The Merchandise GuideVideo: US Laserdisc
Compiled by Martin Willey
The Merchandise Guide
Moonbase Alpha is endangered by a malfunctioning spacecraft sent up from Earth many years earlier, and by aliens whose people have already been destroyed by the errant probe.
Moonbase Alpha encounters a spaceship and discovers it is Voyager One, launched from Earth in 1985 - 14 years before the explosion which catapulted the moon out of Earth's orbit. It has been polluting space all this time because of a tragic miscalculation in its Queller Drive engine, causing a lethal production of fast neutrons, which annihilate matter. Two Eagles on reconnaissance are caught in violent vibrations caused by the death ship and Commander Koenig (Martin Landau) realizes that it must be destroyed.
Professor Bergman (Barry Morse) protests that to destroy it would mean the loss of all the valuable information gathered during its years in space and calls on Dr. Ernst Linden (Jeremy Kemp) of the Experimental Laboratory to determine if there is any means of overriding Voyager One's computer security codes and shutting down the drive. Although it is not realized at the time, Linden is the one man who can do this, since he is actually Ernst Queller, who changed his name after the awful disaster became known. As he races against time, his assistant, Jim Haines (Barry Stokes), discovers his real identity and strikes him with such force that he is incapacitated. Dr. Russell (Barbara Bain) struggles to revive him, as only minutes remain before Koenig must decide to give the destruct order.
Voyager One is saved at the last moment, but a greater danger appears when three spaceships threaten them. A humanoid alien (Alex Scott) explains that they seek vengeance for the millions whose lives were extinguished when the Queller Drive decimated two of the worlds in their system.
MARTIN LANDAU as John Koenig
BARBARA BAIN as Dr. Helena Russell
BARRY MORSE as Professor Bergman
Guest Stars: JEREMY KEMP as Dr. Ernst Linden
BARRY STOKES as Jim Haines
Prentis Hancock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul Morrow
Clifton Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Kano
Zienia Merton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sandra Benes
Anton Phillips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Mathias
Nick Tate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alan Carter
Alex Scott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aarchon
Lawrence Trimble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pilot Abrams
Producer: Sylvia Anderson Executive Producer: Gerry Anderson Screenplay by: Johnny Byrne
Story Consultant: Christopher Penfold Moon City Costumes Designed by: Rudi Gernreich
Directed by: Bob Kellett Series Created by: Gerry and Sylvia Anderson
Color/Approx. Running Time: 52 Minutes
Helena Russell's husband, missing in space for years, mysteriously appears on Moonbase Alpha to warn her away from the planet where he and everything on it exist as anti-matter.
A spacecraft returns to Moonbase Alpha from a reconnaissance flight to what seems like a compatible planet - and an additional astronaut is found aboard! His identity is quickly established when Helena Russell (Barbara Bain) recognizes him as her husband Lee (Richard Johnson) who had been lost in space many years before.
When Helena touches Lee, she is violently hurled across the room. Further examination produces even more puzzling factors which baffle the medical computers. Lee records no traditional signs of life, yet his heart beats and he is breathing. Professor Bergman (Barry Morse) determines that Russell is composed of anti- matter. In obvious distress in his new environment, Russell warns them away from the planet - then disintegrates.
Disregarding Russell's warnings, Koenig leads a landing party to the planet, accompanied by Helena. Once there, disaster strikes. Their spaceship is destroyed, its crew killed. A spectacular explosion also destroys the moon and shock waves rock the planet. Koenig and Helena struggle to survive but Koenig is hit by debris and dies. Lee appears and explains the phenomenon to Helena. When he and his crew were locked in orbit around Jupiter, they were atomized and scattered into deep space. The form of life Lee has become lives on the planet, but human form cannot.
Lee is able to give Helena the strength she needs to survive her incredible experience, which has been realized as a possibility. She is then presented with an alternate possibility: Koenig and the crew of the Eagle are as they were upon touchdown and from the still existing moon, Professor Bergman announces that plans for Operation Exodus are ready for Koenig's signal to bring the personnel down.
MARTIN LANDAU as John Koenig
BARBARA BAIN as Dr. Helena Russell
BARRY MORSE as Professor Bergman
Guest Star: RICHARD JOHNSON as Lee
Prentis Hancock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul Morrow
Clifton Jones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Kano
Zienia Merton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sandra Benes
Anton Phillips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Mathias
Nick Tate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alan Carter
Stuart Damon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Parks
Producer: Sylvia Anderson Executive Producer: Gerry Anderson Screenplay by: Art Wallace and
Johnny Byrne Story Consultant: Christopher Penfold Script Editor: Edward Di Lorenzo
Moon City Costumes Designed by: Rudi Gernreich Directed by: Charles Crichton
Series Created by: Gerry and Sylvia Anderson
Color/Approx. Running Time: 52 Minutes
Copyright Martin Willey. Thanks to James Poll.