Originally conceived as the second season of puppet pioneer Gerry Anderson's live action series UFO, Space: 1999 stands out as one of the few major SF series of the mid 1970s, and possibly the very first such series to be co-produced internationally, a path later followed by such series as Farscape and Lexx. In the original outline, having beaten the alien invasion back into space, the heroes of UFO would have pursued them into deep space by transforming Earth's moon into a huge spacecraft. When ITC pulled the plug on UFO, Gerry Anderson kept developing the idea independent of the UFO storyline, originally titling it 1999 and finally Space: 1999.

The basic plot Anderson developed involved a peacetime manned moon colony struggling to survive after a massive collision bumps the moon out of Earth's orbit and sends it plunging into deep space. As Star Wars hadn't premiered yet, the cinematic antecedent of Space: 1999 was 2001: a space odyssey - as realistic as possible in its special effects and model work, and as scientifically accurate as possible. Nevertheless, when it premiered, the series' much-advertised accuracy was neatly shredded in a now-famous newspaper article penned by none other than Isaac Asimov, who still gracefully admitted that some things needed to be given dramatic license for the audience's benefit. Still, scientific accuracy aside, the first series featured the most impressive effects work to grace a television SF series up to that point, and generally presented a somewhat bleak, angst-ridden story.

Future Academy Award winner Martin Landau and his then-wife Barbara Bain - both fresh from Paramount's hit Mission: Impossible - headed up the series, with Landau in particular occasionally hamming it up to near-Shatnerian heights. Both actors had it written into their contracts that they would receive a lion's share of the screen time per episode (with no less than an agreed-upon amount of time), necessitating the rewriting of several early scripts (and later created some awkward scene-shuffling when Catherine Schell was introduced to the cast in the second season). In fact, the opening titles for the first season credited Landau and Bain before the Space: 1999 title ever appeared.

For the second season, ITC wanted more action and adventure, and less angst. Fred Freiberger, the controversial producer whose influence was felt very distinctly on the oft-criticized third (and final) season of Star Trek, was brought in to oversee the show's transformation, introducing British actress Catherine Schell as Maya and making the show's uniforms, environs and aliens far more colorful (somewhat similar to the near-psychedelic treatment Freiberger inflicted upon Star Trek). The show was less heavy - but also less concerned with addressing the show's ongoing storyline or scientific accuracy. At the end of the second year, Space: 1999 was cancelled.

Thanks to reruns, both in syndication and on PBS, Space: 1999 built up a healthy fan cult in America and overseas. In 2000, Johnny Byrne - who served as script editor and head writer during the first season - wrote and produced a short fan-made film, using costumes and set pieces from the original series and featuring original cast member Zienia Merton, reprising her role as Moonbase Alpha communications specialist Sandra Benes, giving a brief narration of what has happened to the crew - and setting up Byrne's ideas for a spinoff or sequel series. This short film, incorporating montages of footage from the series, was shown at conventions and was also included in the French DVD edition of the series as well as the full-series US DVD box set; vigorous fan campaigning continues for a release of Message in the UK.

To date, there's no indication that Space: 1999 will live on in any form other than a recent series of new original novels and reprints of some spinoff novels from the 1970s.

Space: 1999 Resurrection by William Latham

Space: 1999 The Forsaken by William Latham

Space: 1999 Alien Seed by E.C. Tubb