The Catacombs Episode Guide

Dragon's Domain

Mission of the Darians Year 1 - Episode 23 The Testament of Arkadia

Screenplay by Christopher Penfold
Directed by Charles Crichton
Guest stars Gianni Garko, Douglas Wilmer
Belgium (Flemish) Het Spinneweb The Spider's Web 25 May 1977
France/Canada Le domaine du dragon The Dragon's Domain 22 Oct 1977
Italy Il dominio del drago The Domain Of The Dragon 12 Dec 1976
Japan Emergence of Monsters in Space Tomb! 23 Jul 1977
Poland Domena smoka 23 Jul 1977
Portugal Os Domínios do Dragão The Domains Of The Dragon 6 Nov 1976
Spain El dominio del Dragón The domain of the Dragon 2 Dec 1976
South AfricaDie Draak Se Gebied The Dragon's Region17 Jun 1977
Hungary A Sárkány birodalma Realm of the Dragon 17 Jan 1985
USA (Los Angeles) 13 Sep 1975
USA (New York) 27 Sep 1975
USA (San Francisco) 13 Sep 1975
UK (ATV) 23 Oct 1975
UK (LWT) 25 Oct 1975

A macabre monster in outer space...an eerie graveyard of lost spaceships Real or imagination? Years of mental torment reach a terrifying climax. ITC summary

Background

Dragon's Domain

Sets

Int. Main Mission
Int. Helena's quarters
Int. Cellini's Quarters
Int. Victor's Quarters (flashback)
Int. Medical
Int. Technical (1996)
Int. Alpha Corridor / Embarkation Point
Int. Travel Tube
Int. Eagle Pilot Section
Int. Eagle Passenger Section

Int. Ultra Probe Pilot Section/ Main Module
Int. Earth hospital corridor
Int. Earth hospital room
Int. Dixon's Office

Set decoration in Cellini's room: axes, tomahawks, spears, muskets, boomerang, poster prints of David Scott leaving the Apollo 9 command module for EVA, and David Shepherd's elephant paintings including the popular Wise Old Elephant.

Helena's quarters are also seen in Matter Of Life And Death. The scenes of Victor's room are clips from Black Sun

Dixon's office is a redress of M's office from the James Bond films. Thanks to Dana Lubich.

SFX

Dragon's Domain

Music

Library track: "Adagio for strings and organ in G Minor" attributed to Tommaso Albinoni (1671-1751)/ Remo Giazotto (1910-1998). Giazotto claimed to have discovered fragments of the Albinoni manuscript in Dresden in 1945, and composed the piece based on the fragments. It is now generally held to be an expert pastiche rather than an authentic baroque piece. It was first used as a soundtrack for a 1952 release of the 1928 film classic La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, which influenced a generation of film makers. This track is widely used in film, most famously Rollerball (1975, coincidentally at the same time as the episode was first seen) and Gallipoli (1981). It was also used in Orson Welles's The Trial (1962), Flashdance (1983), Manchester by the Sea (2016) and Dogs Don't Wear Pants (2020). Gerry Anderson had wanted to use it in his 1968 film Doppelganger (aka Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun), but Barry Gray had composed a track for the sequence (when the astronauts sleep on their way to the other planet). This version was arranged and conducted by Alain Lombard (1940-) with the Orchestre de la Societé des Concerts du Conservatoire in 1966 and published by the Delysé [Envoy] Recording Company (album ECB 3181).

Science

Continuity

Chronology:

877th day after leaving orbit (Wednesday, 6th February 2002). It is five years since 1997. This contradicts Year 2 dates, being after Mark Of Archanon (640 days) and just before The Rules Of Luton (892)

Alpha Personnel:

1 fatality (Tony Cellini)

Alpha Technology:

Dragon's Domain

Eagles:

Eagle 1 (Cellini, left with Ultra probe); 2 (pick up); 3 and 4 (escort)

Planets:

None.

Aliens:

Dragon's Domain

Dragon. Ships of other alien races are seen.

Props:

Dragon's Domain

Footage:

Dragon's Domain

The footage of Victor doing calculations on a glass panel in his room (LQ12) is recycled from Black Sun

Dragon's Domain Space Brain

The shape seen before the dragon appears is the space brain.

Errors

Dragon's Domain

News broadcast date is Sept 3rd 1996 (written in the script as "9/3/96" which the actor and director assumed to be American format- month, day, year, instead of English format- day, month, year). The Ultra Probe launch date is 6th June 1996

Dragon's Domain

As Ultra Probe approaches the graveyard, the point-of-view shot of the alien ships shows the Ultra Probe already docked to the dragon ship

Dragon's Domain

Cellini mentions "Tentacles, blood suckers, fiery breath". On screen the monster only had the former (the reason for the error is in the script it had those features).

Observations

Dragon's Domain

Merchandise:

Links

External Links


Contents copyright Martin Willey