The Merchandise GuideNovelisations: Italy
Compiled by Martin Willey
The Merchandise Guide
The Italian hardcover books, titled Spazio 1999, are novelisations adapted by Gianni Padoan from original scripts. Padoan (born 1927, died 1995) was a prolific author of children's books, and also wrote for television and radio. Each book features (usually) two episodes, all heavily illustrated with photos.
AMZ also published a school diary in 1978 and 1979, and a comic in 1979.
Volumes 0 and 4 were translated into German and published in new editions by Koralle in 1977/ 1978. The books were reprinted in Portugal, titled Espaco: 1999 by Ediguia. In 1999 two books were reprinted by Fanucci in Italy (see below).
The original volume, just titled "Spazio 1999", was published in October 1975 and contained three stories and a scientific appendix. There were few copies (the show had been seen in the cinema, but was not on Italian television until 1976). It had a dust jacket with a plain blue hardcover binding; the jacket rarely survives. All the later titles have photographic hardcover binding, without a dust jacket. Read the dust jacket text.
The original book was larger (25cm x 32cm) than the later volumes (20cm x 27cm). Also shown: the Fanucci new edition from 1999.
In September 1975, four more titles were published, numbered 1 to 4, adapting 2 episodes each. These were reprinted in November. Both these printings have stars on the spine; later reprints have plain colours.
By October 1976, with the series on Italian television, the stories from the original volume were reprinted in two books. As Breakaway is the first episode, that became book 0. The other two episodes from the original volume became book 5. Books 1-4 were reprinted a third time in February 1977. The layout of the pages was changed, but the photos were mostly the same, with some cropped, expanded or flopped, with a few replacements.
First and second printings of 1-4 (September and November 1975) had stars on the spine, and the series title in a different font. The October 1976 titles and reprinted third printings (February 1977) changed to plain colours (the spine colour is the same as the book title colour).
Other volumes (6 to 11) continued until 1978, when all 24 episodes had been adapted in 12 books. In 1979, four Year 2 editions were published.
The spines of the 17 volumes (plus the "starry" spine of a first printing of 2 - I pirati delle galassie).
Over time, the back covers had an expanded list of titles- from the first (1-4, September 1975), adding 0 and 5 (October 1976), adding 6-9 (July 1977) and finally adding 10-11 (July 1978).
The year 2 back cover.
The initial book was 188 pages; the other first series books were 160 pages long, and the second series books 144 pages.
The inside covers of front and back included the planets shot from the Gerry Anderson series credit. In the second series titles, a sequence of photos showing a Maya transformation were shown. The initial book shows an explosion.
Next came a character list.
Original first volume (later split into volumes 0 and 5) had a different cast list (thanks to Angelo)
Next came the book credits, which included the director and writer, and a full cast list.
Each story lasted about 63 pages and each book was illustrated with over a hundred large colour photos. Layout of photos was excellent, but the image quality was poor, sometimes quite fuzzy. Rarely, as here on p14 of Il distacco, a publicity still is used.
The Appendice scientifica in the original book, reprinted in book 0, opens with a nice 2001 painting by Robert McCall (flopped left for right); the later illustrations are sketchy and include both Apollo and 2001 influenced art.
The final pages featured shots from other titles in the series. Each book previewed 2 or 3 other titles. The reprint book 0 had no previews.
The covers of the first series featured an episode shot, usually a head and shoulders portrait of a character, bordered to the right with an Eagle over a hemisphere of Moon. The second series cover features episode photo with various Eagles below and left. The back cover lists all titles over the black sun (prima serie) or the photo of the red moon from the Year 1 series credits (seconda serie).
Volumes 10, Gli esploratori dell'eternità, and 11, La grande dominatrice, seem to have swapped cover subjects- Tanner appears on 10, but his story is in 11, while Sandra in leopardskin appears in volume 10.
The adaption of Breakaway extends beyond the episode with a chapter titled "Si Decide Il Futuro Di Alfa" ("The Future of Alpha is Decided", p90-105), a command conference scene taking some elements from Earthbound and introducing Kano as Ouma's replacement. Some parts of this are adapted in comic form in the German comics, Zack 1978 issue 20.
| Title | Cover | Stories |
|---|---|---|
| Prima Serie/ first series: | ||
| Spazio 1999 (large format, October 1975, 188 pages) 
|
Dust jacket with plain hardcover binding
|
p1-8 frontpages; p10-156 novelisations
|
| 0 - Il distacco "The separation" 1976 |
Montage of Koenig and Helena
|
Reprint from large format book
|
| 1 - I naufraghi dello spazio "The castaways of space" Sept 1975 |
High view of Zoref before open furnace
|
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| 2 - I pirati delle galassie "Pirates of the Galaxy" Sept 1975 |
Koenig in spacesuit, arms up (Ring Around The Moon)
|
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| 3 - Verso il tremila "Around three thousand" Nov 1975 |
Vana and Raan
|
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| 4 - I giustizieri del cosmo "The executioners of the cosmos" Sept 1975 |
Alan in Eagle seat
|
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| 5 - Al di là del tempo "Beyond time" 1976 |
Other Paul and Victor on Earth
|
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| 6 - L'ultimo tramonto "The last sunset" July 1977 |
Companion
|
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| 7 - Gli eredi del passato "The heirs of the past" Sept 1977 |
Kara
|
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| 8 - Guerra nel cosmo "War in the cosmos" Sept 1977 |
Alphan falling out of corridor into space
|
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| 9 - I giorni del terrore "The days of terror" July 1977 |
Koenig grimaces, holding laser rifle
|
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| 10 - Gli esploratori dell'eternità "The explorers of eternity" June 1978 |
Jack Tanner
|
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| 11 - La grande dominatrice "The great ruler" July 1978 |
Sandra in leopardskin (Full Circle)
|
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| Seconda serie/ second series: | ||
| 1 - Gli alieni dai mille volti "Aliens with a thousand faces" March 1979 (144 pages) |
Maya
|
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| 2 - Gli stregoni del cosmo "The sorcerers of the cosmos" March 1979 (144 pages) |
Taybor
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| 3 - Il ritorno degli ibernati "The return of the hibernators" March 1979 (144 pages) |
A, B, Guardian's brother
|
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| 4 - Rapimento nello spazio "Abduction in space" March 1979 (144 pages) |
Archon and Varda
|
|
Italy, 1999, 2001
Fanucci Editore is a publisher based in Rome that specializes in science fiction and fantasy. Their Economica Tascabile series, started in 1992, reprints classic and modern SF in translation, including many Star Trek titles. In their Solaria series they published UFO: Attacco alla Terra (the John Burke "Robert Miall" 1970 novels) in October 2000. Fanucci also published Guida a UFO e SPACE: 1999 by Chris Drake (2000, translated from the 1994 UK title).
Fanucci reprinted stories from the AMZ books in 1999, in a new paperback format. The episodes were in production order and included an appendix listing all episodes from both series, a brief description, and credits for each episode.
Each book was L14,000. They were 11cm x 18cm, 288 pages with a 32 page glossy colour section. Like the original AMZ volumes, the 50 photos used were somewhat fuzzy. The covers were plain silver with a vertical logo. A glossy page inside the covers (page 2) featured a pictorial cover.
In October 2001, Fanucci reprinted more stories in a book for their Solaria series, sold on newstands rather than bookshops. This was slightly smaller, 10.5cm x 17.3cm.
| Spazio 1999 | 
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| Spazio 1999: Destinazione Terra #104 |
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| Spazio 1999: L'ultimo tramonto Anno 2 n.5 |
 |
Introduction "UFO 1999" |
The English translation of the title is "The Burning Eye of Mbatian". A novel by Michele Tetro, based on the short story "Adagio" by Michele Tetro and inspired by Space 1999 episode "Dragon's Domain" by Christopher Penfold
Published by Edizioni del Nano-Cosmic Group, Modena 2005, pp. 236, graphic and design by Marco Vittorini, cover by Gianluca De Virgilio, technical plans by Roberto Baldassari. It has a preface by Gianni Garko (who played Cellini in the episode).
More details including synopses
Thanks to Michele Tetro
Copyright Martin Willey. Thanks to Angelo Finamore, Gordon Moriguchi, Michele Tetro, Patrick Zimmerman.