Rudy Panucci On Pop Culture

Sunday Evening Videos: Space: 1999

space1999This week we turn our video eye toward the best science fiction show with a really moronic premise ever…Gerry and Silvia Anderson’s Space: 1999The premise of Space: 1999 involves the folks on Moonbase Alpha (Remember that base we had on the Moon just fifteen years ago?).  The Earth had been storing its nuclear waste on the dark side of the Moon, where it blowed up…real good.   The force of the explosion sends the Moon right out of orbit, launching it into space like a giant spaceship, with Moonbase Alpha going along for the ride.  

Ignoring the likelihood that such a cataclysm would not only kill everyone on the Moon, but also pretty much end life on Earth as we know it, the series was a lot a fun with sharp writing and a first-rate cast that included later OSCAR winner Martin Landau.

The seaon one cast

The seaon one cast

Space: 1999 was a welcome lifeline for fans of science fiction on television in the mid-1970s. Back in the dark ages before Star Wars, good old-fashioned space opera was a rare sight on the small screen. Space:1999 was the first prime-time series set in outer space since Star Trek and Lost In Space had ended their runs in the previous decade. Space:1999 ran for two seasons, from 1975 to 1977 (back when 1999 seemed like a far-off future date), and spawned a ton of cool toys, comic books and action figures.

You can find every episode of the show on YouTube for the moment. At the top of this post you see the pilot, “Breakaway.” Below you’ll find Below you’ll find “Earthbound,” guest-starring Christopher Lee, and “The Metamorph,” the second-season premiere which introduced the alien, Maya, and guest-starred Brian Blessed.

1 Comment

  1. Stevabus

    Love this show like you said it was all we had back in the day!!!!!

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