FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS!

By Terence O'Flaherty
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, September 5, 1975
Article Source Provided by: Curt Duckworth

TO PUT it simply, Space: 1999 is the best science-fiction show on television. It is also the most expensive and the most spectacular. It will have its Bay Area premiere tonight at 10 o'clock on Channel 4. Next week it will move to its permanent time spot of 7 p.m. Saturdays.

All space shows face the same problems, in my estimation. They tend to get either very complicated or very campy, or both. Space: 1999 is no exception. It's just LESS complicated and campy than the others and the believability is heightened by handsome, authentic-looking sets and some good performances by Barbara Bain, Martin Landau and others. (The title "Space: 1999" may sound like a marked-down sale price, but it's top quality merchandise.)

SCIENCE FICTION fans will understand what's going on tonight but others may find these facts helpful:

The 311 men and women of Moonbase Alpha come from all the nations of Earth. Their original mission is to man an early warning defence system but in the year 1999 the moon is blasted out of Earth's orbit by a thermonuclear explosion. The results on Earth are devastating. On the moon, the Alpha Base remains intact but the small colony of terrestrials must prepare themselves for the ultimate journey into the timelessness of the universe.

At the end of tonight's episode when communications with Earth are fading and other signals come from a far star, Landau says, "Maybe that's where our future lies- maybe there..."

In future weekly episodes, they will seek a compatible planet and defend themselves against such obstacles as Arra the queen of the planet Asteria [Atheria], fleets of cockroach-shaped spaceships; Gwent, the man-turned-machine, and a duplicate moon where they land and discover...themselves.

Catacombs Reference Library Press Fasten Your Seat Belts!

Fasten Your Seat Belts!

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Fasten Your Seat Belts!