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Spectator: Space: 1999
Catacombs Reference Library
Unknown title (probably published by Scholastic) by Peggy Herz
Publisher Scholastic sold books and magazines through school book clubs in the USA. Their children's magazine Dynamite had featured Space: 1999 in a 1976 cover issue. This article, perhaps from Dynamite or another Scholastic title, was written around 1975-1976 by Peggy Herz, a Scholastic TV writer who wrote about the series in TV's Fabulous Faces (Scholastic, 1977)
Not since Star Trek was cancelled has there been so much excitement about a science fiction TV series. The new Space: 1999 is the most expensive, spectacular space science fiction series ever produced for television. It began this fall on more than 100 TV stations in the U.S. and in 101 countries around the world.
The weekly series stars the husband-and-wife team of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, best known for their roles in the Mission: Impossible series of several years back.
Space: 1999 begins in September of 1999. Moonbase Alpha has been established on the surface of the moon. It is manned by 311 men and women representing many nations of the world. Back on Earth, atomic power has become the principal means of satisfying man's energy needs- and disposing of the atomic waste has become a major problem. The solution: Store it on the far side of the moon.
It is that decision which leads to all the action of Space: 1999. As the waste builds up, reactions begin. Finally a series of thermonuclear explosions occur that tear away portions of the moon. The moon, with Moonbase Alpha still on it, is blasted out of Earth's orbit. It is moving away from Earth. Nothing can stop it.
"We never get back in touch with Earth as we know it," Martin told me in an interview. "There we are, 311 of us, headed further out Into space. We have no business being out there. We weren't prepared, either technologically or emotionally. We hadn't planned on spending the rest our lives together! We have a life support system. but it doesn't allow for anything extra. We can just about support ourselves.
"I think the interesting thing about this." Martin added, "is that we're only 24 years into the future. It's not like Star Trek or other shows which take place 2,000 years in the future. People in Star Trek could make themselves appear and disappear at will. We can't do that."
Life is never dull for the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha. "We encounter space beings and go into incredible environments." Barbara Bain said enthusiastically. "We get into blinding raging snowstorms; we get involved in interplanetary wars. We have no control over the path we are travelling."
Could any of this actually happen in 24 years? Martin smiled at the question. "It's conceivable that we might use the moon as a nuclear waste dump," he replied. "It's a logical place, with a shuttle bus going back and forth. It's also conceivable that life exists in space in some shape or form."
"I think it would be exceedingly arrogant of us to think we're the only life," Barbara added. "There are so many possibilities. Who's to say that other beings aren't living in totally different environments?"
Space: 1999 has made a big splash around the world - the world we know, that is - because 24 episodes were completed before the series was shown. "Most salesmen go out with a pilot episode and a lot of promises," Martin explained. "In our case, they had finished programs to show. Japan saw 10 shows - and they paid the highest price in history for a TV series."
Peggy Herz