"Force of Life" is the ninth episode of the first series of '' Space: 1999''. The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was

David Tomblin David Tomblin, OBE (18 October 1930 – 20 July 2005) was a film and television producer, assistant director, and director. As a producer, he was best known for ''The Prisoner'' TV series. As a first assistant director, he worked on a number of ...

. The original title was "Force of Evil". The shooting script is dated 15 May 1974; the final shooting script is dated 24 May 1974. Live-action filming began Wednesday 29 May 1974 through Friday 7 June 1974. After a three-week hiatus, filming resumed Monday 1 July 1974 through Friday 5 July 1974;''Destination: Moonbase Alpha'', Telos Publications, 2010 the hiatus was planned, as the Landaus' contract guaranteed them time off for a summer holiday.

Story

The body of Anton Zoref is invaded by an unknown life-force. The man soon manifests an uncontrollable ability to absorb heat. As the Alphans struggle to understand this mysterious force, Zoref's need becomes insatiable. Driven by instinct, he freezes Mark Dominix, Hilary Preston and the security guard dead until he makes his way to the greatest source of heat on Alpha— one of its Nuclear Generating Plants. As Zoref himself is killed by a hand laser to prevent him from attacking Commander Koenig, the laser only strengthens the starving force long enough to enable it to enter one of Alpha's reactor cores and feed off of the power of the nuclear energy generating plant. This causes a massive explosion. The force leaves Moonbase Alpha and Eva, Anton's wife, grieves as she thinks about her life with Zoref.

Regular cast

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 ...

— Commander John Koenig *

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 ...

— Doctor Helena Russell *

Barry Morse Herbert Morse (10 June 19182 February 2008), known professionally as Barry Morse, was a British-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio, best known for his roles in the ABC television series '' The Fugitive'' and the British sci-fi drama '' ...

— Professor Victor Bergman *

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 ...

— Controller

Paul Morrow ''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 ...

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 ...

— David Kano *

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 ...

—

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 ...

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 ...

— Doctor

Bob Mathias Robert Bruce Mathias (November 17, 1930 – September 2, 2006) was an American decathlete, two-time Olympic gold medalist in the event, a United States Marine Corps officer, actor and United States Congressman representing the state of Califor ...

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 ...

— Captain Alan Carter *

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 ...

—

Tanya Tanya may refer to: * Tanya (Judaism),an early work of Hasidic philosophy by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. * Tanya (name), a given name and list of people with the name * Tanya or Lara Saint Paul (born 1946) * List of Mortal Kombat characters#Tany ...

(uncredited)

Music

To highlight the utterly alien nature of the unknown life-force, the regular

Barry Gray Barry Gray (born John Livesey Eccles; 18 July 1908 – 26 April 1984) was a British musician and composer best known for his collaborations with television and film producer Gerry Anderson. Life and career Born into a musical family in Blackburn ...

score was replaced by abstract electronic compositions drawn from the music library. Those featured were 'Cosmic Sounds No. 1', 'Cosmic Sounds No. 2' and 'Cosmic Sounds No. 3' by Georges Teperino and 'Videotronic No. 3' by Cecil Leuter. Another synthesised music track, 'The Latest Fashion' by Giampiero Boneschi, was used as the

piped music Elevator music (also known as Muzak, piped music, or lift music) is a type of background music played in rooms where many people come together (that is, with no intention whatsoever to listen to music), and music on hold, during telephone calls w ...

heard throughout the Solarium scenes.

Production Notes

* Johnny Byrne recalls that the original story idea featured a malevolent alien force (hence the previous title "Force of Evil"). During a story conference with executive producer

Gerry Anderson 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 ...

, Byrne rethought the concept, with both men agreeing the entity should instead be following an evolutionary imperative unconnected to human emotion or understanding. To emphasise the truly alien aspect of the life-force, Bryne set the action against the very human domestic life of Anton and Eva Zoref. ITC executives insisted Byrne add the sequence where Koenig and Bergman speculate the entity's evolutionary cycle might be that of a developing

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

, hoping to provide some explanation for its actions. * Byrne attributes the episode's success to the directorial style of

. Tomblin would employ a number of unusual camera-angles and

lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

techniques to enhance the eerie quality inherent in the tale. After completing "Force of Life", Tomblin (one of three directors employed by the series on a rotating basis along with Ray Austin and

Charles Crichton Charles Ainslie Crichton (6 August 1910 – 14 September 1999) was an English film director and editor. Born in Wallasey, Cheshire, he became best known for directing many comedies produced at Ealing Studios and had a 40-year career ...

), would take a sabbatical from ''Space: 1999'' to serve as

assistant director The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have to tak ...

for the feature film ''

Barry Lyndon ''Barry Lyndon'' is a 1975 period drama film written, directed, and produced by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1844 novel ''The Luck of Barry Lyndon'' by William Makepeace Thackeray. Starring Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Leonard ...

''. He would be replaced for three installments by director

Bob Kellett Robert Ryerson Kellett ( 25 December 1927 – 27 November 2012) was a British film director, film producer and screenwriter, and one of British cinema’s most prominent comedy directors in the 1970s, working with many of the big names of the ...

. * This episode was taken to task by critics who accused ''Space: 1999'' of being poorly plotted and/or deliberately enigmatic. While appearing on an American news programme,

was confronted by a fellow guest personality, actor

Buster Crabbe Clarence Linden Crabbe II (; February 7, 1908 – April 23, 1983), known professionally as Buster Crabbe, was an American two-time Olympic swimmer and film and television actor. He won the 1932 Olympic gold medal for 400-meter freestyle swimmi ...

(star of the 1930s ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...

'' and ''

Buck Rogers Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily US newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books ...

'' serials). Having watched "Force of Life" and not understood the story, Crabbe demanded Landau explain what the alien force represented; to the delight of the series' detractors, Landau responded he had no idea.

Novelisation

The episode was adapted in the third Year One ''Space: 1999'' novel ''The Space Guardians'' by Brian Ball, published in 1975. Ball's adaptation is true to the story, but some liberties are taken: (1) Suffering from a bout of depression, Koenig has become a recluse after his experience on Zenno (as seen in " Missing Link"). He is seen convalescing in his quarters and experiencing

migraine Migraine (, ) is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent headaches. Typically, the associated headache affects one side of the head, is pulsating in nature, may be moderate to severe in intensity, and could last from a few hou ...

when thinking of his lost love Vana. This crisis eventually forces him out of his

fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...

state; (2) The approaching entity does not employ a paralysing force in the adaptation. The Alphans attempt to blast it with

nuclear missile Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a nuclear weapon at the position of detonation, on or near its target. Several methods have been developed to carry out this task. ''Strategic'' nuclear weapons are used primari ...

s before it joins with the unfortunate Zoref; (3) While harbouring the entity, Zoref undergoes a gradual physical transformation into a shambling, thick-skulled humanoid creature.''Space: 1999 - The Space Guardians'', Futura Publications, 1975

References

External links

*
''Space: 1999'' - "Force of Life" - The Catacombs episode guide
{{Space: 1999 1975 British television episodes Space: 1999 episodes