Catacombs Reference LibraryITC Video Reviews
Catacombs Reference LibraryReviews from TV Zone, "the monthly magazine of cult television", an early 1990s UK genre magazine
TV Zone 141 (Aug 2001) review by Mike Fillis p82
In spite of the flared fashions, gigantic computers with the power of a calculator, and a total disregard for hard science, Space: 1999 has more to offer than mere nostalgia value. The first series, at least, is blessedly earnest, and whilst it may have lacked scintillating scripting, it admirably compensated with stunning visual designs.
Carlton Video has released the remaining 12 episodes of Season One on DVD and, matching the superb transfer quality of the first batch of discs, volumes 4-6 contain some classic examples of 1974 television.
Eloquent by Space: 1999 standards, the icy and theatrical Death's Other Dominion is an actor's piece that proves Brian Blessed can understate in the Sci-Fi genre. The Troubled Spirit is an eerie exploration of science and the paranormal where one man is haunted by his own ghost.
Volume 6 has the best of the bunch, with The Infernal Machine pitting the Alphans against a sentient spacecraft (voiced by the sublime Leo McKern) that is rather used to getting its own way. The motion picture scope of Mission of the Darians is breathtaking for a television budget, with Joan Collins adding some Seventies class, and Dragon's Domain is one of the best monster episodes of its era, even if the creature's hypnotic siren call is just a load of blurred, spinning cutlery.
As before, each volume contains extra value material such as comprehensive files on memorabilia, the series' directors, and its crew, production paintings as well as storyboards.
Volume 4 includes two minutes of rare behind-the-scenes footage of miniature effects filmed as part of a 1974 Horizon programme, while volume 5 presents the trailers for Alien Attack, two episodes cobbled together into a 'movie'; the wildly inaccurate hyperbole is a scream!
Carlton should be rightly proud of these excellent discs. Now all we want is UFO!