Space: 1999 - Reception

Reception

Response to the series varied; some critics praised it as a classic, citing the fantastic production values and multi-layered storytelling ("Space: 1999 is like Star Trek shot full of methedrine. It is the most flashy, gorgeous sci-fi trip ever to appear on TV..." and "Space: 1999 is a visually stunning, space-age morality play..."); others panned it for poor plotting and wooden acting, especially on the part of Barbara Bain ("the plots and characterisation on Space: 1999 have been primitive..." and "A disappointing collage of wooden characters, boring dialogue and incomprehensible plots...").

Isaac Asimov criticised the scientific accuracy of the series by pointing out that any explosion capable of knocking the Moon out of its orbit would actually blow it apart, and even if it did leave orbit it would take thousands of years to reach the nearest star. (He also praised the programme for its superbly accurate representation of movement in the low gravity environment of the Moon and for its clinical, realistic production design.) Gerry and Sylvia Anderson were surprised and disappointed that the public (and critics) never granted them the suspension of disbelief given to other science-fiction programmes.

In speaking about the show in 2010, Bain reflected: "We had some very good science fiction people as advisors who knew what they were talking about. For instance, they knew that sound up there wouldn’t travel, and it would just be quiet up there. But then we wouldn’t have a series, so we couldn’t do that. There were various considerations that had to be made, but they were based on what is, or what was, known at the time. For all I know now it’s out of date. I don’t really know."

She added that some of the technology on Space: 1999 has come to pass: "We made up a scanning device for Dr. Russell. Someone would simply be lying on the floor half dead, and I would with this funny little thing that was a prop. I could read all his vital signs. They can pretty much do that nowadays. There were times that we were playing with props that didn’t read anything — I just had a bunch of dialogue to say after. We had the Commlock. All of those things were on the verge of happening anyway. Now we’re way past it. When we made it, 1999 seemed so far away."

In one judicially infamous reference, United States Sixth Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook stated in Williams v. Boles, "Many things--beating with a rubber truncheon, water torture, electric shock, incessant noise, reruns of 'Space 1999'--may cause agony as they occur yet leave no enduring injury."