The Production Guide
Titles and Credits
by Martin Willey

• Year 1
• Year 2
• Errors

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• Year 2: Titles
• Year 2: End Credits

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Year 2 Titles

• "September 13^th, 1999.
• A massive nuclear explosion... Cause: human error!
• The Moon is torn out of Earth orbit and hurled into outer space-
• Doomed to travel forever through hostile galaxies.
• And for the beings on Moonbase Alpha, one overriding purpose: Survival."

These were the words that Martin Landau was originally to narrate over the opening titles of the second series of "Space: 1999". The narration was later shortened, appearing on a title page of the script of "The Taybor", dated 13^th March 1976, in the following form:

• "Space: 1999. Moonbase Alpha.
• A massive nuclear explosion... Cause: human error!
• The Moon is torn out of Earth orbit and hurled into outer space-
• Doomed to travel forever through hostile environments."

But by the time the episodes were completed, this narration was condensed even more into subtitles printed over the title sequence (the typing of the letters echoed the teleprinter that performs a similar function in the titles of Anderson's previous series, UFO). The text was printed in yellow at the bottom of the screen; at a second line the first line scrolled up. The titles were somewhat shorter than in Year 1 (just 43 seconds), and emphasised movement and frantic pace in every shot. The titles appeared as follows (there is a slightly different version of the titles on an early print of The Metamorph; the main differences are in the credit cards, noted below).

Seconds	Scene
0.	A spectacular nebula with bright stars is bottom left. A small blue-red world, upper centre, and a larger red planet, right, move rapidly to the right. The nebula is the remnants of the supernova in Into Infinity. It also appears in The Metamorph and The Beta Cloud.
2.	A low view of the base, with a launch pad in foreground, and an Eagle (front windows illuminated) rising overhead and over the camera. The text "Moonbase Alpha" is typed out at the bottom of the screen in yellow letters, in Letraset's Microfont. In the early print of The Metamorph, the text seems to be white, rather than yellow.
4.	As in the Year 1 titles, a chain reaction of explosions races over the lunar surface towards camera. Text: "Massive Nuclear"
6.	Again, also from the Year 1 titles, the halo of light rises over a wide shot of the base. The text now reads "Massive Nuclear Explosion"
7.	Streaks of a starry nebula are lower left, the Earth (in first quarter) lower right. The Moon, from a centre left position, moves in jerky movements round and up to top right. Text reads: Moon Torn Out Of Earth Orbit...
11.	The hazy pink "space warp" effect (originating from bottom right) filling the screen as the small Moon shrinks into it. Text appears: Hurled Into Outer Space...
15.	A fast track right to left over the Command Centre computer panels. The message "Red Alert" flashes in pink over this (reflected on glass at an angle, so that it slopes somewhat like the series logo).
16.	The Command Centre computer panels are now beyond, a desk in foreground, with Koenig sat in his chair with his back to us. He spins round in his chair and stands, leaning on the desk and firing his stun gun to the left. He wears his black jacket; the stun gun beam is green. The caption "Martin Landau" appears in yellow top left. In the early print of The Metamorph, the stun gun beam is yellow, and does not reach fully across the screen when the picture freezes for the caption. The credit is "starring Martin Landau"
20.	Close on the Command Centre double doors, with the "A" symbols, and the sign "Life Support Centre" printed on them. They open to the corridor beyond (the Alpha map is seen opposite) as Helena strides purposefully in.
23.	A very soft focus close up of Helena, from neck up, tracking her as she strides down a Moonbase corridor (towards near right) with a worried expression on her face. She wears no jacket. Caption appears top left: "Barbara Bain". In the early print of The Metamorph, the caption says "starring Barbara Bain".
26.	Low shot of Moonbase Alpha, similar to the second scene with a launch pad in foreground. In immediate foreground, however, are more buildings: a wall with parked moonbuggy left, some lighted windows right. We close onto the base. From right the series logo moves into the picture over the base: "Space: 1999" in yellow. In the early print of The Metamorph, the caption scrolls in much higher. The shot starts where the final version ends: only the top of the antenna in the lower right, and part of the launch pad building, is visible. We zoom to the lunar hills beyond, with Moonbase Alpha disappearing completely. The shot seems to be the same as the final version, just a continuation of the zoom.
31.	Extreme close up of Maya's right eye. She blinks; cut to closer shot. Superimposed over her pupil are a series of head shots of animals: first an Alsatian dog, then a kestrel, then a tiger. Maya herself then appears in the pupil, turning towards us. The camera zooms into Maya's face in the pupil, with the caption "also starring Catherine Schell" appearing left at thirty six seconds. In the early print of The Metamorph, the first shot of Maya turning is a longer shot, showing more of her shoulders. When we zoom in, the pupil is zoomed in a little closer (so the transition to the Moon hemisphere in the next shot follows the curve of the pupil)
39.	The right of the screen is occupied by the hemisphere of the Moon, rotating rapidly, mostly in darkness apart from the horizon. On left appears the caption "a Gerry Anderson production". In the early print, the text appears in white, not in yellow.

In contrast to the five or six sets of "in show credits" of the first series, Year 2 featured 13 or more sets of credits. Supporting cast include Tony Anholt, Nick Tate and Zienia Merton were shown first, instead of in the end credits. 6 production credits were promoted from the end titles.

• After the episode title, the main supporting cast appeared under a "featuring" credit. Tony Anholt is credited even in "Devil's Planet" in which he did not appear. Nick Tate and Zienia Merton were also credited as "featuring".
• "guest stars"
• "production executive Reg Hill"
• "associate producer F. Sherwin Green"
• "technical director David Lane"
• "lighting cameraman Frank Watts" (or Brendan Stafford)
• "production designer Keith Wilson"
• "special effects designed and directed by Brian Johnson"
• The "writer" credit
• Finally, the "director" credit.

End credits