Back before the Battlestar Galactica redoux, before Lost, before Star Trek: TNG, way back two years before Star Wars, there was some super whacked out shit goin' down in space!

Way back then, we had an actual base on the moon but we lost it after some nuclear waste blew our moon to god knows where. Defying the laws of physics and common sense, the moon became an actual space ship and it flew around into some freaky stuff - like planets that (also) fly around without a sun, mysterious time-bending gravity anomalies, and vindictive suspended-animation hippies, I mean, aliens.

Way back when, we had Space:1999.

Although I don't remember watching this show on our crappy 1970's TV, I do remember the Alpha and the cast (Landau and Bain). These days I enjoy watching old movies and TV shows as a reminder of what things used to be like. Comparing then and now highlights a lot of things we take for granted or have forgotten.

What does Space:1999 have going for it? Where do I begin?

• Funky sideburns and mustachios on the men (and a few of the women)
• A pudgy, balding, unfit cast of (un)sex symbols
• Awesome polyester jumpsuits in fun colors (decades before polyester was re-branded as Rayon or "microfiber")
• The superbaad funk soundtrack (my favorite part actually)
• Credits with scenes from that actual episode (not the whole season)
• Special effects ... on film not CGI
• A "computer" that talks but displays its output data on strips of paper -- niiiice
• The masterful "slow walk" to simulate zero g
• Space suits that really look like space suits
• Long, dramatic pauses and actual silence
• An overall mood of somber weirdness
• Amazingly realistic moonscapes with genuine grade-A moondust

This is not a great show by any means but I am impressed with the stories they were able to tell given the limits of their technology. This is not for the Jerry Bruckheimer crowd but it does have something few TV shows today have: acting. Acting, imagination, and enough pauses for the audience to use their own brains. If you want a break from today, go back to the past and check out the future.