 May 11, 2011 - 1:31pm | Just checked out 12 episodes from the public library of this old show What is really cool about it is the look of the show is great, even and despite it being made in 1975. I love the look of the moon base and moon landscape, the Eagles, the orange snow suits cum vacuum suit, and the sets. It has a really cool Star Frontiers feel Whats sad is that you can describe it as Star Frontiers meats the worst storyline ideas from Star Trek, and the majority of the aliens they didn't even bother with the Fore head of the week syndrom of star Trek. of course the moon wandering from star system to star system after being blown out of Earth orbit by nukes on September 13, 1999 is a bit much So far I've only viewed 4 episodes and there wasn't much in the story lines that I thought could be borrowed, It seems to be more of in the vien of classic sci-fi where the point was to preach on a subject using sci-fi to gain it greater acceptance. Still I rather love the look of the show if only I could find an episode with a good story line and no god like aliens. Oh yeah and they seem to have an awful lot of nuclear devices for a non military science outpost on the moon. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 May 12, 2011 - 6:03pm | The production equipment was rather top notch for the time, and despite being a bit of a cultie-series, it has been well preserved. I have been itching to get at seeing it again, myself. Space Academy too... it's been far too long since I have visited that show. Yeah, you kinda have to give those old shows some room for being dated, in another 30yrs Terminator and Avatar will be just as laughable, as that one is now. For me the first Alien and Predator already is a total mock riot, and I am waiting for them to be hosted on MST3k. Went to a convention where they had a showing of Star Wars MST3k style, I had trouble staying in my seat. Atomik Powa, it was supposed to be the salvation of the energy problems and catapult Man into a full fledged Type-I society... and I am still waiting for my back-ordered flying car too... Hack out the rather far fetched bits, and it is in my list of Classic Frontiers examples... a total Retro 'Neo-Golden-Age' sci-fi classic. (since it misses the High-Golden-Age by about 20yrs, and is really a 70's 'neo-clone' of the earlier atomic-rocket Space Edisonade sci-fi.) Kewl Stuff  Oh humans!!  We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
May 11, 2011 - 5:11pm | one thing they did right was set it on a moon so that they had gravity and didnt have to fudge artificial grav- though they sort of ignore the fact that gravity is on on the ships the big problem the show had, like DS9 before the Worfisodes, of course was the fact that it was a non moving base. thus the silly moon wandering through the universe meeting a new alien race each week. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
May 11, 2011 - 7:02pm | There's been an effort to resurrect this product as Space 2099 http://www.space2099.com/ I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
May 12, 2011 - 5:50pm |  nice, have to look into that thanks!might I suggest, The Day After Tomorrow, Into Infinity ... it had some cross over co-creation, and aired around the same time. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
 May 12, 2011 - 8:38am | Yeah, I purchased the entire series in boxed set a couple of years ago. Not so much for the storylines (there's a few gems but most episodes made ME want to destroy Moonbase Alpha), and not for the hot alien chick Mara (mmm, nice eyebrows there baby), and not even for the hand lasers that were smaller than their communication devices (guess they could have combined the two into one device, but if you hit the wrong button, you'd shoot yourself in the face). Actually, it was the Eagles. Something about the design I like. Gary Anderson did a great job with those ships. First season was better than the second definitely. They should have kept the same cast, but for specific reasons they couldn't or wouldn't. Still, the series sits on my DvD shelf if there's a need for more info about a particular episode you're interested in. My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
May 12, 2011 - 5:57pm | yea, the Eagles were the stars of the show, everything else was a supporting cast. The base itself wasn't a complete let-down either. Tacky costumes, gear, plot-elements, and cleche'-driven weak-dialogue scripts... but most of it would have made sense to the audience and science as known at the time. As DS9 discovered, the big Sci-fi question is, 'to go mobile, or be stationary?', B5 did a good job of delivering both in equal amounts. In the 70's most people were hanging heavily on Roddenberry's 'planet-of-the-week.' structure, several treatises were written... in the 60's and 70's... celebrating the trope as if it was something original. sweet library addition, don't know if I would put them on my shelf just yet, but I do need to find 'em for a review. My library wish list is already rather large, like many sci-fi fans, I fantasise of founding a museum, ya know... I just want to start it, set it up to be self-sufficient, and keep the boss-pass while others take care of it... while I travel Europe and Asia, looking for new procurements.  Thinking I should have a Role-Playing and Wargaming wing too...  Some really nice projections of the ships and bases are all over the net, btw, easy to grab 'em up for use in a SF game. I have used the base, and several of the ships before, mostly as in-system trucks of Human-Vrusk design, and a limited fringe outpost of Human-Dralasite design, nothing fancy. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
May 12, 2011 - 9:16pm | Never thought about using Space 1999 schematics of ships and the moon base before, but now I am. One of the things that bugged me about the show was during conversations using the communication/security door device Alphans carried on their belts. When you see a character using it, the vid of their face on the receiving end shows a straight-on view. But when they show that same character using it during the same coversation, they're holding the device lower on an angle at chest level. What we SHOULD therefore be seeing on the vidscreen is for instance Cmdr. Konig's huge horking nostrils looking like a 2-car garage stuffed with turfs of nosehair! Another was the gravity on Moonbase Alpha. The gravity inside should be the same as the gravity outside the base. Although this means that the characters would be filmed in slow motion (just like when they were outside) and most episodes moved slow enough already. Gonna go check out schematics of Moose Base Alfalfa now. Thanks.  My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
May 12, 2011 - 11:16pm | Well, I am glad they got that wrong, was the largest horror in the Blair Witch Project... scary to think what was going to come out of her nose any minute! no problem, I love those trucks, right next to the Heli-Jet in form and function. Does a nice job of being an acceleration simulated gravity, trans-atmospheric horizontal lander, without reaching beyond the Star Frontiers tech range. Like I mentioned, I prefer to keep them as in-system space trucks tho', keep 'em to Chem & Ion rockets, no room for an Atomic-Rocket or a FTL-Drive, but I have seen larger fan-made variants that could pull it off. Look for something called a Star Kobol for a frigate that seems to have been influenced, but has Atomic Engine sized thrusters. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
 May 16, 2011 - 8:28pm | Ah Space 1999 loved that show despite the many problems already pointed out. Still the show tried to provide a good basis in what was a very limited Sci-Fi selections.. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
May 16, 2011 - 8:57pm | Best episode was Earthbound (1976) … Captain Zandor (played by Christopher Lee) is an alien whose ship comes to Moose Base Alfalfa. Some annoying Alfalfan sleezes his way aboard the alien ship when it leaves towards the end of the episode, but his sleeper tube doesn't work (yet does for the aliens aboard). The episode ends with the now trapped Alfalfan screaming for help and Moose Base Alfalfa already too far away to help him. Karmic, creepy and awesome ending. My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
May 17, 2011 - 8:00pm | @Bilygote: You mean "Dragon's Domain", yes? Just took a gander on Utube after reading your post as I didn't remember seeing the episode. Have to dust off my boxed set and watch the whole thing, but it seems like a Captain Ahab/Moby Dick type of story. Odd that the tentacled creature could resist the burn of being shot with a laser pistol but not the chop of Cmdr. Konig's hand axe. He's quite an Alfalfan to be sure! My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
May 18, 2011 - 6:17am | I've noticed something about Space 1999, having checked out sets 3 and 7 of the DVD set I noticed that the episodes in set 3 had underlying ideas that the story was about with the sci-fiction being just window dressing for the purpose of telling a story about the idea. In set 7, made after the Andersons had split and the wife was no longer involved, lack the preach idea sci fi themes and just went in for a more straight forward threat and resolution stroyline though some read like badly written season 3 original Star Trek episodes- the really bad one. adding the shape changer to the show meant they used lots of rubber suited aliens as apposed to the star trek habbit of doing fore heads of the week. The external scene of the moon base in the later episodes is better and gives you a better sense of the layout of the base. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
May 18, 2011 - 7:37am | I also think, that because of the format of the show is also its weakness- each week it needs to create a new threat to the moon base then resolve it. The problem with that it that creating a threat takes time. With a show like BSG or even Star Trek you just have to have klingons or cylons show up and instantly everyone knows that you have a threat and you can get on with the action. I think that the having the nemisis race or enemy is key to a good sci-fi SF has the sathar and thier spies as well as mega corps behaving badly, perhaps this is linked to the longevity of the game. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
May 18, 2011 - 5:31pm | hey, in Star Frontiers... the UPF, Star Fleet, Pirates, Star Law, Malthar, System Nobles, Elected Officials, and each of the United Races acting independently, as well as the Mega Corps and Sathar, have all acted badly... at some point... there are plenty of campaign nemesis possibilities to choose from, pick the focus that suits the need. But yea, good to pick a few, draw conflict lines, and hook to that as the main theme... through most of a series or campaign... changing affiliations, used very sparingly, can then become a major campaign event. The Sathar and Mega Corps are rather common-to-everyone, even each other, antagonist cliche, and cliches can be a good thing, for establishing a base line foundation. The music goes ~duu, DOO Du, doo..~ and you know who it is... and how screwed up everything just got. you hear ~sliii SLImnnn, Slu Sli, sliiii, slik slik slik...~ and cries of "oh man NOT WORMS!!! NOT NOW!!" goes around the table... ahh, cheers to the value of campy instant recognition. What does Space:1999 have to fill than niche? Who is their Logik, Ming, Cylon, or Klingon? Come to think of it lots of old shows don't have one... Rocky Jones, the Flash Gordon series that theoretically take place after Mongo is handed over to a Council of Nobles, Lost in Space (I guess you have to count the Dr. but originally he wasn't cast the way he was in the movie.), idk, stopping to think about it makes me wonder, if the trope is less common than I thought... still it is an easy one to emulate for RPGs, and seems almost expected, no... demanded, by players. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
May 19, 2011 - 8:17pm | In the long ago days of TV, shows were either soap operas with plots going on for years or much more common the threat of the week defeated and gone forever. Star Trek had Klingons but did you know they were only in three episodes, Romulans in only two. It was a big shock when Harry Mudd showed up in a second episode. Even the original Battlestar Galactica while having Cyclons they were not the weekly threat with many episodes not even including them. I could be wrong but Babylon 5 was the first show that included a serious season long and series long story arch plus the occasional one shot episodes (which got less and less as the years went on). That show really broke new ground. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
May 19, 2011 - 10:01pm | [I could be wrong but Babylon 5 was the first show that included a serious season long and series long story arch plus the occasional one shot episodes (which got less and less as the years went on). That show really broke new ground.] You're not wrong ratt. Straczynski said in some interview I remember that he already knew where he wanted the story arc to go before the first episode of season 1 was even aired. The show definitely broke new ground. Kinda awesome how secretive the Bab5 races were with each other as a whole. Imagine the Frontier's 4 being racially deceptive with each other; having to learn to trust each other during adventures. 1999 season one was better IMO than season 2. The season 1 scientist (their Mr. Spock) was kool, but they could work out contracts or something, and he was out of season 2. Season 2 was omg crap, with the exception of an episode (can't recall the name) when Cmdr. Konig tricked these powerful aliens that he was "coming aboard" in his little moon buggy. Just as the buggy gets underneath the landed alien ship and just before the moon buggy detonates, the spacesuit helmet slowly falls off the empty spacesuit that was suppose to be Konig; the alien chick's mouth drops open... then BLAMO! That was a great scene. My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
May 20, 2011 - 3:53pm | Who says the 4 races are all open and honest with each other? We only have the frontier beings and like people in a frontier (say the USA) they get along reasonably well. What life is like on the home planets and the strictly one race colonies is anyones guess. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
May 20, 2011 - 9:40pm | Your right, but I never got the impression from anything I read in Alpha Dawn, Knight Hawks or Zeb's Guide that the four races (generally speaking) did not almost always work well together. A Bab5 flavor to SF could move in the direction of the RPG "Paranoia" (stay alert, trust no one... keep your laser pistol handy). Characters in that game went on adventures together of course, but each player was also given a secret mission that was completely unknown to the other game players (and thus their PCs). Secret missions could include (but were not limited to) missions to make sure that one of the other PCs on the adventure didn't make it back safely, stealing some vital item for the PC's secret society or cadre, or missions for the insane all-powerful computer that was in charge of the underground human society. PCs also had a secret mutant ability that could help the PC during the adventure, but if it were ever revealed to the other PCs, the character exposing that he was in reality a mutant meant he was a traitor and must be executed asap by the other PCs. Not saying that any SF campaign should be as extreme as Paranoia, but the need to work together on an adventure/mission while there's a trust issue between the PCs could make things more interesting for the players. My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
May 21, 2011 - 7:20am | "UPF Propaganda: The Current True History... film at eight, on channel omicron-niner-seven delta-ten..." ~ An announcement for a documentary that aired on some backwater moon in Fromaltar, full of ridiculous conspiracies about the UPF, but some people can believe just about anything... I kind of go back and forth between the 'clean federation propagandized' worlds like Prenglar, and the 'dirty little rocket 'punks' of Madderly's Star, and the Mega-Corp Worlds like Laco. I don't even hold extremes to an extreme, in the Frontier. From what I have read, Kdikit is supposed to be the site of frequent Vrusk/Human hate crimes, and a big planetary inter-species war, that hasn't compleatly gone away. It is just all left ambiguous, if you don't want to play on the social problems of the Frontier, you don't have to, there is plenty of other issues to choose from, and you can just go 'UPF Propaganda' all the way. I think it is unwise for a GM to ignore that big picture view, but players should be able to find any style they want that a GM is willing to run. I say this often, but the support for the 'edge-view' (to borrow from Cyberpunk and Shadowrun) of the Frontier is in the books, it just isn't all neatly tied up and presented in one place. The origional material does pretty much focus on the 'happy-clean-view', and is further sanitized of any 'potentially offinsive' issues. (or even things that might lead someone to believe it's all really happening somewhere... ie. don't let Earth be in the same universe... someone might get confused as to which Earth is real... bah!!) There is enough space and variety, and people are usually capable enough of 'instictive environmental selection', that nearly any view of the UPF is possible from the inside, without excluding any other view from being true to another character played, at the same game-table session. Star Trek canon states many times that there are places in Federation space that are nothing like what is shown in the episodes, as far as brutality and barbaric behavior, greed and slavery, and hate based xenophobia... none of the members of the Federation are completely open with the UFP, or Star Fleet, throughout their entire people, or on all their own worlds. Several of the episodes and novels deal with terrorist organizations capable of taking down a galaxy class, or having sucsessfuly 'purified' an entire planet... when they apply themselves to the task, the Federation's factions are nasty... can't get that much fanaticism in a 'perfect' utopia, and 'perfect' utopias are a complete fantasy, as they must inevitably cater to a minority view of 'perfection' anyway, that excludes some majority.  All kinda OT of the OP [Space:1999], I don't recall a lot of factionalism issues there, don't recall much room for it. Got them in queue, they will get here someday.Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
May 21, 2011 - 9:43am | I understand what you're saying TSC. There was one campaign I was running 'back in the day' that utilized aspects of Paranoia RPG, Buck Rogers 25C, ST, and SW. Some flavors worked well; some did not and unfortunately tainted the campaign (for instance, never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never let your PCs have even temporary access to a SW light saber; they can't help but go on a wild & crazy severing spree). My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
May 21, 2011 - 7:13pm | There is another way to go and it is actually hinted at in the game. Remember the early American colonies no one thought of themselves as Americans. They were New Yorkers or Virginians or Pennsylvanians. The Frontier could be the same way. Race would not be as important as what planet you came from or fight for. The militias represent this well since instead of a big mass fleet like in Star Trek they have all these little fleets. Campaigns where loyalties are divided can be very interesting instead of the usual one for the party and the party for one. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
May 21, 2011 - 8:14pm | ha, yeah, (umm, never never never never never never never never never never never never never let your SW PCs have even temporary access to a Full-fleged light saber, unless they are playing a Jedi!! ; they can't help but go on a wild & crazy severing spree... I mean, c'mon, you know you would too, if you didn't have the light/dark sides, and an omnipresent semi-sentient force to atone to...) I have had some awesome successes, and some utter failures, incorporating Cyberpunk-as-Rocketpunk Genre Elements into Star Frontiers setting... (The Net, doesn't quite work on an interstellar level and keep places feeling remote, but makes it much easier to 'keep the clean worlds clean, and the dirty worlds dirty' on a planetary level. I give the same warning as light-sabers, to Full-Cyborgs and Pocket-Angels, though... use'em with caution.) Mega Corps and Edge Runners, do kinda fit the flavor of some of those old colonies. Aftermath, Battletech/Mechwarrior, and Rifts has really good material of a frontier chaos and war-torn savagery bent, that could possibly be found in some places in the Frontier - say Mad-Max style... (just don't think 50 or even 15 foot mechs would feel like they belong there, and certainly not full-conversion-dragons... oh, wait... the Sathar do have some of those... damn those mysterious aliens and their ancient secret god-like technologies, constantly threatening to destroy the game-balance with power-creep loot... I think that is their sinister and mysterious plan... why go after the UPF, when they can destabilize the whole setting, by attacking the Players and the GM at the same time... remove the playability of the game itself, and then they win by default, insidiously crafty buggers!). Buck Rogers, Paranoia, ST and SW, feel like the biggest three UPF supporting colonies to me; Prenglar, Dramune, and White Light... the cleaner side of the Frontier. Good stuff there, for sure. Yeah, Space:1999 has a lot of kewl gimmicks that could be useful when pilfered and filtered for Star Frontiers flavoring, definitely. Getting around the wandering-interstellar-moon cheese, shouldn't be to much of an issue in that regard. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
May 21, 2011 - 8:15pm | Very nice point rattraveller Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
May 22, 2011 - 3:15pm | If nothing else a great schamtic of moon base Alpha would make a great addition to Star Frontiers- the eagles were already nicely done up in a SFman. Simply use it as one of the inhabited/utilized moons somewhere in the SF setting. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
May 22, 2011 - 9:11pm | Haven't yet found a base schematic. I have sketched a rough one for that purpose some time ago, don't have it anymore though. Oh humans!! We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
May 23, 2011 - 11:02am | I had a model of Moon Bass Alpha which is available on eBay (not mine I lost it years ago) that could be a good starting point Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 May 23, 2011 - 1:28pm | Is this what your talking about?  |
May 23, 2011 - 1:33pm | Moore stuff here; Something else I'm interested in;  |
May 23, 2011 - 9:17pm | Hot dang! That's a pretty awesome kit. Gonna go see if they sell it states side. (----zoom!---->) My SF website izz: http://ragnarr.webs.com |
