Flashback: Space 1999

This month Network DVD have released the first series of Gerry Anderson’s Space 1999 on Blu-ray and to mark the occasion we take a look at the space-opera.

Space 1999 is the last collaboration behind the husband and wife team Gerry & Sylvia Anderson. Together the two had worked on a wide range of successful, memorable and still remembered productions from ‘Supermarionation’ such as Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet to live-action shows such as UFO. The shows produced by the Andersons were for ATV and released internationally by ITC and there legacy is still felt today with many of the programmes now available to buy on DVD.

In 1970 the Andersons created the live-action series UFO which revolved around a secret organisation – using a film studio as a front – which combated a hostile alien species intent on harvesting humans for their dying home-world. UFO ran for 26 episodes and starred Ed Bishop, Gabrielle Drake, Wanda Ventham and Michael Billington with several episodes set on the Moon Base operated by the secret organisation. A second series was proposed which would have focused more heavily on the Moon due to its popularity with audiences during the broadcast of UFO. However, ultimately the second season was cancelled when ratings began to decline and ITC opted not to go ahead with the episodes.

However, the Andersons by this stage had researched a lot of detail for the proposed second season of UFO and were unwilling to let that research go to waste; so they proposed a new series for ATV. A new science fiction series set almost exclusively on the Moon in the near future following the inhabitants of a Moonbase there – pioneers in space. However, the twist in the story was that the Moon and its inhabitants would be flung into outer space following an explosion with the Moon wandering the universe encountering strange new species – almost a kind of Star Trek-style series.

The Anderson’s idea became Space 1999 with the action set on Moonbase Alpha and its inhabitants. In the opening episode, a nuclear explosion on the dark side of the moon flings the satellite out of Earth’s orbit, out of the solar system and into deep space. Those on the Moon are left cut off from Earth drifting through space alone and venerable and not knowing if Earth had even survived the catastrophic event. If the Moon really was thrown out of our orbit it is unlikely our world would survive such an event given its influence on us; in terms of the tide of the oceans and the fact it would likely destroy our atmosphere by leaving.

However, as with other science fiction programmes of the 1970s – such as Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers – scientific details aren’t always presented correctly or accurately. Indeed in Battlestar Galactica and Blakes 7 as well the writer’s interchange terms such as Solar System, Star System and Galaxy seemingly without understanding the meaning of each. Despite this though in its first year Space 1999 was more scientific and exploration orientated than action preferring deeper stories exploring themes – such as evolution – rather than heavy action stories the second season would rely on.

The style of Space 1999 owes a lot, visually, to the Stanley Kubrick classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Just watching the two together it becomes apparent the influence of the cult classic over the Anderson series in terms of sets and filming techniques. It could be argued as well that Star Trek also was an influence on the series either directly or indirectly in terms of the stories and themes that both series explored. The basic concepts behind the two shows are also similar with the Enterprise substituted for the Moon in Space 1999 though its isolation from the rest of humanity also shares similarities with Battlestar Galactica that would follow. Indeed one episode of Space 1999 even explores the notion that humanity developed elsewhere in the Universe and travelled to Earth thousands of years ago – this was several years before Battlestar Galactica came along. The main mythology of the original Battlestar Galactica is that ‘life here began out there’ with humans originally coming from the mythical planet of Kobol settling on Earth and other worlds many thousands of years ago.

The American market was considered hugely important by ATV’s boss Lew Grade and so Space 1999 – as with the other Anderson shows such as Thunderbirds – had to appeal to the American audience. It was decided therefore to bring onboard two actors in lead roles for Space 1999 to boost the shows appeal. Husband and wife Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were brought onto the series as its two main characters: Commander John Koenig and Doctor Helena Russell. The two actors had starred alongside each other in the Mission Impossible television series. As the Moonbase was obviously an international set-up the presence of two Americans in high profile positions wasn’t unusual and the crew of Alpha were made up of other nationalities such as the Australian Alan Carter (Nick Tate).

Given co-starring billing alongside Barbara Bain and Martin Landau throughout the first season was actor Barry Morse who played scientist Victor Bergman completing the ‘central three’ characters which the storylines revolve around with a larger ensemble cast which was also a feature of the original Star Trek; the ‘command’ character, the Doctor and the Scientist. The ensemble characters of the first season included Bob Mathias (Anton Phillips), Pau Marrow (Prentis Hancock), David Kano (Clifton Jones). Sandra Bates (Zienia Morton) and Tanya Alexander (Suzanne Roquette). American writer George Bellak was brought on board the project to help define its setting and in essence what is today referred to as a “series bible”. Bellak also wrote the screenplay for the opening/pilot episode of Space 1999 ‘The Void Away’ which closely resembles the actual aired pilot, Breakaway. Main writers on the series included Christopher Penfold, Johnny Byrne as well as others such as Pip and Jane Baker.

The heavy use of Americans on the series continued with director Lee H Katzin being selected to helm the pilot episode and he also directed a further episode; Katzin had previously worked with the lead stars on Mission Impossible in the states. The uniforms of the Alpha Moonbase crew of the first series were designed by the fashion designer Rudi Gernreich who was a personal friend of Barbara Bain. Keith Wilson designed other costumes used in the series while Emma Porteous updated the main costumers for the second series – revamping them and adding more colour to them. Keith Wilson also designed the sets for the series producing an innovative construction technique for the sets; plastic form board panels which linked together, rather like lego, to form sets. As they were easily to assemble and cheap to produce the first season of Space 1999 as should had no permanent/standing sets despite such locations as the Sick Bay and Main Mission being frequently used. As such these sets had to be regularly assembled and dissembled as filming required which took up a huge amount of studio time and ultimately became a costly affair. Due to this for the second season, using existing stock of sets from previous Anderson productions and partial sets from the first season of Space 1999, permanent sets were built. This meant though that appearance of Space 1999 changed in its second year with more colour and gadgets added to the sets – this all part of the shows revamp and was intentional.

The first season of Space 1999 used Barry Gray, a long-term associate of the Andersons who had worked on previous productions, as a composer. Gray composed the memorable dramatic opening theme for the first series as well as the musical scores for several episodes in the season. As part of the revamp for the second series – to sex up the space-opera – Derek Wadsworth introduced as a composer – the theme tune for the second series was also changed.

The opening sequence was also altered with a new ‘introduction’ explaining the back-story of Moonbase Alpha as well as new shots of Barbara Bain and Martin Landau with Catherine Schell now receiving the ‘co-starring’ billing. Each episode of Space 1999 contained a ‘teaser’ opening with a montage of scenes from that week’s episode being shown as part of the title sequence. The ’teaser footage’ was intended to intrigue viewers as to what the episode was about. The same technique was used for the ’re-imaged’ Battlestar Galactica series, revived in 2003, with producers stating Space 1999 was the influence for their teaser scenes. Filming on Space 1999 began in late 1973 and was originally scheduled to take 12 months to complete all 24 episodes of the first season. However, filming for the series took longer than anticipated due to a number of factors.

Firstly filming moved from Elstree – where ATV Productions such as The Champions and General Hospital were produced – to Pinewood Studios. The reason for the swap in studios was because Elstree was under threat of closure at the time and so production was swiftly moved elsewhere. In the event Elstree remained open with ATV using the studio until 1981 when it was replaced by Central Television who remained with the studios until the mid 1980s when the BBC acquired them – it’s now the home of EastEnders, Holby City and er Big Brother.

There were other issues which delayed and prolonged filming on Space 1999 such as the strained industrial relations of the 1970s with the powerful unions – across the country – often calling strikes over different issues. During the production of Space 1999 the UK was only working three days a week because of coal shortages which meant that companies effectively had no power for the remainder of the week. Pinewood had its own studios allowing work to continue on Space 1999 but other aspects of production did not escape such problems. Delays were also caused with re-writes and re-shoots being ordered on various episodes which hampered production and eventually left to some departures because of the interference. In all production on series one lasted for roughly fourteen months. In 1975 nearly two years after production had began the series was aired on ITV.

However, the make-up of ITV was very different back then with no national broadcaster across the country but instead smaller companies each owning a region of the country; ATV was the midlands broadcaster for ITV. As ITV was made up of smaller companies under the ‘umbrella’ of the ITV name it was rare for programmes to be shown across the network at the same time. Space 1999, therefore, was not simulcast across ITV and was shown at different times across the region. This was not an usual practice with even soaps such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale Farm and Crossroads airing at vastly different times – sometimes hours apart – depending on which region you were in. Never-the-less the lack of national simulcast for Space 1999 hammered the series because it made it difficult to determine the overall ratings for the episodes especially if different regions were behind each other. It is perhaps surprising to learn that it wasn’t until the BBC repeats in the late 1990s that the space-opera was aired at one time across the network!

Another issue for Space 1999 was the fact it was placed in some regions against Doctor Who – the hugely successful BBC science fiction series that had been on-air since 1963. In 1975 Tom Baker was in the role of the Time Lord in a period of the show now regarded as one of its ‘golden’ times with a run of successful stories still highly regarded now. While ratings for Doctor Who were dented to begin with thanks to the launch of Space 1999 and the early viewer interest it quickly recovered while Space 1999 fell. Again this can be partly attributed to the fact that Doctor Who was shown nationally across the BBC at the same time while Space 1999 did not received a networked time; it makes all the difference if every region shows the same programme at the same time in terms of ratings. In America, the series failed to secure broadcast on one of the three main networks and was instead syndicated across America via small local channels further hampering its success.

The failure of Space 1999 to receive a broadcast deal in America lead to problems behind the scenes for the series. Sylvia Anderson effectively left her production role following her separation from Gerry Anderson. Gerry Anderson brought onboard American Fred Freiberger as a new producer for the series with the hope of revamping in. ATV boss Lew Grade though remained to be convinced of the future of Space 1999 and cancelled the series because ratings had dropped and the series hadn’t taken off in America. Anderson and Freiberger pitched a re-tooled Space 1999 to Grade which he accepted, relented and commissioned a second series. However, changes were planned for the series which was to undergo a radical revamp. Freiberger’s concept for Space 1999 included dropping its more scientific and exploration aspect of Season One in favour of more action and romance based stories. While Martin Landau and Barbara Bain remained the stars of the series Barry Morse was written out – virtually without any on-screen explanation – and he wasn’t the only one. Actors Prentis Hancock, Clifton Jones and Suzanne Roquette were also written out. Actors Nick Tate and Zienia Merton remained with the show but somewhat in a reduced capacity as newer, sexier, characters such as shape-shifting Maya (Catherine Schell) and Tony (Tony Anholt). There was a hint of romance between the characters of Maya and Tony throughout the season intended as part of the shows revamp. However, the changes made to the series by its new producer didn’t prove popular especially with Landau and relations between cast and producer were said to have been strained throughout production. Production on year two began in late January 1976 and was schedule to last ten months with studios at Pinewood once again being used. Episodes were produced in blocks allowing the doubling up of crews and more efficient use of the sets – now a standard practice across television. With episodes broken down into blocks to be filmed the same directors can be assigned for multiple episodes which can been simultaneously filmed while the sets, crew and actor are available.

Production on year two of Space 1999 ended in late 1976. At the time it was widely reported that a third season would be produced – with an increased budget – though the reports acknowledged no formal commission had yet been received. A third season was planned which would have consisted of 13 episodes in order to cut down on production costs, the length of filming and allow writers to focus on quality of storylines rather than having to write 24 episodes per season. As well as a planned third season a spin-off featuring Catherine Schell as Maya – a so-called ‘breakout’ character – was also planned which also would have consisted of 13 episodes. However, it was thought that Schell would remain a cast member on Space 1999 and the spin-off would follow the third season. Episodes of Space 1999’s second series began airing in the UK from September 1976; while production on the series was still on-going. However, there were long breaks between broadcasts of the episodes which meant year two was still being broadcast in 1978 – some ITV regions did broadcast the second year until the mid-1980s!

Ultimately the third season of Space 1999 was never ordered and various theories have been put forward to explain this. The obvious and probable most realistic answer is the shows failure to receive a network broadcast in the UK and America hampered its profitability, its ratings and lead to cancellation. However, others have argued that ITC pressed ahead with Return of the Saint instead of Space 1999’s third season while Lew Grade’s move into cinematic films has also been used as a reason for cancellation. In the late 1990s there was talks of a possible revival in the form of a film version of a television sequel. Series writers Johnny Byrne and Christopher Penford were involved in attempts at reviving the series. In 1999 a special fan-produced short movie was produced as a demonstration of the enduring popularity of the series to interest companies in reviving it. Several years later Richard Hatch of Battlestar Galactica would produce his own trailer for a revival of that series; titled The Second Coming it featured many cast from the original series. While The Second Coming trailer was not successful in reviving Battlestar Galactica as a continuation from the 1978 series it did demonstrate the franchise was ripe for plucking – in 2003 the Sci Fi Channel ‘re-imaged’ the series.

The fan-produced ‘Message from Moonbase Alpha’ featured actress Zienia Merton reprising her role of Sandra. The seven-minute mini-movie is set several years after the close of Space 1999 and is set as the Alphans are planning on abandoning the base for a habitable planet. Sandra is recording a message for transmission to Earth – in the hope it will reach there – telling them of the survival of the Alphans and their journey through the stars. The film was intended to bridge the gap between the original series and any revival – with the Alphans returning to the Moon when it re-entered their system. However, no such revival has, as yet, been forthcoming.

Space 1999 has been released on DVD in the UK. Network DVD has released the entire series and from 1st November it will be available to buy on blu-ray. As yet though the company has no plans to release the second season on either blu-ray or DVD.