Background
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Catacombs of the Moon

Year 2 - Episode 11

Writer	Anthony Terpiloff
Director	Robert Lynn
Guest Stars	James Laurenson, Pamela Stephenson

Original Title	The Catacombs Of The Moon
Belgium (Flemish)	Maancatacomben		3 Aug 1977
Spain	Las catacumbas de la Luna	The catacombs of the moon	19 Oct 1977
France/Canada	Les catacombes de la Lune	The Catacombs Of The Moon	19 Feb 1977
Germany	Gegen die Zeit	Against Time	3 Sep 1978
Italy	Il Tiranium	The Tiranium	4 May 1979
Japan	S.O.S., The Moon is a Hell!		5 Jun 1981
Portugal	Catacumbas na Lua	Catacombs On The Moon	12 Nov 1977
Portugal	O Visionário	The Visionary
USA (New York)			27 Nov 1976
USA (San Francisco)			13 Nov 1976
UK (ATV)			25 Nov 1976
UK (LWT)			27 Nov 1976

Dr. Helena Russell wages a desperate fight for the life of a girl whose husband has visions of Alpha being destroyed by fire...visions made all the more ominous when a fire storm sweeps towards the moon. ITC summary

Background

Shooting script titled The Catacombs Of The Moon dated 18th May 1976. Revised 26 May, 9th June, 14 June, 17 June.
A "Double Up Helena" script, filmed simultaneously with The AB Chrysalis. Filmed from Monday 21st June 1976- Tuesday 6th July (12 days).
From 23rd June 1976, UK experienced a real heatwave, with temperatures 30 C or above from this date until 8 July.
During filming the dream sequence with Michelle in bed surrounded by fire (Friday July 2nd), the fire got out of control. The fire brigade was called and production was closed for two days.

Cast

Commander John Koenig	Martin Landau
Doctor Helena Russell	Barbara Bain
Maya	Catherine Schell
Tony Verdeschi	Tony Anholt
Sandra Benes	Zienia Merton
Patrick Osgood	James Laurenson
Michelle Osgood	Pamela Stephenson
Doctor Ben Vincent	Jeffery Kissoon
Bill (copilot)	Alan Hunter
Guard (Morgan)	Brendan Price
1st Engineer	Lloyd McGuire
1st Woman	Nova Llewellyn
Command Center operative (P Rose)	Pam Rose
Command Center Operative (Peter Reeves)	Robert Reeves
Command Center operative	Jenny Cresswell
Command Center Operative (G Allen)	Glenda Allen
Security Guard (Pierce Quinton)	Quentin Pierre
3rd Guard	John Ketteringham
4th Guard	Harry Fielder
Guard	Reg Turner
Security Guard	Stuart Myers
Pilot in Corridor	Paul Barton
Nurse	Karen Ford
2nd Engineer	Saul Reichlin
2nd Woman	Felicity York
Alphan in corridor	Claire Russell
Alphan in corridor	Paul Barton
Pilot using Travel Tube/patient	Michael Reynell
Stunts	Cliff Diggins Tracey Eddon

Sets

Int. Command Centre
Int. Medical Centre
Int. Medical Experimental
Int. Explosives Storeroom
Int. Tony's Quarters
Int. Alpha Corridor/Reception
Int. Travel Tube
Int. Eagle Pilot Section

Int. Catacombs
Ext. Moon surface (vision)
Int. Research Unit (clip from The Exiles)

Normal fire cannot burn in space, but they could be colliding with a proto-star or dense gas cloud, the gravity of which would heat up the gases. It would also create the shockwaves and explosions seen.

The first artificial heart was implanted in a patient in 1983. Complete mechanical hearts can damage red blood cells and are vulnerable to infection. More success has been found with small titanium pumps sewn directly into the left ventricle, a type that was used for the first successful long term artificial heart patient in 2000. The first entirely internal artificial heart (with no leads or pumps) was implanted in 2001. The box-like device in this episode looks more like a pacemaker than a blood pump. The operation and post operative care look nothing like modern medical procedures (especially putting a man covered in blood and dirt next to a patient recovering from a major operation).

The Moon's surface temperature is said to rise to 40 Centigrade, and a temperature gauge shows 45. This is a hot day on Earth- the upper range of hot deserts, occasionally experienced in Europe and North America in summer heatwaves. The average daytime temperatures on the Moon in Earth orbit reach 120 Centigrade. Just after the episode finished filming, starting on 23 June 1976, a heatwave settled over England, with temperatures over 30 C for over 2 weeks, with 5 days around the start of July reaching over 35 C.
The catacombs are also seen but not so named in Mark Of Archanon. Most caves on Earth are formed by water, which is not present on the moon. They are too small and uneven to be excavated by modern mining methods. They may be lava tubes. These are formed as the surface lava cools and insulates lava flowing in channels under it. The best known examples on Earth are in Hawaii, and the Craters Of The Moon National Monument, Idaho, USA. They can meander like a river, and typically have flat floors and roofs. As there is no geothermal heat on the Moon the air would freeze against the rock walls. The first evidence of lava tubes on the moon was discovered in 2010.
Cats cannot see in pitch dark. They can see in much poorer light than humans as their eyes have a reflective layer behind the retina (the tapetum lucidum) which bounces back light to the optic nerve. This also makes the eyes of cats and other nocturnal animals glow in the dark. But there is no light at all in the caves. Only radar-like sound would allow a creature to navigate in a cave, so Michael Butterworth's adaption of the story had Maya change into a bat-like alien.

Continuity

Chronology:

1196 days after leaving Earth orbit (Sun 22 Dec 2002)

Alpha Personnel:

0 fatalities.

Alpha Technology:

Alpha has a store of heat sensitive Hyper-nitro. Luckily it hasn't detonated in all the violent breakaways, collision courses, space battles and space warps they have endured thus far.
The unit which tests the artificial heart is the Ellendorf Quadrographic Brain Complex later to be seen in Bringers Of Wonder part 1 and also in The Lambda Factor.

Eagles:

Eagle 1 (Koenig)

Maya transformations:

Alsatian dog, tiger

Planets:

None

Aliens:

None

Props:

Osgood's trigger is the same as the Eagle laser turret control in The A B Chrysalis

When Osgood is asleep in bed, in the shelf above his head is a bottle of Taybor's "essence of the planet Hermosia" perfume from The Taybor.

Footage:

Shot of two technicians gassing the Golos capsule is reused from The Exiles
Shot of a moonbuggy driving towards the lunar hills (SFX) is reused from The Taybor
Shot of an Eagle landing on a steaming launch pad is reused from The A B Chrysalis

Errors

In the first scene of Act 3 we see guards searching the catacombs; in fact one of the figures is Tony, as this is a scene from later in the episode.

Observations

The emphasis on faith (and the plot device of a space collision) echoes the episode Collision Course also by Anthony Terpiloff.
The guard played by Brendan Price is named Morgan, according to his ID badge.
Coincidentally, both guest stars, James Laurenson and Pamela Stephenson, were from New Zealand.

Merchandise:

Novelised in Mind Breaks Of Space by Michael Butterworth published by Star (UK paperback), Allan Wingate (UK hardback), Warner (US), Bastei (Germany), Mikasa (Japan) and re-edited in Year Two (Powys, 2006).
UK video: ITC volume 16 (1993) and on The 70s volume 2 (1993)
UK DVD: Carlton (2001)
UK Blu-ray: Network (2015)
US laserdisc: Image Entertainment volume 18 (1991)
US DVD: A&E (2002)
US Blu-ray: Shout! Factory (2019)
Australia DVD: Magna Pacific (2003)
Japan DVD: Pioneer (2001)
France DVD: TF1 (2002)
Germany DVD: EMS (2005)
Germany DVD: Sunrise Entertainment / Crest (2013)
Germany Blu-ray (SD): Crest (2012)
Germany Blu-ray (HD): Fernsehjuwelen (2016)
Italy DVD: Pulp Video (2004)
Italy DVD: Collector's Edition Mondo Home (2007)

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