The Catacombs Catacombs International Guide
France

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At the start of 1975, French television was reorganised. The first French channel was renamed TF1. The second channel (in 1975 renamed Antenne 2) had started colour transmissions in 1967, but the more popular TF1 didn't start colour until the end of 1975.

Guy Lux had devised many French variety shows including Intervilles, the format which British television copied as It's a Knockout. In 1975 his big hit was a Saturday afternoon magazine. Samedi est à vous (Saturday is yours) ran from 2pm to 6pm, presented by Bernard Golay. Viewers would vote by telephone for which show in different categories (police, western, cartoons, adventure). The winning show would be screened. The shows included both older and new series, particularly from America or Britain. Shows like The Wild Wild West became hugely popular, regularly winning the vote every week.

TF1 bought 13 episodes of Space: 1999, titled "Cosmos 1999". The French Canadian dubbed episodes were used. Samedi est à vous had a "fantastic" category, which had recently shown The Invaders, and in December 1975 they listed "Cosmos 1999" against an older ITC series, "The Prisoner", and the short-lived American series "The Immortal". "Cosmos 1999" became a hit. By April 1976, they had exhausted the 13 episodes and ran "The Invisible Man". An additional episode appeared in June 1976.

In October 1976, Guy Lux departed TF1 and Samedi est à vous ended. TF1 introduced another Saturday magazine format, with the somewhat desperate title Restez donc avec nous le samedi ("Stay with us on Saturday"). The show mixed games, cartoons and series retained from its predecessor, including "Columbo" and "Cosmos 1999". TF1 bought another 9 episodes, shown from the end of 1976 into 1977.

One episode was not shown: Missing Link, as the nightmare scenes were judged too frightening. The second series was not shown.

Martin Landau et Barbara Bain dans Cosmos 1999

French titles (as featured on 2002 TF1 DVD). Every episode had the same titles; the "This Episode" sequence was replaced by a generic set of action scenes (mostly Breakaway and Black Sun) with no captions.

In the summer of 1980, TF1's Temps X science fiction programme was a year old. The show, presented by brothers Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff, was a magazine talking about science and science fiction, and introduced episodes of several older science fiction shows, some unknown to French audiences, including Star Trek. In 1980 they began a repeat run of Cosmos 1999, showing ten first series episodes including the first French screening of Missing Link.

Nos Annees Temps X

The 2015 book, Nos Annees Temps X by Jérôme Wybon and Jean-Marc Lainé (published by Huginn Muninn) covers the history of Temps X and includes Space: 1999 (p196-197). Barbara Bain is partially visible bottom left on the cover.

A second repeat run followed on the channel Antenne 2.

In August 1987 the private station La Cinq began to show the episodes every weekday, then showing Year Two for the first time in France, on Saturdays. In 1989 it again showed the episodes one every day at 11.35 am.

Year 1 French titles Year 2 French titles Year 2 French titles: Alerte Rouge

On September 13, 1999, the channel Série Club had a special La Nuit Special Cosmos 1999 (Space: 1999 Night) including a documentary on the series with a Martin Landau interview

Merchandising was minimal.

The fan club Cosmos 1999 published four quarterly newsletters between 1990 and 1999, and ran four conventions. In 2000 it was renamed Destination Alpha; it closed in 2002.

See the Canadian guide for dubbing cast and translation notes.

Date French Title Translation Original Title Notes
1. 13 Dec 1975 A la dérive Adrift Breakaway
2. 23 Dec 1975 Le grand cercle The Big Circle The Full Circle
3. 27 Dec 1975 Le testament de l'Arcadie The Testament Of The Arcadia The Testament Of Arkadia
4. 3 Jan 1976 La mission des Dariens The Mission Of The Darians Mission Of The Darians
5. 10 Jan 1976 Ruses de guerre War Stratagems War Games
6. 15 Jan 1976 Le retour du Voyageur The return of Voyager Voyager's Return
7. 17 Jan 1976 Au bout de l'éternité At The End Of Eternity End Of Eternity
8. 31 Jan 1976 Collision inévitable Unavoidable Collision Collision Course
9. 14 Feb 1976 L'enfant d'Alpha The Child Of Alpha Alpha Child
10. 26 Feb 1976 Le gardien du Piri The Guardian Of The Piri Guardian Of Piri
11. 28 Feb 1976 Puissance de vie Force Of Life Force Of Life
12. 3 April 1976 Direction: Terre Direction: Earth Earthbound
13. 10 Apr 1976 L'anneau de la Lune The Ring Of The Moon Ring Around The Moon
14. 19 June 1976 Un autre royaume de la mort Another realm of death Death's Other Dominion
15. 20 Dec 1976 Autre temps, autre lieu Another Time, Another Place Another Time, Another Place
16. 8 Jan 1977 Question de vie ou de mort Matter Of Life Or Death Matter Of Life And Death
17. 22 Jan 1977 Cerveau spatial Space Brain Space Brain
18. 29 Jan 1977 En désarroi In Disarray The Troubled Spirit
19. 5 Feb 1977 Le soleil noir The Black Sun Black Sun
20. 12 Feb 1977 La machine infernale The Infernal Machine
21. 19 Feb 1977 Le dernier crépuscule The Last Twilight The Last Sunset
22. 5 March 1977 Le dernier adversaire The Last Enemy The Last Enemy
23. 12 March 1977 Le domaine du dragon The Dragon's Domain Dragon's Domain
24. 23 Aug 1980 Le maillon The Link Missing Link First broadcast for this episode during 1980 repeats
25. 28 September 1987 En route vers l'infini Journeying To Infinity Journey To Where First broadcast for Year 2 on La 5, 1987
26. 30 September 1987 La planète Archanon The Planet Of Archanon The Mark Of Archanon
27. 7 Oct 1987 Dorzak Dorzak
28. 10 Oct 1987 Humain, ne serait-ce qu'un moment Human, just for a moment One Moment Of Humanity
29. 24 Oct 1987 Taybor le commerçant Taybor The Trader The Taybor
30. 14 Nov 1987 Les catacombes de la Lune The Catacombs Of The Moon Catacombs Of The Moon
31. 21 Nov 1987 Le nuage qui tue The Cloud Which Kills The Beta Cloud
32. 5 Dec 1987 Le syndrome de l'immunité The syndrome of immunity The Immunity Syndrome
33. Dec 1987 Un message d'espoir 1ère partie A Message Of Hope Part 1 The Bringers Of Wonder part 1
34. Dec 1987 Un message d'espoir 2ème partie A Message Of Hope Part 2 The Bringers Of Wonder pt 2
35. 2 Jan 1988 Les chrysalides AB The Chrysalis AB The AB Chrysalis
36. 9 Jan 1988 Déformation spatiale Space Warp Space Warp
37. 16 Jan 1988 Une question d'équilibre A Matter Of Balance A Matter Of Balance
38. 23 Jan 1988 L'élément lambda The Lambda Element The Lambda Factor
39. 30 Jan 1988 Le spectre The Spectre The Seance Spectre
40. 6 Feb 1988 La planète du Diable The Devil's planet Devil's Planet
41. 13 Feb 1988 Les Dorcons The Dorcons The Dorcons
42. 2 Aug 1989 Tout ce qui luit All That Glisters All That Glisters
43. 3 Aug 1989 La métamorphose The Metamorphosis The Metamorph First broadcast on La 5 during 1989 repeats
44. 6 Aug 1989 Les Exilés The Exiles The Exiles
45. 18 Aug 1989 Une autre Terre Another Earth New Adam, New Eve
46. 19 Aug 1989 Le secret de la caverne The Secret Of The Cavern Seed Of Destruction
47. 3 Oct 1989 Les directives de Luton The Rules Of Luton The Rules Of Luton
48. 31 Oct 1989 Le cerveau ordinateur The Computer Brain Brian The Brain

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Copyright Martin Willey