Kano...your musings.

Magnus Greel wrote:
We all want to know these people better, but often we're better off not getting what we want. One great thing about year one was that priority was given to the themes of each episode, and the overall feel of isolation and alien-ness. There's only so much time available in an hour-long story, after dealing with wonders of an unknown, nearly unknowable universe.

Disagree, to a degree. If the series had continued in series one format, I very much feel subtle exploration of character backgrounds would have enhanced the interdynamics and development of the plot. Granted, I would not want Coronation Street level histrionics, but knowing how and why the characters got into the space programme, their fears and aspirations, where ion terra firma they grew up, that would have enhanced the story, not detracted from the main thrust which you so admirably summarize.

s99fan wrote:If the series had continued in series one format, I very much feel subtle exploration of character backgrounds would have enhanced the interdynamics and development of the plot.

And would have increased the viewers understanding and empathy for the characters. For example, the series 'Lost' does that very effectively by flashback sequences showing a characters earlier life.

s99fan wrote:

Disagree, to a degree. If the series had continued in series one format, I very much feel subtle exploration of character backgrounds would have enhanced the interdynamics and development of the plot. Granted, I would not want Coronation Street level histrionics, but knowing how and why the characters got into the space programme, their fears and aspirations, where ion terra firma they grew up, that would have enhanced the story, not detracted from the main thrust which you so admirably summarize.

Thanks... and I agree, as long as it's done economically, as in s1. I wouldn't want much more time devoted to character's individual lives and backgrounds, but a bit more could work. Gradually we'd have found out more about these people just by seeing more episodes with small concentrated character moments.

"Lost" is a very different program, though, being made for a different purpose, and I wouldn't want anything close to that level of character background. Sp:99 is far more about what's out there, and its implications for history and humanity, than it is about the individuals involved. "Lost" is all about characters. Sp:99 has a much different vantage point, and a different scale to it.

Kano's brain implant/computer interface. It would have been interesting to learn more about that program, why he was part of it, and how it "drove" him to Alpha, if that's what happened. Some real potential character development there.

Senmut wrote:Some real potential character development there.

Speaking of character development, can't remember which novel it was, but in one of the Space 1999 novels there is a passage where with the approach of some imminent danger, Kano was clutching some kind of medallion ? and there followed a description of his home life and who gave him the medallion.
Anyone remember which novel this was in ???

Senmut wrote:Kano's brain implant/computer interface. It would have been interesting to learn more about that program, why he was part of it, and how it "drove" him to Alpha, if that's what happened. Some real potential character development there.

It's character development with real science fiction content, so that would be good, I think.

And Space had characters we actually care about.

wwelll

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victor is asleep in that episode the troubled Spirit

Er, no. See the response on page one.

He's in "The Bergman Zone".
cue wierd music, and Rod Serling.....

Kano suddenly comes alive in 'Full Circle' when the secondary characters get a chance to shine. He makes me laugh with the comment about back-seat drivers when they're in the buggy - this guy has just set foot on an alien planet and he's that crabby! It's a pity we didn't see more of that side of him as a contrast to the more heroic characters, he could have become very interesting.

I completely agree. A well-rounded black television character in the early 1970s gifted in the emerging field of computers could have been as powerful a role model as a female head physician.

I agree with CalgaryAlphan that Kano had a generous streak of pessimism and, I would add, a serious touch of sarcasm.

It's a tribute to the writer's and Clifton Jones that I found the character somewhat annoying and petty with quips like, "You can cut through fish scales." (Black Sun) and his explosion at the young lady who spilled the coffee (Missing Link). These are traits that people YOU know and work with exhibit. Real people. People under stress. In this regard I found the series ahead of it's time in showing our heroes acting as real people would in this situation.

In addition, like Nick Tate's portrayal of Alan Carter, Mr. Jones was able to make me FEEL something in regard to his character even with so little screen time and character development. I can only imagine what the series would have been like had it been produced today, with the tilt toward ensemble work rather that a "star" carrying a series.