17 PM)
Too true Max. After all the moon did not get blasted into space at the speed of light, and even say it had, it would still take them many of years just to get to another solar system. They seemed to see an alien race with every ep.
Oh and yeah the music was...was...Disco.
Still as a kid, I loved it.
Oh and yeah the music was...was...Disco.
Still as a kid, I loved it.
Disco? Hmm. With all the guarro, castinettes, sax and bass riffs (think about every time Tony squared off with someone for a fist fight), I'd have to give it credit for at least having a lot of funk influence. Quibbling? Not really. Think about disco and you're going to get a sound that's very high on the top-end, whereas funk (think Parliment) was very bass-heavy. Not much a distinction for most people (funk was slightly earlier) but they overlapped and had thier heyday in the same basic era. You also had some stuff that I still like (Chicago, Steely Dan, Steeler's Wheel) that was either straight jazz-fusion or funk-influenced jazz fusion.
It's the difference between Robin Gibb's intolerable falsetto and Bootsy Collins, however.
And it remains -- you're just not going to GET a big enough explosion to knock the moon out of orbit -- a detonation of sufficient capacity would actually be more likely to shatter it into fragments. And even if it did? Assuming it wasn't blown back into OUR gravity well, it's not going to get out of our solar system without either being drawn into another orbit or, more likely, simply crashing into a new planet.
Still. Zoic needs to put a couple of these in the RTF somewhere before the series is over.
Don't care what anybody says. Those still look like they ought to work.
Eagles rule dude!!!
Very nice looking ships!
Very nice looking ships!
Just rewatched about a year ago. Visually still prettiest TV show ever held up superbly!!!!! Story is horrendous though. I agree with Max about a remake, as a little kid my show was Lost in Space when I was an older kid it was Space:1999 .
QUOTE(Max Bell @ Mar 8 2008, 02:47 PM)
Disco? Hmm. With all the guarro, castinettes, sax and bass riffs (think about every time Tony squared off with someone for a fist fight), I'd have to give it credit for at least having a lot of funk influence. Quibbling? Not really. Think about disco and you're going to get a sound that's very high on the top-end, whereas funk (think Parliment) was very bass-heavy. Not much a distinction for most people (funk was slightly earlier) but they overlapped and had thier heyday in the same basic era. You also had some stuff that I still like (Chicago, Steely Dan, Steeler's Wheel) that was either straight jazz-fusion or funk-influenced jazz fusion.
It's the difference between Robin Gibb's intolerable falsetto and Bootsy Collins, however.
And it remains -- you're just not going to GET a big enough explosion to knock the moon out of orbit -- a detonation of sufficient capacity would actually be more likely to shatter it into fragments. And even if it did? Assuming it wasn't blown back into OUR gravity well, it's not going to get out of our solar system without either being drawn into another orbit or, more likely, simply crashing into a new planet.
Still. Zoic needs to put a couple of these in the RTF somewhere before the series is over.
Don't care what anybody says. Those still look like they ought to work.
It's the difference between Robin Gibb's intolerable falsetto and Bootsy Collins, however.
And it remains -- you're just not going to GET a big enough explosion to knock the moon out of orbit -- a detonation of sufficient capacity would actually be more likely to shatter it into fragments. And even if it did? Assuming it wasn't blown back into OUR gravity well, it's not going to get out of our solar system without either being drawn into another orbit or, more likely, simply crashing into a new planet.
Still. Zoic needs to put a couple of these in the RTF somewhere before the series is over.
Don't care what anybody says. Those still look like they ought to work.
I never was a Space 1999 fan. But, I will say, that whoever did their ship designs knew their stuff. The modular crew cabs was a detail touch I always appreciated. The plots and premise, well...
I don't think, in all, that I'd be able to recall a singl -- no, wait, I CAN remember a single plot. But that's it.
Telling, though.
Telling, though.
QUOTE(Aeri1 @ Mar 8 2008, 04:12 PM)
Maya the shape-changer was my godess when I was a kid. I so wanted to be like her!!!!
Hell, I wanted her to be the one to put me through puberty!
-Raycheetah =^[.]~=
While I had heard of it in my teenage years, I'd never seen this show while growing up. Now, I want to say something very complementary about this show, but I want to make sure I frame this in the proper context.
As someone who's been a fan of ST:TOS, BSG:TOS, Dr. Who:TOS, ST:TNG, Babylon 5, BSG:TNS and Dr. Who:TNS, when I finally saw Space: 1999 for the first time somewhere in about 2005-6, I was extremely impressed with the show's models, sets, props and costumes. Considering this show came out around the time of the A-budget feature movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, I'd say it compares rather well to that. And to think that it was just a t.v. show...
Do the story lines and effects look cheesy and dated by today's standards? Sure they do; but then, I challenge anyone to find me a show of that vintage -- or heck, even 15 years newer -- which isn't almost as cheesy, or nearly as dated.
Looking at this from the vantage point of a writer -- and a writer who is utterly committed to accuracy and credible believability -- the number of kinds of things which would need to be updated for this show to work today is actually not all that particularly great. In fact, I think they can be summed up in five points:
If someone could create a show that basically obeyed the best-practices spirit of those points, I'd at least give it a chance.
As someone who's been a fan of ST:TOS, BSG:TOS, Dr. Who:TOS, ST:TNG, Babylon 5, BSG:TNS and Dr. Who:TNS, when I finally saw Space: 1999 for the first time somewhere in about 2005-6, I was extremely impressed with the show's models, sets, props and costumes. Considering this show came out around the time of the A-budget feature movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, I'd say it compares rather well to that. And to think that it was just a t.v. show...
Do the story lines and effects look cheesy and dated by today's standards? Sure they do; but then, I challenge anyone to find me a show of that vintage -- or heck, even 15 years newer -- which isn't almost as cheesy, or nearly as dated.
Looking at this from the vantage point of a writer -- and a writer who is utterly committed to accuracy and credible believability -- the number of kinds of things which would need to be updated for this show to work today is actually not all that particularly great. In fact, I think they can be summed up in five points:
- Certainly, the era of this show would need to be pushed substantially forward; to say they were being optimistic about mankind's space-borne abilities in the year 1999 is to be rather charitable;
- We're no longer a American Capitalist Democracy vs. Soviet Communist Dictatorship kind of world, so that element would need to go (but, to be fair, this was filmed during the height of the cold war, so...)
- A decision would need to be made as to if it should still be the moon (with horrendous, catastrophic consequences likely for the Earth and it's population) or instead on either a moon of an otherwise uninhabited planet in this system or a sufficiently large enough in-system asteroid.
- Some sort of plausible plot device would have to be utilized to explain the rate of travel of this object, which for story purposes would have to be fast enough to encounter other solar systems. No explosion, no matter how powerful, could possibly push the moon faster than the speed of light, which means it would still take anything from 50 to thousands of years for this base to travel anywhere.
- And lastly, should the show be episodic or a saga?
If someone could create a show that basically obeyed the best-practices spirit of those points, I'd at least give it a chance.
QUOTE(MikeTheC @ May 5 2008, 10:28 PM)
While I had heard of it in my teenage years, I'd never seen this show while growing up. Now, I want to say something very complementary about this show, but I want to make sure I frame this in the proper context.
As someone who's been a fan of ST:TOS, BSG:TOS, Dr. Who:TOS, ST:TNG, Babylon 5, BSG:TNS and Dr. Who:TNS, when I finally saw Space: 1999 for the first time somewhere in about 2005-6, I was extremely impressed with the show's models, sets, props and costumes. Considering this show came out around the time of the A-budget feature movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, I'd say it compares rather well to that. And to think that it was just a t.v. show...
Do the story lines and effects look cheesy and dated by today's standards? Sure they do; but then, I challenge anyone to find me a show of that vintage -- or heck, even 15 years newer -- which isn't almost as cheesy, or nearly as dated.
Looking at this from the vantage point of a writer -- and a writer who is utterly committed to accuracy and credible believability -- the number of kinds of things which would need to be updated for this show to work today is actually not all that particularly great. In fact, I think they can be summed up in five points:
As someone who's been a fan of ST:TOS, BSG:TOS, Dr. Who:TOS, ST:TNG, Babylon 5, BSG:TNS and Dr. Who:TNS, when I finally saw Space: 1999 for the first time somewhere in about 2005-6, I was extremely impressed with the show's models, sets, props and costumes. Considering this show came out around the time of the A-budget feature movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, I'd say it compares rather well to that. And to think that it was just a t.v. show...
Do the story lines and effects look cheesy and dated by today's standards? Sure they do; but then, I challenge anyone to find me a show of that vintage -- or heck, even 15 years newer -- which isn't almost as cheesy, or nearly as dated.
Looking at this from the vantage point of a writer -- and a writer who is utterly committed to accuracy and credible believability -- the number of kinds of things which would need to be updated for this show to work today is actually not all that particularly great. In fact, I think they can be summed up in five points:
- Certainly, the era of this show would need to be pushed substantially forward; to say they were being optimistic about mankind's space-borne abilities in the year 1999 is to be rather charitable;
- We're no longer a American Capitalist Democracy vs. Soviet Communist Dictatorship kind of world, so that element would need to go (but, to be fair, this was filmed during the height of the cold war, so...)
- A decision would need to be made as to if it should still be the moon (with horrendous, catastrophic consequences likely for the Earth and it's population) or instead on either a moon of an otherwise uninhabited planet in this system or a sufficiently large enough in-system asteroid.
- Some sort of plausible plot device would have to be utilized to explain the rate of travel of this object, which for story purposes would have to be fast enough to encounter other solar systems. No explosion, no matter how powerful, could possibly push the moon faster than the speed of light, which means it would still take anything from 50 to thousands of years for this base to travel anywhere.
- And lastly, should the show be episodic or a saga?
Assuming anybody wanted to give this a try... First, a title change... "Space: 2099," perhaps?
The politics of the time period would only be important if there was a sufficiently large pool of characters to make it meaningful as anything but background. In the scenario I'm about to posit, that might make for some interesting issues...
It might be Earth's moon, or a moon of an outer planet, or even an asteroid. Borrowing from David Weber, the planetoid/asteroid/whatever in question would actually be a sizable alien artifact, a relic of a vastly superior intelligence. Competing interests, either military, governmental, corporate, or some combination, would be exploring and attempting to take control of the "moon" for whatever purpose (perhaps due to the detection of large concentrations of strategically-important minerals); in the midst of tensions between the factions, the true nature of the object would be discovered. Then, when everybody scrambles to seize this massive alien artifact, the ensuing struggle triggers an uncontrolled jump to wherever.
As a result, all parties must set aside their differences, pooling their resources to figure out this (possibly damaged or malfunctioning) vehicle, as well as how to survive without the support of their respective governments and corporations.
You get the same effect as the original series, uncontrolled transport of an isolated population, with a much more plausible reason, along with a much better explanation for the "alien of the week" effect. Depending on how the backstory handles it, our brave castaways might be trapped aboard the equivalent of an automated tram system, which just happens to run between the stars. Its antiquity could explain why so many of those stops are no longer viable, perhaps as the result of a galactic collapse of some sort. In fact, the "moon" could even pick up occasional refugees who see it as a way off otherwise barely-tolerable worlds, adding to the pool of characters. I wouldn't mind seeing a sexy female metamorph join the crew =^[.]~=.
Episodic or saga? Take your pick. As a one-way trip into the unknown, either could work.
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
Space 1999 was a good scifi series, not brilliant but good, as a side note I had a couple of die cast Eagle Transports (made by dinky) with the detachable middle sections with the crane, cargo pod and passanger pod. I wish I had kept them and in good condition because they are worth quite a bit now. Same with my Thunderbird's die cast models that I had
QUOTE(Raycheetah @ May 5 2008, 11:00 PM)
Assuming anybody wanted to give this a try... First, a title change... "Space: 2099," perhaps?
The politics of the time period would only be important if there was a sufficiently large pool of characters to make it meaningful as anything but background. In the scenario I'm about to posit, that might make for some interesting issues...
It might be Earth's moon, or a moon of an outer planet, or even an asteroid. Borrowing from David Weber, the planetoid/asteroid/whatever in question would actually be a sizable alien artifact, a relic of a vastly superior intelligence. Competing interests, either military, governmental, corporate, or some combination, would be exploring and attempting to take control of the "moon" for whatever purpose (perhaps due to the detection of large concentrations of strategically-important minerals); in the midst of tensions between the factions, the true nature of the object would be discovered. Then, when everybody scrambles to seize this massive alien artifact, the ensuing struggle triggers an uncontrolled jump to wherever.
As a result, all parties must set aside their differences, pooling their resources to figure out this (possibly damaged or malfunctioning) vehicle, as well as how to survive without the support of their respective governments and corporations.
You get the same effect as the original series, uncontrolled transport of an isolated population, with a much more plausible reason, along with a much better explanation for the "alien of the week" effect. Depending on how the backstory handles it, our brave castaways might be trapped aboard the equivalent of an automated tram system, which just happens to run between the stars. Its antiquity could explain why so many of those stops are no longer viable, perhaps as the result of a galactic collapse of some sort. In fact, the "moon" could even pick up occasional refugees who see it as a way off otherwise barely-tolerable worlds, adding to the pool of characters. I wouldn't mind seeing a sexy female metamorph join the crew =^[.]~=.
Episodic or saga? Take your pick. As a one-way trip into the unknown, either could work.
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
The politics of the time period would only be important if there was a sufficiently large pool of characters to make it meaningful as anything but background. In the scenario I'm about to posit, that might make for some interesting issues...
It might be Earth's moon, or a moon of an outer planet, or even an asteroid. Borrowing from David Weber, the planetoid/asteroid/whatever in question would actually be a sizable alien artifact, a relic of a vastly superior intelligence. Competing interests, either military, governmental, corporate, or some combination, would be exploring and attempting to take control of the "moon" for whatever purpose (perhaps due to the detection of large concentrations of strategically-important minerals); in the midst of tensions between the factions, the true nature of the object would be discovered. Then, when everybody scrambles to seize this massive alien artifact, the ensuing struggle triggers an uncontrolled jump to wherever.
As a result, all parties must set aside their differences, pooling their resources to figure out this (possibly damaged or malfunctioning) vehicle, as well as how to survive without the support of their respective governments and corporations.
You get the same effect as the original series, uncontrolled transport of an isolated population, with a much more plausible reason, along with a much better explanation for the "alien of the week" effect. Depending on how the backstory handles it, our brave castaways might be trapped aboard the equivalent of an automated tram system, which just happens to run between the stars. Its antiquity could explain why so many of those stops are no longer viable, perhaps as the result of a galactic collapse of some sort. In fact, the "moon" could even pick up occasional refugees who see it as a way off otherwise barely-tolerable worlds, adding to the pool of characters. I wouldn't mind seeing a sexy female metamorph join the crew =^[.]~=.
Episodic or saga? Take your pick. As a one-way trip into the unknown, either could work.
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
Sort of like Yonada, revisited. (Ok, ok... I was just kidding...)
Actually, Ray, I'm glad you brought those points forward for discussion. Your suggestion is quite logical and plausable, and sounds like something I might enjoy watching.
Thanks, Mike! I'm a big fan of logic and continuity (which is why I won't ever be lauded as the genius RDM is =^[.]~=); I like to find consistent reasons for things to be the way they are.
But, wouldn't it be sweet to see Moonbase Alpha and the Eagle transports in action, again? I could come up with a dozen plots, right off the bat, which would tend to favor the serial approach, especially since that would allow for longer stops (more eps) at each destination.
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
But, wouldn't it be sweet to see Moonbase Alpha and the Eagle transports in action, again? I could come up with a dozen plots, right off the bat, which would tend to favor the serial approach, especially since that would allow for longer stops (more eps) at each destination.
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
I suppose it depends who has the rights to the show and weather they would be interested in doing a remake or not. I think the rights are still held by Gerry Anderson
Oh, I imagine that whoever holds the rights would be delighted to make a whole bunch of fresh money off the license, if the opportunity arose. The sad thing is, we'll likely never see it done, and, if we do, it'll probably be a Skiffy'ized re-imagining that totally sucks moon rocks.
-Raycheetah ='[.]'=
-Raycheetah ='[.]'=
Suckes Moon Rocks!!!HA!!!!!!!!!
GromphaaaaaaaaaaaHHHHHHHH!!!
It does sound like a good idea. And that is no doubt why it won't be done.
Like Firefly-- great premise, great actors, great effects FABULOUS scripts... so that leaves it out.
More likely, they'll dust it off in a few years, revamp it so it's great, then cancel it in 4 weeks.
GromphaaaaaaaaaaaHHHHHHHH!!!
It does sound like a good idea. And that is no doubt why it won't be done.
Like Firefly-- great premise, great actors, great effects FABULOUS scripts... so that leaves it out.
More likely, they'll dust it off in a few years, revamp it so it's great, then cancel it in 4 weeks.
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