Episode Guide

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

Mission of the Darians

A call for help from the survivors of a dying world... an incredible world that has been flying through space for 900 years, with contrasting inhabitants. Some have never changed; others have reverted to barbarism. But can this offer new hope for the Alphans? ITC summary

Background

• Shooting script 7th January 1975
• Shooting schedule dated 9th January 1975
• Filmed 10th January- 23rd January 1975
• Nick Tate had a back problem during filming. Thrown through the air by the stuntman, he landed awkwardly on his shoulder, with a loud crack. But his back was cured.

SFX

• The Daria is based on a 1971 painting by NASA artist Robert McCall (1919-2010), titled "Aerospace Port". It is one of a series of paintings of massive cities floating in the sky over Arizona landscapes.
• The Daria was designed by both Brian Johnson and Martin Bower, and built in sections by Bower. One of the details on the top is a cap from NDA 2 (Breakaway). Many of the sections were used in the Delta spacestation seen in Into Infinity. The dome on top became a Moonbase building (the transference dome in Journey To Where, and in other episodes).
• The larger section with which the Eagle docks is surrounded by borders seen as the interior of the Atherian shuttle in Collision Course.
• There are 3 matte shots (2 of the gantry over the civilised part of the ship, 1 of the jungle).
• Library SFX

Music

Library tracks:

• "Experiments In Space- Vega" composed by Robert Farnon (Chappell Recorded Music Library)
• track from Stingray "Ghost Of The Sea" by Barry Gray
• "The White Mountain" (introduction) composed by Frank Cordell (Chappell Recorded Music Library)
• ITC Music Cue Sheet

Science

• Transplant surgery. The first organ transplant was a kidney in 1954; now there are routine procedures for kidneys, bone marrow, skin grafts, cornea, lungs, livers and hearts. There are still problems with tissue rejection as the immune system identifies foreign cells, and the vulnerability to infection caused by the drugs that suppress the immune system. Already demand exceeds supply, and many countries (for instance, India) allow healthy people to sell their organs commercially. There have been numerous stories since the 1970s of healthy people being kidnapped or murdered for organ harvesting, especially in third world countries. Small grafts can rejuvenate the brain and central nervous system (fetal tissue is one controversial area of research). The technology, and ethical issues, are thus soundly based.
• The double helix of DNA was discovered by Watson and Crick in 1953. DNA is a long molecule consisting of four bases (like the letters in a computer program). Two complementary strands of DNA are wrapped around each other, with each of the nucleotide bases being paired (Adenosine to Thymine, Guanosine to Cytosine). The base pairing of the structure is the key to its stability and the ability to make perfect copies (when the strands are unwound, the unpaired bases are templates for DNA polymerase enzymes to create new strands). The ability to replicate identical copies is how genetic inheritance works. There are other structures. Bacteria cells (prokaryotes) have a single circular DNA molecule. Viruses can have DNA or RNA, double or single stranded, circular or linear.

Continuity

Chronology:

Alpha Personnel:

1 fatality, Lowry.

Alpha Technology:

Eagles:

Eagle 1 with passenger module

Planets:

None. We learn about planet Daria.

Aliens:

Darians. Neman, Kara, Hadin. Humanoid.

Props:

• The large alien probe (studio prop) from The Last Sunset is seen as a Darian fire
• The Darian radiation suits are spacesuits from the Catherine Schell film Moon Zero Two (1969); one helmet is from Gerry Anderson's UFO (1969).
• The door of the Darian cabinet is also seen on Thule in Death's Other Dominion
• The perspex desk was seen in The Infernal Machine and will be later seen in Dixon's office in Dragon's Domain. The tall backed chairs are later seen in Koenig's dining room in The Taybor
• The Darian guns were originally the direction locators used by the Alphans on Retha in The Full Circle. They are seen again in A Matter Of Balance

Errors

• "Is it not true that your own planet, Earth, may also no longer exist?" asks Neman and Koenig agrees. This possibly contradicts Another Time, Another Place (which was a possible future Earth).
• Lowry has a habit of holding his commlock on his belt- so that the five intact fingers of his hand are sometimes visible. When the Priest holds up his hand, it is a body double whose finger was amputated at the second joint. The next shot shows a finger that stops at the first joint - probably Paul Antrim's real hand, with the top of his finger taped back.

Observations

• The story is reportedly based on how survivors of a plane crash in the Andes eat dead bodies. The book, Alive by Pier Paul Read, was published in 1975 and made into a film in 1993. It told how in October 1972 the plane carrying 45 people including the Montevideo Old Christians Rugby team crashed. 31 survived the crash, but it was ten weeks before the survivors were located, by which time just 16 were alive.
• The name Darian recalls the Dorian invaders who overthrew the Mycenean civilization about 1000 BC and established classical Grecian civilisation based on militaristic city states. The Grecian-inspired togas and hairstyles emphasise this.
• Hadin is named after Skarp-Hedin, a son of Njal, hero of the 13th century Icelandic Njal's saga. The Viking elite wore clothes that also resembled the Darian fashions.
• Another source was Brian Aldiss's book Nonstop (also called Starship), a 1968 book which was in turn inspired by Robert Heinlein's Universe (1941). "Generation starships" were first proposed by Russian scientist Konstantin Tsielkovsky in 1928 and became a science fiction staple after Don Wilcox's 1940 book The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years.
• How do mutants like the dwarfs grow to maturity? Wouldn't they be killed as children or are they kept alive deliberately?
• If the Darians lack essential components- how does the ending give them the trace elements and enzyme variants?
• The tune that Lowry whistles is "A Wandering Minstrel" by Gilbert and Sullivan (thanks to Matt Butts)
• In the Level 7 set, pieces of furniture that previously appeared in The Infernal Machine (in red) appear: the Pastil chair (two black ones either side of the Spirit doors, three others in the camp) and the Ditzel barstool (immediately in front of the doors).
• The Daria is 20 miles long by 5 miles wide- 100 square miles (we don't know the height, so the volume could be greater). When they are flying along the length of the ship, Elliot points out Koenig says "there's fifty miles of ship... Keep trying." Kerry notes that the circumference of the ship is 50 miles. We don't know the height, but if the ship is 5 miles high (as tall as it is wide), the volume is 500 square miles, and the surface area is 450 miles.
• Ray Austin: The only time I had trouble with Barbara Bain. The first morning Joan Collins came on the set, her skirt was shorter than Barbara's... and she went mad off camera. She went to see Gerry and Sylvia, said "I'm not going to have it." She wanted her skirt shorter than Joan Collins - Joan Collins' skirt had to be lengthened. She (Collins) was a fantastic woman, that's why we employed her. But 'Barbara Pain' as the crew used to call her, she wanted wardrobe to change Joan Collins' skirt but Gerry said no, that's why we've got her, we're not going to hide her legs. That's why that outfit was designed." (Anderson #13, Feb 2012, p12)

Merchandise:

• Novelised in Astral Quest by John Rankine published by Orbit (UK paperback), Dobson (UK hardback), Pocket Books (US), re-edited in Year One (Powys, 2020).
• Novelised in Gli Eredi Del Passato by Gianni Padoan (AMZ).
• A comic strip version is in Zack 1978-13 (German)
• Power records did an audio version (with new actors and sound effects) for their LP "Hear Three Exciting Stories"
• UK video: ITC volume 3 (1992)
• UK DVD: Carlton volume 6 (2001)
• UK DVD: Network (2005)
• UK Blu-ray: Network (2010)
• US video: Columbia House volume 9 (1997)
• US laserdisc: Image Entertainment volume 6 (1991)
• US DVD: A&E set 4 volume 8 (2001)
• US Blu-ray: A&E (2010)
• US Blu-ray: Shout! Factory (2019)
• Japan laserdisc: Emotion volume 2 (1993)
• Japan DVD: Pioneer (2001)
• France video: Sony Music Video volume 7 (1992)
• France DVD: TF1 (2002)
• Germany DVD: EMS (2005)
• Germany Blu-ray (SD): Crest (2012)
• Germany Blu-ray (HD): Sunrise Entertainment (2012)
• Germany Blu-ray (HD): Fernsehjuwelen (2015)
• Italy DVD: Pulp Video (2004)
• Italy DVD: Collector's Edition Mondo Home (2007)
• Italy DVD: Newspaper promotion La Repubblica (2008)
• Australia video: CEL volume 5 (1995)
• Australia DVD: Magna Pacific (2003)
• Sweden DVD: Noble Entertainment (2008)

Links

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

External links

• Ken Scott's episode guide
• Mailing List discussion