Episode Guide

• Background
• Cast/Sets
• SFX
• Music
• Science
• Continuity
• Errors
• Observations
• Links
• Transcript
• Images

Matter of Life and Death

A man returns from the dead and promise of a new civilization on a planet resembling earth opens for those stranded on the runaway moon. But there is drama ahead. ITC summary

Background

• Original script "Siren Planet" by Art Wallace involved the return of Helena's husband, Telford. But this was an illusion created by the inhabitants of the planet.
• The Wallace script was based on an earlier format of the series, so Johnny Byrne wrote a new script, using the concept of the return of Helena's husband.
• Shooting script dated 8th January 1974. Filmed from 14th January- 30th January 1974.
• During the filming of one Terra Nova scene, everybody stopped when they heard Charles Crichton call "Cut!". But it wasn't Crichton- it was one of the parrots.
• This episode was the first to be completed; the original print had different titles and credits but is otherwise identical. This print was released to US stations as a preview copy in 1974 and still resurfaces occasionally.

SFX

• The first alien planet landscape is a good match to the studio set.
• Several shots of the planet alongside the Moon use astronomical photos of the real Moon.
• Library Special Effects

Music

• Original score by Barry Gray, recorded at Wembley on Thursday 14th March 1974. This was actually the first episode scored (Breakaway was recorded the following day). Some of the music cues were recorded for Breakaway, but used in this episode.
• The music cue as Helena talks to Lee in Medical is from the film Thunderbirds Are Go!, recorded by Gray in October 1966.
• One track (the guitar solo as the guards rush to the Care Unit to restrain Russell) was written and performed by Vic Elms.
• ITC Music Cue Sheet

Science

• Antimatter is also used as a plot device in A Matter Of Balance. Antimatter is composed of subatomic particles (protons, electrons) with an opposite electric charge ("reversed polarity" is an accurate technical description). When normal matter and antimatter particles collide they are destroyed, releasing large amounts of energy.
• Why is Terra Nova's water red? It can be clays suspended in the water, or the water is stained by tannins from the soils and decaying vegetation (common in peaty areas), or algae or bacteria. The colour red suggests either algae or iron in the rocks and soil.
• Koenig's line "It takes billions of years for a human being to adapt that radically" is an exaggeration: the time-scale is more likely millions of years.

Continuity

Chronology:

• They have visited other planets before Terra Nova; "I think we made it this time." "Many things have happened since we broke away from the solar system."

Alpha Personnel:

0 fatalities.

• Kano is introduced. His lines were assigned to Ouma in the script.
• Kano calculates that 3600 divided by the number of Alphans is 10. If there are 300 Alphans, it's 12.

Alpha Technology:

• The Care Unit set is also seen in Ring Around The Moon (most Year One medical sets were only seen once).
• Commlock locator beams are also used in Death's Other Dominion
• Medical thermographic scans are used.
• The SAT badge on Lee Russell's jacket is seen again in Year 2.
• This is the first use of RED ALERT status, and the only use of YELLOW ALERT.
• The water analyser is only used in this episode, but is glimpsed again in The Testament Of Arkadia and in the Life Support Center in The Exiles.
• The stimulant drug Metrazine is similar in name and function to Mezadrine used in The Troubled Spirit
• The countdown clock is shown.
• There is a Command Conference

Eagles:

Eagle 1 (Parks); 2 (landing party)

Planets:

Terra Nova

Aliens:

When asked if Terra Nova is inhabited, Lee Russell answers "No. Yes. Not in the way you think." Which may mean the planet is inhabited, but the life forms are not recognisable.

Props:

Cast:

• Stuart Damon reappears as Guido Verdeschi in The Bringers Of Wonder. The character Parks is also named but not seen in Ring Around The Moon.
• Kano appears, replacing Ouma.

Errors

During the in-show credits we see the medical crew in the travel unit moving to the launch pad. The gurney has no mattress (the director shoots the scene through the frame).

After the landslide, the wind blows across the scene, moving a few "rocks" (by Koenig's head).

Observations

Matter Of Life and Death strongly echoes Stanislaw Lem's 1961 book Solaris (English translation 1970, filmed by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1972; the 1997 film Event Horizon also borrows elements). Terra Nova is like Solaris, a remote planet able to recreate spirits from the past. In both, a facsimile of the main character's dead spouse is created (in the filmed episode he is the real husband of Helena, but in the Siren Planet script, like Solaris, he is merely an image). Like the Siren Planet script, the book's end includes a reunion with an estranged father (here Koenig's father). The themes are similar; the difficulty of communication with a truly alien form, the limits of human comprehension. "We're a long way from home. And we're going to have to start thinking differently if we're to come to terms with space."

While the book and film delve into memory and ideas of self, the Space 1999 treatment is much less subtle. Siren Planet plays as an adventure, with the aliens tricking the Alphans from the planet, while Byrne's script is a science fiction mystery as the physical form of Lee is too weak and inarticulate to explain their situation.

Structurally the episode is flawed, with much disorienting and incoherent movement between rooms to establish minor plot points. Furthermore it is overly vague; why doesn't Lee just say "The planet is antimatter"? Why are Helena or the autopsy doctors electrocuted? Act 4 improves immensely, establishing idyllic pastoral scenes and then a rapid disintegration into chaos. The resolution, winding back time to before the chaos, is unsatisfying (War Games has a similar "it was all a dream" ending, but is better done).

Koenig's concern and caution is well played (overt jealousy would have been a mistake). Helena admits she is just "numb"- although there are some hints of confusion and distraction, her blankness is uninvolving and uninteresting, wasting the emotional opportunity of the plot.

Direction and cinematography especially noteworthy; unusual camera angles and wide, expansive panoramas are characteristic of Charles Crichton.

On some prints (such as that used on the US laserdiscs), the typography for Rudi Gernreich's credit is in the Braggadocio font. In other prints (such as the DVDs), it is in Futura book, consistent with the other credits. Braggadocio is similar but not identical to Futura Black, used for the This Episode caption.

• Clips of the planet surface from this episode can be seen in Dr Who episode Nightmare of Eden (1979) and the Kansas music video Dust In The Wind (1977).
• The parrots are a Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) and two Blue and Yellow Macaws (Ara ararauna), from tropical South America. Scarlet Macaws are red with blue and yellow wings. Blue and Yellow Macaws are one of the largest parrots in the world, with blue wings and tail, yellow breast and a green cap on the head. A different species of parrot, Green-Wing Macaws, appear in One Moment Of Humanity
• During filming, a group of American theatre students visited the set. The teachers, Thomas Atkins and Mary Ellen O'Brien, wrote an account of the visit in Cinefantastic magazine in 1975, and several publicity photos of the visit were released by ITC.

Merchandise:

• Novelised in Breakaway by E C Tubb published by Orbit (UK paperback), Dobson (UK hardback), Pocket Books (US), Breitschupf (Germany), re-edited in Year One (Powys, 2020).
• Novelised in I Naufraghi Dello Spazio by Gianni Padoan (AMZ, reprinted by Fanucci in 1999).
• Early script "Siren Planet" novelised by Robert E Wood in Maybe There - The Lost Stories from Space: 1999 (2022)
• A comic strip version is in Zack 1978-16 (German)
• UK video: ITC volume 1 (1992)
• UK DVD: Carlton volume 1 (2001)
• UK DVD: Network (2005)
• UK Blu-ray: Network (2010)
• US video: J2 Communications volume 2 (1991)
• US laserdisc: Image Entertainment volume 7 (1991)
• US DVD: A&E set 1 volume 1 (2001), video set 1 volume 2 (2001)
• US Blu-ray: A&E (2010)
• US Blu-ray: Shout! Factory (2019)
• Japan laserdisc: Emotion volume 1 (1993)
• Japan DVD: Pioneer (2001)
• France DVD: TF1 (2002)
• France video: Sony Music Video volume 1 (1992)
• Germany DVD: EMS (2004)
• Germany DVD: Crest (2011)
• Germany Blu-ray (SD): Crest (2011)
• Germany Blu-ray (3D): Crest (2012)
• Germany Blu-ray (HD): Sunrise Entertainment (2012)
• Germany Blu-ray (HD): Fernsehjuwelen (2015)
• Italy DVD: Pulp Video (2003)
• Italy DVD: Collector's Edition Mondo Home (2007)
• Italy DVD: Newspaper promotion La Repubblica (2007)
• Portugal DVD: Prisvideo (2003)
• Australia DVD: Magna Pacific (2003)
• Sweden DVD: Noble Entertainment (2009)
• Spanish DVD: Producciones JRB (2003)

Links

• Iamges
  • High definition images
  • This Episode images
  • Publicity images
• Transcript Copyright Martin Willey
• Writer Johnny Byrne's comments
• More observations
• Script to screen
• Critics comments Chris Bentley, Anthony McKay, John Kenneth Muir et al
• This Episode
• Panini story summary
• These Episodes interviews (2005)

External Links

• Ken Scott's episode guide
• Mailing List discussion