Is `Space 1999 More Fi Than Sci?
New York Times, Sect. 2, pg 1, Sunday, Sept. 28, 1975 By Isaac Asimov A science-fiction television show ought to be reviewed, it seems to me, not only for its dramatic quality, the acting, the plot, but especially for scientific accuracy. Why? Well, simply because television is a powerful educational influence. Why should it contribute unnecessarily to the raising of a misinformed generation? There are three possible sources of scientific errors in a television show –errors made out of dramatic necessity, which one can be lenient with; errors made out of commercial necessity, which one can sigh over; and errors made out of ignorance, which are intolerable. Suppose we consider each type of error in connection with Space: 1999, a new hour-long series that premiered last Sunday on Channel 11 [Sept. 21, 1975 on WPIX, NYC]. It deals with a colony of human beings on the moon who are permanently marooned there when the moon leaves its orbit and goes drifting up into space. One dramatic fact
