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SPACE 1999 |
Series Overview
Commander John Koenig - Martin Landau Dr Helena Russell - Barbara Bain Maya - Catherine Schell Tony - Tony Anholt Alan Carter - Nick Tate 
OTHER SPACE 1999 SERIES Series 1 OTHER GERRY ANDERSON SHOWS Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons New Captain Scarlet Thunderbirds UFO OTHER TREKS THROUGH SPACE Star Trek The Next Generation Voyager Enterprise Battlestar Galactica 
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OverviewThe moon, thrown from orbit at the beginning of Season 1 continues to wander through space, but there are some changes for this second set of episodes. The main cast remains, but many of the familiar faces in the background have disappeared. New arrivals come in the shape of the very likeable Tony Anholt and beer-brewing second in command Tony Vedeschii and Catherine Schell as the shape-changing alien Maya (introduced straight away in The Metamorph. The format of the show has changed somewhat as well. Whilst the set up is the same, the stories are more straightforward action adventures rather than some of the more cerebral stories of the first season. This can be partly laid at the feet of Maya, who can become anything that she wishes, but mainly chooses to become alien creatures that are really quite embarrassingly poor in execution. This is in marked contrast to the continuingly impressive sets and special effects. The latter, though are in shorter supply than before, presumably because of the expense, passed over in preference of the unconvincing planet sets that the cast have to wander around and the ridiculous costumes that some of the guest stars are saddled with. Finding outstanding episodes in this second series of the show is difficult with only Brian the Brain lasting in the memory beyond the end credits. TopThe MetamorphThe moon drifts into range of a planet that might have the titanium that Moonbase Alpha needs to repair a life support unit. The planet is desolate, but is inhabited by beings able to transmute matter into any shape. Their leader plans to use a biological computer to bring new life to his planet. All he has to do is to drain the brains of all the humans first. SPACE 1999 is back for its second season and the changes that have been made from the first are immediate to see. Gone is Barry Morse's scientist Victor and the introductory montage. In comes a straight adventure theme and music more suited to an action story. Fortunately, the thing that we most liked about Season 1, the incredible modelwork, has not just remained constant, but here are improved giving us a believably ravaged planetary surface and some fantastic shots of the eagle spacecraft. Sadly, the plots don't seem to have come along very far. Brian Blessed guests once again (he was in Death's Other Dominion) as Mentor, a disappointingly two-dimensional mad scientist type and Catherine Schell is his shape-shifting, but innocent, daughter who eventually comes to the rescue of everyone. It's all very predictable and not very exciting. TopExilesA swarm of sarcophagi drift into orbit around the moon. Opening one of the vessels, the crew find a humanoid inside. A second is opened to reveal a humanoid girl. They beg the commander to release their comrades and agree to upgrade the life support systems to accommodate the new arrivals, but they are in fact working on a plot to return to their home planet and enslave the race that exiled them over 300 years earlier. This is a poor episode with very sloppy plotting. Quite apart from the fact that only one week after being the daughter of a man trying to kill them all Maya is now one of the most trusted members of the crew, she renders the aliens terrified by changing into a black panther, but then does nothing whilst one of them reaches for a weapon to render her unconscious. The female alien announces that the life support systems are now linked to her mind so that she needs only to will it for them to fail, but when she is ejected into space, alive and well in a spacesuit, she fails to do so. The membrane that surrounds the aliens and protects them against things like ageing is able to be ripped by Dr Russell's nails, which doesn't seem very strong, but surely it can't protect them unless it also coats the inside of their noses and throats and ears and other orifices best not thought about. The impressive imagery of the sarcophagi appearing and the as-ever excellence of the model work are sacrificed by the urgency of turning the story into a thriller, but the ending isn't very thrilling as Dr Russell's narration tells the dying alien exactly what we can see is happening to him. The humour (Koenig faced with two Dr Russells and Tony being taunted by a suddenly aged Maya) fails miserably as well. The episode does, however, contain a sequence where the alien drags her nails through the clay bust of Helena's face to the accompanying screams of Dr Russell. It's the most brutal and chilling moment that the show has come up with to date. TopJourney to WhereMoonbase Alpha receives a signal from an Earth hugely advanced technologically, but wrecked environmentally. There is a system that could see all the crew returned to this Earth, but it needs to be done soon and is susceptible to earthquake tremors. Koenig, Dr Russell and Alan take the first trip and find themselves transported back to the wild highlands of Scotland in a historical time of turmoil. As the crew search for their team, the team is having a hard enough time just staying alive. SPACE:1999 has never been high on the scientific likelihood scale, but this story throws caution to the wind and shoots for complete lunacy. Why would anyone chance a transfer system that is so easy to mess up? Why does nobody even think of the being lost in time rather than space when it is clear that the crew aren't dead and therefore can't be on the present Earth? Why are the ancient Scots so utterly unbelievable? Suffice it to say that this is one of the least impressive episodes yet and barely holds on to the attention for the running time. TopOne Moment of HumanityAn alien comes aboard Alpha and takes Dr Russell and Tony with her back to her planet. There, the pair discover that the aliens are a race of androids, perfect of form, but incomplete emotionally. The creatures dressed as their android servants are, in fact, the humanoids and the androids would like to destroy them all, but have never acquired the killer instinct. They hope to create a rift between Tony and Dr Russell that will lead to violence that they can copy, leading to mass murder. This episode starts off well enough with the alien being freezing everyone aboard Alpha and then taking her prisoners back to her planet where the set up is revealed. Unfortunately, it then sinks under a welter of silliness. The seduction scene in which the android makes advances on Dr Russell in order to make Koening jealous is especially laughable. How this could make anyone jealous is beyond belief, but the fact that he falls for it even when he knows what they're trying to do is ridiculous. Not a ridiculous as masking the supercomputer with an impenetrable forcefield but forgetting to make it go all the way to the floor. A promising idea wasted and putting Barbara Bain in a slit skirt so she can show some leg doesn't disguise that fact. TopBrian the BrainThe moon starts drifting off course and a ship comes to the base with an intelligent robot aboard. It offers Commander Koenig and Dr Russell a tour of its ship and then kidnaps them. It wants to live forever and needs human help for that, but Koenig isn't about to help without a fight. The episode is called Brian the Brain and it's all about Brian the Brain. The concept is fine, but the realisation of the mobile computer is much less so. It never really looks real and the voice is so processed that half of the time it is difficult to understand what it is saying and this follow its reasoning. Its downfall is also difficult to understand. Why Maya as a mouse is important is unclear and Bernard Cribbins is totally wasted in cameo role that barely gives him a line. First the brain can see everything that's happening as far away as Alpha, but then it can't see an Eagle only a short distance away. This is the first time in the show's history that it is the hardware rather than the story that is the weak link. TopNew Adam, New EveA being appears and announces that he is 'the creator'. He selects Koenig, Russell, Maya and Tony as his new Adams and Eves to live on a world much like Earth. They're not too keen on the idea, but he insists and shows remarkable powers that they cannot counteract. Superpowered beings who want everyone to believe that they are God are ten a penny in the science fiction genre and this story adds nothing to any of the previous efforts. It starts off intriguing enough as the alien appears, makes his pronouncements and kidnaps his four would-be adams and eves, but as soon as Maya turns into an extremely poorly realised alien beastie in order to fight off a second very poor alien beastie in order to save a third terrible alien beastie then it's an upward struggle. The audience is way ahead of the characters, twigging the alien's weakness long before they do and what sort of a rubbish energy exchange device doesn't come with a backup battery? TopThe Mark of ArchanonWhilst mining under Moonbase Alpha for mineral deposits, the crew discover a chamber in which are frozen two male beings. They are Archanons - the peacebringers. Unfortunately, these peacebringers are stricken with a disease that makes them want to kill. This is an utterly risible story from start to finish. The sheer coincidence of having the Archanons buried right below Alpha is ridiculous, as is the fact that they would surely have been discovered before. Dr Russell isolates the cause of the disease within minutes and comes up with a cure an hour later and yet the Archanons themselves couldn't sort it out over hundreds of years. The costumes that the aliens are saddled with are completely laughable and the ease with which the boy abandons his father in favour of a complete stranger is utterly unbelievable. This is another example of how far the writing of this second season has fallen from the not particularly high standards of the first. TopThe Rules of LutonCommander Koening and Maya land on an alien planet for a survey and are immediately accused of murder by the indigenous population of intelligent plants for picking a flower and eating some berries. They are sentenced to a life or death struggle against other aliens that have broken the plants' rules. Why come up with a whole new plot when you can just steal one from somewhere else (in this case Arena from STAR TREK). That particular episode has been pilfered so many times by so many shows (not to mention subsequent shows in its own franchise) that it hardly seems fair to quibble at it, but this episode does nothing much with the original concept to even disguise it. The three aliens that the Alphans have to fight prove to be even less effective than the one in STAR TREK despite the intervening years and supposed advances in special effects. It is also extremely dull. There is a whole chunk of the episode where Koenig and Maya sit about and have a chat about their past lives to fill out some of the time. This might pass for character development, but it serves no purpose in what comes after it. A longer setup allowing time to build up a picture of the planet before bringing in the murder/combat story (which is frighteningly abrupt) might have reduced the need for padding. The only plus point to the episode is the way in which director Val Guest (yes, really!) manages to use a few waving bushes to effectively suggest a civilisation of sentient plants. If only the rest of the story had been up to his talents. TopAll That GlistersWhen a survey reveals a rare and useful mineral on a planet that the moon is passing, Koenig, Dr Russell, Tony and Maya go down to look for it. Instead, they find a rock lifeform that needs water to survive. Human beings are mostly made up of water. Rock lifeforms and lifeforms that want our water are old staples of science fiction and so just putting them together isn't enough to create a good episode. The crystalline structure focusing light of different colours to different effects is a neat idea, but it's the only one in a tension free hostage drama plot that ends of desperately sentimental note smothered with sickly sweet music. TopThe TayborA galactic trader appears near to the moonbase in a ship that can travel through hyperspace and might be the key to getting the crew back to Earth. Unfortunately, he wants to trade Maya for the plans to the drive. Willoughby Goddard's flamboyant performance as the intergalactic trader who is not to be trusted is the cornerstone of this episode, a performance that channels loveable rogue Harry Mudd from STAR TREK's episodes Mudd's Women and I, Mudd in a story that also owes a debt to those episodes. The episode opens with long, lingering camera moves over the base's female crewmembers in bikinis and then glories in Maya's beauty to the point that her salvation lies in morphing into an ugly harridan. The moral of the tale being that beauty is the most important thing. Not exactly the best message a story could be giving. TopSeed of DestructionWhilst investigating a crystalline asteroid, Commander Koenig is replaced by his own reflection, a reflection that sets about the destruction of Alpha in order to turn the asteroid into a new world. The crew, however, begin to suspect. The 'commander's not acting properly and we need to mutiny' finally comes to SPACE 1999. The crew realise that he's acting funny right from the moment that he gets back from the asteroid, but don't do anything about it for a long time, running through a series of not very convincing emotional challenges first. It is, however, so obvious that the Commander is acting in a manner so completely atypical that anything other than immediate revolt is unbelievable. TopThe AB ChrysalisThe moon is plunging through space towards an artificially induced series of explosions. As they get closer, the damage caused by the shockwaves increases and the next will destroy Alpha utterly, Commander Koenig, Maya and Carter go to the planet at the heart of the explosions and learn that they are powering the rebirth of a race searching perfection. Koenig tries to bargain for the survival of his people, but a trio of newly reborn locals are unwilling to help. We're not really sure how much of this actually makes sense, but it looks really good. From the initial evacuation fleet of eagles to the alien planet to the strange globes that bounce around from place to place as part of the computer system. This latter is utterly otherworldy despite being just beach balls filmed in slow motion. Whatever the method of filming it works a treat and is certainly a far better effect than Maya's latest monster transformation. The creatures in this show make the monsters in the classic years of DOCTOR WHO seem like the work of a superbudgeted movie project. It's hard to take anything seriously after that thing appears. TopCatacombs of the MoonA woman lies dying in the sick bay in need of a few grammes of a rare mineral to coat the valves in her atificial heart. Her husband is mining the moon's underground tunnels for that mineral when he starts to get visions of a ring of fire that will save his wife and destroy Alpha. That vision becomes prophecy when a giant firestorm approaches the moon. What exactly the hell is going on in this story? OK, there's a giant space phenomenon approaching that is raising the temperature, but is it communicating with the husband or is he just plain bonkers? What the heck is the Commander of the base doing going off on a space jaunt to identify the source of the temperature rise when he ought to be at the base controlling things and has technical officers more capable than he is of simply identifying what's out there? Why does nobody just think to stun both the sick woman and her husband when he tries to kidnap her since her weak heart stands up to wandering around the underground caves for a very long time? The story is muddled, badly told and, quite frankly, ridiculous. The show seems to be getting worse with each passing week. TopSpace WarpCommander Koenig and Tony are surveying a derelict spaceship when the moon passes through a space warp, transporting it five light years away and leaving them stranded. As they look for a way to find that same warp, the crew of Moonbase Alpha have their own problems as Maya goes haywire and starts attacking people. It's difficult to say what has gone wrong with this show in its second series, but each episode seems to get worse. The plot strand that sees the stranded eagle crew looking for a way home is perfectly fine, but the main plot, which sees Maya morphing into ever increasingly ridiculous monsters and attacking everyone, is just plain nonsense and is, unfortunately, the main plot. The production values remain high with giant spaceships to explore and eagle hangars to destroy, but these are small pleasures in the support of such nonsense. TopA Matter of BalanceA young woman with a crush on Tony falls prey to a projected image that promises to take care of her on the planet that the moon is approaching. The image turns out to be antimatter and trying to find a way into our world, but in order to keep the natural balance, for everyone who comes into our world, one must leave. For some reason, the balance of nature means that people in the antimatter universe live lives that are hundreds of years long and devolve from perfection to primordial slime as go the other way. It's not explained how these differences create balance. It doesn't really matter because any sense of credibility is blown out the water by having the villain of the piece dressed in gold underpants and a cape and brigning in an antimatter that is equal in ridiculousness to the usual transformations that Maya comes up. TopThe Beta CloudA space cloud brings illness to Alpha and demands the life support core that keeps everyone alive. With the commander under the weather, it is Tony who must refuse and then face the unstoppable creature that is sent by the cloud to take the core whether he likes it or not. Building an episode around one of the dodgy monsters that have peppered this second series is a really bad idea. Since we don't for a second believe in it, the whole story is just laughable. For instance, how is it possible that something as critical as a life support core doesn't have a back up system or a spare in a store room somewhere? Matters aren't helped by the strident, intrusive music that tries to drum up suspense and action where there is none. TopThe Lambda FactorA strange phenomenon leaves one of the crew of Alpha with hugely expanded mental powers. It also destabilises her mind, building up her paranoia about her romantic situation. John Koenig, on the other hand, is seeing ghosts from his past. Legendary DOCTOR WHO writer Terrance Dicks brings his talents to bear on the series and steals the entire plot from STAR TREK episode Where No Man Has Gone Before, adding in a love triangle and the Commander's visions. Despite the familiarity of the plot, it is the best writing of the season to date, though that isn't saying much to be fair. The scene in which the affected crewmember threatens to destroy Maya is one of the most effective that the show has ever produced. The speed that Koenig falls apart when faced with faces from his guilty past, however, is completely unbelievable. How could a man this unstable get to be a commander in the first place? Martin Landau overplays the terror to the nth degree. TopThe Bringers of Wonder- Part 1Commander Koenig loses control of himself in space and crashes an eagle close to the radioactive waste dumps. He is therefore unconscious when a ship from Earth arrives filled with family members and the promise that they can all go home. When Koenig wakes up, however, he sees alien beings of unspeakable ugliness where everyone else sees friends. For the second episode running Martin Landau turns his capable commander into a gibbering wreck. Admittedly, he is faced with creatures of hideousness nature, but we see poorly realised copies of the aliens from Universal's classic IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE with added goo. Since we can't be as repelled and upset by the poor monster effect, the overacting is a real turn off. The show has produced its first two-part story, which allows for a slower burn on it than the flat out adventure stories that this season has been going for, but it just means that more incident gets piled in that needs explanation by clunky dialogue because it doesn't make much sense. TopThe Bringers of Wonder- Part 2Commander Koenig manages to convince Maya and Dr Russell that he isn't mad and they use white noise to prove to everyone else that the people they thought were friends are slimy, nasty aliens. That leaves only the three humans who are still being controlled, but they are close to blowing up the radioactive waste dumps and destroying the whole moon. The aliens' purpose is revealed, but it doesn't improve the quality of the story. Commander Koenig manages to convince his colleagues that he's not mad in the first few minutes when they wouldn't believe him for the whole last episode. After that it's a quick burst of noise and the game's up. Then the episode morphs into a chase sequence as Koenig tries to stop the deluded Alan Carter from destroying the moon with the help of one of Maya's utterly dreadful monsters. The main monsters are bad enough, but they are masterpieces compared to this particular thing. It's also hard to take the idea of mind manipulation is somewhat undermined by the fact that the aliens can make the act of walking down a corridor carrying a heavy load seem like sitting in a boat rowing with a loved one. Surely they'd at least need to make the actions seem somewhat alike. The show continues its relentless downward spiral. TopThe Seance SpectreThe moon is on a collision course with a space phenomenon that the leader of a surface survey team predicts will contain a habitable planet. It contains a planet all right, but one made of rock and dust and poisonous gas. The survey leader won't accept that and leads a revolt, trying to prevent the commander from blowing up the nuclear dumps to change the moon's course to avoid destruction. Another member of the crew goes mad, but at least it's not Koenig this week. The title is a mystery as the survey team do hold something that could be called a seance if you really pushed the matter, but there is nothing like a spectre and the seance is really just a symptom of the man's madness. The security team on the base needs to be shot as they continually let the man escape them after he's been captured and even another of Maya's ludicrous monsters can't stop him. The final battle on the moon is moderately exciting, but the show as a whole is very disappointing. TopDorzakA spaceship sets down on Alpha with two attractive women who turn out to be the jailer of Dorzak, another of Maya's race, but an evil man with the ability to twist minds and control people. Maya doesn't want to believe that and the crew find themselves caught up in a fight for power between Dorzak and his captor. Clearly Martin Landau had a better acting offer on the go whilst they were making the show as he is completely absent from this story, allowing the others to run through the story. At least time there are no ridiculously poor monsters and the story, though hackneyed, is simple enough. TopDevil's PlanetMoonbase Alpha comes within range of two planets and Commander Koenig sets off to survey them both. On the first he finds that it is capable of sustaining life, but all of the people there are dead of a mysterious disease. On the second planet he encounters a penal colony where the head guard is keeping everyone ignorant of the situation on the home planet in order to maintain control and her position. After Martin Landau went missing in the last episode Dorzak it's everyone else's turn to have a holiday as all of the series regulars except Landau fail to appear in this story. It could just be that they had better taste, but this story is no better and no worse than all the others in this disappointing second season. It starts off well enough with the dead planet and people beaming to their death for undetermined reasons, but as soon as we get to the second planet with its all female guards in skintight red catsuits and gold whips it all goes downhill very quickly. One upon a time, SPACE 1999 was an attempt at serious science fiction, but now it is lame and stupid sub-comic book nonsense. TopThe Immunity SyndromeA new planet holds the prospect of a safe home for the Alphans, but things start to go wrong. Tony goes mad and starts attacking people. Water and fruit that checked out perfectly safely has become deadly poison and chemical compounds in the atmosphere has corroded all metal and electronic circuitry to powder. The only hope of survival might lie inside a sealed dome. At last, a scenario that is interesting and novel enough not to be immediately laughable and no stupid monsters to ruin everything. The idea of the planet rebelling against invading life is more relevant today than it was when the show was initially made, but it gives way to the presence of a being that is far less interesting. The presence of a lifepod full of previous victims to explain the situation and provide the resolution is, however, hackneyed and unoriginal. The creature's response to learning what it has done is utterly unbelievable as well. The special effects continue to impress and the introduction of the re-entry glider gives the effects team a new vehicle to destroy. TopThe DorconsA space ship appears in orbit of the moon and turns out to be from the planet Dorca. The Dorcans have control over all things except death, but they can acheive even that with the brain stem of a living member of Maya's race. As she is the only one remaining, she is their target and they are willing to destroy the whole of Alpha to get her. Once again, a story starts off well to just go off the rails halfway through. The arrival of the Dorcons' ship and the resulting devastation of Alpha is all good stuff. It also allows for Martin Landau to show some real acting as the commander who knows that he is utterly helpless in the face of superior odds, but once the action moves to the Dorcon ship it just gets silly and the ultimate resolution is all about the aliens' jealousy than the actions of the humans. The second Dr Who himself, Patrick Troughton, guest stars in this, though he barely appears with only a few lines. He does, however, escape the indignity of the rather ridiculous manner in which the Dorcons weapons kill people. This is the last episode of SPACE:1999 and just serves to underline how poorly this second series was written and means that we won't really mourn its passing. Top |
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