'Space: 1999 The Bringers of Wonder' Review

It was Gerry Anderson’s ‘UFO’ that truly got me into science fiction. Sure, I’d already seen ‘Thunderbirds’, ‘Stingray’, ‘Captain Scarlet & The Mysterons’ but it was at the age of 10 and the loaning of a VHS (remember those) from a friend of mine of the first three episodes of ‘UFO’ that really got me interested. The genre and the resultant television series, films and sometimes books have been an important part of my life ever since. My borrowing of the ‘UFO’ video was also rather fortuitous as it coincided with the broadcast of newly re-mastered ‘Thunderbirds’ episodes on BBC Two, followed by repeats of ‘Stingray’ and ‘Captain Scarlet & The Mysterons’. This also seemed to coincide (but it is probably the case that I hadn’t really noticed till then) with an influx of video’s of Gerry Anderson series ending up at my local market. Now I first saw ‘UFO’ and ‘Space: 1999 during the 1998-1999 BBC Two run of both series here in the UK, but it wasn’t till late 2000, early 2001 that I became interested in both series. ‘UFO’ remains my personal favourite of Anderson’s shows, and I often lean towards the live action (non-puppet) series because they are so frequently overlooked. Space: 1999 remains an impressive series, which rivalled the production values of any other science fiction series of its day and still stands up to close inspection today. I picked up videos where I could, and by the time I was 15 I was using eBay quite regularly to purchase items I may not have been able to find otherwise. One of them was a video release of something called  ‘Destination Moonbase Alpha’ which I later found out was a feature length edit of the only two part story in the entire series run entitled ‘The Bringers of Wonder’ produced at the latter end of production of the show’s second and final season and broadcast in 1977. Six further episodes received this treatment, sold to markets all over the world as new television movies when they had in fact been compiled from a television series that had already ceased production. ‘Space: 1999 Destination Moonbase Alpha’ (1978) was broadcast on American television several times in the late 1970’s and allegedly even was screened in some cinemas. Crucially, the production was the first ‘Space: 1999’ product that was distributed on VHS in 1980, being the first example of ‘Space: 1999’ being available to own in one’s collection.

The original artwork for 'Destination Moonbase Alpha' by artist Chantrell

In a way, this tradition has been continued to the present date, as ‘The Bringers of Wonder’ with a special feature option to view both ‘Destination Moonbase Alpha’ and its original trailer has been chosen by the exemplary Network DVD range for release on Blu-ray in High Definition as a taster release ahead of their much anticipated (and much delayed) release of the entirety of the show’s second series, the first series having been available in both formats since way back in 2010. This special edition release was pressed to just 1,999 copies and was advertised a couple of months back before it was released on the 8^th December. Naturally I have a copy, which I received just three days ago, and this is the basis for my review.

My copy of 'Space: 1999 The Bringers of Wonder: Special Edition' one of my favourite purchases from this year. Yes...I'm sad.

I love Space: 1999 dearly, and am (unusually) a fan of both series. The first was a thoughtful, poignant, mystical and slower paced show, with multi layered and often open ended narratives. The second was an all out action romp, complete with a funky score by Derek Wadsworth and an American producer, ex-Star Trek producer Fred Freiberger, who for various reasons (most of them unfair) continues to be mocked and maligned to this day for his involvement in both series. It’s best to take them as they come and appreciate both efforts for what they offer.

‘The Bringers of Wonder’ is an all time classic second series tale, as previously mentioned the only two parter in the entire series (which consists of 48 episodes) and scripted by the great Terence Feely, who amongst other things had previously written another successful Series Two episode ‘New Adam, New Eve’ not to mention two classic ‘UFO’ episodes, ‘The Man Who Came Back’ and ‘Timelash’, as well as two installments of ‘The Prisoner’ starring Patrick McGoohan. Featuring Maya transformations aplenty and some great performances from the lead actors Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Catherine Schell and Tony Anholt, the action is also excitedly directed by Tom Clegg whose work for the series was very good indeed. All of the studio sequences were filmed at Pinewood Studios, including some location filming at Heatherden Hall Gardens, South Lodge and the surrounding woodland and a nearby pond within the studio grounds. The special effects sequences were shot at the now under threat Bray Studios in Bray, Berkshire.

Martin Landau (centre) with Nick Tate and Catherine Schell on the Second Series 'Command Centre' set

A brief spoiler here, but the story opens with our familiar hero (and leader of Moonbase Alpha) Commander John Koenig (Martin Landau) on a quite literal space trip, during a routine Eagle Flight (the memorable spaceships from the series) he starts to exhibit strange behaviour and loses control of the craft. He suffers a serious blow to the head and is put on a new experimental brain complex to aid his recovery. Meanwhile, the rest of Moonbase Alpha are visited by what purports to be a Super Swift from Earth, a space vehicle that travels faster than the speed of light which was merely on the drawing board when our Alphan friends were thrown out of the Earth’s orbit by a huge nuclear explosion on the moon (as established in the opening episode ‘Breakaway’).  Aboard this Super Swift are various friends and colleagues from the Alphan’s past, who promise to take the inhabitants back to earth, from which they have been estranged for several years (about a hundred years in real time). However, these friends from Earth aren’t what they appear to be, and John Koenig knows it, his brain having been protected by the brain complex that Chief Medical Officer Dr. Helena Russell (portrayed by Martin Landau’s then wife Barbara Bain, the other regular lead in the series) had put him on, whereas the rest have been influenced by the powerful mental suggestion of some invading aliens who need the Moon’s Nuclear Waste Domes to extract power from. The problem is, they need such a large dose of energy that the Domes have to be blown up for them to thrive, and with their lack of mobility (in actuality they are ugly, blobby things) they have to get our poor humans to do it for them. Koenig must prove to the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha that they are in grave peril and they don’t have long to defeat the alien threat!

Commander Koenig (Martin Landau) attempts to board an Eagle against the suspicions of his comrades

The episodes also feature a stellar cast including ‘Doctor Who’ stalwart Jeremy Young as Bartlett (the actor appeared in the very first ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘An Unearthly Child’), Stuart Damon as regular character Tony Verdeschi’s brother Guido (who looks suspiciously like Craig Stirling from ‘The Champions’) and Nicholas Young (John in the original ‘The Tomorrow People) as regular character Sandra Benes’s fiancé Peter. Other notable guest stars include Drewe Henley, David Jackson who provides the voices for the Alien foes in the second part and had previously starred as ‘Alien Strong’ in the Series 2 episode ‘The Rules of Luton’. He’d later play Gan in the BBC science fiction series ‘Blake’s 7’. The star of the show is Toby Robins, a Canadian actress who had previously enjoyed a successful career in the USA before making London her home in 1964. In ‘The Bringers of Wonder’ she plays Diana Morris, a bolshy madam who has a romantic history with our protagonist Commander Koenig and steals every scene she is in. Sample line “I do yoga myself you can get into some lovely positions”. Feely has really researched the lead characters and there is some wonderful dialogue. When Bartlett, Ehrlich and Capt Alan Carter believe they are flying towards New York City and ask each other what they are going to say to the people waiting after touch down, Ehrlich suggests "A small step for man...." only for Bartlett to interrupt and say "It's been done, what are you going to say Alan?" He responds in an American accent "Where's the nearest John?" The remark is classic Carter who has always provided a decent dose of humour to the series, superbly brought to life by actor Nick Tate.

Catherine Schell as the Metamorph Maya with Barbara Bain (Dr. Helena Russell) and Martin Landau as John Koenig

‘The Bringers of Wonder’ is also notable for featuring a consistent and familiar supporting cast. The second year had introduced the likeable Catherine Schell as Maya and Tony Anholt as Tony Verdeschi both Commander Koenig’s second in command and also a love interest for the former. Familiar faces such as Nick Tate as the great (and unforgivably underused) Captain Alan Carter and Zienia Merton as Sandra Benes (or Sahn as she is called in season two) have a fair bit to do in this story. Fortunately Tate would actually appear in 18 of the 24 episodes of Series Two, whereas Merton would only feature in 11 (both appeared in the entirety of the former series). They were more fortunate casualties of the drastic recasting and ‘out with the old, in with the new’ approach of the new leadership of ‘Space: 1999’ namely Fred Freiberger and Gerry Anderson for its second year, the latter credited as Executive Producer and therefore equal in blame in my opinion to the much criticised former. Likeable introductions (again underused) in Year Two are also absent (notably John Hug as Bill Fraser) which makes you wonder how Feely was briefed at scripting stage as to which characters he used and didn’t, or maybe he simply picked his favourite from the available and set about including them! Whatever the case it’s great to see them included, particularly Zienia Merton as Sahn as she was soon to move on to pastures new, before the conclusion of filming on the final series. The gorgeous Jeffery Kissoon also appears in these episodes. He had been introduced in the second series, but unlike the first where there was a regular standby Doctor (i.e Anton Phillip’s Doctor Matthias) there were multiple Doctor’s in the second series. Kissoon’s Dr. Vincent is the most familiar from the latter series and undoubtedly the best. Again, here the character is used well which is pleasing to a big 1999 fan like myself.

The opening of the second part of 'The Bringers of Wonder'. See alien, far left! 

To conclude this review I should comment on the new DVD release. Network’s ‘Space: 1999 The Bringers of Wonder Special Edition’ brings together the two original episodes re-mastered for Blu-ray in High Definition as well as an un-remastered original cut of the feature film version ‘Destination Moonbase Alpha’ and its trailer. It has been a real pleasure to see the latter again after all these years, with the terrible ‘Star Wars’ style introduction and establishing format shots, incorporating footage from the Series One episode ‘Breakaway’ as well as some brief excerpts from Series Two, plus a new opening theme from Mike Vickers (misspelled Vikkers in the credits) which is so very 70’s! The closing theme sung by Oliver Onions (who it turns out is a pseudonym for the two Italian writers of the music) is woefully hilarious. It is worth noting that ‘Destination Moonbase Alpha’ like ‘Alien Attack’ (the next Space: 1999 film made by the same production team but in that instance incorporating two woven together episodes from the first series) that the date is set at 2100, allowing for the lapse in time between the Moon leaving Earth’s orbit and the date of the story incorporated in ‘Destination Moonbase Alpha’, namely ‘The Bringers of Wonder’. As a kid I made a terrible science fiction home video with a friend that was set in ‘2100’. Both films were the inspiration and for all their non-canonical discrepancies they were my first introduction to these great episodes. It should also be noted that the first two ‘Space: 1999’ feature films (not counting an earlier Italian effort entitled ‘Spazio: 1999’) edited from episodes of the show were produced by ITC’s London offices. Two further films would follow in the early 80’s put together by ITC’s New York offices. These latter two are spectacularly woeful whereas the former are in fact reasonably faithful to the original material with the inclusion of only minor edits. But that’s another story for another blog.

The aliens (David Jackson) discuss their plans in 'The Bringers of Wonder' Part 2. Can you spot the cut-out?

Sticking to ‘The Bringers of Wonder’ and as mentioned earlier ‘Space: 1999’ had a substantial budget (the second series had less than the first but it was still impressive) and it’s wonderful to see the production still shine in our HD age. Both episodes look splendid on Blu-ray (the only bumps and creases are the obvious cardboard cut out aliens and some of the Moonbase Alpha screen stills). The sets still stand up to intense scrutiny now, and there are very few series of that period that can boast that. The fact that there are institutions like Network preserving archive material and restoring it in this digital age for future generations to enjoy is sublime. Please check out their other releases and support them. They have released a huge body of work since their formation in 1997 releasing many great and important series and films that would of otherwise not seen the light of day. Network DVD have yet again done a terrific job of re-mastering ‘The Bringers of Wonder’ episodes for this new release. I just can’t wait to see the full second series in HD glory next year.

http://networkonair.com/ 

The second season central cast, left to right Barbara Bain, Alibe Parsons, Martin Landau, Catherine Schell, Tony Anholt and Nick Tate

NOTE: All production stills and photographs used in this review are copyrighted to ITC, Carlton Television and Network DVD. The next review will focus on the classic Christmas film 'Home Alone'.