Foreword by Anorak Heaven Editor, Andy Fleming
The very sad news today is that Gerry Anderson, best known as the creator of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, UFO and Space: 1999 has died at the age of 83. The film and television producer, whose credits also included the supermarionation puppet shows Joe 90 and Fireball XL5 had suffered for several years with mixed dementia and died in his sleep, his son announced today.
His shows were the favourites of many school children in the 1960, 70s and 80s from Joe 90, Thunderbirds and Stingray to Terrahawks and live action in between with UFO, Sapphire and Steel and Space:1999. Here's a tribute to one of my favourite Anderson shows: Space: 1999, the last series to be directed and produced jointly by Gerry and his wife, Sylvia from guest blogger Seamas O Sionnaigh. Without him, the cosmos of science fiction and fantasy would be much the poorer. RIP Gerry Anderson.
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The winter of 1975 was a pretty grim time. The
war in the North of Ireland had entered one of its deadliest phases: gun
battles and explosions were an almost daily occurrence on Irish and British
television screens. In the United States President Ford had just escaped
assassination by a member of the Manson Gang. Turkey was rocked by an
earthquake that left thousands dead.
Kidnap-victim-turned-gun-toting-revolutionary Patsy Hearst had been arrested in
California. Generalissimo Franco was executing ETA freedom fighters in Spain.
And the 'Yorkshire Ripper' (Peter Sutcliffe) was stalking northern England.
There was little to lighten the mood, and a
permanent air of despondency seemed to have settled over the Western World as
the last remnants of the 'Love-and-Peace' zeitgeist of the 1960s faded into
memory. The mid-1970s were hard, harsh, and uncompromising, and cinema and
television reflected that. Revolution was in the air, the bitter outfall of
Europe's insurrectionary 'Summer of '69', and most people expected the
turbulence to continue - or worsen.
Into this pessimistic clime was launched a new,
and suitably dystopian, Science-Fiction television series in Britain: 'Space
1999'. It came from the creative output of the husband and wife team of Gerry
and Sylvia Anderson, the makers of such classic children's (and
marionette-based) TV shows as 'Fireball XL5' (1962-1963), 'Stingray'
(1964-1965), 'Thunderbirds' (1965-1966), 'Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'
(1967-1968) and 'Joe 90' (1968-1969). Inspired by the relative success of their
attempts at live action productions, including 'UFO' (1970-1971), the couple
had emerged with much more ambitious plans for a large-scale Sci-Fi series
using their years of special effects and model expertise, combined with a cast
of well-known actors. Approaching legendary British TV producer and media mogul
Lew Grade they secured his backing on the understanding that it be a
cross-Atlantic co-production, so Grade could break the lucrative American
television market.
The premise of the series was simple enough and
an attractive sell to potential backers. Humankind was storing its nuclear
waste in huge dumps on the far side of the Moon when (on the 13th of September
1999) an accidental explosion hurls the Moon out of Earth orbit and into deep
space stranding the 311 personnel stationed on the moonbase 'Alpha'. The Moon
becomes in effect their 'spacecraft' on which they travel through interstellar
space, searching for a new home, while experiencing numerous adventures. Okay,
the basic set-up was pretty ridiculous, with precious little science and lots
of fiction, however it did at least create a fairly simple voyage of
exploration theme (a la 'Star Trek', etc.) during which the personnel of the
moonbase could encounter all kinds of alien civilisations and strange phenomena
- while keeping production budgets fairly tight.
To spark up interest in the U.S. well-known
American television acting couple Martin Landau and Barbara Bain (who had
previously appeared together in the 'Mission: Impossible' series) were cast as
the two chief leads, with the addition of Barry Morse and Catherine Schell who
were also 'small-screen' famous in the United States and Britain. To add
greater weight a long line of quality guest stars were budgeted for, including
such screen and stage luminaries as Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, Peter
Cushing, Ian McShane, Patrick Troughton and Brian Blessed.
Unsurprisingly for an Andersons' production
heavy emphasis was laid on the special effects, with some of the best Sci-Fi
sets and models to appear on television (or in the cinema) during the 1970s.
Drawing inspiration from Stanley Kubrick's Science-Fiction masterpiece '2001: A
Space Odyssey' (1968), the show's 'look' combined a complex mixture of
miniatures, models and full-sized sets, while an overall uniform appearance was
adopted for everything, from chairs to clothing, one that was both utilitarian
and industrial looking, with an emphasis on dull colours (reflected in the
first season's use of low lighting and shadow). Though working on a relatively
tight budget the look of 'Space 1999' remained a defining one for many decades
afterwards in the milieu of TV Sci-Fi and some of the special effects team went
on to work on Ridley Scott's 'Alien' (1979) and George Lucas' 'Star Wars
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back' (1980).
The music for the series came from Barry Gray, with
contributions from several others and audio lifted from the considerable
back-catalogue built up by the Andersons' other shows, and was long famed for
its use of orchestral and jazz elements. The opening theme song rates in the
same iconic status among SF aficionados as does the original 'Doctor Who'
theme.
The stories of the first season were a strange
mix of the bizarre and the inspired, with heavy emphasis on mood pieces and
speculative stories often centred on the lead characters. Much of the credit
for the early scripts goes to the late Johnny Byrne, legendary Irish television
screenwriter, author and poet who also contributed to 'Doctor Who', as well as
such mainstream series as 'All Creatures Great and Small' (1976-1990) and
'Heartbeat' (1992-2010).
Despite what was for many a promising and
energetic start, the first season received a mixed reception in Britain, from
critics and audiences alike, and even on the British ITV network the show was
produced for it never received a proper scheduling across all the UK regions.
Panned for poor plotting, overblown dialogue and wooden acting initial optimism
for a 'British Star Trek' fell, and audience ratings with it. In the U.S. the
series failed to gain a place on the big networks, quickly entering into syndication
where it largely remained, being shown on a variety of local TV stations and
affiliates, gaining little if any national exposure. Beyond the American market
international sales were slow with only the traditional British television
markets of Canada and Australia showing any great interest.
The failure of the first season led to dramatic
changes for the second with new production staff and cast members (mainly
American), as well as other changes to set design and costume, with a greater
emphasis on colour and 'hi-tech' gizmos. The storylines changed to, from what
were described as the 'preachy' European-style scripts of the first season to
the more action-driven, American-style storylines of the second. However the
changes had little effect on critics and viewers, and for many, including for
most of the leading actors and actresses, there was a notable dumbing-down in
both the stories and the dialogue (some scripts were so bad as to be virtually
unshootable). The jarring cut between the first and second seasons, with the
replacement of various key characters and storylines without explanation added
to viewer fatigue and poor reviews and sales effectively spelled the death
knell of the show.
When the time came to create a proposed third
season, everything had pretty much fallen apart both behind and in front of the
cameras. The Andersons has separated and would eventually divorce, Lew Grade no
longer had any faith in the product and had moved on, British and American
backers were uninterested, the leading members of the cast were deeply unhappy
(particularly Martin Landau), and for most the game was up. Season three never
emerged and the year 1977 marked the permanent end of 'Space 1999'.
Today the series is held in some nostalgia by
many of the original reviewers and by some newer fans. Though lacking the
quality of writing that was found across near-contemporary Sci-Fi shows, like
the several seasons of 'Star Trek' (1966-1969) or the BBC's later endeavour
'Blake's 7' (1978-1981), its continued popularity is recognised in the numerous
DVD and Blu-ray editions that continue to be published. Some of the special
effects and models associated with the show, especially the 'Eagle
Transporter', have reached the status of instantly recognisable SF icons. The
various adventures featuring in the episodes of 'Space 1999' are very much of
their era, and even allowing for the generosity of the passing of time, they
are, in all honesty, fairly poor fare. Today toy models based upon the still
impressive looking 'Eagle' spacecraft, and released for sale to children in the
1970s, are in high demand - perhaps a fitting legacy for a production team who
will forever be associated with model based special effects. In that sense,
perhaps, 'Space 1999' fully justifies its 'cult' status among Sci-Fi television
shows - and fans.
Seamas O Sionnaigh
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