The Merchandise GuideConfectionery
Compiled by Martin Willey
The Merchandise GuideCards were 6.5 x 3.5 cm, with colour photo from Yr 1, and a description on reverse. The cards formed a set of 50.
Card number 42, a portrait shot of the scarred Mateo from "The Troubled Spirit", was fairly graphic, and is very scarce because it was withdrawn. A few were issued, however. The same image appears in the Monty Gum cards as card 3.
According to Space 1999 The Vault by Chris Bentley (2022, p180), card 42 is not rare, because there was only one print run of all the cards. To withdraw the card would mean a manual search through thousands of boxes. We believe this is inaccurate. While there was just one printing, the boxes were not packed in one batch. The candy sticks go stale after a few months, so they would have had several batches in 1975 and 1976, perhaps into 1977 when they were still available. Barratt could have easily withdrawn one card in later batches. Certainly stock used by the London Cigarette Card Company did not include no.42.
Oddly there were no shots of Eagles (except on the shop display box). A picture of a Hawk on card 5 had a description of Eagles on the back. Three episodes did not have descriptions: Missing Link, Collision Course and Testament of Arkadia. The Last Enemy is described (card 38) but not pictured.
 |  | No. 1 John Koenig Commander of Moonbase Alpha, is an American astrophysicist of high repute who has been a pilot and an astronaut. He was born in 1959, and can remember man's first flight to the moon when he was a schoolboy. He went on many space missions before he designed space station Alpha, and he was then persuaded to become its Commander. |
 |  | No. 2 Dr. Helena Russell The Doctor is American and the daughter of a West Coast physician. She followed in her father's footsteps in becoming a doctor; gradually taking on the challenges of space medicine. She is now Moonbase Alpha's Chief of Medical Section. Her husband was lost on a previous space mission, so she now devotes herself entirely to her work. |
 |  | No. 3 Professor Bergman He is the father figure on Alpha, being very much the proverbial professor. An early illness led to his having a mechanical heart replacement. This reduces his reactions to most emotional stresses, and he is almost entirely immune from panic. However, he is vulnerable, as a ruthless or desperate person could interfere with his mechanical heart. Image from Black Sun |
 |  | No. 4 Moonbase Alpha A huge complex consisting of over 300 men and women. The moon was being used to dump atomic waste from Earth. Disaster - the waste explodes, blasting the moon and Alpha out of Earth's orbit, to wander in the unknown and horrifying world of outer space. Will the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha ever find a permanent home again? This is not Moonbase Alpha (see card 50). This is NDA2 from Breakaway |
 |  | No. 5 Eagles Moonbase Alpha is completely pressurised; for outside there is no atmosphere on the moon's surface. Personnel can therefore only leave the Base in space suits or in one of the spaceships known as Eagles. These Eagles are reached by travelling through tubes resembling ultra-modern underground trains. This is not an Eagle, this is a Hawk from War Games |
 |  | No. 6 Life on Alpha Life on Alpha has to be maintained by a continual supply of oxygen. However, being a space station miles from Earth, everything is done to make sure the inhabitants live a normal life. They have a restaurant, gymnasium and an artificial sun-ray solarium. All activities on Alpha are controlled strictly by the main crew headed by Commander John Koenig, Doctor Helena Russell and Professor Bergman. This is not on Alpha, this is on planet Ultima Thule, from Death's Other Dominion |
 |  | No. 7 Main Mission Commander Koenig and his crew control space station Alpha from the Main Mission. This is a large futuristic science laboratory dominated by a huge computer and scientific instruments of every kind. The computer is able to work out the most intricate of mathematical problems, estimate distances and time, warn of obstacles in the moon's path and contact other planets. It can also decree what actions can be taken and which should not be attempted. |
 |  | No. 8 Commlock All members of Moonbase Alpha carry their own personal commlocks. Each one carries a photograph of its possessor for identification, and is programmed to answer when called; so even though the Commander and Doctor Russell are riding round the moon on their buggy they still can be contacted at all times. Further by pressing a button on the end of the commlock the receiver can see a television picture of whoever is speaking. The Commander has a special commlock which is able to instruct the computer and tell it to shut down if necessary. Koenig and Helena are not wearing commlocks (or helmets) in this publicity picture. |
 |  | No. 9 Breakaway Already nine members of Moonbase Alpha have been stricken down with a mystery illness causing their sudden death. This illness is eventually traced back to a magnetic firestorm beneath the moon's surface. The magnetic field thrown up starts to knock Alphans off their feet and eventually builds up to such a force that a nuclear explosion rocks the moon. The moon with Moonbase Alpha is blown out of orbit, moving away from Earth. Commander Koenig has no option; he must stay with Moonbase Alpha. To leave now would be certain suicide. |
 |  | No. 10 Force of Life A strange ball of blue light appears in the sky over Alpha, and eventually zooms towards Technician Anton Zoref who clutches his head, screams and collapses, He is immediately taken by Helena to the medical monitoring system for X-rays and other checks. The system fails, with the X-rays showing up the massive discharge of energy from Zoref. Zoref seems to have recovered, but he is now a man possessed with a terrifying need for heat. Image from Matter of Life and Death |
 |  | No. 11 Force of Life Technician Zoref, overcome by a strange force from outer space, has a need for heat from any source. The first victim of this need is one of his colleagues who he accidentally touches and freezes to death. Zoref is now like a rampaging animal, and no one dare go near him. The only way to stop him now is to remove all sources of heat from his reach. |
 |  | No. 12 Force of Life Technician Zoref is in urgent need of a heat supply to keep him alive. In desperation he attacks the Commander, but the Commander is saved when Zoref is fired upon with a laser gun. Instead of killing him, he absorbs all the heat from the gun, which regenerates him and gives him colossal strength. With tremendous power he forces his way into the nuclear reactor. Is this the last of Technician Zoref? |
 |  | No. 13 War Games Moonbase Alpha is at war. The attack comes from an unnamed planet which strafes the moon with laser fire, causing enormous explosions. Commander Koenig and Doctor Russell take an unarmed Eagle and fly over to this planet, where they meet the leader known as Male Alien. How will Commander Koenig save Moonbase Alpha? |
 |  | No. 14 Death's Other Dominion Moonbase Alpha is approaching a strange planet. The computer warns of temperatures of 200 degrees below freezing. Surprisingly and dramatically a signal is received from the planet of a human voice welcoming them to their lost paradise. The Commander and his party find the planet's inhabitants surprisingly immune to the freezing temperatures, and he and his crew have to wrap up in furs to keep warm. What is the secret of these people? |
 |  | No. 15 Death's Other Dominion The Commander and his party have been enticed onto the Ice Planet. They are now at grave risk of being kept there by the inhabitants. One of the Alphans manages to get back to his Eagle spaceship, and return to Alpha. What fate lies in store for Koenig and his companions on the planet? |
 |  | No. 16 Voyager's Return Back in 1985 Voyager One was launched from Earth to explore outer space. Unwittingly, the pollution from its engines has killed off all life on two planets in another galaxy. This galaxy is now known as Sidon, and its Chief Justice Aachon has been sent out to gain revenge on all earthmen. |
 |  | No. 17 Alpha Child The first baby is born on Alpha and is named Jackie. Within hours he grows into a 5-year-old boy, alert, intelligent and extremely skilled. He draws an amazingly detailed picture of a very advanced spaceship. and suddenly a green light appears in the sky and is transformed into a spaceship identical to the one Jackie has drawn. What can this mean? |
 |  | No. 18 Alpha Child Jackie is the first baby born on Alpha. and amazingly. within hours he is transformed into a man. He warns that he is the leader of a race which has been wiped out off another planet. Their plan is to take over the bodies of the people on Moonbase. |
 |  | No. 19 Mission of the Darians Moonbase Alpha sights a spaceship which appears to be at least 50 miles long and two miles wide. From it come signals which decoded, repeatedly ask for help. Commander Koenig immediately sets off with an investigation party, and enters a strange world of startling contrasts. One half of the ship is inhabited by the original Darians, but a nuclear disaster has turned the other inhabitants into wild Stone Age creatures. |
 |  | No. 20 Mission of the Darians Investigating a call for help from a huge spaceship, Commander Koenig and his colleagues find half of the inhabitants have been turned into wild cannibals by a nuclear explosion. The Alphans are now in grave danger, for the cannibals need them for their food stocks. Once again the Alphans have to fight for their lives. |
 |  | No. 21 The Black Sun Moonbase personnel find themselves on a collision course with an asteroid which burns out and forms into a black sun. The moon is pulled closer and closer to this sun by the terrific gravitational pull. With startling rapidity, they age into old men. |
 |  | No. 22 Guardian of Piri Alpha's computer begins to behave oddly. While testing it, one of the technicians disappears into thin air; and false information from the computer sends Alphans to the planet of Piri. Piri is breathtakingly beautiful, with vegetation made up of clusters of white spheres. Suddenly, a brilliant light radiates from the top of a hill and from it steps a beautiful woman. Who can she be? |
 |  | No. 23 Guardian of Piri The Alphans have landed on the beautiful planet of Piri, where they find only a beautiful girl, who tells them that there is only one who threatens their happiness. He is Commander Koenig and he must be destroyed. Koenig's only chance is to destroy the Pirian Girl. |
 |  | No. 24 End of Eternity An asteroid which has been travelling for over 1,000 years in space, comes near to the moon. Commander Koenig takes the opportunity to investigate, and finds a terribly injured human. When he is taken to Moonbase however, there is not a scratch on him. The man, Balor, is hungry for pain and destruction and he has immense strength. No one is safe from him. |
 |  | No. 25 End of Eternity Balor has been rescued by the Alphans from a lost asteroid. The Alphans soon find that he is immensely powerful, and has the urge to destroy everything and everyone. However, he is indestructible. Koenig must take the grim decision which would mean releasing Balor from an Eagle spaceship into outer space for ever. Image is a publicity photo, not from End of Eternity |
 |  | No. 26 Matter of Life and Death Dr. Helena Russell believed herself to be a widow since her husband Lee disappeared on a previous space mission. Now incredibly Lee reappears in a space craft from the planet Terra Nova. Examination of Lee produces puzzling factors. He records no life, no body heat, yet his heart is beating and he is breathing. What has caused this incredible condition? |
 |  | No. 27 Matter of Life and Death Commander Koenig decides to take mission to the planet Terra Nova, which the computer tells him is like Earth and can be colonised. As soon as they arrive on Terra Nova a violent explosion rocks the moon, sending shock waves across the planet. Have the Alphans really found a habitable world, or will they be condemned to death on Terra Nova? Reversed |
 |  | No. 28 Earth Bound A spaceship crash lands on the moon, and Commander Koenig finds six figures laid out in perspex caskets inside. The caskets are opened, and the strange bodies come to life having been in suspended animation for three and a half centuries. Their leader, Zantor, explains that they have come from their dying planet Kaldor, and are trying to reach Earth to seek a new life. |
 |  | No. 29 The Full Circle The Alphans land on a planet called Retha only to find that they are trapped by groups of Stone Age men. One of the cave men carries off one of the Alphan girls, and obviously Commander Koenig and his party have a battle on their hands. |
 |  | No. 30 The Full Circle Having landed on Retha, the Alphans have lost one of their girls captured by the cave men. However, the girl Sandra escapes by crashing a stone into the Cave Chief's face, and this leads to the cave men and the Alphans engaging in a ferocious battle. |
 |  | No. 31 Another Time, Another Place An eerie phenomenon grips the moon. It is hurled into space at a colossal speed, dissolving into a duplicate of itself, and its inhabitants also form into double images. Nothing can be explained by the computer or Moonbase Alpha's complex instruments. |
 |  | No. 32 Another Time, Another Place The moon has travelled into space at a colossal speed, and miraculously the Alphans find themselves in Earth's orbit again. The Alphans die, but somehow carry on living. They have caught up with themselves, and find they are facing their images far ahead into the future. They put in hand plans for landing on Earth, but they have no idea what is in store for them. |
 |  | No. 33 The Infernal Machine The crew of Moonbase Alpha observe the strangest object they have ever seen, approaching them from outer space. From it comes a voice which is friendly, and asks for their help, and permission to land. When the Alphans go into the spaceship they come across a strange machine and lying on a couch by it is an incredibly ancient man. Is this man commander of the ship, or is he ruled by the incredible machine? |
 |  | No. 34 Ring Around the Moon The moon becomes a prisoner of an alien planet Triton. This planet emits bright violet light which strikes down members of Alpha's crew. Dr. Helena Russell is struck on the forehead by this light, and she is transformed into a human computer programmed by the Tritonians. Can Helena be saved before she is used to destroy Moonbase Alpha? |
 |  | No. 35 The Last Sunset The moon finds itself in a new solar system, and all the scientific tests show that the atmosphere is almost identical to planet Earth. There is blue sky, a warm sun, and gravity has returned. Their dreams are shattered by a violent storm, causing an Eagle to crash trapping the crew inside. Will the Alphans really be able to settle in this solar system? |
 |  | No. 36 Space Brain Strange signals show up on screens in Main Mission control, and two astronauts are sent out to investigate. They report a spectacular display of light and the Eagle is gripped in what seems to be enormous snowflakes. Suddenly an enormous meteorite hits Alpha which creates a huge glutinous foaming substance. |
 |  | No. 37 Space Brain Alpha is being taken over by masses of a foaming substance brought to the planet by a meteorite. Incredibly it seems that within this foam there is an enormous force being controlled by a space brain. Will this foam eventually take over Alpha? |
 |  | No. 38 The Last Enemy The crew members of Alpha are ordered on Red Alert, and are briefed to take-off in their Eagles, as Alpha is being fired upon from another planet. They find that Alpha is caught in the middle of a battle between planet Betha and planet Delta. Commanders of both of these planets offer asylum to the Alphans, and Commander Koenig tries to agree a cease-fire. Image from The Troubled Spirit |
 |  | No. 39 Alpha Child Jarak and Rena, dressed in their metallic costumes, are two refugees from a lost planet who have taken over the bodies of two Alphans. Commander Koenig's urgent task is to prevent Jarak killing any more Alphans, which would enable more bodies to be taken over. |
 |  | No. 40 Earth Bound The planet Kaldor has been destroyed. Six aliens from this planet have survived in a state of suspended animation until their ship crashed on to Moonbase Alpha. The leader of the aliens explains that his people were on their way to planet Earth to start a new life and with the help of the Moonbase Alpha computer they believe they can do this. |
 |  | No. 41 Dragon's Domain Moonbase Alpha in its travels through space comes across a graveyard of spaceships floating in the sky. A few crew members from Alpha take off in an Eagle spaceship to investigate. They manage to dock on one of the largest spaceships in the graveyard, but as soon as they open the door into the spaceship they are sucked through by a tremendous force. A terrifying monster awaits them on the other side. Image from deleted scene in Space Brain |
 |  | No. 42 The Troubled Spirit Mateo has been conducting botanical experiments in the laboratory on Moonbase Alpha. Suddenly an eerie wind sweeps through the laboratory knocking everybody to the ground. As Mateo gets to his feet everybody sees that one side of his face has been horribly scarred. Could this be anything to do with his experiments? Is it worthwhile letting him continue or will he bring terrible suffering to fellow Alphans? |
 |  | No. 43 Moonbase Alpha With Moonbase Alpha being such a huge complex Commander Koenig and his crew need to be very mobile. So that they can speed to the atomic waste dumps at a moments notice they have devised small six-wheeled craft which will travel at safe speeds on the rough terrain. |
 |  | No. 44 Breakaway Moonbase Alpha has been set up on the Moon to supervise the nuclear waste from planet Earth. Disaster strikes when both disposal areas explode in a tremendous nuclear storm. The Moon is hurled out of orbit and Moonbase Alpha is devastated. However, despite the wreckage, Commander Koenig and Dr. Helena Russell and many of their crew survive and rebuild and make Alpha habitable, however, they are lost in space. Image from War Games |
 |  | No. 45 The Last Sunset The prospects of normal life are suddenly apparent for the Alphans. They come across planet Ariel which has real air and sunshine and vegetation as on Earth. Suddenly a new world is open to the Alphans. Then, suddenly, there is a violent storm. Is Ariel really habitable? Image from The Full Circle |
 |  | No. 46 The Full Circle The centuries roll back for the occupants of the Moon through a time-warp of 40,000 years to the Stone Age and they meet with themselves as cave men. However, great dangers lie in store for them on the planet Retha where they find tribes of wild cave men. Are all Alphans facing death or will they eventually come back to the year 1999? |
 |  | No. 47 The Last Sunset Having found another planet which looks as though it can sustain life as on Earth, the Alphans are shocked by an enormous storm. Sandra is injured and the water supply is contaminated. They go out in search of water and find a white substance which quenches their thirst. Does this mean they can survive? |
 |  | No. 48 The Troubled Spirit Dan Mateo has been conducting experiments in the laboratory. Things start to go wrong, there is a sudden drop in temperature, a strong wind blows through the laboratory and everybody drops to the floor. As they get to their feet, suddenly they see a ghost walking across the laboratory terrifying everybody it passes. |
 |  | No. 49 The Moon A tremendous atomic explosion has rocked the Moon splitting it in half. Space Station Alpha is flying into outer space, their only contact with other worlds being through spacecraft called Eagles which can shuttle Alphans around the Moon or into outer space to explore unknown planets. |
 |  | No. 50 Moonbase Alpha Planet Earth has sent hundreds of men to the Moon to set up Moonbase Alpha to control exploration of space and also the dumping of atomic waste. At the centre of Moonbase is Main Mission and leading from Main Mission, like the spokes of a wheel, are large tunnels through which the Alpha crew can jet their way to the launching pads on the perimeter. |
Copyright Martin Willey