Here's a fun, campy clip: from the mid-80's U.S.A. Home Video "Sybil Danning's Adventure Video" line of VHS tapes - an "action flick" imitation of the Elvira-hosted horror tapes - the nigh-legendary Sybil Danning, best remembered by the Space: 1970 faithful as the statuesque Valkyrie from Battle Beyond The Stars, introduces one of the Space:1999 "feature" compilation films, Alien Attack.
And here's the original VHS cover art:
Amazingly, that intro wasn't all that bad.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain went through the roof when they saw it AND the one for Journey Through the Black Sun.
>from the Space:1999 Catacombs<
"When Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were shown these videos at a convention they were appalled at the poor quality and dubious taste. The Landaus brought legal action which led to these videos being withdrawn from sale."
http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/merc/vmvus1.html
Tex
(and, yes, I had copies of these, since at the time it was the only way to get Space:1999 on video)
PS--The text of Miss Sybil's intros and outros for both videos can be found here...
http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/merc/vmvusybil.html
That was great. God, I really do miss VHS sometimes.
ReplyDeleteLegal action? On what grounds, I wonder? Presumably these tapes were licensed from ITC... did the Landaus actually own part of the show?
ReplyDeleteThis sounds suspiciously like another sci-fi "urban legend"...
I vaguely remember watching Space: 1999 as a young kid in the '70s, and also remember how frustratingly scarce the show was during the '80s when I was actually old enough to appreciate it. At the time, those Sybil Danning compilation videos seemed like all there was, and I actually signed up for a membership at one video store just to rent (and copy) them. How times have changed.
ReplyDeleteAll that I can say is...
ReplyDeleteSybil Danning, I love you.
Interesting... looks like they used a likeness of Gary Lockwood from 2001 on the cover, the Eagle looks a bit wonky, that laser pistol the commander is holding looks weird and Sybil Danning... (drool)
ReplyDeleteAs often as she shows up on this blog, Christopher, perhaps Sybil Danning ought to have her own label!
ReplyDeleteChristopher said "Legal action? On what grounds, I wonder? Presumably these tapes were licensed from ITC... did the Landaus actually own part of the show?"
ReplyDeleteActually, the Landau's had quite savvy lawyers, and incredibly continue to hold a measure of control over licensing of the show to this day. For example; Landau's objections over payments of his percentage of profits for A&E DVD sets kept some proposed extras from being included. Photographs of himself and Ms. Bain had to be removed from Silva Records CD releases of the Soundtrack of Year One ( the galleys for the booklet had already been approved, and were ready to go to print, but had to be withdrawn, and all photos of the two replaced ). When the year two CDs booklets were prepared, they did so without using any photos of Landau and Bain, to avoid any similar problems. You may notice that the reissues of the Palitoy / Mego figures sold online do not include the Koenig figure nor have they created a new figure of Dr. Russell, despite having tooled up several new figures of other tertiary characters. Other 1999 related products have come out but most have notably not used either actor's likeness in their packaging. I have a friend in England who has been directly involved with some of these projects, and have heard these stories directly from him.
Fantastic, isn't it?
Dep1701
Well, after their experiences with Desilu and CBS on Mission: Impossible, I can see how Landau and Bain would be extra-careful in protecting their rights on a new show.
ReplyDeleteStill, that sort of actor control was practically unheard of at the time (and even today). Lew Grade must have really had a lot of confidence in the couple's International "star power" to make a deal like that.
Wow.