A 1970s TV Spaceship Inspired a Generation. Fifty Years Later, They’re Still Building It.
New documentary Beyond the Eagle Obsession holds its exclusive first screening August 22 at FilmNorth in St. Paul
ST. PAUL, MN, August 13, 2026 — In 1975, the British science fiction series Space: 1999 introduced a spacecraft called the Eagle Transporter — a lattice of struts and pods that looked less like a fantasy and more like hardware NASA might actually fly.
Fifty years on, the Eagle has one of the most devoted followings in science fiction. Fan clubs with tens of thousands of members stretch across England, Denmark, Australia, and the United States. Artists have painted and reinterpreted the ship for decades. Model builders construct it by hand in plastic, resin, and metal, some spending years on a single vessel. A licensed replica released recently sold for $440 and sold out in days. Conventions built around the series fill their rooms in hours.
Two years ago, St. Paul filmmaker Jeffrey Morris set out to understand where that devotion comes from. The resulting documentary, The Eagle Obsession, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025 and has since won 14 awards in six countries. Making it brought Morris inside the community — and the community became the subject of his next film.
Beyond the Eagle Obsession, a new 65-minute documentary, is about those people: the builders, the artists, the collectors, and the families who have handed the obsession down a generation. Morris filmed them across England, Denmark, and the United States.
The film has its exclusive first screening at FilmNorth, 2441 University Avenue West, Suite 100, St. Paul, on Saturday, August 22, 6:00–8:30 p.m., with a reception following. The screening is open to the public and admission is free, but space is limited and RSVP is required through Eventbrite. The film’s world premiere follows in October at the Twin Cities Film Festival.
A tribute to the men who imagined it
At the film’s center is an extended retrospective on Gerry Anderson, the creator of Space: 1999, Thunderbirds, Stingray, and Captain Scarlet, whose insistence on believable hardware shaped the visual language of screen science fiction. The section is anchored by an interview with his son, Jamie Anderson, now CEO of Anderson Entertainment.
The film also stands as a tribute to Brian Johnson, the Academy Award–winning visual effects artist who designed the Eagle at Bray Studios in 1974 and whose later work included Alien and The Empire Strikes Back. Johnson sat for his final interview with Morris in May, 2024 and died in June 2026, during the film’s final edit. Morris reshaped the film as a tribute to his legacy.
Beyond the Eagle Obsession features original visual effects by Tobias Richter of The Light Works, original animation by Kelly Brown, and an original score by Michael W. Nelson (the latter are both Twin Cities residents).
A companion to an award-winning film
Beyond the Eagle Obsession is the companion to Morris’s The Eagle Obsession, which had its international premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and its world premiere at the Twin Cities Film Festival, where it was named a Best Documentary finalist.
That film has since won 14 awards across 11 festivals in six countries — including the Breakthrough Award at the RAW Science Film Festival in New York, the Audience Award at the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival, Best Sci-Fi Documentary at Outer Rim, an Award of Excellence Special Mention from IndieFEST, and a Bronze Telly at the 47th Annual Telly Awards. It has screened in London, Italy, and Denmark, and holds a 9.5 rating on IMDb.
About Jeffrey Morris
Jeffrey Morris is a filmmaker, writer, and science communicator based in the Twin Cities. He has worked with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lockheed Martin, and the International Space University. His short films Oceanus and Parallel Man have drawn more than seven million views.