Season 1
Space: 1999 is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson in which nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and sending it and the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha hurtling uncontrollably into space.
The series aired in the UK on ATV from 4 September, 1975 to 7 May, 1978. There are 48 hour-long episodes in two seasons.
The series originally aired in South Africa on the old SABC service from 15 April, 1977 to 14 July, 1984. It was retitled as Alpha 1999 and was dubbed into Afrikaans, simulcast in English on Radio 2000. The series later aired on TopTV's Fox Retro channel.
See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Synopsis
In 1999, Moonbase Alpha, nestled in the Lunar crater Plato, is a scientific research colony and watchdog over silos of atomic waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side.
On September 13, 1999, magnetic energy builds to cause an explosive chain-reaction of the waste, blasting the Moon out of Earth orbit and off the plane of the ecliptic, out of the Solar System.
The inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha are unable to return to Earth and must survive on their wandering Moon as it is displaced further into unknown space by freak space warps.
Along the way, they are joined by an alien woman with the ability to change herself into any living creature at will.
Seasons
Note: the second season did not complete its run on the SABC - it was removed from the schedule after 12 episodes and never returned.
Season 1 (24 episodes)
Channel: SABC | Premiere: 15 Apr 1977 | Finale: 10 Feb 1978 | Fridays, 19h00
Channel: Fox Retro | Premiere: 3 May 2010 | Finale: 10 June 2010 | Weekdays, 16h00
Season 2 (24 episodes)
Channel: SABC | Premiere: 21 Apr 1984 | Finale: 14 Jul 1984 | Saturdays, 19h00
Channel: Fox Retro | Premiere: 11 Jun 2010 | Finale: 14 Jul 2010 | Weekdays, 16h00