Alien Attack

... but it wasn't really necessary. Or that good. ITC seems to have taken two Space: 1999 episodes and linked them to make a 'movie'. Problem is, we get choppy edits and re-used scenes! (I counted two shots which were recycled.) The stiffly-acted, hastily-contrived backstory (which vanishes after the first hour) feels so tacked-on that you wonder what the motive was for this project. A quick buck? The opening and closing music sounds like something from The Benny Hill Show--one of the discotheque skits! The version I saw even eschews the 1999 setting. Here, we're boosted forward to the year "two thousand, one hundred." Hmmm. Shoulda left well enough alone.

In 1978 it was decided that Space 1999 could be made as a movie by editing together old episodes. This film was produced in 1979 by the ITC London Offices who had previously produced Space: 1999: Destination Moonbase Alpha in 1978. Because they were produced in London they are must more faithful to the original material, unlike the ITC New York productions which are at times terrible. The movie is also better quality than the American productions as they were edited on film. This movie is a compilation of two episodes. The first episode 'Breakaway' is used and then 'The War Games' another episode from the shows first season. There is only minor editing which was necessary to make it into a movie, and has new opening and closing music, which was selected from stock, which is excellent. Added scenes featuring experienced actor Patrick Allen are added which were filmed at Pinewood Studios, where the series was filmed. This provides scope and an opportunity to see what was happening at Earth when the Moon was pulled out of the Earth's orbit. This was never seen in the episodes and is an excellent edition to the movie. This should be suitable to all fans of the series because it is faithful to it. If you like this movie, I would recommend Destination Moonbase Alpha because it is also excellent.

Fairly competent cobbling together of two of the better episodes of the Gerry Anderson space opera, though the joining scenes are pretty basic looking. The effects are generally better than than the story lines or the acting. If you enjoyed the series you should enjoy this.