Space: 1999 (1975 - 1977)

Costume Design by:

- Keith Wilson ( Wilson was also the series' production designer, his main profession )

- Emma Porteous ( notable efforts: Clash of the Titans (1981), Octopussy (1983), Supergirl (1984), A View to a Kill (1985), Aliens (1986), The Living Daylights (1987), Judge Dredd (1995) )

Perhaps one of the most famous Gerry Anderson productions that did not involve puppets, Space: 1999 was in a way an attempt to make his own response to the original Star Trek series, and as such had rather similar elements to it, though with a bit of a more perilous plot (the crew of a moonbase being stranded far from Earth as the moon is carried out of the solar system) and far more elaborate miniature effects and set designs (and debateably more bland performances from the cast). It should be worth noting that this entry will only be about the second season of Space: 1999, usually derided by fans for ramping up the cheesiness. One concrete difference between the two seasons however, was the presence of a costume designer - Space: 1999's first season had no real costume designer present, as the uniforms were designed by renowned fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, whilst the few aliens (such as Julian Glover in this silver deal) had their costumes designed by the series' production designer Keith Wilson. The uniforms worn in the first season were fairly despised at large, being seen as beige pyjamas, and even Keith Wilson felt the hiring of a fashion designer such as Gernreich was a mistake ('On the first series of Space, we had a "'name"' to design the costumes - Rudi Gernreich, "Mr Topless" - he designed the topless dress. I didn't feel it was necessary to have a name of that calibre connected with the series because the type of people who'd be watching the series couldn't care less if he's "Mr Topless" or not'). During production of the second season, Wilson hired a costume designer proper, Emma Porteous, to be the series costume designer entirely, and her costumes in my opinion are far more interesting than the first season's by far. A lot of the costumes for the first season tend to be some sort of gown with shiny material over it, as seen by these various aliens...

Though sometimes some mildly more peplum-inspired outfits such as this in 'Mission of the Darians' where the women wear short dresses with streamers on the shoulders, and also that floral headdress!

The titular entity of 'Guardian of Piri' also wears this white dress with a chiffon skirt over the pants, again rather peplum-inspired...

Meanwhile some more inspired robes in the episode 'Missing Link', where Peter Cushing gets painted gold and wears a purple and red squat hat.

Of course, the episode 'End of Eternity' involves an alien whose dress sense is so hilariously, painfully 1970s, with massive flared legs and sleeves.

And of course the episode 'Alpha Child' one-ups that when Julian Glover sports this silver banded outfit, with his companion in a silver jacket and trousers too.

'The Metamorph'

The opener of the second season involved the crew of Moonbase Alpha ending up falling captive of the alien leader Mentor (Brian Blessed), who sports a lovely silvery-blue robe fitted with a large stiff collar where the hood would be, and fixed with a large brooch - Blessed's striped beard only helps complete the look, frankly.

Mentor's daughter, the 'metamorph' Maya (Catherine Schell) wears perhaps one of the standout outfits of the episode, a silvery dress with a feathery pattern around the chest, as well as feathers trailing from the bottom of the dress and sleeves, which was intentional on Porteous' part, as she wanted to make Maya look 'bird-like'. The jewellery fitted to the dress was all metallic segments, intended to look 'nothing like any modern fashion'.

The soldiers under Mentor's command are very much a design of the era, wearing bug-like helmets over rounded shoulder pads, with tubing worn over the arms as well - and did I mention all they are wearing past that is underwear? Watch out Zardoz, you have a contender!

'The Exiles

This episode involved the Moonbase Alpha crew being deceived and held under the control of two alien criminals, Cantar (Peter Duncan), and Zova (Stacy Dorning), both of which are clad in yellow and red patterned outfits, though Cantar's is more a bodysuit, covering his entire body excepy for his head.

Zova's version of the outfit is more reveealing, cut to have a miniskirt, as well as having a slanted cut at the top in order to reveal one shoulder, though a yellow armband is also worn with the dress.

'Journey to Where'

Earth is briefly seen in this episode, with the officials on the Earth communications centre wearing bold two-tone jumpsuits, one block of colour going over the shoulders as well as lining down the sides.

'One Moment of Humanity'

In this episode, Maya briefly gets out of uniform, this time wearing a multicoloured dress fixed at the shoulders with a silver rod, as well as a silver choker-like piece going around the neck. This costume noticeably appeared more in publicity photos more than in the episode itself!

'New Adam, New Eve'

In this episode, an alien magician, Magus (Guy Rolfe) attempts to control the Moonbase Alphans by pretending to be none other than God, and as such dresses in a rather simple manner that evokes religious garb, being a golden-lined blue robe with a patterned segment going around the neck as a collar - according to Porteous, the pattern was intended to evoke stained glass, like those in a church.

'The Mark of Archanon'

In this episode, an alien named Pasc (John Standing) and his son end up on Moonbase Alpha, wearing an outfit that almost feels like it was inspired by mosaics, each segment covered in ornate symbols in a way similar to lettering, as well as red boots. I assume this design was meant to evoke a slight 'antiquity' feel, perhaps?

Also briefly appearing is Lyra (Veronia Lang), though the screenshots here are actually from the later episode 'Dorzak', as the costume was reused and is seen much more clearly there - it consists of a lilac coloured dress with circular overlapping pieces attached to the chest.

'The Taybor'

The titular Taybor (Willoughby Goddard), a devious alien trader, first sports this black and golden gown with various symbols printed on.

Later on the in the episode, Taybor sports a very striking outfit consisting of a yellow robe with beads fitted on the sleaves, and two multicoloured peacock patterns attached to each side of the robe roughly at the chest, making Taybor look a bit like a sort of magician - and I suppose I can't not mention that all-pink hairdo, can I!

'A Matter of Balance'

In this episode, a member of the Moonbase Alpha is contacted by a mysterious alien named Vindrus (Stuart Wilson), who wears a very revealing outfit consisting of yellow pants and cape, worn with yellowish see-through plastic around the collar and shoulders. Also of note is the alien captain in the episode 'Space Warp', who is only seen wearing a translucent pink plastic helmet, though I suspect only the helmet was actually the 'costume'!

'Dorzak'

In this episode, Moonbase Alpha receives a strange alien visitor, who travels with a group of women, one of which, Sahala (Jill Townsend) wears a lilac dress cut in an asymmetrical fashion and adorned with white shoulders around the sloped shoulder and cuffs.

Sahala is under the control of the titular Dorzak (Lee Montague), who wears a brown padded tunic that, according to Porteous, was designed in a way to resemble armor - it definitely conveys that, especially with the ridged sleeves and the silvery emblem in the middle of his chest - I think the cape he is wearing it was reused from the one Brian Blessed wore as Mentor at the start of the season, or perhaps just the same fabric.

'Devil's Planet

Perhaps one of the most infamous episodes of the series, involving a dystopian society that also happens to be a matriarchy, where the women rule and the men are subservient (it should be worth noting that production designer Keith Wilson also worked on the similarly cheesy matriarchal dystopia series Star Maidens), with the leader Elizia (Hildegarde Neil) briefly attempting to seduce Commander Koenig (Martin Landau), and wearing a revealing sultry red dress

The most infamous outfits of the show by far, the all-women guard force of the matriarchal prison planet all wear bright-red spandex bodysuits, worn with golden collars and headdresses, designed in a way that is very ornate - of note is that Elizia wears a slightly different uniform with her headdress and collar both being adorned with a ruby-like stone, as well as wearing a golden belt and gold-lined boots as opposed to the string belt and all-red boots worn by the guards.

The golden trim motif is carried over to the prisoners too, as Koenig is made to wear a prison uniform consisting of a grey tunic and trousers, fitted with golden pieces around the shoulder and sleeves, as well as the belt buckle being made of a similar material.

'The Immunity Syndrome'

In this episode, the Moonbase Alpha crew end up on an alien planet they end up stranded on, all they meet of the alien race that once thrived on it is just one dying member, as well as a bunch of corpses, all wearing the same uniform - a lovely silver-lined lilac tunic, fitted with rounded pieces around the shoulders and side of the torso. Shame that you don't see it worn in full by an actor proper rather tha a corpse prop!

'The Dorcons'

In the last episode of the season (and ergo, the entire show), Moonbase Alpha ends up confronting the Dorcons, the sworn enemy of Maya's people. The Dorcons are dressedly fairly uninteresting to me, all just being in Greek or Roman insired robes and tunics, with the only interesting outfit being worn by Malic (Gerry Sundquist), whose robe has a waved pattern on one side, as well as a beige choker.

The Dorcon guards meanwhile, are all in grey unitards worn under shiny brown tunics and studded helmets fitted with visors - noticeably, the tunics have very large shoulders!