Back in middle school circa 1975-76, I knew only one person that loved ‘Space: 1999’ as much as I did and also loved building models: my buddy Pete. Around this time, I had joined Stage Crew for my middle school’s awesome Drama Department – building sets, lighting, etc for productions.

So when my friend and I decided to build Eagle models together, I pitched this to him: let’s not just build Eagle models; let’s try to recreate the special effects as seen in ‘Space: 1999’ and eventually film our efforts. 

We quickly realized recreating the Moon was going to be a problem. Our solution? To world build.

Combining elements from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s earlier shows ‘UFO’ and ‘Thunderbirds’ with ‘Space: 1999,’ this new story was set on a space station orbiting Earth there to defend against mysterious alien ships – alien ships kit-bashed from Legg’s Eggs, a woman’s pantyhose container of the time.

Most of the action centered around the hanger bay – a cardboard box on one side of the basement, and the star field on the far wall. The Eagles, along with Hawks and all our ships, had black thread attached to them that connected to old broom handles so they could take flight. For lift-off, we wanted that blast similar to the Eagles in the show. Our low cost and messy solution was a turkey baster, some Gold Medal flour (a bag of which can be seen in one of these photos), and some mesh under the ships – with one of us working the turkey baster and the other lifting the ship at just the right moment. We’d switch positions for hours of fun. Problem was, we were both busy and couldn’t snap a photo with the instamatic camera we had.

I had started to save for an 8mm film camera, but when Pete’s family suddenly moved out of state, I didn’t continue by myself. I took the money I had saved and bought a 35mm still camera, instead. I would one day become a published photographer with that camera, and this experience led me to a career in drafting, graphic arts, and as an art director and production manager. I am still a huge fan of ‘Space: 1999′ and Brian Johnson’s (and Derek Meddings’ on the earlier shows mentioned) amazing special effects, and I re-watch episodes on Blu-ray often. Love it!