The Production Guide
Schedule
by Martin Willey

Schedule

Key Dates

See US broadcast history for detailed explanations.

• 1972
  • 16 September: UFO series premiere in US. Ratings are good. Although in syndication, both New York and Los Angeles are CBS stations. ITC and CBS discuss a sequel series
  • October: Sylvia Anderson, Christopher Penfold and Keith Wilson begin development on a revamped UFO series.
  • November-December: US ratings for UFO are dropping off. ITC cancels UFO 2 development.
    Gerry Anderson pitches a new series to Grade and Mandell, using the UFO 2 work. Brian Johnson joins the team.
• 1973
  • 26 March: Trade press announces "Space: 1999" (tentative title), 30 minute episodes, for Autumn 1973 broadcast.
  • April: Pre-production is abandoned.
  • Late June/July: Discussions about cast and writers.
  • 25 July: Abe Mandell, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson visit New York.
  • 29 July: Abe Mandell, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson visit Los Angeles. They meet Robert Culp, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. George Bellak and Rudy Gernreich are recruited. They meet Fred Freiberger as a potential writer.
  • 1 August: ITC announces to Variety the new series of "Space 1999". Development has restarted. CBS has given a verbal agreement to network the show, on the condition of US stars.
  • 27 August: Press releases announce "Space: 1999" starring Landau and Bain, costumes by Gernreich. 26 x 30min episodes for 1974-1975 schedule
  • Late August: Bellak moves to the studio offices at Elstree studios and begins work with Christopher Penfold.
  • 3 September: Writers Guide by George Bellak. Eagles are still "MTU"; Bergman is unnamed
  • 14 September 1973: the original 1968 Planet of the Apes film is shown for the first time on US TV, after CBS paid a record $1 million. It is a ratings hit with 57% audience share. By October, CBS has ordered a TV series of Planet of the Apes for the 1974-1975 season. The TV series cost $250,000 per episode, the most expensive show on TV. CBS cancels their order for Space: 1999, but it is too late to stop production.
  • October: MGM pulls out of Elstree Studios, which is then threatened with closure. Production moves to Pinewood Studios.
  • 17 October: Landau and Bain fly to London for 13 months filming (still 26 episodes)
  • 15 November: Bellak has left the production by this date. Main Mission set nearly completed.
  • 21 November: first publicity photos of Landau and Bain in costume
  • 26 November: Rehearsals begin
  • 3 December: Filming begins
• 1974
  • September 1974: Original broadcast date, as projected in 1973. But there is no CBS sale (see 14 September 1973), or sale to other networks. ITC New York must devise a new strategy (see 20 January 1975), which pushes the broadcast date back a full year.
  • December 1974: UK press article states series will be shown in Spring 1975.
• 1975
  • 20 January: Abe Mandell begins to sell the series to individual stations at the NATPE trade conference
  • 28 February: Filming finishes. Post production through March and April.
  • July: The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity filmed at Pinewood and Bray
  • 28 July: First preview in Australia
  • 23 August: US TV premiere (KHJ Los Angeles) (most stations start in September))
  • 4 September: Most UK stations start series
  • 25 November: Series Assessment by Fred Freiberger. Proposes addition of Maya.
  • 4 December: Barry Morse is offered contract for second series. Morse's agent tries to negotiate, but by 17 December he is told he is not required.
  • 15 December: Lew Grade press release announces second series
• 1976
  • 26 January: Filming Year 2 begins
  • 14 July: US TV premiere (WVTV-18 Milwaukee) (preview)
  • 26 July-2 August: Nick Tate press tour of the US
  • 31 July: Star Trek August Party convention in College Park, MD, USA is attended by Nick Tate.
  • 20 August -27 August: Catherine Schell and Brian Johnson press tour of the US (more)
  • 21 August: First regular US broadcast
  • 4 September: In UK, London and ATV start second series
  • 18 October: Gerry Anderson tells Martin Landau that the series is cancelled (source)
  • 19 October: crew are told the series is cancelled.
  • 23 December: Filming Year 2 ends.

Production Order

Note that this order is complicated by refilming of scenes and pick-up shots which may be filmed some time after the main body of filming, and doubled-up episodes where two episodes are filmed simultaneously. Filming dates are shown where known.

See also the calendar for all filming days in 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976.

Year One

Number	Screen Episode Title	Shooting Dates
1	Breakaway	5 November 1973 (SFX), 26 November 1973 (live rehearsals), 3 December 1973- 11 January 1974, 22 Feb- 1st March (live shooting)
2	Matter Of Life And Death	14 Jan -30 Jan 1974
3	Black Sun	31 Jan- 21 Feb 1974
4	Ring Around The Moon	4 Mar- 13 Mar 1974
5	Earthbound	15 Mar- 1 April 1974
6	Another Time, Another Place	2 April- 19 April 1974, 25 April 1974
7	Missing Link	22 April- 7 May 1974, 22 July 1974
8	Guardian of Piri	8 May- 24 May 1974
9	Force Of Life	28 May- 7 June 1974, 1 July- 5 July 1974
10	Alpha Child	8 July- 19 July 1974
11	The Last Sunset	23 July - 6 Aug 1974, 21 August 1974
12	Voyager's Return	7 August- 21 August 1974
13	Collision Course	27 Aug- 6 September 1974
14	Death's Other Dominion	9 September- 23 September 1974
15	The Full Circle	24 September- 8 Oct 1974
16	End Of Eternity	9 Oct- 23 Oct 1974
17	War Games	24 Oct- 8 Nov 1974
18	The Last Enemy	8 Nov- 19 Nov 1974, 25 Feb- 27 Feb 1975
19	The Troubled Spirit	20 Nov- 4 Dec 1974
20	Space Brain	5 Dec- 19 Dec 1974, 25 Feb- 28 Feb 1975
21	The Infernal Machine	20 Dec 1974- 9 Jan 1975
22	Mission Of The Darians	10 Jan- 23 Jan 1975
23	Dragon's Domain	24 Jan- 10 Feb 1975
24	The Testament Of Arkadia	11 Feb-25 Feb 1975

Year Two

Number	Screen Episode Title	Shooting Dates
1	The Metamorph	26 Jan- 16 Feb 1976 (16 days)
2	The Exiles	17 Feb 1976- 3 March 1976
3	One Moment Of Humanity	4 March-17 March 1976
4	All That Glisters	18 March-31 March 1976
5	Journey To Where	1 April- 14 April 1976
6	The Taybor	15 April - 3 May 1976
7	The Rules Of Luton	3 May-14 May 1976 (double up with Mark Of Archanon)
8	The Mark Of Archanon	4 May-18 May 1976 (double up with Rules Of Luton)
9	Brian The Brain	18 May- 2 June 1976
10	New Adam, New Eve	2 June-18 June 1976
11	The Catacombs Of The Moon	21 June- 6 July 1976 (double up with The A B Chrysalis)
12	The A B Chrysalis	18 June- 6 July 1976 (double up with The Catacombs Of The Moon)
13	Seed Of Destruction	7 July- 23 July 1976
14	The Beta Cloud	26 July- 6 August 1976, 21 September-22 September 1976
15	Space Warp	6 Aug- 24 Aug1976 (double up with A Matter Of Balance)
16	A Matter Of Balance	6 Aug- 24 Aug 1976 (double up with Space Warp)
17/ 18	The Bringers Of Wonder	25 Aug- 28 September 1976
19	The Lambda Factor	19 September - 15 Oct 1976
20	The Seance Spectre	18 Oct- 30 Oct 1976
21	Dorzak	2 Nov- 17 Nov 1976 (double up with Devil's Planet)
22	Devil's Planet	1 Nov - 18 Nov 1976 (double up with Dorzak)
23	The Immunity Syndrome	19 November- 6 December 1976
24	The Dorcons	7 December- 23 December 1976