Episode Guide
ITC Press Release: The Metamorph

"THE METAMORPH"

Terror from a doomed planet - a planet of death, despite advanced scientific knowledge, But a new life for a beautiful girl who has learned the secrets of molecular transformation.

Annette Fraser (ANOUSKA HEMPLE) watches in horror as pictures on Moonbase Alpha's Command Centre screen show her husband's Eagle enveloped in a ball of light which drags it towards a planet, later to be known as Psychon. The two pilots, Bill Frazer (JOHN HUG) and Ray Torens (NICK BRIMBLE), have been on a flight to reconnoitre the planet which may provide the rare metal titanium urgently needed for the repair of one of the moon's damaged life support systems.

Then the face of an alien, introducing himself as Mentor (BRIAN BLESSED), appears on the screen. Persuaded by Cmdr. John Koenig (MARTIN LANDAU) that the Eagle's mission was peaceful, he offers to return the pilots if another Eagle is sent to collect them.

Koenig takes Dr. Helena Russell (BARBARA BAIN) with him, together with pilot Alan Carter (NICK TATE) and Lew Picard (GERALD PAQUIS) to the monitoring equipment. But a space rendezvous is not kept. They are trapped into landing on the planet .... and encounter the sickening sight of strange creatures part humanoid, part animal, working as miners, all obviously suffering from brain damage which has turned them into virtual zombies. One of them is the pilot Torens!

Caught agonizingly in the force field, the Alphans are helpless, but Koenig is able to reach Mentor - and to come face to face with a wild animal which is immediately transformed into a startlingly beautiful girl. It is his introduction to Mentor's daughter Maya (CATHERINE SCHELL), and realization that here on Psychon they have mastered the secrets of molecular transformation and that this fascinating girl can become anything she wishes, changing into any form of living organism.

The powers, and tragedy, of Psychon are soon revealed to him as Mentor shows him a biological computer, created and fed from the minds and bodies of those of his people who survived the disaster which overwhelmed them when nature ran wild and turned the planet into a volcanic furnace.

Mentor believes he can change it back into the beautiful world it was and that its civilization can begin again. But the computer needs energy to complete the task - energy that is only found in the minds of intelligent life forms. He needs the Alphans!

Koenig resists, better for the moon to be destroyed, as Mentor threatens, than to doom his people to a terrifying form of living death with the other pitiful objects he has seen. Forced to play for time, he feigns defeat and transmits an order to Moonbase Alpha that it should be evacuated.

This time, it is Koenig who has tricked Mentor. A codeword in his instructions is understood. But when Mentor realizes this, Koenig has one remaining card to play. He is certain that Maya is ignorant of her father's psychopathic ruthlessness towards his own people. She must be convinced and only her molecular transformation skill can enable her to do this and to help in the final destruction of the doomed planet, with only just sufficient time for the Alpha to get away and force Maya into accompanying them. Two Alphans, Torens and Picard, have died. But for Maya, there is a new life. There is room on the moon for a girl with her remarkable scientific knowledge.

SPACE 1999 - SERIES 11
CAST LIST

EPISODE NO 1 - "THE METAMORPH"

DIRECTOR - CHARLES CRICHTON

KOENIG - MARTIN LANDAU
HELENA - BARBARA BAIN
VERDESCHI (formerly Simon Hayes) - TONY ANHOLT
ALAN CARTER - NICK TATE
ANNETTE FRASER - ANOUSKA HEMPLE
BILL FRASER - JOHN HUG
SAHN - ZIENIA MERTON
LEW PICARD - GERARD PAQUIS
RAY TORENS - NICK BRIMBLE
PETROV (formerly Jameson) - PETER PORTEOUS
1ST OPERATIVE - SARAH BULLEN
SMALL CHIPPING ALIEN - JOHN DIXON
ZOMBIE CHIPPING ALIEN - NEIL McCAUL
OVERSEER - GEORGE LANE COOPER
COLOURED CHIPPING ALIEN - ROY STEWART
DR MATHIAS - ANTON PHILLIPS
MAYA - CATHERINE SCHELL
OVERSEER - ALF JOINT
MENTOR - BRIAN BLESSED