I’m in the UK - and I loved the show as a young teenager. I had most of the figures and a few of the other bits of merch. Was a good series with nice new ideas, I enjoyed it. 😀
I stumbled across Space Precinct around 1996-1997. I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC and it aired around noon on Saturdays. I fell in love with the show and consider it my favorite-even over UFO, Space 1999, and the puppet shows I grew up with like The Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Stingray. In today’s CGI-heavy entertainment, watching any Gerry Anderson show I’m dazzled by the practical effects and models. I didn’t know there were even toys made for Space Precinct until just now.
Space Precinct was quite popular when I was a kid - everyone wanted the police cruiser toy. In fact, such was the shape that they were quite easy to build out of lego / blocks. It did get some future predictions right. Our reliance on computing as much as paper, our ability to freely communicate using video, a cashless society and commercially available space travel. Not to mention a bit of AI here and there.
We lent our old caravan to Pinewood Studios back in 1994, and when we were in there, saw a ton of the sets and props for the show, except it was called "space cops" at the time.
OMG! I was a little obsessed with this show, it aired late on Saturday nights on a weird channel in Seattle. I used to tape it along with another genre show. Brogan’s world-weary “I love my job” got me through some dark times at a job I hated. 😹
Your oddities series is truly amazing! I’m sorry to say I have not seen this show before but you did an amazing job with this report! I will certainly look it up when I have time! Please bring the Oddities series back soon!
Wow...it is extremely familiar, yet I don’t remember seeing any episodes...this type of “hidden” toy history is the thing I love, hope you do more like this. Great episode! As always 👍🏽✌🏽
I just started watching this show on Amazon Prime Video. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and now I can't believe I'm watching a Toy Galaxy video about it. Here I was thinking I had seen it all. I love being wrong. Thnx Dan.
Oh my god! I totally and completely forgot about Space Precinct! I actually really liked this show back in the early 90’s. As a kid I thought it was a very compelling program. I also remember seeing the toys at my local K-Mart and my one buddy who bought a few of the vehicles never actually watched the show. Dan you are the man for bringing Space Precinct back into the fold. After watching your video I plan on actively seeking out the tv series and if the show is as cool as I remember, I may try to buy something from the toy line. As always this has been a great video and I look forward to the next one!
So Ted Shackleford went from sexing it up in Knots Landing to enforcing space law in Space Precinct. That's quite a change of pace in acting. LOL I never knew this existed. Too bad I missed it back then.
Space Precinct was a really cool show. While it was flawed I rewatched it a year ago and it really is amazing. Cool, stories, cool acting, cool characters. It deserved to do better. What the host forgets to mention is that Officer Romek was left off the toyline as his character hadn't been added to the production yet. Not sure about the condescending nature of the host here at the end.
In Los Angeles, CBS owned-and-operated KCBS ran the series initially Saturday mornings at 3:20 am. That's right...3:20. After just a few weeks, the series was moved to late Saturday/early Sunday at 12:35 am following Highlander: The Series at 11:35 pm, after the local newscast. The only toy I had was the Lt. Brogan figure that I purchased in a local comics shop. There's a making of documentary here on TH-cam that tells of the troubles of the production of the series.
Dale Thelander oh man I remember that. I thought I was going crazy. It was on that late on the east coast as well. It was a hard to stay up to watch. Lol
P Ferreira Crispin Merrell. Neil Gorton wasn't happy, either. Steve Begg was good with the special effects production, although they didn't have much to start out with. They used the miniature buildings from Batman that were in storage at Shepperton Studios at first then built more structures for Demeter City as the series went on. What isn't really known is that since the effects were shot at Shepperton, Begg used his friends with the Meddings Magic Camera Company to help out, possibly receiving input from the Master, Derek Meddings himself.
That Idris Elba dubbing over, though... Talk about oddity, lol. I’m amazed that I’ve never heard of this show/toy line. It sounds like something I might’ve actually checked out, back in the day.
I remember this show as a kid, I have an annual where I used to live. I remember it being on BBC 2 in the early evening. Haven't seen it in a while, but I'll try to check it out again
I remember watching a single episode of this show, mostly by accident, at some ungodly hour of the morning, back in college. I had no idea there was a toy line.
OMG, thank you! I could never remember the name of this series, and only caught about half of it on late-night TV back when it aired. Now that I see it's on Amazon and that various episodes are on TH-cam, it's time for some bingeing!
Never heard of this until now, which is surprising because I was watching just about every obscure sci-fi show at the time. Thanks for letting us know about it. Time to go check it out.
Network DVD did indeed re-release the complete series of Space Precinct a couple of years ago. It's DVD only (no Blu-Ray) and Region 2, so if you're in north America, you'll need a multi-region player. Some complete episodes have been uploaded to TH-cam on the official Anderson Entertainment channel.
I recently rewatched it all on Amazon Prime, the show improved a lot over the early episodes, but I doubt it could have survived even if it was a ratings hit. There’s a great documentary somewhere on TH-cam about what went on behind the scenes. I still really want a Space Precinct soundtrack release too...
I started watching it on Prime and quickly gave up on it, mostly because it was just too goofy looking for me to take seriously. And Ted Shackleford. I might have to take a look at some of the later episodes now, though.
Oculus Orbus Yeah definitely worth giving a couple of episodes a shot. I got quite a kick out of seeing those old ‘90s production values. It reminded me a lot of the old Robocop TV series for some reason. BTW I literally watched the Madballs cartoon for the first time in years the other day. Oculus Orbus was always my favourite Madball!
I grew up watching re-runs of old sci-fi/fantasy TV shows and movies so effects doesn't bother me much as long as the writing and other stuff make up for it.
I have a complete set of 'Space Precinct' figures. The show was aired in a 6:30pm slot on BBC 2 here in the UK. I enjoyed it, and you could easily see that a huge amount of money had been spent on it.
Thanks so much for doing this episode about Space Precinct! I have fond memories of watching it here in the States - I think my freshman year of college, at an oddball time slot on Sunday mornings. Only saw a few episodes, but as Dan said, they were strangely hypnotic, both new and retro at the same time, what with the practical effects. And I had NO IDEA there was ever a toy line :/
I might check this one out. Love a bit of Gerry Anderson. I recently grabbed the complete Thunderbirds on DVD and am rewatching it for the first time since I was a kid. I’m amazed by how much it still stands up. Anyone who’s never seen any Anderson work, particularly Thunderbirds, go do yourself a favour and get onboard. You won’t regret it.
Finally an episode where you didn't hit me with a picture of a beloved toy from my youth that I got rid of far too soon. Normally I'll get halfway through an episode thinking I had no idea what this toy line was and a picture would pop up. "OH!!! I did have that one. Back to eBay"
Dude, I had a bunch of Space Precinct figures when I was a kid! Their arms could bend backwards a little at the elbow which looked weird, and they had the same, slightly-too-big head that the Thunderbirds figures had. I also had an annual, and my buddy still has the board game which is still kinda fun. Great video!
I never saw the toys anywhere and I would've been old enough to remember at that time. I have zero knowledge that this thing existed. It's so weird. I thought I saw everything. What else exists that I know nothing about? This must be what discovering a new land was like.
Thanks for that :) We enjoyed it. The series is coming out on DVD in the UK later this year, and has a firm place in our hearts, as well as the hearts of 90s kids all over the country. S.P.A! Read more>> www.gerryanderson.co.uk/space-precinct-complete-series-dvd-out-november/
I've still got mine. They actually make quite good background characters for dioramas - especially the aliens and SloMo the robot. The series was originally conceived as Space Police, some years earlier. Gerry Anderson shot a pilot episode starring Shane Rimmer (an American actor based in the UK who'd voiced Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds, and appeared in numerous UK-shot Hollywood movies, like Superman II). Space Police was a mix of live action, model work, stop-motion and puppeteering. It's available on The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson from Network DVD (Region 2 only, I think). Space Precinct was available on DVD years ago in multiple volumes, but it's long out of print. However, Network DVD are gradually re-releasing the various sites Gerry Anderson still had the rights to, on digitally remastered Blu-Ray. They've already released UFO, both seasons of Space: 1999, New Captain Scarlett, and Terrahawks; so hopefully, they'll get to Space Precinct soon. I remember the series well. It did have an odd feel to it, like it wasn't sure exactly who the audience was. But it was fun. The practical models were amazing (as was always the case with Anderson's series - one of his chief model unit directors was Derek Meddings, who would later work on the model sequences for Tim Burton's Batman, and GoldenEye for Eon. Space Precinct's animatronics were handled by Neil Gorton, who has been behind many of the creatures on the revived Doctor Who from the BBC (Toy Galaxy should really do an episode about Dapol and their 80s Doctor Who figures). Most of Gerry Anderson's shows have some sort of toyline, often featuring action figures. There were vintage dolls of the Tracy Bros from Thunderbirds and of Captain Scarlett. Dinky made die-cast vehicles from Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlett, UFO, and Space: 1999. Bandai did vehicles and action figures from Terrahawks. When Thunderbirds was repeated on BBC 2 in the 90s, it became a massive hit all over again. Matchbox re-released the Dinky Thunderbirds ships, along with action figures. The huge ratings for Thunderbirds prompted the BBC to repeat Stingray and Captain Scarlett, which also got action figures and vehicles, from Matchbox and Vivid Imaginations respectively. The Stingray figures in particular are amazing likenesses of the puppets. Thunderbirds was turned into a TERRIBLE live action movie directed by Riker himself, Jonathan Frakes. It has since been rebooted again, as a modern update of the original, featuring CG "puppets" designed to evoke the original marionettes. The effect shots are CG vehicles on physical miniature sets, built by Weta in New Zealand. And, as you would expect, there are an accompanying range of excellent action figures and vehicles to accompany the show.
I watched this show all the time, back then. Where I lived it was about 11 PM or so on Saturday or Sunday nights. My mom was amused with it because the main actor used to be on nighttime soap operas. If I had know there was a toyline I would've bought some just for the hell of it. :)
I'll admit that I wasn't aware of this one, I don't think they aired it in my neighborhood. Now I need to track down the show, it looks so funky. Thank you for what you do, guys!
I remember the series airing late night and the toys advertised on magazine. I bought them on eBay during the time I still collecting action figures. And the series is finally released on DVD.
I live in the UK, and remember watching a few, and my brother and I had a couple of the toys. Though we must have caught repeats, as I was born in '93, and remember watching when I was around four years old.
I'm so glad you covered this Dan! I first encountered the show when I was in high school, it aired on Thursday nights when DS9 was on and I skipped it for Space Precinct since it was on the same time slot. I've seen the toys featured on the back of starlog a few times and was hoping they'd bring it to toys r' us kaybee's etc. not even all the conventions dealers I spoke to either didn't know or said was too expensive it import from U.K. I can go on and on on this but this was my experience and still have a high reverence for the show! Ps, Slo-mo is one of my favorite droid designs up there with R2d2 and the black hole's Vincent.
Never got into Space Precinct, but I remember the toys were everywhere here in the UK. I was more into the other Gerry Anderson toys, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, and my favourite, Stingray. I still avidly collect all three lines and I'm still pursuing a full set of each.
I used to wait with boundless excitement for every single episode of Space Precinct. At the time it was being shown on I believe Sky One here in Ireland, while at the same time the day before BBC were showing reruns of Space 1999 and a weekly classic scifi movie, WHILE Irish TV was showing reruns of Buck Rogers on Saturday mornings, and Battlestar Galatica on Sunday mornings. It was absolute Nirvana for a 90's scifi kid; and if you were coming to terms with an attraction to girls at the time well you had an absolute wealth of crushables. It was a genuinely good show, not exceptional, it lacked that something to really make it exceptional in the way Bab5 and ST:DS9 would become; but it was absolutely solid, with excellent acting, and entertaining stories. I was always sad that it flopped, everyone involved deserved better.
Very true. Space1999 was my favourite and then followed by a classic movie on CH4 like Dr Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth! Saturday afternoons were the best, UFO, The Tripods, Dr Who....class! Also, the sight of Wilma Deering in tight satin-like spandex will stay with me till my dying day. Lol!
Well Maren Jensen; I genuinely have very little affection for the reimagined version. It was interesting up til half way through season 2 and then I just couldn't stand it anymore. Not even Katee Sackhoff could keep me watching.
I had no idea there was a toy line. You'd think they would've pitched it to one of the sci-fi networks was a really nice show. I only ever managed to see a few episodes in the 90s didn't know there was toys. I did a little poking around on eBay and there's quite a few listings reasonably priced. Unfortunately shipping is a little bit expensive if you're in Canada but if you're looking for anything from the toy line. They're pretty simple to find on eBay. One guy even has a set of mail away figures
I came across that Idris Elba episode by accident when I was seven years old. That episode had a shapeshifting monster that gave me nightmares I can vividly remember to this day.
I had forgotten the show, but I loved it at the time. Didn't know it had a toyline, thought it was a little too adult for that. Thanks for another interesting video.
Don't remember seeing the toys, but definitely remember when the show launched. Sadly in my area the channel bounce the time slot, and I lost track of watching.
Talk about pure nostalgia. I live in the UK and I actually remember this show being really, really good, although that may be the haze of many years between then and now nut I do remember it quite fondly. Such a pity it failed.
This show was on Netflix a couple of years ago, and I caught it! It was strange and fun! I remember learning there were toys sometime after that, and was perplexed that it either wasn’t more well know or they came from a parallel universe.
I remember this beng pushed massively on Sky One back when my family first got Sky TV in the 90s. I watched it & mostly enjoyed it but always preferred Gerry Anderson's other live action shows Space: 1999 & UFO.
I love Space Precinct. Its definitely my favorite Gerry Anderson tv sci-fi show. Watched it recently and it looks like it was a very expensive show to produce. Cool looking sets, awesome models, life size police cruisers. Some very impressive car chase and shoot-out action scenes in the show. Love the concept and the visual design of space precinct. It would have done better if it had been more of a hard edged sci-fi tv show and less child friendly and fun. But personally i like that it was the way it was. Its pure comic book stuff up on the tv screen. Looks awesome and its a lot of fun. Epic and highly underrated sci-fi tv show that really does look pretty damned stunning. Id take this show over any of the shitty cgi sci-fi tv shows we get these days.
I'm in the uk, my local comic book store has a bunch of the vehicles in stock, and a few years ago i think the guy who runs the place told me he had the original moulds for the police car. whether he meant for the toys or the show props i have no idea.
I used to watch Space Prescient 2040 / Space 1999 / Captain Scarlet / Thunderbirds / Joe 90 / Stingray back in the early to mid 90s on BBC2 i was still in primary school then. Apart from Space Prescient 2040 which is from the 90s the other five shows I've listed are from the 60s and 70s when my parents were still in school. I've heard of 3 other shows that Gerry Anderson made Fireball XL5 / Supercar / Terra hawks my favorite show is Thunderbirds because I like all the different models that were made for the show.
I saw and enjoyed the show. We actually got it sandwiched between Mutant X and Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda so we were lucky here in the Bay Area, California....
It’s amazing how many of these obscure lines are gaining collecting ground. It used to be that you could find this kind of stuff carded at shows for a reasonable price. Not so much any more.
New York, Chicago... Altar makes the best pizza. Off topic: a line in this video about being a new toy line caught my ear. Jazz Wares had the license for the A*Team movie, and mad respect to them because they made them G.I. JOE sized and came out with the Van. I love these figures. 1. I got them crazy clearance (the van retail was $20 I got it for like $7 and the figures went to like $1.50) and I got decent sculpts of Rampage Jackson, Bradley Cooper, and Liam Neason. 2. They remind me of the A*Team JOES I got at Service Merchandice for my birthday. oh nostalgia
Space Precinct was another pretty cool show that didn't get the love it deserved! It was ahead of its time, in my opinion. I am biased because I grew up watching Gerry Anderson shows in the 60's
Funnily enough, Jim Henson was going to collaborate with Gerry Anderson on Space Precinct, but he sadly passed away before they were able to work on it together.
It aired in Denmark too. I watched it as a kid and I loved it. I still do. I have the series on DVD. Officer Silas Romek was the best. If that figure had been produced, I would have bought it 😃
The handcuffs and the toy guns in the pretend toy set look very familiar. There are a lot of bootleg toys of it. I think Bart D'man's Channel did a review of a set with the handcuffs.
This aired in northern California very late Saturday nights, which I would watch on a small black & white TV in my garage. It was cool, but not amazing. Definitely memorable!
It was only last year that i found the show - never knew it was a show when I was a kid, but i still owned most of the figures - sadly they've been lost to time. I'm pretty sure the show was never aired in Denmark, but I might be wrong about that.
I've never heard of the show before. But I heard of Gerry Anderson. I used to watch Thunderbirds all the time. I never knew he made a live-action series. I'm going to have to look it up and see if I can find it anywhere. Like you said, maybe some episodes on TH-cam.
I bought it on DVD from my local Barnes & Noble when I saw it with Ted Shackleford and I sold Jerry Anderson’s name. I bought it immediately but I am a fan of UFO and a fan of space 1999 so I have all three of his live action series in my library
there was an unfilmed episode you can get on audible. Welcome to Demeter City. Shows why Brogan and Haldane left Earth and how a certain character was introduced. There were also two prior pilots. One you can find on yt titled Space Police 1986.
Could you do a video on getting rid of toys? I'm culling my collection and conflicted on tackling the hassle of selling them as well as the desire to see them played with.
It was kinda a big deal over here in the UK but got really big really fast and kinda just dispersed into nothing again. It was a weird one, kinda there for a season or two if I remember and then it just ended and I never saw it again, as a 11 year old I watched it but honestly can't remember a single character now. Great flashback video cheers my man
I’m in the UK - and I loved the show as a young teenager. I had most of the figures and a few of the other bits of merch. Was a good series with nice new ideas, I enjoyed it. 😀
I stumbled across Space Precinct around 1996-1997. I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC and it aired around noon on Saturdays. I fell in love with the show and consider it my favorite-even over UFO, Space 1999, and the puppet shows I grew up with like The Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Stingray.
In today’s CGI-heavy entertainment, watching any Gerry Anderson show I’m dazzled by the practical effects and models.
I didn’t know there were even toys made for Space Precinct until just now.
the show is now available on Tubi (a Roku App & Website)
Space Precinct was quite popular when I was a kid - everyone wanted the police cruiser toy. In fact, such was the shape that they were quite easy to build out of lego / blocks. It did get some future predictions right. Our reliance on computing as much as paper, our ability to freely communicate using video, a cashless society and commercially available space travel. Not to mention a bit of AI here and there.
We lent our old caravan to Pinewood Studios back in 1994, and when we were in there, saw a ton of the sets and props for the show, except it was called "space cops" at the time.
Ah, Larry Bundy, the true Survivor of the Exodus.
They still hadn't changed the show title yet huh?
This merely lends credibility to my theory that Larry Bundy Jr is connected on a quantum level with every single TH-cam video ever made.
It was called Space Cops in Germany. It's too hard for us to spell precinct 😂
OMG! I was a little obsessed with this show, it aired late on Saturday nights on a weird channel in Seattle. I used to tape it along with another genre show.
Brogan’s world-weary “I love my job” got me through some dark times at a job I hated. 😹
Your oddities series is truly amazing! I’m sorry to say I have not seen this show before but you did an amazing job with this report! I will certainly look it up when I have time! Please bring the Oddities series back soon!
Wow...it is extremely familiar, yet I don’t remember seeing any episodes...this type of “hidden” toy history is the thing I love, hope you do more like this.
Great episode! As always 👍🏽✌🏽
I was one of those college kids that stayed up too late and stumbled upon this show. I remember reading about it in Starlog years before it came out.
I just started watching this show on Amazon Prime Video. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and now I can't believe I'm watching a Toy Galaxy video about it. Here I was thinking I had seen it all. I love being wrong. Thnx Dan.
Oh my god! I totally and completely forgot about Space Precinct! I actually really liked this show back in the early 90’s. As a kid I thought it was a very compelling program. I also remember seeing the toys at my local K-Mart and my one buddy who bought a few of the vehicles never actually watched the show. Dan you are the man for bringing Space Precinct back into the fold. After watching your video I plan on actively seeking out the tv series and if the show is as cool as I remember, I may try to buy something from the toy line. As always this has been a great video and I look forward to the next one!
I had no idea this show existed, despite having been the right age for it at the time. I MUST SEE THIS. It looks like the 90siest thing ever.
So Ted Shackleford went from sexing it up in Knots Landing to enforcing space law in Space Precinct. That's quite a change of pace in acting. LOL I never knew this existed. Too bad I missed it back then.
He was great in the show.
Space Precinct was a really cool show. While it was flawed I rewatched it a year ago and it really is amazing. Cool, stories, cool acting, cool characters. It deserved to do better.
What the host forgets to mention is that Officer Romek was left off the toyline as his character hadn't been added to the production yet. Not sure about the condescending nature of the host here at the end.
In Los Angeles, CBS owned-and-operated KCBS ran the series initially Saturday mornings at 3:20 am. That's right...3:20. After just a few weeks, the series was moved to late Saturday/early Sunday at 12:35 am following Highlander: The Series at 11:35 pm, after the local newscast.
The only toy I had was the Lt. Brogan figure that I purchased in a local comics shop.
There's a making of documentary here on TH-cam that tells of the troubles of the production of the series.
Dale Thelander oh man I remember that. I thought I was going crazy. It was on that late on the east coast as well. It was a hard to stay up to watch. Lol
The documentary wasn't that great to be honest.
P Ferreira Yeah, it's mostly Tom Gutteridge pissing and moaning.
@Dale Thelander The composer was the only one with anything positive to say about the show.
P Ferreira Crispin Merrell. Neil Gorton wasn't happy, either. Steve Begg was good with the special effects production, although they didn't have much to start out with. They used the miniature buildings from Batman that were in storage at Shepperton Studios at first then built more structures for Demeter City as the series went on. What isn't really known is that since the effects were shot at Shepperton, Begg used his friends with the Meddings Magic Camera Company to help out, possibly receiving input from the Master, Derek Meddings himself.
That Idris Elba dubbing over, though... Talk about oddity, lol. I’m amazed that I’ve never heard of this show/toy line. It sounds like something I might’ve actually checked out, back in the day.
That dubbing is so over the top absurd. And it's the clip that they love to bring up whenever Idris does a talk show appearance.
By a German actor as well!
I do remember that show use to come
On after space above and beyond
But I had no idea they had toys
I remember this show as a kid, I have an annual where I used to live.
I remember it being on BBC 2 in the early evening. Haven't seen it in a while, but I'll try to check it out again
If I remember rightly it was 6pm mid week
Great vid! Love weird old shows/toylines. Thx.
Never heard of the show or toys but those figures were on point for the time. Great video, definitely an oddity!
I remember watching a single episode of this show, mostly by accident, at some ungodly hour of the morning, back in college. I had no idea there was a toy line.
OMG, thank you! I could never remember the name of this series, and only caught about half of it on late-night TV back when it aired. Now that I see it's on Amazon and that various episodes are on TH-cam, it's time for some bingeing!
Never heard of this until now, which is surprising because I was watching just about every obscure sci-fi show at the time. Thanks for letting us know about it. Time to go check it out.
Network DVD did indeed re-release the complete series of Space Precinct a couple of years ago. It's DVD only (no Blu-Ray) and Region 2, so if you're in north America, you'll need a multi-region player. Some complete episodes have been uploaded to TH-cam on the official Anderson Entertainment channel.
I recently rewatched it all on Amazon Prime, the show improved a lot over the early episodes, but I doubt it could have survived even if it was a ratings hit. There’s a great documentary somewhere on TH-cam about what went on behind the scenes.
I still really want a Space Precinct soundtrack release too...
I started watching it on Prime and quickly gave up on it, mostly because it was just too goofy looking for me to take seriously. And Ted Shackleford. I might have to take a look at some of the later episodes now, though.
Oculus Orbus Yeah definitely worth giving a couple of episodes a shot. I got quite a kick out of seeing those old ‘90s production values. It reminded me a lot of the old Robocop TV series for some reason.
BTW I literally watched the Madballs cartoon for the first time in years the other day. Oculus Orbus was always my favourite Madball!
I grew up watching re-runs of old sci-fi/fantasy TV shows and movies so effects doesn't bother me much as long as the writing and other stuff make up for it.
@Oculus Orbus It doesn't play well today because TV doesn't appreciate something hand crafted or well made.
@BulkSlash There is a soundtrack album out. It is from Network Dvd/ Network On Air
@ 4.15....that's a model of Robocop's gun in that playset!
I have a complete set of 'Space Precinct' figures. The show was aired in a 6:30pm slot on BBC 2 here in the UK. I enjoyed it, and you could easily see that a huge amount of money had been spent on it.
I remember it being 6pm on BBC2 as there was always that 90 minute slot on a Tuesday or Wednesday for SciFi/Fantasy shows
Thanks so much for doing this episode about Space Precinct! I have fond memories of watching it here in the States - I think my freshman year of college, at an oddball time slot on Sunday mornings. Only saw a few episodes, but as Dan said, they were strangely hypnotic, both new and retro at the same time, what with the practical effects. And I had NO IDEA there was ever a toy line :/
I might check this one out. Love a bit of Gerry Anderson. I recently grabbed the complete Thunderbirds on DVD and am rewatching it for the first time since I was a kid. I’m amazed by how much it still stands up. Anyone who’s never seen any Anderson work, particularly Thunderbirds, go do yourself a favour and get onboard. You won’t regret it.
F.A.B!
Finally an episode where you didn't hit me with a picture of a beloved toy from my youth that I got rid of far too soon. Normally I'll get halfway through an episode thinking I had no idea what this toy line was and a picture would pop up. "OH!!! I did have that one. Back to eBay"
Dude, I had a bunch of Space Precinct figures when I was a kid!
Their arms could bend backwards a little at the elbow which looked weird, and they had the same, slightly-too-big head that the Thunderbirds figures had.
I also had an annual, and my buddy still has the board game which is still kinda fun.
Great video!
EwanMakeMovies if you had to score them, what score would you give them?
I never saw the toys anywhere and I would've been old enough to remember at that time. I have zero knowledge that this thing existed. It's so weird. I thought I saw everything. What else exists that I know nothing about? This must be what discovering a new land was like.
EwanMakeMovies Still got mine.
Think I'm gonna have to get a Reaction Xenomorph for some stop motion after seeing that. Its too good.
Did you watch the show?
Yeah. It used to air on one of the UK TV channels. Network On Air are re-releasing it on DVD this November.
I love these shows on the histories of different properties. :D
I was around 12 when it was on BBC in the early evening. Being a young sci-fi fan I loved and always looked forward to it
I remember watching this on Sky 1 in the UK back in the 90s it was early evening if remember rightly
It was on BBC2 before then at 6pm lol I remember that being the prime Sci-Fi slot in the 90s
I thought it was around 2000 but wow I didn't it was thst old 1994
Thanks for that :) We enjoyed it. The series is coming out on DVD in the UK later this year, and has a firm place in our hearts, as well as the hearts of 90s kids all over the country. S.P.A!
Read more>> www.gerryanderson.co.uk/space-precinct-complete-series-dvd-out-november/
Your group really knows which subject to choice. Waaaaaaaay freaky coincidental on the mark. You have my thumbs up!
I've still got mine. They actually make quite good background characters for dioramas - especially the aliens and SloMo the robot.
The series was originally conceived as Space Police, some years earlier. Gerry Anderson shot a pilot episode starring Shane Rimmer (an American actor based in the UK who'd voiced Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds, and appeared in numerous UK-shot Hollywood movies, like Superman II). Space Police was a mix of live action, model work, stop-motion and puppeteering. It's available on The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson from Network DVD (Region 2 only, I think). Space Precinct was available on DVD years ago in multiple volumes, but it's long out of print. However, Network DVD are gradually re-releasing the various sites Gerry Anderson still had the rights to, on digitally remastered Blu-Ray. They've already released UFO, both seasons of Space: 1999, New Captain Scarlett, and Terrahawks; so hopefully, they'll get to Space Precinct soon.
I remember the series well. It did have an odd feel to it, like it wasn't sure exactly who the audience was. But it was fun. The practical models were amazing (as was always the case with Anderson's series - one of his chief model unit directors was Derek Meddings, who would later work on the model sequences for Tim Burton's Batman, and GoldenEye for Eon. Space Precinct's animatronics were handled by Neil Gorton, who has been behind many of the creatures on the revived Doctor Who from the BBC (Toy Galaxy should really do an episode about Dapol and their 80s Doctor Who figures).
Most of Gerry Anderson's shows have some sort of toyline, often featuring action figures. There were vintage dolls of the Tracy Bros from Thunderbirds and of Captain Scarlett. Dinky made die-cast vehicles from Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlett, UFO, and Space: 1999. Bandai did vehicles and action figures from Terrahawks.
When Thunderbirds was repeated on BBC 2 in the 90s, it became a massive hit all over again. Matchbox re-released the Dinky Thunderbirds ships, along with action figures. The huge ratings for Thunderbirds prompted the BBC to repeat Stingray and Captain Scarlett, which also got action figures and vehicles, from Matchbox and Vivid Imaginations respectively. The Stingray figures in particular are amazing likenesses of the puppets.
Thunderbirds was turned into a TERRIBLE live action movie directed by Riker himself, Jonathan Frakes. It has since been rebooted again, as a modern update of the original, featuring CG "puppets" designed to evoke the original marionettes. The effect shots are CG vehicles on physical miniature sets, built by Weta in New Zealand. And, as you would expect, there are an accompanying range of excellent action figures and vehicles to accompany the show.
Man this was a thing to stumble over, this lit a very old, foggy memory though long gone of catching a episode by mistake one day long ago.
I loved this show.
Oddities is my favorite show on this channel!
I watched this show all the time, back then. Where I lived it was about 11 PM or so on Saturday or Sunday nights. My mom was amused with it because the main actor used to be on nighttime soap operas. If I had know there was a toyline I would've bought some just for the hell of it. :)
I'll admit that I wasn't aware of this one, I don't think they aired it in my neighborhood. Now I need to track down the show, it looks so funky. Thank you for what you do, guys!
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
I was oddly looking this up just yesterday 😱 how it brings back fun times, even the visual effects are still ahead of it's time
I remember the series airing late night and the toys advertised on magazine. I bought them on eBay during the time I still collecting action figures. And the series is finally released on DVD.
Big Lots still had the action figures deep into the 2000's. I remember catching the show at 4:00am while getting to go to work.
I live in the UK, and remember watching a few, and my brother and I had a couple of the toys. Though we must have caught repeats, as I was born in '93, and remember watching when I was around four years old.
I'm so glad you covered this Dan!
I first encountered the show when I was in high school, it aired on Thursday nights when DS9 was on and I skipped it for Space Precinct since it was on the same time slot. I've seen the toys featured on the back of starlog a few times and was hoping they'd bring it to toys r' us kaybee's etc. not even all the conventions dealers I spoke to either didn't know or said was too expensive it import from U.K. I can go on and on on this but this was my experience and still have a high reverence for the show! Ps, Slo-mo is one of my favorite droid designs up there with R2d2 and the black hole's Vincent.
Too expensive to import? I remember seeing them in 3/$100 bins.
Never got into Space Precinct, but I remember the toys were everywhere here in the UK. I was more into the other Gerry Anderson toys, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, and my favourite, Stingray. I still avidly collect all three lines and I'm still pursuing a full set of each.
Wow I'd totally forgotten about the show and figures I had until seeing this video! I'm in the UK so makes sense we got more toys here.
The episode with the time travelling Cyborg was a great TV episode period.
I never saw the show, but remember the figures in the clearance bin at Kay bee
I used to wait with boundless excitement for every single episode of Space Precinct. At the time it was being shown on I believe Sky One here in Ireland, while at the same time the day before BBC were showing reruns of Space 1999 and a weekly classic scifi movie, WHILE Irish TV was showing reruns of Buck Rogers on Saturday mornings, and Battlestar Galatica on Sunday mornings. It was absolute Nirvana for a 90's scifi kid; and if you were coming to terms with an attraction to girls at the time well you had an absolute wealth of crushables.
It was a genuinely good show, not exceptional, it lacked that something to really make it exceptional in the way Bab5 and ST:DS9 would become; but it was absolutely solid, with excellent acting, and entertaining stories. I was always sad that it flopped, everyone involved deserved better.
Very true. Space1999 was my favourite and then followed by a classic movie on CH4 like Dr Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth! Saturday afternoons were the best, UFO, The Tripods, Dr Who....class! Also, the sight of Wilma Deering in tight satin-like spandex will stay with me till my dying day. Lol!
It was/is Athena in BSG for me...dear Goddesses the dreams that woman inspired.
It was well done. The only thing that let it done were the interior sets.
Amanda Harper Are we taking Maren Jensen in original BSG, or Grace Park in reboot BSG? Cos frankly, either one is spectacularly beautiful.
Well Maren Jensen; I genuinely have very little affection for the reimagined version. It was interesting up til half way through season 2 and then I just couldn't stand it anymore. Not even Katee Sackhoff could keep me watching.
I had no idea there was a toy line. You'd think they would've pitched it to one of the sci-fi networks was a really nice show. I only ever managed to see a few episodes in the 90s didn't know there was toys. I did a little poking around on eBay and there's quite a few listings reasonably priced. Unfortunately shipping is a little bit expensive if you're in Canada but if you're looking for anything from the toy line. They're pretty simple to find on eBay. One guy even has a set of mail away figures
I was unaware the Frank Castle AKA the Punisher hads his own toy collector channel. Amazing.
I remember seeing a coupla episodes, but had no idea there was a toy line! I was too old by then... suddenly feel the need to work out.
I came across that Idris Elba episode by accident when I was seven years old. That episode had a shapeshifting monster that gave me nightmares I can vividly remember to this day.
I had forgotten the show, but I loved it at the time. Didn't know it had a toyline, thought it was a little too adult for that. Thanks for another interesting video.
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
Oh man, I gotta find a few of these figures for my dad. He loved this show.
Don't remember seeing the toys, but definitely remember when the show launched. Sadly in my area the channel bounce the time slot, and I lost track of watching.
Yep. Most markets didn't get a fair shot.
Talk about pure nostalgia. I live in the UK and I actually remember this show being really, really good, although that may be the haze of many years between then and now nut I do remember it quite fondly. Such a pity it failed.
the show is now available on Tubi (a Roku App & Website)
This show was on Netflix a couple of years ago, and I caught it! It was strange and fun! I remember learning there were toys sometime after that, and was perplexed that it either wasn’t more well know or they came from a parallel universe.
I remember this beng pushed massively on Sky One back when my family first got Sky TV in the 90s. I watched it & mostly enjoyed it but always preferred Gerry Anderson's other live action shows Space: 1999 & UFO.
I love Space Precinct. Its definitely my favorite Gerry Anderson tv sci-fi show. Watched it recently and it looks like it was a very expensive show to produce. Cool looking sets, awesome models, life size police cruisers. Some very impressive car chase and shoot-out action scenes in the show. Love the concept and the visual design of space precinct. It would have done better if it had been more of a hard edged sci-fi tv show and less child friendly and fun. But personally i like that it was the way it was. Its pure comic book stuff up on the tv screen. Looks awesome and its a lot of fun.
Epic and highly underrated sci-fi tv show that really does look pretty damned stunning. Id take this show over any of the shitty cgi sci-fi tv shows we get these days.
I'm in the uk, my local comic book store has a bunch of the vehicles in stock, and a few years ago i think the guy who runs the place told me he had the original moulds for the police car. whether he meant for the toys or the show props i have no idea.
Had a couple of these figures and used to watch the show all the time on SKY 1.
I used to watch Space Prescient 2040 / Space 1999 / Captain Scarlet / Thunderbirds / Joe 90 / Stingray back in the early to mid 90s on BBC2 i was still in primary school then. Apart from Space Prescient 2040 which is from the 90s the other five shows I've listed are from the 60s and 70s when my parents were still in school. I've heard of 3 other shows that Gerry Anderson made Fireball XL5 / Supercar / Terra hawks my favorite show is Thunderbirds because I like all the different models that were made for the show.
I went all in on Space Precinct. Loved the show when it aired on British TV and bought ALL the toys. All of them...
I still have Space Precinct toys, not in their packaging, but I loved the TV show as a kid
I saw and enjoyed the show. We actually got it sandwiched between Mutant X and Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda so we were lucky here in the Bay Area, California....
I loved the show and I had the toys. It’s out on dvd now so I should pick it up.
I am from the uk and this was shown at prime time 6pm on bbc or itv.
Never heard of it. I'm so far behind the times I'm watching the Toy Galaxy video about an obscure 90s space cop show a year late!
It’s amazing how many of these obscure lines are gaining collecting ground. It used to be that you could find this kind of stuff carded at shows for a reasonable price. Not so much any more.
I never saw the show but I remember seeing the figures at some clearance store.
New York, Chicago... Altar makes the best pizza.
Off topic: a line in this video about being a new toy line caught my ear. Jazz Wares had the license for the A*Team movie, and mad respect to them because they made them G.I. JOE sized and came out with the Van. I love these figures. 1. I got them crazy clearance (the van retail was $20 I got it for like $7 and the figures went to like $1.50) and I got decent sculpts of Rampage Jackson, Bradley Cooper, and Liam Neason. 2. They remind me of the A*Team JOES I got at Service Merchandice for my birthday. oh nostalgia
I REALLY LOVE that show!
I definitely remember the show - and I remember I really liked it. I had no idea there were toys.
Space Precinct was another pretty cool show that didn't get the love it deserved! It was ahead of its time, in my opinion. I am biased because I grew up watching Gerry Anderson shows in the 60's
Funnily enough, Jim Henson was going to collaborate with Gerry Anderson on Space Precinct, but he sadly passed away before they were able to work on it together.
It aired in Denmark too. I watched it as a kid and I loved it. I still do. I have the series on DVD.
Officer Silas Romek was the best. If that figure had been produced, I would have bought it 😃
I really love this series so much.❤
I remember watching a few episodes but had no idea their was a toyline
I'm guessing it didn't spend a lot of time on the pegs in most shops.
The handcuffs and the toy guns in the pretend toy set look very familiar. There are a lot of bootleg toys of it. I think Bart D'man's Channel did a review of a set with the handcuffs.
Wow I remember this show. Forgot all about this.
I'm British so I watched this, and have all the episodes lurking on a Hard drive with loads of other Gerry Anderson projects
This aired in northern California very late Saturday nights, which I would watch on a small black & white TV in my garage. It was cool, but not amazing. Definitely memorable!
I watched a bunch of this show when it was on the Sci-Fi channel back in the 90s.
They were excellent.
That Police Cruiser toy looks awesome.
I used to watch this with my dad when it was airing in the early 90's I remember in the UK is did get some hype and a decent-ish time slot.
I loved this show when it was on BBC2 in the UK
It was only last year that i found the show - never knew it was a show when I was a kid, but i still owned most of the figures - sadly they've been lost to time. I'm pretty sure the show was never aired in Denmark, but I might be wrong about that.
Hardly forgotten, It's a major part of the Anderson universe,
I loved this program as a kid had all the toys think i watched it on bbc 2
I've never heard of the show before. But I heard of Gerry Anderson. I used to watch Thunderbirds all the time. I never knew he made a live-action series. I'm going to have to look it up and see if I can find it anywhere. Like you said, maybe some episodes on TH-cam.
Aaron Nicewonger his first live action series was ufo. then space 1999. both very good shows.
In the UK I loved watching the show when I was really little and I’m quite sure I still have some of those toys in my attic
I watched it in the UK on BBC2 on Monday's at 6pm if I remember right.
I bought it on DVD from my local Barnes & Noble when I saw it with Ted Shackleford and I sold Jerry Anderson’s name. I bought it immediately but I am a fan of UFO and a fan of space 1999 so I have all three of his live action series in my library
there was an unfilmed episode you can get on audible. Welcome to Demeter City. Shows why Brogan and Haldane left Earth and how a certain character was introduced. There were also two prior pilots. One you can find on yt titled Space Police 1986.
Space Precinct 2040 is currently available on Amazon Prime streaming.
(And TH-cam).
@Toy Galaxy It tends to get taken off TH-cam. It'll be available on DVD in the next few months.
its been on dvd for over a year in the US. hell netflix used to stream it
@toomanyaccounts It's been re-released on DVD I mean in the UK.
Could you do a video on getting rid of toys? I'm culling my collection and conflicted on tackling the hassle of selling them as well as the desire to see them played with.
My English cousins had some of the action figures. I remember being like, "These are cool, but also, what are these!?"
Really enjoyed Space Precinct back in the day. The target audience/ time slot issue is so true it hurts.
It was kinda a big deal over here in the UK but got really big really fast and kinda just dispersed into nothing again. It was a weird one, kinda there for a season or two if I remember and then it just ended and I never saw it again, as a 11 year old I watched it but honestly can't remember a single character now. Great flashback video cheers my man