Space:1999 article from Starlog #2

From issue #2 of Starlog, from November 1976 when that awesome mag was in its infancy, comes this article on "Space:1999," looking back on the problems of the first season, and what was planned for the second. Bringing on Fred Frieburger as producer may have at first seemed like a great choice to punch up the action and drama, having the third season of "Star Trek" on his resume; but they should have noted that he was more responsible than anyone else for that show's drastic decline in intelligence during the third year.

First, a great cover painting...

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From the same issue, a short writeup on Space actor Nick Tate, as he talks at a convention about the changes coming in the new season.

And, here is the back cover of the issue, advertising the soundtrack for the series.

It's still hard for me to believe that we have passed the year that the show was set in, by 13 years now. Back in the mid-70's it seemed so futuristic and far off! And we still have no moonbase.

As a bonus, here is an article from the prior issue of Starlog, #1, that also talks about the upcoming changes from an earier perspective.

Space: 1999 Premiere Article

Clipped from the TV Preview section of the Miami Herald on Sunday, August 17th, 1975, comes this big article on the upcoming series Space: 1999. Featuring the show's stars Martin Landau and wife/co-star Barbara Bain, the interview was conducted when they were in Miami on a tour to promote the show. As in every single article and interview about the new show,"Star Trek" is of course brought up, which is significant in that the series had been seen only in re-runs for seven years by that time. Landau, in drawing a distinction between the shows, goofs when he claims that Star Trek had been set "a thousand years later" than their series.

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Bonus: Below, a clipping from one of the tabloids, possibly the Globe (I didn't include the paper name or date when clipping it) featuring Joan Collins in a role on Space:1999. Once again, "Trek" is brought up, but the writer completely misses the connection that Joan had a guest-starring role in that show as well. Claiming the shows to be "similar" also reveals how little the writer knew about either one.

1975 "Space:1999" Premiere Review

Below is an article I clipped from the September 11, 1975 edition of the Miami Herald. I lived in Ft. Lauderdale at the time, and although I was a fervent dyed-in-the-wool Trekkie, I enjoyed other good sci-fi series also. This is one of several articles I clipped about it, and I'll post more in the future. The author was withholding judgement on it until he saw more, and I'm sure he felt as I did that it was too dry and hard to follow. It's significant that it took bringing in the man that screwed up Trek's third season, Fred Frieberger, to bring it at least up to a level of action and characterization to improve the second season. Even then it never equalled or surpassed Trek as it's promoters bragged it would; at least in my opinion. Although the effects were superb, I enjoyed the earlier effort "U.F.O." more.

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Below is an earlier article, clipped from The Macon telegraph, about the upcoming show. It was this one article that, more than any other, predjudiced me against the new program. Replace "Star Trek"? Never! I would have been more open to it if every article about it didn't compare it to Trek. Here's an article from my other blog that does the exact same thing on a bigger scale.

Below are a couple of ads, one for an interview with the stars and another for the show itself, taken from the same publicity photo.