Customer Reviews

Space 1999 Set 5:V9 & 10

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've always thought that the start of both seasons of Space 1999 weren't as much fun as the episodes that came after them. Set 5 has some good episodes and some good moments, but sets 6,7, and 8 are much more fun. As the start of season two, this set has both it's share of draw-backs and it's fun moments.

I wont waste space reviewing every episode, but I will say that The Metamorph is one of my faves! Catherine Schell is introduced as Maya in this one. New theme music, cast members, costumes, and sets are introduced as well. Dr Bergman is gone, and the main control center has now been moved underground. Maya helps to fill the void left by Bergman, and after episodes like War Games the new location of the control center makes good sense. Smart move Koenig.

Space 1999 sets 2,3,4,6,7,8 are my favorites, but 1 and 5 are important to the show and to finish your collection. There are some good epsodes in both so check them out. While you are at it, try the Space 1999 novel The Forsaken by John Muir. It sheds more light on just what happened between the program's two seasons and is an excellent read.

Some of the episodes in this set have inferior sound. It's not unlistenable, but it is sub par. Fortunatley, I don't find it too distracting, but it's too bad they didn't make the sound as wonderful as the picture quality. Apart from the sound problems, I enjoyed this set.
This set contains shows from the second season of Space 1999 which was a more ridiculous season, but there are many guilty pleasure episodes here. My favorites include:
"The Metamorph" which is the first episode of the second season and introduces the new theme music and show opening. I like it. We also get a new command center, some new costumes, and the introduction of Tony and Maya. Tony brings some great humor to the show and he keeps trying to make beer. You have to admire a guy who tries to make beer and maintains a sense of humor while the moon is hurling through space. Catherine Schell is lovely as Maya the Psychlon and Maya can turn into all kinds of living creatures which is fun. She's also the sexiest woman with side-burns ever! Brian Blessed plays Mayas dad Mentor.
"The Exiles" has some very suspenseful moments as 50 missiles suddenly begin to orbit the moon and the intercepting of one of them for further study is pretty tense. There's a great sense of mystery for the first half of this episode, but then it turns silly, but I like silly. "Journey to Where" is a bit of Time Tunnel like adventure with a good performance by Freddie Jones, and "The Taybor" is extremely goofy and features some scantly clad female Alphans, and Maya turning into Mr Hyde. I wont comment on the disco dancing horny android epsiode, or the episode with the living rocks. These aren't the most realistic or brainy TV episodes ever, and Set 5 is the low point of the Space 1999 DVD sets, but there are plenty of fun moments in this one and let us never forget that Catherine Schell is the sexiest woman with side-burns ever.

Season two of Space 1999 is a great deal of fun if you understand exactly what to expect. Expect CHEESE with your Space 1999 and plenty of it. I think season one was great, but no matter how many times you watch a train roll down a track there's just something more compelling about a train wreck. Season 2 is a weird combination of quality elements and wacky cheesy elements that makes for entertaining viewing.

It would be easy to rip this show to pieces and there are plenty of reviews here that do just that, but I have a blast watching these episodes with friends. It's a wonderful mix of cool stuff, decent acting and writing, dubious acting and writing, and just plain silly stuff that both amuses and brings back the fun of being a kid and watching this sort of monster/space adventure show. My friends and I never saw the show when it was on tv, but it's the kind of thing that the kid in us adore and it's very funny when it isn't fantastic stuff. These episodes are all over the map, but they never fail to entertain.

Comments made about this show's second season and its decline are correct. They really could have moved this show from Saturday evening to Saturday morning, where it could have been watched by more children. After having seen these first six episodes of the second season, I thought that this show had an extremely radical departure in its overall production content from the show's first season. Season two of Space: 1999 has more in common with Irwin Allen TV shows like "Lost In Space", and "Land Of The Giants" than with the show's first season. I have included reviews of each of the six episodes in this set:

The Metamorph ** (2 Stars) -- With the radical change in everything that made season one of Space: 1999 what it was, we see a huge change in this television program. Main Mission has been replaced by a much smaller Command Center. The uniforms look different. Half of the supporting characters are gone without any mention of what happened to them, including Professor Bergman. Unlike Star Trek and ST: TNG, it isn't like Moonbase Alpha could stop at a nearby starbase and drop off and pick up new crew members. This type of discontinuity really stretches any remaining beliveability in the show. I had read in Dynamite Magazine as a kid that Professor Bergman died from mechanical heart failure, but there is absolutely no explanation of this in the first episode of the second season. The shape shifting metamorph Maya is introduced in this episode. If you can overlook the changes, this episode is fair at best.

The Exiles * (1 Star) -- I thought that the dialog that Dr. Russell shouts out after she damages the protective membrane of the exile named Cantor sounded more like a hypnotic suggestion. "You're too old to fire that gun! You're now over 300 years old! You're slowing down! Your muscles won't respond!" I was surprised to see Dr. Mathias from the first season in the first two episodes of the second season, but after this episode, he is gone for good.

A Moment Of Humanity * (1 Star) -- I have renamed this episode "51 Minutes Of Stupidity". In this episode, the androids are actually humans, and the the humans are androids. And just because they didn't know what else to do, a quick but highly erroneous version of Othello is put on by the androids, just to make Commander Koenig mad. The sound quality is muffled and really poor, but even if it were good, it wouldn't make any difference.

All That Glisters * (1 Star) -- Glowing rocks that need water and a wannabe Irish Cowboy populate this episode. Listen for Dr. Russell's impersonation of Dr. McCoy from Star Trek: "I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker!"

Journey To Where * (1 Star) -- I'm sorry, but I thought that this was a really cool episode when I saw it as a kid, but I think that it looks really cheap now and the the story just isn't very good. Moonbase Alpha receives an intergalactic transmission from Texas City on Earth in the far future. Commander Koenig, Dr. Russell and Alan are transported to Earth, but end up in the wrong time of several hundred years ago.

The Taybor * (1 Star) -- Of all the episodes that I thought resembled a typical Irwin Allen TV show, this was it. Moonbase Alpha invites a vagabond trader known only as Taybor to trade items of interest, and runs off with Maya, but decides that he doesn't want her when she transforms into an ugly old hag.

Does anyone remember the 70's Saturday morning action series, Land of the Lost? Space:1999 Season 2 becomes a Saturday morning action series, changing from a serious science fiction drama. It completely abandons the original premise of the series.

The first episode, The Metamorph, symbolically describes the deterioation of the show from the beauty it was in season one to the garbage it became in season 2. Not all Americans appreciated the mindless campiness the show became with its teeny bopper romance, its tacky plastic monsters and the characters becoming teenagers from any hometown high school. The acquisition of Maya had tremendous potential in the series which, alas was hopelessly wasted during the entire season.

The second episode, The Exiles, appears to be a weak attempt at recreating the premise of End of Eternity. However, it is very weak and Cantor and Zova are not as nearly menacing and threatening as Balor. The Sleestaks from Land of the Lost were more frightening.

The third episode trumpets the direction the series would go for the rest of the season. No longer epic stories of survival of a community, starting with One Moment of Stupidity, the stories are created and revolved around the couples of Koenig and Russell and Tony and Maya. If you enjoy Harlequin romances, then this should appeal to you. If you are looking for serious science fiction that is thought provoking and intellectual, you won't find it in season 2.

The fourth episode, All That Glisters, is just terrible. Alive and smart rocks. <snicker> Need I say more? Even most die-hard enthusiatic season 2 fans consider this episode bad...bad...bad.

So, on this DVD set of 4, only one episode appears to be OK..and just OK. If you are determined to see it, I advise you to go to your local library or rent it; buying it is a waste of money.

Does anyone remember the 70's Saturday morning action series, Land of the Lost? Space:1999 Season 2 becomes a Saturday morning action series, changing from a serious science fiction drama. It completely abandons the original premise of the series.

The first episode, The Metamorph, symbolically describes the deterioation of the show from the beauty it was in season one to the garbage it became in season 2. Not all Americans appreciated the mindless campiness the show became with its teeny bopper romance, its tacky plastic monsters and the characters becoming teenagers from any hometown high school. The acquisition of Maya had tremendous potential in the series which, alas was hopelessly wasted during the entire season.

The second episode, The Exiles, appears to be a weak attempt at recreating the premise of End of Eternity. However, it is very weak and Cantor and Zova are not as nearly menacing and threatening as Balor. The Sleestaks from Land of the Lost were more frightening.

The third episode trumpets the direction the series would go for the rest of the season. No longer epic stories of survival of a community, starting with One Moment of Stupidity, the stories are created and revolved around the couples of Koenig and Russell and Tony and Maya. If you enjoy Harlequin romances, then this should appeal to you. If you are looking for serious science fiction that is thought provoking and intellectual, you won't find it in season 2.

The fourth episode, All That Glisters, is just terrible. Alive and smart rocks. <snicker> Need I say more? Even most die-hard enthusiatic season 2 fans consider this episode bad...bad...bad.

On then to the fifth episode, Journey To Where. Ho Hum..A time travel story. It would have been interesting to see this one done in the 1st year with some major script changes and rewriting, of course.

The last beauty in this "magnificent" set is The Taybor. A space age flea market dealer becomes obsessed with getting Maya. Too bad he did not in the end get her...boring!! Instead of becoming a contributing character, the alien Maya becomes a waif, and ingenue thoughout the series in need of protection from the other character addition, her boyfriend Tony Verdeschi.

So, on this DVD set of 6, only one episode appears to be OK..and just OK. If you are determined to see it, I advise you to go to your local library or rent it; buying it is a waste of money.

As everyone has noted, Year 2 is drastically different from Year 1. Not only is the design and costumes slightly altered, many fan favorite characters have suddenly disappeared without any explanation. Also, a corny sense of humor is injected to try disipate the tedium many Year 1 stories had. It didn't work. Though, if you grew up watching the program when it first came out, one can still find a lot of escapist fun, with Irwin Allen-type Sci-Fi explanations. The production, design and special effects are still top notch. The stories have a more action style tone to them, but the dialogue and acting is certainly questionable. the set is really a mixed bag. Obviously The Metamorph is the best of the lot, introducing Maya, the molecular tranforming sexy alien. The Exiles has it's moments. The Humanity(the one with the androids)story actually feels like a holdover from Year 1. All That Glisters, critised by the entire cast, is really a lot of fun. Martin Landau, fom what I've read, thought this was the nadir or the entire series. Journey to Where is tolerable. And The Taybor, well, you were warned.

Still, enjoyment and tolerance of this Set and the program really depends on how non-discriminating you are with cheesy Sci-Fi with a big budget.

As I had stated in my review of sets 1 through 4 - I loved the first season of Space:1999. When they went to the second season, Fred Frieberger took over - former of the original Star Trek production team.

He wanted to make it "hip" for the 70's. But what he did is make it more unreal for me. He dropped my favorite set "Main Mission" and created "Command Center" a much smaller and more compact room to run the base of now 289 members. The Eagles got "mufflers" and "spoilers" and they dropped two of my favorite characters - Proffesor Victor Bergman (Barry Morse) and Paul Morrow (Prentis Hancock).

Almost every epsiode someone dies. They would have never made it to a forth season because by the time third season was over, there would only be a 100 people left.

The changes I did like were the Catherine Schell character of Miya. She orginally appeared as the Keeper in Gaurdian Of Piri in the first season and did so well the producers wanted her back as a regular. Tony Chelini (Tony Anolt) was an interesting character to add too.

Visually this series relized on Laser Blasts every episode and a new set of monsters every week. Yikes! The production value of the monster made some of Dr. Who's villians look like real creatures.

Overall the stories are not as good as well. But there are some interesting action moments and comedy. (The comedy was added with no real purpose - all of a sudden, every plays jokes!)

The DVD has an interesting feature as well. Some of the original station specific promos with Barbara Bain and Martin Landau promoting the show. Very unique. You decide.

They have finaly released season 2 of this great show.Maya is so hot! The music is so great. Martin Laundau is the best actor to ever star in a sci-fi show, no wonder he won that award for Ed Wood. I am in a hurry to watch The Bringers of Wonder episode which has a story very simular to The Matrix. Space 1999 was so ahead of its time, after watching these episodes I now know were Star Trek The Next Generation gets most of its ideas, not from the original Star Trek! Hop on board Moonbase Alpha everyone for the trip of a lifetime!!!!!!!!