Space:1999/50 ― Space:1999 RCA LP Record

In my continuing look back at the 1975-77 television series Space:1999, it's time I spill some ink on a certain vinyl disc.

Like many young men at the time, I liked the show and bought as much tie-in material as I could find: The Charlton "Space:1999 magazine" was one (I bought a few issues, including the first), but no model kits at all. The Airfix "Eagle Transporter", for instance, never made it to my town.

One element of Space:1999 that I like, although more then than now, are the Barry Gray music scores. When RCA records released an "original television soundtrack recording" vinyl record LP of the Gray music I snapped it up... well, when I discovered it in the bin at Sam the Record Man, that is. This would have been late 1976. I remember playing it for the first time at home and being a little disappointed in the music selections. After I had grabbed the record in the store and flipped it over to the back side I scanned the track titles. These were all named after episode titles (no track called "Koenig Pops His Top, Again!" or "And Yet Another Explosion"), but after spinning the vinyl, I realized that the titles were arbitrary; there was no music from "Breakaway" on the cut called "Breakaway". And the cool 'travelling' music from "Dragon's Domain" was not on there ― I had not known that the piece was called "Adagio in G-minor" and that it had been written by a composer named Tomaso Albinoni; although that attribution is debated today. Also, I had seen the Norman Jewison picture Rollerball (1975) and remembered the tune being used there, too. To top off the Confusion in F major, there were two obvious "that's not from the show" moments.

Once I got past the little surprises including the rather brief track lengths ― there was a lot of looped "bing bong boong baa, bing bong boong baa" gobbling up valuable time between each cut ― the album was a fan's fix.

I still have the LP; it's packed away in a box somewhere (I know where). One of the very few times I have put it on the platter in the last forty years was in the summer of 1994 when friends were visiting. Somehow the subject came up: Perhaps it was my British friend Paul who mentioned "nineteen ninety-nine". Onto the Akai direct-drive turntable went the vinyl. Considering we were no longer fans of the program, some of us would have been mild ones at best when Space:1999 originally ran, we enjoyed a warm and fuzzy nostalgic time that evening.

"SPACE:1999"

- An Original Television Soundtrack Recording -

Music Composed

by

Barry Gray

RCA

1976

Space:1999/50 ― Destination: Moonbase Alpha (Book)

This 418-page book on the television series Space:1999 (1975 - 1977) is a mixed bag. The first thing that struck me while reading Destination: Moonbase Alpha - The Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to Space: 1999 — and I can say this due to research I've done on old television programs — was the apparent lack of original research. I got the impression that writer Robert E. Wood didn't interview enough of those all-important behind-the-scenes people, folk important to production of a science fiction television series, with all its parts and pieces. There are no numbers, numbers drawn when one gets access to production paperwork. These deficits make for far too much conjecture on the writer's part. While I may like reading text containing scholarly in-depth detail in any such exploration, there are readers who do not. This treatment just might be the right stuff.

The plus: Robert E. Wood is fair and balanced in his episode reviews ― he's Canadian, eh?

Yes, "Journey to Where" is an outstanding episode ― for Space:1999, at least.

I was surprised he didn't rate "Dragon's Domain" higher given that fans tend to hold this episode in high regard. I would agree that it's up there.

"The Rules of Luton", just 4.5 (out of 10)?! Rubbish!

Destination: Moonbase Alpha is highly recommended to fans of the series. Part of the appeal of the book is Mr Wood's obvious love for Space:1999.

Destination: Moonbase Alpha

- The Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to Space: 1999 -

by

Robert E. Wood

Telos Publishing Limited

2009

Space:1999/50 ― The Making of Space:1999 (Book)

The time and space: late 1976: not long after the premiere of Space:1999's second season.

Even as a young teen, when I wandered through a department store I automatically gravitated to the book section; in this case, Woolworths. On a steel-frame island bookrack sat a freshly published paperback with the somewhat intoxicating title of "The Making of Space: 1999", awaiting rescue by a geek in shining polyester. And quickly I read it once I got it home.

It's interesting how one's interests change with age. At the time of my first read, the most interesting chapters for me were "Special Effects", "Art Direction", "Camera and Crew", and "Music" ― essentially the "tech credits". When I reread it a few years ago I found "Scripts" the most interesting essay... probably because this making-of was researched and written during production of the show's second year, when incoming producer Fred Freiberger was on a mission to improve Space's scripts and characterizations ― he succeeded, for the most part. Also, as a teacher would hammer into my classmates and I in film school, the script is the most important element in a film or television series. With a Czech accent: "No script, no movie!" (Luddy was great; tough, but great.) "The Making of Space: 1999" is well worth reading if one is a fan of the show and "production".

Editorial: Century 21, a company set up in the early 1960s to handle merchandising for Gerry & Sylvia Anderson television productions, was headed by Keith Shackleton. He came up with the idea of publishing a book about the making of Space:1999 after hearing that The Making of Star Trek by that point in time had sold four million copies. Journalist Tim Heald was hired in late 1975, while the first year of Space was still in its broadcast run. In search of a good and proper story, he visited the show's production offices and stages, interviewing actors and the people who put a television series together, with all its bit and pieces, and observed the production process and subsequent marketing and sales. As Mr Shackleton stated in an interview, the book sold not four million copies, but forty thousand. He attributed the low sales to a poor cover design — it is bad and not exactly inviting — and the fact that Space:1999 never really took off, especially in the U.S., a vital market for a series which had essentially been produced for that country. Another problem: the first season of Space had been produced in a virtual vacuum, in its own little world, without feedback, and it was this initial batch of 24 episodes that was "Space:1999" to most folk when "The Making of Space:1999" hit the bookstores in late 1976. ("Hey, the Making of Star Trek!")

The Making of Space: 1999

- A Gerry Anderson Production -

by

Tim Heald

Ballantine Books 

1976

Space:1999/50 ― Breakaway (Book)

Though not the first Space:1999 tie-in book, here in Canada that would have been "Breakaway" from Orbit Books, which I saw sitting on a bookstore shelf in the summer of 1975, a discovery of which I described previously here, this was the first one I bought. That September, shortly after the television series began its two-year run, I grabbed Pocket Books' premiere release in their "Space:1999" line. The cover is emblazoned with the bold title of "Breakaway", which is also the name of the show's premiere episode, but there are three other episode adaptations in this volume: "Matter of Life and Death", "Ring Around the Moon", and "Black Sun".

I don't know how well these books sold. Having watched the video side of Space:1999, I can't imagine that many people ran out to collect them ― perhaps they were purchased in good faith, with some hope of discovering profound adventures and engaging characters in the more expansive literary form. Perhaps it's time I dip back into these pages: newfound curiosity might get me to break away from reading On the Road, stories about another space traveller.)

"Breakaway", the adaptations, I read with a charged blast of enthusiasm, and no little reverence, in September of 1975. We young ones welcomed a new space series, and its printed offspring.

SPACE: 1999

"Breakaway"

- first novel in the spectacular new epic -

by

E.C. Tubb

Pocket Books

September 1975

Space:1999/50 ― Opening Titles: Year Two

While the first season of Space:1999 was generally disappointing to this then young teen, I harboured some anticipation for its second: "Year Two", as many fans call it.

During the summer of 1976, the CBC ran, in high rotation, an ad campaign for their upcoming 1976-1977 television season. "See the brightest stars on C B C!" sang the enthusiastic women's chorus over cartoony animated stars, then a voiceover promoted alongside a quick succession of clips from upcoming shows. Space:1999 was looking a little different; still recognizable, but somehow looking enhanced. The imagery was all of a few seconds, but suddenly I couldn't wait.

Saturday, September the 4th, at 5pm... "Breakaway"? Oh, no. I'd seen the series opener a few times. No need to see it again. However, being a full-network presentation, the print was total high-quality 35mm (with the broadcast itself originating from a 2-inch "Quad" video playback).

Okay then. A geek had a hard time waiting, but I understood. The CBC wanted to show the episode that had kicked off the series, and the moon out of Earth's orbit. I'd have to swim through another week of high school. It was going to be a long week.

Saturday, September the 11th, and hello! I really dug that new opening. The most striking change was the theme music. Immediately I loved it. One listen and the tune was embedded. Very catchy space stuff. The beat was wow and now. The images were energetic. Both elements had been recharged and rebooted; dedicated to the concept of a new introductory sequence; a lead-in to a series of necessary alterations.

(As this episode, "The Metamorph", rolled out, I became convinced there was an effort in the production's front office to improve the series.)

As I learned upon watching the end credits, Derek Wadsworth was the composer of Space:1999's new signature tune, and his work had continued into the episode's next hour.

The episode's underscore supported and enhanced the action onscreen, and, at times, it was pretty and inviting. The storyline carried dark moments, including its hinting at an impending exploding home world, but when called for, composer Wadsworth grooved with the gardens of playful levity in the Grove of Psyche ― before the big bang. (The background music wasn't alienating like it had been in much of Year One. That season's repetitive re-tracking of certain cues made for a viewing experience that could be both dreary and depressing.)

Year Two's opening was a much-needed fresh kickoff to a series-premise that was preposterous, but one that did hold some promise. Mr Wadsworth's amazing Space theme was proof that the right opening title music can set one off in a new and improved direction.

Bravo.

Editorial note: The picture cutter must have enjoyed assembling this title sequence. What exactly is John Koenig firing at? The previous season? (Symbolism that I never noticed until I began to key this in. Credit to my space brain.)

Space:1999/50 ― Opening Titles: Year One

My introduction to Space:1999 happened in the early evening of Monday, September 1st, 1975, when CBLFT (the CBC's French-language flagship station) premiered it here in the Toronto-area market. I did not see the colourful new SF series in colour that day, as I had watched it on the 10-inch black-and-white Sony portable in my bedroom. (The chromatic, and English-language, version of Space awaited me the following Saturday morning. This then space cadet was there with bells on to greet "Breakaway", the series opener.) The dynamic visuals alone, even in a monochromatic state, were worth the price of admission. My initial reaction to this television series theme music? Good! Till the 22-second mark: that's when the twangy electric guitar took over. I remember wincing. "That's corny."

The theme was composed by Barry Gray, the talented music man of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson film and television productions. His stellar contributions were an important part of the Anderson's successes. In the case of Space:1999, maestro Gray made the series seem more important, and better, than it actually was. One could argue that the best parts of Space, its first season, that is, were the opening and closing title sections. ("Sections"? Sorry, that's a carryover from when I worked in "titles and opticals".)

Most memorable were the opening title "This Episode" segments. A friend of mine in Grade 9 said one day: "You can tell how good the episode will be." We were young. Quite the reverse was true in a lot of cases. (Utilizing the same device on the earlier Anderson puppet series, Thunderbirds, proved the theory of "how good" to be true, more often than not, certainly for us kiddies.)

Before I go, in the name of controversy the best Space:1999 theme tune is from Year Two....

Space:1999/50 — Ring Around the Bathtub (Review)

I copped "Ring Around the Bathtub" from a friend of mine. That mocking title about sums up Space:1999's most rotten Year One episode: "Ring Around the Moon"

For as much as I like to point out its badness, I find myself being strangely drawn toward this "Ring". There is something I cannot explain about its appeal. Perhaps it's lines like "This is Triton's universe" that keep drawing me back, time and again, with "Plan 9" pleasures. By the way, outside of noting "Triton's sun", "This is Triton's galaxy" is all we need to know. Specifying a universe is completely unnecessary. Unless we're talking of alternate or multi-universes, stating that Triton is of a particular universe is wholly redundant in a uni-universe paradigm.

(This kind of ineptness, unfortunately, happened far too often on Space:1999 ― science fiction produced by people who didn't understand science fiction, which might explain why the show's first season worked best as "horror". The second, and final, season was less horrific.)

The film editing in "Ring Around the Moon" is rough, giving the viewer the impression that there were problems in editorial. The inter-cutting between scenes is often awkward and disjointed; as though a scene or two is missing here and there. Perhaps the script was missing a scene or two, here and there. Without having access to the original script, it's hard to know what happened.

The episode's narrative-logic is also "off". Its opening scene contains one of those crewmembers-going-berserk moments. Fine. But this serious matter goes on for two minutes before Dr. Helena Russell yells to Sandra Benes, "Sandra, get security!" No! What took you so long? Anyone?

Perhaps the biggest problem with the episode is the awful acting, especially by Martin Landau; even the usually above-the-fray Barry Morse suffers from unconvincing deliveries. (In all fairness, Morse thought he was working in a nuthouse with this program. Morse left Space at the end of the first season, telling the producers something like "I'm going off to play with the grownups now".) The one person who shines here is Barbara Bain as Dr. Russell. Her performance is restrained, and applicably subtle. The good news is that Bain had a chance to show her thespian stuff in Space:1999's slightly improved second season.

One element in "Ring Around the Moon" is outstanding: The music; not composed by Barry Gray in this case, but by Vic Elms and Alan Willis. Its sparseness and rawness adds to the out-of-whack nature of the episode's storyline. As a matter of fact, the score's "beat" would foreshadow Derek Wadsworth's vibrant and fitting Year Two music.

(For me, Barry Gray, as much as I love his work on previous Gerry & Sylvia Anderson programmes, was clearly not into this series ― one indicator of this was the composer's reuse of themes he had originally written for the 1969 Anderson feature film Doppelganger [Journey to the Far Side of the Sun]. One can also hear a major smack of his opening theme tune for the 1968 film Thunderbird 6 in the Space title music. Composer Gray produced some fine cues for Space:1999's first season, but most were seemingly telexed in.)

Like a few episodes of this series, "Ring Around the Moon" is best viewed at 2 o'clock in the morning, I think. Which will be the time of the day when I'll watch this one again....

Postscript: Along with "Earthbound", "Mission of the Darians", "Journey to Where", and "One Moment of Humanity", "Ring Around the Moon" is the Space episode I've watched most often. Yes, I did admittedly open this piece with "Space:1999's most rotten Year One episode", but I also said that I find myself being strangely drawn toward "Ring Around the Moon". Not a lot makes sense.

Space:1999/50 — Earthbound (Review)

"Earthbound" is one of Space:1999's finest hours.

When the promising Space premiered in September of 1975, I was there in front of the colour tube to welcome another starfield patch... even if stars were a bit on the scarce side in this colourful import from the UK. Since I know the old SF television series very well, due to my then space cadet rating, I can pick and choose what I want to watch. And I choose this episode.

Despite the chintzy-looking alien 'sleeper ship' set and its even chintzier inhabitants, the Kaldorians, the episode works because of an engaging story and a great character: Commissioner Simmonds, played to perfection by Roy Dotrice, was sorely needed as a continuing foil for the bland Moonbase Alpha regulars ― not in an annoying Doctor Zachary Smith (of Lost in Space) way, but as Simmonds the full-blooded reactive and contrarian human being. It was not to be, however.

Simmonds is the floating variable in "Earthbound". Visiting alien leader Zantor, portrayed most effectively by some dude named Christopher Lee, is an unknown quantity in a friend-or-foe sense; but having the boisterous bureaucrat producing his own sneaky threat made for interpersonal drama that was all too rare on Space:1999. (Year One, that is; Year Two was a huge improvement in that regard.) This dynamic sets up and plays out the themes of "nobility" and "trust".

The episode's middle section, involving a threatened Helena Russell, suffers a little from a false false alarm ― obviously the sequence was inserted to fill out the script's page count ― but the more driven element of the narrative picks up when the good Commissioner does what he feels is right: for him. The ending is potent, and one for the memories bank ― and worthy of EC Comics. Space:1999, Year One, is considered by many of its fans to be more horror than science fiction.

Postscript: Along with "Mission of the Darians", "Ring Around the Moon", "Journey to Where", and "One Moment of Humanity", "Earthbound" is the Space episode I've watched most often.

Space:1999/50 ― Breakaway from Earth

Summer, 1975. As per my usual habit after arriving at my local shopping mall, I immediately made my way to W.H. Smith, the bookstore. After perusing the shelves for a few minutes my eyes made contact with two particular pocket books sharing the same main title: "SPACE: 1999"

One book was black and one pink. On the covers were some eye-catching photos. What was this? Well, according to the books' back cover text, Space:1999 was a new and exciting science fiction television programme from ATV.

I'd have to wait a couple of months for this new and exciting show to premiere.

French CBC premiered Space:1999 here in Canada on Monday, September the 1st ― Labour Day. For the English-language premiere of "Breakaway", the show's opening episode, I'd have to wait till 10:30am on the following Saturday. That's right, CBC affiliate CKVR programmed Space for Saturday mornings ― they were not alone in this regard. (Due to the majority of television networks taking a pass on the series, it had to be sold on a station-by-station basis.) Hamilton, Ontario, independent station CHCH gave a little more respect: Sundays at 5.30pm.

UFO, a previous Gerry and Sylvia Anderson SF series, had been given a full-network run by CTV (Canadian Television) beginning in 1970. No doubt CTV was pitched on buying the producing team's latest show, but they passed. French CBC ("Radio Canada") bought in, but the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's English-language side waited until the second, and as it turned out, final, year of Space before committing to a coast-to-coast transmission. In the Toronto television broadcast market, that meant "Saturdays at 5pm".

Before I go I have to say something controversial. After all, my piece thus far has been pretty "vanilla": While it had problems of its own, the second year of Space:1999 was an overall improvement on Year One.

"SPACE: 1999" (Orbit Books)

AD 1999. On the moon's near side a colony of scientists

and astronauts prepares for man's first venture into

deep space . . . On the far side of the moon catastrophe

threatens as the nuclear waste dumped there edges towards critical mass . . .

Space:1999/50 — Fifty Years Ago?

I can't believe I started high school fifty years ago. I also can't believe that the television series Space:1999 premiered fifty years ago. For me, both were somewhat disappointing, with the scholastic side lasting a few more years, too many years, but with better characters aboard... although the second season was a definite improvement.

What?

Let me explain.

Over the next few days I'll run a series of my own: a 13-part look-back in nostalgia at Space:1999.

Picturing: Friday the 13th TV Series VFX Crew

In October of 1988 I worked on a few episodes of the television series titled, simply enough, and not with any nod to accuracy, Friday the 13th: The Series.

Two episodes I remember working on:

"13 O'Clock"  —

A stopwatch can stop time, allowing its owner to move about in an otherwise frozen-still world. I was one of a few artists who painted mattes. To start the whole process, a rotoscope artist took a roll of film that had been shot of a actor that needed to be popped in over a specific scene. With an image projected onto a sheet of animation paper, he carefully drew a black outline of the actor, making sure to follow the contours very closely. This painstaking procedure was done frame by frame. It was then a matter of taking the animation papers — there could be many hundreds of them — and, with brush in hand, filling inside the outlined area with black paint. A silhouette of a travelling lady. A holdout matte! One sheet of hole-punched paper for each frame of film. This sequence of artwork would be photographed on 35mm motion picture film to produce a 'travelling matte', which would then be transferred to (analogue) video — these shows were shot on 35mm film but post-produced electronically (in order to save money). The matte would then be run in over the background scene with the positive image, that of the person, fitting inside and filling the matte.

"The Sweetest Sting"  —

Bees. Lots and lots of bees. An animator plotted out movements of bees, black blobs on white animation paper. With black paint we filled in the outlined bee shapes. Hour after hour. It was laborious work, but it was the only way to do it back then.

The show's visual effects supervisor was John Gajdecki, one of the more talented film-artist/technicians to have worked in this town (Toronto), and also one of the most congenial. He went on to set up his own company, GVFX (Gajdecki Visual Effects).

When I worked at Film Effects - Toronto in the early to mid 1990s, I again met up with John when my employer and GVFX got the 'opticals' contract for the television series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. John, and his team, produced original FX elements on a Quantel "Harry" system at his facility; elements which he then outputted to 35mm film, which were then turned over to Film Effects. I took these film rolls and composited them with the appropriate live-action photography on the optical printer/camera. (We'd get a new episode to 'process' every week and a half or so.)

Back to the photo.

Friends of mine would spot me in a second. I've already gotten: "You look the same!" Think: a tall British-looking guy standing at the back in a brown jacket. My boss is sitting at the front of the youthful multi-talented gang.

Seeing my overall look now, I don't think I fit the image of an "inker" as much as I do a director from LWT or Thames Television. That or a used-car salesman from Sheffield.

Postscript: I remember most of the people in that photo. Gudrun Heinze is at the very left; to my left, Claude Theriault; and Dan Turner is to my right. A few months after this photo session, Dan flew off to Ireland to work for Don Bluth's outfit. Gudrun and Claude were still with John during my Film Effects years. Fun times, even with the hard work and sometimes long hours.

3,000,000 Hits on this Blog/Website — Appreciation!

Most mornings I will check my website data to see what kind of traffic I'm getting, and what countries it's coming from. This morning I got a bit of a surprise. While I knew that the counter was approaching 3,000,000 hits, I was not expecting such a 'final' push overnight. The bulk of that rush was from the USA and Brazil.

Yes, it's very rewarding to know my ramblings are being read. By the way, a few years ago I did research and read a recommendation to keep the writing at a fairly basic level... not to get too flowery with one's language, and to limit any verbosity, as tempting as it may be at times to go full-verbose. That I do, as my regular readers no doubt have noted. Readership is international.

Thanks to all my regular readers and those who pop in for one or two pieces.

As I've said here before, I must keep feeding the beast....

Star Trek Animation Premiered 52 Years Ago Today

On this day in 1973, another Star Trek series premiered: a Saturday morning Star Trek, commonly referred to as "The Animated Series".

On the morning of September 8, 1973, I sat in front of the colour Zenith television to watch a series that I had only learned about the evening before when NBC aired an hour-long 'sneak preview' for their Saturday morning kids' shows. The premiere episode, "Beyond the Farthest Star", was exciting stuff to a preteen fan of the live-action Trek.

I don't have any physical-media copies of this program, although it is available on Paramount Plus. Tonight might see me chilling with a glass of wine in front of the flatscreen, watching a certain series premiere. (Wine is not something I would have enjoyed on a Saturday morning in 1973. Although, my bowl of Shreddies did taste kinda funny, now that I think about. I remember the strange imagery taking hold, becoming more and more strange and far out with each spoonful of cereal.)

What separated animated Star Trek from its competing kid-fare, was the scripting. Writers of note include: DC Fontana, Larry Niven, David Gerrold, (original-series director) Marc Daniels, and Samuel A. Peeples, who wrote "Beyond the Farthest Star".

Postscript: And that concludes my celebratory look-back at Star Trek for this year. September of next year marks that brilliant show's 60th anniversary. That gives me a year to write and stock....

Star Trek Premiered on NBC 59 Years Ago Today

September the 8th, 1966, is a date known to many Trekkers.

I'm just old enough to have remembered Star Trek first airing but I must have missed it. Maybe my parents saw the trailer on CTV for the opening episode, "The Man Trap", and its great and scary monster, and made the decision to make sure I missed it. (It was Canada's CTV network that actually opened the series — on Tuesday, September 6th, 1966.)

The charade had to last but a few weeks: In October we left for West Germany, and I did not see the series on ZDF, ARD, or the two French channels. (However, I did watch the telefantasy series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Invaders, and The Prisoner on French and/or German television.) ZDF began running Trek in 1972, which I found out about three years ago.

I first saw Star Trek in June of 1970. My British cousins were watching it on BBC2 ― in colour ― and I joined them in silence while visiting.

Back here in Canada, CTV's flagship station, CFTO, began its long run of "stripping" Trek. In September of 1970 a regular Monday to Friday at 5 p.m. screening schedule started the magic for many of us. "What is this exciting, striking, beautiful, and colourful show?", I must have pondered at the beginning as I got lost in its vortex. This was a communal experience for many viewers, for in the syndication market it was a true "water cooler" (and "water fountain"!) television series.

My own private joke regarding my own fandom: It was eight years ago that I bought the complete series on Blu-ray. Before that I had just odds and ends on VHS and DVD. As for the Blu-ray format, I've watched just one episode.

But I am a fan.

How many dramatic television programs are, or will be, remembered fifty-nine years after they hit the video airwaves?

Next Saturday: a Look Back at Space:1999

"Journey to Where" is one of the very few good episodes of Space: 1999, a short-lived science fiction television series that didn't know where it wanted to go, outside of gravitating towards some annoying metaphysical nonsense, but one that continues to spark fond memories for those of us who were there watching from 1975 to 1977.

Space:1999 premiered fifty years ago this month. For us older folk who care, we find it hard to believe. This coming Saturday, I will run a thirteen-part series taking a critical but fun rescan of "Nineteen Ninety-Nine".

Visual FX keys Nick Allder and Brian Johnson

with the Eagle transporter — a fan favourite.

Star Trek Premiered on CTV 59 Years Ago Today

Star Trek had its world premiere, not on September 8, 1966, on its home network of NBC, but two days earlier on Canada's CTV network. Canadians, and Americans living in 'border States', would witness the first steps of, what would prove to be, a television legend — one of the greatest of all hour-long dramatic series, and one not needing the umbrella of "greatest science fiction television programs" to promote its ultimate historical ranking.

"The Man Trap" was the first episode aired in the show's original run (1966 - 1969), though not the first one produced. It was a fine introduction.

Tune to this channel on Monday the 8th.

Tuesday, September 6, 1966: What civilians first saw of STAR TREK....

Business Card: Film Opticals of Canada Ltd.

Film Opticals of Canada Ltd. closed its doors in 2005, but it lives on for me in business card form. During my years there we produced titles and optical effects for films such as The Sweet Hereafter (1997), American Psycho (2000), and Ararat (2002).

I was one of two optical printer/camera operators. Those days! And late nights.

Of course, what "Film Ops" did then we can now do on a computer in our basement. Faster, cheaper (a lot cheaper), and with a heck of a lot less (potential) stress.

Side note: my name is emblazoned via my least favourite font. My own ego would have demanded nothing less than "Arial".

Some film and television people of note who popped by the Film Opticals facility during my days there: Kiefer Sutherland; Saul Rubinek; Jason Priestley; and Atom Egoyan. Messrs Sutherland and Priestley were super-nice guys, apparently: polite and courteous. I say "apparently" since, in both instances, I missed them by minutes. (Pardon the apparent name-dropping, but I had no other association with those gents.)

I worked on a full-time freelance basis at my favourite Toronto-based optical house from 1994 to 2000, returning a few times after that term to do some relief shooting . The company was on Fraser Avenue when I started there, but moved to Carlaw Avenue in late 1999. In my opinion the move was not a good one for the company ― this change of location was beyond their control.

Mike Smith, the main guy at Film Opticals of Canada, was full of wisdom and knowledge regarding the film business. I learned so much from him.

Postscript: After I first posted the above piece in June of 2019, I received a lovely comment from Mike's daughter, Suzanne:

"What a nice surprise to see the Film Opticals logo come up in a Google Search, Simon. Thanks for sharing this bit of nostalgia. Ironically, you posted this just before Dad (Mike Smith) passed. He loved his work at Film Opticals and all the people he worked with. Thanks again for sharing."

Space:1999 Premiered 50 Years Ago Last Monday?

On September 1st, 1975, which happened to be Labour Day, just like September 1st of this year, I was introduced to a dramatic one-hour SF television series that would... not live on; except, perhaps, through a few fond memories.

Space: 1999 ended up disappointing a lot of us; including those of us who had just hit our teens — one tends to turn into a little television critic at that age. As a matter of fact, of the television stations that acquired the show, many programmed it for Saturday mornings. In my immediate television broadcast area, and in keeping with this kiddie-fare theme, Barrie (Ontario, Canada) station CKVR ran it Saturdays at 10:30am. Those program buyers must have known something.

It was the "French CBC" (Radio Canada) network that premiered the British-produced series in this country: Labour Day at 6pm, and I was there with bells on to watch it through the monochromatic 10-inch Sony television set tuned to CBLFT in my bedroom. (The colour/English version would happen for me on September 6th — the following Saturday.)

Don't be fooled by "St. Laurent". My less-than-basic understanding of the French language allowed me to watch and enjoy "Breakaway", Space: 1999's semi-spectacular opening episode, in relative silence. But I was able to follow the onscreen proceedings, somehow. ("It blowed up real good!")

On September 13th, 2025, I will run a thirteen-part look-back at a series that ran for just two seasons (1975 - 1977), but one that still occupies a tiny bit of the memory bank. Why "September 13th" and not today? That's when the moon blew out of Earth's orbit.... (Don't ask.)

THE DARK SIDE OF THE STARS, too, it would seem.

Athot for the Day: We Care When Convenient

Our society knows how to cultivate poverty, but knows not how to care for the poor.

Back to School Special: Welcome to High School!

Chatter on the Internet this morning reminded me that it's Back to School Day. "Please, no."

This reminded me of my first day of high school: Tuesday, September 2, 1975.

As I moved somewhat self-consciously down an end hallway a well-dressed young man in flared jeans and matching jacket, and sporting long hair with matching facial hair, approached me with a signature drooping walk. He had what I assumed to be some kind of survey question, the kind dispensed to "minor niners" like me:

"Hey, man. Wanna buy some grass?"

At first I remembered what my parents said to me before I boarded the school bus earlier that morning: "If someone asks you if you want to buy some pot, say 'yes'." Or was it?....was it "no"? Darn. Nobody told me that high school was this hard! I then remembered that my mother gave me twenty dollars, but my memory told me that the money was not for "grass". Wait a minute... no, it was for "pot", not grass.

I told the gentleman: "I want to thank you for your concern and consideration, not to mention your warm welcome, kind sir, but my answer is 'no'."