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Space 1999 Takes Off As The Surprise Hit of the New Season

Space: 1999 Takes Off As The Surprise Hit of the New Season

by Steve Mitchell
In The Know - January 1976, p26-27

The biggest hit of the new TV season is a show that all three major networks turned down, and its success has been so phenomenal that the brass at CBS. NBC and ABC may well see some heads rolling in the not-too-distant future.

Space 1999, a sci-fi opus starring Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, was finally picked up by ITC and. syndicated across the country. Usually, syndication means non-prime-time airing on secondary channels, but the popularity of Space 1999 has been so strong and so instantaneous that, to the chagrin of the networks, some of the local affiliates have been bumping the regular network fare in order to show Space during prime-time. In New York, the show drew an unprecedented 36% share of the audience. even against Walt Disney, the perennial Sunday night favourite.

The Landaus, back together for the first time since their highly successful series Mission Impossible, were behind the show from the beginning. "We were very involved With script conferences, meetings with writers, directors, and special effects people. Working on the show is a lot of fun" says Martin. "Our crew was splendid, and the cast was great."

But even under these idyllic conditions, it wasn't all fun and games. The Landaus have received a couple of bumps and bruises in the line of duty. Martin describes an unusual problem while filming on the set of an imaginary planet. "We needed snow for a scene, so the effects crew created a new kind of snow made from detergent. It gave all the actors in the scene dishpan face." And Director Charles Crichton (of Lavender Hill Mob fame) had some difficulty while filming the Space Brain episode. As Martin tells it: "The main mission set had to be filled with this foam that came from these enormous machines. Charlie has all the foam he needs to match the last cut, and yells 'Stop the foam' but the machines make a racket and the crew can't hear him so the foam keeps coming. So he walks out into the set and he's gone, vanished, and we're hysterical. When he finally came out of the foam Charlie looked like Frosty the Showman."

The Landaus love working together and try to do so every chance they get - in fact they spent their honeymoon touring in the national company of Paddy Chayefsky's Middle of the Night. Before turning to acting Barbara was a high fashion model, appearing on the pages of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Mademoiselle. In between modelling assignments, she studied modern dance with the legendary Martha Graham. Martin studied tine arts at New York's Pratt Institute, and the Art Students League, before landing a position as a staff artist on the New York Daily News. Dissatisfied with their respective careers, Martin and Barbara turned to acting. They met in Curt Conway's acting class, and were married soon after. It wasn't until Mission: Impossible that the Landaus got a chance to act together again. Barbara is the only actress won three Emmys in a row in the dramatic field since the inception of the television Academy. With the certified success of their new venture, who's to say the Landaus can't do it again?