Space 1999 - Complete

Director- Various

Cast- Martin Landau, Barbara Bain

Country of Origin- U.K.
 

Distributor - Shout! Factory

Number of discs –  13

Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald

Date- 07/31/2019

    Space 1999 has a deceptively simple premise. In the future year of 1999 (OK, future from 1975), a nuclear explosion knocks Earth's moon out of orbit alongside the 300 or so people who live on Moonbase Alpha.   The crew of the moonbase are now hurtling through space, far from the accessibility of Earth, and now searching for a way home or a new home.

    I had only seen a few episodes of Space: 1999 before receiving this set. Not enough to make a judgment call on the series, so it was an interesting experience watching this series as a whole. The first series plays out as a solid mix or hard sci-fi, and surrealist metaphysical, and philosophical science fiction.  It had me glued to my seat the entire time as I felt it was the British TV equivalent of Solaris or 2001: A Space Odyssey. The latter film is the obvious design inspiration for the film.  

    The second season sees a change in producer, and also a change in tone. The thoughtful sci-fi of the original series gives way to more action, and lesser writing.  The producer of the second series Fred Freiberger was also coincidentally the producer of S3 of Star Trek: TOS, which also saw that show go into a stark decline in quality due to similar decisions.

    Shout! Factory presents Space 1999 in a splendid series of 1:33:1 1080p transfer. The original run of episodes was restored for a 2010 Blu-ray release, and no new remastering was done here. That being said it's a quality restoration with excellent detail, and film like textures. The second series is a newer restoration, and because of that looks a tiny bit better than the first. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD 5.1 track in English, that sounds quite solid with no obvious issues. Extras include multiple on camera interviews with the cast and crew, and also one with author John Muir. There are also multiple audio commentaries, and vintage promotional material. Space 1999 - The Complete Series from Shout! Factory comes highly recommended.