Episode Guide

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• Cast/Sets
• SFX
• Music
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Dragon's Domain

A macabre monster in outer space...an eerie graveyard of lost spaceships Real or imagination? Years of mental torment reach a terrifying climax. ITC summary

Background

• Nick Tate states the original idea was for him to be featured as the pilot of the Ultra Probe. I know it was originally written for me because Christopher Penfold invited me to his house and showed me the first draft of the script. The original story was very much like Alien - this creature kills everybody aboard a space station and Alan Carter is sent there to discover what happened. (1995 interview). Obviously Carter would survive the episode.
• Original story treatment titled Web by Christopher Penfold featured pilot Jimmy Calder, and, after Garko was cast, Tony Cellini.
• After Penfold left, it was revised. Johnny Byrne does not remember working on it, so rewrites are likely to be by Charles Crichton, Gerry Anderson and Martin Landau.
• Shooting script dated 21st January 1975. Pink page amendments 24th January 1974. Blue page amendments (2pp) 29th January 1975. Yellow page amendments (12pp) 30th January 1975,
• Filmed 24th January- 12th February 1975 (last 2 days filmed simultaneously with The Testament of Arkadia).

SFX

• The Ultra Probe was in two sizes (6' and 3') plus a 20" lifeboat. The nosecone of the large Ultra Probe (to scale with the 44" Eagle) was used in Eagle hangar scenes of The Metamorph although it is not seen on screen.
• The design of the command module clamps to the main body was inspired by the 1973 film Silent Running. The original concept was to eject glittering dust just like the dome ejection scenes in that film.
• The Dragon ship was 102cm long (5 1/2 feet) and to scale with the smaller Ultra Probe. It reappeared in the graveyard in The Metamorph.
• Two other new ships were built; both were about 2-3 foot long and sparsely detailed. One reappeared in the graveyard in The Metamorph.
• Five other ships from other episodes were reused. These are:
  • Shuttle from Collision Course (seen from underside)
  • Sidon ship from Voyager's Return (seen from underside)
  • bomber from Alpha Child and War Games
  • Front end of Deltan ship from The Last Enemy
• Martin Bower has claimed the SFX crew filmed shots with the Tardis from Dr Who and Enterprise from Star Trek. Although they were barely visible, it was decided to remove these shots from the completed episode.
• The Space Dock from Breakaway reappears, this time with a new landing pad (made from the saucer of a Star Trek Enterprise kit).
• The skulls of the corpses were made from Revell kits
• The dragon arms was rubber tubing covered in polystyrene, with open ends so air blown down them caused them to flick. After filming, the prop was discarded in the back lot, where Johnny Byrne used to walk his lurcher hounds. The male hound regularly sprayed the monster to mark its territory.
• Ultra Probe feature
• Dragon ship model photos
• SFX storyboards
• Library Special Effects

Music

Library track: "Adagio for strings and organ in G Minor" attributed to Tommaso Albinoni (1671-1751)/ Remo Giazotto (1910-1998). Giazotto claimed to have discovered fragments of the Albinoni manuscript in Dresden in 1945, and composed the piece based on the fragments. It is now generally held to be an expert pastiche rather than an authentic baroque piece. It was first used as a soundtrack for a 1952 release of the 1928 film classic La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, which influenced a generation of film makers. This track is widely used in film, most famously Rollerball (1975, coincidentally at the same time as the episode was first seen) and Gallipoli (1981). It was also used in Orson Welles's The Trial (1962), Flashdance (1983), Manchester by the Sea (2016) and Dogs Don't Wear Pants (2020). Gerry Anderson had wanted to use it in his 1968 film Doppelganger (aka Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun), but Barry Gray had composed a track for the sequence (when the astronauts sleep on their way to the other planet). This version was arranged and conducted by Alain Lombard (1940-) with the Orchestre de la Societé des Concerts du Conservatoire in 1966 and published by the Delysé [Envoy] Recording Company (album ECB 3181).

• ITC Music Cue Sheet

Science

• Bergman discovers Ultra, a 10th planet in the solar system in 1996. In 2006 a new classification was agreed, in which the solar system has just 8 planets, excluding Pluto (now classified as a dwarf planet like Charon, Ceres, and Eris).
• The term "black sun" is used again. It is featured in the episode Black Sun and also mentioned in Seed Of Destruction.

Continuity

Chronology:

877th day after leaving orbit (Wednesday, 6th February 2002). It is five years since 1997. This contradicts Year 2 dates, being after Mark Of Archanon (640 days) and just before The Rules Of Luton (892)

Alpha Personnel:

1 fatality (Tony Cellini)

• Koenig's appointment in Breakaway presumably follows his "grounding" in 1997 after the Ultra Probe failure. Victor's grounding seems to have been brief ("Still here?"). Although he was friendly with Mathias in 1996 (calling him "Bob"), in Breakaway they are on formal, last name terms.
• Kano also plays chess in Black Sun, but the chess set has flat pieces, not proper chess pieces. The same set is seen on Earth in Another Time, Another Place. See observations below for comments on their gameplay.
• Commander Gorski is mentioned as Commander during 1996. He was seen in Breakaway

Alpha Technology:

• The Space Dock appears. It also appears in Breakaway
• We learn Medical Computer monitors everyone's pulse and metabolic rate continuously.
• Helena uses a electric typewriter (a Triumph-Adler Gabriele 2000). By Year 2 she will be dictating into her Alpha Log Recorder, although the typewriter is seen again in Koenig's quarters in The Exiles.
• The laser rifle is seen. It is also used in War Games, The Infernal Machine and The Metamorph and is often seen in other episodes.
• Cellini comments "There are ships here that could make the dream of interstellar travel a reality. We could be liberated from our solar system". However, according to Brian The Brain, a 1996 mission with a mothership and Swifts was launched beyond the solar system. Note while the Ultra Probe was a high profile public mission, no-one can even remember the Swift mission in Brian The Brain. Also note the Swift uniforms are different to the standard moonbase uniforms worn by the Ultra Probe crew. Perhaps it was a different (more secretive) space organisation.
• The black box recorder is a real aerospace gyroscope. It is also seen in Voyager's Return. It is similar to the AE-35 unit from 2001: A Space Odyssey (a Sperry G.M.compass MK4), and it is possible it is the same prop, reused via a film prop company.

Eagles:

Eagle 1 (Cellini, left with Ultra probe); 2 (pick up); 3 and 4 (escort)

Planets:

None.

Aliens:

Dragon. Ships of other alien races are seen.

Props:

• The orange jackets worn by Koenig and Cellini reappear on the guards in Testament Of Arkadia, Picard in The Metamorph and Maya in One Moment Of Humanity. Victor's blue jacket is worn by Alan is early Year 2 episodes. 1996 Alpha had ID badges, like in Year 2.

Footage:

The shape seen before the dragon appears is the space brain.

Errors

Observations

• Christopher Penfold: At the time I had a house on the Welsh borders near Ludlow, which because of the pressure of work on Space I couldn't get to all that often. Whenever I did get there, the spiders' webs over the kitchen windows would be full of moths and flies that had had the life blood sucked out of them.
• Perhaps the most overtly mythological episode of Space: 1999. Although it credits St George and the Dragon, the ending also strongly echoes the final confrontation of Beowulf with the dragon. The dragon's skin cannot be penetrated by swords (as the space dragon is unaffected by lasers), and Beowulf is mortally wounded. His thane Wiglaf delivers the death blow to the dragon.
• The use of flashback and narration is also seen in The Testament Of Arkadia and the unfilmed Face Of Eden.

• Footage of the Ultra Probe has been used on several UK shows including comedy sketch programme Three Of A Kind (1983, a sketch based on Alien), and children's magazine Saturday Starship (1984).
• The video and DVD releases of this episode have been flawed. The original UK video release by ITC had to be recalled after a sound defect. The UK Carlton DVD release has a colour defect after 4 minutes 48 seconds, turning abruptly pinker (during the chess game). The US A&E release has this colour defect throughout; the bonus disc corrects the colour, but the film shows more scratches. The Network release in 2005 is the first unflawed release.

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 I Giorni Del Terrore by Gianni Padoan (AMZ).
• Early story novelised in Maybe There - The Lost Stories from Space: 1999 (2022)
• Novelised and greatly expanded in L'occhio ardente di Mbatian by Michele Tetro (Edizioni del Nano-Cosmic Group, 2005)
• Sequels featuring the dragons in Powys novelisations notably several 2010 titles by William Latham: Spider's Web (short story in Shepherd Moon anthology and audiobook) and the books Omega and Alpha.
• A comic strip version is in Zack 1977-25 (German) and Il Fumetto A Colori Di Spazio 1999 supplement (Italian).
• Power records did an audio version (with new actors and sound effects) for their LP "Hear Four Exciting Stories"
• Big Finish did an audio version (with new actors and script) in "Volume 3" (2023).
• Sixteen 12 released a Ultra Probe command module and Eagle with detachable CM in their This Episode Dragon's Domain set (2021)
• UK video: ITC volume 2 (1992)
• UK DVD: Carlton volume 6 (2001)
• UK DVD: Network (2005)
• UK Blu-ray: Network (2010)
• US laserdisc: J2 Communications Special Collectors Edition (1990), Image Entertainment volume 2 (1991)
• US DVD: A&E set 4 volume 8 (2001), Bonus Disc with Christopher Penfold/ Johnny Byrne commentary (2002)
• US Blu-ray: A&E (2010)
• US Blu-ray: Shout! Factory (2019)
• Japan laserdisc: Emotion volume 1 (1993)
• Japan DVD: Pioneer (2001)
• France video: Sony Music Video volume 8 (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 6 (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
• 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