Binge-Worthy 1970s Science Fiction TV

[@terrytalksmovies]

Good news! 1990 DID get a DVD release. Each of the two seasons was for sale individually.. There were copies of them on eBay this morning. Bad news... I bought the copies that were on eBay this morning.

[@charles2241]

If have the whole series on blu-ray, and I though I have UFO on dvd, I think it too has gone blu-ray. I'm based in the USA, so I'm not sure of UK laws, but I would think most anybody can buy a region-free dvd and/or blu-ray player. Of course getting either for a computer viewing may be problematic, but it can be got around with the proper software.

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

Great , I liked ol' 'ward 'ward ....

[@luiznogueira1579]

What about Starlost? It wasn't "great" but I think it's worth mentioning. Original concept by Harlan Ellison, lead actor Keir Dullea of '2001', it had a pretty modest budget and a short run. Check it out

[@m228562]

@@luiznogueira1579 I think "Starlost" is more worthy of mention than "The Fantastic Journey." I love the later as a kid, but seeing them as an adult I notice some huge plot holes in many of the episodes.

[@Christine.corneille]

Intelligent movies

[@FlukeyFlukeFluke]

It’s worth pointing out that Space 1999 started out as UFO Series 2, with a larger moonbase and Shado much more extensive, but ITC lost confidence in it and pulled the plug. Anderson had already sunk a lot of money and work into this, and rather than it go down the drain he redesigned as a new series. Much as i liked Space 1999 i loved UFO and am gutted that the second series was cancelled. I would rather have seen that! :o(

[@joecmillerify]

An honorable mention, Kolchak:The Night Stalker was the prelude to The X-Files. Chris Carter even said a lot of the premise came from the TV show.

[@Stewart118Tyler]

Props for mentioning Kolchak: The Nightstalker. Love it!!

[@terrytalksmovies]

Kolchak was the GOAT.

[@joecmillerify]

@@terrytalksmovies It was way before it's time and that's why it died, I think it would have made it if it came out in the 80s when I was a kid.

[@Stewart118Tyler]

Kolchak meant so much too me. Even the 'sillier' episodes had me enraptured. ie: The Sentry. I loved the concept of the rotating police captains/Sgts as his weekly foils. Keenan Wynn was absolutely amazing as Mad-Dog Siska. His real life wife Kathie Browne was the Lt. in the Sentry. Great banter between characters. Loved it.

[@joecmillerify]

@@Stewart118Tyler Simon Oakland is who put it over the top with bantering IMO. The character interaction between Oakland and McGavin, lol I think it's because I worked with a guy who didn't know the meaning of volume control when speaking.

[@RSEFX]

Nice to hear a nod to Dorothy Fontana, my sister-in-law who passed away late in 2019, in regards to FANTASTIC JOURNEY.

[@johnminehan1148]

She had a very positive impact on that show. It became watchable after she arrived. She created interesting stories and realized it had to stay "Science Fantasy" rather than "Science Fiction" due to the constraints of being a Network show on what was becoming the Number 3 Network (of 3) at the time.

[@GreenHornet1962]

The Fantasic Journey was one of my favorite shows. I was a teen and wrote to NBC to protest the cancellation. I started watching it because of D.C. Fontana and really enjoyed it. May she rest in peace.

[@dave3657]

Girls with purple hair - have you been out lately? They nailed that one.

[@timeliebe]

Yeah, but it's not that shiny amethyst color the hair is on the show! And, while I have a pair of pants that I can transform into shorts by pulling off the legs right above the knee? It's neither practical to do so, nor are they comfortable to wear.

[@pheonix5597]

Yeah, THAT was MY immediate thought when he said that - "THIS fellow must live a very sheltered life these days!". Hell, PUNK came out just several years later during the same decade, which is where it started.

[@fortyseven1832]

Did you just assume their gender?

[@johnstevenson1709]

No we bloody haven't

[@JohnSmith-eo5sp]

But they weren't lesbians, so it doesn't count in this age of woke

[@davegrand6793]

I absolutely loved Space 1999! It was always fun and intriguing and as Terry said the design and art direction was great. I loved the look of the Eagles, futuristic but you could see how they grew out of 60s/70s real world technology. And yes I had the toys and built the models!

[@terrytalksmovies]

Cool. I'd love to have an Eagle Transporter almost as much as I'd love the room to display it.

[@JJbm4233]

Something I always remember about UFO is that when you walk into Styker office there’s a bar that will dispense several varieties of alcohol, the 70s yeah man!

[@brianartillery]

The odd thing being that it's strongly intimated that Straker is teetotal - he offers other characters, like Freeman and Foster alcohol, but is never seen drinking any himself.

[@badredfinn2982]

UFO was fantastic, and groundbreaking for its time: mixed race relationships, women in charge of the moon base, and a premise for alien invasion that is actually plausible: a dying alien race seeks organs from a compatible race, humans. Excellent.

[@steadfastandyx4947]

Being an Australian you should mention Nick Tate in Space 1999. Terrific actor.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Solid actor given sweet FA to do in Space: 1999.

[@jodyrawles999]

Blake’s 7. Not sure when it came out but this was a very good show.

[@ml5955]

I was very young when Space 1999 came out, but it was my favorite show until Battlestar Galactica came out. I even had a Space 1999 lunchbox when I was in kindergarten.

[@terrytalksmovies]

I want a Space 1999 eagle model... might see what Santa brings.

[@FightCollective]

@@terrytalksmovies B7 was about the only show where the main characters would die and stay dead. Blake wasn't even in half the shows and he was killed in the very last episode by Avon... Imagine Spock killing Kirk but for real, not some alternative universe or dream sequence but actually blowing his guts out. Heck, the bad guys actually won in the end!! You didn't have to like B7 but it was far from ordinary.

[@jctheU.G.SafariBigGamecat]

Oh I do have a tiny die-cast starfighter with the little yellow plastic extendable winglets...but it's like 2 inches long tops... awesome spaceships. And that wierd robot bear thing..tjay appeared to be copied in Thundercats...the robot burbles I think they were called, they helped Panthro fix the Thundertank. 😀

[@hydrolito]

Moon never went out of it's orbit so much for that in 1999.

[@richmcgee434]

@@terrytalksmovies I must have destroyed a dozen of the original Eagle kits in my youth. They were some of my very first attempts at conversions and kitbashes. You could get half a dozen smaller starships and scifi buildings out of one kit worth of parts, and I built my own version of a moonbase using them before the Alpha kit actually came out. I also did several crashed diorama versions with varying degrees of damage modeled on - which was very in keeping with the show. Gerry & company trashed even more Eagles than I did.

[@markhoward2811]

As I was a kid at the time I loved The Tomorrow People, Timeslip and the Changes.

[@terrytalksmovies]

All good choices. I want to revisit The Tomorrow People at some stage.

[@pete975]

I grew up with those shows too except Changes I don't remember. I did really like Timeslip and remember playing game where we go through broken chainlink fence and we were in another time. Tomorrow people I am more vague about yet I watched all the time. Kids with telepathy and other vague mental powers, teleportation belts and a supercomputer called TIM and one of them was in a pop band

[@markhoward2811]

@@pete975 Yes, Mike Holloway was the drummer of Flintlock. My older cousin had their album. The Changes was ripped off by Stephen King in the film 'Maximum Overdrive'. Both were about technology coming to life and rising up against the humans that built them. In the changes it is permanent and the UK reverts back to the old way if life before technology but not portrayed as a horror story.

[@markbrodie7491]

Hey, I wanted to thank you for putting me on to "UFO". I'm in the middle of watching all the episodes of its single season and LOVING every minute of it! You hit the nail on the head with this one. Cheers from Canada!

[@terrytalksmovies]

My pleasure. Enjoy summer. The weather here is cold and rainy.

[@robertespley248]

Sapphire and Steel should've got an honourable mention. It was one of the weirdest Sci-fi shows I've ever seen as a kid

[@Concreteowl]

It should be on the list fullstop

[@JohnVKaravitis]

1:59 The cars were impossible to get into and out of, and were practically undriveable. 3:00 The purple wigs were to protect against the instruments getting damaged from excessive static electricity.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Surely anti-static straps would be easier. 😂😀

[@cessnaace]

I love the shows of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. My favorite episode of Space: 1999 is Dragon's Domain, which along with The Troubled Spirit has a real eerie feel to it.

[@terrytalksmovies]

They did spooky really well once or twice.

[@robertcampbell6349]

Voyager's Return was a great episode as well. The Quelled drive was loosely based on the Project Orion propulsion system. And, it even featured Captain Picard's brother as Ernst Queller.

[@maxgonzalez214]

Do you remeber the one when they end up in a planet where sentient trees had exterminated the animals and become the dominant species? My god, what a treat of a show!

[@robertcampbell6349]

@@maxgonzalez214 Wasn't that The Rules of Luton?

[@cessnaace]

@@maxgonzalez214 It was a season 2 episode called "The Rules of Luton."

[@davidchristensen6908]

UFO was a good show. Hidden inside a movie studio, the elevator to lower the office to the SHADOW headquarters and the moon base. There was so much more to this show then the ufo and the things inside the ufo. Under the ocean, on land with their tracked vehicles. Then there was the cars they used in the show and you have to love the clothing everyone wore. I was a 11 years old and I understood and cared about the story line on how managing SHADOW cost him his family. It was a well done show.

[@terrytalksmovies]

I once met Ed Bishop. Lovely, courteous gentleman

[@williambabyak1094]

@@terrytalksmovies You are one lucky did! Actually, watching Ed Bishop and Martin Landau's work encouraged me to join my high school's theatrical company.

[@terrytalksmovies]

@@williambabyak1094 That's great. Mr Bishop was a lovely bloke, quite humble.

[@somthingbrutal]

if you haven't seen it i recommend Sapphire and Steel

[@captbumbler5356]

Fantastic programme I have the full set, watch now and again.

[@richmcgee434]

Amazing show. Wish I'd run into thirty years earlier than I did. There's some Big Finish audio drama work continuing the story from the cliffhanger they left us on.

[@atomiccritter6492]

Imho Sapphire And Steel was how you did weird properly

[@williamwilson5127]

Sapphire and Steel often seemed to drag things out while muddling around trying to find the point. There was also the problem of why the titular characters showed up, sometimes being helpful, while other times being rather indifferent. I suppose it could all be blamed on the lack of budget, forcing them to allow scenes to stagnate on the sets they had on hand.

[@williamwilson5127]

@Thɑт Spοk True enough. Though, programmes like Callan seemed to move forward in spite of dismal flimsy sets reappearing constantly.

[@DavidTSmith-jn5bs]

In 1978, CBS aired a movie that might have been a failed pilot for a "Dr. Strange" series. I believe that someone posted it on KZbin. I'll post a link if they have...

[@charliemoody7168]

I remember watching that one…I think it only aired once, to be quickly buried and forgotten. Speaking as a longtime Dr. Strange fan, its demise was well-deserved.

[@richarddeese1991]

Thanks. Born in '65, I grew up watching a lot of what is now classic sci-fi TV. I even had a UFO lunchbox! :) tavi.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Okay, now I want that lunchbox.

[@richarddeese1991]

@@terrytalksmovies Believe me, I wish I still had it! Ah! Childhood memories... tavi.

[@sadwingsofvinyldestinyeddjones]

I had a UFO lunch box as a kid. Would love to have that now. Great series Have the box set

[@tombennett4742]

UFO. Don't remember any deep stuff about Alien motivations, just an asumption they ha exhausted their resources. The novelisations give a reason for purple wigs. They were meant to be anti-static wigs, so the girls could have long hair without generating static that could damage the electronics. in the 70s computer room employees were forbidden to wear nylon becuse of static. At least according to my computer studies teacher. . Sylvia Anderson said that she just liked wigs and that military fashion might include wigs in the future as it had in the past.

[@glenchapman3899]

The wigs the girls wore on Moonbase were to reduce static buildup, which was a real issue in early space flight

[@Koshka42]

EDIT: I'd never heard of 1990 but your description sounds awesome and now I want to see it. According to Wikipedia, it was released on DVD in 2017, so I may have to look for it! My brother loved UFO but I think I was too young to remember it. I remember Fantastic Journey, but no one else seemed to and I thought I'd dreamed it for a long time! And of course, Space 1999 was a classic. It got a lot of flack, but it was so much better than people seem to remember! I didn't know Landau and Bain were actually married, it explains the chemistry! One I loved, but maybe also deserving of the derision it gets, is Starlost - a great concept, with interesting ideas and input from Harlan Ellison and Ben Bova, but it fell flat for many reasons, including especially Ellison removing himself from the production after things were consistently changed for the worse and Bova's input being basically ignored. I remember my Mum being very upset when it started, because the TV ads before its premiere were sort of selling it as a continuation of Silent Running, but when it aired the only similarity was the design of the pods.

[@greenmonsterprod]

I prefer the more thoughtful and darker first season of "Space:1999" over the more action-oriented second season. And I'm surprised only one U.S. series made the cut. I'd have thought the original "Battlestar: Galactica", "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman" might've been possibilities. And though "Night Gallery" and "Kolchak: The Night Stalker", respectively, had some sci-fi episodes, their focus was on horror.

[@terrytalksmovies]

I may have to do a sequel to this video. But I do have to say that the original BG was total crap.

[@bobblum5973]

@@terrytalksmovies I think many shows like this have good or great pilot episodes, but then falter as they progress through more episodes. I always watch Space:1999 and think of the '60s show Lost In Space, where the first season was more realistic but was reworked to be, well, sillier in subsequent seasons. Part of that is related to what was going on in the real world society when they were produced, something affecting all shows, and part of why remakes & reboots often lose some of their magic. EDIT: I never really watched the new BSG, and didn't like Stargate Universe either, possibly just the style since I'm a fan of Stargates SG-1 and Atlantis.

[@bobblum5973]

*greenmonsterprod:* I tend to agree with you, but being American I'd never heard of the shows Terry mentions, besides UFO, Space:1999, and The Fantastic Journey. That latter one I feel had very good potential, an interesting premise and good acting in general. The original BSG had its issues, mostly trying to have decent scripts on an ongoing basis, and doing better character development. But I still enjoyed it. Galactica 1980 was okay but a bit too cringey and formulaic for my taste. The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman were favorites of mine, and the actors portraying them made the characters believable. I also liked the limitations set for the characters' abilities; as a late teen/young adult, I actually did the math using the power/force for Steve Austin's legs in the opening credits and his weight as stated in at least one episode. Sure enough, the height he could jump matched what they stated in the show. The rebooted Bionic Woman show some years back was just too different, I never got into it. And I'm almost dreading the pending "Six Billion Dollar Man" movie I keep hearing rumors about; I wish them well, but they have a tough act to follow.

[@greenmonsterprod]

I feel like an idiot. I forgot another good contender from U.S. TV: "The Incredible Hulk". They made the right decision to lose the superhero trappings and make it more of a human drama, though still with some sci-fi elements. And Bill Bixby showed genuine commitment to his role as the tormented Banner.

[@terrytalksmovies]

@@greenmonsterprod TIH was hampered by the budgets and sfx technologies of the day and Bixby did commit to the character in a memorable and honourable way. But it's a good catch.

[@a.g.marshall2191]

UFO was the best, hands down.

[@thrashpondopons8348]

Loved 'Fantastic Journey' as a kid! I have always had a weak-spot for Anthology Series! I still refer to it to this day as it supports my observation that virtually all U.S. Science/Fiction TV of the 70s is 'The Fugitive' with a SF backdrop!

[@terrytalksmovies]

The Fugitive was a template for so many series.

[@jwrush]

I wish that V for Vendetta could have been done im the style of a 70s British sci fi show

[@stevetheduck1425]

Fantastic Journey was a close as US TV came to copying Doctor Who until the DC series Legends. Without using a time machine to cut costs, they collect (and would presumably have left behind) companions in various time zones, usually doing good deeds along the way. The previous US example would be Time Tunnel, which used stock-footage threats for similar effect, but never had more than two travellers. The 1970s US series Land of the Giants is very like the early Doctor Who serial Planet of the Giants as well.

[@floydcooley1]

Space 1999 was one of my favorites, but 2 others that I enjoyed as a kid was The Man from Atlantis and The Invisible Man with David Macallum.

[@terrytalksmovies]

The Man From Atlantis always looked like he was bonking the ocean when he swam.

[@dmelvinable]

I also liked that show when it was on, was disappointed when it was cancelled.

[@stevenscott2136]

"Man from Atlantis" started my apparently-lifelong distaste for portals. One episode had some kind of parallel-universe situation, with a well in the desert being the portal. Eventually, the portal became unstable, and Discount Aquaman was sitting on the well yelling at Guest Star to stop grabbing gold and get to the frelling portal. You can deduce the result, I'm sure. This really bothered me as a little kid, and to this day I dart through elevator doors while they're opening, just to be safe.

[@darkguardian1314]

I remember a number of shows like BSG, Salvage 1, Quark (Space Baggies) , Project UFO , Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon animated series, Space Academy and many movies, books and magazines making money on Star Wars craze. One odd one "Search" was about a secret agent James Bond type with high tech cameras and gadgets. He had a team like mission control feeding him information and tasks through an implant. One funny scene , Hugh left his detachable camera on a table and a waiter tossed it in the trash. Using only audio directions, Hugh found the camera and reattached it to his ring. lol

[@terrytalksmovies]

I did Search in another video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4DWp4uZmLN7pNE. The others weren't really favourites of mine except for Quark.

[@bobblum5973]

Search is a favorite of mine, having three lead actors allowed them to do a variety of script types. Some years ago I'd found you could order it online from Warner Archive, but the link I saved no longer works.

[@terrytalksmovies]

@@bobblum5973 You might have to look around eBay and other resellers. I got mine from Warner when it was available. The series is still cool and Hugh O'Brian, Doug McClure and Tony Franciosa are great protagonists, each individual in their styles.

[@bobblum5973]

@@terrytalksmovies Yes, and I loved Burgess Meredith (as "Cameron" if I recall). He portrayed the character with a real presence, believable.

[@terrytalksmovies]

@@bobblum5973 Also, he was the best iteration of The Penguin in Batman.

[@cursedmonkey1033]

I remember a post apocalypse drama called The Survivors.

[@flamencoprof]

It was called just "Survivors". I watched it every week. Did a great sci=fi job of examining what--if social structures. The protagonists moved successively between various groups who had survived under all sorts of sociopolitical arrangements.

[@TiswasTerry]

Watch all episodes of UFO over Christmas, ordered Space 1999 on Blueray today. Great stuff.

[@shadowfaqs]

Doomwatch sounds like the inspiration for Black Mirror, with the trope of taking current trends to a future extreme. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the recommendation.

[@retroactivejealousy-worldl1805]

Great video and you solved something that’s been bugging me for years- I could remember watching The Fantastic Journey as a kid but couldn’t remember what it was called. Thanks so much. It is on KZbin btw.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Thanks. I have TFJ on DVD but yeah, it's definitely an interesting failure of 70s TV. Glad I solved a puzzle for you.

[@retroactivejealousy-worldl1805]

@@terrytalksmovies Just watching it now. Thanks for subbing me by the way. I do the odd tv and film review myself though they are very rough around the edges. You might like my two-parter on ‘V’

[@terrytalksmovies]

@@retroactivejealousy-worldl1805 We're all rough around the edges, but we're learning. mate. Thanks for the tip.

[@retroactivejealousy-worldl1805]

So, thanks to you, I’ve now watched all of ‘The Fantastic Journey’ and done a review. But, to quote Columbo, there is one small thing still bugging me ...

[@domenicpapa6181]

Pouts... what about Blakes 7 ? I loved that one.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Happy you did but it never grabbed me.

[@skepticalfaith5201]

Yea, I always remember loving that show. They always ended with some really stupid unfunny joke/comment which they all fake laugh at which was weird because the rest of the show was so sophisticated.

[@Bruce-vq7ni]

Blake's 7 with its cardboard sets and close to zero budget- Oric the computer was an old fish tank with Xmas lights thrown in it 😂

[@paulqueripel3493]

@@Bruce-vq7ni there used to be a sci-fi book shop near me, they knew one of the BBC model makers on Blake's 7. I think one of the space ships had a budget of £50, and started out life as a pair of old hair dryers, and gold spray paint.

[@flamencoprof]

@@Bruce-vq7ni Took me decades to realise that computer was called Orac, short for Oracle.

[@dcanmore]

Derek Meddings is the model maker and special effects designer on Space 1999 (and other Gerry Anderson shows): a genius in his field who died too soon, his last work was on GoldenEye (1995). He won a BAFTA for Batman (1989) and was Oscar-nominated for Moonraker (1979).

[@williambabyak1094]

Derek Meddings did a wonderful job on UFO (going on to work on 007 films). Brian Johnson and Nick Alder were the SFX wizards for SPACE:1999. (Both series have always been my favorites.) Thank you so much for posting this, Sir.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Yes but Moonraker was a really bad film with really good sfx.

[@juicebirdmedia1406]

Nice list! I love 70’s Sci-Fi TV. I watched Star Maidens and Ark II and was very entertained.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Star Maidens is really weird.

[@waynezimmerman5308]

The plastic eater script for Doomwatch would be expanded into a 1971 novel: mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters; one of my favorite reads as a 70s teen.

[@Az-dc4nu]

According to article in The Hill there are 30,000 microbes that have mutated to eat plastics. Wow Doomwatch was prescient.

[@vad8712]

Space 1999 was BRILLIANT. Still love it!

[@rickjohnston1767]

You totally left out the original Battlestar Galactica with Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch & Dirk Benedict! That was way ahead of its time for TV back then, both conceptually and effects-wise.

[@davidcopplestone6266]

Just don't mention Battlestar Galactica 1980. That was truly awful.

[@charliemoody7168]

Left out for compelling reasons - reflected by the popular references to “Battlestar Ponderosa” and “Cattlecar Galactica”, the dreadful scripts and wooden acting, and Dirk Benedict’s signature scenery-chewing (a one-note performance, carried intact into his job with The A Team). He will NEVER live down Katie Sackoff’s superior portrayal of Starbuck, any more than he’ll ever admit his own utter lack of acting ability…but I do give him credit for inspiring David Lee Roth’s stage persona, as his ‘Just A Gigolo’ vid displays wonderfully…Roth could actually SING, tho.

[@terrytalksmovies]

The OG Battlestar Galactica was 100% guano. But that's just my opinion. 😀

[@keithnaylor1981]

Surprisingly enjoyed your interesting chat. Love your enthusiasm for UFO, next to STAR TREK, which will almost be No.1, UFO was my favourite. Space 1999 as you say had terrific sets and spacecraft, but drifting through space implausibly and repeatedly meeting bizarre beings just became monotonous and boring.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Yeah Space 1999 needed a good showrunner and a script editor and most of all, in spite of its premise, a direction.

[@ryancoulter4797]

Who else borrowed their dads staple gun to play Space 1999?

[@terrytalksmovies]

Great idea! I never did but I'm older than oxygen. 😊

[@ryancoulter4797]

@@terrytalksmovies I’m pretty sure I saw ‘1990’ available here on KZbin. I’m an Equalizer fan and a while back watched all the available Callan episodes (oh if only the Callan writers had written for The Equalizer and it’s characters). 1990 popped up after watching one Callan episode. Might still be out there.

[@terrytalksmovies]

@@ryancoulter4797 Thanks. I got the DVDs after someone on this thread told me they were available. Physical media is always the better option.

[@hydrolito]

Staple gun is not a toy should have a squirt gun.

[@ryancoulter4797]

@@hydrolito Yes. But it was the 70s, my dad had a whole workshop and at least two staple guns and squirt guns cost money - they don’t grow on trees yknow

[@kurtjk01]

Roddy McDowell elevated everything he was in . . . A true actor's actor.

[@terrytalksmovies]

He was also a mentor to other actors. He knew how to keep their secrets. Great photographer, too.

[@Twirlyhead]

_Gerry Anderson_ channel here on YT has a Space 1999 Primer which gives some good insight into the change to more _silly sci-fi_ in season 2.

[@tombennett4742]

Space 1999. Gerry Anderson said there are 2 kinds of Spave 1999 fans. Series 1 fans and Series 2 fans, he was a series 1 fan, so am I btw. I think the fairy tale-fantsy stuff of the 2nd series was a mistake. This was apparently due to pressur from American tv networks who thought it'd play better.

[@joecmillerify]

Series 2 they brought in Friedman, a Star Trek writer and they wanted to make it Star Trek lite

[@michaelsutherland8548]

I really need to give UFO another try.

[@morlokkurak4763]

I recommend the UFO Mega set. I have it. All 26 episodes for around $70. 👍🇬🇧👽

[@williambabyak1094]

I grew up watching U.F.O. in 1972; my whole family loved it. This series was my introduction to sci-fi, NOT the vaunted STAR TREK!

[@boomerdoug4242]

Great video. Rekindled some childhood memories...Space 1999,UFO and Fantastic Journey and some new discoveries Doom Watch and 1990. Totally agree with your comments. Even though some of these shows were of varying quality there was definitely something about them.Or maybe I'm wallowing in nostalgia. Keep up the great work

[@terrytalksmovies]

Thanks, Doug, will do.

[@RighteousBrother]

Pedant alert......UFO had a more keyboard based theme tune, Space 1999 was the twangy guitar.

[@Skaramine]

I not only watched Space 1999, but read all the novelizations, thanks to my dad picking up a box of them from the library book sale at the high school he worked at.

[@terrytalksmovies]

E C Tubb wrote a lot of them.

[@dadoctah]

When you said straight up that The Fantastic Journey was the only American show on the list I thought to myself "well, that pretty much says Starlost isn't going to be here". And it wasn't, even though I realized almost immediately that it was actually Canadian. As for the two Gerry Anderson series, they're even more closely connected than you suggest. Seems that the pilot for Space: 1999 was going to be part of UFO's third series before it was cancelled, and the Andersons reworked it into the followup series. (Also agree that UFO's theme music is among the best of any TV show; right up there with Mission: Impossible and Hawaii Five-O.)

[@domdouse3575]

All of space 1999 and UFO are now on KZbin - I just watched space 1999 and enjoyed it now going through UFO also enjoying it.

[@garylucas4341]

Yes! I remember Edward Woodward in 1990. A lot of parallels between 1990 and the politics and cancel culture today. Uncanny and frightening!

[@atomiccritter6492]

Cancel culture doesn't exist

[@garylucas4341]

Doesn't it? My bad 😁

[@44excalibur]

The Fantastic Journey was one of JJ Abrams' inspirations for Lost.

[@terrytalksmovies]

J J Abrams had never been original but I do like his lens flares.

[@44excalibur]

@@terrytalksmovies Of course he's not original. Lost also took some inspiration from Fantasy Island. Abrams got the idea for Alias when Joss Whedon suggested that he make a show about a female secret agent when Abrams told him that he was interested in doing his own version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Fringe was a rip-off of The X-Files, and Super 8 was Abrams ripping off Spielberg. I don't need to tell you how he's butchered Star Wars and Star Trek.

[@dash_alvin_wrench1016]

Why is there a Rescue Eagle in the background?

[@terrytalksmovies]

Because I put my head in front of the picture for a thumbnail for the video.

[@benlutz1974]

A bit late to the party, loving all the memories and suggestions! Here's one that I think definitely deserves watching: Survivors from 1975. It's the aftermath of a depopulating bio-weapon accident - maybe a bit too on point after a year of quarantines. British, 3 seasons.

[@terrytalksmovies]

I've seen a couple of episodes but it didn't grab me.

[@stevenscott2136]

Was there a more recent remake of that? I saw it from Netflix 8 or 10 years ago, and I remember it with modern cars, clothes, etc.

[@Phase52012]

British TV turned out some good SF series; mainly for the younger viewer in the 70s. "Timeslip" was about two teenagers who discovered a "hole in time" which allowed them to travel to their pasts and futures. The 26 episode series exists in B&W with only one surviving colour episode. "Sky" was a 7 part series about an alien sent to Earth to help humanity; but he arrives too early. And nature doesn't like it and creates an anti-body to eliminate him. It's a very strange series. (Both are available from Network On Air).

[@terrytalksmovies]

I watched a bit of Timeslip. Nicely done stuff.

[@garyreid6165]

I love UFO and Space:1999. In UFO, Straker’s tragedy was the death of his young son after leaving his wife’s home. The Skydiver ship was the coolest craft in SHADO’s fleet. The Barry Gray theme is iconic. Equal to his Thunderbirds theme and Space:1999. I knew a kid who had a UFO lunchbox at the time the show came to America. The second season had a great theme by Derek Wadsworth and Catherine Schell was memorable as Maya. Space:1999 had some interesting and scary moments in that show. But the miniature effects were the real stars for me when I was a kid. I remember seeing Martin Landau and Barbara Bain in a commercial announcing the arrival of Space:1999 on one of the independent television stations. Independent stations played a lot of British television shows back then, including Dr. Who( Jon Pertwee and the Tom Baker eras).

[@terrytalksmovies]

I definitely prefer the tech of Space: 1999 and the look and plots of UFO.

[@emmanuelcharlot1695]

Space: 1999 looked so good on black and white screen. I also very much enjoyed The Invisible Man and The Man from Atlantis. These were imported and dubbed more or less successfully for the French audience and it is so good to enjoy them today as they were intended.

[@terrytalksmovies]

The Man From Atlantis hasn't aged well but The Invisible Man and The Gemini Man and the 6 Million Dollar Man all have a nostalgic glow about them.

[@noneed4me2n7]

Thanks you laid it out nicely and I’m of the age that is interested in older TV. Subbed.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Welcome aboard. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@JeffreyMiller1]

"The Starlost" was the 1970s. Modern technology while getting back to the land. The Canadian TV handoff from the US movie, "Silent Running."

[@teptime]

I thought that show was awful...poor KIER DULLEA, to end up in that after such strong performances in DAVID AND LISA and 2001.

[@22many77]

I have fond memories as a child of a Space: 1999 vinyl record that must have been a radio-drama rendition. It did it's job of stimulating my sense of wonder and adventure.

[@adampoll4977]

How did I miss out on this channel for so long? This is my dream content when it comes to cinematic tastes! I just have to say, I really do wish Gerry and Sylvia had designed the future, rather than the one we got ;)

[@Az-dc4nu]

I'm with you on how did I miss this channel. I just found it today attempting to find a sci fi movie of which I still can't remember. It was about a guy who had some sort of camera for an eye. He could remove it from his eye socket and project the images. I believe he used it for spying.

[@williamwilson5127]

UFO and Space 1999 shared the virtue of being near futuristic. The characters had enough technology to survive without defaulting to deus ex machina frequently, the way Dr. Who and Star Trek did at times.

[@rebusak47]

The Fantastic Journey the intro theme and the outro theme is the ultimate in 70's music (just screams 70's).

[@liontuga155]

Space: 1999. I remember modelling the Eagle transporter out of Styrofoam and then drawing the details on them with a black marker. I made a whole fleet of them when I was a kid. Years later, I bought the DVDs the moment they went on sale, of course! :)

[@FloatingFatMan]

I can heartily recommend you check out Sapphire & Steele, starring Joanna Lumley and David McCallum. More of a supernatural thriller series than science fiction, but it was a fantastic programme.

[@RIXRADvidz]

STARLOST amazing ship, amazing story, good opportunity for creating new worlds as each dome had people in it from Earth in various time periods. the three intrepid explorers that escape their Amish dome are good characters to introduce the Starlost.

[@terrytalksmovies]

The basic bones were there but the producers screwed it up. It could've been so much more.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@@terrytalksmovies >>> AFAIK, the _STARLOST_ production was ORIGINALLY going to Douglas Trumbull's *MAGICAM* video system to integrate the live action with miniature sets. For SOME REASON {or REASONS} which I do not understand, this was abandoned.

[@jamessnee7171]

I believe Starlost was a Canadian television production. And most likely a limited budget and resources.

[@terrytalksmovies]

@@jamessnee7171 very limited on both from what I understand.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

The link I just posted is a promo film for STARLOST. My smartphone's KZbin app is being a TOTAL POS and not allowing me to enter the description and link in the same post.

[@cliffdixon6422]

Little bit of trivia for you Terry. There was only one series of UFO but it became a surprise hit in the US. Lew Grade wanted to capitalise on this and a second series was commissioned called UFO 1999. But after trawling the idea around the US, he decided that they needed to have at least one top line star familiar to US audiences and he wanted the whole series set in space. Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were hot at the time due to Mission:Impossible and were signed on. Cue rewrites and Space:1999 was born.

[@terrytalksmovies]

I think the writing was stronger on UFO and Ed Bishop was a great lead. Space 1999 never quite nailed it for me.

[@cliffdixon6422]

@@terrytalksmovies The second series was nowhere near as good as the first. Dropping Barry Morse was a bad move (Although Maya was a good new character), bringing in Fred Freiburger on the production team who pushed towards a monster led storyline was a big mistake

[@alastairward2774]

UFO sounds so much like a mad anime that someone making a mad anime took inspiration from it.

[@dmelvinable]

It seems that everyone is overlooking something. The 1990 series is largely based on George Orwell’s famous novel (you know, the one set 6 years earlier😉). I’ve never seen it but would like to, because it seems to build on this concept and added some nuance.

[@terrytalksmovies]

It works. Edward Woodward does a nice job there.

[@hydrolito]

Purple wig predicting some people dying hair purple.

[@Eligius4917]

There was a woman at work with purple hair. I showed her a still from 'UFO,' which she was too young to have seen.

[@robertthecag1230]

My guilty pleasure is Quark. Silly and fun. With hot twins.

[@glenchapman3899]

How could you not like a show about a space going garbage truck

[@jeffthompson9622]

I heard of it at the time but never saw it.

[@andreare7766]

Never heard of Doomwatch. Doesn't seem to be available anywhere, though. It is a bit difficult to binge it, then 😃 Ah, some of them are on YT. Will check it out.

[@terrytalksmovies]

I have the DVDs and I think a few episodes are on KZbin, too.

[@LordSathar]

Late 70's Early 80's was the pinnacle of British Sci Fi. BBC was knocking it out of the park then.

[@johobe1]

There were a couple of American shows that were on in the 60's (and still in rerun here), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Invaders, Land of the Giants, a kind of steampunk western called Wild, Wild West, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Time Tunnel, and of course we got all the Anderson shows including UFO and Space 1999, (weird to think of the years they were supposed to take place in.) We also got a slew of Japanese animation, Astroboy, Gigantor, Eighth Man, Speed Racer etc. The 60's here, and even the 50's were drenched in scifi. SF kinda rode the same trails as westerns, until the 70's when doctor, lawyer and gritty cop shows seemed to take over. Then Star Wars made scifi blossom on the big screen, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

[@terrytalksmovies]

IMHO Star Wars dumbed down science fiction cinema for decades. Earlier movies had nuance, SW had a binary goog versus evil universe the franchise is still coming to terms with.

[@marcrhodes-taylor5347]

completely agree with space: 1999, this is one of my favourite shows of all time. i was just going to say, the humans were not actually subverted as such in ufo, apart from one or two episodes where this did happen, rather the aliens used humans as a source of body parts which was much more gruesome. i was just going to give a shout out for blake's 7, another one of my time favourite sci fi shows and surely binge worthy.

[@Bruce-vq7ni]

UFO - Had excellent end credits - Clever and with a rather disturbing audio track. Not sure if it qualified as music 😳.

[@terrytalksmovies]

It does. Tonalities are considered music.

[@Bruce-vq7ni]

@@terrytalksmovies Thanks - The word "Tonalities" imediatly brought to mind one of my top ten favorite Sci fi movies - Forbidden Planet.

[@terrytalksmovies]

@@Bruce-vq7ni yep, a breakthrough soundtrack by Louis & Bebe Barron using cutting edge 50s technology.

[@maddog8621]

Atmospherics.....

[@ScottyKirk1]

Love 1999! And people should really try to find Doomwatch, as it's out in PAL DVD. Doomwatch is almost an X-Files forerunner. Really smart writing. Some of the Doomwatch episodes were lost bcuz the BBC re-used the master tapes! 1990 sounds VERY interesting. Thanks for the tip!

[@kfeltenberger]

While it was focused towards the Saturday morning youth market, I think Ark ][ (Ark 2) deserves a review. Each episode was ~20 minutes or so and it included a lot of era's tropes, but it touched on a lot of very adult topics in a way that a kid would understand and grasp. It's one of those shows that if it was rebooted or restarted today would probably lose the magic and subtle connections that the original had.

[@frankthelion]

Dont know if these count : Survivors. British version of the walking dead, minus zombies. The stone tapes. Construction work in an old building hampered by a psychic researcher and his assistant who hears and sees ghosts.

[@terrytalksmovies]

The Stone Tape works really well. Nigel Kneale at his best. Survivors was a bit of a downer, but it's a good call for the list.

[@keithsamuels2533]

Does it not include mini series such as Day of the Triffids or Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy ? Actual series though and Space 1999 was a favourite , also Blakes Seven and Battlestar Galactica at the time. Never heard of 1990 , though it sounds like it was about 30 years away from being pretty spot on .

[@terrytalksmovies]

I think some 1990 episodes are on this platform.

[@keithsamuels2533]

@@terrytalksmovies i am similar to yourself and like the physical media , so I ordered the boxed set . I'm sure it will be a good view , Edward Woodward rarely appeared in anything bad .

[@TeatroGrotesco]

Space 1999, had Brian Blessed for an episode who is awesomely over the top always.

[@theadventuresofzoomandbettie]

Turns out I've never watched any of these! Thanks for sharing!

[@terrytalksmovies]

My pleasure.😁

[@teptime]

THE IMMORTAL was was a series better in concept than composition, but I did enjoy it and would like to see it again.

[@vhbeckett7706]

Can you ask the scientists from Doomwatch to tell me how to program my VHS recorder.

[@henrymach]

Interesting fact: Fantastic Journey was very succesful in Brazil. I was a kid in the seventies and really loved it.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Cool! Like Jerry Lewis was in France.

[@orac101]

Great list of shows especially UFO but where's 'Blake's 7'? Probably one of the most influential sci-fi shows in the years that followed its final episode.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Didn't like it. It's that simple.

[@orac101]

@@terrytalksmovies Fair enough, its your channel and your opinion piece :) I just assumed that you hadn't heard of it.

[@terrytalksmovies]

@@orac101 my curse is that I've heard of almost everything. 👍😊

[@IronWoode]

The best thing to do for watching Space:1999 is to buy the Blu-ray of the 1st season. That is truly the best season due to the eclectic episodes made. The stories are very well done and some are very 70's. The Blu-ray transfer is fantastic and the 5.1 audio is incredible.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Great tip!

[@John451vfr]

Great list, will have to watch 1990. Loved the UFO series then as a kid, loved rewatching the series as a box set recently, that is except the stupid last episode racing around in go carts....Loved Space 1999 as a kid, loved rewatching the first series on DVD recently, 2nd series not so much was too cartoony and missed the profound observations of Professor Bergman...

[@terrytalksmovies]

Yes, season two of S:1999 is a dog's breakfast.

[@lonelyp1]

Maybe it isn't scify enough for you but a good binge watch would be the "Prisoner" I'm also not sure of the year(s) it was made.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Around 1967.

[@phrayzar]

There was an astounding amount of excellent tv in the uk with many stations giving young writers a cart blanche with scope that often led to fantastic concepts, that were sometimes let down by minuscule budgets and poor production values. Shows like Night Shadows, Tomorrow People(although seemingly made on 5p an ep), Saphire and Steele, Quatermas remake, Children of the Stones and many that I have forgotten about. The style and tone of things like Black Mirror are very much a homage to the kind of things addressed in these 70's series. We were very much spoilt back then, especially as a child viewer it was the golden era of UK TV.

[@terrytalksmovies]

I think the streaming services are throwing a lot of money at genre works, but they don't seem clear on what makes a good science fiction or fantasy story and what's just derivative.

[@0311Mushroom]

You missed a great Canadian series. The Starlost. A 1973-1974 series created by Harlan Ellison and staring Keir Dullea (David Bowman from 2001). About a generational ship 400 years after launch, where people live in domes around the ship and do not even realize they are on a spaceship. It only lasted 1 season of 16 one hour episodes, so is a good weekend watch.

[@terrytalksmovies]

Didn't miss it. Just didn't like it.

[@0311Mushroom]

@@terrytalksmovies neither did Cordwainer Bird. Of course, he seems to have hated anything made from his ideas. Yet he kept selling them.

[@peterscott2662]

Watched Space 1999 back in when I was a kid in 1970's and later in reruns, so it's a big favorite of mine. Only just recently discovered UFO, and ancestry of the shows stands out. You can clearly see a lot of commonality in design. Space 1999 feels like the sequel to UFO.

[@terrytalksmovies]

The design aesthetic is peak 1970s in other. Love it.

[@kaljaxa5365]

I have a ton of Anderson's stuff. I have to admit that I think Silvia was the real genius. Love those shows, I have Supercar, FireballXL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds (including the movies), Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90, The Secret Service, UFO and Space 1999. I'm surprised you mention Doctor Who.

[@Foxbat320]

Space 1999 is a favourite SIFI series with most people except with Sylvia snd Jerry anderson LOL .

[@collegeman1988]

Both seasons of Space: 1999 are available to watch for free on imdb.

[@terrytalksmovies]

I have the disks, but that's good to know.

[@collegeman1988]

@@terrytalksmovies So do I. The season 1 Blu-Ray set is astounding.

[@LightOfReason7]

UFO was pretty cool as was Space 1999

[@terrytalksmovies]

Absolutely but for my taste, UFO was more consistently good. I once met Ed Bishop and he was a charming gentleman.

[@michaeljames6953]

Terry, I agree with you that the main concept of Space: 1999 wasn't really followed through, but it reminded me of another short-lived 1970s UK drama "Moonbase 3", which actually does deal directly with living on a moonbase. The final episode even directly deals with the prospect of the moonbase being cut off from Earth forever. I don't know if the series is on physical media, but I have seen the episodes (There are only 6!) on KZbin. The series was made by largely the same production crew as Doctor Who at the time, but it's done in a much more gritty style, similar to Doomwatch.

[@terrytalksmovies]

I'll have to check out Moonnase 3. Thanks.

[@michaeljames6953]

@@terrytalksmovies There is also a 1980s UK equivalent, also only 6 episodes, called "Star Cops". It's very 1980s, but also has a number of Doctor Who alumni from the time.

[@terrytalksmovies]

@@michaeljames6953 I remember it. Kinda kludgy but a good effort.

[@michaeljames6953]

Correction. NINE episodes.

[@koyashikistacy979]

I see the Eagle over your shoulder and I'm all in.