Wednesday 9 March 2011

Space: 1999 (featuring Maya)

Let's face it, Space: 1999 was a snooze of a show. How do you take a couple of respected actors- Martin Landau (Emmy Award nominee/future Acadamy Award winner) and his wife Barbara Bain (triple Emmy Award winner) and give them roles that make them appear as interesting as wooden puppets? Well, if the producers are Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, it's easy! You see, the Andersons had previously created various British fantasy series for children starring marionette figures.  These shows included Stingray, Fireball XL5 and Thunderbirds. Space: 1999 took place on a moonbase after our moon decided to leave earth's orbit and wander around aimlessly through space while encountering various alien lifeforms and whatnot.

Was the show really as dull as I remember? I dunno, as I haven't actually watched it since I was a kid. All I remember is by the second season they introduced a shape-changing alien named Maya. Did this improve the show? Well, if nothing else, she was more interesting to look at than the old scientist guy she replaced on the show. And because of that, I've decided to draw her!

7 comments:

  1. Urm... After reading some of the other Space:1999 posts, I probably should have been a bit more charitable to the show. After all, I did watch it every week and enjoyed the ships & stuff. Maybe I was just used to watching Star Trek reruns...

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  2. This show had aliens? Who knew. I thought it was supposed to be kind of realistic?

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  3. George- Yeah, apparently there were a bunch:
    http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/cguide/uc17aliens.html
    http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/cguide/uc17aliensan.html

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  4. Tim- Those alien eyebrows will do that!

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  5. To this small boys eyes, Maya was certainly the reason to keep watching, what was she going to turn into THIS week?
    Catherine Schell apparently now runs a Guest House in France.

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  6. I looooove this. Bill, you should appropriate Maya and give her her own full-length graphic novel so we can enjoy more of your take on her.

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