Space 1999 Collectibles


Space 1999 was one of the all time classic 1970s Sci Fi TV shows. Made by Gerry Anderson and the ITC company, the creators of other hit shows such as Thunderbirds and Joe 90, Space 1999 owed an obvious debt to Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and Gene Rodenberry's ‘Star Trek’, but soon managed to create a unique identity all of its own. For their time, the special effects on the show were quite outstanding and light years away from the other dross trotted out on other TV Sci Fi shows such as ‘Dr Who’. The scripts were adult and intelligent and the standard of acting uniformly high and professional. Guest stars actors included such luminaries as Christopher Lee, Brian Blessed, Ian McShane, Leo McKern, Peter Cushing, Joan Collins, Pamela Stephenson, Billie Whitelaw and Dave Prowse (Darth Vader himself). Space 1999 ran for two action packed seasons (making 48 episodes in total) Space 1999 was not just enormously popular in the UK - it was also a great success in Japan and European countries such as Italy.

Needless to say, there is loads of Space 1999 memorabilia to collect – from movie posters to sticker collections and a whole lot more besides. Space 1999 had a comic strip in the popular UK ‘Look In’ comic and five hard back annuals (1975 – 79) published by ‘World Distributors’ were also produced for the Christmas market. These are all now very collectible and are worth up to about £10 each in mint condition. Another great ‘behind the scenes’ book was ‘The Making of Space 1999’ by Tim Heald which was published both in the US and the UK. Over the years quite a few ‘Space 1999’ books have appeared, including some in foreign languages. In the UK, Orbit published 10 Space 1999 paperback tie-ins and the ever opportunistic Star Books unleashed a further five. Somewhat unusually, a further nine titles were also issued in hardcover. Expect to pay up to £20 for a copy these days. Other printed Space 1999 collectibles included poster books, Panini sticker collections, colouring books and a very cool calendar issued for the US market. All are now very collectible.