Talk:Space: 1999

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Contents 1 Episode order 2 Days since leaving orbit 3 Article error 4 Barry Morse quote 5 Movies 6 Bibliography and References? 7 Space 1999 wiki 8 Uniform Colours 9 Series flaws and criticisms 10 People killed, Eagles destroyed 11 Dust clouds 12 Eagles 13 Sylvia Anderson and Landau and Bain 14 List of Space: 1999 epsiodes 15 Orbiter

[edit] Episode order

In the References section, I think we should have a few links to speculations on alternate episode order. It'd be a handy resource for fans seeking a less jarring viewing experience. Anyone agree?
My fave thus far: [1] - Eyeresist 03:56, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Days since leaving orbit

I don't think this information should be on the episode chart. For one thing this information was not provided in most episodes of season 1, and in season 2 it's obvious the numbers were simply chosen at random (there is something like 1000 days difference between the two parts of "Bringers of Wonder"). I personally would rather see a subsection written about this, with a discussion of the inconsistencies. 23skidoo 02:14, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Article error

The cynical "War Games", said to be the highest-budgeted single episode of any TV series up to that time, was an overt commentary on humanity's combative nature. Alpha finds itself under attack by an unstoppable alien force that kills most of its population. Yet in another of the series' metaphysical twists, the Alphans are given a second chance at the end, and time is reversed to mere moments prior to the attack so that Commander Koenig (Landau) can rethink his fateful decisions.

This doesn't sound right. I've just watched the episode and the alien states quite clearly that the attack took place within the Alphans' minds to demonstrate one possible outcome. "Time reversing" had nothing to do with it. - Motor (talk) 02:28, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Yes, at the end it is revealed to the Alphans - and the viewer - that all the events were a hallucination engineered to alter Koenig's initial decision. Format 04:39, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Barry Morse quote

The season 2 section has a rather incendiary quote attributed to Morse: "I'd rather work with grown ups." This quote needs to be sourced since there are other sources such as "The Complete Gerry Anderson" which say he left in a salary dispute. 23skidoo 03:02, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Added reference to Morse's autobiography. It was a salary dispute- the comment was his leaving remark. 82.174.133.193 08:38, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Well done, thanks! 23skidoo 14:28, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Movies

Re Movies- I am pretty certain none of the four ITC compilations were ever shown theatrically in Europe (and I'm sceptical they were anywhere). I believe only Spazio 1999 was ever shown in cinemas. Does anyone have any evidence of this?

The A&E DVD release includes this information - at least with regards to Alien Attack and Destination Moonbase Alpha - as well as the theatrical trailers for both films. The extensive Space: 1999 Catacombs website also refers to Alien Attack and Destination MBA as theatrical releases. I don't know for certain if the last two films were ever released in this format since they came out after the rise of home video in America so probably went straight to VHS. This page at the Catacombs site specifically states that Destination MBA was a theatrical release. This page strongly indicates that the last two films were indeed compiled for cable TV. 23skidoo 21:23, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)

ITC publicity for the first two movies does say they were intended for "theatrical release in Europe", which what I quoted in the Catacombs. In Italy and Japan, at least, Bringers Of Wonder was not shown as part of the original broadcasts (in 79 and 81) because this was after the film had been made and pulled from the ITC sales package. In Japan, Destination MBA was straight-to-video (CBS Fox Far East, 1982 - later it was shown on TV). I have pretty good information for most European countries, usually with complete broadcast histories, and I can't find anything about a cinema release ever happening. I believe there probably was an intention to release them to cinemas, but they never made it. Cable, satellite and video were easier and more profitable (the trailers were equally applicable). Martin w 08:43, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)

If you haven't already done so, maybe you should pass along the correction to the Catacombs folks. 23skidoo 20:11, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I am the Catacombs folks, so consider it done! Martin w 08:58, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Bibliography and References?

Why are there both a Bibliography and a References sub-heading? I don't want to change it in case there's a good reason for it, but it looks tp me like a cock-up. I'm also wondering, if they are references, why aren't references being used in context using <ref ... > </ref> and <references/> tags? Oversight? Cain Mosni 20:06, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Of course, bear in mind that those tags weren't always around... -- Joe Beaudoin Jr. ^{Think out loud} 00:50, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Space 1999 wiki

If anyone is interested, I have set up a wiki for Space: 1999, which can be located here. -- Joe Beaudoin Jr. ^{Think out loud} 03:41, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Uniform Colours

Can anyone describe what the uniform colours on the sleeves in the first season represented? I'd love to see that information here. jdobbin 04:05, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

White is medical. Purple is security. Yellow is for astronauts. The rusty brown is for technical. Red is for operators. Although, sometimes, some of the colors would be used interchangably, as far as I can tell. -- Joe Beaudoin Jr. ^{Think out loud} 04:51, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Not quite. It depends on the video/DVD/transmission you receive. Sandra Benes sleeve is a light yellow colour, Alan Carters is orange.

This web page gives a good, and very clear distinction.

http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/cguide/uc05.html

Hope that helps. BTW, Beaudoin, I don't mean to be dismissive of your efforts, for a long time I couldn't really see a difference between Sandra's and Alans sleeve colours, some of the tv transmissions and video masters were pretty poor, so picture quality suffered. Douglasnicol 13:39, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response. Looking forward to more details in the entry. jdobbin 02:09, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Series flaws and criticisms

Someone claims that "the producers and writers also completely ignored the fact that the moon would take hundreds, if not thousands, of years to reach the vicinity of another star" -- to me that's completely untrue. It's a while since I've watched the show, but I remember they went to a significant amount of trouble to justify why the Moon could travel from star to star, by having it go through a 'black sun' and end up in a different part of the universe where stars were closer together.

Now, that's extremely silly in itself, but as far as I'm concerned claiming that they 'completely ignored' the problem is just plain wrong. If no-one else updates this section beforehand, I'll watch those episodes on the DVD when I get a chance and rewrite it myself: for now I'm removing the 'this glaring omission makes the series laughable to the point being unwatchable to anyone with any knowledge of physics' section, since it's clearly not a verifiable claim and it's wrong (I can provide at least one counter-example). Mark Grant 10:55, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] People killed, Eagles destroyed

On a similar subject, has anyone ever counted how many Alphans were killed and Eagles destroyed? By my rough guess based on the typical death and destruction rate in an episode, they must have lost nearly 50% of their crew and several times their original complement of Eagles by the end of the second season... Mark Grant 11:13, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

The Continuity guide I linked to before in the 'Uniforms' section has a count of personnel killed, and I believe Eagles destroyed in each episode. Douglasnicol 12:37, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll check it out when I get home and add some info to the article. It's always bugged me that all these people got killed off but they never seemed to worry about population decline :). Mark Grant 12:41, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Maybe it had something to do with the apparent ability of Alpha to generate new personnell out of the ether such as Tony Verdeschi. ;) 23skidoo 14:53, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

It did seem rather funny in the Episode "The Exiles", how they say to Cantar and Zova that "they don't even allow births due to the limitations of the life support system", yet you must have more and more people dying. Douglasnicol 18:15, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dust clouds

Actually, there is an issue with dust clouds. It's not that dust is thrown into the 'air' by the rockets, which happens on Earth or Moon, it's that the dust remains in the 'air' after the rocket thrust stops propelling it... in a vacuum it would drop straight to the ground under gravity if there was no force to hold it up. However, I think that's pedantic enough that removing the comment is probably justified... rewriting it to properly explain the issue would probably take half a page :). Mark Grant 01:35, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Eagles

Wiki is sorely lacking in Eagle information. Perhaps I'll make a page. For now, though, I've added a three image gallery showing the events leading to the nuclear explosion. I chose images that also highlight the Eagles. Come on, now. Isn't the Eagle just about the best design for a utilitarian Sci-Fi space ship ever? sinewave^Talk   21:39, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sylvia Anderson and Landau and Bain

Does anyone know why Sylvia Anderson was against the casting of Landau and Bain? Too old? Too commercial? Americans? Format 04:43, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

"We visited them and they came to our home a few times, but I really just found them to be very different to myself and those who I had worked with earlier. Martin was a bit full of himself and to be honest I just wasn't that impressed with them. I wanted a lead who was a little different, someone who never had all the answers, was often wrong about things and was constantly questioning himself and those around him." 83.182.134.234 20:08, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of Space: 1999 epsiodes

I have started this and I need someone who is familiar with the show to add short summaries so the article is more complete. Anyone want to help? — Moe 20:45, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Orbiter

Someone removed the Orbiter link claiming 'it's only there to promote a product'. Orbiter is _freeware_, and as far as I'm aware it's the only way to fly Space 1999 spacecraft in a simulator on a PC. I'd agree that it would be better in an article specifically about the Space 1999 spacecraft (which I don't believe exists at the moment?), but it seems a legitimate-enough link. Anyone else have an opinion on this? Mark Grant 15:53, 26 November 2006 (UTC)