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Space: 1999 Makes Changes

Space: 1999 Makes Changes

Syndicated news report, from Knight News Wire, printed in the Register, Santa Ana, California, 13 September 1976. The 15th episode filmed was Space Warp, although Landau was simultaneously filming A Matter of Balance.

By Jack E. Anderson, Knight News Wire

Actors Martin Landau and his wife, Barbara Bain, have, fictionally, spent their lives for almost two years adrift in a space station on a runaway moon.

As Commander John Koenig and Dr. Helena Russell in the sci-fi series, Space: 1999, produced in England, they head an entire community of earthlings which is, to say the least, in something of a pickle.

Nuclear waste stored on the moon on which these people were stationed has blown up. The blast has wrenched the damaged moon out of earth's orbit. It and its passengers are now hurtling aimlessly through the galaxy.

They hope to find a friendly planet to re-settle on, but for 24 weeks last season, they not only didn't find one but were harassed by space spooks and junk. Such a time they had.

Starting in September network affiliates throughout the country will begin launching another 24-week sequence of the further adventures of these folks on their space-going camper. And, according to Landau, who telephoned me from London the other day, it's going to be a sprightlier, more action packed viewing experience this time.

"Marty," I asked, "are you calling from a time warp somewhere, or are you really just in London?" In the last episode of Space: 1999 I saw he and the gang were coping with a nasty glob of celestial gelatin in the fourth dimension.

"No, I'm in London all right," said Marty. "It's 9:30 at night over here. It's been hot and humid like you wouldn't believe. Nothing like the England we worked in a year ago."

He and Barbara and the rest of the cast had just completed their 15th episode, Marty explained. "Every thing's better about this one. Better scripts, good cast changes and a hell of a lot more action."

Marty completely agrees with critics of the initial 24- week package that it was spectacularly dull. Which put it in contempt of money because this is the most expensive series ever produced for television. It cost $6,800,000 to produce last year. This year the budget is up to $7,200,000. Laid end to end the dollar bills would stretch from here to Jupiter.

The first season's shows had a high gloss. The special effects were stunning, the musical score exciting, but the scripts were abstruse, the actors did a lot of eyeballing each other for overextended close- ups and an awful lot of talking.

That, said Marty, has all been remedied. The series has a new producer, Fred Freiberger, whose impressive credentials include having produced the last year of the much revered Sci-Fi Series, Star Trek.

Two new lead characters have been added to, as Marty put it, "make us more of a family." Actress Catherine Schell (she was a leading player in the movie, The Pink Panther) has joined the cast, playing Maya, a resident alien, as Mr. Spock was in the Star Trek series. Tony Anholt has been added to play Commander's second banana or first mate on the space station.

Anholt replaces actor Barry Morse who in the first go-round was Professor Bergman. "Barry had commitments to keep in Canada and when we finished the first two or three episodes without him, we found they moved very well without him, better in fact. It's too bad. Barry's a fine actor. His character just didn't fit into the new structure of the show."

The character, Maya, is a kind of space orphan, he explained. Her planet, Psychon, has been destroyed and she's forced to take refuge with the earthlings. Her special bag is that she has the power of molecular transformation. She can transform herself, or any- body else, into other objects - animals, birds or other human beings at will.

In case of an emergency they break out Maya like a fire extinguisher. "She gets us out of the tight places." She also has a romance going with the first mate (Anholt) when he can be sure he's making love to her and not one of her animal transformations.

Koenig and Dr. Russell (Barbara) are also an item this season. Their implied romance of last year is going to hotten up, although, said Marty, "no marriage is in sight."

Plenty of hazardous experiences lie ahead for the earthlings "but there's more emphasis on the people and their relationships. We're more like real people who care about each other, and this time we're injecting some humour into the scripts."