Space 1999

[darkwolf]

I was a big fan of this show and i wonder if Hollywood will one day do a remake of this show. Something like Space 2099.

[carabas]

Let's hope not. You just know they'd redesign the Eagles.

But if they do, Juliet Landeau (Drusilla from Buffy) should star.

[C. Earl]

There are some guys at Retcon Studios that have proposed a Space: 2099 series, but it hasn't been sanctioned by ITV (the license-holder to Space: 1999) so it remains little more than a fan-based idea right now.

ITV may be waiting for a major Hollywood studio--with major big bucks--to come forth with an ideas for a remake/reboot/relaunch of Space: 1999. The biggest hurdle might be in finding anyone in Hollywood who even remembers the show...

[darkwolf]

Let's hope not. You just hope they'd redesign the Eagles.

But if they do, Juliet Landeau (Drusilla from Buffy) should star.

Of course. She could be Doc Russell like her mother. They would have to upgrade the Eagles and the base giving it a 21st century look but it could work.

[Stressfactor]

I think they would have to SERIOUSLY rework the sci-fi. I don't think people today could swallow the idea of the Moon ripped out of orbit by a nuclear explosion and able to travel on it's own.

Fans absolutely ridiculed the idea of the Doctor "towing" the Earth back into orbit at the end of the Season 4 finale.

Internet reviewer Noah Antwieler (A.K.A. The Spoony One) about blew a gasket over the idea that the rest of the planets in the solar system could come so close to the Earth in Highlander the Source without causing SERIOUS damage http://spoonyexperiment.com/2010/12/06/highlander-the-source-review/

And even the early MST3K guys took a whack at the ridiculousness of the idea back when MST3K started out on a UHF station in Minneapolis.

I just don't think anyone could swallow that blowing the Moon out of Earth's orbit wouldn't

A) Screw up the Earth
B) Screw up the Moon
C) That the Moon could handle the stresses of interstellar travel
D) That the Moon wouldn't just get pulled into the gravity of some other planet.
E) That even if the Moon did remain some kind of 'rogue planet' that, when it approached another planet it wouldn't cause massive disruptions on said planet.

Not to mention the fact: How do you PILOT a freakin MOON -- unless it's actually a space station :wink:

[darkwolf]

Stressfactor do you think people care about the reality of the show ? The majority of sci-fi shows are scientific impossibilities but still people love them.

[Schnitzy Pretzelpants]

Stressfactor do you think people care about the reality of the show ? The majority of sci-fi shows are scientific impossibilities but still people love them.

I think in this day and age, yes, they do. I think it's fine to sub pseudo-science when you enter into a gray or speculative area of existing scientific knowledge, but it's essentially totally wrong-headed to ignore something that is almost more than common knowledge about science.

Having said that, I still enjoy the best of 1999, in spite of the central problem of the moon traveling.

Almost more problematic though is just how fast the moon must be traveling for it to impede them returning to earth by their own means. If the moon was traveling that fast I can't image anyone living on it, or the moon itself not breaking to pieces.

I think there is a really simple and effective way of rectifying these issues, if the series were ever relaunched. Simple yet, in keeping with the central ideas of the series.

My idea would be for a three to six year series, at the end of which it was revealed that all the characters actually died in the first episode, and have actually been in a kind of purgatory all the time, and in the last episode they move on to heaven.

Okay, I was serious in all but the above paragraph.

[Phil Clark]

A way of handling the concept today so that it doesn't come off as overly cheesy is if an asteroid of MASSIVE proportions swept past the moon, ripping it out of earth orbit and hurling it through the solar system. The moon could drift near other planets and then slingshot back towards the sun and then be hurled forever into the reaches of space. That would provide some drama as they plan an attempted exodus from the moon back to earth, only to have something happen to make that not work (perhaps the earth is far more devastated by the asteroids near miss than the moon was).

Or they could have the moon as a testing station for the first faster than light drive, and in a power surge the drive hurls the moon out of earth orbit.

[Stressfactor]

A way of handling the concept today so that it doesn't come off as overly cheesy is if an asteroid of MASSIVE proportions swept past the moon, ripping it out of earth orbit and hurling it through the solar system. The moon could drift near other planets and then slingshot back towards the sun and then be hurled forever into the reaches of space. That would provide some drama as they plan an attempted exodus from the moon back to earth, only to have something happen to make that not work (perhaps the earth is far more devastated by the asteroids near miss than the moon was).

Or they could have the moon as a testing station for the first faster than light drive, and in a power surge the drive hurls the moon out of earth orbit.

The thing about it is that, from what I understand, in order to make a Rogue Planet for reals you need an explosion of MASSIVE proportions. Like 'star exploding' type proportions.

And something like that, while it might create a rogue planet or planetoid is almost certain to KILL anything that might be living on the surface of said planet.

And as for a an asteroid passing nearby...

I had unfortunate flashbacks to the opening of Thundarr the Barbarian...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhAobPugvsk

Which just makes me giggle uncontrollably today.


No, really, what might be better is to skip the Moon entirely and instead go with a large asteroid to begin with.

Alpha, instead of being a Moonbase is now a base on a Near Earth Asteroid where they are mining the asteroid for metals and minerals.

There is an accident and the asteroid is sent out into space -- out of it's perihelion orbit.

The Eagles start out as cargo ships originally designed to ferry the metals and minerals and personnel to and from the Earth but as the people left on Alpha struggle to survive the repurpose everything.

[Schnitzy Pretzelpants]

The thing about it is that, from what I understand, in order to make a Rogue Planet for reals you need an explosion of MASSIVE proportions. Like 'star exploding' type proportions.

And something like that, while it might create a rogue planet or planetoid is almost certain to KILL anything that might be living on the surface of said planet.

And as for a an asteroid passing nearby...

I had unfortunate flashbacks to the opening of Thundarr the Barbarian...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhAobPugvsk

Which just makes me giggle uncontrollably today.


No, really, what might be better is to skip the Moon entirely and instead go with a large asteroid to begin with.

Alpha, instead of being a Moonbase is now a base on a Near Earth Asteroid where they are mining the asteroid for metals and minerals.

There is an accident and the asteroid is sent out into space -- out of it's perihelion orbit.

The Eagles start out as cargo ships originally designed to ferry the metals and minerals and personnel to and from the Earth but as the people left on Alpha struggle to survive the re-purpose everything.

This is something along the lines of what I was thinking too, or that somehow the moon breaks apart due to some calamity and Moon Base Alpha goes into some kind of emergency lockdown whereby everyone is put into stasis. They awake to find themselves on an asteroid that is a part of what once was the moon. Though I think this idea is as far-fetched as the original concept, as the Moonbase would have to be very strong indeed to not be destroyed when the Moon broke apart.

It's just that for the few years that I have had this notion in my head, I always thought it would be cool to have them awake from stasis and take some time to realize that they were no longer on the moon.

I also think it would be a cool concept for us, the viewer to know that earth was destroyed by whatever calamity had caused the Moonbase to break away, but that no one on Moonbase Alpha realizes that the earth was destroyed, so that we the viewers have that knowledge over them.

[C. Earl]

I can hear the reaction from the internet already...

"Dude, this show is such a rip-off of Star Trek: Voyager."

"Nah, dude, it's ripping off nuBattlestar Galactica."

"No, no, no--it's a wannabe Stargate: Universe."

"I think Lost did it better than any of 'em."

"Do any of you dudes remember Lost In Space?"

"That old movie that had that dude from Friends in it?"

"Yeah, it's totally ripping off that...no originality, these days."

[king mob]

I can remember watching the first episode on ITV when it was first shown and even as a kid I thought 'eh, what?' when the Moon was blown out of it's orbit.

This said, the first series really is quite brilliant and one example of the sort of genre programme we did so well in the 70's. The second series is utterly terrible. bloody hell, they even named a planet Luton in one episode because the producer was driving past it and thought it sounded 'exotic'.

However that first series stands up well in terms of story, even if the fashions are shite.

[darkwolf]

The concept behind the show is good: a lost moon travelling through space , finding new worlds and new civilizations. Yes, the explosion that take the moon out of Earth's orbit might be too much but the quality of the episodes makes us forget about it.

I loved the second season because the two new characters ( Maya and Tony ) made it funny and interesting, besides Paul wasn't on it ( the worst character on the show ).

I watch this show and the original Gallactica and this show as alot better. Gallactica had crappy special effects, Apollo was boring as hell and i'm still horrified about that last season. So if Gallactica could get a remake why not Space 1999 ?

[king mob]

The concept behind the show is good: a lost moon travelling through space , finding new worlds and new civilizations. Yes, the explosion that take the moon out of Earth's orbit might be too much but the quality of the episodes makes us forget about it.

I can tell you that the premise of the programme caused loads of complaints to ITV in the 70's because a lot of people just thought 'this is bollocks' regardless of how good the first series actually was.


I loved the second season because the two new characters ( Maya and Tony ) made it funny and interesting, besides Paul wasn't on it ( the worst character on the show ).

The second series sucked all the intelligence that was in the first series out of it.


I watch this show and the original Gallactica and this show as alot better. Gallactica had crappy special effects, Apollo was boring as hell and i'm still horrified about that last season. So if Gallactica could get a remake why not Space 1999 ?

As pointed out, there's issues with who owns the rights, and I believe Gerry Anderson isn't keen on trying to sort it out.

[Castel]

The concept behind the show is good: a lost moon travelling through space , finding new worlds and new civilizations.

To boldly go where no one has gone before !!

Oh wait...

[C.O. Jones]

Maybe the moon's core could be super-reinforced through a maze of the mining tunnels which could explain why it never breaks completely apart.

Has anyone here gone to YouTube and seen the fanfic video with an original crewmember? I think it was shown at ComicCon a few years ago.

[C. Earl]

Space: 1999 did have one of the most ridiculous premises ever for a science-fiction series, but it was cool if you could ignore it. It should have been a lost spacebase or a starship instead, IMO.

[Phil Clark]

But it did have high production values and a great design sense for it's time. I still love the Eagles. And the guns were sweet too. If they do update the series some day, I hope they just give the eagles a minor design upgrade, similar to what was done with the fighters in BSG.

[paulski]

I had fond memories of this show when I watched it as a young 'un, but was pretty disappointed when I got the DVD boxset a couple years back. The effects weren't too bad by today's standards and the acting was very solid, but man, the episodes were so slow and drawn out. I kept falling asleep virtually every night I would watch it.