The 1970s treated audiences to some of the best sci-fi on TV and film, from "Star Wars" to "Star Trek" and "Battlestar Galactica." But one of the most underrated sci-fi cult classics of the decade was "Space: 1999," a British TV series from the mind of Gerry Anderson, creator of puppet-mation shows like "Fireball XL5" and "The Thunderbirds."

The series was born out of "UFO," which had only lasted a single season in 1971. Instead of retooling the failed series to improve its ratings, the network decided to start from scratch and launched "Space: 1999" in 1975. Real-life married couple Martin Landau and Barbara Bain lead a cast of space adventurers who operate out of Moonbase Alpha, their headquarters on the lunar surface. In the premiere episode, a catastrophic nuclear detonation sends the

See Full Page