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THEN & NOW |
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But Space: 1999, like all other TV shows, did have its moments. At the top of the list is “The Testament of Arkadia.” If I were to bury a time capsule to be unearthed in the year 1,001,977, and could put only one thing in it, I would probably put a copy of this episode. This would depict us primitives as somewhat artistic peoples. This episode was flawless. After a year of combing over it, I have not found one error (except that Koenig pronounced “stasis” wrong). The acting was beautiful — Helena actually raised her voice! The script was fantastic, and the music was phenomenal, especially the scene in the cave where Luke and Anna received the “message” from the Arkadians. Only Johnny Byrne could have written such a masterpiece. A pretty close second is “The Black Sun.” This episode confronted us with a feasible scientific possibility and a theory about as probable as any other theories about black suns I have ever heard, and even more profound philosophy. (“If there were a being who spoke once in 100,000 years, who would be there to hear?”) Chalk one up for 99dom! Can anyone forget “Another Time, Another Place?” This one was also very well acted, written, and one of the best, Victor especially. I look at this episode, then at “Brian the Brain,” and say “why?” But as with a lot of good Space: 1999 episodes, this was created masterfully by Johnny Byrne. They should have had Johnny write the book series! But there came a time when the beloved TV series began to slowly die. It was called “Year Two.” The reasons for this are many, ranging from not enough time to the new producer, Freddie Freiberger. We can all shed a tear that Freddie ever got hold of Space: 1999. It is also quite obvious that Freddie didn’t like the show, since he immediately tried to kill it. Gerry, you should have held his leash a little tighter. Why Freiberger was let out of his cage is totally beyond me. The first thing he did was gave us Tony Verdeschi. I would rather not discuss Tony. But then he gave us Maya, a tacky lookatmechange type alien. Fortunately, Catherine Schell counteracted Fred’s stupidity by portraying Maya as an intelligent, mature woman. John Canfield had a cute little scene where Maya uses her powers to become “pregnant” to drive Tony up the wall. Cute, John— real cute. Then Freddie created the ultimate boo-boo — “Brian the Brain.” My friend Brian Anderson, who lives in the nearby town of Slidell, took a great offense at this. He was probably very mad when I once called him “Brian the Brain.” Only our undying friendship prevented him from sweeping me out an airlock! Then we had “The Taybor.” I’d rather not discuss this one. Then came “One Moment of Humanity.” (Or, as I have heard it called, “One Hour of Stupidity.” With Tony and Helena trapped alone on a duplicate of Alpha. Shades of “The Mark of Gideon.” But Year Two had its goodies to offer: “Journey To Where,” “The Exiles,” “The Mark of Archanon,” “The Rules of Luton,” “Seeds of Destruction” and “The Bringers of Wonder” — both parts. In “Journey to Where” and “The Exiles” we had one thing going for us: Donald James, the scriptwriter. He knows how to handle a story. Note there was not one mention of tiranium in either of these episodes. Hear that, Michael Butterworth? But there were some overall boo-boos in Year Two, such as the set design. I LOVED MAIN MISSION! I won’t say that Command Center isn’t a good set, but it, like a lot of the others, is too trekkish. I loved that corridor in the waste dumps from “The Bringers of Wonder.” That tells me that Keith Wilson is still in there designing. But using the same set for “The Metamorph,” “The Exiles” and “One Moment of Humility— Humanity” (sorry about that!) irks me a bit. This show was supposed to be the highest budgeted in TV history— why were they such tightwads? But — back to the good episodes. “Seeds of Destruction” was a gem with terrific acting with Koenig 1, Koenig 2, Maya, Helena, Alan and even TONY! I rate this episode a 9/10 (Only “The Testament of Arkadia” ever earned the full 10 points.) Now, I will present the ratings I have for the episodes, so that you may compare them with your own. HIGHEST POSSIBLE SCORE: 10 points Year One
Year Two
But now I’m afraid that the time has come when 1999 will fade forever into reruns, never to be seen in original form again. But perhaps the reawakening of science fiction due to the film Star Wars will revive interest in a third season of Space: 1999. Although we didn’t get our third season this year, let’s keep pressing ABC — Year III in ’79 would be just as good. Keep writing ABC — and that is a direct order! — Matt Butts |
The last time I remember seeing this show on American television was in the early 1990s, when it aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on Saturday mornings. But the episodes suffered from years of chop-shop editing to make more room for commercials (Americans allot more time than the British do.) By the year 1999, in which the show’s establishing events take place, a technology the show’s creators never even dreamed of — the Internet — had caused the show’s followers to find each other and band together. On the show’s focal date, September 13, 1999, the day the moon was blown out of earth orbit, its fans gathered in Los Angeles for “Breakaway,” a science fiction convention centered around the show, featuring members of its cast and crew. I wasn’t able to be there: even had I known it was going on (I didn’t), I couldn’t have gone. First, I had just gotten back from a trip to Chicago, and secondly, I had some strange infection in my neck at the time and was a few days short of being hospitalized. I made up for it the following year, though, when I was awarded a grant from the Operation Helping Hand Committee to attend MainMission:2000, a celebration of the show’s 25th anniversary held in New York City over the Labor Day weekend. It was the time of my life. I actually met the two people referenced in my 1977 column, Keith Wilson and Johnny Byrne, and tell them glowingly what I thought of their work, and instead of treating us like some kind of obsessed fanatics in need of a life, they listened and discussed with us. The same was true of the stars of the show, including Barry Morse (Victor Bergman), Catherine Schell (Maya), Prentis Hancock (Paul Morrow), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), and John Hug (Fraser). They were all so human. I could listen to Barry Morse talk about the acting profession for days, even if he is a tad repetitive at times. It was a wet dream from my childhood: I watched “Another Time, Another Place” while sitting next to Johnny Byrne; I asked Keith Wilson why they misspelled Koenig’s name “KEONIG” in one scene in “Missing Link” (His answer: “My assistant f*cked up”) And I know I would regret it for the rest of my life had I not been there to hear the rather demure Catherine Schell say, “I know who I had to f*ck to get on this picture… who do I f*ck to get off?” For those three days, it was like being a teenager again. Surrounded by like-minded geeks, quoting episodes left and right, sharing anecdotes about the show with the cast and crew (who hardly remembered a job they did 25 years ago) and generally just having a good time. It was the best time I’d had without getting laid in my life. Which brings me to another interesting factoid of Space: 1999 fandom: it seems a high percentage of the show’s audience turned out gay, as at least half the guys there, if not more, were gay. (And just my luck, I ended up sharing a bed with one of the straight ones.) And thanks to that force we call the Internet, I had ready-made friends when I got there, having made contact with most of them through the Gaybase Alpha and Online Alpha mailing lists. My tastes, it seems, have changed. I find now that an episode I really liked as a kid really wasn’t so great after all, and that an episode I thought was a stinker back then really isn’t such a bad piece of work after all. For example, while I still like “The Testament of Arkadia,” I find that I prefer the more psychological drama of “Dragon’s Domain.” I still think “The Taybor” and “Brian The Brain” were worthless garbage, and I guess I now realize how ridiculous “The Rules of Luton” was. (Okay, this is probably all going over your head and you have no idea what I’m talking about, but I expect you’ve stopped reading by now if this is the case.) Now that I’m watching the series as an adult, I find I’m seeing it differently. I’m catching those subtle nuances that my adolescent eyes had missed. I’m also spotting the mistakes that I’d overlooked when I was a kid. I’m learning to appreciate more the camera work and visual artistry that went into every frame of the show, not just the special effects. And yes, I still love Main Mission! I have the whole first season on VHS now, copies from the 1990’s laserdisc release which I am slowly replacing with the A&E re-releases. For that reason, I’ve decided to revise the rating system at left, after reviewing the episodes through adult eyes. Year One
I can’t really re-rate any of the Year Two episodes, as I haven’t seen most of them in 20 years. The closest I’ve come is renting “Destination Moonbase Alpha,” the movie edited together from the two-part episodes “The Bringers of Wonder.” It gets re-rated to a 6, by the way. But Space: 1999 lives on, restored to its original splendor on VHS and DVD, supported by the loving efforts of the new generation of amateur publishers, talented web page designers like Ken Scott and Martin Willey. And it lives on in the hearts and minds of its followers, who never really gave up on the dream, even if some of them ended up putting it on a shelf for a while. A television show, once committed to film, is a permanent thing. It never changes, but we do, and as we do, our appreciation for art and story matures and sophisticates. Space: 1999 lives forever, continuing to always challenge the minds of its viewers.
To everything that might have been. To everything that was. — Matt Butts |
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© 1977, 2001 by Matt Butts. |
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