Episode GuideITC Press Release: The Immunity Syndrome
Episode GuideSYNOPSIS
Commander Koenig and Co find what appears to be an inhabitable planet. But it is ruled by a single being who, in his efforts to make contact with the Alphans, unwittingly puts them in peril of their lives!
While exploring an apparently friendly, earth-type planet, Tony Verdeschi (TONY ANHOLT) is horrified to find his colleague Joe Lustig (ROY BOYD) behaving like a crazed dog. When he tries to help, Lustig attempts to kill him and in the ensuing fight it is the latter who is killed with his own laser gun. Tony is then overcome by the same force that turned Lustig into a maniac - a piercing sound and blinding light that renders him insane, too.
Nearby, Commander Koenig (MARTIN LANDAU), Alan Carter (NICK TATE) and Travis (KARL HELD) are checking out a strange, geodetic structure which they are unable to enter, but then, hidden under thick vegetation, Carter finds some solar cells. Recharged by the sun, they will open up the structure.
When Lustig's body is found, Koenig leads a party in search of Tony, who has no wish to be found. So much so that he tries to kill his commander before collapsing, exhausted. Realising that Tony is dangerously ill, Koenig and Alan fly him to Moonbase Alpha. But on the way their Eagle starts falling apart as all the metal in it is suddenly subjected to violent corrosion. Desperately, Alan tries to get back to base camp before his craft breaks up but he is helpless to prevent a crash-landing. Miraculously, no-one is seriously hurt, but they learn that two Alphans on the planet are dead after drinking spring water - water that had been tested and found pure!
On the Moonbase, Dr. Helena Russell (BARBARA BAIN) and Maya (CATHERINE SCHELL) watch in horror as their instruments indicate a dramatic change in the planet's atmosphere - a massive build-up of poisonous elements apparently caused by the Alphans' arrival! And there is a strong indication of an intelligent and hostile life-form. Due to the corrosion they are unable to communicate with the planet, but by using some metaline fibres, Koenig and Carter rig a make-shift transmitter and report their plight, Koenig forbidding any rescue attempt - the Eagles would simply fall apart. But Maya has a brainwave - Moonbase Alpha's re-entry glider is made of carbon fibre.....
On the planet, the solar cells are now re-charged and the Alphans are able to enter the strange, geodetic structure. Inside they are astonished to find a uniformed skeleton, slumped in a chair in front of a screen. They switch the screen on and find themselves looking at a being who introduces himself as Zoran (NADIM SAWALHA) - now a skeleton - and he tells how he and his people befell a fate similar to that which faces the Alphans.
Helena and Maya land in the glider and Maya immediately transforms into a bird, flying above the trees in order to spot the base camp. Meanwhile, Tony has regained consciousness and tells Koenig how Lustig died, and both are delighted when Helena and Maya arrive out of nowhere. But the women are shocked to find Tony so obviously close to death.
Another visit to the geodetic structure gleans more information from the dying Zoran's screen image. He explains how he met a 'being' composed of blinding light and sound and was made insane due to lack of protection. Temporarily recovered, he is now trying to help any other space traveller who might investigate the planet. Koenig finds his protective suit and insists on trying it. Carefully modified so he can neither see nor hear and relying on instructions via a built-in two-way radio, Koenig ventures blindly into the area where Tony and Lustig were struck down. He must make friendly contact with the 'being' before all Alphans on the planet suffer Zoran's fate.....
"SPACE 1999" - SERIES II
CAST LIST
EPISODE NO. 23 - "THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME"
DIRECTOR: BOB BROOKS
KOENIG - MARTIN LANDAU
HELENA - BARBARA BAIN
MAYA - CATHERINE SCHELL
VERDESCHI - TONY ANHOLT
CARTER - NICK TATE
ZORAN - NADIM SAWALHA
TRAVIS - KARL HELD
DR. ED SPENCER - SAM DASTOR
FRASER - JOHN HUG
VOICE - HAL GALILI
ALIBE - ALIBE PARSONS
LES JOHNSON - WALTER McMONAGLE
JOE LUSTIG - ROY BOYD
Thanks to Allen Barnella