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I always thought Mr. Anderson was an under-appreciated talent. Despite the fact that his early TV jobs were about as humbling as you can get, he tried to make the best of them.
Then came UFO, followed by Space: 1999. By a weird coincidence, I used a Christmas gift card I received to order a DVD set of Space: 1999 before I even knew of Mr. Anderson's demise.
Watching the show again -- and not unaware of the series' faults -- I'm enjoying just how good it could be at times. While the premise may be scientifically absurd, watching the show has confirmed for me that it has aged a whole lot better than the original Star Trek.
Don't get me wrong, I like Kirk & Spock. But the original Enterprise looks downright cheesy compared to the "2001"-inspired design of Moonbase Alpha. And I recall that when 1999 came out, the acting was almost universally panned as "wooden". However, since the 1990s, that understated type of acting has been very much in style.
I liked the fact, too, that on 1999 and UFO, not everything came out well in the end. I remember one episode of UFO where Cmdr. Straker had to divert a flight which could have saved his son's life, in order to foil an attack which would've cost the life of hundreds. Torn as he was, he did what he was militarily obligated to do -- and when his kid ended up dying, his wife walked out of his life forever.
Very real-life, and not at all what we were used to seeing on TV in the 1970s. I think that had something to do with why the shows only lasted a season or two. Anderson often didn't wrap up the story happily in 50 minutes plus commercials.
Anyway, thank you, Gerry, for all the hours of mind-bending entertainment.
I always thought Mr. Anderson was an under-appreciated talent. Despite the fact that his early TV jobs were about as humbling as you can get, he tried to make the best of them.
Then came UFO, followed by Space: 1999. By a weird coincidence, I used a Christmas gift card I received to order a DVD set of Space: 1999 before I even knew of Mr. Anderson's demise.
Watching the show again -- and not unaware of the series' faults -- I'm enjoying just how good it could be at times. While the premise may be scientifically absurd, watching the show has confirmed for me that it has aged a whole lot better than the original Star Trek.
Don't get me wrong, I like Kirk & Spock. But the original Enterprise looks downright cheesy compared to the "2001"-inspired design of Moonbase Alpha. And I recall that when 1999 came out, the acting was almost universally panned as "wooden". However, since the 1990s, that understated type of acting has been very much in style.
I liked the fact, too, that on 1999 and UFO, not everything came out well in the end. I remember one episode of UFO where Cmdr. Straker had to divert a flight which could have saved his son's life, in order to foil an attack which would've cost the life of hundreds. Torn as he was, he did what he was militarily obligated to do -- and when his kid ended up dying, his wife walked out of his life forever.
Very real-life, and not at all what we were used to seeing on TV in the 1970s. I think that had something to do with why the shows only lasted a season or two. Anderson often didn't wrap up the story happily in 50 minutes plus commercials.
Anyway, thank you, Gerry, for all the hours of mind-bending entertainment.
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