Catacombs International Guide
Finland

Finland

Thanks to Jyri Volkoff, Kai Baer and Erkki Rautio

1970s Finland

In the mid-1970s, Finland had three national TV stations. The state broadcaster, YLE, was closely based on the BBC in the UK, and had two TV channels, YLE 1 and YLE 2. The third advertising-based station was called MTV (Mainos-TV, "Commercial TV", not related to the American music channel). There were only two TV channels, with YLE 1 and YLE 2 releasing certain hours every day to MTV's programming.

YLE 2 had an annual shut down during July, leaving only YLE 1 transmitting for one month. Colour transmission had started in 1968, but the majority of the audience still watched in black and white.

Finnish TV, especially MTV, imported a lot of American, UK and other European series, as well as TV from the neighbouring Soviet Union. Stingray had been shown on MTV in 1965, and Thunderbirds on YLE 2 in 1966. UFO did not reach Finland, although Star Trek did, briefly, in 1974. While foreign shows were popular, many were criticised for violence, and the politically controlled YLE programme council banned several series.

Avaruusasema Alfa

The series was titled Avaruusasema Alfa (literally "Space-station Alpha") in Finland. It was broadcast on Finland's MTV in 1976. Episodes were subtitled, not dubbed. They showed twelve episodes of season one. In July and August, it was shown on the YLE 1 channel on Saturday evenings, with varying timeslots. From mid-August, it switched to the YLE 2 channel on Tuesday in a stable 7:15pm slot, alternating every other week with Six Million Dollar Man.

An association of the Finnish kindergarten teachers campaigned against the show, considering it too terrifying for Finnish children. The YLE programme council then banned the show at the end of 1976.

In the middle of 1978, MTV tried again with eight episodes of Year 2 (skipping the opening episode, The Metamorph). A later Saturday timeslot, and the revamped format didn't help assuage the critics. In July the programme council chairman Matti Isoviita was quoted as saying he "wished that nothing as stupid as Space Station Alpha would ever need to seen again. That is what program manager Tauno Aijala promised, that there will be no more episodes in this Alpha series."

1980s and later

In the beginning of the 1980s a new cable TV channel in the capital, Helsinki-Televisio, showed the rest of the series. A few episodes never aired (including The Bringers Of Wonder)

Local cable channel Tampere-TV ran the show in 1997. The series was re-shown on TVTV! in 2000 and again in 2001, and on the MTV3 Sci-Fi cable channel in 2008.

Merchandising

Merchandising included the Airfix model kits, the dolls (sold in just one toystore in Turku) and Monty bubblegum cards. There were no articles or any other media coverage whatsoever except for the few tv-magazines telling what episode they were going to show.

Alien Attack was released as Hyökkäys on VHS by Calsor Video. In 2008, Future Film released series 1 in two DVD box sets of 12 episodes each (titled Moon base Alpha).

Order	Date	Finnish Title	Translation	Original Title	Station
1	Sat 10 July 1976 9:50 PM	Maasta irti	Launch	Breakaway	MTV (YLE 1)
2	Sat 24 July 1976 7:35 PM	Inhimillinen kone	Human machine	The Infernal Machine	MTV (YLE 1)
3	Sat 31 July 1976 7:55 PM	Avaruusaivot	Space Brain	Space Brain	MTV (YLE 1)
4	Sat 07 August 1976 9:50 PM	Valoilmiö	Light phenomenon	Ring Around The Moon	MTV (YLE 1)
5	Sat 14 August 1976 9:50 PM	Musta aurinko	Black sun	Black Sun	MTV (YLE 1)
6	Tue 17 August 1976 7:15 PM	Ikuisuuden loppu	The End of Eternity	End Of Eternity	MTV (YLE 2)
7	Tue 31 August 1976 7:15 PM	Kuollut planeetta	A dead planet	Death's Other Dominion	MTV (YLE 2)
8	Tue 14 September 1976 7:15 PM	Arkadian testamentti	The Arkadian testament	The Testament Of Arkadia	MTV (YLE 2)
9	Tue 28 September 1976 7:15 PM	Viimeinen vihollinen	The last enemy	The Last Enemy	MTV (YLE 2)
10	Tue 12 October 1976 7:15 PM	Puuttuva rengas	Missing Link	Missing Link	MTV (YLE 2)
11	Tue 26 October 1976 7:15 PM	Kaksi kuuta	Two moons	Another Time, Another Place	MTV (YLE 2)
12	Tue 9 November 1976 7:15 PM	Takaisin Maahan	Back to Earth	Earthbound	MTV (YLE 2)

No episodes for one and a half years.

Order	Date	Finnish Title	Translation	Original Title	Station
2.1	Sat 17 June 1978 9:20 PM	Vihan tunne	Feeling angry	One Moment Of Humanity	MTV (YLE 1)
2.2	Sat 1 July 1978 9:20 PM	Harhalasku	Bright landing	Journey To Where	MTV (YLE 1)
2.3	Sat 8 July 1978 9:20 PM	Paluu paratiisiin	Return to paradise	New Adam, New Eve	MTV (YLE 1)
2.4	Sat 15 July 1978 9:20 PM	Kimaltava vaara	Glittering danger	All That Glisters	MTV (YLE 1)
2.5	Sat 22 July 1978 9:20 PM	Avaruuden kauppias	A space merchant	The Taybor	MTV (YLE 1)
2.6	Sat 29 July 1978 9:20 PM	Pakolaiset	Refugees	The Exiles	MTV (YLE 1)
2.7	Sat 5 August 1978 9:20 PM	Aivo	Cerebral	Brian The Brain	MTV (YLE 1)
2.8	Sat 12 August 1978 9:20 PM	Tuhon siemen	Damaged seed	Seed Of Destruction	MTV (YLE 1)

Download Calendar

Thanks to Jyri Volkoff and Kai Baer; some information from Erkki Rautio's excellent Phinnweb site