The Catacombs The Merchandise Guide
Blu-ray: UK
Compiled by Martin Willey

Blu-ray / DVD (Network Video)

Standard DVD packaging

The Complete Second Series (Blu-ray): UK 28 September 2015 £79.99 (£60 from Network).

The Complete Second Series (DVD): UK 28 September 2015 £40.

Five years after their Complete First Series, Network released Year 2 to DVD and Blu-ray. The last time Year 2 had been released was the Carlton DVDs from 2001 (which were deleted in 2004).

The episodes have been restored in high definition (although the full effects of this are only visible on the Blu-rays, not the DVDs). All episode have original mono audio as well as new 5:1 soundtracks. The Metamorph was previously available on the Year 1 set; The Bringers of Wonder part 1 and part 2 were previously available as a special edition preview.

The DVD has 8 discs. The Blu-ray has 6 discs. The discs have region B coding (restricted for Europe and Africa). They will not play in America (except with region-free hacks).

The Prints

The episodes were remastered in high definition by Jonathan Wood and Amanda Whitby at BBC Post Production and Studios (formerly "BBC Resources"). The BBC also did the Year One remastering in 2004. The Metamorph had been restored in 2007.

The episodes are clear and vibrant. Colours are generally excellent. Reds are particularly striking- perhaps a little over-emphasised. Dark scenes retain their shadows without being over-brightened. Year 2 episodes use soft-focus lenses more frequently than year 1, which can look muted or washed out in previous video releases, but these scenes look fine here.

Unfortunately, there are some edits to "fix" errors by the original editors. The clapperboard seen near the start of A Matter Of Balance is gone. The hand seen placing a stun gun in Magus's hand in New Adam, New Eve is also gone. These errors are only a few frames and even fans missed them until we were able to record and replay them in the 1980s (and many people didn't see them until watching DVDs in slow motion). Admittedly, after seeing them, they are hard to "un-see". These brief errors give an insight into the making of the show, and there are much more serious flaws visible. It is unacceptable to edit the original episodes.

The image isn't always perfect. This scene from The Lambda Factor has distracting white marks in the centre of the frame (here in front of the door- it's even clearer in motion).

The discs have an opening sequence showing the "network" logo in front of Alpha, which is blasted by lasers from the laser cannons. The video graphics of the lasers and logos seem to be inspired by the 1980s video compilations like Cosmic Princess, and are not a promising introduction.

Menu background

The menus have a very stylised version of the Eagle video screen, showing clips from the episodes (with "cloud" light effects over them, again evoking 1980s video technology). The screen image is inferior to the 1970s original prop seen in the episodes.

Menu - extras disc

At the bottom of the screen is a grey rectangle divided into boxes for each menu option (they are trying to resemble Alpha wall panels). The menu items on most discs are "Play All", "Galleries", "Episodes", "Audio" and "Subtitles". The menus are functional but visually weak.

Packaging

In addition to the standard cover art, a "pre-buy" slip-cover was sold by Network with different art. Both versions of the cover art use a shot from the Year 2 titles, showing the Moon against a purple warp effect.

Standard DVD packaging

"Standard" DVD and Blu-ray cover art. Year 2 publicity photos of Bain, Schell and Landau over the Moonbase.
Pre-Buy Blu-ray packaging

"Pre-buy" Blu-ray cover art, only available from 24 August - 28 September 2015 from Network. The opening shot of the Year 2 titles (planets and Beta Cloud nebula) and an Eagle. The standard cover art is inside this card slip cover.
Front Back

The discs have character photos: the six are Koenig, Helena, Maya, Tony, Alan and Mentor.

Discs 1 and 2 Discs 3 and 4 Discs 5 and 6

Each episode has multiple audio tracks:

Disc Episodes Extras
Disc 1 The Metamorph
The Exiles
One Moment of Humanity
All That Glisters
Journey To Where
 HD photo gallery: Metamorph (61 photos)
HD photo gallery: Exiles (46 photos)
HD photo gallery: One Moment of Humanity (33 photos)
HD photo gallery: All That Glisters (75 photos)
HD photo gallery: Journey To Where (47 photos)
Disc 2 The Taybor
The Rules Of Luton
The Mark Of Archanon
Brian The Brain
New Adam, New Eve
 HD photo gallery: The Taybor (15 photos)
HD photo gallery: The Rules Of Luton (62 photos)
HD photo gallery: The Mark Of Archanon (42 photos)
HD photo gallery: Brian The Brain (19 photos)
HD photo gallery: New Adam, New Eve (45 photos)
Disc 3 Catacombs Of The Moon
The A B Chrysalis
Seed Of Destruction
The Beta Cloud
Space Warp
 HD photo gallery: Catacombs Of The Moon (52 photos)
HD photo gallery: The A B Chrysalis (55 photos)
HD photo gallery: Seed Of Destruction (17 photos)
HD photo gallery: The Beta Cloud (82 photos)
HD photo gallery: Space Warp (46 photos)
Disc 4 A Matter Of Balance
The Bringers Of Wonder part 1
The Bringers Of Wonder part 2
The Lambda Factor
The Seance Spectre
 HD photo gallery: A Matter Of Balance (75 photos)
HD photo gallery: The Bringers Of Wonder (76 photos)
HD photo gallery: The Lambda Factor (32 photos)
HD photo gallery: The Seance Spectre (36 photos)
Disc 5 Dorzak
Devil's Planet
The Immunity Syndrome
The Dorcons
Seed Of Destruction (Year 1 version)
A tantalising "what if?", this fan-favourite second series episode is presented here in the style of the first series - with pre-credits teaser, first series title sequence and Barry Gray's music. Created by Jonathan Wood 		HD photo gallery: Dorzak (29 photos)
HD photo gallery: Devil's Planet (75 photos)
HD photo gallery: The Immunity Syndrome (33 photos)
HD photo gallery: The Dorcons (21 photos)
HD photo gallery: Promotional Images (56 photos)
HD photo gallery: Models and Props (99 photos)
Disc 6

Unexposed: Behind the Scenes of Series Two - filming The Mark of Archanon. (25m:07s)
In May 1976 a group of film students were given a brief to produce a short film about the making of a television series. The second series of Space: 1999 was then currently in production at Pinewood and the resultant footage includes candid interviews with cast and crew - as well as some unique behind-the-scenes footage of rehearsals and filming on set and in the model shop.

Stock Footage Archive: (such as this) (46m:02s, High Definition)
Many thousands of feet of negative film are shot during the course of any film-based production; the majority of it can be found in the finished product but some footage will inevitably end up in the cutting-room bin because of mistakes, exposure problems, better available takes, longer than intended edits and more. Throughout the period of ITCs prolific output, the practice was to sell this surplus footage to specialist stock footage companies and, for this release, we have secured much of the surplus footage shot for Space: 1999 and are presenting it here for the first time anywhere, newly transferred in High Definition from the original negatives.

Production Audio: original source recordings for material from four episodes (The Taybor (26m:18s), The Rules Of Luton (41m:36s), The Mark Of Archanon (16m:8s), Brian The Brain (29m:56s); See more)
Taken from the original on-set Nagra tape recordings, this audio-only feature offers a unique perspective on the making of The Taybor, The Rules of Luton, The Mark of Archanon and Brian the Brain.

Cosmos: 1999: a stop-motion fan film from 1979 (13m:22s)
Originally shot in 1979 on Super 8, this Canadian fan film was made by two sixteen-year-olds: Yves Lapointe and Sylvain Labrosse. Combining stop-motion techniques and self-taught special effects, this labour of love has been digitally remastered from the original film elements.

Martin Landau: in-depth interview from French Television in 1994 (44m:53s)
Recorded in France in 1994, this extended interview with Martin Landau provides a fascinating insight into his background and body of work.

Archive Interviews with cast and crew (29m)
Promotional interviews filmed during production in 1976 with Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Gerry Anderson, Catherine Schell, Keith Wilson, Brian Johnson and Fred Freiberger.

Out-take: Bringers of Wonder "blooper" (27s)
An amusing out-take shown on It'll Be All Right on the Night.

Trailers and promos: contemporary promotional material for the UK and US (10m:43s)
A selection of trailers made to promote the series both here and abroad, with Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Catherine Schell, Tony Anholt and Nick Tate.

Behind the Scenes - Model Shop: footage taken during The AB Chrysalis - with Brian Johnson commentary (6m:35s, does not include the 8 minute Brian Johnson interview which is part of the "archive interviews")
Behind-the-scenes footage taken during filming of The AB Chrysalis - with commentary recorded in 1999 by Brian Johnson.

Clean series two titles (4m:01s)
Series two textless titles.
Contains several sequences:

  • In-episode title sequence (with no overlay text) for The Metamorph, final freeze frame
  • Year 2 title sequence
  • In-episode title sequence for The Taybor, final freeze frame
  • In-episode title sequence for New Adam, New Eve, final freeze frame

PDFs:

Extras

Each Blu-ray episode disc contains a set of HD resolution photos, in colour and black and white. Some of the images have a lot of film dirt. Most of the remaining extras are disc 6 (some in HD, some in standard definition), and are largely the same as the previous UK DVD sets.

Note that the fan film Message From Moonbase Alpha is not included, nor is there any material from the Space:1999 Documentary.

Promotion

Network promoted with release with a poll of favourite Year 2 episodes. Over 500 voted. The results were announced on 21 September 2015. Brian The Brain at 5 and particularly The Beta Cloud at 4 were surprisingly highly rated compared to other polls.

  1. Brian The Brain
  2. The Beta Cloud
  3. Journey To Where
  4. The Metamorph
  5. The Bringers Of Wonder part 1

Reviews

Copyright Martin Willey;
packaging and screen images copyright Network Video