Australia 1975
This was a set of 50 cards, each 5cm x 8 cm with colour photos.
These were inserted in Sunicrust bread with no wrapper; the protective vegetable oil coating has yellowed some cards.
The backs of cards were identical apart from the number. The card backs advertised "Alpha Shirts Plus Trip To Disneyland USA for 4 People". For an Alpha T-shirt you had to cut the bottom section from all 50 cards and send them to Sunicrust by November 14th 1975.
For the Disneyland competition you had to send a drawing of a "Space: 1999 spaceman" (there were 500 runners-up prizes of Timex calendar watches).
It mentions Melbourne's HSV-7 station which showed only one episode in 1975, Breakaway on Monday July 28th. HSV-7 had announced plans to show the series, but postponed it (the regular run began from Monday 23 February 1976), which must have surprised Sunicrust, who were promoting it on their cards. Other Australian stations (Sydney's ATN-7 and Canberra's CTC-7) showed the series in 1975, on different days.
There were some interesting and unusual photos, including a fairly high proportion of SFX shots, and some wildly inaccurate text descriptions: some examples below
1 | Astronauts searching for space fragments on Duplicate Moon. | Ring Around The Moon | |
2 | Computer registering death of astronaut with mystery space disease. | Breakaway | |
3 | Mission control showing computer security zone. | Breakaway | |
4 | Commander Koenig fighting to regain control of Eagle, before crash landing. | Breakaway | |
5 | Space pilot on control deck of an Eagle space ship. | Breakaway | |
6 | Koenig's Eagle over smouldering nuclear waste area, which force him to crash. | Breakaway | |
7 | Eagle space ship, with atomic waste canister hit by fatal nuclear flash. | Breakaway | |
8 | Removing canisters of atomic waste from underground silos, dark side of moon. | Breakaway | |
9 | Professor Bergman using video communicator. | Publicity | |
10 | Earth's Space Research Centre orbiting the moon. | Breakaway | |
11 | Koenig's Eagle crashing on dark side of the moon. | Breakaway | |
12 | Eagle rocket ship in mid-space rescue mission. | Publicity | |
13 | Astronaut checking atomic leakage sensor ray. | Breakaway | |
14 | Deep-freeze on Moonbase Alpha, on collision course with Ultima Thule. | Space Brain | |
15 | Commander Koenig shooting pilot whose brain is damaged by atomic radiation. | Breakaway | |
16 | Moonbase Alpha crew member disintegrating after receiving intense radiation. | Force Of Life | |
17 | Commander Koenig and Dr.Russell on Terra Nova with space vehicle. | Publicity, on Moon, not Terra Nova. Reversed | |
18 | Two space astronauts, stricken by mystery illness suspected to be caused by radiation from Atomic Waste Disposal Area Two. | Breakaway | |
19 | Main computer keyboard frozen inoperative, as Moonbase nears Ultima Thule. | Space Brain | |
20 | Ray from Commander Koenig's gun shooting down crazed pilot, whose brain has been damaged by intense radiation. | Breakaway | |
21 | Confusion and debris on Moonbase Alpha, after atomic explosion. | War Games | |
22 | Attempt of crazed pilot to break pressurization of observation area. | Breakaway | |
23 | Space ship pilot with laser gun firing at invading Pirians. | Alpha Child | |
24 | Eagle ship removing atomic waste canisters. | Breakaway | |
25 | Stone-age people on planet Retha about to attack captive (Allan Carter). | The Full Circle | |
26 | Alpha personnel checking for Neutron pollution. | Breakaway | |
27 | Commander Koenig's living quarters on Moonbase Alpha. | The Last Enemy, Dione's quarters on Betha. | |
28 | Alpha crew destroying laboratory on ice planet (Ultima Thule). | Death's Other Dominion | |
29 | Monstrous live vegetation invading Eagle 5. | Dragon's Domain, on Ultra Probe, not an Eagle | |
30 | Astronauts exploring moon site, prior to setting up Moonbase Alpha. | Ring Around The Moon | |
31 | Commander Koenig and Dr.Russell on planet Kaldor. | Matter of Life And Death on planet Terra Nova Reversed | |
32 | Professor, Doctor and Commander trying to withstand G forces as moon is pulled out of orbit at supersonic speed. | Another Time, Another Place | |
33 | Title card and Moonbase Alpha. | Publicity | |
34 | Space ship Eagle blasting-off on probe of mystery planet. | Publicity | |
35 | Commander Koenig enjoying the wonders of the Space Museum. | The Infernal Machine on Gwent; there is no space museum | |
36 | General view of Moonbase Alpha, showing underground tubular duo-rail housing. | Missing Link, Zenno, not Alpha | |
37 | Checking magnetic field levels in atomic waste dump on dark side of moon. | Breakaway | |
38 | Professor Bergman and Commander Koenig attempting to simulate earth in space. | Another Time, Another Place on Earth, not in space | |
39 | A blinding nuclear explosion causes Earth's space research station to disintegrate. | Breakaway | |
40 | Atomic explosion, as seen from Eagle space ship. | Breakaway | |
41 | Underground duo-rail used as Alpha transit system. | Publicity | |
42 | Remote-control Eagle caught in magnetic force-field, about to be destroyed. | Breakaway | |
43 | Subterranean flight-deck of Eagle space ships. | Earthbound | |
44 | Moonbase Alpha bathed in glare from atomic explosion, which starts Breakaway. | Alpha Child Reversed | |
45 | Professor Bergman after attempted rescue of stranded space pilot. | Black Sun | |
46 | Checking forcefield reading in waste disposal dump. | Breakaway | |
47 | Professor Bergman and Dr. Russell discover cave of the living dead. | The Testament of Arkadia | |
48 | Command-crew mission control Moonbase Alpha. | Publicity Reversed | |
49 | Eagle crash-landing on mystery planet. | Missing Link | |
50 | Zoref requires intense atomic heat radiation for life, and in need, burns to death. | Force of Life Reversed |
Copyright Martin Willey