Star Trek and Space: 1999
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When Space: 1999 aired, there were tensions, especially between fans this show and Star Trek: TOS.
The Space: 1999 fandom enticed some fans away from the Star Trek fandom, something that often created bad feelings between the two.
This caused Trek fans to find many faults with Space: 1999, including its poor special effects, poor science and acting, as well as the character of Maya (who many felt to be a Spock-knockoff).
Fans also had poor opinions about Fred Freiberger from the third season of Star Trek: TOS, and his involvement in Space:1999.
Space: 1999 fans, and some Trek fans, asked for tolerance and acceptance, citing the hassles Trek fans got from traditional science fiction fans.
Similar Relationships and Divides
- Science Fiction Fandom vs. Media Fandom
- Sherlock Holmes and Star Trek
- Blake's 7 and Star Trek
- Star Trek and Starsky & Hutch
- Star Trek and Space: 1999
- Star Trek and Star Wars
Some Context
Science fiction on television was a bit rare, and many fans felt that having two shows split the available interest and support.
When the show first aired, there was a dearth of science fiction on television, and fans had high hopes that this show would be another Star Trek, something that its advertising supported. From a fan in December 1976:
Why does Space: 1999 seem to be always stuck with stupid inaccuracies in its super sets, super character ideas, and super universe?... Okay, Space: 1999 -- you're fantasy, but since Star Trek, you're the only science fiction show worth watching! [1]
Many fans desperately wanted to be able to support an SF show; they'd had a template of Star Trek fandom to follow and tried to emulate its zines, conventions, and letter campaigns in order to create a fandom from the ground up. TPTB was not much of a help; fans complained of letters and comments they'd sent being ignored. In 1976, a fan said:
Space: 1999 fandom has not matured to Star Trek levels. Main reason is almost total lack of info about the show: episode titles, episode synopses, cast characters and actors, and order of show/episode release (to name a few subjects). [2]
Fans felt they did not have the support that Gene Roddenberry had provided for Star Trek. Actor Nick Tate's appearance at August Party was a highlight that created some fannish interest, but it wasn't enough.
The tensions between Star Trek: TOS fans and "Space: 1999" fans were not helped by open hostilities and comments by prominent Trek actors. A fan reported on two of the actor's opinions in a question and answer session at Star TreKon in 1976:
From Nichelle Nichols:
- Do you watch Space: 1999?
- "HELL NO!!! I would rather watch cartoons. And that is all I am going to say about that."
[...]
From Deforest Kelley:
- What do you think of the series, Space: 1999?
- "I have watched only 15 minutes of one episode and I turned it off. I went to the bathroom and threw up. There has never been, in my opinion, any science fiction TV show or for that matter, any movie that will ever measure up to Star Trek." [3]
Fan Comments
O yes, about Space 1999. I have been accused of being gung-ho about Star Trek to the point of being blind to the possibilities of Space. Untrue. I do not use Star Trek as a criteria to measure television Science Fiction. Star Trek is Star Trek, imperfect but unique. Space 1999, like all other programs, must be analysed as an individual. Space's advertising campaign motivated the comparisons, not me. Star Lost, UFO and the Invisible Man were Science Fiction programs and they were not compared to Star Trek (at least, not by me). Space has potential, but special effects are not Science Fiction. No program can survive without acting, scripts and plots. I'd love to see Space survive, but if rumors hold true, and Fienberger [sic] (you remember him) is hired as producer or whatever, it's sewer-city. And you thought this season of Space" was bad. [4]
... people couldn't relate to the characters on Alpha, or they didn't care enough about them. This was usually because people might watch one episode of 1999 comparing it to Star Trek every minute and then reject the whole thing outright. It's sad because there? were really so many good episodes that do hold up scientifically, or presented fascinating conjecture into phenomena not yet fully understood in physics (e.g. black holes, etc), or developed the characters a lot. People were not analyzing objectively. They compared it to Star Trek the whole time and didn't let it stand on its own. (Many Trekkies ware threatened by a new science fiction show on TV and harbored prejudice is definitely not a part of the Star Trek philosophy.) I didn't feel I knew Captain Kirk or Doctor McCoy at all after watching one episode of Star Trek either. [6]
"Space: 1999: The ultimate adventure series" so read the adverts. It was one of the major turn-offs for myself, and others. Before '99 had even started, I was dead-set against it. "The show to capture the hearts of 'Trekkies'" it was said. To a hardcore 'Trekker' this was blasphemy. I had made up my mind that '99 was going to be a bomb before I had seen it.[7]