Space: 1999 – Special Effects Techniques

I think Space: 1999's greatest achievement was its design. The whole aesthetic, from Alpha's styling to the clothing, is simply gorgeous, and easily surpasses the visuals of many series that followed.

That, and the funky theme, of course.

It took me 50 years, but I’ve finally started watching and rewatching classic and great old sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, and just good TV like: Space 1999, Blake’s 7, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Doctor Who (even Disney+ specials), Jabberwocky, Darkstar (the beach ball- a classic!), Wild Wild West (especially first season), Amazing Stories, The Ray Bradbury Theater (Drew Barrymore was in it!), IT Crowd (the Internet sits atop Big Ben), Black Books (secure door), It Came From Outer Soace, The Magnetic Monster (which actually is about radiation and theoretical “unipolar magnetism” physics which I didn’t know was a real concern then), and others.

Very cool seeing the old techniques described. The classic special effects teams had to be so creative. These days it’s all green screens and digital effects.

Interesting, and in a way I can see a tiny bit of Space 1999 in some of Lucus's works.

I really liked the first season, but season 2 seemed to a been a bit worse, too bad the series ended too soon.

A lot of the special effects and model work was done by Gerry Anderson of thunderbird fame. There is a lot to be said for practical effects.