Space: 1999 - The Complete Second Series [DVD]

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.

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)

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.

A marvelous second series from the Gerry Anderson live action stable. All fun effects and story lines of our heroes surviving against all odds whist hurtling directionless through space on moon-base Alpha. This series is much more action based as opposed to the first more cerebral series. There are now laser defense weapons on the base and Eagle spaceships. So more action and less talking. The introduction of the glamorous Catherine Schell who can meta-morph into other living creatures is yet another new element to this excellent series. Great space science-fiction fun in a brilliant new Blu-Ray transfer. Lots of added extras are included in the box set

In beautiful Condition....The final piece in the Jigsaw, That is, my Sci-Fi collection for the coming Winter. Everything is as I remember and added extras in the Package too-which I was NOT expecting, Totally delighted with my purchase, Real value for my money . Picture and sound quality are 1st Class, Postcards, and Booklets in EXCELLENT condition, On screen Menu works very well, With ALL the added extras on each Disc included. MORE than pleased to add this to my collection, Do yourselves a favour....Add this to your DVD Library, You won't be sorry.

If you haven't bought season 1 yet, get that one first! Picture quality is great, extras as well. Unfortunately the 2nd season isn't really that much of a treat: scripts, sets, actors, costumes, almost everything is 50% worse than in the first season. There's more humor, which doesn't fit the show at all and hampers the impact of the story lines, it's more sexist and less intelligent. For me as a big fan of the show however, it's a must buy item. If you're new to the show: GET SEASON ONE! There are 24 episodes per season. In season one, there are 18 great episodes in my opinion. In the second season there's maybe 2 really good ones and bunch of OK-ish ones.

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

An eight disc dvd box set containing all twenty four fifty minute long [approx] episodes of Space 1999. Season two. For the uninitiated, the show saw the moon blasted out of Earth orbit, and the residents of Moonbase Alpha, under the command of John Koenig [Martin Landau] facing a struggle to survive. The first season tried hard to be a show with a sense of serious cosmic wonder. But behind the scenes activities forced changes for the second. In came a new producer, who tried to lighten the tone. The cast got new costumes. New sets. Regular characters Victor Bergman, Paul Morrow and Kano went, all killed off in between the end of the first season and the start of this one. Alan Carter almost went the same way, but survived when it was discovered how popular he was. In came new characters security chief Tony Verdeschi [Tony Anholt] and Maya. Alien humanoid played by Catherine Schell, who has the power to shape shift. New titles and new music also appeared. And they tried to lighten the mood via character humour as well. The first season has been described as one third brilliant, one third good, and one third awful. This season is mostly in the middle of that grouping. Nothing stands out as desperately bad. But very few episodes really hit the brilliant mark. What was an attempt at serious science fiction became more a science fiction action adventure series. And perhaps lost a little something in the process. It remains perfectly watchable though. Especially for many viewers of british tv in the seventies as it wasn't shown in all regions, so if you didn't first encounter it on VHS in the nineties, now is your chance. The dvd has the following language and subtitle options; Languages: English. Subtitles: English. All the sound and pictures in each episode have been restored. They do look and sound very good indeed. Extras are all nothing new, mostly stuff scraped together from existing material. But there are some good ones in there. Every episode has a stills gallery, and a music only option. On disc seven we also have: Seed of destruction: season one version. Which takes one of the season two episodes and gives it season one style music and an opening in the same vein. It's an interesting experiment. Unexposed: behind the scenes of season two. A twenty five minute long making of feature made by some film students back in the seventies. It is something of a product of it's times in the presentation, but the content as a whole is pretty good. Stock footage archive: forty one minutes worth of various model and set shots. Production audio: the original sound recordings from four episodes. Which run from twenty six to forty one minutes. Cosmos 1999: a fan film shot by two candians, which uses toys and models to tell a space 1999 story. This runs for thirteen minutes and is an absolute gem. With so many delightfully knowing touches that will make you grin. A hugely entertaining watch. Disc eight has: Martin Landau interview. Recorded in 1994, this is almost forty five minutes of him talking about the show and the rest of his career. And very interesting talk it is. An excellent watch. Archive interviews: all shot in 1976, these are interviews with cast members Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Catherine Schell, designer Keith Wilson, visual effects man Brian Johnson, producer Fred Freiberger, and show co creator Gerry Anderson himself. They run from three to six minutes. The interviewees are pretty good. The interviewer is almost inaudible. Outtake: A short clip, only a few seconds long, of an outtake from one episode. Which is quite amusing. Trailers and promos: ten minutes worth of trailers for the show. These get a bit repetitive as many are the same with slight variations depending on where they were to be shown. Behind the scenes: model shop. Six minutes of film of the visual effects unit at work. A more modern commentary tells you what is going on. The film is interesting. The commentary is very good. Also as PDF files there are scripts for the majority of the episodes, plus all the annuals released at the time. Not quite a five star product, because the season wasn't quite one. But a very good box set for it indeed.

Qualite image et son impressionnant, très bon produits et dvd pour les nostalgique

SPACE:1999、イギリス1974年から1975年。 『サンダーバード』で知られるジェリー・アンダーソンが製作、シーズン1が真面目過ぎて受けず、製作費が出ずに教授が降板し、宇宙人を取り込んだが2シーズン計48話で打ち切られた。 メカニックの作動音、基地のあちこちにテレビ電話、イーグルの離着陸で脚のサスペンションがカッコよくて高校の時、深夜の再放送で見直しました。 CGゼロで爆破シーンはカメラを下において火花が四方に無重力状態に飛び散る撮影の先駆けでした。 日本語モノのDVDは中古でも2万×2シーズンなのでやめて、 5000円×2でblurayデジタルリマスター版、dts5.1サラウンドだが字幕も音声も英語のみを購入。 口コミでリージョンコードで観れないとありましたが確かにパソコンでも認識しません。でもパソコンならフリーソフトでリージョンコードチェックをバイパスできます。 多国籍サラウンドスピーカーで5.1も反響音を最大にして、今夜もムーンベースアルファ放浪の旅に出ます。

Très bonne qualité d'image du bluray.

Per chi, come me, è nato negli anni '70, una raccolta del genere non può mancare. È incredibile la qualità dell'immagine e come giunga a noi in perfetto stato, dopo 40 anni! Nemmeno al tempo era possibile vedere un'immagine così definita. Ottimo lavoro. Una serie che meriterebbe un reboot degno di nota, se solo fosse considerata come si deve. Rispetto a tanto altro, direi che non sfigura nemmeno tanto rispetto ad altre serie del genere più giovani.

Aunque sea una vieja serie sigue siendo fascinante.