Anderson's 1960s work tended to be about how wonderful technology is and
how it will make all our lives better. Even if it goes wrong and puts people in danger, there is still International
Rescue on hand with even better technology to save the day. UFO comes fascinatingly on the cusp of
a widespread change of attitudes which saw people worry about the effects our new technology was having on people and
the planet. It is interesting to note that UFO starts with the high-tech of SHADO discovering the purpose
of the aliens, but by the time the series has reached its latter stages it transpires that they really have no idea what the
aliens want. All that beautiful technology, but still no answers.
By the mid-seventies production period of Space: 1999 audiences were still allowed
to admire the beauty of technology. This option appears to be less open to modern viewers, as we are often presented
with such ugly, brutal military technology as that seen in Avatar, but it can't save our characters from
disaster and it can't provide any answers. This mistrust of technology even extends to some of the aliens we meet in
the series. The Tritons in Ring Around the Moon, who appear to be a technological remnant of their makers,
have no clue that their planet is dead; the fabulous world-ship SS Daria in Mission of The Darians has suffered a
catastrophic breakdown which mirrors the breakdown of the society that exists within; Gwent, an incredibly advanced space
vehicle and computer system which contains the personality of its creator, can't live with the grief it feels after its
creator dies. The message seems clear - those who worship technology for its own sake worship a false god.
Journey To Where?
Did Space: 1999 succeed? Ultimately, the answer to this depends
on what we think it was trying to do. The most basic objective of Lew Grade and Gerry Anderson was to produce a series
that would sell to the US networks, and in this there is no doubt that it failed. Did Space: 1999 make
money? The first season sold extremely well throughout world TV markets, so much so that it was possible to mount a
second season without much hope of an American network sale. Did the producers of the series make good drama?
For a bright, shining moment, for 24 episodes. Space: 1999 was thoughtful, lyrical drama tied to spectacular
visuals made by people trying to produce the best series they could without second guessing what audeinces would like.
There was to be no happy ending for the Alphans and none for Space: 1999.
The battle for control of the series between Gerry Anderson and ITC New York, of which Christopher Penfold was the first casualty,
had been lost. When the series returned it was no longer the series that Anderson steered to the screen, deeply involved
with both the scriptwriting and production process. Instead we saw an American vision of Space: 1999
reduced in scope both physically, with noticeably reduced production values, and philosophically.
Even the basic quest for a new home planet was sometimes forgotten, with Koenig and
company stopping off at what look like perfectly good planets for vitally needed supplies, then going on their way.
The new Space: 1999 was unashamedly populist and aimed to be nothing more or less than pure entertainment.
To some it succeeded, but for most this represented the first time that a new Gerry Anderson production represented a noticeable
step backwards. It was a sad way for Gerry Anderson's working relationship with Lew Grade to end but, for a while, the
future really was fantastic.
