Editor's Notes: This thread originates from within the the main ExE: Afterword thread, and at the end, rejoins somewhat later in the main thread.
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi44.no) Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 10:35:52 +0000 Subj: Re: Space1999: RATM - again and Always;-)
[RATM-only part of note moved to other thread]
MY FAVORITE EPS: Breakaway, Matter of Life..., Black Sun, RATM(!;-) ), EARTHBOUND (KOENIG/SIMMONDS ARGUMENTS ARE SUPERB, PRICELESS!!!), Another Time..., War Games, The Full Circle (save for Barbara Bain's screams<cringe>), JOURNEY TO WHERE(!!!), Immunity Syndrome (Helena/Maya dialogues are really nice!).
This is also a nice list of favourite episodes, I think, very to happy to see MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH and RING AROUND THE MOON in the company of BREAKAWAY, BLACK SUN, ANOTHER TIME/ANOTHER PLACE and WAR GAMES.
Instead of FULL CIRCLE, JOURNEY TO WHERE and IMMUNITY SYNDROM, I personally prefer to watch episodes like MISSING LINK, LAST SUNSET and VOYAGER'S RETURN, but, nevetheless, a fine list from my point of view.
Petter
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi44.no) Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 11:58:15 +0000 Subj: Re: Space1999: ExE: Absolute favorite episodes
Ariana/Emma wrote:
My favourite episode is (still!): - The Beta Cloud I have already waffled on enough about what I happen to like about this episode. In a nutshell: Tony and Maya have a runaround, a snog and a tif. It's silly, it's shallow, it's in the bottom 10 of most people, but I like it.
While I cannot share Emma's enthusiasm for this episode completely, I do agree with her that BETA CLOUD captures the spirit of Y2 to a certain extent. In my opinion it is also the most successful episode in the notorious Woodgrove trilogy, and while it is silly and shallow as even Emma admits to, it has a certain charm. It is Freiberger at his most extreme, so to say, and as such it is if not a good episode at least a rather interesting one. This is at least how I see it.
10. Breakaway
Martin Landau was asked not so long ago what his favourite episodes of SPACE:1999 were, to which he answered BREAKAWAY and BLACK SUN. He may have said other things while they were filming the episodes, Y1 and Y2, but after 20 years I understand this quite well.
Both Landau and Bain are quite extraoridinary adept in these early episodes, although I would add MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH and RING AROUND THE MOON to this list of the four first episodes there were shot, and that all display an enormously talented group of people in front of and behind camera.
BREAKAWAY and BLACK SUN stand perhaps somewhat out from the early episodes, partly, perhaps, as they were headed by experience MISSION IMPOSSIBLE director Lee Katz who had worked extensively with Landau and Bain on earlier occations, but, perhaps even more, as, in my experiece at least, these two episodes are so radically different from what had been shown on TV before. In fact, nowhere in the series is the role model of 2001 as clear is in these two episodes.
MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, while a personal favourite of mine, is based on a STAR TREK type manuscript by Art Wallace that Johnny Byrne rewrote extensively in order to have it fit with the style of BREAKAWAY and BLACK SUN. While an extremely entertaining and fascinating episode, it is not unique, I feel, in the same sense that BREAKAWAY and BLACK SUN are.
RING AROUND THE MOON, the episode I like the most, is also, similarily to MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, written with very little concern for 2001. In fact it seem to be more inspired by Ibsen, Tchekov and Strindberg than anything having to do with contemporary science fiction. Perhaps Andreii Tarkovskij's SOLARIS (1972) is the most natural science fiction model for this one. Obviously not everyones cup of tea we learn from this list, and definitely miles away from STAR TREK and its kind.
09. Black Sun
IMO, this episode is the epitome of early Year 1; it features the same talking-to-Christmas-decorations concept which is so annoying in RATM, but makes up for it by a good portrayal of the Alphan's desperate attempts to protect themselves (aha! technobabble that fails!), and their eventual resignation to their fate.
In the Fanderson interviews for the SPACE:1999 documentary Barry Morse says that this was his absolute favourite and felt that the series ended on a wrong track not exploring the inner life and emotions of its characters like it did so pervasively in this episode.
I agree very much with Barry Morse, although I feel there were moments of BLACK SUN quality in quite a few episodes still to come. Needless to say, RING AROUND THE MOON is one such episode in my opinion, thanks Emma for linking it up with BLACK SUN in the way the artistical solutions for handling mysterious aspects of both episodes are strikingly similar.
I also feel that MISSING LINK has a lot of character concern, in the case of Barry Morse is this particulariy interesting as he displays Victor in a less sympathetic form than ususal. GUARDIAN OF PIRI is a very BLACK SUN type of story with strong focus both on character and ideas, and WAR GAMES has a lot common points with both BREAKAWAY and BLACK SUN in the way it displays moonbase Alpha facing ultimate disaster and show us how individuals react under these circumstances. It also has a touch of the mystery the prevails in BLACK SUN and RING AROUND THE MOON, even using the same type of "christmas-decorations" type of special effects that some of us like and others don't.
08. The Last Sunset
While Johnny Byrne thought of this as a bad example of script writing, at least this is what he says according to Tim Heald in "The making of SPACE:1999" is not at all obvious to me. Just like Emma, I feel this is one of the better episodes of Y1, and, most of all, very typical of Chris Penfold in the use of aliens that think of humans as a space virus.
The story, the way I see it, seems to be about the human spirit of survival at all cost, stressed in particular with the sand storm part of the episode, and how the passion for survival is ultimately a danger for nature, including ourselves. This is the point stressed by the aliens in the final act.
The ideas were emphasised more strongly in WAR GAMES, his anti-war episode as Penfold called it in an interview.
07. Collision Course
To me this episode survives on style factor only. Ray Austin makes a tremendous effort, just like in ALL THAT GLISTERS, to put life into what would otherwise be a pretty lifeless episode, I feel. He succedes tremendously, however, I think, and some of the discussion between Alan, Helena, Koenig and Victor are close to the best chamber play ever produced during the course of SPACE:1999 in my opinion.
What Terpiloff actually ment with all his plays about trust, logic, emotions, death and so on have been discussed intensively during the ExE line as such episodes have been reached, although I still do not feel neither particularily comfortable with his writing and do not really feel that I understand him all that much.
There is an aspect of religious symbolism in most of his contributions, and they all seem to focus on individual against community in some way or another. In this episode it is a sort of Moses in the desert that has gotten a divine inspiration, trying to convince his people while they, on their hand, are more interested in sound logic and common sense.
Not feeling that these are problems I'm battling with on a daily basis, there are other episodes I feel give me more, but, as said, the style factor provided for by Ray Austing is spectacular, light, camera angles, use of music giving supreme trust to the actors who are often excelling doing more acting between the spoken lines than otherwise.
It is fascinating, I think, to think about what could have been made out of EARTHBOUND if Austin had stepped in for Crichton on this one. EARTHBOUND suffers from an equally incomprihensible script by Terpiloff, no doubt with similar religious over-tones, but is contrastingly not helped by the typical Crichton matter-of-fact type of direction, and ends up rather stale in my opinion.
Petter
From: "Petter Ogland" (petter.ogland@dnmi44.no) Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 12:32:19 +0000 Subj: Re: Space1999: Best and Worst Episodes
Simon wrote:
1. Deaths Other Dominion - Y1 I know,and not on many peoples favourite list but frankly I don't care :-)
Interesting points, Simon. My feeling this episode is that DEATH'S OTHER DOMINION is too Y2 to be liked by the die-hard Y1 fans, like myself, and not enough Y2 to be liked by the die-hard Y2 fans. I'm happy to see that you like it, though.
2. New Adam New Eve - and certainly the best of Y2 for my money.
Not on my list of joint season favourites, but definitely one of the most thoughtful and interesting Y2 efforts, not unlikely the best of Y2 as I see it too. The episodes makes me think of John Fowles' THE MAGUS (1967), one of the major literary works of the century according to many.
3. Mission of the Darians - splendid epic and never quite matched in scale by Y2 I have to admit.
It is interesting you say this, as this fits in nicely with my theory that Y1 was slowly transforming itself into the world of Y2 even without the help of Freiberger. MISSION OF THE DARIANS is typical of the latter Y1 episodes, I think, perhaps a result of people like Johnny Byrne pondering over which direction the show might take. Christopher Penfold made his last contribution with SPACE BRAIN which sums up his philosophy and the course of SPACE:1999 up to that point, with Johnny Byrne and episodes like MISSION OF THE DARIANS and DRAGON'S DOMAIN he was able to say goodbye to Y1 with has pastiche THE TESTAMENT OF ARKADIA.
4. Seed of Destruction- loads of character conflict and a better than normal script.
Character conflict certainly helps this episode work. The confusion stirred up on Alpha is quite fascinating, I think, reminds me of COLLISION COURSE in this respect, but the Y2 caricature definition of characters makes it, in my opinion, less enjoyable than Y1 episodes similarily revolving around character conflicts.
5. Bringers of Wonder(part 1)-like Mark,I found part 2 to be a more boring runaround episode.
Not to fond of run-around episodes myself either. On the other hand, most of the witty observations by Feely are in the second part, I think, the sequences where they are planning to destoy the world while believing that they are just having a good time, playing golf, listening to Beethoven, working in that garden and so on, is a well conceived satirical view on consumer society, I think. Well written and well executed.
BRINGERS OF WONDER would probably have worked better as a single episode, however, unless Freiberger would then have Feely leave out all the social critisism in order to fill in more run-arounds and Maya transformations.
6. The Immunity Syndrome- Y2 style with Y1 substance...a good mix.
Y2 style with Y1 substance is perhaps a better mix than Y1 style and Y2 substance such as in the Terpiloff episodes EARTHBOUND, COLLISION COURSE, DEATH'S OTHER DOMINION and THE INFERNAL MACHINE. Given Terpiloff as an example this obviously shows that Y2 substance goes better with Y2 style, like in CATACOMBS OF THE MOON. The Woodgrove trilogy is perhaps also an example of Y2 substance that would never have worked with Y1 style.
If THE IMMUNITY SYNDROM is representative of Y1 substance then it is of the final days of Y1 when Johnny Byrne was searching for new grounds for his seed. Nevertheless, THE BIOLOGICAL SOUL, CHILDREN OF THE GODS and FACE OF EDEN all seem like interesting inputs to the SPACE:1999 saga, and even though FACE OF EDED changed significantly while metamorphing into THE IMMUNITY SYNDROM, it definitely bears the fingerprints of Johnny Byrne. Not all bad.
7. The Metamorph-a better script than some Y2 episodes without embarrasing humour.
The original BIOLOGICAL SOUL seemed to be a social commentry on how science and technology is in contrast to nature, using the greek story of Adonis and Psyche as a model. The way it ended up seems a bit confused to me, although Johnny Byrne doesn't seem all that unhappy with it when interviewed.
8. Testament of Arkadia- spooky sort of episode which always made an impression on me for a few reasons.
Not one of my top ten favourites, but, nevertheless, a fitting finale for Y1, I think. Johnny Byrne in a reflective mode.
9. The Mark of Archanon- intelligently written and performed piece.
Good heavens! One of the single worst episodes on the top ten list? Obviously Simon has spotted something here that I haven't. In the beginning I was even misguided into believing that it was written by Sir Lew Grade using a pseudonym, not that that helped much at understanding what it was all about, apparently some kind of marriage and divorse parable set in deep space.
10. All that Glisters- yes,believe it or not I found it quite amusing(even though it wasn't meant to be)and as a result,very enjoyable.
I agree completely. One of the best Y2 episodes for exactly the reasons Simon point out.
Petter
From: "Petter Ogland" (petter.ogland@dnmi44.no) Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 13:23:33 +0000 Subj: Re: Space1999: Worst Episodes
Simon wrote:
Least favourite? 1. Missing Link- boring,pretentious crap.
At least by calling it pretentious you signify that it contains more than hits the eye. In fact, one of my favourite episodes. Not as fun as RING AROUND THE MOON, but still highly enjoyable on several levels. It is a bit slow in the beginning when Koenig walks about on the empty Alpha, GUARDIAN OF PIRI and ANOTHER TIME/ANOTHER PLACE was better in that aspect, but it soon become lively enough.
The episode is one of the most artistically shot episodes, Austin being in a creative mode apparently, just like with RING AROUND THE MOON, and must have got on quite well with Edward di Lorenzo. Quite bad for the series, as I see it, that di Lorenzo left. Otherwise we could perhaps have had more episodes of the RING AROUND THE MOON and MISSING LINK type.
2. Ring Around The Moon- watched it last night and while I don't think its crap I just think its boring.
Rather than boring, I find this episode extremely exciting. The finest hour of SPACE:1999 the way I see it, although I restrain my comments on this particular episode at the moment for later use.
3. Collision Course - sorry, can't stand the episode or Margaret Leighton...
Typical meaningless Terpiloff tale, I agree. The style the episode is given by Austin does however save it to a large extent in my opinion although style without content gets a bit tedious in the long run.
4. The Full Circle- the closest that Y1 came to Y2,but even bad Y2 was better than this one...
The closest the Y1 came to Y2 and probably one of the reason that so few seem to like it.
5. The Last Enemy- I think this one was probably more interesting in its original draft than the one screened...
I agree. The original draft, as can be found on Martin's Catacombs site shows wonderful bits of dialogue that was supposed to be between John, Helena and Victor. Great fun to read, with the battle of the sexes theme much more prevailant in the original draft than in the filmed one, including strong elements of Helena getting jealous as Dionne makes her way.
6. Matter of Life and Death- resurrection and death(again)of Lee Russell tackled completely wrong. Cop-out.
Magnificent episode, I would say, much thanks to Johnny Byrne's excellent vitalisation of Art Wallace's STAR TREK low standard original script. All the central actors are in top form here, Landau and Morse giving peak of performance, but, most of all perhaps, Barbara Bain is the one that really makes this episode sparkle. In MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, a story where she plays the central character, her performance is nothing less than outstanding I would say, only topped by RING AROUND THE MOON where she reaches complexity beyond belief.
7. AB Chrysalis- bouncing balls, lots of fog, a handful of good lines for Koenig but otherwise bugger-all...
This was, I feel, one of the very few Y2 efforts to try to catch some of RING AROUND THE MOON spirit of Y1. Although not quite successfully, I agree with Simon there, I still value it for its try.
8. Space Warp/ Beta Cloud- lots of pace and great Wadsworth music,but otherwise of waste of airtime.
In a way I feel a bit like Emma concerning BETA CLOUD. Even if it is embarrisingly bad, it is still seems to represent the essence and spirit of Fred Freiberger and hence very much of the Y2 spirit as well. Fast and stupid.
9. The Taybor- whimsy which was badly misconceived.
In my opinion THE TAYBOR was one of the better Y2 outings. Thom Keynes writing social and economical critisism disguised as a childrens tale.
10. The Dorcons- disappointment considering Johnny Byrne wrote it.
Well, yes and no, I would say, after last weeks interesting discussions thare are obviously much more in this story than hits the eye when first reviewing it. In terms of best and worst, however, I find it as difficult to place as with most Y2 episodes, not really on complete grips with what Y2 was all about. If one is enjoying Y2 for its camp value, THE DORCONS have its moments, although the most fascinating aspect of it is how it seems to be a vehicle for Johnny Byrne to try to strange Maya and spit gall at Freiberger.
Petter
From: "Petter Ogland" (petter.ogland@dnmi44.no) Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 15:26:07 +0000 Subj: Re: Space1999: Year Two in a Nutshell
Simon wrote:
Ratings are Excellent,Good,and Fair. I don't think there would be many that I could rate excellent,whilst one or two that I rated "fair" would better be described as "crap".
To me all of Y2 comes close to crap, so its rather difficult to discriminate. Perhaps I'll go with stars *** meaning Excellent on Simon's terms, Crap on my terms, ** meaning Good on Simon's terms, Worse on my terms, * meaning Fair on Simon's terms, Worst on my terms.
1. The Metamorph- fairly intelligent script,good guest characters,lots of action. Excellent(and a better start to Y2 than "Breakaway" was for Y1 IMO...). Excellent
** - The inital let-down for those who loved SPACE:1999. Some interesting ideas planned in Byrne's original script, few surviving in the produced version.
2. The Exiles- nasty alien guests and a strong story which flags a bit for me once Helena and Tony are on Golos. Good music score. Good.
** - Another script written before production of Y2. The story seems to have survived fairly well, although sets, music, type of acting and so on is a disapointment for those who still remembered the original SPACE:1999.
3. One Moment Of Humanity- not especially original and terrible dancing scenes. But a good episode for Barbara Bain and a touching ending. Good.
** - The first episodes in the new series that make some serious attempts at camp, the dancing being a typical example of this and as such is closer to three stars perhaps than two. On the other hand, in order to distinguish it from the most campy entries such as ALL THAT GLISTERS and DEVIL'S PLANET it only deserves two stars.
4. All That Glisters- Well, I quite liked it for being amusing without meaning to be. A bit like Patrick Mower in fact... Good.
*** - The best episode so far. Everything that could possible go wrong went wrong with this one. Educated poet gets his script entry shattered to pieces by Freiberger. Landau threatens to leave set. Talking rocks, Irish cowboy, zombie Tony, all captured by Y1 veteran director Ray Austin with magnificent flair. Perhaps the best entry of the season.
5. Journey to Where- I always find it a bit tedious to be honest..a well worn time travel story which was quite entertaining but nothing new. Fair.
** - Some excellent characterisation by Freddie Jones. Splendid artwork by Keith Wilson and Brian Johnson, ecological concern written somewhat more convincingly by James than Miles, although the Scottish part of the story is boring.
6. The Taybor- nice to see them try a less serious and more whimsical episode,but fails in just about every area. Nice light hearted score by Wadsworth but thats about it. Fair (aka "crap")
** - Almost two and a half stars as the episodes relishes both in camp and intellectual writing, obviously intended to be a critisism of consumer society and economical systems.
> 7.The Mark of Archanon- intelligent,good characterisations and > performances,sympathetic aliens. Not bad at all. Could almost have been Y1. > Excellent.
* - Camp, but in the wrong way. As I only have watched the episode in French, I may have missed out on points, however, that makes Simon so enthusiastical about this one. It seems pretty pointless from where I'm standing.
8. The Rules of Luton- a stupid premise from the word go. Saved only by some exchanges of dialogue between Maya and Koenig and some nice location work. Fair (and I *do* mean Fair,as I've never regarded this episode as crap. For one thing,unlike some Y1 episodes I don't think it ever aspired to be anything special..)
* - Extreme camp. Badly acted, badly written, badly use of location constituated with a completely uninspired direction. Sadly it is not bad in a way that makes it enjoyable like ALL THAT GLISTERS, quite to the contrary it is, in my opinion, one of the most boring episodes of the season. It is to Y2 what INFERNAL MACHINE is to Y1, a sleeper.
9. Brian the Brain- the title was a mistake . Brian is of course a noble name(in case a missile is launched at me from the Birmingham area..)but this was too much like LOST IN SPACE for me. Fair.(Got that Brian? Its not crap. Really. It isn't. OK,Bernard Cribbins isnt going to play King Lear,but......!)
** - Okay writing by Jack Ronder, but in execution it comes close to LOST IN SPACE, I agree. It could have been THE SURVIVORS in space, and the central theme about computers and emotions could have made it a rival to GUARDIAN OF PIRI if it was given the Y1 treatment, I suppose.
10. New Adam New Eve- great!!! Best Y2 episode. Witty script,great acting by Guy Rolfe and Martin Landau. Some dubious aliens and lizard-type SFX,but who cares? One of the best of all 48 eps IMO. Excellent.
*** - One of the best Y2 episodes in my opinion. Quite contrary to the typical Freiberger output this is intelligent writing perfectly adequat for the format.
11. Catacombs of the Moon- well,Fanderson always praises this as the most literate of Y2. Well its not...its a poorly edited or patched together episode which may well be a poor version of Terpiloffs original script. I didn't enjoy being heavy-handedly battered over the head with its theme of FAITH. Yeah,I got that much. Crap dialogue is crap dialogue regardless of whether Terpiloff or Freiberger wrote it,and theres quite a bit here. Fair(and close to "crap").
** - The proof that Terpiloff was basically a Y2 type of writer.
12. The AB Chrysalis. Crap. (Uhm,sorry. I mean: a boring load of tripe. Bouncing balls,lots of fog and supposedly naked ladies-nice though they were,couldn't save this one.) Nice "Hope is better than despair" speech etc. Faintly amusing epilogue,but that about it. Crap.(And if you ask how I can rate ALL THAT GLISTERS higher than this, I can tell you it was quite easy thanks)
** - An abstract episode of the RING AROUND THE MOON type that tries to treat the camp sets and style to create something meaningful. Only half successful at this, I think.
13. Seed Of Destruction- strong story,even if the Doppelganger idea isnt very original. Loads of conflict between characters,a fine dual performance from Landau,and a refreshing lack of an unfunny epilogue. Excellent.
** - Landau and Bain try to convince us that they still can act. The caricature definition of characters ruin some of the fun, but still one of the better Y2 efforts at charcter conflict.
14. The Beta Cloud- all sound and fury. Plenty of pace and action and a cracking score from Derek Wadsworth but depresses me more each time I view it. The brief interlude where Maya and Tony start kissing is utter bollocks(sorry Emma,but it is...it comes at the wrong point in the script and is plain embarrassing). Amusing epilogue though. That and the music lifts this to a "Fair" rating.
** - Awful entry in the typical brainless Freiberger style. It gets two stars as it represents Y2 at its most brainless, representing the vision "the future is fantastic" of Freiberger. Slightly better than the two other Woodgrove episodes.
15. Space Warp- as above. Depressing use of Maya's metamorphic abilities and a piss-poor story solely designed to fulfil production needs(eg cast availability while an episode is shot back to back). Same score as previous episode and again it lifts the rating just about to "Fair". (Though "crap" is probably closer...)
** - Nothing but a display of Maya transformations, rubber monsters and running around in the corridors. Not as bad as RULES OF LUTON, although, arguably, not as good as BETA CLOUD. Two stars in order to range it slightly above unwatchable things like RULES OF LUTON and THE MARK OF ARCHANON.
16. A Matter of Balance- Not bad in my opinion. Hilarious costuming for Vindrus, naive acting by Lynne Frederick and a ludicrous monster. But rather enjoyable all the same. Good
* - Embarrasing rubber monsters in apple yard settings. The episode that was in production when the SPACE:1999 teams was interviewed and filmed on location in 1976.
17. The Lambda Factor- an effective episode quite intelligently written on the whole. I'm not sure I go along with the view that Landau's performance was any better than normal in this one but I was quite impressed with Deborah Fallender as Carolyn. Good.
** - Average psychic episode.
18. Seance Spectre- stupid title,but quite a good idea behind the usual chase scenes and Koenig acting the superhero. Ken Hutchison hams it up a touch but basically I liked his performance. Good.
* - Internal friction in the Alpha social structure causes un uppheaval that Koenig cannot handle. Endless and meaningless confrontations between Koenig and the leader of the mutinists.
19. Dorzak- interesting story and quite a good performance from Lee Montague. Suffers from the loss of Martin Landau and I never found the romance aspect between Sahala and Carter entirely convincing. Fair
** - Poor episode whose only redeeming quality is what Penfold was actually planning to say before it all got crunched up by Freiberger.
20. Devils Planet- melodramatic title but theres more to this episode than the catsuits and whips. Some nice dialogue for a relatively minor character(Roy Marsden as Craal),spicy exchanges between Elizia and Koenig and a fairly interesting premise to begin with. Good(better than I always expect when I come to watch it...)
*** - Hold no barrels dive into the world of camp. Sheer tastlessness in the style of ALL THAT GLISTERS, although tightly clad amazon women with whips makes it enjoyable in a more perverse sort of manner.
21. The Immunity Syndrome- welcome back Johnny Byrne. Y2 atmosphere and character,with thge heart and substance of Y1 and a genuinely sympathetic and intelligently-written alien. Excellent.
** - Freiberger forcing Byrne to rewrite THE FACE OF EDEN. Produced at the end of the series when Freiberger obviously was not as concerned with the scripts as he was in the beginning and we luckily skip some of the humour and Maya metamorphs.
22. The Dorcons- sorry,not impressive. Standard adventure and not even especially amusing. Fair.
** - Byrne's remake of MISSION OF THE DARIANS while at the same time getting his revenge on Maya and Freiberger for stealing his position as script consultant and, perhaps more so, destroying his best contributions to the series.
23/24 The Bringers of Wonder- part one was by far the best segment,but this 2 parter had action,humour,characters,romance,alien menace, etc etc. It looks better on the big screen and I have to give it an "excellent" rating just for its scale. I bet Feely's original draft was even better.
** - Not as good as NEW ADAM/NEW EVE as it is watered down by rubber monsters, Maya transformations and running around. The intellectual content is of high quality, however, and could perhaps have made a nice single episode.
I have to say that,on balance,when I want to watch a SPACE 1999 I tend to pick up a Y2 episode than a Y1 as I simply find them pacier and more entertaining generally. Thats not to say that I don't find several Y1 episodes very good as well...Johnny Byrnes scripts are some of the best tv ever IMO...just that I preferred *some * of the Y2 ingredients preferable to those of Y1. It would have been great for all if there had been more attempts(perhaps by Gerry Anderson himself) to meld the best aspects of Y1 with some of the better ideas that Freiberger had for Y2...especially characterisation).
If I pick up a tape to enjoy it is normally a Y1 episode. Most of the Y2 episodes I have are either dubbed into German or French, which make them distincly more watchable. Especially on the French tapes I have to concentrate more in order to get the dialogue. I have a few Y2 episodes in English too, and while Catherine Schell is definitely more enjoyable with her natural voice, just like Barry Morse in Y1, Barbara Bain's voice does not have the same sensuality as her dubbing actresses do.
I agree that the output of Johnny Byrne has resulted in some of the best tv ever, notably things like VOYAGER'S RETURN, END OF ETERNITY and MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH. Freiberger's contribution to SPACE:1999 was only to accelerate it's downfall, the way I see it.
Here is a summary of my three-star episodes (best):
ALL THAT GLISTERS (***)
NEW ADAM/NEW EVE (***)
DEVIL'S PLANET (***)
and one-star episodes (worst):
THE MARK OF ARCHANON (*)
RULES OF LUTON (*)
MATTER OF BALANCE (*)
SEANCE SPECTRE (*)
Petter
From: Mark Meskin (plastic.gravity@newrock44.com) Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1998 21:20:35 -0600 Subj: Re: Space1999: ExE: Absolute favorite episodes
Martin Landau was asked not so long ago what his favourite episodes of SPACE:1999 were, to which he answered BREAKAWAY and BLACK SUN. He may have said other things while they were filming the episodes, Y1 and Y2, but after 20 years I understand this quite well.
Barry Morse also stated that he was fond of Black Sun, although he thought just about everything else was crap.
Both Landau and Bain are quite extraoridinary adept in these early episodes, although I would add MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH and RING AROUND THE MOON to this list of the four first episodes there were shot, and that all display an enormously talented group of people in front of and behind camera.
Petter, something must be wrong with your tapes then, both episodes are production side disorganized distasters. In addition to weak FX and bad "location" sets, the props and visuals are awful. Combine this with the weak scripts(Ring around the Moon is the bigger stinker of the 2), the ridiculous Astronomical references and awful performances by everyone(except for Morse and Landau in MOLAD....in ring they stink just as bad as the rest of the cast) and you have 2 episodes that I doubt anyone in the production team was pleased with. Ring around the Moon is so bad in fact, that I can see it being used as a "spoof" production done in an episode of "Absolutely Fabulous"......you can just see it now, in a dream induced by late night Vodka and watching "that damn Ape movie" Edie decides to try her hand at SciFi television by mixing goth fashion and 2001. Picture Edie in the directors chair talking to Barry Morse "Oh lovies, just throw in some spacey talk thingies.....galaxies, universe, you know, that spacey stuff...(takes a swig from a flask that is shaped like a commlock). hehehehe :-)
MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, while a personal favourite of mine, is based on a STAR TREK type manuscript by Art Wallace that Johnny Byrne rewrote extensively in order to have it fit with the style of BREAKAWAY and BLACK SUN.
Somewhere I remember Johnny Byrne saying the script for MOLAD was "raided" by Sir Lew Grade, who didn't want any type of reference to dates or continuity so that the show could be ran in any order and the view could understand the show without having to follow along weekly. Initially Terra Nova was Meta, later changed when the linearity of the show was dropped.
In the Fanderson interviews for the SPACE:1999 documentary Barry Morse says that this was his absolute favourite and felt that the series ended on a wrong track not exploring the inner life and emotions of its characters like it did so pervasively in this episode.
Thats where I remember it from.....this is also where he makes the hillarious "Oh, Bergman? He just fell off the back of the Moon!!!!!" comments.
While Johnny Byrne thought of this as a bad example of script writing, at least this is what he says according to Tim Heald in "The making of SPACE:1999" is not at all obvious to me. Just like Emma, I feel this is one of the better episodes of Y1, and, most of all, very typical of Chris Penfold in the use of aliens that think of humans as a space virus.
Last Sunset is a great episode and a great vehicle to explore the hopes, dreams and fears of the whole base. Helena Russel also comes out of this episode a lot stonger character than when she went in. The flight of the eagle in the storm is very dramatic and the subsequent crash in the storm is a stark contrast to the percieved "benefits" of the moon's new found atmosphere. Its great seeing the Alphans so excited to find what they have sought for so long....a home, and the possibility of a normal life, all right under their noses.
The story, the way I see it, seems to be about the human spirit of survival at all cost, stressed in particular with the sand storm part of the episode, and how the passion for survival is ultimately a danger for nature, including ourselves. This is the point stressed by the aliens in the final act.
Petter I think you had too much Red Wine again........I don;t know what you mean by this...its not a story purely about survival, although that is a component of the plot. And whats this "danger for nature crap?
To me this episode survives on style factor only. Ray Austin makes a tremendous effort, just like in ALL THAT GLISTERS, to put life into what would otherwise be a pretty lifeless episode, I feel. He succedes tremendously, however, I think, and some of the discussion between Alan, Helena, Koenig and Victor are close to the best chamber play ever produced during the course of SPACE:1999 in my opinion.
Seed of Destruction deals with a similar theme, but is the much weaker of the two episodes. Collision Course is a great episode, its also classic Year 1....lots of creepiness, mysticism, stark lighting and Koenig shouting! :-)
-Mark
From: Greg (gremart@ix.netcom44.com) Date: Thu, 03 Dec 1998 22:26:25 -0600 Subj: Re: Space1999: ExE: Absolute favorite episodes
Mark Meskin wrote:
Ring around the Moon is so bad in fact, that I can see it being used as a "spoof" production done in an episode of "Absolutely Fabulous"......you can just see it now, in a dream induced by late night Vodka and watching "that damn Ape movie" Edie decides to try her hand at SciFi television by mixing goth fashion and 2001. Picture Edie in the directors chair talking to Barry Morse "Oh lovies, just throw in some spacey talk thingies.....galaxies, universe, you know, that spacey stuff...(takes a swig from a flask that is shaped like a commlock). hehehehe :-)
I'm suprised they didnt make a spoof of it, They did make alot of references to Gerry Anderson shows though, mainly the Thunderbirds.
--
Greg Martinez
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Editor's Notes: Rejoins main thread.