Blu-ray review
Starring Martin Landau, Barbara Bain
Release date 1 November 2010
A freak nuclear explosion blows the Moon out of Earth’s orbit, and the crew of Moonbase Alpha into uncharted space…
With its scientifically shaky premise, high melodrama and impossibly funky opening theme, Space: 1999 is clearly a product of the time it was produced, November 1973 to February 1975. Yet few science fiction series have dealt with the strange mystery of space in such a convincing way.
While the plots don’t always hang together as well as they might, the characters work well, with the excellent Martin Landau as the no-nonsense leader Commander Koenig, and Barbara Bain as Dr. Helena Russell, who slowly begins to warm to Koenig across the course of the series. It’s notable too, that Russell isn’t always able to provide the medical answers, which is fitting given the predicament of the Moonbase Alpha crew!
Also of note is the stunning special effects work that set a new standard at the time and hold up remarkably well even now. The Eagle transporter remains something of a design classic and Moonbase Alpha itself feels like a working environment. Space is expressed in lurid colours depicting a variety of nebulas; it’s a beautiful achievement.
So how does it look in Blu ray? The answer is: incredible! The show has benefitted enormously from being shot on film, allowing for a crisp transfer. Even the scenes with Barbra Bain, which were notorious for their use of soft focus, seem crisp and detailed. The sound is nicely remixed from the original mono into Dolby 5.1, making the title music funkier than ever.
The extras perhaps rely a little too heavily on photos – an episode of This is Your Life for the co-star Roy Dotrice is represented by stills only – but there are some entertaining featurettes that attempt to redress the balance. As a side note, the press release for this release informs us that this is “the only place in the universe to get English subtitles!” Jonathan Wilkins
VERDICT: 8/10
Classic SF TV, which now looks better than ever.
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