Attention all sections Alpha! Much like the deadly explosion that propelled the Moon on an unstoppable course away from the Earth, our 50th anniversary celebrations of Space: 1999 are still underway at Anderson Entertainment. Half a century since the debut of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's creatively ambitious and cosmically astounding sci-fi adventure TV series, you can now discover the secrets of how Space: 1999 was created!

Early 2026 will see the release of All Sections Alpha: The Making of Space: 1999 by Fred McNamara and Tim Heald. This gorgeously designed hardback tells the definitive story of Space: 1999's genesis, production, and aftermath. The hardback is an extensively updated edition of Tim Heald's original 1976 paperback; The Making of Space: 1999.

Now available to pre-order, let's explore 10 facts about this fantastic forthcoming book!

10. Extensively updated coverage

The Making of Space: 1999 exclusively covered the making of Year 2 as it was being produced. While Heald's absorbingly detailed account of many of the production elements of Space: 1999 is a brilliant read, by the original book's very nature, it only tells an incomplete story. Now, Fred McNamara has thoroughly updated the original book to include the making of Year 1, the series' genesis and lingering aftermath, in-depth coverage of the spin-off media, and a critically evaluative episode guide.

9. Stunningly redesigned

Rarely seen since its original publication in 1976, The Making of Space: 1999 was originally issued to the world as a paperback with only a selection of black-and-white photos. For this greatly renewed edition, designer Rob Hammond has transformed the original book into a lavishly designed and extensively illustrated hardback, now boasting a far more definitively detailed appearance. The book is jam-packed with rarely seen publicity stills and behind-the-scenes photos of the series' making in action.

8. The fourth Space: 1999 series guidebook

Gerry Anderson's television series and feature films have enjoyed an abundance of series guidebooks charting their creation. Space: 1999 in particular has enjoyed several behind-the-scenes guidebooks - along with the original edition of The Making of Space: 1999 from 1976, there's Chris Drake's 1994 UFO and Space: 1999 combined tome, and Chris Bentley's Space: 1999: The Vault from 2022.

7. Retained amount of original text

All Sections Alpha: The Making of Space: 1999 retains roughly 80% of Tim Heald's original text. His account was composed in present tense and in the first person, capturing his fly-on-the-wall perspective of the series' making. This narrative style has been thoroughly updated to maintain a more unified and accessible tone between the original and newly written material, allowing readers to enjoy discovering the secrets of Moonbase Alpha.

6. Episode reviews

A sizeable bulk of All Sections Alpha comprises of extensive insights into all 48 episodes of Space: 1999's two series. Rather than repeat the format of previous 'making of' books in loading their episode retrospectives with too many familiar facts, these episode retrospectives blend behind-the-scenes insights with thoughtful critical evaluations, dissecting character development, story quality, direction and more, celebrating each and every episode of Space: 1999's appeal as a dramatic adventure series.

5. Spin-off media

As well as extensive deep dives into each and every episode, All Sections Alpha gathers together succinct coverage of Space: 1999's sprawling extended media. Across comics, novels, annuals, and audio dramas, the cosmic saga of Moonbase Alpha plays out in a vast array of continuing adventures, the histories of which are covered in this renewed edition. 

4. Tim Heald's insights into Year 2

Heald's first-hand account of the making of Year 2 provides a fascinating and detailed insight into the meticulous construction of Space: 1999 as a television drama, rather than a sci-fi epic. Whatever fans' diverging opinions are on the overall quality of Year 2, Heald's account confirms that the making of Space: 1999's second series was no less professional, extensive, or exhausting than the first series.

3. Freiberger's growing influence

Among the details revealed by Heald's account is the overwhelming influence held by series 2 producer Fred Freiberger, whose bullish attitude towards reinventing Space: 1999 may have secured a second series, but failed to prove sustainable enough to keep the series alive beyond its second outing. Heald captures Freiberger in unflinching tones, particularly in terms of story and character development, suggesting that Space: 1999 was becoming firmly Freiberger's creation, instead of Gerry and Sylvia's. With this new edition, these details and more are enhanced with further contextual research surrounding the series' aggressive metamorphosis to paint a more detailed and accurate account of how the series evolved.

2. Cast's thoughts on the changes to the series

Among the variety of eye-opening insights captured by Heald are the thoughts and comments offered by the core cast of Space: 1999's second series. The ensemble set-up of Year 1 was greatly culled by Freiberger, who initially desired to keep only Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. All Sections Alpha captures the two actors' positive summaries of the changes made to the series, which would rather differ from their later recollections of how the making of Year 2 would progress! It should be stressed that Heald's book was written while Year 2 was in its early months of production, when some of Year 2's more notorious episodes had yet to emerge.

1. The first ever historical account of a Gerry Anderson production

The Making of Space: 1999 holds the honour of being the first book-based documentation of a Gerry Anderson production ever written. Anderson's world had attracted vast media coverage prior to Heald's 1976 effort, but The Making of Space: 1999 marked the first instance of one of Gerry's creations being subjected to an exhaustive investigation - and done so as that creation was being filmed. 

50 years since its original publication, the awe-infused odyssey of Moonbase Alpha comes full circle with Fred McNamara's thoroughly updated edition of this book, redesigned to be as extensive and meticulous as possible in telling the authoritative story of Space: 1999.

Pre-order All Sections Alpha: The Making of Space: 1999 now!

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