Production GuideObservations: Brian The Brain
Production Guide
By the end of the episode we have learned that Brian made the Alpha computer lie about the change of course. How did he do this from so far away? Thanks to Fergus.
A 360 degree visual scan reveals nothing, yet shortly afterwards they find Planet D. Why don't they detect it earlier? Thanks to Fergus.
The opening title shot is from Guardian Of Piri (and is also seen in War Games). It is flopped left for right- the Moonbase is a mirror image.
The Alphans see the dot (Planet D) moving to the left on the screen. Just before the screen cuts to show the actual Swift, the screen shows the dot back in the centre of the screen where it started.
Koenig orders "focus and magnify" on the planet- but the picture focuses on the Swift, not the planet.
Alpha is being evacuated. Many Eagles are already in space. But in Command Center there are no obvious preparations (as in Seance Spectre). As the Swift lands, Tony mentions the missiles "standing by for evacuation". After this, the evacuation is forgotten. With the computer blinded, the evacuation would be much more difficult- and so would returning so many Eagles to Alpha. Under threat from Brian, Koenig orders all Eagles to return to base, but they still do not know if they are on a collision course. Thanks to Fergus.
Koenig asks Fraser is there is any abnormal gravity from the spaceship. If the Eagles were a few hundred metres from a gravity source able to pull the Moon, they would be torn apart and crushed, like Ryan in Black Sun. Thanks to Fergus.
The Alphans don't use their life detectors on the Swift (as they did, for instance, in The Metamorph).
Unusually for a Year 2 episode, Koenig uses his commlock to open the Command Center doors. Normally these doors open automatically. Thanks to Fergus.
Marc Zuber's security guard ("M Zuber" according to his badge) has a Security shoulder insignia with an "S". Quentin Pierre's security guard ("Pierce" according to his badge) has the Security insignia but the "S" is missing. Thanks to Richard Totis.
The ceiling panels and columns around the Swift passenger module are the same as in Voyager 1 in Voyager's Return. The ceiling also appears in the Moonbase Recreation Center seen in The Lambda Factor and The Seance Spectre
Brian's antenna must touch the floor to keep in touch with the Swift computer. The Moonbase floor is not connected to the Swift.
Martin Landau gives a big smile directly at the camera as they travel back from the Swift (after saying "Brain"). The grey panel behind them should be showing lights to indicate movement, but doesn't in this sequence.
As Brian, Helena, Koenig and the two guards leave the travel tube to go to Command Center, we can see Koenig's hands in one shot (his arm behind Helena), but they are in his pockets in the next shot. Thanks to Thomas.
"There aren't any steps or stairs are there? Because I'm on wheels, and I can't cope with the bumps." The travel tube door frame has a bottom step. When filming Brian leaving the travel tube, there must be an off-camera ramp. Once inside the corridor, we can see the door step beyond, with no ramp. Thanks to Simon.
The reverse views as Brian sees the Alpha Log Recorder cheat by turning Brain round.
1. "Ooh, will you take a look at that trolley." says Brian. The shot is close to his head as he moves towards camera, but we can see the the lighted wall panel beyond and the Big Screen on the left.
2. We then cut to a long view, with the Big Screen still on the left and the Alpha Log Recorder in front of the wall panel, as Brian rolls towards it from the foreground. "Yellow plastic wheels!"
3. We then cut to a medium view of Brian as he wolf-whistles. He has turned around again, with the same lighted panel and arch visible behind him (the Alpha Log Recorder is obviously gone, as it's supposed to be in front of him).
Thanks to Fergus.
The Alpha Log Recorder (the trolley with the yellow wheels) disappears from Command Center immediately after Brian's departure. In the initial scenes (while Helena is recording on it), a filing shelf is located where it stands.
When the camera views the pilot section behind Brian, there is a large keypad foreground right. It is angled towards the camera, awkwardly for anyone in the pilot section. In the reverse shots, it is not there. The keypad is the keypad computer panel often seen in Main Mission.
Helena's name badge in this episode reads "DR H RUSSEL" (with one L).
The reflections on Brian's face plate are broken up, but at times the shape of a crewmember are visible, inverted here with the head in the centre of the dish, the face turning to the side. Thanks to Elliot Pavelin.
Koenig places his stun gun on the console. The close up of the stun gun is different to the wide shot, because a special prop with opening grille had to be made. Although superficially similar, the thickness and spacing of the Letraline markings are different, with a noticeably thicker green line, and the central "buttons" having a black background in wide shot, but red in close up. On set, there is a frame behind the console before the glass and computer panels behind. In close-up, there is no frame, the glass has a ripple texture and the computer panel is different. The section of console on the right should also be visible.
Fraser walks into Command Center on a length of carpet leading up to Maya's desk.
When Koenig and Helena are first forced towards the airlock, the emergency button inside the airlock is not present in Helena's airlock. It only appears after she has entered the airlock.
Koenig recognises Captain Michael, although he had not seen him before (or remembered the mission). The toxic atmosphere has preserved all the bodies (perhaps killing the microbes that would cause the bodies to decay). Are the "spider webs" organic (fungal? spiders?) or inorganic deposits? Presumably Brian also let the atmosphere into the Swift mothership to kill Michael, whose body is also preserved. The mothership would have had supplies for the full crew, so if the atmosphere was not contaminated he could have survived for a long time (and when he died, his body would have decayed). So how can the Alphans walk round without helmets? Perhaps the mothership life support automatically cleaned out the toxins in the months or years since it was contaminated. It couldn't physically clean off the spider web deposits; it could still be dangerous to touch or disturb anything.
The interior of the mothership is the same set as the Swift interior, with a different pilot section. The panel from the Moonbase Weapons Section (and the Ultra Probe) is the new console, and the door arch is square.
The backpack of Koenig's silver spacesuit is a plastic kitchen dish-drying rack. Identical models are seen on the interior walls of the Swift and mothership, mounted the opposite way up and painted grey. There are also plastic cutlery trays on the walls. The bin into which Koenig inserts the nuclear fuel is identical to the yellow versions seen in Breakaway- it is actually a roadside salt-grit storage bin, common in the UK near roads that become icy in winter.
When Maya turns into a mouse inside the mothership, she is standing on the floor, but Koenig picks up the mouse from the top of the console. Thanks to Thomas.
Maya has a good look at the dead Captain Michael in the mothership. But how does she know what his voice sounded like? Did she guess it was Brian's voice? Thanks to Richard Totis.
When Koenig and Maya/Captain Michael chase Brian into the airlock, Brian backs into a side wall. In a brief shot (as Koenig moves around in front of frame), we can see the perspex covering the computer panels has been shattered, presumably by Brian colliding with it in a previous take. The next shot shows a chipboard section under the computer panels, with the cracked perspex still visible over one panel. After the damage seen in the previous shot, the lower panels were removed.
Koenig and Captain Michael follow Brian in front of the airlocks. Inside the airlock door was can see it is missing a roof, and a wooden beam can be seen over it. Koenig's arm picks up a lot of the spider-web material from Captain Michael through this sequence, but it is disappears afterwards.
When the airlock door closes on Brian, the door glass shows the clear reflection of a studio light (over Captain Michael's head). A little to the left is the reflection of somebody's head, with very little hair- it's not Koenig or Helena. Thanks to Marc Abernathy.
Brian is blown into space. The floor of "space" is dark gray (a little lighter than the upper part), and his shadow passes over it as he moves. Realistically he might be expected to float or at least shift his orientation a little as he leaves the airlock. Thanks to Marc Abernathy.
Brian's antenna is much longer when he's dangling from the Swift exterior.
In the epilogue, Brian is seen still dangling from the Swift exterior, which means that the ship is still in space. Presumably they must have docked in space with the Eagle to transfer Koenig, Helena and Maya. Why didn't Koenig take the Swift back to Alpha? Thanks to Thomas.
In the epilogue, a carpet can be seen in Command Center, in front of Koenig's desk (where the cast will gather to talk to Tony).
Copyright Martin Willey