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Space: 1999 (1975 - 1977)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2020 4:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Pow, you are dead right that when a series puts the spotlight on an actor who is best suited for a supporting role, it just doesn't work.

Great comment. Thanks.

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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think Martin Landau was a good enough actor to lead the series for all his faults! He might not have liked being photographed or filmed on one side more than another but he held the series together despite script challenges and the later production oddities during Freddie Freiberger's take on the show! He may have interfered by taking away a starring role for Nick Tate in the episode, Dragon's Domain, but that was because he understood episodic television rather than let the character of Alan Carter possibly die in episode twenty three!

His lack of interest in the second series was very visible and it took him and (us) a long time to settle down. but that may have affected the flow of the show! Landau may not have been a leading actor in films but he was well able to front a TV series from the seventies!
JB
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2021 12:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just viewed an interesting podcast video on Youtube.

Martin Landau & Barbara Bain were back in the U.S. doing a promotional tour for Space: 1999.

They were guests on the Mike Douglas talk show. It might have been for the whole week.

Buster Crabbe (Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Tarzan) was a guest one day on the MD show. Buster had seen the episode from the show "Force of Life" and asked several questions regarding the plot for it.

Martin & Barbara could not answer any of 'em and confessed that they never knew what it was about!

I won't criticize the Landaus as I also felt that some of the plotting for this series was odd and murky at times.

I have not seen FOL in a long time, so I cannot speak as to how unclear the story line is.

It did make me wonder though; how many times have there been SF television shows where the lead characters performed their dialogue well but the actor had no clue as to what the heck the show was about?
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2021 1:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Please give us the link to the Youtube video, Mike. If you can't paste the link here, just post the title of the video, and I'll find it that way. Very Happy

I can't help wondering if the reason Barbara couldn't answer Buster's questions was because (a) they didn't really relate to her understanding of the story, or (b) she wasn't interested enough in the story to analyze it as deeply as Buster so that she could answer his questions.

The Wikipedia article about this specific episode has this interesting comment.
________________________________

This episode was taken to task by critics who accused Space: 1999 of being poorly plotted and/or deliberately enigmatic. While appearing on an American news programme, Martin Landau was confronted by a fellow guest personality, actor Buster Crabbe (star of the 1930s Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials).

Having watched "Force of Life" and not understood the story, Crabbe demanded Landau explain what the alien force represented; to the delight of the series' detractors, Landau responded he had no idea.

________________________________

If this is accurate, then my first prediction is right — "[Buster's questions] didn't really relate to her understanding of the story" — and therefore it wasn't Barbara'a fault!

However, Mike, I agree with your comment about the possibility that sometimes actors just deliver their dialog without really understanding the plot of a story! Rolling Eyes

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Krel
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2021 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Force of Life" explained.

And unknown life form is traveling through space and stops off at Moonbase Alpha for a bite to eat. The life form is a rude and messy guest, which results in several deaths and an impressive bit of destruction. After the life form eats it's fill, it moves on without even saying thank you.

David.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 06, 2021 10:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
And unknown life form is traveling through space and stops off at Moonbase Alpha for a bite to eat. The life form is a rude and messy guest, which results in several deaths and an impressive bit of destruction. After the life form eats it's fill, it moves on without even saying thank you.

So...My brother-in-law stopped over?
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 12, 2021 4:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I thought I'd post this message here as well in the thread called The Day After Tomorrow (1976 British) aka Into Infinity, since it's all about a reboot of Space: 1999.

Pow and I are debating some of the concepts possible for such a reboot, particularly the fact that if the Earth lost the Moon, if would cause terrible problems for our planet.

Here's what prompted my comment below.


Pow wrote:
Those are some intriguing story ideas there, Bud.

And we can always make the moon one from Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn that has a human base on, just so our moon remains intact.

That's true, Mike — although the two moons of Mars are only 8 miles and 13 miles wide.







My reservations about the larger moons of the other planets is that their all frozen and far from Earth, so I can't think of a good reason to have a large, self-sufficient colony there.

However, one of Saturn's moons is Hyperion, which measures 255 x 163 x 137 miles, and it's honeycombed with caverns and tunnels which would make great living areas for a colony! Cool






I suppose Mars would be the best "second choice" for our wandering world on its grand galactic tour!





But I'm still leaning towards a moon base — for all the logical reasons I've presented in several Science now, add Fiction later threads.





Apparently, Mike, I'm less troubled by the idea of Earth suffering from the Moon's absence than you are. For me, that tragedy is packed with story possibilities! Here's what I mean.

~ A world war breaks out on Earth, and it looks like the end of mankind. The citizens of Moonbase Alpha watch in horror as the planet is dotted with bright flashes from the bombs.






The alien device detects all the nuclear blasts and reacts to them was if an alien attack is taking place — the very thing it was designed to rescue a planet from. It activates and transports the Moon to the first star system on it's list of pre-programmed destination.





* Then again, consider this scenario. *

~ The absence of the Moon would have several immediate effects (like, no more tides), but it would take a while for the "worst case" scenarios to occur. Let's assume that things wouldn't get catastrophic for a few years.

That would give our moon base inhabitants time to work on mastering the alien device and returning the Moon to Earth in time to prevent an ice age from starting — one of the possible fates if the Moon's absence tinkers around with the planet's tilt, screwing up the seasons.






With that mind, how about this?

Suppose the device is programmed to take the Moon to star systems which once had colony worlds established by the creators of the World Mover gizmo.

However, since the device is thousands of years old, the interstellar alien civilization might have collapsed, so the humans only find remnants of once thriving planetary civilizations, and none of the inhabits know how the World Mover works.

However, sometimes they'd find a planet that had abandoned computer systems or a still-orbiting space station which contained vast database from the lost civilization. From these they could gain new knowledge that makes the device more somewhat more controllable.






I like the idea that the device isn't just sending them to random star systems, even though most of the planets that made up the ancient interstellar civilization are now shadows of their former glory.

And so, the moon base travelers are on a quest to find a pocket of that once-vast empire which includes aliens who can help them get back to the solar system and save Earth! Cool

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 8:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In two episodes of Space: 1999 we see the results or possible of Earth's decline when the moon returns to earth in the first series after a mishap with an ion storm or a space warp. The Earth is a radioactive mess with only a few small areas still able to support life, and the Alphans come across future alternate versions of themselves and another moon which is on a collision course with them!

In the second series, Earth makes contact with Alpha, but over a century has occurred on Earth with pollution and droughts which have confined human populations to dome cities led by a man called Logan believe it or not? They offer the Alphans a chance to return home by use of a matter transporting device which they send the schematics of to the boffins on the Moon, but a quake on Earth disrupts the beam after three Alphans are already in transit and they reconfigure eight hundred years earlier in time in Scotland a slight few years after Bannockburn in 1339!
JB
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 12:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This year the Round 2 company is going to market a life-size model kit set of the LASER pistol and Comlock props. It will be under the MPC brand. They will be capable of being lit, or have electronics.

They're calling it a stun gun, but it is the LASER pistol with the STUN/KILL selector switch. The stun gun have no selector switch. I guess you could build it without the selector switch.

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 2:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I always thought that the artistic team did a terrific job regarding the designs for the Comlock & Pistol.

They hold up well to this day.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I agree. Compared to the junkie "toys" that were used as weapons in shows like the Buck Rogers TV series, these are very impressive.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 10:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Commlock: A Portable Communications & Locking device is a hand-held, multi-function sensor/ communication/ transceiver.

It functions as a security key restricting access to sensitive and command areas, a transponder instantly pinpointing the location of its carrier, an audio/visual/ communications unit, and a programmable computer.

The Commlock was similar in some ways to Star Trek's Tricorder & Communicator.

Unfortunately, over the course of its 2 seasons, "Space:1999" never truly exploited this nifty & beautifully constructed gizmo like it should have been.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 12:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The designs, layouts and spacecraft were first rate!

The problem was in the writing!

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Pow
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 12:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote


_______________________Stun Gun.

A compact, lightweight weapon carried by Moonbase Alpha's security details and aboard Eagle Transporters as standard equipment.

The power source is a monopolar electromagnetic cell designed by Professor Victor Bergman (Barry Morse).

The weapon can be fired continuously for approximately two hours.

Multi-barreled to give the gun a variety of functions, the first (top) barrel is the one normally utilized.

Model #1 gun is permanently set to fire the "stun effect".
When fired, it affects the central nervous system causing slowed heartbeat and respiration, unconsciousness, and with continued application, cardiac arrest and death.

Model #2 gun is equipped with a "stun/kill" setting selector.
Carried only by security teams and survey parties.
The "kill" setting fires a short-duration charge of sufficient power to penetrate protective clothing and cause massive internal damage.

Barrel #2 fires a micron-thick "torch" beam suitable for cutting and welding plastic or metal.

Barrel #3 fires a more intense beam for penetrating rock and metal walls..

Barrel #4 fires a wide-focus beam for disintegrating metal, concrete or stone at close range with protective clothing worn for the operator.

Without special modifications, all four barrels cannot be fired simultaneously.

Coded scan strips on the gun prevent unauthorized use or transportation into a prohibited area.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't ever remember them calling it a stun gun in the show, only a LASER.

David.
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