As we reported in last month's issue
of TV SCI-FI, Space: 1999, the show
that has swept networks around the
globe, is back with a second series of
interstellar adventures. But will the
face of Moonbase Alpha - and the
face it contains - remain the same?
The answer is No, and this month we
list some of the changes you can
expect from Space: 1999 second time
around.
The most noticeable immediate change is
that much of Moonbase Alpha has now gone
underground. When the Base was first built,
none of Earth's scientists could ever have
envisaged the incredible dangers which lay
ahead of it as it hurtled through space. The
series' designers believe that one of the first
things the Alpha crew would do would be to
try and protect the base from alien attack.
"Winston Churchill had his control centre
underground during World War II," designer
Keith Wilson say. "We are taking a leaf out
of his book. It makes much more sense and
gives us more freedom of action in the
stories because of the safety from radiation."
Not all of the base has disappeared below
ground, of course. Landing and take-off pads
and other external essentials remain on the
Moon's surface. However, the whole visual
feel is one of contraction and compactness.
"Being smaller," explains Keith Wilson,
"gives a closer feel to the action and
heightens the atmosphere of excitement
when danger threatens. In retrospect, we feel
it was too large for television screens in the
first series."
Another notable change is that the old
'unisex' uniforms on the Base have been
scrapped in favour of more casual and
individual clothes. Again the show's designers
feel that by now the Alphans would have
devised means of making their own outfits,
thereby enabling them to change out of there
rather austere uniforms more often. It seems
as if the female crew have all opted for skirts
rather than their original trousersuits.
But apart from these rather incidental
changes, the big change in the second series
is the permanent addition to the crew of
Moonbase Alpha of an alien. However, Mr.
Spock she is definitely not!
The new additions makes her debut
in the very first adventure Moonbase Alpha
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encounters in the second series. The trouble
begins when two of the Base's pilots find
their Eagle enveloped by a ball of light
which draws them towards the planet
Psychon. Suddenly the face of an alien,
introducing himself as Mentor, appears on
the Command Center screen. Commander
Koenig persuades Mentor that the Eagle's
mission is peaceful, and he in turn offers to
return the pilots if another Eagle is sent to
collect them.
However, this second Eagle, under
Koenig's command, is also trapped into
landing on Psychon. There Koenig, Dr.
Russel and pilot Nick Carter are confronted
by a pitiful army of zombies working as
miners. One of these zombies is a human -
the captured Eagle pilot Torens!
The Alphans are caught in a force field,
but Koenig manages to reach Mentor. How-
ever, on his way he comes face to face with a
wild animal. Suddenly it transforms itself
into a beautiful woman--Mentor's daughter
Maya. The people of Psychon, Koenig
realizes, have mastered the secret of
molecular transformation, which means they
have the powers to become anything they
wish.
Mentor reveals to Koenig the tragedy of
Psychon. He is the guardian of a biological
computer, created and fed from the minds
and bodies of the people of Psychon who
have survived a global holocaust. This com-
puter drains the intelligence from the
survivors--and any intelligent aliens who
are lured to Psychon. Using the computer
and its zombies, Mentor believes he can
rebuild his devastated planet.
Mentor tries to persuade Koenig to
evacuate Moonbase Alpha and deliver up his
crew to the computer's mind-sapping
command. Koenig feigns defeat and orders
that the Moonbase be abandoned. But
Command Center recognizes a codeword in
instructions and 'disobeys'. Koenig is certain
that Maya is ignorant of her father's psycho-
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and he convinces her that only she can bring
about the end of the doomed planet and the
salvation of its pitiful inhabitants. Using her
molecular transforming powers, she contri-
butes to the destruction of Psychon, split
seconds after she and the Alphans have
taken off. With Psychon destroyed, she
makes her home on the Moonbase.
The alien Maya opens up a whole new
range of possibilities for Moonbase Alpha's
survival. With her and her gift of molecular
transformation aboard, much of the worry
for the Base's well-being will necessarily slip
from the shoulders of Commander Koenig,
Dr. Russell and the rest of the crew leaders.
played by the bewitchingly beautiful
Catherine Schell, Maya should prove to be a
vital asset to Moonbase Alpha's future
existence.
Another new addition to the second
Space: 1999 series who should prove as vital
to the show's production as Maya is to the
on-camera cast, is producer Fred Freiberger.
Over the years he has been involved in
putting together a host of top television
programmes, such as The Wild, Wild West,
Ben Casey and Slattery's People, as well as
such movies as Crash Landing, Beast From
20,000 Fathoms and The Weapon.
But one show stands out amongst his
impressive list of credits. Freiberger was
none other than the producer of the third
series of Star Trek ! If anyone knows more
about life in Deep Space, let him stop
forward ...!
WIth one episode of the new-look Space:
1999 in the can, Freiberger is already
'hooked' on being back in space. "I firmly
believe our new concept is far superior to
anything other science fiction series have
ever had to offer," he says confidently. "We
are not competing with Star Trek or any
others, but are setting out with the premise
that we must be creative in every respect."
Freiberger agrees with creator Gerry
Anderson TV Sci-Fi No.1) that the
Moonbase Alpha characters should become |
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more 'human' now that they have had time
to adapt their extraordinary circumstances.
"One aspect of our new stories," he says, "is
greater depths in the relationships between
the characters. We want audiences to live the
situations with them. It is important that
they are likeable, believable people."
So that is what we can expect from the
second series of Space: 1999. The passage of
time since that fateful day the moon was
torn apart by a man-made nuclear explosion
and was sent hurtling wildly across the
universe has eased the tension amongst
Moonbase Alpha's survivors, making them
more at home in their restricted--and often
perilous--surroundings. The mere fact that
they now feel confident enough to accept an
alien amongst them as a friend signifies that
they have lost much of their deep seated--
although understandable--suspicions about
their galactic neighbors.
All we can do is wish Moonbase Alpha
and its crew well in their new understanding
of the mysteries of space.
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