This Episode: Matter Of Life And Death

The This Episode sequences in the Year One Titles are an exciting montage of visual highlights. Occasionally alternate takes and cut scenes were included, providing a brief glimpse of what the episodes could have been. Matter Of Life And Death has a high proportion of shots different to the finished episode.

	There is a memorable whip-pan in Matter Of Life And Death when the camera travels from Helena's water analyser to the Moonbase computers. The This Episode sequence contains another, not used in the final episode. The camera pans right from a lunar hill to a close up of an Eagle on the launch pad. The same Eagle shot is used for both Parks (scene 15) and the landing Eagle (scene 54), so the shot could have been from either part of the episode.
	This unusual shot of the underside of an Eagle as it leaves Terra Nova doesn't appear at all in the episode.
	An interesting space shot, not seen in the episode.
	Parks' Eagle leaves Terra Nova. This shot appears on the Big Screen in Main Mission, but in This Episode it is in the original full frame.
	Parks is electrocuted. A different angle to that used in the episode, with no special effects.
	Helena (played by stunt woman Deborah Ford) is thrown back through Care Unit 3. A different angle to that used in the episode.
	Helena rolls over, after being electrocuted. The previous shot shows Helena landing on her side, but in the episode we only see the conclusion of this shot, with Helena lying on her back, arms out and still.
	Lee Russell runs to the door of the Care Unit, as the security guards arrive. A different take to that used in the episode (in that, the guards arrive just as he reaches the door; here he is a little slower).
	Mathias and Williams transport Lee Russell's body to autopsy. Not seen in the episode.
	A different version of the stunt scene, in which Mathias and the nurse are thrown back from Lee Russell's corpse. We see the conclusion to this shot, as they slide to the wall, but a different angle of them being initially thrown backwards.
	Koenig and Helena drink by the pool on Terra Nova. The end part of this shot appears on the Big Screen in Main Mission; this is the start of the shot, in original full frame.
	A special effects shot of the flames in the aftermath of the Eagle exploding (the shot is flopped left to right). Not used in the episode.
	Sandra, Helena and Koenig in the planet storm. A different angle to that used in the episode.
	A nice shot of Koenig, just after he has called to cancel Operation Exodus. One of a number of character shots which are different in subtle ways to that used in the episode. There is another shot of Koenig (possibly watching the Eagle explode) in the This Episode sequence which is not used, and the close up of Helena looking down at the dead Koenig is also a slightly different take from the episode. Even the shot of Alan struggling in the Eagle cockpit, seen on a commlock screen, is different to the episode.

Production Guide This Episode: Matter Of Life And Death by Martin Willey

Production Guide
This Episode: Matter Of Life And Death
by Martin Willey