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I’m hoping it will be here today…mail doesn’t arrive until later this afternoon. /* tapping foot impatiently */
I’ve also had an e-mail to confirm that CTC has been posted out to me… sadly, I doubt It’ll arrive before the New Year. Postal services in the UK are being severly disrupted by the bad weather. Simon/Kalthon was very lucky to get hold of his copies so quickly… nice to know that he did though B) Still, I’m looking forward to reading the book a great deal B)
PS – get well soon Simon! :ohmy:
[b]dahegg wrote:[/b]
[quote]I’m hoping it will be here today…mail doesn’t arrive until later this afternoon. /* tapping foot impatiently */[/quote]
Got it today! That’s pretty cool since I was under the impression it would be well after Christmas before I got it. I didn’t open the box yet because it’s technically a Christmas present, and I’m still deciding if I’m going to make my DH wrap it. đI’d like to spend more time with my copy but here are some of my initial thoughts:
First I’m so sorry about your son, Mateo, I didn’t know and my thoughts, prayers and love are with you. I DO believe in a higher power and an afterlife in some form so I am comforted in that manner for those I’ve lost. I believe your son continues on…but again I’m sorry for your loss, it is not easy for those of us left behind.
On another front: on a SPACE: 1999 front I’m not sure I should say some of the following things but I just hope it can be taken as just my own opinion and not an attack on anyone. I love the show, love that there are novels being published, both old and new, and love the care given to the show in these books…
but….
SPOILERS FOR ALL THE BOOKS
Much of what has been done would not have been the way I would have done it. I can’t say that I like what any of the books has done to the characters, the plot, or the mythos of 1999…at all. This doesn’t just go for ALPHA and OMEGA but for BORN TO ADVERSITY and the changes in the second year OMNIBUS as well. Now that I love the show and that there are new materials being published, I will always buy these books and more than one copy. I can’t really wait for the first season omnibus to come out.
That said, I”m not happy that any collection we get…is changed to fit the thoughts of the current “mythos”.
I can’t really recall a great deal of the books to be fair and honest and don’t really want to reread them. They created a feeling of dread in me and one that I didn’t expect to experience in a 1999 book…not the dread that episodes like MISSING LINK or even SPACE BRAIN or FULL CIRCLE might have in a plot driven manner but a dread that you went where you went with the MUF and the characters. I just don’t like it. I could not, at the time, even put into words why. Much of 1999 is not in words but in spirit and it was there that I felt it was deadened in me by what you have done in these novels.
The new book CHASING THE CYLCOPS cites ALIENS, STAR TREK movies, LORD OF THE RINGS, 2001, and other sources that 1999 definitely borrowed from or was inspired by, however…1999 has something, a special something that almost none of those have and it si almost undefiniable…almost spiritual. My essay, GOD IN SPACE: 1999 reveals much of how I feel about the spiritual aspects of 1999 and SOME OF IT comes from the Starlog articles so long ago trying to piece together the MUF of 1999.
To be fair, again, I always thought there were two MUFs or more: mostly God and the evil forces against God, which whether some of them knew it or not, were working mostly for the devil. In addition, man’s own fallen nature, was against the MUF. In my views and many are backed up in my article with facts and details and dialog from the actuall episodes, both first and second seasons, Arra is good, the Alphan’s faith (the few that have faith such as Alan and John) is not misguided. THAT to me anyway is the main message of 1999, especially COLLISION COURSE. You have taken that in my eyes and twisted it, almost perverted it into something wholly unspiritual. In fact, you have STAR TREKized it, which maybe some like and enjoy. I do not.
I like Victor, too and am glad to see him back in some form. Some past lore, not sure if it was lore from the actual makers of the show or not, had him (Starlog Alpha Guide?) die on the surface of the moon. That same guide had Paul and Kano die in an Eagle crash. Some fan fic has all three of them on some mission with others on another part of the moon, possibly underground. I am glad to see any of them again so kudos for that.
Some of the books have some terrific imagery in them such as the brell, the red wall of protoplasm, the death of an Alphan there, etc etc. Although I enjoy some of this, I do not understand why it was necessary to present the MUF in an all out direct war between them and to make Arra on the evil side and having manipulated John. I also don’t enjoy having what was essentially a spacey, far out MUF situation “demystified” into a STAR TREKian/STAR WARS ian type series of battles, with some of my favorite aliens from the 1999 canon as fodder (did Sahala die in one of these battles if I recall correctly?).
While I have always enjoyed reading fan ideas of what “could be” the explanations of the “disparitiies” between years one and two and other aspects of 1999, I feel that your linking of things and making the MUF a basically “fleshy” conflict with “wants and desires” that we can understand basically ruins what I find “good” and “interesting” about the spiritual aspects of 1999 and brings it to a basic level of bad alien vs good alien, something that has a place in 1999 and indeed all space opera BUT something that undermines and debases the higher life forms of the show and takes the faith, hope, and love out of the show/series, almost for good. In addition, robbing Maya of her exciting powers, drains the show of its momentum driven action aspects. So what’s left? I’m not sure…
At the same time that you discard key elements of the MUF mythos to give your own or fit your own catalog of what you want to do, you claim that MESSAGE FROM MOON BASE ALPHA is now canon, if I understand the new book correctly. Doesn’t that lock you into —and I”m not saying that’s a bad thing—-I like this sorta happy ending to the series (BUT doesn’t it claim that Victor is dead?)—–lock you into a prepaid ending?
I will try to take piece by piece why I dislike much of what you have done. First of all Mike Ryan: who knows or understands why some people, even Godly people, die and others do not. Why save others and not Mike? Maybe there is some other purpose for Mike that is GOOD not evil that we don’t know of. Maybe Mike is needed on some other level of existence? You seem to have left out A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH where Helena’s “dead” husband tells her that matter never dies, no one ever dies, matter just changes it’s form. Why does Mike’s death have to be something that an evil force has done? A large part of my own MUF idea is that the MUF has to have the Alphans trust it/him/her despite the looks of things or the science of things. I do not believe in BLACK SUN that something was purposefully trying to destroy the Moon and the Alphans—it was just a danger of space…perhaps the force has to show the Alphans that they canot rely on their science, their own minds alone sometimes…that sometimes they have to “give it all up to God”. They then encounter body (which gets old and seems weak), mind (“I can see your mind), spirit. Of these mind and spirit might last…
Without the MUF, the Alphans would have been doomed. They needed to see that and embrace that of their own free wills. The MUF, which you seem to be trying to give human reasons for doing what it does, might have it’s own words as a rule that it cannot completey interfere with the Alphans and with that particular fallen universe, which might have chosen in one weak moment to go iwth the fallen MUF force, ie the devil and the ways of savage mind (again think FULL CIRCLE and even MISSING LINK which also features the “to think” vs “to feel” scenario and which the MUF-God seems to say that the two merging might be best…but even leaves out future knowledge that the spirit also need to be part of that equation—as feeling alone and thinking alone or the two alone without spirit might not be the way to the MUF understanding).
DRAGON’S DOMAIN:Did the Egyptians realize they were really doing the devil’s work by trying to stop God’s people from eventually presenting the Messiah on the world? Why does the MUF here, the monsters, HAVE to have a solid presence as part of some larger scheme of things. Why can’t it be just a force that does what to us is evil but what to it is just surviving? Why does it have to be reduced to a weapon of some other alien race? To me, that lowers the level of interest and higher thinking/spirituality. I hate what you have done to this episode more than any other with the exception of COLLIISON COURSE. BTW there seemed to be only one dragon that we knew of. The fact that life signs do not show up when reading the Monsters might give us an indication that these horrid things are…really demonic in origin, perhaps failed experiment by the devil to create the ultimate demon.
ARKADIA: Luke and Anna: were they really possessed or influenced against their wills? or did they just see a better way that at times, is at odds and conflicted with their own carnal desires? They needed to do the right thing: bring back life to a dead planet…but did they really want to from a carnal view…they seemed to want to after they saw the “truth” and just because that “Truth” was at odds with Alpha, does that mean it was evil? NO. It was simply what the MUF wanted to happen but the MUF is not responsible for Luke and Anna’s methods, even if it knew what they would choose to do. Luke and Anna have/had free will all the way through IMO. It was just a hard choice to make, especially when they knew they’d be ostracized even if the Moon stayed…so they were all alone even if the Moon stayed.
COLLISION COURSE: if I read this right in your new book, you think Koenig’s credibility took a hit: IMO it did not. He made the right choice. If Alpha did what they were going to do, they would have IMO destroyed not just Arra but been off course for their own destiny AND maybe been destroyed because of it. The planet and the Arra people change…remember there is matter changing as in MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH. WHy does that have to be a bad, evil thing? Perhaps they have found the links between mind, body and spriit that Zenon in MISSING LINK wanted to find so badly but needed a witness (Alpha) to see it through to the next level of existence. Your novels have taken what is a positive change and turned it on its head to make it something debased and evil. I find this to be the biggest horror of your books and the saddest change ever. It also, in your books, makes Koenig look VERY foolish when he was the only one that the “goodly” MUF along with Alan could rely on to use faith to bring about something the human mind could not comprehend but that would be good for both races…but your books pervert that into something almost demonic at worst and carnal at best.
And remember that some eps like GUARIAN OF PIRI show how the ALphans off their destiny, taking the easy way out, will not prosper.
If all the MUF wanted was to have the planets touch, it could have done that itself..BUT it needed to have the human descision to do this..it needed one or two of the Alphans to decide to do the right thing on faith. In a sense, God MUF could not do it without the direct actions of the ALphans. I’m not sure if you see these as well as Cellini in DRAGON’S DOMAIN and luke and Anna as influenced or controlled and there is a difference. Perhaps in Cellini’s case, the man needed to exorcise the demon of that monster—he might be free willingly doing God’s work.
ANOTHER TIME ANOTHER PLACE: IMO the MUF did not want people in our universe to be back on Earth which is why one thing you do that I don’t find horrible is believe it or not, destroy Earth—yes it’s horrible but it’s not twisted in the scheme of 1999 Moon destiny. Perhaps the MUF wanted to give the Alphans hope that they could survive. Perhaps like WARGAMES, this was just to show the Alphans something. In WAR GAMES maybe the illusion of near death and total weakness was to remind them that they needed “God if you like” as John says…wihle the illusion (if it is that) of ANOTHER TIME ANOTHER PLACE is to give them hope, the only way the MUF can give them hope without violating some of its own rules about interference (and who knows what those might or might not be). We don’t have to understand everything in 1999. At the same time as doing some of these things taht try to explain past episodes that really don’t need THESE type of explanations, you give us new dilemmas such as the Koenig’s son that I don’t find interesting or exciting or that I particularly care about. As you have said, I don’t trust your storytelling and that is what you wanted to have happen: thus when you tell us about the son returning somehow or the other one being lost I don’t really care as perhaps John was WRONG and just saying that to make us feel at ease when you’re really planning for an evil offspring to come back to kill the Alphans.
Other ways to immortality: END OF ETERNITY, android bodies in season two, DEATH’S OTHER DOMINION, and perhaps others, are presented as man’s own need to go against God himself and try to mimick God’s form the wrong way.
As you cite LOVECRAFT I find it ironic that he did not create his own mythology as such. He jsut wrote stories. Others then tied them together to create not just a mythology but a pantheon of gods and monsters and races…you seem to be trying to do the opposite: tie together episodes that do not need to be tied together…that way. An ep like THE LAST SUNSET seems to be saying that even though things will be rough and this looks good, I, the MUF will have a better way and a better destiny for you than the ones that others can provide…and that fanaticism is NOT the best way to go.
IF the MUF just wants the Alphans to go back to their roots and maybe deliever a message: that the science of super advanced races is not the only way to go then maybe Alpha has to learn their lessons the hard way along the way that the MUF contact is needed…herhaps all these races need the MUF but have forgotten about it or lost interest in it and the MUF knows that the evils of the universe, both fleshly and spiritual (demons), will devour the races and Alpha if they do not spread “The religion” so to speak. And the seeds.
Your list of motives for the MUF on page 43 and 44 is interesting but flawed IMO if the MUf is to be God and not just an alien that is God like. To me it more interesting if it is God and not just another God like alien that Trek and other shows like STARGATE puill on us constantly. If so just make it look like Thor or Apollo and do action adventure. Wait, that’s what in a sense, you have done.
On page 48 you discuss how the MUF has to give us info. One thing about 1999 first season (and even some second seasoners) is that it does not have to tell us everything. We can figure out the motives of the MUF ourselves while an adventure and mystic stuff goes on. You are still looking at this as if it were STAR WARS or INDIANA JONES as if it were a mystery to solve. 1999 told stories while the MUF was there, it didn’t have to tell MUF stories, which is why the undirected MUF stuff from the original show was so good…it wasn’t planned (although I find that hard to believe). Here, you are planning (and in a way I admire that even if I hate the results), and coming up with an entirely different “show” and one that I do not like. One that seems faithless, disloyality among the MUF force and the Alphans, and one about war, directly. 1999 was indirect if nothing else and that was good storytelling. Or rather different storytelling from TREK and other sci fi.
“Where we need to End Up” on 49 also shows a basic misconception of 1999 and from a non faith viewpoint it might be a good thing but it’s not IMO: we need races to be free to evolve whatever way they want. Since when has mankind or woman kind been free to choose how they evolve AND if they ever were, would that be a good thing for them? Perhaps the MUF knows that if left to their own on their own, these races including the Alphans would not develop so well. Maybe that is the message of FULL CIRCLE and even METAMORPH and NEW ADAM, NEW EVE (where a false god appears).
Additionally, I don’t want the Alphans to stop their desire to explore. Maybe they have to taught that too by the MUF through adventures that do not involve a war but more trust in the MUF.
On page 66, you say “events do not change depression” but perhaps contact with a MUF can. When Victor and John meet the voice in BLACK SUN both seem as happy as we shall ever see them in the show; John also seems happy that way in MISSING LINK’s end as he “comes back to life” from his spiritual journey (remember his body was on ALpha but his spirit was in the future on another planet!). From that viewpoint, I can’t really agree with your explorations of the minds of John moreso than Helena. Helena seems to have an Alphan fixation to me: she knows that the Moon and Alpha are more desireable than other situations and in more than one ep of season one, she tries to convince others that to go back to the Moon is better and in season two would rather travel in space than get lost in time somewhere, “With a history like that, who wants to go back to Earth anyway.” i find that both of them act contrary to the ways they acted in the show, both seasons taken into account.
The stuff with the rifts and the other unverses I do not care about. 1999 was never ABOUT the other universe OR about rifts. It was about the journey, the adventure and really believe it or not the message and the individual spiritual choices people make. It was about being defenseless in a hostile universe but having a MUF on our side…sometimes…one that you cannot fully understand. It was about knowing you will survive (John says as much in WARGAMES). Still WHY do bad things happen to good giant civilization helping brains in space? Who knows? Why was there a great flood? Two world wars? Dose that mean God does not exist? No. The MUF clearly exists. Even in a routine ep like VOYAGER’S RETURN where it is a straight forward adventure, camera angles might suggest SOMETHING is watching….a prof try to gain forgiveness. THAT is what the plot is about, not monsters and god like things trying to leave through wormholes. THAT’S STARGATE, not 1999.
The “good” MUF would not control any of the monsters IMO as stated on page 98.It would especially not use the monsters used by any evil MUF (demons or mandmade android creations or immortal beings that became immortal due to their own pride).
One thing I did like was what was done with Kano. I can’t recall what book, maybe BORN, but that was inspired stuff.
Death of Bob: I don’t feel particularly bad about it, someone had to die and he seemd the logical choice. I like his character though.
Arra’s nature: you really messed up on this one.
Earth’s destruction: THIS makes the storylines dangerous.
Answering the MUF questions: not really needed in big info dumps but maybe having readers inject their own thoughts about the MUF’s motives might be better.
John and Helena’s dark motives: I think you blew this one too, see above…
Taking out the MUFs from the 1999 universe? This makes me want to ask DO YOU LIKE SPACE: 1999 at all?
The idea of revealing that the plan after BREAKAWAY was to kill everyone and making Alphans pawns is a terrible idea. Granted, it does fit in with the whole “helplessness” POV of looking at the show but I’d rather it was not that…that it was a more positive mission to repopulate the universe and bring God’s message back to the “alien” but ulimately “brothers” of human kind (remember the Thulians were Earth men and women but would seem alien, totally changed; Helena’s husband Lee was human at one time but anti matter, alien now;) and perhaps Jackie (YOU KILLED HIM OFF YOU!) was the new messiah, the miracle baby? Killing him off is another sin that you committed against the series.
I do like that children are born on Alpha now.
Freddie Krugar was the bastard son of a hundred maniacs from the first movie. ANd no, that does not make him less interesting. What made him less interesting in movies 4 onward was the way he was presented: comical, not in the shadows, too much comedy, too much info given—and you seem to be doing that to he MUFs of 1999. By making them seemingly above average aliens and not really MUFs you have taken the M and the U out of the MUF and left us with the F.
Krugar was interesting because of his background. We knew he was some horrible creep made of a supernatural evil and that he wanted to haunt dreams. We didn’t need all the jokes and all the silly comments all the time. We didn’t need to see him and his face all the time. We didn’t even need the fight scenes. We get fight scenes in our 1999 novels and a lot of them, many directly involving MUF forces.
Anyway I am sorry if I h urt anyone’s feelings. I love these books anyway just for bringing one version of 1999 to us, even if it is not my version. They are rare and indeed, I’m glad they exist.
An amazing post! Well thought out and obviously written with a deep awe, respect and love for [b]SPACE: 1999 [/b] as a TV series and as a concept. Thank you for sharing your thoughts/opinions with everyone on the Forum and for daring to say: I don’t agree with what you’ve done and I dislike pretty much all of it. That’s not an easy thing to do.
One question I’d like to ask you though: if you dislike/disagree with so much that Bill, Mateo and everyone else at Powys has done with their vision of [b]SPACE: 1999[/b], why are you still buying the books? I’d have stopped buying them long ago if I felt as you do about what’s been written in them.
I’m not going to try and reply to all the points you’ve made, simply because I think it’s enough to say, respectfully, that at worst, I disagree with just about all of them and at best, that I have a very different take on many of them. The truth of the matter is: we’re all different and we all think/feel/believe different things. It’s sometimes enough that people give us the opportunity to express those thoughts, feeling and beliefs, and for those same people to respectfully respond by saying: Sorry friend, I don’t agree.
What Powys have done in their novels is “canon” in my eyes and I have enjoyed the rollercoaster ride they’ve taken us on from the start. I am looking forward (with incredible excitement!) to future novels and to the re-releases of novels published by Rankin and Tubb that have been “altered” (out of necessity) to fit in to the continuity that Powys Media has painstakingly created for [b]SPACE: 1999[/b]. If you don’t like or agree with what Powys has done thus far, it’s a good bet you won’t like any of the “alterations” they decide to make to those 4 novels and that you won’t enjoy any of their future releases. That being the case, enjoy the original versions of [i]Android Planet, Phoenix of Megaron, Alien Seed [/i]and [i]Rogue Planet[/i] and don’t waste your money buying either the revised versions or any more of the novels that Powys release. It’s really that simple imo.
Powys is publishing a set of novels written by talented writers who have an appreciation for [b]SPACE: 1999[/b] just as you and I do, only they’ve taken its narrative in a different direction to the one you and I would have if we were in their shoes. The fact that what Powys has done with [b]SPACE: 1999[/b]: it’s characters, it’s mytholgy, the MUF, Maya etc. etc. is not what I would have done with it, is fine with me. I prefer Command Centre to Main Mission and I’m saddened by the fact that Maya is no longer a Transmorph – but that’s purely because I love Year 2! The fact that they [i]have [/i]done things differently to the way I would have done them doesn’t diminish the fact that what they’ve done is absolutely breathtaking and that I’ve found their novels hugely entertaining. I take my hat off to them for their efforts.
“One thing though” (as Victor might say) đ Your post was steeped in a lot of judeo Christian-type imagery and uses the language of Christianity to support many of the points you’ve made. That’s fair enough, and as another who would describe his faith and beliefs in Christian terms, I understand some of where you’re coming from, but quite honestly, I found it draining. [b]SPACE: 1999 [/b] is a TV series. Nothing more. I’m sure my religious views are of no interest to the folks at Powys. That being the case, I’d prefer to keep my faith and beliefs to myself and let these good people get on with the business of publishing a continuation of [b]SPACE: 1999[/b], an ephemeral TV series that frankly, has about as much spiritual significance to me as my toothbrush! LOL! đ Faith is a matter of personal choice and preference and a deeply private matter imho. It’s not something I would choose to talk about on an open Forum like this one.
[b]SPACE: 1999 [/b] is enjoyable fiction in any medium, be it written or filmed but imho… it is nothing more. You can read all sorts of deep and meaningful things into it… but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you [i]should[/i] or that it’s healthy to do so. My faith on the other hand, is real and important to me. But in all honesty… the two really have nothing to do with one another as far as I’m concerned, and I would deem it… [i]totally inapropriate[/i] were I to start criticising the work of a group of sci-fi writers on religious grounds using my personal faith, spiritual beliefs or pro-Christian bias as the basis for doing so.
Again, I want to thank you for your very provocative post. I’m sorry that I can’t agree or support much of anything you’ve said in it.
Steve F, Leeds, UK
Thanks for responding nicely and kindly, I appreciate that. I have no intent on starting a debate war or anything like that. Your post made me reflect on what is essentially something Iâve known but not thought about for a long time: there are âfansâ and there are âfansâ of shows.
There are shows that are just TV shows and there are shows, like 1999 and THE PRISONER, that make people think, that make people bring to them what they have already, much like the schema a reader brings to a novel they read. First, if you say that I show awe and respect for 1999 as a series and a concept, and then say that itâs just a TV show that has no meaning in our lives, be it social, religious, or spiritual, that seemsâŚcontradictory.
You also call the show ephemeralâŚI have to disagree. The fact that so many years later people are reading about it, writing about it, making their fan fiction about it, and debating it shows it is not ephemeral and in fact, to me, the fact that it discusses âGodâ at all and has spiritual aspects, shows it has some everlasting value. I just rewatched THE BLACK SUN and it does have spiritual significance, more than my toothbrush anyway! At the same time as a fan of a show, almost any show but mostly this one, there is a difference between someone who just watches a show they like, and a fan who likes it so much, they feel cheated or deadened by something that is so different from the actual series they watched. To me, the novels just do not give me the same feeling I get when I watch an episode of the tv showâŚand by that I donâ t mean the physical changes but the tone, the spiritual ones.
To have the MUF be guiding Alpha in a negative manner just negates what I see are the positive aspects of a show that also denotes the negative, pessimistic aspects of space travel and adventures in space of wanderers lost in a hostile environment. The novels, to me, make it more hostile, more dark than it need be and at the same time, take out the aspects of wonder and hope that I clung on to while watching the series. Itâs just that as you say, we all bring different things to some shows and this show in particular.
To separate the hope and beliefs, and not all of mine are Christian, from the show itself and my enjoyment of it, is like trying to take apart 1999 itselfâŚit is a show, at least in season one and in some season two eps (CATACOMBS OF THE MOON, LAMBADA FACTOR, IMMUNITY SYNDROME, ABC, NEW ADAM NEW EVE), that lends itself to having a viewer bring to it and get what they can from it mixing with their own beliefs. Frankly, seeing it as a dead universe with âalien godsâ who play off one another and just use the human beings, is just not something Iâm interested in watching or reading about. It is a very negative view of the show IMO. It also flies in the face of almost every episode IMO.
Anyway since you have not used any of my points to go against I cannot go on about thatâŚ.just that to me and me alone, it feels wrong.
Also, if you read my opening and my ending you will find that saying âdonât buy any moreâ to me is futile. I love this show so much that I will buy any future installments as I am a real die hard fan of the show. Any novel that comes out I will want to have and I guess the collector in me is just so strong and my care for the series and the want for it to continue is such that I will continue to buy the books and audios. So itâs not that simple to say to me that I should do this or I should do that.
I also donât criticize the actual prose as thereâs nothing wrong with that. It is the actual plot and tone of the entire series the novels gives us that upsets me and makes me cringe at. Itâs all so contrary to what I brought to the show and IMO to the show itself. I am sorry but I do think the writers have worked hard but I donât see a true appreciation for the show by âDemystifyingâ and âtaking out the MUFâ from the series.
William Latham is by definition not a fan of the show and hadnât even seen all the episodes, so I do question what heâs plotted out and frankly, donât like a great deal of what heâs plotted. I donât think he really âgetsâ what made the first season so good, so strange, so mystical and magical as it mixed science with logic and faith and even love. Instead of taking John and Helena toward more warmth and love, heâs made them darker and darker and more messed up than we, correction, I suspected in year one. In year two, they lightened up. Now in the novels they are back to beingâŚwell, messed up.
I do appreciate the series is back in some form.
That said, I do not think it is breathtaking or hugely entertaining. I find them upsetting and at times, even stomach churning. That is because I care about the show, its tone, its characters, its plot and what it was trying to say in that first yearâat least what it said to me personally. The signs of a good series are that it can mean one thing to one person and something different to another person. But even though we just had a book about the showâs novels creation, WHAT are Powyrs Media trying to say about the show? What is the tone they want? What is their theme? Humanity doesnât need MUFs? That seems to be what the are saying and that seems, as current days show ME anyway, wrong. To me humanity does need help. And again, that’s TREK philosophy (“we don’t need no stinking gods”).
To say SPACE: 1999 is a tv series and nothing more demonstrates to me (and I mean this with respect) that you are not a fan fan but merely someone who enjoyed the tv show and might consider themselves a fan but who doesnât really bring to it his or her own religious viewsâŚand frankly neithter do IâŚin fact one thing I took from the show was that religion and spirituality were two separate things: religion is a kind of man made dogma that frankly doesnât help but spirituality and a real insight into the MUF is what was needed.
YOU must bring something to the show. If you are a fan of season two but not one at all, I can understand that. I came to the show via season two: it was flashy, it was fast, it was filled with action and frankly filled with some silly things and illogical science. I love Maya and Tony. It had humor and the charcters seemed to love their predicament and even enjoy it. I loved the music and I loved the thrill of some of the episodes. That made me take a second look at the first seasonâŚwhich I find to this day is much deeper than anything in season two. Season two, for the most part didn’t make me think and didn’t make me feel much of anything (except the thrill of a fast paced action squence; ther’es nothing wrong with that) but season one made me think, feel, and hope.
There are exceptions of course. IMMUNITY SYNDROME is far better and deeper than FULL CIRCLE. Maybe. And there are other examples. I hate to bash season two because I have a nostalgic love for it and still do. I find it almost another series though.
Iâm also disappointed in people on this forum telling me that because they would not, I should not discuss things (faith being just one example) that relate to my enjoyment of SPACE: 1999 for one reason or another. Is there another 1999 forum that can have open and frank discussion about important things without upsetting SOMEONE? Another thing I was told was that othersâ ideas cannot be discussed due to copyright issues. I understand that fan fic and ideas cannot be discussed on this forum due to that, but frankly, the novels disappoint so much I would love to know what others think of what else might have happened differently.
When this forum first came into being, I was overjoyed that I could discuss 1999 with other fans of the show but that quickly diminished as I realized there were things I could not say. This recent book made me realize that I really wanted to say some of the things I was feeling about the show and the novels and the disparity I feel is between them.
Another thing you seem to be saying is that I (and presumably others) shouldnât read anything deep or meaningful into SPACE: 1999 and that it is unhealthy to do so. Soooo, what, we are supposed to just watch it blindly without any thought whatsoever? Your faith and the show have nothing to do with one another? Did you watch TESTAMENT OF ARKADIA, THE BLACK SUN, NEW ADAM NEW EVE, COLLISON COURSE, and a few others at all? Did you just turn off your belief systems or your spirituality? I didnât.
In any case, I donât want to insult you or offend you but again, to me 1999 is not just a tv show and certainly it is a tv show that inspires me and others and to bring what I have to it, even unintentionally, is not unhealthy. Fiction for many decades has been discussed as having deeper meaning from NARNIA to PETER PAN to yes, even DOCTOR WHO, the Irwin Allen fans, STAR WARS and STAR TREK. Are all these people, even academics who discuss literature and tv shows and movies, unhealthy? I donât believe that they are.
Chase, thank you for a very thoughtful and thought-provoking post. We knew going into it that whatever decisions were made as to the direction of the series and in the creation of the metastory and mythology, we weren’t going to please everyone. It’s simply impossible. Space: 1999 fans are a thoughtful bunch, and everyone has different opinions. We can only be true to our views, hire talented authors, make every effort to have the books tell exciting and thought-provoking stories and try our best to have the novels be consistent in quality and philosophically (meaning they are all contributing to the metastory–when they do–without contradicting each other).
Our vision of the series is…well…[i]our vision[/i] of the series. We’ve done our best, and though you may disagree with the decisions we made, the stories we told or the mythology we’ve created–that’s okay! I am grateful to you for buying the books and reading them with such an attention to detail.
One point of clarification though. William Latham had only seen 12 episodes when we began discussing the plotting of Resurrection. He subsequently bought the series on DVD and has seen every episode, many of them multiple times. He knows the television series as well as anyone. But even so, we have all our manuscripts checked by Martin Willey for continuity with the series and read by a small cadre of fans to keep us honest. đ Their emails and suggestions are reprinted in Chasing the Cyclops.
Merry Christmas!
Mateo
Thanks for your kind words and messages.
I also truly mean this as I do it: I DO tell other 1999 fans about the books when they are available and I know at least one fan who bought them (sometimes I get them as gifts for her which is why sometimes I buy two or three copies)—because I do believe any 1999 fan will want them and I DO believe fans will enjoy the books.
The fact that there is a 1999 book series is just amazing to me when there were times in the 1980s and 1990s when there was little if any 1999 product. At those times there were more Irwin Allen products to buy but a book series….of 1999 is rare and magnificent. Just having it is a treasure.
[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]P.S. Thank you for the kind words regarding the death of my son. They are appreciated.[/quote]Yes… that part of your post was very touching Chase… & I too, would like to offer my sincere condolences… but I will admit to being uncomfortable about discussing such a matter on an open Forum like this, rather than saying it to Mateo in person. Still, I’m sorry for your loss Mateo. My heart goes out to you as I was not aware that such a private issue had become… public, and therefore open to comment from people such as myself, who, in the cold light of day, do not know you personally đ
That very upsetting issue aside… you’ve said many other things besides that Chase, that again, provoke an impassioned response from me. But having taken approx 5 or so hours out of my life to write, edit and re-edit what I posted in response to what you’ve said previously, I’ve sat back, prayed and then read and re-read what I’ve writtten and thought to myself: “no, that is how I feel and that is where I stand. I need justify myself no further”.
You sound like a lovely bloke… with a real love of [b]SPACE: 1999[/b]. Quite frankly, I want to give you a great big hug, take you to an English pub, and then buy you a pint and debate [b]SPACE: 1999[/b], its good and bad points, long into the cold, snowy English night đ
I too love the series… but it can never be anything more than a MUCH LOVED TV SERIES to me. Guess I’ll just have to ask you to forgive me for what appears to be an ENORMOUS shortcoming in your eyes.
Kind regards & best wishes to you for Christmas and the New Year from:
Steve F
[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]Steve, how did you get that signature below your post???Mateo[/quote]
My dear Mateo… it would appear that you and Mr Latham haven’t figured [i]everything[/i] out regarding the MUF… PMSL!
đ đ đ :silly: :blink: :woohoo: :kiss:
[b]mateo wrote:[/b]
[quote]Perhaps, Steve, but we’re quick learners![/quote]Haha! Oh Mateo… I’d like to tell you… no really… I’d love to… but only if you reveal a…
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SPOILER! regarding [i]Odysseus Wept[/i] đ đ B)
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