Space: 1999 (TV Series) The Bringers of Wonder: Part 1 (1977) User Reviews

Once again, "Space: 1999" had a fascinating plot idea and blew it because of craptastic special effects!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 10 July 2010]

If I were to give a score for the plot idea for this episode of "Space: 1999", I'd give it a 9--it was that creative and potentially interesting. Sadly, however, season two of the series really, really 'jumped the shark' and this really undid a lot of the good that could have resulted in "The Bringers of Wonder". That's because instead of the cerebral sort of show it was in the first season, season two really panicked and inserted tons and tons of stupid looking monsters into practically every episode--making the show look cheap and stupid. Think about it--when the show began, it proudly announced state of the art special effects and the highest budget on television. Now, in season two, most of the outer space effects were cheap and terrible AND the monsters looked like they came from 1950s-60s cheap sci-fi films--like "The Terror of Party Beach"! The show begins with Commander Koenig flying about in an Eagle craft as if he was drunk. Eventually, his insane stunts result in his craft crashing on the Moon and he's almost killed. To help him in his recovery, some weird futuristic sort of neural stimulator is used on him. While he's unconscious and recovering, an impossible to believe event occurs--a ship from Earth traveling at greater than light speed arrives and it's filled with people all very familiar to the folks on Alpha. Oddly (and this is a bit of a hole in the story), no one really questions the impossibility of all this--they just accept it as well as the notion that they'll soon be returning back home.

You really know something bad is afoot when suddenly a member of Alpha tries to kill Koenig while he's unconscious. And, when another member of the crew sees this, the 'friends from Earth' manage to distract him! Obviously these are NOT who they claim to be and they mean harm to poor old Koenig...but why? To find out more tune in to the second part--two of the only episodes of season two that really piqued my curiosity.

One of the Silliest (And Ironically Best) 1999s

[secragt · 10/10 · 5 October 2006]

Terence Feely was a writer who contributed two of the most audaciously interesting and visually arresting episodes of ITC series UFO (TIMELASH) and THE PRISONER (THE GIRL WHO WAS DEATH), but he outdoes himself here with perhaps the most outrageous conceit I've ever seen in ITC series history. It's hard to discuss it here without giving away this two-parter's big twist, but suffice to say, as usual things are not as they seem in the Feely universe. *sigh* okay, there's no way to discuss this without broaching it, so spoilers a'borning....

Things begin inauspiciously with an unexplained Koenig wig out and Eagle crash into a nuclear waste dump. Koenig's atypical, almost inebriated state of mind is oddly unexplained and makes for a thin episode intro. If justified, it could have bolstered his fellow Alphans' doubts about his Kevin McCarthyesque accusation against the Earth expedition they soon encounter, but Koenig's initial irrationality is never really taken up again. Also unexplored is why Koenig is able to see the true identities of the expeditioneers. Again, with a little more work, Koenig's initially seeming irrationality and later unexplained clarity could have been better integrated into the plot, but I fear the constraints of television production scheduling interfered. (My solution: give him an illness at the start of the episode and put him on some exotic drug that causes everyone to think he is hallucinating but in fact the drug becomes his justification for being the only one to see properly. Alas, they didn't come up with this angle.) However... the ridiculous audacity of what's really at work in this outing is ironically one of its strengths. The fact that the "Earthmen" are, in fact, squiggly Sigmund and the Sea Monster aliens might be nonsensical to watch, but when we learn why they are there, for once it is logical and chilling. Further, the justification for their careful and subtle manipulation of the moon base inhabitants' actions with this elaborate masquerade is a pure pleasure to watch. In short, a good back-story can justify a multitude of sinful implausibilities, and the second episode of BRINGERS OF WONDER, in particular, has a lot of great mind games that play with perceptions and reality and make us largely forgive the visual wackiness of the aliens and their crazy plan.

As someone long interested in sleight of hand and playing with expectations, I found the sequences involving alien manipulations of Alan Carter, etal attacking Koenig and Maya and tricking other crewmen into adjusting the radiation controls, etc. by messing with their perceptions to be very entertaining and clever.

In short, this is an episode which appears to be utterly stupid shock value sci-fi horror on the surface but the more you watch (particularly in the second part of BRINGERS OF WONDER), the more there is to enjoy. In particular, Alan Carter's apparent return to earth (and the reality behind it) and the alien leader's climactic appeal to a hoodwinked crewman who finally sees the truth at the end about the value of fantasy over reality are two real highlights from the entire 48 episodes. Get past the drool-slobbering, slimy Naugahyde-tentacled surface and I suspect you may find hidden beauty and depth in this farcical but deceptively clever ride.

tense and frightening, one of year two's best stories

[marcgreenman · 10/10 · 15 December 2019]

This is the only multi part story which space: 1999 attempted, if they might have been as good as this they should certainly have made more. while previous episodes were full of rubber monsters, sci fi cliches, bad lines and tired concepts, this episode is very different, packing real chills and threats that go against year two's general philosophy of more action regardless of story. here the story is right at the centre and well though out. there are murders, violence and threat, i felt that i was watching something with a genuinely adult and mature tone which younger viewers might not get, or might worry some members of the audience. the monsters are pretty good, the slime effect makes them gruesome which automatically generates apprehension, a basic tactic lifted from the horror genre which this kind of edges into. the eagle crash at the start is exciting and so is derek wadsworth's music, particularly as the rescue crew leap into action. i just can't get that beat out of my head and i love it, i just keep thinking of that module exploding with sparks and flames as they drag koenig out. the whole activity of the swift should have raised suspicions from the start, why did they let it touch down when they did not get any signal it should have been shot out of the sky but no, they let it land on the base, doesn't make sense really unless they were already under control. the telepathy aspect gives the intruders tremendous yet very subtle power that might never be discovered in time, great idea. the way in which they attempt to take control is very carefully thought out, every move they make has a reason. the repeated attempts to kill koenig should at least have aroused serious suspicions about the visitors, but they are too far in control. i got the point that koenig's mind was influenced by the ellendorf machine helena built, so i understood that he would be immune to telepathy, that actually made sense. there was plenty of drama and action, particularly when the controlled crew member tried to kill koenig. the ending of the episode is a real jolt, it looks as if koenig is about to die for sure. you can't see any way in which he can escape this time. for year two that is a real shocker, as they would usually end on an easy laugh and an up note; not so here.

The best episode of a pooyly conceived second season

[mhorg2018 · 5/10 · 21 January 2021]

Part one of the only two parter in Space 1999's history starts out well enough. Koenig is injured and since he's always the most suspicious character, is out of the way. Let's ignore that if a nuclear explosion because of years of storage actually erupted, the moon wouldn't be blown out of orbit, it would likely be blown to bits. Also, Earth would suffer devastating tidal waves before having no tides at all, thanks to the moon becoming a new ring around the planet. Leaving that aside, part one is creepy as nuclear absorbing aliens who can fool human minds land. Koenig wakes up and problems arise. The aliens design looks like they got all the parts out of a dumpster and is quite unconvincing. But the episode itself isn't bad and does contain some tension.

How much fun can you have burning grandma's wig? Find out on today's episode of "Space: 1999"!

[J. Spurlin · 23 December 2006]

Commander John Koenig (Martin Landau) loses his mind and crashes the ship he's piloting. After his crew saves him, Dr. Helena Russell (Barbara Bain) hooks him up to an experimental machine meant to soothe his fevered brain. Meanwhile, it seems that Moonbase Alpha has finally been found by a rescue team made up of volunteers from earth. But the rescuers that look like long-lost friends, family and lovers to everyone else, look to Koenig like mountainous glowing heaps of gore.

Part one isn't over before the delusional Koenig shouts "Whee!" and "Yippee!" and "I haven't had so much fun since I burned grandma's wig!" while playing the daredevil; shape-shifting science officer Maya (Catherine Schell) changes into a cockroach, two lizard-like space creatures, and some kind of half-ninja, half-swordfighter, complete with a hybrid costume; and the faux rescuers send various crew members walking around in a hypnotized daze, sniffing oxygen and tearing up rooms.

If these Bringers of Wonder really are huge glutinous heaps, how are people putting their arms around them, kissing them, and so forth? And why are we, the audience, seeing these creatures steal sinister looks at one another, if they aren't really human beings capable of such expressions? The answer may lie in part two—but don't bet on it.

The many deaths attempts on Koenig

[oopboys · 12 September 2011]

I would wish the commander would have said something more suitable then burning grandma's wig or singing a song that for one was bad and 2 not a song I think John wouldn't sing anyway It would also help if we knew what he was seeing in the eagal..other then that I like the episode..the globs of dripping mucus was very cool monsters..there are bloopers in this episode #1 why didn't the intern just shoot the commander he was helpless (I know then it would be the end of alpha with out the commander) remind me of the old batman shows the joker, the riddler etc..always leave batman and or robin or both tangling above acid or ready to be swallowed by a giant clam, but they never stay to make sure that their plan ever killed them... same happens here the walking jelly fishes seemed to keep trying to kill Koenig but never stay to make sure they do it right..what was the reason to get the intern back up he never got near the commander again..and why does anyone think it is strange someone tried to kill the commander and thought nothing of it??I guess because mind control.there was one thing that would make the reason why everyone saw human and John saw monsters would have been more realistic if when the Jellyfish glow worm came into kill Koenig his shadow cast a human shadow instead of the jelly fish shape it should have shown ....overall The Bringers of Wonders was very entertaining.....Better be your own man then live in someone elses dream