Space: 1999 - The Complete Second Series [DVD]

Better than before in 5.1

Well wrapped and speedy delivery.Item in an excellent condition. Seller recommended.

OK - let's start with the obvious - Season Two was ruined by the appointment of ITC New York of Fred Freiberger as producer - the same guy who wrecked the third season of Star Trek - The Original Series. Enough. Rant over and nothing less than a true fan of the first series would expect me to say....That said, the special effects are still great, some of the stories are still thought provoking despite the aforementioned gentleman's reliance on comedic (read sugary) moments, romantic (again, read sugary) and having a monster of the week - not sugary - just ****.The remaining original cast are still strong and genuinely try to deliver and are assisted by the addition of Maya (played with some panache by the gorgeous Catherine Schell).The reason I have given this five stars is that we have waited for so long to see some of these stories (The Bringers of Wonder springs immediately to mind) in fully remastered condition is nothing short of a Holy Grail for those of us who grew up on this...Enjoy it, hate it. Season Two was the last of Space: 1999 and we should at be grateful that we got that because compared to some of what followed after (I will exempt Blake's 7 and Babylon 5 from this) most TV Sci Fi has followed very similar and unfortunate paths...battle the ee

Once upon a time I watched Space 1999 on TV played with model eagles and had the annuals. There was something intangible about this series and that indefinable quality has made it a cult classic amongst fans of the works of Gerry and Silvia Anderson.I bought the first season on Bluray which is a tour-de-force in how to remaster a TV series that others should follow - were looking at you Warner Brothers!After enjoying the first series I decided to get the second on bluray. Season two is quite a different entity. Whilst IMHO the stories are not as strong as the first season, and with some unexplained changes - certain characters disappeared and Moonbase alpha had a makeover (Main Mission became Command Center, they got ground based laser batteries, costumes got a makeover, etc), its nonetheless quite fun. And there are some good stories with faster paced action etc.As with the first season Network have done a superb job of remastering the footage and its superb.Overall then, the stories are less cerebral and more action based than Series One, the special fx aren't quite as good either (but still very good for the time and quite acceptable) but if you're a Space 1999 fan, a fan of faster paced sci-fi with a bit more action, then this is a must buy.

I have given this product 4 stars on the strength of the quality remastering. The picture and sound are fantastic. The extras are fine although the interviews are a little repetitive. There is a fan movie created with Action Man dolls playing the roles. The quality of this is pretty good and it's watchable enough. There is a long interview with Martin Landau which is very interesting. He is quite the raconteur and talked animatedly about the show, acting and his life. There is a student documentary about the making of Space 1999 which is OK if a little amateur with the interviewer asking questions in muffled tones off camera. It also highlighted how uncomfortable special effects man Brian Johnston is in front of the camera. There is a stills gallery and some mute footage which is probably only of interest to students of film making. The programme itself is very much of its time, possibly more so than Series 1. The storylines are quite basic and the Koenig character is more like Landau's General Adlon character in the film Meteor. Less considered and thoughtful than in Series 1 and more prone to suspicion and aggression. I assume that this was an attempt to make him more of an action hero. Landau himself says that he had a lot of arguments with Anderson and producer Fred Freiberger about the writing. Frieberger comes in for a lot of criticism and he does sound like a bit of a Hollywood hack. Freiberger may have been trying to make Space more like his season of Star Trek. Dr Russell gets to do a Captain's Log style narration at the beginning which creates continuity issues as the days in space seem to reduce from episode to episode for a while. There are also 2 days between 2 particular episodes during which time the Moon appears to have travelled to another solar system. Did it put on a massive burst of speed? These things are more obvious when binge watching, most of us probably didn't notice back when we had to wait a week between episodes. There are more aliens, mainly of the man in a rubber suit variety. These invariably let the show down as they lumber about in 50's B movie style while the cast quail before them. They also reused suits shamelessly, there is a fisheyed alien which is used in 3 consecutive episodes although they did kit him with horns and a costume in one episode. Freiberger also presumably introduced the skirt to the Space uniform. No complaints from me there, the Series 1 outfits were a bit lacking in sex appeal (is it wrong to say that these days?). Strangely the supporting cast got flattering shorter skirts while Barbara Bain and Catherine Schell had to contend with poorly shaped longer split skirts which did them no favours at all. Still, it could have been worse. The actress playing an alien security escort to a deadly Psychon criminal got to perform her duties attired in a flimsy nightie adorned hilariously with feathers across the chest. All the cast got more colour in their wardrobes but hi def really shows up the deficiencies in their badges and insignia which often look as if they were marker pen drawn roughly on cardboard. The hi def also shows up the cracks and scratches on the sets and equipment. This actually works in the show's favour as it adds a patina of use to the kit rather than being unfeasibly new and shiny. Hi def and a large screen also shows up some economies with some of the sets. For instance, the throne room in the ship in episode The Dorcons clearly has blackout curtains rising above the walls. And the throne has been used twice before which wouldn't be an issue if it didn't look so distinctive. In another episode Koenig modifies a piece of alien kit to help him find and navigate through a space warp. This kit looks suspiciously like an Alphan scanner and it then crops up in different guises in various subsequent episodes, usually in the foreground where it sits taunting the viewer by being obviously reused.It sounds like I'm nitpicking and I probably am but some of these details point to a lack of care in the production and a lack of respect for the viewer. Many of the faults of Space 1999 are common to TV programmes of the time. Episodic stories where nothing is carried over to the next episode were par for the course in the 70s and 80s. Likewise the risible fight scenes are standard for the time but incredibly unsatisfying to watch now. The attempts at humour are fairly weak and usually parcelled into a segment at the end complete with jaunty music to let you know all is well and life goes on. The supporting characters get more to do and some of the Command Centre staffers are changed late in the season to add variety (or maybe due to contractual issues). The acting is variable in quality, my favourite is the Dorcon doctor whose performance on being shot has to be seen to be believed. Landau and his cohorts do their best with underwritten characters and it is to their credit that they pull it off most of the time.Despite what you might think from this review, I'm glad I bought this. I grew up with Space 1999 and I will watch it again. It is not as good as Series 1 but it was good for its time. Bear that in mind when you watch it and don't expect Firefly or Battlestar Galactica and you'll be fine.

As a huge fan of Space 1999 I couldn't wait until this box set was released (DVD Version ), I have had other releases in the past including an American box set but these hadn't received the complete restoration process like this new release.When the item arrived I was worried as the package looked very small, because the Amazon photo makes the box set look fater than it actually is but after opening it I realised that they had managed to put the complete second series on 8 Dvds which is in one case with slimline jewel spindles.There are 4 episodes each on 6 disc's (24 in total) and the remaining 2 disc's have the extras as mentioned in the product description.Wow they have done a great job as there is no dust, sparkle, hairs or imperfections and the picture is sharp and vibrant and also it was great to hear the simulated 5.1 dolby sound using headphones, the sound effects are amazing and clear.I have only so far watched 2 episodes but already I am amazed and I look forward to the rest of the episodes, there is a whole host of extras which I haven't watched yet but I cannot recommend this enough after all I think this is out of this world ( Excuse the Punn)