Space:1999

I doubt I can say anything that hasn't been said before about this wonderful show. It was produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. It was the final series that they produced together. The Anderson's were married but split during the shows production. They had a string of hits from Fireball XL5 to, well Space:1999. Sylvia seems to have left the business but Gerry kept producing until 2005. While they were seen as making the new Star Trek it was really inspired by 2001: A Space Oddessy. The person in charge of special effects had worked on that film. Another place of inspiration came from one of the Anderson's own shows. UFO was produced for one season. A second season was planned but never came about. So the ideas for UFO were used on Space:1999. The cast on the first season came mostly from North America. Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, like the Andersons, were married to each other at the time and played Commander Koenig and Dr. Russell. They had played together before on Mission Impossible. Actor Barry Morse was from Canada and gained fame in the USA on the 19609's series of The Fugitive. After the first season Mr. Morse, who played Professor Bergman, left the series and his character was replaced by Maya played by Catherine Schell. She was a Spock type of character. The show started filming in 1973 but didn't air till 1975.
I didn't see the first season till I started getting VHS tapes like the one shown above. It was shown on Saturday nights in my area and I didn't find it till they were on the second season. I played Basketball at the YMCA. My Mom and Dad one night had to go grocery shopping after the game and my friends Dad took us all home. Mom had my dinner ready so I just warmed it up and watched TV while I waited for them. The first thing that appeared as the TV warmed up was Space:1999. I had just seen Star Trek in syndication and it had just stopped airing here. So this was an unexpected thrill to me. It wasn't aired every week. For some reason it was aired sporadically.
The basis of the show was that a nuclear explosion happened on the other side of the moon on which Moonbase Alpha was stationed. It blew the moon out of orbit and the moon became the spaceship. They traveled the universe trying to find their way back home. The show only made one mistake. Telling what year it was in the title. It dates the show.