The Production Guide
Writer's Guide

9 TIME SCHEME

Earth-time for the series is not too far ahead - 1999. Therefore, on Alpha itself we are striving for a combination of futurism (extrapolation from current knowledge) and a connection with a recognisably human and current reality. By which we mean that when a base spaceman goes to sleep at night, it may be in a very modern-shaped, plastic affair which, once into, he switches on his heat light, but he sighs with either tiredness or contentment when he does so.

But a different time-scheme altogether will apply when Alpha, in the course of its random journey, either stumbles across, or is directly accosted by, other forms of life in the Universe. Alien technology need not be Earth-related in any way. Alien beings may take any shape or form (always providing they can be convincingly represented in visual terms) and in relation to Earth, alien development can be as far in advance or retarded as imaginable.