Space: 1999 Year 2 # 3 The Space-Jackers

Space: 1999 Year 2 #3

by Michael Butterworth

Vintage TV tie-in paperback

Genres: Science Fiction

175 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Kryptonian Fletch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may be in a somewhat unique position in reading this book because I have never watched Space 1999 (nor do I plan to). I do have "pop culture awareness" of the show and know the basic premise. Why did I read it then? It was in a box of stuff that a friend asked me to try to sell on Ebay. I saw it and just felt compelled to read it because of the weird cover photo.

So from this odd point-of-view, and reading the book as a simple pulp 70's sci-fi novel, I will say that it was a fun light read and I can see myself reading more of the writer's works, both other Space 1999 novelizations and a few independent works (novels) he wrote.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Space 1999 was a not-really-very-good television series thirty-some years ago and the second season wasn't as good as the first. A variety of authors of the time did novelizations of the first season in ten volumes, and Michael Butterworth wrote adaptations of the second season in a six-volume series. There's nothing especially noteworthy about most of them; they vary in quality as did the scripts upon which they were based. There were, though, a couple of things that stuck out for me in the current volume, the third of the second series. The first was on page 111, a discussion of perception, which states that due to their being no optical appreciation of three dimensions in space, an inch can turn out to be a million light years, so space is no home to humans. I've read the page several times, but I'm not sure I'll ever quite get my head wrapped all the way around it. On page 162 they need something to knock-out a nasty monster reptile which is rampaging around the base, and a doctor suggests Ionethermyecin, adding that it's the most powerful stuff they have; too powerful for a human. I can't figure out why the moon base was equipped with it in the first place if it's too powerful for a human. Surely the people drawing up the supply lists in the '80s or '90s didn't expect the moon to decide to take off on a jaunt across the galaxy like a crazed cosmic pinball and one week find themselves in need of Ionethermyecin so they could subdue a giant rampaging alien reptile, did they? My favorite bit is on page 143, at the beginning of chapter sixteen, where Michael Moorcock's THE BLACK CORRIDOR is quoted, the part that Hawkwind recorded on the SPACE RITUAL album. It's called words which Koenig had read in some forgotten book in some forgotten time on Earth, and I found it to be a wonderful little unexpected Easter egg. Anyway, Space 1999... a brief nostalgic visit to near-forgotten television.

[4cats · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided to re read this as I'm rewatching the tv series. Loved every page.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just ok.