I had the plastic toy of that lunar lander when I was like 4 years old. I never watched the show though but I know Martin Landau was one of the stars.

I recall Space 1999 coming on PBS rather than a major network (ABC, NBC, CBS).

I can honestly say that I recognize this...



...as much as I recognize this (missing smaller hand phaser)...

Space: 1999 was on PBS for me, too, and it was difficult to figure out when it would be on, so I only saw a few episodes. I was 12 when it first came on and I remember thinking two things when I first watched the show: First, the Eagles were cool, and looked like something that might actually be built for working on the moon, and second, how did the Moon travel interstellar distances? Even at that age, I didn't quite get the physics of that, although I thought that, having missed several episodes, maybe they explained it somehow. I never really got into it, but had a model of the Eagle, just because I thought it looked so cool.

Side note - a friend of mine was really into it, and he found out that there was going to be a Space:1999 "convention" in Los Angeles, so we drove up to see it, I'd say there were maybe 50 people there at most, in a small conference room at a hotel (not a convention center or even a ballroom), and Barbara Bain came in to make a quick speech. She was nice, but I wouldn't be surprised if she was a little disappointed at the turnout.

I also recently re-watched the beginning of the TOS BSG pilot, and yeah, it was cheesy, but what bothered me most, and one of the reasons I think it was less successful, was that they re-used efx shots over and over even in the pilot, and it was obvious. Just really took away the suspension of disbelief to see the same shot four or five times in quick succession. And they carried that out throughout the show.

I realize that Space 1999 is very much a cult tv show but I'm still surprised by that very low turnout considering that this convention was in LA! Do you remember which year that convention was?

It was in the early '90s, and maybe I'm not remembering the size of the crowd correctly, but it was in a room that just had tables chairs lined up, sort of classroom style, so no big open floor, no vendors or anything like that. I think there were two rows of chairs, maybe four in a row on each side of the room, and an aisle down the middle. and a podium at the front. I don't think there could have been more than 100, as we were near the back and still had a clear view. After 30 years, the memories fade a bit, but that's the best of my recollection right now. I'll ask my friend what he remembers.

Edit: I checked with my friend and he confirmed the number was about 50.

Was it this one?
https://catacombs.space1999.net/main/w2con92a.html

Space 1999 was pretty good, as most of Gerry Anderson's stuff is. You need to gloss over the science a bit though.

That looks about right, and maybe we only went to one day of it, so maybe that's why it looked small and I didn't see Martin Landau. I thought Nick Tate was there, but couldn't remember for certain, so I didn't want to say that and be wrong. My friend was really into it, so I am surprised that he didn't arrange to be there when Landau was.

I actually know more now about Space: 1999 now than I did then, so there were probably people there and other things that I didn't fully appreciate at the time.

Yes it is! And thanks, PM. I hope you don't mind the parallel path the thread has taken.

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And...AND... (at least, if she's your type)

I have a question. BSG was one of the few movies I saw as a kid in a theater (along with Start Trek I, The Empire Strikes Back and Disney's The Black Hole).

My DVD in the pic above (page 1) is the movie I saw in theaters. Is that the same as the pilot?

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Reading mikew's link is fascinating. Would loved to have been there with Arthonon.

I remember buying Space 1999 trading cards with stick of gum at my local grocery store. I wish I had been a hoarder back then.

Wonderful movie. The critics took it far too seriously.

...and RIP Mike Hodges who died last week

I'm thinking the actress who played Ming's chief of security rather liked that whipping scene.

I also saw the original BSG pilot in the movie theater and I think there were a couple of scenes that were shortened or cut out to make room for commercials for the TV broadcast version.

I think we all did, including the recipient...


(I should have linked the gif in other post).

==========
Klytus: Princess Aura, under our persuasion, has implicated you on a charge of high treason. You're under arrest! A prison ship will be here shortly to take you away.

Prince Barin: You tortured Aura.

Klytus: lnteresting girl. l think she found it rather enjoyable.
==========

Makes sense. Thanks for the info.

No problem! On a related note I also saw the Buck Rogers 2 hour pilot in the movie theater and I still cringe to this day whenever I think of that disco dance scene.

I need to revisit this. Every time I see the WH Press Secretary I think of Twiki (couldn't find a Peter Griffin Twiki soundbite, "beedee beedee beedee").

EDIT: I'm still laughing at the clip on page 1. Twiki admiring a bent over Erin Gray in tight spandex..."Where do I put this, babe?"

I heard they cut some scenes from the movie that they felt were too violent for TV, one of which showed crew being blown across the bridge of one of the battlestars, but they were largely the same.

And I echo the comments on the Buck Rogers movie, and I had the biggest crush on Erin Gray.

Battlestar Galactica - Original Show Intro | NBC Classics


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtUxDbWcVTc


But another problem I have with the new series...

'Echos of ancient civilizations...' and this one doesn't have those cool Egyptian Viper helmets!





They really should have kept this, IMO.

New mystery...

How many Battlestar Galactica intro monologues[?] are there? The one above doesn't match the one I have on MP3, and the above is also missing "...the Great Pyramids...":

"There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. That they may have been the architects of the Great Pyramids, or the lost civilizations of Lemuria, or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man, who even now fight to survive somewhere beyond the heavens."

Also, from the YT comments this show was apparently on ABC not NBC (that I don't remember, other than having only 4 VHF/UHF stations that went off-air at midnight: ABC [2], CBS [9], NBC [33] & PBS/LPB [27]).

In any case, this thread has me going back to my Cold War & Space playlist (posted on another thread) which includes a hi-quality version of the theme song without any intros (and what a great theme)!

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EDIT: This is the intro I have on MP3:

"In the seventh millennium of time, a tribe of humanoids engaged in a terrifying conflict against a race of machines. The humans lost. Now, led by their last surviving warship, the mighty Battlestar Galactica, a handful of survivors move slowly across the heavens in search of their ancestral brothers. A tribe of humans, known through ancient records to be located somewhere on a distant shining planet. A planet called Earth."

*** Classic vs. 'New' ***

This one I really like (theme only)...

Battlestar Galactica (1978) Theme


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzyHxYxc-Mo

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The new one is way too New Age for me...

Battlestar Galactica Season 1 Title intro


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPBzHa2PcS8