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Discussion about Space:1999.
What's your worst episode?
This very one show you cannot bear
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| F-9000 12 Jan 2003 14:28:50 |
 Hi Yankee boys!Here's the french Alphan. I wanted to know... According to you, what's the worst Space 1999 episode? Try to explain why. Personnaly I think "Ring around the moon" is the most boring year One story : the action is flat although the plot is interesting. Aliens may have observed us some thousand years ago when we were under-developed. They also have made pyramids, as you know. In Year Two, "Space Warp" is horrible with ridiculous monsters everywhere! Is Moonbase Alpha a zoo? I cannot bear "One Moment of Humanity" because the aliens humiliate Tony and Helena at lunch  and I laugh at "The Taybor" who possesses a trading card written IN ENGLISH! Almost each new character is a LIAR (Cantar, Zova, Brian,Dorzak, Taybor, Magus, Malik cannot be as honnest and peaceful as Wise Zantor).F-9000 PS : if you are from France, Belgium, Switzerland, Quebec or Congo please go to the French Forum. My other questions are waiting for you.  |
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| Dave99 12 Jan 2003 16:16:46 |
I used to think "Ring Around the Moon" was one of the worst, but after recently watching it on DVD Iwas surprised to find that I actually liked it. To be sure, the story for this episode is nonexistent. But somehow the combination of interesting sound effects, the trippy score, and the somber, meditative "weirdness" combine into something strangeley entertaining. I especially liked the sound effects. For me, the worst epsiode of Season One was "Force of Life," which is kind of a mad slasher movie told in science fiction terms. I never watched this episode when it was shown in re-runs in the 70s. The worst episode of Season Two was "All That Glisters," a boring and ridiculous show. However, there are a number of unintentional laughs in the episode that make it sort of a fun comedy. Catherine Schell has pointed out that the cast couldn't stop laughing while making this one, and you can actually see in a few scenes that they are painfully straining not to laugh! |
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| F-9000 12 Jan 2003 16:35:36 |
Hello Dave 99! Thanks for your opinion. Yes, "Ring" first looks boring but, after all, it produces some charm. Helena is prisonner from lemon blobs (which are cousins are Bringers of Wonder) and the Egyptian Civilization is mentioned by the strange voice.  Why do you reject "Force of Life"?  Many Alphans love this episode because you can see Tanya Alexander and her friend in grey bikini in the solarium. Aren'thet lovely creatures? Then poor Eva is charming too even though she is sad for her husband. When Anton Zoref mutes into a monster, he's much more frightening than Year Two creatures and then, the nuclear reactor sequence was even censured in Germany! If you remember "Missing Link", you know ther are other frightening creatures in Koenig's nightmare!Personnaly, I think bubbling "Space brain" very comic and the plot with Mr Kelly's wife is too similar with Force of Life : Eva and Melita both get widows when ending. Strange, isn'it. However, I remember Mateo dies in "Trouble Spirit" thus his wife is also alone! When you watch Season Two, you really wonder why the Andersons employed Freiberger! The most episodes are catastrophically disappointing! The blobs of wonder are not credible : how can I fear them? On the other hand, Maya's transformations are fun and unbelivable : it's bad work!  Read you later F-9000 |
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| moonbasealpha_s1 12 Jan 2003 16:45:07 |
Although season 1 is far superior to season 2, I can acknowledge it is not a perfect world and there is good and bad. For season 1, the worst is Full Circle, hands down. Such a mess of an episode...Turn into cavemen? Literally? Comlocks, sensors and lasers turn to rocks and spears? A psychological change to cavemen rather than physcial would have been better...not to mention re writing the script to edit out some of the worst dialogue of the season. The absolute, positively worst bottom dweller Space:1999 ep comes, naturally, from year 2. Actually, it is so very tough to pick 1. How about a bottom 5... #5. Space Warp #4. The Rules of Luton #3. The Beta Cloud #2. Brian the Brain and the all time worst...<drum roll> #1. The Taybor The absolute, worst humilation of the "Land of the Lost/Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" genre Space:1999 spin off year....When my 6 year old watched it, he lasted less than 5 minutes, said "this is stupid" and left the room. Same thing with Brian the Brain....As far as the Beta Cloud, he thought it was OK. Perhaps that was the target audience for that ep? Personally, the only thing that saves The Beta Cloud from being a bottom dweller is the same reason that Devil's Planet is not a bottom dweller for a lot of guys. Devil's Planet has the chicks in the red catsuits wielding whips...Beta Cloud has Alan Carter running around half naked in his Alpha PJ. Forget the Tony/Maya high school goo thing...if you want sex, you only have to check out Carter in medical center..  |
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| F-9000 12 Jan 2003 17:03:19 |
 What? Yankees thin diffrently than us.Why do you all hate Brian the Brain (Le Cerveau-Ordinator in French version)??? Ok, it appears to be a kiddy-show however the original concept was not bad. Brian doesn't look more childish than Companion in the "Infernal Machine". He's a robot, Maya's transformations are a kind mouse and Captain mickael's zombie but what I only dislike is the Love Test (totally ridiculous). Brian's background stays mysterious : nobody knew there was a secret mission in 1996 and what really happened near the Planet D. Did you notice the pre-1999 crews of Brian or the Lambda factor never wear Year one uniforms? As you speak of "The full circle", if I don't reject this woody episode, well i wonder where to the mammoths tusks come from in the cave? Who draw the animal pictures on the walls? Which creature belong the giant print on the ground if there's no animal form of life on retha (according to the sensors)? How do the cavemen feed? |
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| Cindy 12 Jan 2003 18:04:04 |
For me, the worst episode is devil's planet. I don't like the story and there only Koenig in this episode. | ||
| Cindy 12 Jan 2003 18:17:55 |
F-9000 Tu pose une question aux francophones mais je ne retrouve ta rubrique "a new french fan" du coup risque d'tre problmatique pour le th. |
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| Validus 12 Jan 2003 18:38:50 |
No contest- Brian the Brain, totally brainless. Not one redeeming quality can be found in this annoying and insulting episode. I just can't get past that damned annoying voice, or a robot that resembles nothing so much as a hybrid dish washer and pinball machine. Not to mention a sentient machine that drags around it's antenna like the cord from my blow-dryer. Fans often attack Ring around the Moon, and that is certainly understandable. However I've always felt that the failings of this episode rest mainly with bad special F/X. A bit more money and a slight re-working of the script would've more then salvaged the episode. I find The rules of Luton bad really for only two reasons. First, it is hopelessly dirivitive of the Star Trek episode in which Kirk fights hand to hand with the lizard-like Gorn. Second, "Luton" is actually a town in England, noted mainly for it's crummy airport. |
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| Flamegrape 12 Jan 2003 23:36:26 |
The AB Chrysalis Oh, Martin. Martin, Martin, Martin! |
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| moonbasealpha_s1 13 Jan 2003 00:14:18 |
AB Crysallis, Flamegrape? Wow..interesting....that's the first time I've heard it is someone's bottom dweller. Besides the insufferable bouncing balls, care to elaborate why you think it sucks? | ||
| Dave99 13 Jan 2003 00:52:31 |
F-9000-- I really can't agree with what you call "The Blobs of Wonder."  I thought they were a very creative design and the first truly alien "aliens" that I had ever seen on TV! (Of course, I was only 11 at the time.)Validus and moonbasealpha_s1: A lot of people seem to dislike "Brian the Brain" and "The Taybor" because they were so silly. Well, I happen to think most of Year 2 was silly even when it was trying to be serious--especially when it was trying to be serious --and so I actually enjoyed the episodes where they had a little fun with the format. As a kid, "Brian the Brain" was one of my favorite episodes and my wife and I both enjoyed watching it on DVD recently. |
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| RBAdams 13 Jan 2003 01:34:00 |
Oh, wow -- the worst really is "Brian the Brain." I felt like gouging out my eyes and ears while watching it. The only highlight is the creepy atmosphere on the planet where Brian killed its crew. Otherwise it's a total waste of film. Even "The Rules of Luton" works in comparison . . . probably because it's based on "Arena," the famous Fredric Brown short story that also inspired the Star Trek episode of the same name. Still, I can't watch "The Rules of Luton" without thinking of Monty Python. "Number two . . . the larch!" |
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| Validus 13 Jan 2003 04:56:16 |
Without wishing to mire this thread in negativity, I would point out that Space:1999 has a fairly small number of episodes regarding "what I don't like". By contrast, I cannot think of a single episode of Lost in Space, Battlestar Galactica, or even Deep Space 9 that held any redeeming value for me. | ||
| Skarro 13 Jan 2003 05:45:48 |
LOL! Yes, that's exactly what I thought when I saw that episode. It's hard to pick my worst ever episode, although "All that Glisters" from Year 2 and "Ring Around the Moon" from Year 1 are probably my least favourites. "Rules of Luton" would be a big contender, but I always like location filming, so the atmosphere sort-of saves it for me. And what's with this hate-on for "Brian the Brain"? It may be silly in parts, but it's not *that* bad ? And the Taybor is meant to be this silly used-car salesman character, so that episode naturally get played a bit for laughs... personally, I rather enjoyed it! What about "Missing Link"? I never really liked that episode, despite the addition of the marvelous Peter Cushing as guest star. It was all just a bit too surreal and "out there" to make any real sense. Hmmm... maybe I just don't like Edward Di Lorenzo's stories. However, I *do* love that opening shot of the crashed Eagle on the moon with the "purple eye" planet of Zenno hanging over it... wonderful artistry and picture framing there. OK, I'll bring my rambling post to an end now... thanks for reading! |
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| Space1999! 13 Jan 2003 14:22:43 |
Year One has a handful of weak episodes but overall it shines like a beacon for quality, originality and enjoyment! It is definitely Year Two that wins the title for WORST. About ten compete strongly for the title but a few stand out above the rest: All that Glisters - goofy title, goofy fake Irish Texan and goofy story base (i.e the planet is dry yet the clouds apparently are saturated with water) Overall rather mediocre and comedic  but not the worst Brian the Brain (less) - oh how I despise that annoying little dryer on wheels. I imagine that the episode is better in French because they probably dubbed Brian with a less irritating voice Rules of Luton - the talking "tree amigos" would look great with big mustaches and sombreros. This one is beyond belief with ludicrous ideas such as the fact that the trees can make the whole planet disappear including any evidence of its gravitational pull. Terrible stuff outside of the John and Maya conversation. The Taybor (ed) - Silly and mind-numbing (and what's with the star charts of the universe that the Alphans now magically possess?) And the winner for worst of the worst is..... The Mark of Archanon with its 5 cent tinfoil asteroids and Welcome Back Kotter routine with that idiot Alphan running around yelling "Mr. Karterrrrrr" "Mr. Karterrrrrr" It makes me a bit sad watching some of these episodes as they are so bad that they are unintentionally very funny but I really don't want to laugh at my favourite show so I won't be watching these anymore. |
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| Flamegrape 13 Jan 2003 15:13:46 |
I was watching AB Chrysalis sometime last year and I realised that this was a perfect example of the kind thing that made season 2 so bad. What kind of saftey maneuver is ducking under a desk and covering your ears? But season 2 is still my favorite. But I think the entire show could have been written much better. |
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| JackTheFool 13 Jan 2003 16:33:17 |
Catacombs of the Moon is boring, and to me, unwatchable. The Full Circle is pretty bad also. Jack The Fool |
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| F-9000 14 Jan 2003 10:26:24 |
Jack, youren't only fool but wrong! I have a very good feeling of the "Full Circle". Indeed it's the only one Fist Season episode with exterior sets! Retha is a magnificent earth-planet like. Alan says forests look bresilian but the myst makes a Scotish atmosphere of horror films. On the one hand, you can see the moonbuggy really rolling!On the other hand, every one remembers Kano's phrase : " I hate back seat drivers!" The scenes with cavemen are more comic than awful! And you can notice some laughing mistakes and observations : -Although sandra was captured inside her eagle, Kano and victor don't fear sleeping outside by night! -Why does Bergman take back Koenig to the moonbase? He could heal the commander here on retha. The old man says "He's half-dead" when he recognizes Koenig's bleeding face. But when the commander awakes in Emergency room, his health is excellent! -Same remark for "Another death Dominion" : why don't Koenig, Helena and Alan wear moon scaphandres instead of snowcoats? They knew the temperature was freezy so what? Their clothes are very hilarious because they seem to fear snowing on the moon! F-9000 |
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| moonbasealpha_s1 14 Jan 2003 13:14:07 |
Flamegrape and ABC... AH HAHAHAHAHA...you're right about the safety thing..that is pretty stupid. One of the scenes I can't stand is when Carter is pulled out of the chlorine gas and he wakes up with a few little coughs. Chlorine gas is extremely deadly and he really should have been dead...or end up on a respirator for the rest of his life... Other than that, though, I thought the episode was OK for y2. It did not have Verdeschi at all, which made it watchable, and Maya was much better...more like the science officer she was suppose to be. Perhaps she was more professional because Tony wasn't around...the philosophical ending "hope is better than despair, creation is better than destruction", though simple mided, did have reminders of what had been in y1. |
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| Cindy 14 Jan 2003 23:02:17 |
I agree with Dave99: I like "Brian the brain". I think it's funny. And perhaps, it's better in french ("Marcel la cervelle"). Anyway, the only episode I hate is "devil's planet". |
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