DESTINATION MOONBASE- ALPHA BLU RAYS FOUND

I read that the official Gerry Anderson store are selling a limited number of Space:1999: The Bringers of Wonder: Special Edition Blu-Ray discs, which were previously thought to be completely  sold out following its 2014 release by Network.

Network DVD produced a limited run to just 1999 discs available from their website, and was described as 'a foretaste 'of the long awaited Blu-ray release of the second season of Space:1999.

They apparently sold out very quickly, however due to what has been described by the Gerry Anderson store as a warehouse find means that those who missed out the first time round get a second chance to get one, still for the original price of £9.99 excluding p&p.

The disc contains parts 1 & 2 of the second season episodes of Bringers of Wonder,  in glorious HD, and also the feature length version , Destination Moonbase-Alpha. This was another of those ITC compilation movies intended for theatrical release (I've still got my free poster and press-book brochure that were being given away at the second or possibly the third Fanderson convention.) and feature- length TV movie market. They also turned up as home videos.

Like all these compilation movies they are a bit of a mish-mash, although Destination Moonbase-Alpha isn't that bad in my opinion. It features an opening narration, with some grating Star Wars influenced scrolling titles which resets the date as 2100. The compilation also uses additional footage from 'Breakaway', and snippets from The Metamorph., The Exiles and Space Brain. The funky generic theme is by ex- Manfred Man guitarist, Mike Vickers. The end theme song is credited to  Oliver Onions, who also sings on other foreign title music versions of other  ITC series like The Return of The Saint and The Adventurer. Mr Onions is actually a pseudonym of Italian brothers, Guido and Maurizio de Angelis.

Generally speaking, the second season of Space:1999 isn't as popular with most fans as the first, but this taster isn't a bad entry. It does suffer by having the most ridiculous looking aliens, but its got some great model effects and features appearances of the Super Swift and the Pilot Ship. We get to find out a few things from the main characters backgrounds, too.

As a point of interest, a similar (or as some people argue, more or less the same) plot turns up in a 1981 second season episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Mark of The Saurian.

All in all, it's a pretty good deal for just under a tenner, and you just might have as much fun watching it as Comr. Koenig had setting fire to his grandma's wig!

Bear in mind these Blu-ray discs are region B, and are for the European market, unless you own a multi-region player.