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The Space: 1999 Society

The Space: 1999 Society was a short-lived rival to the National Space: 1999 Alliance (later the International Space: 1999 Alliance). It was formed by Ted Hruschak, Dan Pallotta and Mona Delitsky, who had been involved in the 1978 convention and the "National Save: 1999 Campaign" before that. There was some rivalry, on the leadership level, between the Society and the Alliance, but many fans were members of both.

Confusingly, there was another 1977 club called The Alpha Society.

The newsletter was called "Alpha News Service" and published quarterly. It attempted unsuccessfully to run it's own convention in New York in 1979 (advertised in Starlog 26, dated September 1979), separate to the Alliance's 1979 convention. There was a collapse of membership in 1980, leading to its closure.

PDFs below thanks to Paul Stankevitch

• 1, Sept 1979
• 2, Dec 1979
• Report, Feb 1980
• 3, Spring 1980
• 4, Summer 1980

The SNS Year 3

From Alpha News Service 2, Dec 1979

December marks the third anniversary of the creation of The Space: 1999 Society and the movement to save Space: 1999. This issue of Service is special commemorative issue, with a complete history of the organization and a section illustrating the first efforts of the "Save: 1999" campaign.

The origins of The Space: 1999 Society date back to December of 1976, when Ted Hruschak and Dan Pallotta created the "Save: 1999" Campaign, an effort to organize a write-in campaign to prevent the impending cancellation of Space: 1999 in February of 1977.

"Save: 1999" began its effort by taking a test ad in The Cauldron, the student newspaper of Cleveland State University, publicizing the write-in campaign and the organization. In addition, "Save: 1999" applied for recognition as an official student organization at the university.

As a student organization applicant, "Save: 1999" was able to place posters in various campus buildings and set up an information table. Potentiai members were offered advice on to the networks (ABC was interested at the time) about Space: 1999. Special "Save: 1999" stickers were also distributed.

Progress was slow until just after ITC cancelled Space, when Ted Hruschak met fanzine publisher Mona Delitsky, who was laying the groundwork for the first-anywhere Space: 1999 convention. "Save: 1999" was the ideal vehicle for the convention effort. Mona enlisted the aid of several other dedicated Space fans, and "Save: 1999" was rechristened as The National Save: 1999 Alliance.

The NSNA was intended to be an informal structured, non-profit organization operated by fans as a service to other fans. A letter describing the organization and offering information about the upcoming convention in return for nothing more than an SASE was published in Starlog magazine. By no means the first Space: 1999 group to be created, the Alliance nevertheless brought together a large number of Space: 1999 fans and successfully sponsored Space: 1999 Convention 1978 in Columbus, Ohio.

As a first attempt. Convention 1978 was an unqualified Success. Special guests included Gerry Anderson, Nick Tate, Clifton Jones, David Prowse, Barry Gray and, as an unexpected surprise, Martin Landau. A variety of SF films was featured, including two uncut episodes of Space: 1999: "Breakaway" and "War Games"

Thanks to the enthusiastic response of the 800 or more fans who attended the convention, a special charity auction and a dinner with the special guests made possible a donation of over S6000 to Children's Hospital in Columbus.

Space: 1999 Convention 1978 meant a lot of work to all the NSNA co-ordinators, each working on separate projects. While some of the co-ordinators did almost all of the pre-convention paperwork, the others kept the flow of events running smoothly during the convention.

Prior to and during Convention 1978, however, Ted and Mona found it necessary to raise objections to the structure and leadership of the Alliance. No offices such as President, Vice President, Treasurer, etc. had ever been created or voted upon by the co-ordinators, yet one member of the group had assumed such an office without an election. In addition, the self-appointed President created a set of by-laws without the knowledge or approval of the rest of the Alliance co-ordinators. Despite repeated attempts by Ted Hruschak to negotiate mutually agreeable solution for the continued unified operation of the Alliance, the disagreements were never resolved. When the self-appointed President made it clear he did not intend to give up his "office" or acknowledge a proper election, he was officially dropped from the organization.

In October 1978, Dan Pallotta returned as an active participant in the original organization, having been prevented from working on Convention 1978 by commitments to work and college. David Barnes and Brian Anderson, who were of invaluable help to Ted and Mona in keeping Convention 1978 on track, had already decided to remain with them. The organization which began as "Save: 1999" almost two years before was reorganized as The Space: 1999 Society in mid-October.

Work began at once, from scratch, to build membership and to sponsor a second convention. The Society applied for and was granted Space: 1999 licensing from Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc., the current copyright-holder, early in 1979. Non-profit status is pending with the IRS, and while convention plans were temporarily fouled by unforeseen problems and a certain amount of bad will, The Space: 1999 Society is growing into a strong, viable organization of dedicated fans. The purposes of The Space: 1999 Society remain what they were in of "Save: 1999" : to draw together people who appreciate. enjoy, and wish to revitalize Space: 1999, to direct a unified effort to program "on the air" wherever possible and to help preserve the program for posterity.

Even though Space: 1999 is the focus of these efforts, other quality science fiction productions by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson will receive similar support. As a secondary purpose, the Society is dedicated to benefit its members and the rest of society by giving monetary donations or lending other support to selected charitable organizations which are working to improve the human condition. This secondary purpose is part of the focus of the Society's annual convention.

The Society is, as it was intended to be, an informally structured, non- profit organization, responsive to its members and dedicated to their interests. The organization is Operated by a Board of Directors. Each Director has a separate function, sharing in the overall workload; no single person represents the organization. This assures that no one person can unduly influence the organization. All communication members is routed through one address, allowing quick, direct reply to members' requests. Alpha News Service is the official news publication of the Society. Issued four times a year, Alpha News Service is intended to act as a forum for interaction and communication between members. News contained in ANS will focus on Society activities, news in 1999 fandom, and SF in general.

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Space: 1999 copyright ITV Studios Global Entertainment