The Continuity GuideMoonbase Guide
Furnishings
by Martin Willey
The Continuity Guide
The Boby storage cart was produced by Bieffeplast in 1971 and designed by Italian designer "Joe" Columbo, who also designed the Elda chair seen on Moonbase Alpha.
It is a modular system, with a short wheeled base, and vertically stacked sections. Two sides have have open shelves, with shallow shelves and storage areas on other sides. The top section may have short trays, which swing out. It was sold in a variety of colours, including white, red and yellow.
In the US it was sold by Alvin under the name "Rover Mobile Taboret".
The cart is still sold (since 1999 manufactured by B-Line), mainly as storage for artist's materials. It is 73.5cm tall and 43cm x 40cm wide, made of ABS plastic and weighs 11kg.
There are three distinct versions of the Boby cart in the series.
The first, mostly seen in Main Mission, is a simpler design with a brown central section. The base is hollow and inaccessible. The brown and top white sections have the standard shelves on two sides, with shallow shelves on a 3rd side, but 4th side is blank (the top of cart has a thin slot to put papers in this otherwise hidden space). Alan Carter throws one across Main Mission in Collision Course.
The Boby does not appear in Breakaway, and in Matter of Life and Death the cart is all white. The brown central section appears in Black Sun, along with red labels. The interior of the brown shelves are white, suggesting the colour is painted.
You can see the Boby cart on the wall of Technical Section 6b in this cut scene from The Last Sunset
In Year 2 it is usually in Command Center, although sometimes two other Boby carts replace it. Here we can rolls of paper in the vertical slot on one side.
The original Boby appears in Command Center.
A second, all white Boby appears in the second series, with 3 sections and 3 swing-out trays in the top section. It is first glimpsed in Life Support in The Exiles. It is rarely seen in Command Center, and is seen more often in other locations.
It has no top, and the lower trays can be seen sagging, probably because the corner hinge is inadequate (see below for comparison with modern versions).
The Main Mission Boby and Boby B appear alongside each other, in the corner of Weapons Section in The Taybor
The third all white Boby arrives in Command Center in Journey To Where, replacing the Main Mission Boby for several early episodes. The Main Mission Boby returns, and this version is rarely seen afterwards. The trays are hinged centrally, like the more modern Boby carts seen below.
It is partially seen in A Matter of Balance. The Boby B seen in other episodes does not have a top. This Boby has a lid and base below the three trays.
Commercial variations of the Boby are sold with between 1 and 4 vertical sections, and different numbers of trays, which may be shallow (like the 1999 version) or thicker.
The white 3/3 variation. The 3 upper trays swing out, here from a central point on one side, over the castor wheel. The Main Mission Boby, which has no trays, has a more similar shelf profile. The Year 2 version is different- there is no central column on that side, making the shelf sections more open on both sides, while the trays swing out from a corner.
A white 3/2 variation, with 2 trays instead of 3. In the modern version, the 2 other sides both have smaller shelf alcoves. In the versions seen in Space: 1999, one side is blank, with the storage space only accessible from the top.
The Year 2 Boby B does not seem to have a top like this version- the top tray is open, and the lower trays sag because the corner hinge gives inadequate support.
A yellow 3/2 variation.
A charcoal black Boby with a blank side, like the Space: 1999 versions.
This is an office trolley by Italian designer Giovanni Pelis for Stile Neolt, also 1970s. It is very similar to Joe Columbo's Boby, the main difference being the drawers here are pull-out, rather than swinging out on the corner hinge. The blank side is accessible through the two slots in the top (the Boby has one long open slot). It is not used in Space: 1999, but the Pelis design does appear in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989).
The Boby also appeared in Star Trek The Next Generation, often in Sick Bay, in the 4th season (1990) to the 6th season (1993).
Later the Sick Bay in Star Trek Discovery (2017-) has lots of Boby carts.
Tom Cruise uses a Boby storage cart in the 2013 film Oblivion.
A Boby cart appears as a "safe" in the 2022 series Star Wars Andor episode 11.
Copyright Martin Willey