Space 1999

What’s it about?

Space 1999 follows the crew of Moonbase Alpha as they are blasted into deep space following a nuclear accident. As the crew struggles to survive, they encounter alien civilizations and cosmic mysteries.

Starring

Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Barry Morse, Catherine Schell, Prentis Hancock, Nick Tate, Zienia Merton, Anton Phillips

An Introduction to Space 1999

In the opening moments of Space 1999, the Moon is knocked from its orbit by a catastrophic explosion at a nuclear waste disposal site maintained by the Earth colony of Moonbase Alpha. The blast sends the Moon spiraling into the unknown reaches of space along with Alpha’s inhabitants, and the implications are immediate and terrifying: with no control over their trajectory, the crew is completely at the mercy of the universe.

Commander John Koenig (Martin Landau), Dr Helena Russell (Barbara Bain), and Science Advisor Victor Bergman (Barry Morse) are the main protagonists of Season One, in charge of grappling with this new reality. Order must be maintained on Moonbase Alpha to keep focus, alongside the wellbeing of its inhabitants and the ability to react quickly to the many unearthly challanges that are coming their way. Plus the matter of how to get back to Earth – this is looking increasingly improbable but hope must be kept alive.

The first scenes balance a sense of dread and wonder, as the characters find themselves unmoored from everything they know. It’s a beautifully shot show that presents the vast emptiness of space as both a physical and psychological challenge. As a viewer, you’re hit with an overwhelming feeling of isolation — who can you trust when you’re millions of miles from home, your base broken, and your reality forever altered? The mood is perfectly captured in the calm yet resolute expressions of the cast. And as Space 1999 moves forward, the stakes get higher, and the mood more desperate. Aliens, strange phenomena, and new worlds all await.

Summary

Space 1999 comes from the stable of producers Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, perhaps best known for the mid-1960s TV show Thunderbirds. Two years before Star Wars hit the big screen, British audiences were treated to a welcome Saturday-morning slice of space drama, with all the spaceships, laser battles and alien creatures a young mind could want.

The two seasons are quite different in tone – Season 1 plays on the high stakes, with a serious approach to the many challenges and an overarching feeling that maybe some unseen force is overseeing procedings. This idea would later be expanded upon in Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica, alongside using a teaser of upcoming events at the beginning of each episode (Moore readily admits to being a Space 1999 fan). The addition of Barry Gray’s epic, orchestral musical score adds emotional depth and the various alien sound effects are memorably spooky.

Season 2 is lighter in tone, as it was felt that international audiences would prefer more moments of humor, love interests plus a light-hearted epilogue. Victor, the always-serious Science Advisor disappeared and was replaced by a shape-shifting alien Science Officer called Maya (Catherine Schell). Maya was a brilliant and much-loved addition to the cast, equally strong and compassionate, but losing Victor’s enjoyably exaggerated gravitas was noticeable. The theme and score are now more like 1970s action film music, further moving the feel away from Season 1’s tone.

Like Star Trek before it, the crew of Moonbase Alpha are now deep space explorers with a new challenge each episode – the difference being that the Alphans didn’t ask for any of this! Throughout the series, the crew contends with numerous dangers, but it’s not just about survival — it’s about exploring the unknown and, at times, contending with their own limitations. Space 1999 manages to mix that nostalgic sense of 1970s sci-fi with genuinely gripping cosmic horror at times, all while reminding you that humanity might just be a tiny blip in the vast, unfeeling universe.

Check out the Season 1 Opening Titles here: