Production GuideObservations: One Moment Of Humanity
Production Guidecontributions by Martin Daoust, Thomas, Fergus
The Moon is close to the other planet, but the Alphans seem to have ignored it. They may not want to explore another frozen world like Ultima Thule, but they don't even mention the planet so close to them.
In the opening scenes as the alarm sounds, both Tony and Alan are wearing stun guns. As head of security, Tony may have an excuse, but he doesn't normally have a gun on the moonbase. Why was Alan wearing a gun? Thanks to Fergus.
The Alphans are frozen... |
Still frozen... Koenig's left arm is at his side. |
Still frozen, but Kate (Sarah Bullen) has moved much closer to Koenig. Koenig's left hand rests on the desk. |
Not quite frozen 1: as Zamara turns from her, Maya blinks. Thanks to Thomas.
Not quite frozen 2: Helena and Tony's positions are slightly different between shots- in longer shots, their heads are turned more to each other, with Helena looking down slightly; in close up their heads are closer and look more sideways.
Not quite frozen 3: Alan is also different in close-up- his mouth is more open, his hand higher (as is the shadow of his hand on his chest).
Zamara picks Tony and Helena because they seemed to be together. But it isn't until she reads Othello later that lovers can feel jealousy, which can lead to violence. Why not pick Tony and Alan, because both are armed and therefore perhaps easier to provoke? Thanks to Fergus.
Cutting from a long shot of the Vegan table to Tony, a bowl has appeared in front of him and the Vegans have moved close behind him.
"If you show aggression, they will kill you." How do the androids know that insults provoke aggression? Where did they learn insults? How do they even know aggression exists if they haven't seen it? They witness Tony using a laser, and drain the oxygen in the fake moonbase, so they know how to kill, but for some reason this isn't their goal. Thanks to Fergus.
Sandra calls Doctor Russell, but gets no reply. Helena has no commlock. She was transported to Vega wearing only her party dress. Only Tony has a commlock, but Sandra doesn't call him. Thanks to Fergus.
Tony's attempt at concealment isn't ideal: his forearm and arm are exposed.
When Tony and Helena first find the master computer, Tony fires a laser. There is a visible (perspx) force-field barrier in front of the computers. But the laser strikes a green force-field in an arch before the perspex wall. Perhaps it is a secondary force-field? Later in the episode, Maya flies through this arch with no effect, only hitting a force-field at the perspex wall. Thanks to Richard Totis.
Koenig's quarters in this episode are different to his quarters in The Lambda Factor. He has moved.
Top right a studio light is visible.
The framing of the Big Screen is terrible. In some episodes they are close, and the screen looks reasonably similar to the studio set. They don't take the same care here.
The last shots in the sequence show a closer view of space, but the two points are further apart.
Tony calls Koenig, Petrov and Mathias, and Helena goes searching in a couple of locations. Why not a general announcement to the base, or a computer check for other Alphans? If the communications are down, it's a big base and it could days for just the two of the them to search. Thanks to Fergus.
Why doesn't Helena change into her uniform? We see them hanging in the cupboards, but Helena stays in her party dress and heels. If she had, the dance at the end of the episode would have been a little more staid.
For a brief time, Helena is facing away as Tony sits behind her at the table (while she says "Tony, I've been thinking"). It's a narrow opportunity, and he's lucky that she isn't looking and the medical case is there. There is no chance for Zarl or Zamara to sneak in to put the dexetrol wrapper by the coffee, because Helena and Tony are present throughout. Therefore she is probably correct that Tony tried to drug her. Thanks to Fergus.
We see a close-up of Helena's medical case (a transparent acrylic attache case by Gunther Lambert, which also featured in The Last Sunset. Also seen, just to the right of the Dexetrol lid, is an orange and white spindle container. This is a "Twinco" salt and pepper pot for picnics. The two halves were pulled apart; one side is pepper, the other is salt. It is about 7cm tall, 3.5cm diameter. They were sold with different colours, but they picked the white and orange Alpha schema. Thanks to Simon.
Helena records her status report. When she walks past, we have a good view of her desk. She then walks back, and magically a red box of drawers has appeared with a stun gun on top.
Why does Helena, a doctor, have a stun gun - with a kill setting (see below)- in her personal quarters?
"some adverse effect as we went through the time warp". What time warp? There may have been a space warp, but not a time warp... Thanks to Fergus.
The stun gun is set to "kill" as Helena picks it up (the red label is visible on the top slider). Perhaps this isn't the safest way to examine the weapon. It is also set to "kill" when Tony visits later and she is lying down with the gun in her back.
Tony calls Helena on her commlock in the corridor beside her door. Inside her living quarters looking out the door, we can see a wall with closed door at right angles, instead of the corridor. You could argue the interior view behind Tony is a vestibule inside the outer door. Thanks to Fergus.
Tony goes to turn back on the atmosphere. Why doesn't Helena? She sees him going to the life support section, so she knows he didn't disable it. Therefore there must be someone else on the base.
The air instantly returns after Tony presses the button. Sudden re-pressurisation would be medically dangerous. Thanks to Fergus.
It is difficult to see how Helena can successfully hide behind a Command Center desk and be unnoticed by Tony. Thanks to Thomas.
The desk lights are turned off when Helena is hiding. When Tony sits at the desk moments later, the lights are lit.
Tony's gun is a crude vacuum-formed version. Helena has the hero prop. Earlier in the episode, Tony has the hero gun.
How complete was the Moonbase replica? They have built computers, nuclear generators and life support systems, as well as personal details in living quarters, and medical drugs. Are there Eagle hangars, hydroponics, the doves in the Recreation Centre, the catacombs under the base? The slightest inaccuracy or omission would be noticeable. The technology to replicate everything would be invaluable to the Alphans at the end of the episode. Thanks to Fergus.
Maya's chemical heat generator includes a Pyschon brain-draining cap, inverted here, as well as two metal colanders.
The Vegans built a complete replica of Alpha. Why does Zamara need to return to the real Alpha to access the library? If they didn't make a replica of the library, Helena and Tony could have discovered the omission if they decided to read a book.
Sandra has a security report of an alien in Recreation. How did she get the report without power? If security found Zamara, why aren't they in Recreation, watching her?
Without power, Alan can't get to the launch pads (which is remarkable in itself - there are corridors and doors). Fortunately they can all get from Command Center to Recreation without problem.
Thanks to Fergus.
"Minus five degrees. We can't take this much longer." Despite this, Maya and Sandra are wearing skirts. In Black Sun, some Alphans wear spacesuits. Alan fires a laser at Zamara; evidently lasers are unaffected by the power drain, and could be used to produce heat. Thanks to Fergus.
Three consecutive shots in the Recreation Centre as Zamara views the plays. The reaction shot of Maya and Alan shows them closer together than the long shots (they then move together and the shot appears again in the correct continuity) Thanks to Thomas.
This should have been the end of the episode. Alan demonstrates violence by using a full kill laser. The Vegans kill all the humans. The end.
The data disc isn't affected by the kill laser. Perhaps Zamara and the disc are made of the same indestructable material. Thanks to Fergus.
Just after Maya transforms into the parrot, the view of the set reveals the studio ceiling.
Maya returns as Zarl is about to kiss Helena. But Zarl, Helena and Zamara are on the entrance steps. Wouldn't they notice a parrot flying overhead? How come no one noticed Maya was missing?
Why is Koenig so enraged? He knows that the purpose of the dance is only to get him jealous, so why fall for it? A few kisses from a robot should not be so disturbing, especially as Helena watched Koenig kiss Maya passionately in the previous episode.
Helena cannot physically resist Zarl - that would show aggression. But she knows they are trying to provoke Koenig, and she could be a little more passive and unresponsive than she is here. Thanks to Fergus.
Among the Vegans is Laraine Humphrys, who normally plays an Alphan (named Karen in The Taybor). She is (we think) the brunette between Zarl and Tony.
Here's another Alphan. The actress is Glenda Allen.
And another Alphan. The Number 19 behind Maggie Henderson who unmasks himself is Harry Fielder
Two shots after 16 removes her mask... we see 16, still standing masked by the steps. We have also seen 20 remove her mask, and she is still visible masked.
Not quite frozen 4: seen in foreground, several of the frozen androids sway slightly. The position of the girl seen at the start of the epilogue is different to when she was frozen at the end of act 4, and the other androids have moved entirely out of shot. Thanks to Thomas.
In this publicity photo, the android on the right has a cigarette in her hand.
In this publicity photo, Number 8 is not wearing his mask.
In this publicity photo, "flags" are seen to the left; these are used to control lighting on film sets.
Space 1999 copyright ITV Studios Global Entertainment. Page copyright Martin Willey