Viewmaster
War Games

Cover

Back sleeve
It is the turn of the century and the Moon, blasted out of its Earth orbit, wanders in space. On it are 311 men and women from all nations of the Earth, placed there originally as the personnel of Moonbase Alpha. Now they are marooned in space - on a quest for a new planet on which to live.
They face a constant struggle with the elements of outer space, with the problems of sustaining life on their tiny world, and with the life forms they encounter on other worlds.
In the episode shown in these stereo pictures, a nearby planet sends fighter spaceships toward the Moonbase - and Commander John Koenig has only five seconds to decide whether to fire on them.

Reels
See the pictures

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By the year 1999, space travel had become commonplace. Moonbase Alpha, staffed by 311 men and women from all nations of the world, had been established on the Moon. Its commander was John Koenig.
With atomic waste matter accumulating on the Earth and no safe place to store it, the world's governments decided to dump it on the far side of the Moon. This turned out to be a fateful blunder. A series of devastating thermonuclear explosions resulted. They tore away portions of the Moon and blasted it out of orbit!
The Moon drifted away from Earth, never to re-

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turn. Moonbase Alpha had not been damaged, and could sustain life indefinitely. The base became the only world for its 311 helpless inhabitants, doomed to drift through the incredible vastness of space- unless they could find a compatible planet on which to settle.
"War Games"
Three fighter spaceships moved toward Alpha from a distant, Earth-like planet. In the Main Mission room of alpha, Commander Koenig and his staff watched their approach on the big monitor screen.
Koenig turned grimly to his communications officer, Paul Morrow. "No reply from the planet?"
"Not a word, Commander."
"Keep trying."
Professor Victor Bergman, the resident scientist, studied the alien ships carefully. "They look like Earth-type Hawks!" he said in amazement.
Alan Carter, reconnaissance officer, jumped to his feet. "They're war machines, and that's enough for me."
"All right, Alan, get going!" said Koenig.
On the big screen, Koenig and the Main Mission operatives watched Eagle Flight One's three interceptor ships life off from Alpha and speed towards the approaching Hawks. Carter commanded the flight.
Technical Officer Kano studied his computer read out. "Alien ships within striking range for only 45 seconds," he reported to the Commander.
View Master Reel A
A1 The Eagles fired warning laser shots, but the Hawks streaked over past them, heading directly for Moonbase Alpha. Koenig strode to the console and punched a button. The face of Carter appeared on the

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small monitor screen.
"Get on their tails, Alan!" he ordered.
"Twenty seconds" warned Kano.
A2 All eyes were on Koenig. Only he could give the order to fire on the aliens.
"Ten seconds," said Kano tensely.
"They're getting away from us, Commander" said Carter's voice on the monitor.
"Four seconds."
"Fire!" commanded Koenig.
Three laser beams shot out from the Eagles, striking the alien ships. Each Hawk blew up and disappeared.
The illustration shows the Eagles facing the wrong way, firing lasers from their main rocket engines
"Commander!" cried Sandra. "A new contact!"
On the screen three more Hawks were approaching from a different direction.
Koenig sprang into action. He pressed the intercom button. "Eagle Flight Two! Lift off!"
A3 The Hawks swooped closer, until the leading one, a menacing figure against the blackness of space, filled the big screen. Eagle Four, the first of the three ships of Flight Two, lifted off Pad Four and rose to meet it.
A4 Tensely Koenig and his crew watched the Eagle take off. It was scarcely in flight before a Hawk zoomed at it and fired. The Eagle exploded, showering Alpha with wreckage. The watchers groaned.
A5 Eagle Five, its jet engines screeching, was now ready to lift off. It cleared the pad and moved a few feet into space - but that was all. A Hawk blasted it, and Eagle Five disappeared.
A6 Eagle Six stood on the pad, its motors roaring

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to life. But the ship never had a chance. A laser beam struck it before it could move. The Eagle blew up, demolishing Pad Four and lighting up the sky of space with a flash so bright it flooded Main Mission.
The blast ripped open a wall of the corridor connecting with Pad Four. Air in the corridor rushed explosively out into the vacuum of space, sucking out some personnel and injuring others.
Dr. Helena Russell, chief medical officer, raced to the Medical Center, where casualties were being wheeled in on trolleys.
Meanwhile, Eagle Flight One, led by Carter, was speeding to intercept the three Hawks. In a dogfight in space, two Eagles and two Hawks were destroyed and Carter's ship was crippled. The third Hawk, unchallenged, swooped down on the defenseless Moonbase.
A7 The Hawk strafed the base with laser, and a line of explosions tore across Alpha. Main Mission shuddered. Lights went out, spot fires broke out in the computer. Koenig and his crew dived to the floor.
View Master Reel B
B1 In the Medical Center, Helena, her assistant Dr. Mathias, nurses and patients were sent hurtling across the room. Then they heard an ominous high-pitched, scream-like sound. It was precious air, escaping through a cracked window!
B2 As Dr. Mathias raced to stop the leak by spraying foam over the crack, Helena went to the communications post. On the screen there was interference.
"John, do you hear me?" she called. "We have an atmosphere leak here."
The Medical Center rocked with a second series of explosions. The enemy Hawk had made another strafing run across the Moonbase! The atmosphere scream began again, and this time the leak could not be repaired.

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B3 Helena and the nurses began wheeling and dragging the patients out of the center, through an airlock and into the safety of Main Mission.
To their great relief, the Hawk headed back toward its home planet. Carter, meanwhile, had succeeded in returning with his damaged Eagle.
But Moonbase Alpha had been crippled so badly that it could no longer support life. Of its 311 inhabitants, 128 had been killed in the attack.
Bergman told Koenig: "We'll be within range of this planet for only four more days. The next nearest star system is at least six months away."
Koenig looked at Helena. "There's only one thing left to do. You and I are going down to that planet."
B4 In an unarmed reconnaissance Eagle, Koenig and Helena flew toward the planet.
Meanwhile Morrow, in Main Mission, was beaming this message to it, over and over: "This is Moonbase Alpha. The ship now approaching your planet is unarmed. Our Commander, John Koenig, requests permission to land and discuss our situation with your leaders."
Rather tensely, Koenig and Helena approached the planet, but no hostile craft came to meet them. Unmolested, they skimmed low across the landscape of the strange world. It was a green and pleasant land: "It's beautiful," commented Helena.
B5 Unexpectedly, the Eagle began veering off course! Koenig found that he could not correct it.
Then a strange female voice sounded on their intercom: "Alphans, you are under ground control. Relax, and stand by for touchdown."
B6 The Eagle dropped gently down to a futuristic building and touched down on a circular landing disc. A lift shaft rose to meet the door of the Eagle. They entered it, and it took

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them down to a strange room indeed.
It was circular, and dimly lighted. Its walls were glowing panels of electronic circuits. Upright, facing toward the center, stood six transparent columns, slowly pulsating with light.
"This must be a sort of nerve center - a brain," suggested Helena, staring around the room.
Suddenly one of the columns was flooded with light. Inside it sat a human-like male, his face expressionless.
His eyes fixed them with a hypnotic stare. His voice was thin and cold. "You cannot stay here, Earth people. You are a fatal virus, a plague of fear."
B7 A second column came to light and life. In it sat a female, with a face equally mask-like. She spoke: "Your presence on this planet would destroy a civilization that has survived for billions of years."
"Neither can we stay on Alpha!" said Koenig angrily. "I refuse to go back there to die!"
He drew his laser gun and faced the aliens. Before he could use it, both stepped from their columns, carrying heavy-duty lasers. They fired at him, repeatedly. Koenig fell and lay motionless.
View Master Reel C
C1 Helena ran and knelt beside Koenig. She felt his pulse, but there was no beat.
"Why did you do it, John?" she wept. "Why?"
C2 She scrambled to her feet and pointed her own laser at the aliens. "Stay away!" she cried. "I'll shoot!"
"Do not be afraid, Dr Russell," said the male alien. "We can help you."
All at once there was a blinding flash of light, and Helena found herself sitting cross-legged in one of the columns, clothed like the aliens!
From their own separate columns, they sat looking at

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her, smiling. The male spoke. "Do not be afraid. In our world, there can be no fear."
"John Koenig was the victim of his own fear," said the female. "Now you can share our power, and give substance to your wish that he should live."
Koenig's eyelids flickered. He sat up and looked around. He was alive and unhurt! Then he saw Helena sitting in the third column. She smiled at him.
"No!" he shouted, horrified.
He rushed toward her, but there was a sudden flash of light and he was hurled to the floor. Frustrated, he turned and staggered out of the room.
Entering the Eagle, he headed it back toward Alpha. On the way, he radioed Morrow: "Paul, we could live on this planet. But we'll have to fight for a foothold."
To Carter, he said: "Bring out the last of the laser Eagles. Rendezvous here, and I'll transfer to your ship."
C3 The two Eagles docked in space, and soon Koenig and Carter, with Carter at the controls, were flying toward the planet in the laser-equipped ship.
The planet began to glow with rings of light, which spread up toward the Eagle. As the first wave washed over the ship, the Eagle was engulfed in bright flashes of light, and slowed almost to a stop.
"They're beaming force fields at us!" exclaimed Carter. "The ship will break up!"
"Full power ahead, Alan," insisted Koenig. "There's no going back. It's our only chance."
The ship shuddered violently, and exploded around them. The force field vanished.
C4 Koenig found himself floating helplessly in the weightlessness of space. Carter was drifting away in

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another direction, and did not answer Koenig's frantic calls on his helmet radio. Koenig revolved slowly. There was nothing, now, but space and the distant stars ...
C5 "Our world is in perfect balance," the male alien was telling Helena. "Differences have been resolved. Our people live in harmony. We have no fear."
Helena could sense the peace. "It's beautiful," she said. But then came a disturbing thought=a feeling that Koenig was in deadly danger somewhere.
"John!" she called anxiously. "John .... JOHN!"
Far out in space, Koenig's drifting body turned toward the planet, and began to fall rapidly ...
C6 Koenig entered the planet's control center and moved stealthily into the circular room with the glowing columns. He drew his heavy last gun, aimed it at the cases containing the two aliens, and fired.
A gigantic explosion hurled him backward and to the floor. A crescendo of flashes and explosions followed. The entire building was crashing around him.
He crawled painfully through the wreckage, calling. "Helena! Helena!" Beneath a heap of rubble he saw a hand protruding. Frantically he flung the wreckage to one side. It was Helena ... alive and uninjured!
On the big screen at Main Mission in Alpha Moonbase, Koenig and his crew watched Eagle Flight One's three interceptor ships lift off from Alpha and speed toward the three approaching Hawks.
Technical Officer Kano studied his computer read=out. "Alien ships within striking range for only 45 seconds," he reported. C7 All eyes were on Koenig. Only he could give the order to fire.
"Ten seconds ..."
"Five seconds..."
Koenig frowned for a moment, as if recalling

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something. "Alan! Hold your fire!" he commanded.
Everyone stared in blank amazement and horror. Was the Commander out of his mind?
Then, on the big screen, the three Hawks abruptly blinked out of existence, one by one.
"The alert condition is canceled!" announced Koenig.
Suddenly on the screen appeared the figures of the two aliens, in their planet's undamaged control center.
"We have given you a second chance by turning back time," said the male alien. "Alpha is not destroyed. Nor is our planet. We trust you will stay away, and learn to live without destroyed yourselves through fear."