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Over the past 35 years, fans of Space:1999 have debated which season is better. Year One or Year Two. A question, for which, that has created two different ‘camps’ in Space:1999 fandom for more than three decades.
Simon made an interesting point in the Born For Adversity post when he stated that many fans pretend that Year Two does not exist.
Even some of friends have often shared which season they prefer and their reasons for such a preference.
Points of which, gave me some ‘food for thought’ and later prompted the idea for this particular subject post.
Which season do you(the fans)think is better, and why?
For me, I’m in that rare minority where I like both seasons. Although I can understand the reasons for why Martin Landau and the rest of the cast disliked some of the changes made(on an artistic level), I really did not mind the changes between Year One and Year Two(i.e. the move from Main Mission to the Command Center, the change in uniforms and nomenclature, the addition of Maya to the Moonbase Alpha population, the promotion of Tony Verdeschi, and the appearances of other Alphans – Bill and Annette Frasier, Alibe, Ed Spencer, and Ben Vincent).
The only ‘problem’ I did have is why these changes were not explained in the Year Two opener ‘The Metamorph’. Granted there was a mention of Victor Bergman’s fate in the episode, before that line was edited from the final script. However, if the explanation for the changes were made in ‘The Metamorph’ and other episodes after that, then the controversy regarding which season is better wouldn’t be up for debate.
Some people like the first season(mostly for its cerebral, mystical, and metaphysical overtones). Some people like the second season(mostly for the appearance of Maya and its straightforward nature). One could almost equate Year One with 2001: A Space Odyssey and Year Two with 2010: The Year We Make Contact.
Opinions, anyone? :side:
I think Year One was much higher quality – there was less money for Year 2, and it increasingly showed. The ‘double-up’ stories in Y2 (where two episodes were filmed simultaneously splitting the cast up) were a terrible idea, although I’m sure they worked to save ITC money.
Year 2 is still extremely enjoyable for all that. If I had to take one season with me to a desert island, it would be Y2. I liked many of the changes to the sets – although they could have left Main Mission I think – but was less enthusiastic about the cast. I liked Maya, but found Verdeschi irritating, and the way supporting characters just came and went (Sandra, Mathias etc) was really irritating. I loved the Year 2 music scores.
One of the strengths of the Powys novels is that they are trying to build believable reasons for these changes (eg the move to Command Centre) into the novels. The purists may not agree with the idea of a Year 3, but there are real attempts in the novels to combine the strengths of both seasons, and I think it may have been the way the actual series might have developed had it been renewed for further seasons.
To be honest though, the “which season is better?” question has been debated to death over the years in various forums and I have yet to hear any new arguments or thoughts on the matter.
Simon
Hey there, first posting for me. Just joined.
I’m in the Year 1 camp for certain, but I can still enjoy Year 2. In fact, the first and the last episode (metamorph and dorcons) are two that I particularly enjoy.
Also interesting to note, I first watch space on a B&W tv. Both seasons, so aside for the cast changes and my young age, I hardly noticed a difference in look. The moster of the week appealed to my age I like to think….
What I like about Year 1:
I like the pacing, the music, the quiet. I like that Helena is a serious doctor. I like the more subtle themes. I like the filming particularlhy. I love the washed out color, and yes, the uniforms. I LOVE the uniforms. I’ve often wondered if they might have been an inspiration for the uniforms in Star Trek the motion picture, or what would have been Star Trek Phase 2. And, the high def Network zone 2 dvds.. The guest stars.What I don’t like about Year 1:
The sometimes awful science. The fact that there always seems to be 311 people on moon base alpha, no matter who gets killed.——————–
What I like about Year 2:
Ok, shorter list… The music, and who couldn’t love Catherine Schell, hum…. Nothing in particular comes to mind. I guess I like that there IS a year 2 rather than having only Year 1.What I don’t like about Year 2:
The writing in general. Helena going from doctor to bimbo. The Tony/Maya John/Helena relationships. Not the relationships themselves, but how they play out on negative emotions like jealousy whereas in year 1’s protectiveness. The unexplained transition from year 1 to year 2.We’ll keep it a short list. I find I can sit down and watch year 1 epsiodes over and over, whereas year 2 gets a bit dull for me.
Some exceptions as I mentioned were the metamorph and dorcons, but also New Adam New Eve, which I enjoy.Anyway, great, site and looking forward to the new book.
JimYes, I’d agree in general with Jim’s summary.
Oddly enough though, while I enjoyed New Adam, New Eve (my favourite episode of Year 2), I positively HATED The Dorcons.
Maybe I dislike it because it was the last episode of the series – but I thought it was camp and awfully acted (the late Gerry Sundquist springs to mind) and looked like it was shot of a budget of 500 quid.
Who knows – maybe £500 was all that was left in the budget by then?
Simon
hehe, i’m sure the budget was toast by then. Well, certain aspects of the plot were kinda lame, but Ann Firbank (Vargis) totally did it for me in the episode, and it did have a kind of shakespearean quality to it. (fanatical devotion to a ruler, betrayal, usurping of power). The whole brain stems never dying thing is a groaner though. I do think there is the making of a suitable film in this episode.
This should have been listed as one of my problems with year 2. There are some really good stories floating around but not so great execution.
Again, New Adam New Eve comes to mind. I remember hating this episode when I was younger, but when I recently watched season 2 again, this episode stood out. Though it suffered from infantile takes on releationships, it had a solid plot, a being trying to create, not to mention some solid support acting.
I’m inspired to watch year 2 again, it has been over a year since i’ve done it
Year One will always be mine. The opening credits, the music, the storylines, Main Mission – I love everything about it
Even now I can’t watch an episode without getting the same feeling of excitement I got all those years ago when I watched it for the first time.I know it was science fiction but it was somehow so very atmospheric. Whatever the reason for this, be it set, costumes, storylines, it worked to combine together to make it appear real and I loved it. Ordinary people forced into extraordinary circumstance doing the best they could.
This is where Year Two went wrong for me. It all became a bit, dare I say, ‘childish’. Too lighthearted. There was too much skipping around silly rubber monsters for it to compare to Year One.
If only they’d kept eveything about Year One and added in Maya and Tony and a bit more John/Helena interaction it would have been perfection as far as I’m concerned.
But it doesn’t really matter if it’s Year One or Two. I’m just glad we’re all still talking about it today!!
Space 1999 forever that’s what I say!
Gosh how could i forget the opening montage in year 1. Classic.
I also forgot to mention there is a continuity of sorts in year 1 that I liked, that there was some sort of purpose why the moon went on its journey. Think back to Black Sun and also to collision course. Each had a scene where the question was asked… “who are you”. The answer “a friend”.
There is so much potential within the imagination when it comes to year 1.
I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it, but the closing scene where Koenig is writing in his journal, when he puts down the pen. I’m happy there is closure in year 1 in that respect.
Not to go too far off topic, but I see a parallel in the first season of the new Battlestar. I would could have been completely fullfilled had the series ended right there. I look at the first season in the same way i look at year 1.
Though I enjoyed the the rest of Battlestar (sans the ending), season 1 is complete, as is year 1 of Space.
We toyed with the idea of ignoring Year Two and just publishing books that continued Year One. In fact our first three novels either take place during Year One or between Y1 and Y2. But a number of factors led to the decision to view as part of the same canon, both Y1 and Y2.
1. Ignoring Y2 would mean we were establishing a separate continuity that diverged from Y2 and would establish two separate timelines, post Arkadia.
2. We would lose Koenig’s backstory about the Venus probe and other space missions. We’d also loose a lot of the characters introduced in Y2, and some great conflicts (Seance Spectre).
The first two Y3 novels are Born for Adversity (2/10) and Omega (3/10). Shepherd Moon has stories taking place pre-Breakaway, during Y1, and one in Y3.
Finallly, our YEAR TWO omnibus containing novelizations of all of the episodes of Y2 (and by extension all six of Michael Butterworth’s novelizations–plus the newly novelized ‘The Taybor’) made hundred of little continuity corrections to make Y2 fit with the alreadly established Y1. And certain things were added to remove the sillier bits.
Why don’t the Alphans ask the Archanons for a lift?
Why did Koenig let Brian leave with a Swift?
Why would the planet Golos put the life support system for an entire world in a single room?
Why couldn’t the androids of Vega kill dispassionately? Removal of head=death. No anger necessary.I am especially proud of Catacombs of the Moon, which now, IMO, makes a lot more sense than what appeared on screen. Anthony Terpiloff was a fantastic writer, but the episode based on his Y2 script is a mess. I wish I had the script he turned in to see what he intended. I wonder if we guessed right!
Mateo
[b]Papillon wrote:[/b]
[quote]Some people like the first season(mostly for its cerebral, mystical, and metaphysical overtones). Some people like the second season(mostly for the appearance of Maya and its straightforward nature).[/quote]I like both, for exactly those reasons – and hopefully Born For Adversity reflects that.
Back in 1976, I liked some of the changes. As I recall, I liked the sense that time had passed and things had changed. I liked Maya and Verdeschi, and the mellower Koenig and Russell. I liked some of the stories, too — they had more action. But I was 13 at the time, and my favourite Space: 1999 now is the first season. Neither one is perfect, but I like the supporting cast of year one better, and I really like Barry Gray’s music better than Derek Wadsworth’s. The lower budget for year two is more noticeable.
Still, better two years of Space: 1999 than just one. And I’m glad the books are acknowledging both. As curious as I am about the year three storyline, I hope we’ll still get occasional stories from the first two years. More short story anthologies, perhaps?
I love both Barry Gray and Derek Wadsworth’s scores. They suit the episodes in which they are used perfectly. I can’t imagine using Barry Gray’s music in Year Two or vice versa. That is testament to their talent at providing just the right music for the filmed dramas.
I am forever in debt to Fanderson for releasing the absolutely fantastic CD soundtracks to both seasons. It made a lifelong dream come true!
Later, when I got my first professional composing commission, scoring The House Between (John Kenneth Muir’s science fiction web series), I thought about both composer’s approach to music. I am no Barry Gray–I am no Derek Wadsworth, but I did learn to write short pieces of music that could be used by the music editor in numerous episodes. This is done by writing different versions of the same theme using different instrumentation and different lengths. I remembered an interview with DW where he talked about scoring for mood rather than tagging it to the action of the particular scene beat for beat. He recommended this approach to make the music more able to be used again.
The music for both seasons provided a sort of continuity of quality for the series. Different as they were, the scores were both excellent!
Mateo
year one, year one and only year one
the sets, the music, the SFX, the scale and grandeur, the mystery, the atmosphere and the metaphysics, etc., all are superior to what we were given in year two. Maya, although an interesting creation, completely derailed the show. And the less said about Verdeschi the better.
sure I watched year two when I was a kid, but even then I was mostly disappointed. I missed the music, the sets, but especially the atmosphere. And I despised the signs. I kept waiting though for something as good as year 1 to air, but it never happened. Sure, the explosions and SFX in eps like Metamorph and Space Warp were fun and kept me entertained, but often I found it nearly unbearable to watch when something like The Taybor or Matter of Balance was on.
For me, there is absolutely no connection between the two years and Space 1999 would have been far better off if year two had never been made.hehe, tell us how you really feel 🙂
having not read any of the books (yet), I’d have to say I’d be more interested in reading fiction which continued following arkadia, or perhaps even within the timeline of year 1. My main reason is to have Victor and Paul back on the scene.
Oh I so agree :cheer: …Victor, Paul, Kano…and Helena, still refined yet more involved with John…not silly and ‘over the top’ as in year Two BUT with a relationship fitting to their positions…
What a difference it would have made to have had Year Two take up after Arkadia and watch the characters we’d come to love develop and adapt to their new life.
Year Two was such a shock!
You’re in luck then,
Resurrection takes place between End of Eternity and War Games. And in a few weeks you’ll be able to get the audio version read by Barry Morse!
The Forsaken takes place after Testament of Arkadia
Survival takes place after The Forsaken
Shepherd Moon contains stories that take place before Y1 and during it–one during Breakaway itself!
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