Eagles versus Enterprise

[Skybird]

I just learned today that the complete series "Space 1999" alias "Moonbase Alpha One has been released on DVD, in four separate parts, and available as a complete package of 16 DVDs as well. That brings back a lot of childhood memories! I loved those Eagles, not one episode without at least one of them going up in a huge explosion Not more and not less absurd than the classical Star Trek, but most of the actors were acting a bit too "cold". But the setting of the series was sexy, and as a very young boy I liked it more than Star Trek, which did not raise in my sympathy before I became a bit older.

What do you think?

I also never saw a single episode in original English language, so I do not know how careful the synchronization has been done back then. For Star Trek, the German version, following a trend in German TV in the 70s, was not copying the original' sober and sometimes military tone, but added a lot of humour and "flapsige Sprüche" (wisecracks? cheeky talking?) to it, far more than in the Aerican original. Anybody knowing how Alpha-1 compares in this regard?

[Dowly]

Havent seen any episodes of it, but if it was anywhere near Star Trek, I am sure I would have hated it.

B5 FTW!

[mapuc]

I do remember the series. I remember I used to watch every episode on ZDF
(I think it was on that channel) and also Star Trek was one of my unmissing series.

Regarding synchronization into german, well I can't exactly say what different the prenouncing(correct spelling) was. This is what I do remember. Before we moved to sweden, from southern jutland(Jylland) i saw a western with John Wayne on a german channel, two weeks later, I saw an another movie with John wayne. This is not Him I said to my parents, have John a twin brother??

Markus

[kurtz]

As I recall it was played pretty straight in English, when we dub things they seem to have a lot of double entendres in especially Japanese things like Monkey.

[STEED]

Skybird, Space 1999 was the most expensive show for it's time and rocked it marked the peak for Gerry Anderson work, year one is the best shame year two was not as good. The reason was American money was the main backer of year two funny thing is a lot of Americans like year one more.

I bought series one on DVD, the digitally restored back into it's proper 35mm print. Much better than the 16mm print on video.

The Eagles are great and I got two Dinky Eagles in mint condition the transport & cargo eagles.

I even did a report on the eagle losses in the series (A true fan I am) and during the late 1980's into the 1990's I went to conventions and saw these great Eagles that were used in the series just blew me away.

As two your question Skybird, eagles were transport craft and some of them were fitted with lasers which would be no match for the Enterprise.

The Best Space 1999 site
http://www.space1999.net/users/moonbase99/

Eagle One A complete Restoration
http://www.smallartworks.ca/Articles/Restoration/Restore1.html

[AntEater]

I've never seen a US episode of the original Star Treck series, but I know Star Treck was regarded as a children's program in Germany and hence the sychronisation was kept quite simplistic.
German TV has a long standing animosity against anything fantastic.
After "Raumpatrouille" in the early 1960s, there has never been another show in which anything fantastic, futuristic or supernatural happened until today.
We have had thousands of crime shows, but never anything in the field of SciFi, horror or mystery.
Ok, there was a very short lived, cheap X-Files knockoff by RTL some years ago (one episode involving a Type VII U-Boat stuck in time returning to germany) but that was really the only exception I can think of.

[Ishmael]

I remember when this series came out in the US. It was supposed to have everything. Great special effects, Martin Landau & the always hot Barbra Bain from Mission Impossible in the cast, even the costumes by Rudi Gernreich were hyped. So I watched it. Apparently they forgot one thing, decent scripts. The thing that made Star Trek so good and gave it staying power over the years was the quality of the writing. Rodenberry had been a scriptwriter on many series prior to Star Trek including one of my old favorites, "Have Gun Will Travel", with Richard Boone. If I want to watch a Good British Sci-Fi Show, this is my favorite you smegheads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uephFMQxfA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Nq20J0kiE

Smoke me a kipper, Skipper! I'll be back for breakfast!

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Not more and not less absurd than the classical Star Trek...

As long as you ignore the basic concept of the moon getting blown out of orbit so hard that they end up in other solar systems in a matter of weeks, yet everyone is NOT killed and everything is NOT destroyed...

That said, I actually liked it at the time. The effects were stunning for the period and as has been mentioned Martin Landau and his wife Barbara Bain were always fun to watch.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by AntEater

I've never seen a US episode of the original Star Treck series, but I know Star Treck was regarded as a children's program in Germany and hence the sychronisation was kept quite simplistic.
German TV has a long standing animosity against anything fantastic.
After "Raumpatrouille" in the early 1960s, there has never been another show in which anything fantastic, futuristic or supernatural happened until today.
We have had thousands of crime shows, but never anything in the field of SciFi, horror or mystery.
Ok, there was a very short lived, cheap X-Files knockoff by RTL some years ago (one episode involving a Type VII U-Boat stuck in time returning to germany) but that was really the only exception I can think of.

Raumpatrouille...!? "Hier Raumschiff Orion, alles bereit für Rücksturz zur Erde"...? A spaceship bridge that was put together with parts from household electronics!? Seeing is believing! I fear none of our Anglosaxon friends could imagine what German TV came up with back then!

Don't miss this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAIRlgTf7ms&mode=related&search=

The experience of your life, promised!

[AntEater]

Actually the special effects were about on the same level as the first Star Trek.
I mean I remember dozens of monsters with visible zippers, flying things with visible threads and such.
Star Trek actually looks a bit cheaper since it is in colour.
And the interior design was certainly much more innovative (and more unrealistic) than Star Trek. If you don't know it, can you spot the flat iron???
Did Star Trek have sub-aquatic dance clubs with giat goldfish circling overhead?
Not to mention the futuristic dances themselves...

[lesrae]

Originally Posted by STEED

The Best Space 1999 site
http://www.space1999.net/users/moonbase99/

Agreed, I spent a couple of quiet days at work reading the episode guides on there, nicely written and good use of screen captures.

http://www.space1999.net/users/moonbase99/archive.htm

[STEED]

Space 1999 had better FX unlike STAR TREK but they were both made in different country's and so on. The person who killed STAR TREK was Freddie Frieberger who took over on year three which stank and Gerry Anderson made the mistake bringing him in on year two of Space 1999.

Year two was controlled by America, Gerry Anderson said he was asked why there is no monsters in the show? GA would then get scrips rewritten and get the monster into the show, result weeks latter he was asked why you got monsters in the show? GA would state you said monster were the in thing in the States and they would say are yes they were but monsters are now out.

One thing about year two which I was not a fan of was Maya's molecular transformation act, I always felt if she had E.S.P and a few other things in that area it would have been a lot better.


Did you know that the planning of Space 1999 was actually to be the second series of UFO which would see the war with the aliens escalate but it was not to be.

[Heibges]

I loved "Space 1999", and even had the "action figures".

There were a lot of shows back around that time which all involved finding your way back home.

Space 1999
Lost in Space
Land of the Lost
Land of the Giants