The actor usually receives the blame for being unlikable by the audience when the blame lies with the script. On Space 1999, this was a serious problem. The show had nice sets, stylish Uniforms & memorable actors. But terrible scripts with bad character roles & interaction.
By comparison, Roddenberry recognized the key element for a successful series. It is the interrelationships between the characters on the show & good stories. Not the sets or special effects. We would have been happy with cardboard sets & fireworks for effects as long as we were emotionally invested in the ST characters. Nor should these post Xgen neophytes be judging the quality of sets & effects. Those show developers in decades past had to operate on shoestring budgets just to bring us their sci-fi series. With the intransigent networks who only cared for sitcoms & westerns & fraudulent Neilson ratings, we were lucky to see any sci-fi at all. We appreciated their efforts despite the primitive sets & effects. ST gave us quality actors, quality scripts & wonderful stories.
Sci-fi producers were forced to become beggars & produced these shows with less budget than JR was paid for a single episode. This paltry budget had to pay for everything; sets, crews, actors, effects & total production costs on less than $100K each episode. They actually had to dig into trash bins to find materials to use on sets. They used every scrap. Ice Cube trays & Christmas lights but it gave us Kirk, Spock & Bones in return. Space 1999 was missing this type of character camaraderie.
Commander Koenig was intransigent & dismissive toward his crew & toward any info they endeavored to provide. He did not develop a relationship with his officers & allowed them to argue, talk back & ignore instructions. He made bad, rash decisions. Ordered preemptive strikes & belligerent actions where no hostile actions had been made. His character behaved recklessly, dismissive, endangered others, did not engender trust or camaraderie among his crew, met other races with hostility & preemptive attacks, was willing to sacrifice the welfare of the entire community for the welfare of one person & constantly started battles & placed his people in harms way without any rhyme or reason. Shooting an alien guest without warning just to see if their stun gun worked on him. Or demanding the hyper drive of a trader as if he was entitled to it. This type of asinine behavior alienates the audience. Even if the alien proved to be bad in the end, it does not justify preemptive attacks or hostility in the eyes of the audience.
Dr Helena Russell was a total waste as a medical practitioner. She didn't even bother to scan patients & merely shook her head without attempting to provide care. Nearly every episode began with a needless death. She wrote off the living & tried to pull the plug more than once with her arrogance. She incompetently killed one of Christopher Lee's sleepers insisting they were dead when it was obvious they were in sleep chambers. Or the multitude of times they failed to detect lifesigns in victims or on planets insisting they were absolutely correct. Or opening a bomb like device & blatantly freezing the occupant. She never failed to restrain & countermand the commander whenever her high horse ideals did not conform with his.
Victor was flippant in his attitude which was mirrored by the actors attitude about the show. He considered sci-fi to be juvenile. He inappropriately laughed when delivering serious lines & his character always gave bad advice, never agreed with the commander & never could provide info or advice despite being the science officer and just laughed sarcastically & declined when Koenig asked.
Kano argued about everything. Never could follow orders or requests without arguing. Always an argument & bad attitude. Even when he had no lines the actor was scowling during the scenes. Good riddance. Why did they write him this way? Paul & Allen were constantly arguing with the commands of Koenig in nearly every situation & tried to punch him out on multiple occasions. Never following orders without an argument. Good riddance to Paul as well. Allen was barely salvageable with his constant arguing & fistfights. WHY did the producers allow this type of character aggression & hostility in the episodes? This was the core problem with the show. Without emotional investment they cannot garner fan loyalty.
It is my endeavor to point out why the series failed & how they could avoid this on future shows by creating a better interaction between the characters. It was also a mistake to use older actors like Morris who are not sci-fi fans themselves who regard their roles in a flippant manner & spoil it.
However, it was not the sets or effects which caused the downfall of this series. It was the scripts & poor character interaction which was the downfall of Space 1999.
Also, consider the shallow mentality of these neophytes who Schlub in their parents basements deriving fodder for their self concentric egos by bashing every nuance of a show produced before they were born. Mostly striking back at their parents by trashing what they held dear. It is their attacks on these shows which is the reason so many good sci-fi producers have given up. We are all paying for their attacks. So consider the source when you read these commentaries from those who are not qualified or mature enough to make fair judgments based on the conditions of this timeframe.
Space 1999 could have been a great series with the sets & actors if they had replaced the writers & corrected the character roles & interactions. The question is WHY did they fail to see this problem even when they revamped the second season.
By comparison, Roddenberry recognized the key element for a successful series. It is the interrelationships between the characters on the show & good stories. Not the sets or special effects. We would have been happy with cardboard sets & fireworks for effects as long as we were emotionally invested in the ST characters. Nor should these post Xgen neophytes be judging the quality of sets & effects. Those show developers in decades past had to operate on shoestring budgets just to bring us their sci-fi series. With the intransigent networks who only cared for sitcoms & westerns & fraudulent Neilson ratings, we were lucky to see any sci-fi at all. We appreciated their efforts despite the primitive sets & effects. ST gave us quality actors, quality scripts & wonderful stories.
Sci-fi producers were forced to become beggars & produced these shows with less budget than JR was paid for a single episode. This paltry budget had to pay for everything; sets, crews, actors, effects & total production costs on less than $100K each episode. They actually had to dig into trash bins to find materials to use on sets. They used every scrap. Ice Cube trays & Christmas lights but it gave us Kirk, Spock & Bones in return. Space 1999 was missing this type of character camaraderie.
Commander Koenig was intransigent & dismissive toward his crew & toward any info they endeavored to provide. He did not develop a relationship with his officers & allowed them to argue, talk back & ignore instructions. He made bad, rash decisions. Ordered preemptive strikes & belligerent actions where no hostile actions had been made. His character behaved recklessly, dismissive, endangered others, did not engender trust or camaraderie among his crew, met other races with hostility & preemptive attacks, was willing to sacrifice the welfare of the entire community for the welfare of one person & constantly started battles & placed his people in harms way without any rhyme or reason. Shooting an alien guest without warning just to see if their stun gun worked on him. Or demanding the hyper drive of a trader as if he was entitled to it. This type of asinine behavior alienates the audience. Even if the alien proved to be bad in the end, it does not justify preemptive attacks or hostility in the eyes of the audience.
Dr Helena Russell was a total waste as a medical practitioner. She didn't even bother to scan patients & merely shook her head without attempting to provide care. Nearly every episode began with a needless death. She wrote off the living & tried to pull the plug more than once with her arrogance. She incompetently killed one of Christopher Lee's sleepers insisting they were dead when it was obvious they were in sleep chambers. Or the multitude of times they failed to detect lifesigns in victims or on planets insisting they were absolutely correct. Or opening a bomb like device & blatantly freezing the occupant. She never failed to restrain & countermand the commander whenever her high horse ideals did not conform with his.
Victor was flippant in his attitude which was mirrored by the actors attitude about the show. He considered sci-fi to be juvenile. He inappropriately laughed when delivering serious lines & his character always gave bad advice, never agreed with the commander & never could provide info or advice despite being the science officer and just laughed sarcastically & declined when Koenig asked.
Kano argued about everything. Never could follow orders or requests without arguing. Always an argument & bad attitude. Even when he had no lines the actor was scowling during the scenes. Good riddance. Why did they write him this way? Paul & Allen were constantly arguing with the commands of Koenig in nearly every situation & tried to punch him out on multiple occasions. Never following orders without an argument. Good riddance to Paul as well. Allen was barely salvageable with his constant arguing & fistfights. WHY did the producers allow this type of character aggression & hostility in the episodes? This was the core problem with the show. Without emotional investment they cannot garner fan loyalty.
It is my endeavor to point out why the series failed & how they could avoid this on future shows by creating a better interaction between the characters. It was also a mistake to use older actors like Morris who are not sci-fi fans themselves who regard their roles in a flippant manner & spoil it.
However, it was not the sets or effects which caused the downfall of this series. It was the scripts & poor character interaction which was the downfall of Space 1999.
Also, consider the shallow mentality of these neophytes who Schlub in their parents basements deriving fodder for their self concentric egos by bashing every nuance of a show produced before they were born. Mostly striking back at their parents by trashing what they held dear. It is their attacks on these shows which is the reason so many good sci-fi producers have given up. We are all paying for their attacks. So consider the source when you read these commentaries from those who are not qualified or mature enough to make fair judgments based on the conditions of this timeframe.
Space 1999 could have been a great series with the sets & actors if they had replaced the writers & corrected the character roles & interactions. The question is WHY did they fail to see this problem even when they revamped the second season.