''Space: 1999'' is a British
science-fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...
television programme that ran for two series from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, set in the year 1999, nuclear waste stored on the
Moon's far side explodes, knocking the Moon out of orbit and sending it, as well as the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha, hurtling uncontrollably into space. ''Space: 1999'' was the last production by the partnership of
Gerry
Gerry is both a surname and a masculine or feminine given name. As a given name, it is often a short form (hypocorism) of Gerard, Gerald or Geraldine. Notable people with the name include:
Surname
*Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), fifth US vice presi ...
and
Sylvia Anderson and was the most expensive series produced for British television up to that time. The first series was co-produced by
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes.
History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...
and Italian broadcaster
RAI, while the second series was produced solely by ITC.
Storyline
Two series of the programme were produced, each comprising 24 episodes. Production of the first series was from April 1973 to February 1975; production of the second series was from January 1976 to December 1976.
The premise of ''Space: 1999'' centres on the plight of the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha, a scientific research centre on the Moon. Humanity had been storing its nuclear waste in vast disposal sites on the
far side of the Moon, but when an unknown form of "magnetic radiation" is detected, the accumulated waste reaches critical mass and causes a massive
thermonuclear explosion on 13 September 1999. The force of the blast propels the Moon like an enormous booster rocket, hurling it out of Earth orbit and into deep space at colossal speed, thus stranding the 311 personnel stationed on Alpha. The runaway Moon, in effect, becomes the "spacecraft" on which the protagonists travel, searching for a new home. Not long after leaving Earth's
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
, the wandering Moon passes through a
black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...
and later through a couple of "space warps" which push it even further out into the universe. During their interstellar journey, the Alphans encounter an array of alien civilisations,
dystopian
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
societies, and mind-bending phenomena previously unseen by humanity. Several episodes of the first series hinted that the Moon's journey was influenced (and perhaps initiated) by a "mysterious unknown force", which was guiding the Alphans toward an ultimate destiny. The second series used simpler action-oriented plots.
The first series of ''Space: 1999'' used a "teaser" introduction, sometimes called a "hook" or "
cold open
A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Ameri ...
". This was followed by a title sequence that managed to convey prestige for its two main stars, Landau and Bain (both billed as 'starring') and to give the audience some thirty-plus fast cut shots of the forthcoming episode. The second series eliminated this montage. The programme would then offer four ten-to-twelve minute long acts (allowing for commercial breaks in North America) and finished with a short (and, in the second series, often light-hearted) "epilogue" scene.
Cast
The headline stars of ''Space: 1999'' were American actors
Martin Landau
Martin James Landau (; June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's ''North ...
and
Barbara Bain
Barbara Bain (born Mildred Fogel; September 13, 1931) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cinnamon Carter on the action television series '' Mission: Impossible'' (1966–1969), which earned her three Primetime Emmy Awar ...
, who were married to each other at the time, and had previously appeared together in ''
Mission: Impossible''. To appeal to the American television market and sell the series to one of the major U.S. networks, Landau and Bain were cast at the insistence of
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...
over the objections of Sylvia Anderson, who wanted British actors.
Also appearing as regular cast members were the Canadian-based British actor
Barry Morse (as Professor Victor Bergman in the first series) and Hungarian-born, US-raised
Catherine Schell (as the alien Maya in the second series). Before moving into the role of Maya during the second series, Catherine Schell had guest-starred as a different character in the Year One episode "
Guardian of Piri
"Guardian of Piri" is the eighth episode of the first series of ''Space: 1999''. The screenplay was written by Christopher Penfold.
Story
Teaser
The moon is in range of a planet but Computer has not offered any prediction as to whether it ...
". The programme also brought Australian actor
Nick Tate
Nicholas John Tate (born 18 June 1942) is an Australian actor popularly known for his roles as pilot Alan Carter in the 1970s science fiction television series '' Space: 1999'', and James Hamilton in the 1980s Australian soap opera '' Sons an ...
to public attention.
Roy Dotrice appeared in the first episode as Commissioner Simmonds and at the end of the episode it appeared that he would be a regular character; by the second (transmitted) episode the character vanished, reappearing partway through the first series in the episode "
Earthbound
''EarthBound'', released in Japan as is a role-playing video game developed by Creatures (company), Ape Inc. and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The second entry in the Mother (video game s ...
", his only other appearance on the show, in which it is implied that he dies from
asphyxia
Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...
inside an alien spacecraft.
Over its two series, the programme featured guest appearances from
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...
,
Margaret Leighton,
Joan Collins
Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime ...
,
Jeremy Kemp
Edmund Jeremy James Walker (3 February 1935 – 19 July 2019), known professionally as Jeremy Kemp, was an English actor. He was known for his significant roles in the miniseries ''The Winds of War'' and ''War and Remembrance'', the film ''The ...
,
Peter Cushing,
Judy Geeson,
Julian Glover,
Ian McShane,
Leo McKern,
Billie Whitelaw
Billie Honor Whitelaw (6 June 1932 – 21 December 2014) was an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and was regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works. She was al ...
,
Richard Johnson,
Patrick Troughton,
Peter Bowles,
Sarah Douglas,
David Prowse,
Isla Blair
Isla Blair Glover (born 29 September 1944) is a British actress and singer. She made her first stage appearance in 1963 as Philia in the London debut of '' A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum''.
Early life and education
Isla Blair w ...
,
Stuart Damon,
Peter Duncan and
Brian Blessed. (Blair, Damon and Blessed each appeared in two episodes portraying different characters.) The English actor
Nicholas Young (who portrayed John in the original version of ''
The Tomorrow People
''The Tomorrow People'' is a British children's science fiction television series created by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran from 30 April 1973 to 19 February 1979.
The theme music was c ...
'') appeared in a Year Two episode, "The Bringers of Wonder". Several guest stars went on to appear in the ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' films, including Cushing, Glover, Lee, Blessed, Prowse,
Michael Culver,
Michael Sheard,
Richard LeParmentier
Richard LeParmentier (July 16, 1946 – April 15, 2013) was an American actor who lived and worked primarily in the United Kingdom, best known for his role as Admiral Motti in '' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'' (1977) and the acerbic police L ...
,
Shane Rimmer
Shane Rimmer (born Shane Lance Deacon; May 28, 1929 – March 29, 2019) was a Canadian actor and screenwriter who spent the majority of his career in the United Kingdom. The self-proclaimed "Rent-A-Yank" of the British entertainment industry, he ...
,
Angus MacInnes
Angus MacInnes (born 27 October 1947) is a Canadian actor. He is most famous for his role as Jon "Dutch" Vander in ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'', and as former hockey great Jean "Rosey" LaRose in the comedy ''Strange Brew''. He also appeared ...
,
Drewe Henley
Gordon Drewe Henley (1940 – 14 February 2016) was an English actor. He had a variety of roles in film, television and theatre including as Red X-Wing Squadron Leader Garven Dreis in '' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope''. He retired from actin ...
,
Jack Klaff
Jack Klaff is a South African-born actor, writer and academic. He has held professorships at Princeton University and Starlab.
Amongst his early screen roles were in Star Wars (film), Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) as Red Four and For ...
and
Jack McKenzie.
Main cast list
Production
Conception and development
''Space: 1999'' was the last in a long line of science-fiction series that Gerry and Sylvia Anderson produced as a working partnership, beginning with ''
Supercar'' in the early 1960s and including the
marionette fantasy programmes ''
Fireball XL5'', ''
Stingray
Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae ( ...
'', ''
Thunderbirds'', ''
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', ''
Joe 90'' and ''
The Secret Service'', as well as the live-action drama ''
UFO
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
''. ''Space: 1999'' owes much of its visual design to pre-production work for the never-made second series of ''UFO'', which would have been set primarily on the Moon and featured a more extensive Moonbase.
''Space: 1999'' drew a great deal of visual inspiration and technical expertise from the
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
film ''
2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968). The programme's special effects director
Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. He and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Rol ...
had previously worked on both ''Thunderbirds'' (as Brian Johncock) and ''2001''.
In 1972, Sir Lew Grade, head of
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes.
History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...
, proposed financing a second series of the Century 21 production ''UFO'' to show-runners Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Grade had one stipulation: the new series would be set primarily on the Moon within the environs of an expanded SHADO Moonbase; the ratings indicated the Moon-centric episodes had proved the most popular with audiences. The Andersons and their team would quickly revamp the production, flashing ahead nearly twenty years for ''UFO: 1999'' with Commander Ed Straker and the forces of SHADO fighting their alien foes from a large new Moonbase facility.
However, toward the end of its run, ''UFO'' experienced a drop in ratings in both the US and the UK; nervous ITC executives in both countries began to question the financial viability of the new series, and support for the project collapsed. In the meantime, production designer
Keith Wilson and the art department had made considerable progress in envisioning the look and design of the new series. Their work was then shelved for the foreseeable future.
[''Destination: Moonbase Alpha'' Telos Publications 2010]
Anderson would not let the project die; he approached Grade's number two in New York,
Abe Mandell, with the proposal for taking the research and development done for ''UFO: 1999'' and creating a new science fiction series. Mandell was amenable, but stated he did not want a series set featuring people "having tea in the Midlands" and forbade any Earth-bound settings. Anderson responded that in the series opener, he would "blow up the Earth". Mandell countered that this concept might be off-putting to viewers, to which Anderson replied he would "blow up the Moon".
[''The Making of Space: 1999'' Ballantine Books 1976]
The Andersons reworked ''UFO: 1999'' into a new premise: Commander Steven Maddox controlled the forces of WANDER, Earth's premier defence organisation, from Moon City, a twenty-mile wide installation on the Moon. Maddox would view all aspects of Earth defence from Central Control, a facility at the hub of the base and accessible only by Moon Hopper craft, which would require the correct pass-code to traverse Control's defensive laser barrier. The Commander would also have access to a personal computer called "Com-Com" (Commander's Computer), which would act as a personal advisor, having been programmed with the Commander's personality and moral sense.
In the half-hour opening episode "Zero-G" penned by the Andersons, Earth's deep space probes have discovered an advanced extraterrestrial civilisation. Maddox is kidnapped for an interview with the aliens. Angered by humanity's innate hostility and WANDER's defensive posture, they travel to Earth with the intent of isolating mankind within the boundary of Earth's atmosphere. Having judged Maddox a noble example of mankind, they return him unharmed. They then use a beam to reduce the Moon's gravitational influence to zero, sending it careening out of orbit into deep space.
The project continued forward. Group Three Productions, a partnership of the Andersons and production executive Reg Hill, was to produce the series; ITC Entertainment and Italian broadcaster
RAI were to provide the funding. Grade, aiming for a US network sale, insisted the series have American leads and employ American writers and directors.
George Bellak, a well-known American television writer, was brought on staff. As stated by series writers
Christopher Penfold
Christopher Penfold is an English scriptwriter and editor.
Television shows on which he has worked include '' Pathfinders'', '' One by One'', '' All Creatures Great and Small'', ''EastEnders'', ''Casualty'', ''The Brack Report'', the second sea ...
and
Johnny Byrne, it was Bellak who created and polished the series' defining concepts. Bellak wrote a ninety-minute opening episode titled "The Void Ahead", which was a close forerunner of "
Breakaway". Bellak also set up a writers' guide defining the three leads, the facilities of the Moonbase and potential storylines.
At this point, the staff seemed to make creative changes that brought the series closer in concept and appearance to ''
2001: A Space Odyssey''. Even the title ''Space: 1999'' evoked comparison with Kubrick's film. (Before, the title of the new series had greatly varied: ''Space Journey: 1999'', ''Journey in Space'', ''Menace in Space'' and ''Space Invaders''—the invaders of the last title being the Earthmen trapped on the runaway Moon.)
For the lead characters of John Koenig and Helena Russell, Gerry Anderson approached the husband-and-wife acting team of
Martin Landau
Martin James Landau (; June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's ''North ...
and
Barbara Bain
Barbara Bain (born Mildred Fogel; September 13, 1931) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cinnamon Carter on the action television series '' Mission: Impossible'' (1966–1969), which earned her three Primetime Emmy Awar ...
. Landau and Bain were high-profile stars in America after three years in the popular
CBS espionage series ''Mission: Impossible''. Producer Sylvia Anderson let it be known that she would have preferred British lead actors; since Grade insisted on Americans, she would have chosen
Robert Culp (star of the 1960s espionage series ''
I Spy
I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight and announces to the other players that "I spy with my little eye something beginning with...", naming the first letter of the object. Other players a ...
'') and
Katharine Ross
Katharine Juliet Ross (born January 29, 1940) is an American film, stage, and television actress. Her accolades include one Academy Award nomination, one BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. A native of Los Angeles, Ross spent most of he ...
(co-star of 1960s blockbuster movies ''
The Graduate'' and ''
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch C ...
'').
Lee H. Katzin, a highly respected American television director with a speciality for pilot episodes, was selected to direct the opening segment and brought into the fold as a primary director for the remainder of the series.
Special effects, design and music
The show's vehicles, including the ''Eagle'' space shuttle and the Moon Buggy, were represented with a mixture of full-sized props, photographic blow-ups, and detailed
scale model
A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototypes ...
s. Dozens of models for the various alien spaceships and the Mark IX Hawk from the "
War Games
A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...
" episode were built by model maker
Martin Bower
Martin Bower (born 1952) is a model maker and designer of special effects miniatures for both film and television. His credits include the television series '' Space: 1999'' (1975-8), ''Blake's 7'' (1978–81) and ''The Tripods'' (1984–85), an ...
, often at several different sizes to account for the intended use.
Rather than relying on the expensive and time-consuming
blue screen process, as for ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'', Johnson's team often employed a technique that went back to the earliest days of visual effects: spacecraft and planets would be filmed against black backgrounds, with the camera being rewound for each successive element. As long as the various elements did not overlap, this produced convincing results. In technical terms, the advantage was that all of the elements were recorded on the original negative, as opposed to blue screen, which would have involved several generations of duplication. Another benefit was that the camera's exposed negative contained completed effects thereby avoiding the costs of the blue screen "optical" technique. The disadvantage was that the number of possible angles was more limited. For instance, a spaceship could be seen approaching a planet from the side, but could not move in front of it without the elements overlapping.
[''The Making of Space: 1999'', Ballatine Books, 1976]
Special effects director
Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. He and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Rol ...
and most of his team went on to work on
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...
's ''
Alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
'' and later ''
The Empire Strikes Back''.
''Space: 1999'' used Pinewood Studios sound-stages L and M. Each studio measures , with a floor-to-grid measurement of . For the first series, Stage L housed the "standing sets"; such as Main Mission, the Eagle interior, the travel tube, and a small section of corridor. Due to the limited studio space, other sets depicting Alpha interiors, such as Medical Centre, were assembled as needed. Stage M was the "swing stage" – used for planet exteriors, spaceship interiors, and whatever else was needed for a given episode.
The unisex "Moon City" uniforms for the first series were created by Austrian fashion designer
Rudi Gernreich, a personal friend of series star Barbara Bain. Other costumes were designed by Production Designer
Keith Wilson, who was also responsible for set design. Wilson's innovative Moonbase set construction, using plastic foam-board panels, linked together Lego-like into whatever room configuration was required, made for a uniform and realistic appearance for the Alpha interiors (not to mention being relatively cheap and quickly assembled).
For the second series, the Moonbase uniforms were updated and coloured decorative stitching and turtleneck collars were added, as were various badges and patches. Red, navy, or dark-green jackets also appeared, originally on just the senior staff, then on many of the male extras. The female characters tended to wear skirts and knee-high boots throughout the second series, rather than the flared trousers used in Year One. The costumes for Year Two were designed by Emma Porteous, who later designed the wardrobes for several ''
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
'' films.
The Moonbase interiors were also upgraded for the second year, with the existing stock of wall panels, doors, and computer panels (along with some bits from other Anderson productions) being assembled for the first time—on Stage L—into a standing complex of interconnected sets (the first series' sets had been assembled as needed and the size of the Main Mission/Command Office complex was prohibitive for the construction of a lasting series of rooms.)
Vibrant colour was much more evident in this series' Moonbase sets. Gadgets and equipment with a futuristic appearance typical of contemporary science fiction were also more evident. For example, Helena no longer used a stethoscope, but a little beeping, all-purpose medical scanner similar to Dr McCoy's whistling medical "tricorder" on ''Star Trek''.
The opening credits for the first series featured a dramatic fanfare composed by long-time Anderson associate
Barry Gray, whose
scores for the series were his final compositions for an Anderson production. Gray scored five episodes—"
Breakaway", "
Matter of Life and Death", "Black Sun", "
Another Time, Another Place", and "
The Full Circle" —
Vic Elmes provided a completely electronic score for "
Ring Around the Moon", and
Big Jim Sullivan performed a one-off
sitar
The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...
composition for "
The Troubled Spirit". Library music, classical compositions, and score excerpts from earlier Anderson productions augmented the five Gray scores and gave the impression of an expansive musical repertoire.
The second series was scored by jazz musician and composer
Derek Wadsworth
Derek Wadsworth (5 February 1939 – 3 December 2008) was an English jazz musician, composer and arranger.
Early life
Wadsworth was born in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire on 5 February 1939. His first instrument was the cornet and he started playing the ...
; American producer
Fred Freiberger
Fred Freiberger (February 19, 1915March 2, 2003) was an American film and television writer and television producer, whose career spanned four decades and work on such films as ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' (1953) and TV series including ''Ben ...
wanted a more "driving, searing" score for his new action-adventure format.
Aside from the new theme music, which was more synthesised than the theme for Year One, Wadsworth also composed original music for the episodes "
The Metamorph
"The Metamorph" is the first episode of the second series of '' Space: 1999'' (and the twenty-fifth overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Charles Crichton. Previous titles were "The Bio ...
", "
The Exiles", "
One Moment of Humanity", "
The Taybor", and "
Space Warp". Much of this music was reused in other episodes.
Other Anderson shows influenced the ''Space: 1999'' spacecraft and elements. The cockpit of the Eagle has a slight resemblance to the cockpit of an earlier Anderson
Supermarionation
Supermarionation (a portmanteau of the words "super", "marionette" and " animation")La Rivière 2009, p. 67. is a style of television and film production employed by British company AP Films (later Century 21 Productions) in its puppet T ...
series, ''Fireball XL5''. Thruster and engine sounds were similar to those previously used in ''Fireball XL5'', ''Thunderbirds'', and ''Captain Scarlet''. Lighting effects for Moonbase Alpha were comparable to those from ''UFO'', as well as the concept of the elevating spacecraft launch pad.
After almost 30 years, the original Moonbase Alpha model reappeared in the public eye online when a site gained exclusive access to photomap the model and solicit its sale.
[Images of the model as it is today can be see]
here.
Series 1
As the November 1973 start date approached, George Bellak fell out with Gerry Anderson over creative issues and left the production. Story consultant
Christopher Penfold
Christopher Penfold is an English scriptwriter and editor.
Television shows on which he has worked include '' Pathfinders'', '' One by One'', '' All Creatures Great and Small'', ''EastEnders'', ''Casualty'', ''The Brack Report'', the second sea ...
acted as head writer, bringing in American writer
Edward di Lorenzo and Irish poet
Johnny Byrne as script editors. Penfold reworked Bellak's opening episode into a one-hour draft first re-titled "Turning Point", then finalised as "Breakaway".
One week before live action filming commenced, Visual Effects Supervisor
Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. He and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Rol ...
and his team began work on the visual effects sequences for the first episode at
Bray Studios near
Maidenhead
Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...
,
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
on 5 November 1973. For the first six weeks, no usable footage resulted until the team discovered a dragging brake had affected film speed. Studio rehearsals commenced at
Elstree Studios near
Borehamwood,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
on 12 November 1973. During filming of the first episode, it became apparent that the troubled Elstree was under the threat of imminent closure. One weekend, the company secretly relocated sets, props, costumes, etc., to
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London.
The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...
at
Iver Heath,
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
, resulting in a union blacklisting of the production.
Scheduled for ten days' filming, "Breakaway" overran an additional fifteen days. Lee Katzin was a perfectionist and demanded take after take of scenes; even coverage of reaction shots of the background extras required running a whole scene from beginning to end. His two-hour director's cut was assembled and sent to ITC New York for a viewing. Abe Mandell was horrified by the finished product. Anderson re-wrote several key scenes and, after three days of re-shoots, re-edited the pilot into a one-hour episode that appeased the fears of ITC. Katzin was not asked back to the programme after the filming of his second episode "Black Sun", which also ran over schedule.
Scheduled for a twelve-month shoot, the twenty-four episodes took fifteen months to complete, with the production experiencing a number of difficulties. Britain's
mandatory three-day work week in the early months of 1974 and the unplugging of the National Grid during the coal shortages due to industrial unrest of the early 1970s did not delay filming, for Pinewood had its own generators, but it affected film processing because the lab was an off-site contractor.
Group Three's commitment to its financial partner,
RAI, to include Italian actors in the cast also had to be addressed. Originally, two supporting roles were intended for Italian actors; with the casting of
Nick Tate
Nicholas John Tate (born 18 June 1942) is an Australian actor popularly known for his roles as pilot Alan Carter in the 1970s science fiction television series '' Space: 1999'', and James Hamilton in the 1980s Australian soap opera '' Sons an ...
and
Zienia Merton
Zienia Merton (11 December 1945 – 14 September 2018) was a British actress born in Burma. She was known for playing Sandra Benes in '' Space: 1999''.
Early career
Merton was the daughter of Minny and Cecil Burton. Her mother was Burmese, and ...
in those roles, a solution had to be worked out. Four of the later episodes produced ("
The Troubled Spirit", "
Space Brain
'' Space: 1999'', a British science-fiction television series, ran for 48 episodes broadcast between 1975 and 1977. The first series (or season, often referred to as Year One) of 24 episodes began transmission in 1975, though production of the fi ...
", "
Dragon's Domain
"Dragon's Domain" is the eighth episode of the first series of '' Space: 1999''. The screenplay was written by Christopher Penfold; the director was Charles Crichton. The final shooting script was dated 21 January 1975, with blue-page amendments ...
" and "
The Testament of Arkadia") featured Italian guest artists.
The necessity to telex story outlines and scripts to New York for approval caused further production delays. The incessant re-writing this brought about eventually caused
Christopher Penfold
Christopher Penfold is an English scriptwriter and editor.
Television shows on which he has worked include '' Pathfinders'', '' One by One'', '' All Creatures Great and Small'', ''EastEnders'', ''Casualty'', ''The Brack Report'', the second sea ...
to resign during the shooting of "
Space Brain
'' Space: 1999'', a British science-fiction television series, ran for 48 episodes broadcast between 1975 and 1977. The first series (or season, often referred to as Year One) of 24 episodes began transmission in 1975, though production of the fi ...
", after completing his writing commitment with the script "Dragon's Domain". In a later interview, Johnny Byrne stated that "one episode they (New York) would ask us to speed things up, forcing us to cut out character development; then the next episode, they asked for more character moments, which would slow down the action; then they would complain there weren't enough pretty girls in another."
Years later, Byrne and Penfold would agree that the process they worked under made "good scripts less than they had been" and forced them to waste time re-writing "bad scripts to make them acceptable".
Byrne remained until the end of production; his last tasks were writing filler scenes for the desperately short "
The Last Enemy" and a re-shoot for the troublesome "Space Brain". The scenes re-mounted for "The Last Enemy" concluded principal photography on 28 February 1975.
Countries where the show was sold include France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Poland, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Peru, Japan, Malaysia, Canada, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. One of the first previews of the series was in Australia on the
Seven Network
The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...
in July 1975, but the station later split the first series into two series. The second series was shown in 1979.
Reception
Response to the series varied; some critics praised it as a classic, citing the production values and multi-layered storytelling ("''Space: 1999'' is like ''Star Trek'' shot full of
methedrine
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Metham ...
. It is the most flashy, gorgeous sci-fi trip ever to appear on TV..." and "''Space: 1999'' is a visually stunning, space-age morality play..."); others panned it for poor plotting and wooden acting, especially on the part of Barbara Bain ("the plots and characterisation on ''Space: 1999'' have been primitive..." and "A disappointing collage of wooden characters, boring dialogue and incomprehensible plots...").
Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR
, spouse =
, relatives =
, children = 2
, death_date =
, death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
, nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...
criticised the scientific accuracy of the series by pointing out that any explosion capable of knocking the Moon out of its orbit would actually blow it apart, and even if it did leave orbit it would take hundreds of thousands of years to reach the nearest star. He also noted that describing Moonbase Alpha as being on the "dark side" of the moon was an error as no part of the Moon is permanently dark. If the far side was meant rather than the dark side, Asimov points out, then the explosion would drive the Moon towards Earth, not away from it. He praised the programme for the accuracy of the representation of movement in the low gravity environment of the Moon, and for its realistic production design. Asimov's responses were based on the pilot episode only. Subsequent episodes (such as "The Black Sun", third in production order, and "Another Time, Another Place", sixth in production order) suggest the Moon reaches the stars by passing through wormholes and hyperspatial tunnels, a plot point made more overt in the second series' episodes, notably "The Taybor" and "Space Warp". This issue is left somewhat enigmatic in the first series as episodes involving other planets invariably begin with the Moon having already reached a planet and in the first few episodes of this kind, such as "Matter of Life and Death" and "Missing Link", the episodes actually begin with the Alphans on their way back from a planet, an initial Eagle flight having taken place before the episode even begins.
In the February 28, 1976 edition of ''TV Guide'', critic Cleveland Amory panned the series. In his review he noted, "
ere was practically no dialogue for quite a while, which, in view of what was to come, was a terrific idea. Then came lines like… 'We're sitting on the biggest bomb ever made.' In a show like this, that's one line they should have avoided at any price." He criticized the acting, saying, "The special effects are good, but the actors are awful, even Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, whom you will remember from Mission:Impossible; and Barry Morse, of The Fugitive. Miss Bain's part is the zombiest, which is some distinction, as the cast is huge."
Gerry and Sylvia Anderson were surprised and disappointed that the public (and critics) never granted them the
suspension of disbelief
Suspension of disbelief, sometimes called willing suspension of disbelief, is the avoidance of critical thinking or logic in examining something unreal or impossible in reality, such as a work of speculative fiction, in order to believe it for ...
given to other science-fiction programmes.
The characters seem aware of the apparent implausibility of their situation. In "Black Sun", Victor Bergman asserts the chances of their surviving the explosion which knocked them from orbit are "just about infinite." In "Matter of Life and Death", Koenig remarks "many things have happened since we broke away from our own solar system, unexplainable things." How they survived and are able to travel the Universe seems to be a central mystery to which the Alphans, and the audience, have no concrete answers.
Speaking about the show in 2010, Bain reflected: "We had some very good science fiction people as advisors who knew what they were talking about. For instance, they knew that sound up there wouldn't travel, and it would just be quiet up there. But then we wouldn't have a series, so we couldn't do that. There were various considerations that had to be made, but they were based on what is, or what was, known at the time. For all I know now it's out of date. I don't really know."
She added that some of the technology on ''Space: 1999'' has come to pass: "We made up a scanning device for Dr Russell. Someone would simply be lying on the floor half dead, and I would
can them
Can may refer to:
Containers
* Aluminum can
* Drink can
* Oil can
* Steel and tin cans
* Trash can
* Petrol can
* Metal can (disambiguation)
Music
* Can (band), West Germany, 1968
** ''Can'' (album), 1979
* Can (South Korean band)
Other
* C ...
with this funny little thing that was a prop. I could read all his vital signs. They can pretty much do that
ith a medical devicenowadays. There were times that we were playing with props that didn't read anything — I just had a bunch of dialogue to say after. We had the Commlock. All of those things were on the verge of happening anyway. Now we're way past it. When we made it, 1999 seemed so far away."
Cancellation and revival
Following the completion of the first series, the production team prepared for a second series to commence production in the autumn of 1975. Gerry Anderson had staff writer Johnny Byrne prepare a critical analysis of the first twenty-four episodes, assessing their strengths and weaknesses in order to mount a new and improved second year.
Byrne then commenced writing scripts in an improved first-series format: "The Biological Soul", "The Face of Eden", and "Children of the Gods". He engaged British writer
Donald James
Donald James (born Donald James Wheal; 22 August 1931 – 28 April 2008) was a British television writer, novelist and non-fiction writer.
Life and career
Born in World's End, Chelsea, and educated at Sloane Grammar School and Pembroke Colleg ...
to develop his first-series format story "The Exiles". Director Ray Austin was again contracted as one of the main directors of the show and stayed with the show until leaving to direct in America.
The largest stumbling block for the staff had been having all material vetted by ITC's New York office. ITC's compromise was to hire a high-profile American staff writer-producer. At this time, Sylvia Anderson left her role as producer when she and Gerry Anderson formally separated (and subsequently divorced).
Fred Freiberger
Fred Freiberger (February 19, 1915March 2, 2003) was an American film and television writer and television producer, whose career spanned four decades and work on such films as ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' (1953) and TV series including ''Ben ...
, whom Gerry Anderson had considered for the writing position, was then brought on board to help guide the series as a producer and acted as show-runner. Freiberger had produced the third and final season of ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' in 1968–1969 and eight episodes of the first season of ''
The Wild Wild West
''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western, espionage, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels w ...
'' (including one in which Martin Landau guest-starred) before being dismissed. Immediately after ''Space: 1999'' he would go on to produce what would be the final season of ''
The Six Million Dollar Man
''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is reb ...
''. His writing credits included ''
Slattery's People
''Slattery's People'' is a 1964–65 American television series about local politics starring Richard Crenna as title character James Slattery, a state legislator, co-starring Ed Asner and Tol Avery, and featuring Carroll O'Connor and Warren Oat ...
'', ''
The Iron Horse'', ''
All in the Family'', ''
Petrocelli'', and ''
Starsky and Hutch
''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a ''Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired by th ...
''. Though Anderson and Grade were satisfied with this choice, Abe Mandell had concerns about why he was unemployed and available at the time.
Then
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes.
History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...
President Sir
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...
abruptly cancelled the series' production in late 1975 when ratings in the United States had dropped during the later autumn months of the year. Grade had already been disappointed by the lack of an American network broadcast sale. Gerry Anderson and Fred Freiberger rallied and pitched the idea of a new series with the addition of an alien character to Moonbase Alpha, who would shake up the dynamic of interaction on the Moonbase and regain viewer interest in the United States. On the strength of Anderson and Freiberger's proposal of adding an alien character from the planet Psychon named Maya, Mandell approved a renewal of the series for a second year.
In addition to the alien Maya character, to be played by
Catherine Schell, numerous other changes were made for what was branded Year Two. The most visible change was the absence of Professor Bergman (
Barry Morse). Morse's departure was due to a salary dispute, but he later claimed that he was glad to leave, and he had told Anderson: "I would rather play with grown-ups for a while." With Morse gone, the role of the
boffin on Alpha was filled completely by Maya, whose people's science was far in advance of mankind's. Also, her character was conceived to be able to provide "outside observation of human behaviour" as had been provided by the character of
Mr. Spock
Spock is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He first appeared in the original ''Star Trek'' series serving aboard the starship USS ''Enterprise'' as science officer and first officer (and Kirk's Second-in-command) and ...
on ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
''. Maya shared Spock's logical approach to problem-solving and advanced intelligence, but differed in that she was a charming, fully emotional person. Most importantly, however, her Psychon abilities as a
metamorph
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...
with the power of "molecular transformation" allowed her to convert herself into any living thing for an hour at a time, were designed to add a certain "wow" factor to the newly revamped series. Maya had an impish sense of humour. When love-interest Tony Verdeschi offered her some of his home-brewed beer, Maya tried it, then turned herself into
Mister Hyde
''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is a 1886 Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old ...
. Schell had previously guest-starred as the Servant of the Guardian in the Year One episode "
Guardian of Piri
"Guardian of Piri" is the eighth episode of the first series of ''Space: 1999''. The screenplay was written by Christopher Penfold.
Story
Teaser
The moon is in range of a planet but Computer has not offered any prediction as to whether it ...
".
In addition to the cosmetic changes, the characters were "warmed up." Koenig and Russell went from a barely noticeable courtship to a physically passionate, full-fledged romance, in which the devotion ran so deep that they offered to die for each other ("Brian the Brain"). In addition to Bergman, Year One supporting characters Paul Morrow (
Prentis Hancock
Prentis Hancock (born 14 May 1942) is a British actor, best known for his television roles.
He was a regular cast member of the first season of science fiction series '' Space: 1999'' as Paul Morrow, and also appeared in a number of '' Docto ...
), David Kano (
Clifton Jones
Clifton Jones (born 26 July 1937, St. Andrew, Jamaica) is a Jamaican actor known for his roles in British television.
Career
He played the role of Jo's boyfriend in the original Theatre Workshop production of Shelagh Delaney's '' A Taste of H ...
) and Tanya Alexander (
Suzanne Roquette
Suzanne Roquette (30 August 1942 – 28 May 2020) was a German actress. She is best known for her role as Main Mission Operative Tanya Alexander in Year One of the science fiction television series '' Space: 1999''. Space: 1999 costar Prentis Hanc ...
) were also removed from the cast (Paul and Tanya's disappearance is explained in the Powys Media book ''The Forsaken'' by John Kenneth Muir. In the 2022 ''Space: 1999 Moonbase Alpha Technical Operations Manual'' he is revealed to be in a year-long coma following an accident. David Kano's job is assumed to be no longer based in Command Centre and no mention is made of Tanya). Dr. Bob Mathias (
Anton Phillips
Anton Phillips (born 31 October 1943) is a Jamaican-born British actor who found success appearing in British television. He remains best known for his role as Dr. Bob Mathias in the science fiction series '' Space: 1999''. Also a theatre prod ...
) was present in the first two Year Two episodes, was mentioned in the third episode, and then also disappeared without a trace. His character was replaced by several recurring physicians. Alan Carter (
Nick Tate
Nicholas John Tate (born 18 June 1942) is an Australian actor popularly known for his roles as pilot Alan Carter in the 1970s science fiction television series '' Space: 1999'', and James Hamilton in the 1980s Australian soap opera '' Sons an ...
) was to have been written out of the series, but he had become so popular with fans that he remained. Sandra Benes (
Zienia Merton
Zienia Merton (11 December 1945 – 14 September 2018) was a British actress born in Burma. She was known for playing Sandra Benes in '' Space: 1999''.
Early career
Merton was the daughter of Minny and Cecil Burton. Her mother was Burmese, and ...
) remained with the series in an on-again off-again association, but the character only appeared in a fraction of the episodes, albeit more prominently in some than in many of those of the first series.
Security Chief Tony Verdeschi also joined as a new character, played by
Tony Anholt. Verdeschi, who assumed the base's second-in-command role, neither appeared, nor was ever mentioned, in Year One. However, Moonbase Alpha personnel treated Verdeschi as if he had been in their midst since "Breakaway". His character was designed to serve primarily as a secondary male action hero, and became a romantic interest for Maya.
No on-screen explanations were offered for the cast changes. One scene in "
The Metamorph
"The Metamorph" is the first episode of the second series of '' Space: 1999'' (and the twenty-fifth overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Charles Crichton. Previous titles were "The Bio ...
" mentioning Bergman's death was scripted and filmed, but cut from the final edit. ''
The Moonbase Alpha Technical Manual'' produced by ''
Starlog
''Starlog'' was a monthly science fiction magazine that was created in 1976 and focused primarily on '' Star Trek'' at its inception. Kerry O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs were its creators and it was published by Starlog Group, Inc. in August 1976. ...
'' magazine picks up this explanation, stating Bergman died due to a faulty spacesuit per the scripted scene. Likewise, it was mentioned in this publication that Morrow and Kano had died in an Eagle crash between series and explained that Dr. Mathias, supposedly Alpha's
psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
(although he seems to be more Russell's assistant), was on sabbatical doing research. Fred Freiberger felt that these characters were one-dimensional and had no fan support; he told Nick Tate that the audience would not remember them and that, as far as he was concerned, they were just "somewhere else" on Alpha, lost in the crowd of three hundred other people.
Freiberger failed to appreciate the value of the supporting characters to the show and its fans.
Other changes included the
main titles and
theme music. Year One's opening montage of events from "
Breakaway" and the episode about to unfold was dropped in favour of a special-effects sequence depicting the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
being blown out of orbit into space. With Morse gone, Schell was featured in his place as a regular alongside Landau and Bain, and all three were depicted in action-oriented images as opposed to the
mannequin
A mannequin (also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles. Pr ...
-like stances Landau and Bain had assumed in the Year One main titles. New series composer
Derek Wadsworth
Derek Wadsworth (5 February 1939 – 3 December 2008) was an English jazz musician, composer and arranger.
Early life
Wadsworth was born in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire on 5 February 1939. His first instrument was the cornet and he started playing the ...
's new theme dropped
Barry Gray's alternation between stately, orchestral passages and funky rhythmic ones in favour of a more consistently contemporary piece.
Rudi Gernreich's minimalist costume was considerably modified from the original
unisex
Unisex is an adjective indicating something is not sex-specific, i.e. is suitable for any type of sex. The term can also mean gender-blindness or gender neutrality.
The term 'unisex' was coined as a neologism in the 1960s and was used fairly inf ...
design to include an optional
skirt and leather boots for women and much more detail work on the
tunic
A tunic is a garment for the body, usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the knees. The name derives from the Latin ''tunica'', the basic garment worn by both men and women in Ancient Rome ...
portion, including turtleneck collars, coloured stitching, patches and photo-ID badges. In addition, colourful jackets (generally red, blue or green) became part of most characters' ensembles.
The expansive "Main Mission" set, with its
balcony
A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor.
Types
The traditional Maltese balcony is ...
and windows revealing the lunar surface, was replaced by a more compact "Command Center" (they used the American spelling on the set), supposedly deep underground (again, this change was explained in the Year Two Writers' Bible and ''Technical Manual'' as necessary for security, but never explained onscreen). Medical Centre, Generator Section, Life Support and the Alphans' living quarters became smaller, while the interior of the Eagle command module was updated with additional buttons, flashing lights and television monitors, while the Eagle also lost a section of corridor (the galley/storage area) between the passenger module and the cockpit. (This was to accommodate its placement on Pinewood Soundstage "L", with the other standing Alpha sets; the Eagle was permanently affixed to the boarding tube/travel tube set and jammed between the travel-tube reception area and the Medical Centre.)
The sombre mood created in Year One by the effective use of light and shadow in the filming of Moonbase Alpha interiors was abandoned in favour of a generally brighter cinematography, and even the lettering used in signage and costuming—most noticeable on spacesuits and Eagle Transporter doors—changed to a simpler, less futuristic style.
Production Designer
Keith Wilson stated in an interview in ''Destination: Moonbase Alpha'' that he was always being ordered by Producer
Fred Freiberger
Fred Freiberger (February 19, 1915March 2, 2003) was an American film and television writer and television producer, whose career spanned four decades and work on such films as ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' (1953) and TV series including ''Ben ...
to make sets smaller, taking away the expansive (and expensive) look of the first series' interiors. Freiberger was very budget-conscious and, despite press releases to the contrary, the production team was working with less money this series.
If there had been a budget increase, the '
stagflation' economy of the 1970s would have cancelled it out. When interviewed, many of the actors state they were asked to accept less money, including Landau and Bain (who were the only ones with enough clout to be able to refuse).
Freiberger emphasised action-adventure in Year Two stories to the exclusion of
metaphysical
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
themes explored in Year One. Of Year One, he commented, "They were doing the show as an English show, where there was no story, with the people standing around and talking. In the first show I did, I stressed action as well as character development, along with strong story content, to prove that ''1999'' could stand up to the American concept of what an action-adventure show should be." Since Year One was quite serious in tone, one of Freiberger's ways to accomplish this objective was to inject humour into Year Two stories whenever possible, but much of it seemed to the more vocal fans to be forced, especially at the conclusion of an episode, where the Alphans were seen as jovial and light-hearted despite whatever violent or tragic events might have previously befallen them. Freiberger had appropriated this approach from ''Star Trek''; the endings of many of that show's episodes featured an upbeat discussion among the cast of the lessons learned during the episode and closing on a joke; this approach was copied for ''Space: 1999'' with Koenig, Verdeschi, Russell, Carter and Maya enjoying a laugh in the Command Center. Given Landau's intensity and the brooding nature of the Koenig character, the approach did not fit the series.
Members of the ''Space: 1999'' cast were disenchanted with the scripts. Martin Landau: "They changed it because a bunch of American minds got into the act and they decided to do many things they felt were commercial. Fred Freiberger helped in some respects, but, overall, I don't think he helped the show, I think he brought a much more ordinary, mundane approach to the series."
One particular episode ('
All That Glisters', which dealt with the threat of an intelligent rock) was of such allegedly deficient quality that it sparked a confrontation between Freiberger and the cast. Landau disliked the story so strongly that he wrote the following notes on his copy of the script: "All the credibility we're building up is totally forsaken in this script."; "...Story is told poorly."; and "The character of Koenig takes a terrible beating in this script — We're all schmucks." Anholt revealed that, "the more the cast complained about a script's flaws, the more intractable and unyielding Freiberger became." Dissatisfaction on Landau's part about scripts was not new to Year Two, though. Sylvia Anderson remembered that he often voiced criticisms of scripts during production of the first series.
Series 2
With the last-minute renewal from Grade, the production team hit the ground running for Series Two. Johnny Byrne's script "The Biological Soul", involving the Alphans' encounter with the unstable Mentor of the planet Psychon and his biological computer ''Psyche'', was rewritten to include the new character
Maya and the rest of the format changes; the episode produced from this script was retitled "
The Metamorph
"The Metamorph" is the first episode of the second series of '' Space: 1999'' (and the twenty-fifth overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Charles Crichton. Previous titles were "The Bio ...
". Production began on 26 January 1976 and was scheduled to last a mere ten months for all episodes.
To fulfil the scheduling requirement and cut production costs, Freiberger used the "double-up script" solution. During "double-up" instalments, two first-unit production teams would film two episodes simultaneously. Landau and some of the supporting cast would be given expanded roles and would film an episode on location or on sets constructed for that story in Pinewood's Soundstage "M", while Bain and the remaining supporting cast (also in expanded roles) would film their episode in the standing Alpha sets on Soundstage "L". Landau and Bain would then be given minor roles in the opposing episodes. This measure was used to complete eight stories as four pairs: "
The Rules of Luton" and "
The Mark of Archanon"; "
The AB Chrysalis" and "
Catacombs of the Moon"; "
A Matter of Balance
'' Space: 1999'', a British science-fiction television series, ran for 48 episodes broadcast between 1975 and 1977. The first series (or season, often referred to as Year One) of 24 episodes began transmission in 1975, though production of the fi ...
" and "
Space Warp"; "
Devil's Planet" and "
Dorzak
'' Space: 1999'', a British science-fiction television series, ran for 48 episodes broadcast between 1975 and 1977. The first series (or season, often referred to as Year One) of 24 episodes began transmission in 1975, though production of the fi ...
". A ninth episode, "
The Beta Cloud
"The Beta Cloud" is the fourteenth episode of the second series of '' Space: 1999'' (and the thirty-eighth episode overall of the programme). The screenplay was written by Charles Woodgrove (a pseudonym of producer Fred Freiberger); the director ...
", was intentionally scripted with only one day's worth of work for Landau and Bain to allow their planned holiday to the French Riviera not to delay the series' production; the four supporting cast members (Schell, Anholt, Tate and Merton) were the recipients of much greater than usual exposure.
Relations between new producer Freiberger and the Year One veterans were strained. Landau complained about stories he felt were lightweight or absurd when compared to the previous year's efforts. He wrote on the cover of one script: "I'm not going out on a limb for this show because I'm not in accord with what you're
reiberger
Anastasija Reiberger, née Ryzhikh (born 19 September 1977 in Omsk) is a Russian-born Germany, German pole vaulter. She is the older sister of fellow pole vaulter Lisa Ryzih. Her greatest success was the gold medal in the 1999 IAAF World Indoor ...
doing as a result ... etc. I don't think I even want to do the promos—I don't want to push the show any more as I have in the past. It's not my idea of what the show should be. It's embarrassing to me if I am not the star of it and in the way I feel it should be. This year should be more important to it, not less important to it ... I might as well work less hard in all of them."
[''Destination: Moonbase Alpha'' Telos Publications, 2010] Johnny Byrne said that Freiberger was a good man and good producer, but not good for ''Space: 1999''. He had gotten them a second year after the cancellation, but the changes he made did not benefit the show.
Principal photography came to an end on 23 December 1976 with "
The Dorcons
"The Dorcons" is the twenty-fourth episode of the second season of '' Space: 1999'' (and the forty-eighth and final overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Tom Clegg. Original titles wer ...
". An article regarding a third series was printed in the trade papers: "Now entrenched in its successful second season boom, ITC is looking forward to a third season with more fantastic events and additions, although mum's the word at the studio. They will only say that Maya and Miss Schell will be kept in and that the budget may be raised again, but that's all until final preparations and an official announcement are made."
Series 3 (canceled)
The producers and studio intended to continue the show with a third series. This was to be shorter than the previous two, with 13 episodes, for budget reasons. Maya was considered to be a successful character, and the producers began grooming her for a spinoff show that would run concurrently with the third series of ''Space: 1999''. Had this project gone ahead, Maya would have been absent from ''Space: 1999''. The "Maya" series was also intended to run for 13 episodes a year.
As filming on Year Two came to its conclusion, it became apparent that there would be no third series, and the second series ended with the episode "
The Dorcons
"The Dorcons" is the twenty-fourth episode of the second season of '' Space: 1999'' (and the forty-eighth and final overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Tom Clegg. Original titles wer ...
". The Maya spin-off was also abandoned. According to statements by Martin Landau on the ''Space: 1999/UFO – The Documentaries'' produced by Kindred, the reason for cancellation was due to financier Lew Grade's decision to redirect funding to new movie projects, such as ''
Raise the Titanic
''Raise the Titanic!'' is a 1976 adventure novel by Clive Cussler, published in the United States by the Viking Press. It tells the story of efforts to bring the remains of the ill-fated ocean liner RMS ''Titanic'' to the surface of the Atlanti ...
''.
Final episode "Message from Moonbase Alpha" (unofficial)
Filmed on 29 August 1999, ''
Message from Moonbase Alpha'' is a fan-produced mini-episode made with the co-operation and involvement of ''Space: 1999'' script editor
Johnny Byrne, who penned the script. Filmed inside a private house on a working replica of Moonbase Alpha's Technical Section and utilising the original prop of Koenig's Command Center desk and
Sandra Benes
''Space: 1999'' is a British science-fiction television programme that ran for two series from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, set in the year 1999, nuclear waste stored on the Moon's far side explodes, knocking the Moon out of orbit an ...
's original Year Two Alpha uniform, the short film was first shown at the ''Space: 1999 Breakaway Convention''
in Los Angeles, California on 13 September 1999—the day the events in episode 1 of the series were supposed to take place. With the permission of (then) copyright owners Carlton Media International, the film includes brief clips from seven episodes to illustrate the deserted Moonbase Alpha and the Alphans' exodus to planet Terra Alpha. Previously unused footage shot for the Year Two title sequence and "The Last Enemy" was used to create a sequence showing the Moon being affected by a gravitational disturbance and thrown into an unknown solar system. Short excerpts from 12 other episodes appeared in a montage as Sandra Benes recalls her life on Alpha.
The seven-minute film features
Zienia Merton
Zienia Merton (11 December 1945 – 14 September 2018) was a British actress born in Burma. She was known for playing Sandra Benes in '' Space: 1999''.
Early career
Merton was the daughter of Minny and Cecil Burton. Her mother was Burmese, and ...
reprising her role as
Sandra Benes
''Space: 1999'' is a British science-fiction television programme that ran for two series from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, set in the year 1999, nuclear waste stored on the Moon's far side explodes, knocking the Moon out of orbit an ...
delivering a final message to Earth as the only crew member left on Moonbase Alpha while a massive exodus to a habitable planet, Terra Alpha, takes place with the rest of the crew. The evacuation was also necessitated by the degradation and decay of Alpha's life support systems. This basically gave the series the conclusion that it never had in its initial run. Taking place twenty five years after the events of "Breakaway", Commander Koenig and Maya are mentioned during Sandra's message. It concludes with the termination of the message as Sandra closes down Alpha's operational systems and transmits the message- which turns out to be the mysterious signal received shortly before the events of "Breakaway".
Modified versions of ''Message from Moonbase Alpha'' are available on DVD bonus discs in the U.S., Canada, France and Italy. The original version appears as a bonus feature on the ''Space: 1999/UFO – The Documentaries'' DVD produced by
Fanderson
Fanderson is the official appreciation society for the works of British film and television producers Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Based in the United Kingdom, but with an international membership, it is a not-for-profit organisation run by a small ...
.
Compilation films
Following the series' cancellation, four feature-length films were compiled from various episodes for syndication and foreign theatrical release: ''Destination Moonbase Alpha'' (1978), ''Alien Attack'' (1979), ''Journey Through the Black Sun'' (1982), and ''Cosmic Princess'' (1982). ''Alien Attack'', though the second of these films to be released, was an expansion of the show's pilot episode. Most contained new footage (''Alien Attack'', for example, included new scenes set on Earth, though not involving the TV cast). The background of the series was retconned, with the events now stated as having taken place in the year 2100 A.D. rather than 1999.
A compilation film was also produced in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, titled "''Spazio 1999''" (the series's Italian-language title) to launch the series. It was released on 14 January 1975, a year before the series was broadcast in the country, and compiled scenes from the episodes "Breakaway", "Ring Around the Moon" and "Another Time, Another Place", accompanied by scores from noted soundtrack composer
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...
.
Broadcast history
United Kingdom
The series premiered in September 1975, on the
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
network but was not broadcast nationally at the same time (this remained the case until a repeat airing on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
in 1998). Most ITV regions (including
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
,
Grampian,
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
,
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
,
Border
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...
,
ATV
ATV may refer to:
Broadcasting
* Amateur television
*Analog television
Television stations and companies
* Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra
* ATV (Armenia)
* ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate
* ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne
* ATV (Austria)
* AT ...
, and
Tyne Tees) premiered the series on Thursday, 4 September 1975 in a 7.00pm slot.
London Weekend Television (LWT) and
Anglia screened the first episode two days later on Saturday, 6 September at 5.50pm. The
Granada
Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
region began showing the series on Friday, 26 September 1975, initially at 7.35pm before moving to 6.35pm a few weeks later. The
HTV region did not begin showing the series until October 1975, again in an early Friday evening slot. However, within a few weeks, various stations had moved the series elsewhere in their schedules.
The second series premiered on LWT in a non-prime-time slot on Saturday 4 September 1976 at 11.30am, with
ATV
ATV may refer to:
Broadcasting
* Amateur television
*Analog television
Television stations and companies
* Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra
* ATV (Armenia)
* ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate
* ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne
* ATV (Austria)
* AT ...
following on just a few hours later at 5.40pm.
Granada
Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
,
Westward and
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
started to screen the series in early 1977,
Grampian, and
Tyne Tees did not screen the series until later in the year.
STV started to screen the series on 9 April 1978 on Sunday afternoons. HTV did not pick the series up until 1984 and then only showed nineteen out of the twenty-four episodes from Year Two (the last episodes were not screened in Wales until the series was repeated in the 1990s).
Southern Television
Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as 'Southern Television Limited' and the title 'Southern Television' was con ...
was the other ITV region known not to have broadcast series two. Even its successor broadcaster,
Television South
Television South (TVS) was the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise holder in the South East England, South and South East of England between 1 January 1982 at 9.25 am and 31 December 1992 at 11.59 pm. The company operated under various names, ini ...
, failed to screen any series two episodes when ''Space: 1999'' was reshown in other ITV regions between 1982 and 1985.
United States
In the United States, efforts to sell the series to one of the three networks for the 1974–75 or 1975–76 television seasons failed. The networks were uninterested in a project over which they had no creative control, being presented with twenty-four completed episodes. Abe Mandell of ITC had secured a handshake agreement with a network executive in 1974, but after the man's termination, all his projects were abandoned.
Undaunted, Mandell created what he called his own ''Space: 1999 Network''
and sold the completed program into first-run
syndication directly to local stations. Much of the publicity mentioned the then-staggering three million pound budget: as a part of the American promotion effort, a glossy magazine-sized brochure was produced, touting ''Space: 1999'' as the ''Six-and-a-Half Million Dollar Series'' (an allusion to the then-popular American programme ''
The Six Million Dollar Man
''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is reb ...
'') featuring American stars, American writers and American directors.
In the months leading to the beginning of the autumn 1975 series, Landau and Bain participated in special preview screenings in select cities.
Landau is said to have personally contacted editors of ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' magazine in some markets to secure coverage of ''Space: 1999'' in its pages upon learning of ITC's somewhat poor promotional efforts.
While most of the U.S. stations that aired ''Space: 1999'' were independent (such as the Chicago station
WGN-TV
WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...
,
Louisville station
WDRB-TV
WDRB (channel 41) is a television station in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Block Communications alongside Salem, Indiana–licensed dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBKI (channel 58). Both st ...
, Los Angeles station
KHJ-TV
KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the C ...
, and New York City's
WPIX-TV), a handful were affiliated with the major networks (such as Charlotte, North Carolina's
WSOC-TV, at the time a strong
NBC affiliate, and Fresno's
KFSN-TV
KFSN-TV (channel 30) is a television station in Fresno, California, United States, airing programming from the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network. It is Owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television ...
, at the time a CBS affiliate) and sometimes pre-empted regular network programming to show episodes of the series. Most U.S. stations broadcast episodes in the weekday evening hour just before prime time or on weekends.
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate
WCVB in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, as well as
NBC affiliate
KPRC in Houston both aired the first series in prime time, bumping the network shows to other time slots.
Footage of a spacecraft flying over Moonbase Alpha from the series 1 episode "The Last Enemy" was later reused to depict a future civilisation in the ''
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...
'' episode "Time Bomb," first broadcast on 10 November 1978.
In August 2018,
Comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...
announced it would be airing both series beginning in September.
Canada
In Canada,
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
was the broadcaster of ''Space: 1999'' from 1975 into the 1980s. The first series in 1975–76 was shown regionally on some CBC owned-and-operated stations, the airtime varying. With the start of the second series in September 1976, CBC Television upgraded ''Space: 1999'' to full-network status, airing it Saturdays on all CBC owned-and-operated stations, with affiliated, privately owned stations also offering the show on Saturdays. Most of the country saw ''Space: 1999'' at 5 p.m. on Saturdays, a notable exception being the Atlantic Provinces in which it was broadcast at 6 or 6:30 p.m. or – as was the case in the summers – sometime earlier in the afternoon to accommodate live sports coverage, the airing of which crossed into or totally over the usual ''Space: 1999'' airtime. After the 1976–77 broadcast year (in which second-series episodes were run and rerun), the show's ratings were sufficiently high for CBC Television to give the first series a full-network airing – and with further repeats – from 1977 to 1978. The French-language CBC Television,
Radio-Canada
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
, showed ''Cosmos: 1999'' several times (both series) between 1975 and 1980, first on Mondays (1975–1976), then on Saturdays (1976–1977), then on Mondays (1979), and finally on Wednesdays (1979–1980).
The series fared admirably on
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
in Canada, airing in English in a family viewing period, late Saturday afternoons before
hockey broadcasts, with a mostly un-disrupted run and rerun of all 24 episodes from September 1976 through September 1977. The French version was also broadcast, in early evening on Saturdays. Ratings were sufficient for a full additional year's transmission of Year One in the English CBC Saturday programming slot in 1977 and 1978. Episodes of both Year One and Year Two were repeated regionally in Canada in English and French through the early-to-mid-1980s.
YTV Canada broadcast both series with reportedly good ratings from 1990 to 1992, in a late Saturday afternoon airtime closely matching that of the CBC English network in the 1970s.
The full-network English CBC airing began with the series opener, "
Breakaway", on 11 September 1976, then "
The Metamorph
"The Metamorph" is the first episode of the second series of '' Space: 1999'' (and the twenty-fifth overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Charles Crichton. Previous titles were "The Bio ...
", the Year Two opener, on 18 September. "
The Exiles", "
Journey to Where
"Journey to Where" is the third episode of the second series of '' Space: 1999'' (and the 27th overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Donald James; the director was Tom Clegg. The final shooting script is dated 18 Febr ...
", "
The Taybor", and "
New Adam, New Eve" followed respectively in the subsequent weeks. Next were "
The Mark of Archanon", "
Brian the Brain", "
The Rules of Luton", "
The AB Chrysalis", "
Catacombs of the Moon", and "
Seed of Destruction". "Seed of Destruction" aired on 27 November, and then with December there came a month of repeats. And after a pre-emption for New Year's Day sports, new episodes resumed airing on 8 January 1977 with "
A Matter of Balance
'' Space: 1999'', a British science-fiction television series, ran for 48 episodes broadcast between 1975 and 1977. The first series (or season, often referred to as Year One) of 24 episodes began transmission in 1975, though production of the fi ...
", followed by "
The Beta Cloud
"The Beta Cloud" is the fourteenth episode of the second series of '' Space: 1999'' (and the thirty-eighth episode overall of the programme). The screenplay was written by Charles Woodgrove (a pseudonym of producer Fred Freiberger); the director ...
", "
One Moment of Humanity", "
The Lambda Factor
"The Lambda Factor" is the nineteenth episode of the second series of ''Space: 1999'' (and the forty-third episode overall of the programme). The screenplay was written by Terrance Dicks; the director was Charles Crichton. The final shooting sc ...
", "
All That Glisters", and "
The Seance Spectre
"The Seance Spectre" is the twentieth episode of the second series of '' Space: 1999'' (and the forty-fourth overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Donald James; the director was Peter Medak. The original title was "The ...
". The two-part episode, "The Bringers of Wonder", was shown on 19 and 26 February. And then "
Dorzak
'' Space: 1999'', a British science-fiction television series, ran for 48 episodes broadcast between 1975 and 1977. The first series (or season, often referred to as Year One) of 24 episodes began transmission in 1975, though production of the fi ...
", "
The Immunity Syndrome", "
Devil's Planet", and "
The Dorcons
"The Dorcons" is the twenty-fourth episode of the second season of '' Space: 1999'' (and the forty-eighth and final overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Tom Clegg. Original titles wer ...
" followed in March. "
Space Warp" would not be shown until 21 May, after many weeks of repeats. By 10 September 1977, except for "The Exiles", all of the second-series episodes had been repeated. And thereafter, a 1977–1978 run of first-series episodes began with "
War Games
A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...
" on 17 September.
Other markets
It was shown in Italy as ''Spazio 1999''; Argentina, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, francophone Canada, and France as ''Cosmos: 1999''; Denmark as ''Månebase Alpha''; Brazil and Portugal as ''Espaço: 1999''; Germany as ''Mondbasis Alpha 1''; Sweden as ''Månbas Alpha''; Poland as ''Kosmos 1999'' (1977–1979); Finland as ''Avaruusasema Alfa''; Greece as ''Διάστημα 1999''; Hungary as ''Alfa Holdbázis''; Spain, Chile, Venezuela, and Colombia as ''Espacio: 1999''; Mexico as ''Odisea 1999''; Iran as ''1999:فضا''; Turkey as ''Uzay 1999'', and South Africa as ''Alpha 1999'' (1976, dubbed into
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
). The series was also broadcast in the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand and Australia.
In Finland the first series was originally aired by the commercial MTV (Mainostelevisio) channel in 1976, but it was withdrawn after couple of episodes on demand of the national programme board as the show was considered too brutal and horrifying. The same thing happened when MTV tried to air the second series in 1978. The complete show wasn't seen in Finland until 1996–1997 when a small local channel, TV-Tampere, aired it. Since then it aired on TVTV! in 2000 and 2001, and later on MTV3 Scifi in 2008.
Fan and critic responses to the new series varied. Some missed the mystical plotlines, feature-film ambiance and the "British-ness" of the first series. Others said they enjoyed the new characters, down-to-earth characterisations and action. Comparisons with ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' were used by both camps to show how the series had been either saved or destroyed by the format change.
Reviewing the show as a whole, science fiction historian
John Clute
John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part o ...
described ''Space: 1999'' as "visually splendid" but criticised what he regarded as the show's "mediocre acting" and "rotten scripts".
Revival attempts and audio dramas
Around the same time ''Message from Moonbase Alpha'' was being filmed,
Johnny Byrne and
Christopher Penfold
Christopher Penfold is an English scriptwriter and editor.
Television shows on which he has worked include '' Pathfinders'', '' One by One'', '' All Creatures Great and Small'', ''EastEnders'', ''Casualty'', ''The Brack Report'', the second sea ...
attempted to revive the franchise as a movie series, similar to the way ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' had been revived cinematically in the late 1970s. The first film would have picked up the story several years after the series ended, and would have featured a heavily redesigned Moonbase Alpha. Ultimately, the project failed.
In February 2012, a new series, to be called ''Space: 2099'', was announced as a reboot of the original series and was planned to be made by
ITV Studios America in conjunction with HD Films.
On 15 August 2018,
Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. He and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Rol ...
, special effects director for the original series, announced that the reboot was on track for production in the UK, pending "confirmation of the deal".
[Johnson, Brian (2018-08-15). Tweet dated 15 August 2018. BrianJohnsonSFX twitter feed. Retrieved on 2019-01-01 from https://www.facebook.com/BrianJohnsonSFX/posts/2201047740212470.]
Big Finish series
On 12 August 2019,
Anderson Entertainment
Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...
announced that they would collaborate with
Big Finish to create an
audio drama reboot of ''Space: 1999'' starring
Mark Bonnar
Richard Mark Bonnar (born 19 November 1968) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Max in ''Guilt'', Duncan Hunter in ''Shetland'', Bruno Jenkins in ''Casualty'', Detective Finney in ''Psychoville'', DCC Mike Dryden in ''Line of Duty ...
as John Koenig, Maria Teresa Creasey as Doctor Helena Russell,
Timothy Bentinck
Timothy Charles Robert Noel Bentinck, 12th Earl of Portland, Count Bentinck und Waldeck Limpurg, (born 1 June 1953), commonly known as Tim Bentinck, is an English actor and writer, known for his long-running role as David Archer in the BBC ...
as Commissioner Simmons and Clive Hayward as Victor Bergman.
Jules de Jongh who previously portrayed
Lieutenant Green in
New Captain Scarlet
''Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet'' (more commonly ''New Captain Scarlet'' or ''NCS'') is a British computer generated action-adventure reboot of the 1967 Supermarionation series, ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons''. Both series were ...
portrays Petra Nordstorm. The first story "
Breakaway", was adapted by
Nicholas Briggs
Nicholas Briggs (born 29 September 1961) is an English actor, writer, director, sound designer and composer. He is associated with the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-offs, particularly as the voice of the Dale ...
who previously reimagined ''
The Prisoner'' and also acts as director. The story was released in September 2019.
Big Finish revealed that an additional box set would follow, with the full cast to be announced. On 17 July 2020, Big Finish announced a boxset consisting of three stories. Mark Bonnar, Maria Teresa Creasey, Tim Bentinck, Clive Hayward, Glen McCready, Susan Hingley and Amaka Okafor reprise their roles with
Anthony Howell,
Chris Jarman
Chris Jarman is a British people, British stage and television actor. He is the voice-over for E4's Tattoo Fixers. He is also known for providing the voice of The Mechanic in ''Thunderbirds Are Go (TV series), Thunderbirds Are Go''. Jarman played ...
and Nicholas Asbury joining.
Home video releases
United Kingdom
In the early 1980s, and due to the booming home video rental market, the four compilation films were released on the VHS format. The series, in its original form, was released on home video in the 1990s, with each cassette (or "volume") featuring two episodes. In 2001, it was released on DVD in the UK by Carlton Media, both in single disc volumes (each volume contained four episodes) and also as two complete series boxed sets (titled as "Year One" and "Year Two") comprising six discs each. Each DVD also contained various extra features, including a variety of archive production material, memorabilia, and interviews with the cast and crew from the time the series was being made.
In 2005, Network re-issued Year One in the UK as a Special Edition seven-DVD box set. For this release, to coincide with the series' 30th Anniversary, each episode was digitally restored by creating new 35 mm film elements (a new
interpositive
An interpositive, intermediate positive, IP or master positive is an orange-based motion picture film with a positive image made from the edited camera negative. The orange base provides special color characteristics that allow more accurate color ...
made from the original negative which is then used to make further copies). High Definition digital transfers were then made from the interpositives using a state-of-the-art Philips
Spirit DataCine. This vastly improved the picture quality in comparison to the previous DVD releases. However, the restoration process has actually made some of the space scenes (that involve special effects and model work) less realistic due to increased brightness and contrast. This box set also included two booklets and a new set of extra features that were not on the Carlton DVD releases, including featurettes on "Concept & Creation" and "Special Effects & Design" (edited from an earlier "
Fanderson
Fanderson is the official appreciation society for the works of British film and television producers Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Based in the United Kingdom, but with an international membership, it is a not-for-profit organisation run by a small ...
" documentary made in 1996), textless and alternative opening and closing title sequences, a two-part ''
Clapperboard'' special on Gerry Anderson from 1975, and also a brand new 70-minute documentary entitled "These Episodes" in which Anderson, Christopher Penfold, Johnny Byrne, Zienia Merton and David Lane reflect on the making of key episodes from the first series.
Network released Year One on
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
in the UK on 1 November 2010, and simultaneously re-released their Special Edition DVD box set of Year One with new cover artwork at the same time. The Blu-ray set includes all of the extras on the 2005 Network DVD release as well as some of the extras that were on the 2001 Carlton DVD release (including a
Lyons Maid ice-lolly commercial, and an SFX segment from the British documentary series ''
Horizon
The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...
''). It also includes several new extras including a "Memories of Space" featurette, a Sylvia Anderson interview (in which she frankly discusses the series and her thoughts about Landau and Bain), an expanded version of the "These Episodes" documentary from the DVD set, several PDF files containing scripts and
annuals, an extensive set of photo galleries with hundreds of stills, and the first episode of Year Two, "The Metamorph", in digitally restored hi-definition.
Network DVD began a similar restoration process for Year Two in 2007. However, progress was slow due to higher production costs in comparison to remastering Year One. (The audio for Year One had already been digitised prior to Network's restoration, but Year Two's had not). In late 2014, Network finally announced that Year Two would be released in 2015. As part of this announcement, Network released a limited edition (of 1999 copies) of a special preview disc of the two-part story "The Bringers of Wonder" on 8 December 2014. This release also contains a restored version of the feature length ''Destination: Moonbase Alpha'' film. The remastered Year Two was eventually released on Blu-ray and DVD in September 2015, to coincide with the series' 40th Anniversary. Again containing a wealth of extra features, the sets include galleries, vintage interviews, a blooper, behind the scenes footage, original source audio recordings, scripts and annuals PDF files, a stock footage archive, a textless opening title sequence, trailers and promos, "music only" options for all episodes, a stop-motion fan film from 1979, and a specially re-edited/rescored version of the episode "Seed of Destruction" as if it were made for Year One.
United States
The first releases on American home video were in the
VHS in the mid-1980s and consisted of the theatrical compilation films (see above).
A&E Home Video (under licence from Carlton International Media Limited) has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1. It was initially released in 8 sets with 6 episodes each in 2001 and 2002. On 24 September 2002, a 16-disc "Mega Set" box set featuring all 48 complete, uncut, original broadcast episodes of the series was released. On 31 July 2007, A&E released ''Space: 1999 – Complete Series, 30th Anniversary Edition''. This is essentially the same as the 2002 "mega set" release (and does not use the 2005 hi-def remasters), but does includes a special bonus disc full of extra features. Year One was released on Blu-ray in the U.S. on 2 November 2010 by A&E Home Entertainment, with new High-Definition restored transfers and a newly remastered
5.1
5.1 surround sound ("five-point one") is the common name for surround sound audio systems. 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home theatres. It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel (the "point one"). Dol ...
DTS-HD MA surround sound re-mix. In July 2019 Shout Factory released both series of Space:1999 on Blu-ray using restored and remastered HD transfers and remastered
5.1
5.1 surround sound ("five-point one") is the common name for surround sound audio systems. 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home theatres. It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel (the "point one"). Dol ...
DTS-HD MA surround sound re-mix.
Other media
The series has been translated into other media. Originally, all the episodes had been adapted in novelisations, except for "Earthbound" and "The Taybor" (from Year Two). The authors of these works wrote a number of original stories and have since written new stories and novels which were published after 1999. As well, the original authors participated in the revised versions of their original novels.
At the time of the series' original run, several comic book series were published and, in the US, a series of audio adaptations were recorded on record albums with the younger audience in mind. After 1999, many of these original comic book stories were revised and reprinted along with new stories. See the list above.
Mattel created a line of Space: 1999 toys to tie into the TV series, including the Eagle 1 Spaceship. Released in 1976, the Eagle 1 is over 2.5-feet long and a foot wide. The Eagle 1 is made mostly of moulded plastic and has a number of parts and accessories.
See also
*
*
References
Bibliography
*
*
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
Eagle Transporternbsp;– visual reference resource for ''Space: 1999'' Eagle Transporter models and replicas
{{Authority control
1970s British science fiction television series
1975 British television series debuts
1977 British television series endings
British television series revived after cancellation
Charlton Comics titles
English-language television shows
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
Space adventure television series
Television series about extraterrestrial life
Television series about the Moon
Television series by ITC Entertainment
Television series produced at Pinewood Studios
Television series set in 1999
Television series set in the future
Television series set on fictional planets
Television shows adapted into comics
Television shows filmed at Pinewood Studios