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Space: 1999 Leading the way

The Baltimore News American, 2 November 1975, "TV Channels" magazine

Leading the way

Science fiction has largely been ignored by the major networks. Even the popular Star Trek got the bum's rush despite having some of the steadiest and most loyal fans of anything on the air except the daytime soap operas. But Star Trek was different and we all know how network programmers deal with those things that are different.

So it is that the handful who dictate our TV fare have, without knowing it, given rise to a new format in television that could profoundly shake up, if not topple, the methods now employed to fill our TV time. And it's a science fiction series that is leading the way.

Called Space: 1999, the new series stars Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, whose mini-revolution over their roles in the now-cancelled Mission: Impossible series was unique at the time. (Since then, at least a dozen series stars have bolted their shows over pay or performance disputes.)

Space: 1999 marks the first time that individual producers have lined up a network of stations to launch a new syndicated series. In this case, 150 outlets from coast-to-coast have latched onto the show.

Abe Mandell, president of the producing Independent Television Corp., said, "Ever since early this year when we introduced the property to stations, Space: 1999 caught the imagination of broadcasters."

And so the independents, who have had to rely on rerun syndications of decade-old shows, most of them in black and white, can now look to a property to call their own - and boost their local viewership.

Space: 1999 cost $6.5 million to produce, making it one of the costliest ventures in the history of the medium. But, Mandell points out, "It meets the needs of the public and broadcasters for all-family programming. Space: 1999 offers spectacular adventure and drama in a space science fiction setting."

The series is set in 1999 when the moon is blasted out of its earth orbit by a gigantic thermonuclear explosion. Manning Moonbase Alpha, an early warning defense base, are 311 men and women drawn from all the nations of the earth. Because of the blast, the moon is launched on a journey through the universe and the inhabitants start looking for a planet similar to earth on which to resettle.

The residents select Commander John Koenig, played by Martin Landau, to be their leader and Miss Bain (or Mrs. Landau, if you prefer) is Dr. Helen Russell, the chief medical officer of the new world. Since every space sci-fi series needs that friendly old professor with the encyclopaedic knowledge, Space: 1999 has been outfitted with Professor Victor Bergman, played by Barry Morse.

Guest spots will feature some pretty heavy hitters from the acting profession, including Margaret Leighton, Richard Johnson, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Joan Collins. If the emphasis seems to be on British guests, it is understandable. The 24 segments of the show already finished were filmed in London.

And, for the ultimate in detail, it should be pointed out that the costumes were designed by Rudi Gernreich, an internationally recognized fashion designer. He, alone, could have accounted for a healthy part of that $6.5 million budget.

Even the daytime soap opera fans don't get to see a show like that too often.