HUMAN DECISION REQUIRED
Some personal notes on Space: 1999
by Erkki Rautio

Space: 1999 - Banned In Finland

Time to get back to some further personal reminiscing. Space: 1999 was shown in my native Finland in 1976 (First Season) and 1978 (Second Season). In fact, the series was, with all its horror and surreal elements, so effective that they actually stopped showing it mid-season here in Finland because of the initiative of the Association of the Finnish Kindergarten Teachers who thought children will get "terror reactions" from the series. And this happened both in 1976 and 1978! I remember being at that time quite bitter about the decision and the patronising attitude that was going on here in the neighbourhood of the former Soviet Union those days. Though I heard the same thing happened in our neighbouring Sweden too, usually known for their liberal way of thinking. Which was, of course, just to increase the appeal of the series and its legendary reputation. Luckily, I've got now a bunch of videos of the series and the local TV station just re-ran it here, so things look a bit lighter, as we have now successfully passed that fateful date of September 13, 1999...

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