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The Catacombs

Discussion about The Catacombs.

Nick Tate interview et al

Bits and quotes

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Author Post
Martin
12 Dec 2004 20:19:04		 When I uploaded the Into Infinity pics a couple of weeks ago I lost the internet connection and had to restart- turns out I missed out a whole bunch of pics, which I've now uploaded.

Now... here's a few interesting quotes from the Nick Tate interview I mentioned...
QUOTE

"[The producers] were trying to go with fact as we knew it, without being as fanciful as Star Trek. There had been some giant leaps in science. It was nearly seven years since the last episode of Star Trek. People were thinking that science fiction was not popular because, after the success of Star Trek, nobody did anything [else]. So it was quite a leap of faith that Gerry Anderson took in making a television series with actors [instead of puppets]. Space: 1999 was an attempt at doing a really human story."

Initially, Landau and Bain were the only original cast members to return for season two. Then, six days before filming began, Anderson summoned Tate to Pinewood to say that they wanted him back - and they had hurriedly rewritten the scripts for him. The other original actors had disappeared without trace. "I asked [Freiberger] what he was going to do about explaining this and he said, 'We'll just say there was an explosion and they were killed. They won't be missed. This show doesn't have enough fans.' He really was a very strange individual.

"We weren't paid very well at the time," he recalls. "We had British Equity contracts, which said that we would be paid 150 per cent of our salaries when it was repeated on network television. Doesn't that sound wonderful? I never received one penny. Neither did any of the other actors who were contracted, because the show was never networked anywhere. It was syndicated all over the world. Martin Landau and Barbara Bain had American contracts, with syndication written in. When I first arrived in America, Martin took me out to lunch and said, 'How ya going, Nicky? You know, both Barbara and I have made our first million dollars in syndication rights from Space: 1999. How have you been doing?'

QUOTE

Everything You Need To Know About... Space: 1999
On September 9 1999, an atomic explosion propels the Moon out of Earth's orbit...  

blink.gif There are a couple other weird errors, including mention of Alan's love interest, "Susan" (they mean Suzanne, meaning Tanya).

QUOTE

Must-See Episodes: Breakaway; Another Time Another Place ; The Metamorph; and The Bringers Of Wonder

To Be Avoided: Collision Course, The Exiles,  The Beta Cloud  and Space Warp

The must-see list is okay- not my favourites, but generally good eps.
I more or less agree that the "to be avoided" list are all stinkers. Well, except for Space Warp, which is a guilty pleasure... rolleyes.gif Not the worst of either season, though.
Huntsman
13 Dec 2004 17:49:00		 The Beta Cloud NOT a guilty pleasure?? Although, I readily agree anything Friedburger wrote for Year 2 is trash, his stories undeniably have something for the non-detracting fan...
moonbasealpha_s1
14 Dec 2004 18:45:56		 I disagree strongly with Collision Course being on the "To Be Avoided" list. Heh, I would add "any other Y2 episode" to that list.

I wouldn't put Metamorph and BoW in the same category as ATAP and Breakaway but that's ok. rolleyes.gif
moonbasealpha_s1
14 Dec 2004 20:20:59		 BTW, were these "Must See" and "To Be Avoided", NT's picks or the interviewer's?
Martin
14 Dec 2004 22:47:29
QUOTE
BTW, were these "Must See" and "To Be Avoided", NT's picks or the interviewer's?

The interviewer.

You actually likes Collision Course? Even Rules Of Luton is more intellectually challenging... tongue.gif
moonbasealpha_s1
15 Dec 2004 02:48:57
QUOTE (Martin @ Dec 14 2004, 05:47 PM)
QUOTE
BTW, were these "Must See" and "To Be Avoided", NT's picks or the interviewer's?

The interviewer.

You actually likes Collision Course? Even Rules Of Luton is more intellectually challenging... tongue.gif

The interviewer...well, then who cares what that guy thinks.. laugh.gif

ohmy.gif MARTIN! I'm surprised and like Otis you have left me nearly speechless. tongue.gif (The key word, though, is nearly...heh)

Collision Course is intellectual on many levels. It is the essence of Space:1999 the original series. To completely understand the series, one must understand this episode. It..

Heh...Never mind...Substitute CC with another episode and I begin to sound like a fellow Norwegian fan fellow. tongue.gif

Rules of Luuuuuuuuuton and the 'tree' amigos intellectually challenging? smile.gif <snicker> biggrin.gif <guffaw> laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif tongue.gif
captphil
15 Dec 2004 06:04:44
QUOTE (moonbasealpha_s1 @ Dec 14 2004, 09:48 PM)
Collision Course is intellectual on many levels. It is the essence of Space:1999 the original series. To completely understand the series, one must understand this episode. It..

Heh...Never mind...Substitute CC with another episode and I begin to sound like a fellow Norwegian fan fellow.  tongue.gif


Is it me or are sentences that begin with, "To completely understand the....<fill in the blank>"really annoying?

Martin, I was surprised about your Collision Course revelation as well. If this forum was the Jerry Springer show that news would have brought the audience to it's feet shouting! cool.gif

I've had several problems with CC over the years but the other year one turkeys usually take my attention when discussing bad episodes.
Martin
15 Dec 2004 08:12:44		 CC isn't the worst ep of y1 or 2. It's just one of the dumb ones. dry.gif

There are two things that really don't work.
Arra's crap about faith and destiny.
And the payoff (disappearing planet). Which is nothing about faith or destiny. Everyone asks "Is that it? "

Black Sun also had dialogue about fate and destiny. Much better done, because it was in the context of rambling conversations, not a sermon, and there was a proper payoff (voice in black sun, glitter stuff).

CC doesn't work the theme at all. Mankind will have a glorious destiny. That's religious, not drama.

It worked in other episodes, and I suppose if you can see the connections, you'll like it more.

Just my opinion!
Huntsman
15 Dec 2004 20:09:30		 Collision Course really suffers from what ails a lot of Year 1 stories, it's just darn pedestrian. it looks great, but it just doesn't have enough brains. Now, moonbasealpha S1 should do a Year 2 version of Collision Course, it might perk it up! tongue.gif
metamorpher
28 Dec 2004 12:52:18		 Very interesting - Thanks Martin.
moonbasealpha_s1
13 Jan 2005 01:51:56
QUOTE (Martin @ Dec 15 2004, 03:12 AM)
CC isn't the worst ep of y1 or 2. It's just one of the dumb ones. dry.gif


ohmy.gif How did I miss this little discourse? tongue.gif

QUOTE
There are two things that really don't work.
Arra's crap about faith and destiny.
And the payoff (disappearing planet). Which is nothing about faith or destiny. Everyone asks "Is that it? "


My dear boy, why must there be a "payoff"? Faith and destiny do not always equate an immediate payoff, and often we do not know what the final outcome will be. The episode is really is the epitome of Space:1999 Y1. Extremely subtle.

QUOTE
Black Sun also had dialogue about fate and destiny. Much better done, because it was in the context of rambling conversations, not a sermon, and there was a proper payoff (voice in black sun, glitter stuff).


I've never viewed Arra's words as a "sermon" and again, why must there be a "payoff"?

QUOTE
CC doesn't work the theme at all. Mankind will have a glorious destiny. That's religious, not drama.


She never said mankind would have a glorious destiny. The notion of "no end" to their journey is, in a way, depressing because their struggle will continue.

moonbasealpha_s1
13 Jan 2005 01:53:45
QUOTE (Huntsman @ Dec 15 2004, 03:09 PM)
Collision Course really suffers from what ails a lot of Year 1 stories, it's just darn pedestrian. it looks great, but it just doesn't have enough brains. Now, moonbasealpha S1 should do a Year 2 version of Collision Course, it might perk it up! tongue.gif

ohmy.gif ohmy.gif ohmy.gif ohmy.gif ohmy.gif ohmy.gif HERETIC!!!!! Burn witch! Burn!!! biggrin.gif biggrin.gif

Riiiiiiiiight <my best Dr. Evil impression>...this is from a guy who is wasting his time "rediscovery" Ygoo? What's there to rediscover? tongue.gif
DX-SFX
13 Jan 2005 03:31:37		 I think CC's message that there may be a higher purpose to things than mankind is aware of is thought provoking. I don't think it needs an answer to the question. It's just pitching the idea. There are obvious parallels with religion where faith often (nearly always) flys in the face of facts. I think interpretation of the episode is very much a personal thing but if it says anything at all, it says at least be open to other possibilities even if in your opinion they're not very likely. Faith by definition is to believe in something without proof. To completely explain the events in the story is to destroy the point that's being made about faith.

Also it is open to interpretation if Arra is referring to just the Alphans or mankind as a species when she says their odyssey will know no end. Is it mankind's destiny to spread through the galaxy? It seems that Arra's race will mutate into a form of life without a physical body and presumably exist in a different plane of existence. She may be hinting to Koenig that mankind is to inherit the physical universe that they are leaving behind and that one day man himself will be ready to make a similar transformation, the next major leap in evolution from physical to spiritual if you like. Clearly Koenig is interested to learn the nature of the universe and where he and the Alphans fit in since Arra obviously knows or believes there is a much bigger scheme afoot.

At the very least it reinforces Koenig's judgement with the other Alphans when he is proved correct and exposes a little more of Koenig's character.
Huntsman
14 Jan 2005 00:06:22
QUOTE (moonbasealpha_s1 @ Jan 12 2005, 05:53 PM)
QUOTE (Huntsman @ Dec 15 2004, 03:09 PM)
Collision Course really suffers from what ails a lot of Year 1 stories, it's just darn pedestrian. it looks great, but it just doesn't have enough brains. Now, moonbasealpha S1 should do a Year 2 version of Collision Course, it might perk it up!   tongue.gif

ohmy.gif ohmy.gif ohmy.gif ohmy.gif ohmy.gif ohmy.gif HERETIC!!!!! Burn witch! Burn!!! biggrin.gif biggrin.gif

Riiiiiiiiight <my best Dr. Evil impression>...this is from a guy who is wasting his time "rediscovery" Ygoo? What's there to rediscover? tongue.gif

I'm discovering how undeniably awful it is! I can't help but laugh throughout most of it. It's wonderfully bad. Ed Wood, had he been sober and in better health would've been a great director for year 2...and writer!! In fact, his writing is probably better than Friedburger...
moonbasealpha_s1
14 Jan 2005 03:08:35
QUOTE (Huntsman @ Jan 13 2005, 07:06 PM)
Ed Wood, had he been sober and in better health would've been a great director for year 2...and writer!! In fact, his writing is probably better than Friedburger...

HEY!!! What about MY writing?!?! Don't cha like my Y2 Breakaway story? tongue.gif

Oh..speaking of which...coming soon..the next chapter. It's gonna be juicy because John and Helena meet for the first time.

But first...first...I have to emulate Fred and like Fred ripping off Star Trek stories, I need to rip off ideas from my fellow forumers. I've already stolen a few of KRs ideas...so...

Post your ideas and I'll rip them off to...heh.. laugh.gif
Huntsman
14 Jan 2005 20:20:03		 I await in eager anticipation for the continuation of Breakaway: Year 2 Style.

Here's some Star Trek rip-off for year 1 into Year 2: A mix of Space Brain & Spock's Brain! Except replace Spock with either Victor or Maya...

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