Product Description
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Complete Set This series ran from 1975 to 1977 and is considered
by many sci-fi aficionados to be the ultimate in the genre, even
surpassing Star Trek. Yet another example of the outrageous
imagination and technical wizardry of Gerry Anderson
(Thunderbirds). On September of the title year, a massive
explosion at a lunar waste dump blasts the Moon out of the
Earth's orbit, launching the crew of Moonbase Alpha into the back
of the beyond. An all-star cast, headed by Martin Landau (Crimes
and Misdemeanors), makes the implausible almost believable and
always engrossing. Over 16-1/2 hours on 16 DVDs. Simon Says:
Supermarionation may be low-tech by today's standards, but it's
not without its gearhead qualities. Sound engineers first turned
recorded dialogue into electrical impulses then transmitted them
to a device in the puppets' heads. That device translated the
frequency into jaw movement, which created an amazing degree of
lip-syncing accuracy. Godzilla movies, eat your heart out!
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When it was first broadcast in 1975, there had never been a more
lavishly produced science fiction TV series than Space: 1999, a
British production whose budget for the first of its two seasons
ran an astounding £3.25 million. What keeps us fans enthralled
after all these years has only partly to due with the first-rate
production values, the plausibly constructed spaceship models,
and expert special effects. The tone of the show is one of
scientific dispassion, setting it apart from its TV sci-fi
predecessors such as Star Trek, whose mood was more convivial.
Our heroes here are in dire circumstances that require cool heads
as a survival trait. Those circumstances: the 311 crew members of
Moonbase Alpha experience a cataclysm that causes the moon to
break away from Earth's orbit and travel endlessly through space,
turning our heroes into unintentional explorers. No TV series has
created a more palpable feel of hard science fiction than this.
Of course the show is not without its detractors; it has been
soundly lambasted for its many scientific errors. No less august
a figure than Isaac Asimov criticized the show for its premise in
the opening episode, "Breakaway," which had nuclear explosions on
the "dark side of the moon" somehow propelling it out of Earth's
orbit and flying through space without regard to any physical
laws. In "Earthbound," aliens traveling to Earth state it will
take them 75 years to reach their destination, making one wonder
why it didn't take the moon that long to encounter the aliens.
While these are serious complaints, fans tend to remember the
scientific seriousness of the series and the sense of awe created
by the many strange creatures and phenomena that the crew members
encounter on their journey through the galaxy.
The Space: 1999 Mega Set collects all 48 episodes broadcast over
the show's two seasons, contained on 16 DVDs that include vintage
interviews, production stills, TV promotional spots, and
interactive menus. All episodes have been digitally remastered,
and some material that was not seen in the original U.S.
broadcasts has been restored. --Jim Gay