The Catacombs Catacombs International Guide
Italy

ITALY:

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The first series was financed in part by RAI (Italian State Television), and was originally to have two Italian supporting stars (the pilot and Main Mission operative who later became Alan and Sandra respectively). The Italian title was "Spazio 1999". In addition to the series being shown on television, three episodes were edited together into a compilation and shown in cinemas: according to Keith Wilson, "the streets of Rome were empty because everyone was going to the cinema." The compilation used music from Ennio Morricone in place of Barry Gray's theme and some incidental music. The Morricone theme is available on the CD Time Of Adventure by Ennio Morricone (BMG 1997) 4321315512. (now out of print). The series on television had all the original music intact, with the exception of the Year 2 end titles, which were replaced by song S.O.S. Spazio 1999, performed by the Italian group Oliver Onions.

The Year One episodes were shown on the RAI channel in 3 blocks: the first 6 episodes from Saturday 31st January 1976 at 10pm, the second block of six from Thursday 1st July at 8:45pm, then the remaining 12 from Sunday 24th October to January 9th 1977 at about 6pm. In 1979 Year 2 was broadcast on RAI channel 1 from April 6 at 5pm. Episodes were broadcast in two parts, one part a day, Monday to Saturday. For some reason "The Bringers of Wonder" was not included in the first run of season two and was aired only some time later.

In the Italian version Dr. Russell is HELEN not Helena. This is probably due to the fact that HELENA sounds exactly like the Italian name ELENA. The people who supervised the Italian version probably thought this was too Italian for an American character(!) In year two Tony's last name is pronounced VERDESKI which is the correct Italian pronunciation for VERDESCHI.

The Italian fan club Moonbase '99 has organised a number of conventions in Italy.

Merchandising:

There was also a poster for the 1975 Spazio 1999 movie.

Web sites (in Italian):

Nr Date Italian Title Translation Original Title Prod.Nr
1 31 January 1976 10:00pm Separazione Separation Breakaway 1
2 7 February 1976 10:00pm Destinazione obbligata: Terra Obligatory Destination: Earth Earthbound 5
3 14 February 1976 10:00pm Sole nero Black Sun Black Sun 3
4 21 February 1976 10:00pm Questione di vita o di morte Matter Of Life Or Death Matter Of Life Or Death 2
5 28 February 1976 10:00pm Fiocco azzuro su Alpha Blue Band On Alpha Alpha Child 10
6 7 March 1976 10:00pm Un altro tempo, un altro luogo Another Time, Another Place Another Time, Another Place 6
7 1 July 1976 8:45pm Forza vitale Life Force Force Of Life 9
8 8 July 1976 8:45pm Il ritorno del Voyager The Return Of Voyager Voyager's Return 12
9 15 July 1976 8:45pm Il Pianeta Incantato The Enchanted Planet Guardian Of Piri 8
10 22 July 1976 8:45pm Gli occhi di Tritone The Eyes Of Triton Ring Around The Moon 4
11 29 July 1976 8:45pm Gli amanti dello spazio The Space Lovers Missing Link 7
12 5 August 1976 8:45pm L'ultimo tramonto The Last Sunset The Last Sunset 11
13 24 October 1976 6:00pm Fantasma su Alpha Ghost On Alpha The Troubled Spirit 19
14 31 October 1976 6:00pm Mondo proibito Forbidden World War Games 17
15 7 November 1976 6:00pm Il Pianeta di Ghiaccio The Planet Of Ice Death's Other Dominion 14
16 14 November 1976 6:00pm Rotta di collisione Collision Course Collision Course 16
17 21 November 1976 6:00pm Nemici invisibili Invisible Enemies The Last Enemy 17
18 28 November 1976 6:00pm Fine dell'immortalita End Of Immortality End Of Eternity 18
19 5 December 1976 6:00pm Circolo chiuso The Closed Circle The Full Circle 15
20 12 December 1976 6:00pm Il dominio del drago The Domain Of The Dragon Dragon's Domain 23
21 19 December 1976 6:00pm La missione dei Dariani The Mission Of The Darians Mission Of The Darians 22
22 26 December 1976 6:00pm Il cervello spaziale The Space Brain Space Brain 20
23 2 January 1977 6:00pm La macchina infernale The Infernal Machine The Infernal Machine 21
24 9 January 1977 6:00pm Il testamento degli Arkadi The Testament Of The Arkadians Testament Of Arkadia 24
Year 2
Y2.1 6 April 1979 5:00pm Psycon The Metamorph 25
9 April 1979 5:00pm Golos The Exiles 26
11 April 1979 5:00pm Il ritorno The Return Journey To Where 29
13 April 1979 5:00pm Vega One Moment Of Humanity 27
16 April 1979 5:00pm La Milgonite The Milgonite All That Glisters 28
18 April 1979 5:00pm Archanon The Mark Of Archanon 32
20 April 1979 5:00pm Taybor The Taybor 30
23 April 1979 5:00pm Luton The Rules Of Luton 31
25 April 1979 5:00pm Il robot The Robot Brian The Brain 33
27 April 1979 5:00pm Magus New Adam, New Eve 34
30 April 1979 5:00pm Kalthon Seed Of Destruction 37
2 May 1979 5:00pm Le crisalidi The Chrysalids The A B Chrysalis 35
4 May 1979 5:00pm Il Tiranium The Tiranium Catacombs Of The Moon 36
7 May 1979 5:00pm I naufraghi The Shipwrecked People Space Warp 40
11 May 1979 5:00pm La Nuvola The Cloud The Beta Cloud 38
9 May 1979 5:00pm Vindrus A Matter Of Balance 39
14 May 1979 5:00pm Onde Lambda Lambda Waves The Lambda Factor 43
16 May 1979 5:00pm Tora Seance Spectre 44
18 May 1979 5:00pm Dorzak Dorzak 45
21 May 1979 5:00pm Il pianeta del diavolo The Planet Of The Devil Devil's Planet 46
23 May 1979 5:00pm Il Lampo che Uccide The Lightning Bolt That Kills The Immunity Syndrome 47
25 May 1979 5:00pm I Dorconiani The Dorcons 48
Attenti ai terrestri Beware the Earth People (terrestrials)! The Bringers Of Wonder 41

Copyright Martin Willey. Thanks to Roberto Baldassari for help with translations.