From: JTRD1@aol44.com
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 14:27:40 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Space1999: Year 2

OK, I will preface this with saying that series one of 1999 was by far, the
true meaning of 1999, but as a kid I remember feeling the opposite.  Now I
view year 2, as a spinoff of Space:1999.  I like it for what it is, but not
to be compared to year one.  

Based on year 2 itself without comparison to series one, I would like to hear
what everyone's top five favorite episodes were and why.  Mine are the
following:

In order of preference (notice that they are all "full-cast" episodes which
is a big plus in my book"

1. The Metamorph
2. The Lambda Factor
3. The Immunity Syndrome
4. The Dorcons
5. Seance Spectre

James David



Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 13:57:16 -0800
From: Robert Ruiz (R4ARUIZ@legal.pactel44.com)
Subject: Space1999: Year 2 -Reply

You didn't tell us why you liked the ones you picked, but mine are:

The Metamorph
The Metamorph
The Metamorph
The Metamorph
The Immunity Syndrome

The easier question would be to answer which five from Series 2 we hate:

Catacombs of the Moon - Okay script, very weird direction (the burning bed on
the lunar landscape, puh-leeze, the selfless, one dimensional Michelle Osgood,
puh-leeze [can't remember other reasons because I never watch this lame-o
thing])

A Matter of Balance - Bad Vindrus costume, weak female lead in the form of
Shermeen.  Can't relate.  Don't care.  See ya.

The Rules of Luton - Except the scene where Koenig and Maya discuss the global
war on Earth and its consequences.

The Taybor - Don't hate it, Skipper.  Just think it's more a Dr. Who episode
than a 1999 episode.

Well, only four.

Can you tell it's a slow day at the office today?  :)

Robert



From: "Jonathan Ward" (JWard@lonet44.ca)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Year 2 -Reply
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 21:01:32 -0500

> Am I the only one out there who enjoys yr 2 as much as yr 1?  I find
> things I truly enjoy about each yr and things I dislike.

With this I agree. I enjoy both yrs 1& 2. Year 1 made me think, made me
question, made me fantasize.

Year 2 was action packed. It made me hyper as a kid and I still like to
watch it today.

:)



From: "Mark Meskin" (plastic.gravity@newrock44.com)
Subject: Space1999: the top five
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 1996 22:33:35 -0600

Hi all,

The Schlock Fi channel cheated me out of my chance to
see all the second season episodes again, but I've got
a Top Five anyway.  

Dorzak
The Immunity Syndrome
Journey to Where
Sceance Spector
Bringers of Wonder

I can't say the S2 favorites have an henpicking order,
none are that superior to its peers.   But of the S2
eps Ive seen in modern times I like them better than
the rest.

Dorzak I like because it puts someone else other than
Koenig in the spotlight, in fact he's not even the
Episode.   Carter gets a little romance and some real
lines.  Even Tony seems less cardboard.  His little
ruse at the end added a little depth to his character.
 He didn't show up with a security squad and a "new
big laser" from the prop department.	The special
effects are a low spot in this episode, and the alien
spaceship looks like its a single peice plastic cast
kids toy, complete with stickers.   I think I read
that this ship was made from part of a lamp, and well,
it shows.

The Immunity Syndrome is  a guess, but I remember I
liked it a lot.    The plastic glider was innovative
and reasonably well used.  Although why such a device
would be on the Moon is beyond me, unless it was
developed there.

Journey to Where- great story- nice comment on Earth;s
ecological problems, bad humor.   The scenes between
Maya and Tony where Maya is unsure about going to
Earth,  are just pure gems.    It shows for the first
time how odd she feels being the lone Alien among
humans.

Sceance Spector-  Good story, cool FX(especially the
Eagle on the Pad at the remote Security Station, it is
the only time we ever see it.)the best lines for a
single ep character(Sanderson) this side of Duke
Nukem.   Good tension, campy Doctor Russell.   I'd
have cast a different Actor for Sanderson.  This guys
just hams it up on screen, I think it would have been
better if Sanderson was presented as a serious
alternative to Koenig.   Sanderson was just tooooo
wacked for ANYONE to trust him.  Had he been more even
keeled it would have brought out more of the flaws in
Koenigs leadership, and turned the episode into a
tension filled character study.

Bringers of Wonder-  Well the ALiens were gross, but
they looked like silly walking garbage heaps.  
Fortunately this episode had a S1 story concept  and
of the all the S2 eps this one came the closest to
hard scifi.   It also has a that grand scale feeling,
contrasting the canned feeling of the Second Season.  
 I think this is due to the broad range of scenery we
see:  Command Center, the Mediacal Section, the
Nuclear Monitoring Station(massive set), The film lab,
action on the lunar surface, etc.   I could have done
with out the campy "diana and her big boobs" parts,
and wish they had made the audience decide who was
seeing the truth, instead of showing us right of the
Bat that Koenig was Right.   Nice line by Koenig at
the End "Its better to be your own Man than a fool in
some else's dream"

> The easier question would be to answer which five
from Series 2 we hate:

Very Easy-

Rules of Luton
THe Dorcons
Brian the Brain
The Metamorph
Rules of Luton-yes its that dumb.

I'm very tired now, I'll stop here.

-Its late Crater,

Mark
Creator of "EAGLE ONE"
Look for the 'beta' release soon!  I'm almost there...



Subject: Re: Space1999: Year 2 -Reply
From: djlerda@juno44.com (David J Lerda)
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 07:38:36 EST

My top 5 for Year 2

1.  The Metamorph  - Lots of action, good story,  good special effects. 
Very promising beginning for Year 2.

2.  The AB Chrysalis - Those bouncing balls - how did they do that?

3.  Devil's Planet - Women in tights with whips.  Need I say more?

4.  One Moment of Humanity - Helena and Zarl's "erotic" dance is so campy
(right up there with the Batman TV series) that it pushed this one into
my top 5.  I liked the premise too.

5.  The Rules of Luton - Any show based on Fred Brown's "Arena" can't be
all bad.  I also liked the scene with Koenig and Maya.

The Top 5  Stinkers:

1.  All that Glisters - Ugh.  That's all I can say.

2.  The Beta Cloud / Space Warp - A stupid chase episode.  Even though
they're two episodes, I consider them the same show filmed twice because
there's nothing different.  Lots of rubber suits and running around.

3.  The Taybor - The writer of this episode should be prosecuted for
crimes against humanity.

4.  Catacombs of the Moon - This made no sense.

5.  The Dorcons - The name just sounded like "dorks" to me.  

6.  A Matter of Balance - Vindrus's costume is laughable.

David



From: ARIMMR@aol44.com
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 12:29:12 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Year 2 -Reply

ok i'll start with my worst 5 from saesom 2

1  devils planet :remember women in leather with whips
2  space warp :just didn't like it
3  the catacombs of the moon:goofy story line
4  mark of archanon
5  a matter of balance:shermeen really got on my nerves

and my favorite 5 are

1  bow:i liked the eyeball creatures(and for any blakes 7 fans one of the
eyeball guys was gan)
2  seed of destruction:kind of cool to see an evil koening
3  the lambda factor:
4  the seance spectre:the mutiny idea was good(it would have been better if
there had been a major mutiny instead of a few guys wacking out)
5  immunity syndrome:

and for all you star wars fans the monster from the betea cloud was david
prouse(not sure of spelling)i.e. darth vader(not the voice of vader,the guy
in the outfit)just one more piece of stupid trivia.

lynn




Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 01:14:02
From: David Welle (dwelle@online.dct44.com)
Subject: Space1999: Y2: Top/Bottom Five  (+ OT Maya)

Hello Alphans,

It took me a few days to complete this, as I've actually been able to spend
only a little sporadic time on my home computer the last few days, and only
a fraction of that in mail, so while the original thread has faded away as
I chipped away, I'll still mention my top five and bottom five of Y2, all
in my opinion of course, with a grab bag of what I feel to be the best or
worst elements (probably missing some major points, but I think I'll hold
back on full scale analysis for this post, and save that for later, perhaps
;-)

I still have to get back to a few people, but I think this will have to be
my only post of the night (do I hear sighs of relief? :-)

Funny, but in my 16 months on this list, I can't ever remember posting my
top/bottom five from the series, or if I did, it was a simple list with no
explanation.  Seems I still have things to talk about.  Doesn't *that* just
make you all cringe?

:-)

First, my favorites (not really in firm rank order, except the first):

1)  "The Metamorph":  My favorite of the series (Y1&2), and one of my
favorite episodes of any series.  Mentor, who allowed himself to turn a
beautiful goal into a warped, evil, methodology.  His presense, tied with a
biological but soulless computer threaded through the caverns, the planet,
and into space; his catching ships, people, wrapping them up and carrying
them from place to place and then sucking them dry--not unlike a spider.  A
planet full of people and things that are rarely what they seem, and keep
changing in front of the Alphans' eyes ("You Psychons are full of fun and
games").  Koenig forced to deceive everyone, including his own people, to
make a terrible order.  Tony carrying through on that soul-twistingly
difficult order.  Maya's naivete and innocent games against a backdrop of
terror she barely sees, much less recognizes.  Her going to the caves to
disprove and totally put Koenig's accusations fully out of her mind, only
to discover, to her horror, that Koenig wasn't lying; then to return,
obviously changed, only to be further shocked at her father's senseless
bombing of Alpha.  The touching scene at the end:  Maya helped with what
amounted to the destruction of her home world, is now trapped with aliens,
crying in shock and fear.

2)  "Bringers of Wonder":  A lot of interesting elements in this one.  I
loved the sheer difference between what the Alphans *thought* they were
seeing (Earth people) and what the "people" actually were (huge pulsating
globs of ooze!).  It was all the more believable for how the aliens didn't
just deceive in general, but got all the little details--and not just the
*facts* of Alphans' pasts, but the emotional subtleties of not only the
backgrounds (brothers, fiances, old flames, colleagues, etc.), but
convincing emotional reactions to current things, however small (e.g. the
apparent surprise and curiosity in Tony's "brother" towards Maya when she
walks in).  IMO, this episode was excellent, plot- and character-wise, and
the second part is as strong as the first, which is often not the case with
multi-part episodes.

3)  "Dorzak":  How low can a people go?  Maya, shot for no apparent reason,
the rest of the Alphans think, only to find there is a reason.  Maya,
overjoyed at finally meeting another Psychon for the first time in years,
baffled by her friends' less than enthusiastic rejoinder.  A philosopher, a
poet, driven to behavior as reprehensible as Maya's father's, displaying a
horrifying talent at driving people mad, and using them.  Dorzak, violating
Maya's mind for her metamorphic ability, and putting her "on ice," as it
were, for later use, it seems.  Mentor used Psychon minds and bodies too.
How low can a people go?  Maya, driven to even more doubts about her own
Psychon people, and having to put on a mask of humor at the end to hide her
pain.  The episodes never clarified what happened to the rest of the
Psychons; but on the other hand, that left plenty of speculative
possibilities open.

4)  "The Dorcons":  when terror comes prepackaged.  With scarcely any
preamble, Maya is plunged into horror upon recognition of an old
enemy--made worse for how, lost from the defenses of her own people, she is
essentially helpless, caught among people who have no idea the vile intent
her enemy has for her, and how coldly the Dorcons will carry it out (yet
there are some moments of human compassion, such as when the Archon spares
a moment's sadness for Maya).  A son's lust for power that he was fated to
never enjoy--and never deserved.  Another instance where Maya's presense
becomes detrimental to the base, and where some would coldly cast her off
to her fate.  Others fight for her, and Koenig finds the crack to wedge
himself into, carrying out principles that demand you fight for your own,
as far as you can; after all, if you start handing over your own people at
the slightest whim, where will it end?

5)  "New Adam, New Eve":  manipulation from the outside always seemed to be
the consistent fate of the Alphans.  This time, the individual has the gall
to call himself no less than God Himself.  But after all their experiences,
John is especially leary, quite unimpressed with the show--almost jaded, it
seems.  But this "god" did not create life--he just wanted the secret, and
would go through any means to get it.  And what an opportunity Alpha
presented.  Fresh genes, of no less than two species/races, and four
individuals with particularly strong and interesting traits.  And was Maya
really compatible, or would Magus have twisted hers and/or John's genes
somehow to make it so?  It seems he had figured at least a few small pieces
of the puzzle, given the twisted, defeated people left on the planet who so
welcomed death.  Great characterization among all the main
characters--regulars or guests.


These are some of the things I personally happened to find intriguing about
Y2.


Honorable mention?

Though it didn't make my top five, and isn't necessarily #6, I did actually
like "The Taybor" on the level of humor, and for Catherine's especially
wonderful and sexy performance in this one (didn't like the robot head
scene though--ggggaaaccckkk).  I found it an amusing romp, without being as
flat out silly as "Brian the Brain" (though I still enjoyed that one some
too).  Didn't like the goofy trade card of Taybor's, even when I decided
that whatever Babel-fish like capacity the Alphans had might have extended
to writing as well (well, maybe not).  Not good drama, certainly, but I do
like some variety.


Dishonorable mention?

IMO, "Immunity Syndrome" started strong and had a lot of interesting
elements and cool stuff (e.g. the glider trip), it went downhill (no pun
intended) right at the end.  Though the glider trip was great, and I could
understand Maya's and Helena's wanting to go to the planet, it still made
no command sense, and their presense on the planet really didn't help.  The
alien, though intriguing in its loneliness, didn't entirely work for some
reason I can't quite place my finger on now.  A strong episode for awhile,
but one that left me very disappointed in the end.  Not in the bottom five,
and not necessarily #19 either, it instead receives a "dishonorable
mention," if you will, for what I thought was a disappointing last quarter.


My least favorites (order semi-approximate except for bottom two)

20)  "The Lambda Factor":  Wierd psychic powers run amuck, bestowed by some
hideously fake looking rotating disk or beach ball phenomenon thingy.  
Reminds me of Y1's "Ring Around the Moon", and really didn't work any
better here than this sort of thing did there, I'm afraid.  It had some
good scenes though.  Maya being forced to turn into a monkey and then
caterpillar in front of Tony, and his being forced to call Carolyn
"Commander"--Carolyn making monkeys out of both of them, I guess.  Some
background to Koenig helped add something as well. :-)

21)  "Devil's Planet":  whip-wielding women jailers, male prisoners,
freedom of speech, dead home world, but the people on the moon keep letting
their own numbers die in now pointless gestures, etc.  A few interesting
elements; but most seemed random, and it didn't hang together well
(probably like my own comments in this note!).

22)  "Mark of Archanon":  curious twist ending, the premise of which I
could never really accept even with "suspension of disbelief" mode on.
Anyone notice the ancient Assyrian-like style to the alien clothing? (no
opinion, just commenting)  Some moments of suspense.  Had its moments but
generally bored me.

23)  "One Moment of Humanity":  had a few moments--very few (mostly on the
Moon anyway).  The whole stilted seduction scene was way bizarre and
completely over the top, and even worse, didn't even have any "camp" value
to smile at, IMO.  An episode that makes me cringe to even think about, for
the most part.

24)  "Catacombs of the Moon":  bizarre, pointless.  Collages of dream
images, heat storms, fires, and so on, etc., ad nauseum.  Brief appearance
by Maya that even I found fairly pointless (costume wasn't bad, though ;-)
Doesn't even engage me enough to cringe--just shake my head, shrug, and
move on.  Worst episode of the whole series, IMO.

I just didn't happen to like these episodes.  Perhaps not coincidentally,
three of these five (#21, 22, 24) were those "doubled up" episodes that had
the "half cast" problem (where some of the main cast members are "missing"
from the episode or make only brief appearances).  I'm not sure having a
full cast would have necessarily helped these three episodes, but it
couldn't have hurted.  Only one "half cast" episode ("Dorzak") made my top
five, and that one was only missing Koenig, rather than two or more main
characters.


Oh well, enough for now.  Take it as one person's opinions.

....

Now, for something entirely different.  A bunch of new series have come out
in the U.S., and among several I've had the chance to check out, I happened
to watch a new comedy series premiering on NBC called "Just Shoot Me."  I
was quite surprised to find the main character, played by Laura San
Giacomo, is named Maya.  I hear that name extremely little outside S19, so
it was funny to hear it repeatedly in another context.

Now you know why I had an "OT" label when mentioning "Maya" in the title
line...

....

Well, that's all for tonight.  Have a pleasant day, everyone!

Eagle Four Out.



Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 09:38:50 -0800
From: Robert Ruiz (R4ARUIZ@legal.pactel44.com)
Subject: Space1999: Y2: Top/Bottom Five  (+ OT Maya) -Reply

> IMO, "Immunity Syndrome" started strong and had a lot of
> interesting elements and cool stuff (e.g. the glider trip), it
> went downhill (no pun intended) right at the end.

I like this episode thoroughly.  It's one of my favorites from Series 2, and I
especially like how the music fits into this one and the exciting effects
scenes, the little human moment of Bill Fraser taking Maya and Helena
closer to the planet and risking his own life, etc.

I agree with David about the problem with Helena and Maya basically
abandoning Alpha and their responsibilities, though.  That's why a
character like Paul Morrow is such a good character to have, so you can
leave someone in charge but let the stars go off and play.  I think this is
what Gene Rodenberry planned for ST:TNG with Picard and Riker.  Riker
would take off to the planets and Picard would stay on the ship. 
Because Patrick Stewart is such a compelling actor, however, it didn't
work out that way.

The only thing I have a problem with in The Immunity Syndrome is the
voice characterization of the actor playing the entity.  It's not compelling. 
Someone noted in recent months that these lines sounded silly (lines like
"I am I...").  I think this is actually a very interesting way to have an alien
speak (the words).  Subtelty and nuance come later in the English
language, and very often if you ask someone to give a literal translation
of what they just said you will find they can't, though both of you knew
what it meant.  We speak in remembered phrases in part, rather than just
individual words.  The voice characterization was way off in my opinion.
 It didn't hurt the episode for me all that much, though.  I enjoyed the roller
coaster ride, and I LOVE Alibe's pretty bad performance in this.  It's
almost unintentionally comedic.

Robert



Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 23:02:39 +0000
From: Ina Litera (ilitera@idt44.net)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Y2: Top/Bottom Five  (+ OT Maya)

David and all,
I really enjoyed reading your list. I want to add my own bottom one 
though.. All that Glissters. All I remeber about it was rocks and 
colored lights and a cowboy with an english accent.
Wow, my writting skills are in bad shape.  I had something much deeper 
and more meaningful to say when I started to type.  Oh well.