The Production Guide
Year 2 Writers Guide
by Fred Freiberger

NOTES TO WRITERS

Space: 1999 is an action-adventure, science-fiction series. We require action- adventure stories based on solid science- fiction concepts. By action-adventure we mean hard-driving, physical action in combination with dramatic action; character conflict ... people in conflict with each other.

A must for the series is that we must like and care about our format characters. They must come off as three-dimensional, thinking- feeling people with whom we get emotionally involved. Humour is essential. We do not want jeopardy minimized by having characters treat the situations with comedy lines ... but we must have "relief" from the hard-driving story lines we expect in the scripts. Sex will be most welcome ... but handled with taste.

The format of the scripts is a hook, four acts, and an epilogue. The hook must be action-oriented and end on a high note of suspense. The four acts which follow must develop the plot to its inexorable conclusion. The epilogue will tie up any loose ends and give us a chance to end on a "family feeling" between our format characters.

OUR FORMAT CHARACTERS ARE:

JOHN KOENIG

Commander of Moonbase Alpha. He is thirty five years old ... sharp, decisive, and very much aware of the fact that the survival of three hundred people depends on him. When he is in Command Center, he is purposeful, proficient, a man with a hard core of cool concentration in control. When he is in his quarters he permits himself to relax. He has a wry sense of humor and an easy smile, especially when he is with:

HELENA RUSSELL

She is the chief. Medical Officer, who is also in charge of the life-support systems on Moonbase Alpha; Helena is twenty-nine, an attractive, vibrant woman, who is in love with Koenig, as he is with her. Helena takes her Hippocratic Oath very seriously and although she will never dispute any of Koenig's orders in Command Center, she will in privacy get into violent conflict with him when she feels he is letting "command" get in the way of "humanity." In her off duty hours, which aren't many, Helena paints and sculpts to provide relaxation and unleash frustrations. Helena has an excellent rapport with:

MAYA

Who is an alien from outer space who became the Science Officer on Moonbase Alpha. Maya is an enchanting, sensuous, amazingly graceful nineteen-year-old female, who has the ability to transform herself into other life forms. She can become a tiger; a raven; a dolphin. She can do this because the beings on her planet conquered the principle of molecular transformation. Maya has a brain which rivals the average computer. She has a pixie' s sense of humor and engages in an attraction/antagonism fun relation- ship with:

SIMON HAYS

Officer in charge of Defense and Security. Simon is twenty-six years old. He is irreverent, quick-witted, sharp-tongued... but he is never insubordinate and has a deep respect for Koenig. Like Koenig, he is in top physical shape. He is the first man in whom an artificial heart was implanted (not a heart transplant ... repeat: an artificial heart).

Other characters to be used as needed.
SANDRA . . communications officer.
GARY WOLUSKY ... chief Eagle pilot
other pilots, technicians, etc. as needed.

All technical aspects of the series and the physical layout of Moonbase Alpha will be discussed in story conferences as they take place.