SO, YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW EVERYTHING ABOUT SPACE: 1999?
HOLD MY COMMLOCK …
Space: 1999 is one of those series that just does not get enough love from North America. Just like Moonbase Alpha, the TV series just got lost in the shuffle throughout the years. Forever drifting into obscurity. In my opinion, this is Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s greatest series. The second season had lofty prospects in the sci-fi community in the 70s. All it had to do was to hold on a bit longer to enjoy success. Space: 1999 bridged Star Trek and Star Wars in the 70s. It never took the helm to become bigger than it deserved. The original fans of the series hold Space: 1999 dear to their hearts. Any new offering is a triumph for fans. To Everything That Might Have Been: The Lost Universe of Space: 1999 is a welcome addition to my The Making of Space: 1999 by Tim Heald.
The cult classic science fiction series Space: 1999 has legions of fans around the world and has been researched and documented in comprehensive books and documentaries, so fans can be forgiven for thinking there’s nothing new under the ‘Black Sun’ … But they’d be wrong.
Did you know …
– That actors on casting lists for Commander Koenig included Larry Hagman, Doug McClure, Robert Culp, and even William Shatner?
– The first title for the pilot episode was ‘The Last of the Earth Men’?
– The Chief Medical Officer was going to be male, and Professor Bergman could have been Professor Danilo Sabatini?
– That life on the Moon was intended to be a powder keg of fear and dissatisfaction, with Moon City constantly at war with alien races?
– That there were indeed discussions about a possible spin-off series?
This book takes you back to the beginning, to the genesis of the series, and to early themes, characters, and story outlines. It uncovers a treasure trove of previously unknown information, correspondence, casting lists, production information, and long-lost documents charting alternative realities of what might have been had the series taken any multitude of different forks in the road. And throughout, this book features extensive input from series story consultant and scriptwriter Christopher Penfold.
Any self-respecting Alphan who thinks they know it all needs to read this book and explore the lost universe of Space: 1999!
Written by David Hirsch and Robert E Wood with Christopher Penfold
DAVID HIRSCH
Born in 1957, David grew up watching the many TV series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. During his first year of college, he elected to write a paper for a film study class on their work, but with little research material available in the pre-internet era, he was forced to make a daring attempt to secure information from the company that distributed their programs in America, ITC.
ROBERT E WOOD
Born in 1971, Robert’s love of Space: 1999 has been nearly life-long and has led him to numerous extraordinary experiences, not least of which was a fifteen-year friendship and working relationship with series star Barry Morse, during which they produced (as a triumvirate with Anthony Wynn) a television movie version of Morse’s one-man stage show Merely Players (2000), TV specials Spotlight on Barry Morse and Spotlight on 1999 (both 2002), the Space: 1999 audiobook Resurrection performed by Barry Morse (released by Powys Media in 2010), the audio drama Rogues and Vagabonds: A Theatrical Scrapbook (released on CD in 2013), and stage plays including multiple performances of Merely Players in the United States, Canada, and England, and a 1999 Los Angeles production of Love Letters which reunited Morse with his Space: 1999 co-star Barbara Bain.
CHRISTOPHER PENFOLD
Christopher Penfold has been both writer and script editor in British film and television for over forty years during which he has either written or script edited over 300 hours of prime-time TV including single plays and several feature films. Christopher was a story consultant and lead writer for the first season of Gerry Anderson’s cult series Space: 1999, which starred Martin Landau and Barbara Bain and wrote the second season of The Tripods for the BBC.