Well, the science is absurd, of course; alway was. That aside, the first series of 1999 (with Barry Morse; before the shape-changing bint showed up) still stands up surprisingly well in the look-and-feel department.
There’s a sequence where the Angels dogfight some enemies that is breathtakingly good. The rest was, as you say, tolerable but not at all bad.
You don’t have to be that old to have been brought up on them. I’m 25 going on the heady age of 26 and my god was I brought up on Thunderbirds (deffo best), Stingray, Joe 90, Captain Scarlet…
And also btw there were magazines, toys with magazines, stand alone toys as well, y’know, and taht in the early 90s. I had loads. It was huge then too.
In fact I even remember having sting ray drink containers. I THINK they were from a pizza hut or even pizza galaxy (remember them?) promotion in the early 90s but would not swear to it.
I think I mean pizza gallery actually
But in any case not sure where I got these things from. I’d phone my parents but suspect they don’t want waking up at 00:49 to satisfy the hypothetical curiosity of the internet.
To the 10 year-old me, it was OK. It segued nicely into 2000AD (comic) with the near-future storyline.
I’m oddly pleased it stands up well since the first moon landing was only 6 years before the show started.
Was anyone else bugged by the odd scene in the puppet shows (Joe90, I’m lookin’ at you!) where close ups of people doing intricate things, like picking something up, used real hands. I understood the puppet hands couldn’t do what they wanted, but it was a real kick in the suspension of disbelief for me. I think I was abut 7.
They tried. It sucked.
When I was growing up the only SF TV I saw until about 10 was British made -(Blake’s 7, Dr Who, UFO etc). I don’t think I saw a full episode of Star Trek until I was around 15.
BTW there are rumours of a new Blake’s 7 done along the lines of the recent Galactica re-boot.
Also American, born in 1960.
UFO was the coolest show EVER! I own the box set DVD’s and watch it all the time, it is fascinating. I think it holds up well.
Space 1999 was in my Star Trek phase, it was less cool to me then.
Missed the edit window.
Make that:
Forgot about the original Galactica 
For those who missed Fireball XL5, you also missed the hilarious theme song. 
I had a 1, 3 and a 2 with 4 inside it. And some Captain Scarlet fighters. I think they were free with Rice Krispies. Collect the points, get a toy. Also, a Stingray and some spitfires. This was in the 90s.
Supercar was the only one of their puppet shows that I saw (not counting Space 1492 as the cartoon that went with Spider Robinson’s Galaxy review had it). I was too old for it, I guess, and underwhelmed. UFO I like in principle, but I missed early shows and never really understood what the hell was going on when I watched it.
But I can still sing the Supercar theme. Satisfactory, most satisfactory.
Once, about three year before this movie came out, I asked a friend of mine (who was a budding film Director, his first film is doing the rounds of distributors now) what he’d do if he had the chance to make a Thunderbirds movie. He said that he’d make it all about the vehicles. International Rescue should rescue someone internationally, on an epic scale. He was right.
The movie that they eventually made completely ignored those factors and instead made it a stupid patronising kiddie adventure.
Grew up with Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and UFO, they had the best theme tunes ever.
Anything can happen in the next half hour!
Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Thunderbirds are go!
Anyone else remember being creeped out by the Mysteron-ised Angel Interceptors :eek:
Never had a crush on Marina. Destiny Angel though…
South Africa improved on the marionette tech for the homegrown Insterster series. More facial animation etc. We also got Thunderbirds & Cpt. Scarlet (dubbed into Afrikaans) and Stingray (undubbed). Loved those as a kid.
I liked all the Anderson series except Supercar, I didn’t think too much of Space 1999 either. It’s a shame that I can’t watch Lavender Castle in the US.
Seconded. This was the first Anderson show I ever saw. I also liked cFireball XL-5, but I never got into Stingray or Thunderbirds or any other Anderson shows, Supermarionation or live-action.
There’s a tribute to Fireball XL-5 in the third volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlremen, the Black Dossier.
That was not the opening theme song, although some of the footage is from it. I always thought the opening theme was AWESOME! This video seems to be opening sequence plus extra show footage put together with an extended version of the closing theme credits.
In my youth I LOVED Fireball XL5. I wanted the XL5 spaceship model SO bad, but couldn’t get my parents to buy one for me.
I also remember watching Supercar, but it came on opposite the local news, so I didn’t get to watch it very often.
I liked Space 1999 when it came out. It wasn’t as exciting as Star Trek, but it was interesting. Because of the moon setting, there wasn’t a lot of color, so the black/white/grey look made it look cheap.
Those rumours have been around since the show folded (movie / reboot series).
It’d be fun, but I won’t be holding my breath.
I grew up with Supercar and Fireball XL-5 (just watched the Supercar video, and was not surprised that I knew the words to the theme song). Even at that early age, dead center in their target demographic, I thought marionettes were incredibly lame. My friends and I would mime marionette walks and crack each other up.