Catacombs Merchandise Guide
DESTINATION MOONBASE ALPHA PUBLICITY

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"DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA"

CONTENTS

	Page No.
INTRODUCTION	1
SYNOPSIS	3
CAST LIST AND TECHNICAL CREDITS	6
STAR BIOGRAPHY -MARTIN LANDAU	7
STAR BIOGRAPHY -BARBARA BAIN	8
STAR BIOGRAPHY -CATHERINE SCHELL	8
SPECIAL EFFECTS	10
THE DIRECTOR - TOM CLEGG	10
THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - GERRY ANDERSON	11
THE PRODUCER - FRED FREIBERGER	11

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"DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA."

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An international team of space adventures hurtle into the most fantastic drama ever faced by mankind in the excitement filled "DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA," starring Martin Landau, Barbara Bain and Catherine Schell.

They are on the moon.

And the moon, partly devastated by a colossal explosion caused by dumped atomic waste from earth, has been flung out of orbit. It is now speeding out of control in the vast regions of outer space, pulled further and further away from earth every day.

The three hundred and eleven men and women who have survived have found a new way of life, sustained by a skilfully developed nuclear support system. Scientific know- how has also developed a unique existence. All have come to accept their bizarre form of life, but the eternal dream of every man and woman on Moonbase Alpha is that one day a miracle will take them home again.

It is a miracle which seems to be realizing this dream which inspires the impelling suspense of "DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA." Contacts with other planets have been made in the past. There have been strange visitors. But the spaceship which suddenly appears this time is recognized as an advanced model of a craft that had been on the drawing-board before they were wrenched away from earth.

The spaceship lands. From it step familiar figures. They are the brothers and lovers, friends and colleagues of the Moonbase Alpha personnel. They have come on a rescue mission. The survivors will be taken back to earth.

One man fails to enjoy the deliriously happy reunions. He is the Moonbase Alpha commander, John Koenig. A man of tremendous strong will, he is the only one able to resist the uncanny spell cast over his companions by the newcomers... . the one man to see these so-called earthmen as they really are - terrifying monsters from another planet who have transformed themselves into the images of those the moon's inhabitants knew so well on earth. They have come on a mission which is life or death for them but certain death to everyone on Moonbase Alpha.

Koenig's fight against being taken over by the visitors is as grim as his efforts to persuade his colleagues that their dream is really a hideous nightmare.

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"DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA" is one of the most spectacular science fiction films ever made. The cast is impressive. The special effects are dazzling. It is a new concept in space adventure, created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson whose many science fiction productions have included the television "Thunderbirds" and "U.F.O." and that remarkable movie "Doppelganger."

It is a picture which brings together, once again, husband-and-wife stars Martin Landau and Barbara Bain who won world-wide attention in the long-running "Mission: Impossible" TV series and then went their separate ways, professionally, as film and television stars.

As Commander John Koenig, Martin Landau has a powerful role as a man of iron-willed determination: an American astrophysicist of high repute who has been a pilot and astronaut in his time. He is a man with a flair for leadership.

It can be seen that he is in love with Dr. Helena Russell, the Moonbase medico portrayed by Barbara Bain. She, too, is American, absorbed by the challenges of space medicine.

Perhaps the most remarkable character in "DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA" is the girl played by Catherine Schell. Her name is Maya and she comes from another planet. In the words of producer Fred Freiberger: "She is gorgeous, sexy and has a computer like brain."

Because she knows the secret of molecular transformation, Maya has the uncanny ability to transform herself into other life forms. She can immediately become another being or thing. Because of her scientific knowledge, she has become Science Officer on Alpha. Her miraculous powers of transformation are seen to a startling degree in "DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA," in which she becomes, at various times, different space monsters, a beetle, a kendo fighter and an alien jelly-like creature.

The cast includes Tony Anholt, Nick Tate, Stuart Damon, Zienia Merton, Tony Robins, and Patrick Westwood. Produced by Fred Freiberger and directed by Tom Clegg, the Gerry Anderson production has been written by Terence Feely. Distribution is by ITC Entertainment.

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SYNOPSIS.

Terrifyingly unexpected space adventure has befallen the personnel of Moonbase Alpha, the scientific space station on the moon. The dumping of nuclear waste from earth has overlooked the dangers of magnetic output. An enormous explosion has devastated one half of the moon, causing it to break away from earth's orbit.

The moon, out of control, is now far away into the galaxy of the universe. But life continues for the 311 men and women manning Alpha, an existence made as normal as possible, thanks to the ingenuity of scientific brains with knowledge gained by this early part of the 21st. century.

Alpha is still a research station, continuing the eternal search for other forms of life in outer space. In control is Commander John Koenig (MARTIN LANDAU), an outstanding space expert and a man of iron will. Flung into close companionships, new friendships have been formed, and Koenig and the brilliant, beautiful Dr. Helena Russell (BARBARA BAIN), Chief of the Medical Section, have found themselves falling in love, just as an attachment has grown between other men and women at the base.

All have come from earth except for one girl, a lovely alien rescued from another planet. Her name is Maya (CATHERINE SCHELL): a remarkable girl who has mastered the art of molecular transformation, able to transform herself into any other form of life she chooses.

That something frighteningly unusual is happening becomes apparent when Koenig, on an exploratory trip in his Eagle craft is seen to be behaving in an erratic fashion. He crashes. Alive but unconscious, he is hooked up to a Brain Impulse Machine in the Medical Centre, despite worries that the machine is still in an experimental stage.

He is still on the machine when a spaceship is seen on the radar monitor. Travelling faster than the speed of light, it is recognized as it gets closer to the moon as a Superswift, a spacecraft which was still on the drawing-board when the moon was blasted out of earth's orbit.

It lands. To the excitement and astonishment of everyone, people from earth step out. All are friends, relations or lovers of the Moonbase Alpha colony. Tony Verdeschi (TONY ANHOLT), the man in charge of Moonbase security, finds himself facing his brother Guido (STUART DAMON). This is just one of the many reunions.

The visitors have come to rescue the stranded Moonbase personnel and take them back to earth. The eternal dream of going home, it seems, is to be miraculously fulfilled.

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Only one man sees the visitors for what they really are. Commander Koenig. He tries, in vain, to struggle from the Brain Impulse Machine and warn the others but is restrained, his warnings ignored.

In his eyes, the visitors are not old friends from earth but hideous aliens. Has his mind become distorted? He alone knows, through an attempt to murder him, that he is the only one who has not come under a strange and evil influence.

One man who comes close to realising the truth is a member of the Records Unit named Clive Kandor (NICK HOBBS), who has been filming the reunion party. When he returns to his lab to check the film, the aliens realize that it will show them as they really are and not as earthmen. Exerting their uncanny influence, they force him to lock himself in the lab and start destroying the equipment.

When Maya hears about this, she transforms herself into an insect small enough to crawl into the lab through the air-condition vent. She subdues Kandor by changing herself into a space monster. But when she breaks down the door, it causes an explosion in which Kandor is killed.

Meanwhile, the other Alphans, still believing their visitors to be old friends, are drawing lots to see who should be the first three to return to earth in the Superswift, in advance of the arrival of transporters which will come to take them all back. The three chosen are all members of Alpha's radio-active monitoring team, Alan Carter (NICK TATE), Joe Ehrlich (DREWE HENLEY) and Jack Bartlett (JEREMY YOUNG).

Trying desperately to convince the others of the truth, Koenig appears to be under such lack of control that Helena injects him with a sedative. As he lies unconscious, one of the aliens makes another attempt to kill him. He is the man who is leading the visitors. Helena and Maya arrive in the nick of time. The man Helena sees is not an alien but her former teacher, Dr. Shaw (PATRICK WESTWOOD). He immediately moves away.

When conscious, Koenig suggests that the Brain Impulse Machine may have prevented the aliens from exerting their power on him, and he persuades Maya to undergo the same treatment. She agrees and then she, too, sees the visitors are horrific monsters.

But it is too late to prevent the three "lucky" men from leaving in the alien space ship. They report, joyfully that they are nearing earth whereas, in fact, they are flying towards Moonbase's nuclear waste domes. To find out why they are being made to do this, Maya transforms herself into one of the grotesque monsters and joins a group of them; and she learns the reason for the aliens' visit. They live on radiation and, to

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survive, they need the radiation that can be obtained from Alpha's nuclear waste dumps. They will have to blow them up to obtain the required energy... . and this will mean the end of the moon.

Under the aliens' influence, the three men, believing they are back on earth, are about to blow up the dumps, using their expertise to do so.

There is only one hope. The aliens' energy is now running out. They can be defeated only if the waste dump explosion can be prevented in time. Maya's one fear is that the aliens may still be getting just enough energy from the brains of all conscious Alphans. Somehow, they must all be rendered unconscious while the chase is on to save the dump

Running time: 100 minutes.

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CAST LIST.

Commander Koenig:	MARTIN LANDAU.
Dr. Helena Russell:	BARBARA BAIN.
Maya:	CATHERINE SCHELL.
Tony Verdeschi:	TONY ANHOLT.
Alan Carter:	NICK TATE.
Sandra:	ZIENIA MERTON.
Dr. Ben Vincent:	JEFFREY KISSOON.
Diana Morris:	TOBY ROBINS.
Guido Verdeschi:	STUART DAMON.
Jack Bartlett:	JEREMY YOUNG.
Joe Ehrlich	DREWE HENLEY.
Dr. Shaw:	PATRICK WESTWOOD.
Louisa:	CHER CAMERON.
Ken Burdett:	AL LAMPERT.
Professor Hunter:	BILLY H. MITCHELL.
Sandstrom:	EARL ROBINSON.
Henry:	ROBERT SHEEDY.
Peter Rockwell:	NICHOLAS YOUNG.
Lizard Animal:	ALBIN PAHERNIK.
Executive Producer:	GERRY ANDERSON.
Production Executive:	REG HILL.
Producer:	FRED FREIBERGER.
Director:	TOM CLEGG.
Screenplay by:	TERENCE FEELY.
Associate Producer:	F. SHERWIN GREEN.
Technical Director:	DAVID LANE.
Lighting Cameraman:	FRANK WATTS B.S.C.
Production Designer	KEITH WILSON.
Special Effects:	BRIAN JOHNSON.

A Gerry Anderson Production distributed by ITC Entertainment.

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THE STARS.

The teaming of Martin Landau with his wife Barbara Bain in "DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA" is an exciting one. It recalls the tremendous success they had as co-stars of the first eighty episodes of the internationally popular "Mission:
Impossible" television series. But they do have their independent careers.

MARTIN LANDAU has enjoyed a career which has been equally outstanding in the theatre, films and television; but at first it seemed that his career would be in art.

Born in New York, he studied art there and then became a staff artist, cartoonist and illustrator on the New York Daily News. But life, he felt, had more to offer than the security of such a job so, on the spur of the moment, he became an actor. He had always been interested in the theatre, but getting into it was not so easy. When he did succeed in obtaining work in summer stock, he soon realized that professional training was necessary. For the next three years, therefore, he studied at drama classes, worked with "little theatre" groups and did some off-Broadway plays, followed by further summer stock, another off-Broadway appearance and a small part in a television show. He then went to Lee Strasberg's world-famous Actors Studio to continue his training and his career developed steadily, with roles of varying importance and characterisation from portraying a psychiatric killer in a tour of "Detective Story" to a millionaire playboy in "Stalag 17."

In New York, he appeared in a revival of Franz Warfel's "Goat Song," in the role created by Alfred Lunt and then, though still in his twenties, that of the fifty-year-old Dr. Astrov in Chekov's "Uncle Vanya." He also did some drama teaching and it was while doing so that he met Barbara Bain.

A prominent role with Edward G. Robinson in "Middle of the Night," which had a long Broadway run and tour, was followed by his film debut as a sinister spy in Hitchcock's "North by Northwest." The numerous movies that followed included "Pork Chop Hill," "The Gazebo," "Cleopatra," "The Greatest Story Ever Told," "The Hallelujah Trail" and "Nevada Smith." He also played numerous TV roles which led to his long starring role in "Mission: Impossible" with Barbara Bain, by then his wife.

Further movies included "Win," "They Call Me MISTER Tibbs," "A Town Called Bastard," "Black Gunn," "Mission Impossible vs The Mob" and "Welcome Home Johnny Bristol"

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BARBARA BAIN has no reason to be superstitious. She was born one Friday the 13th, in Chicago, Illinois. She is blonde, green-eyed and 5' 7" in height At school, she gained her B.S. degree in Sociology. Intent on becoming a dancer, she enrolled as a student of modern dance under Martha Graham; but, to earn money, also took up modelling. Before long, she was one of New York's most successful models.

Deciding to take drama lessons, she visited the Curt Conway Acting School, and it was here that Martin Landau was teaching. Her acting career began in summer stock and after her marriage to Martin they toured in "Middle of the Night" but in Hollywood they went their separate ways professionally.

Barbara concentrated on television and her first role was as a fashion designer in "Richard Diamond, Private Detective," with David Janssen. Numerous guest shots followed: in "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "Get Smart," "Bonanza," "The Greatest Show on Earth," "Studio One," "Kraft Theatre" and with such entertainers as the Smothers Brothers and Jonathan Winters. Occasionally, she did stage work with the Theatre West and other groups. Then came "Mission: Impossible" and international acclaim as well as the Television Academy "Emmy" Award as best actress in a dramatic series, winning this three years in succession, an all-time record.

Barbara left the series after eighty segments and has continued to concentrate on television since then.

CATHERINE SCHELL, who portrays the fabulous wonder girl Maya, was chosen for the role in competition with 154 other actresses of numerous nationalities.

The tall, beautiful, Hungarian-born Ms. Schell was very much in the news with her outstanding performances in so many major motion pictures, notably "Return of the Pink Panther" with Peter Sellers, and numerous television productions.

Daughter of the Baron and Baroness Schell Von Bauschlott, she was taken to America when her family fled there during the Communist take-over of Hungary. Her father, formerly a diplomat in the Hungarian Embassy at Washington D.C., renounced his title, became tours manager for visiting European orchestras and then returned to Europe.

Catherine's schooling was in America and, later, in Germany. While studying drama, she appeared in a radio play, then a brief part in a film before playing her first lead in "Lana, Queen of the Amazons," made on location in Brazil.

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Her professional name in her early days was Caterina Von Schell. This was later Anglicised to Catherine Schell when, after working in several different European countries, she settled in England.

Well-known to television viewers, she has attracted particular attention as Marie Walewska in the "Napoleon and Love" series and a documentary series, "Search for the Nile." As a guest artist, she has appeared in such productions as "Paul Temple," "The Troubleshooters," "Dial M For Murder," "Family at War," "The Sweeney," the Bette Davis feature "Madame Sin," with Tony Curtis and Roger Moore in "The Persuaders," Gene Barry in "The Adventurer" and Alfred Lynch in "Arthur." Her many feature films have included "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," "Callan" and "The Black Windmill."

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SPECIAL EFFECTS.

The special effects in "DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA" are startling, bizarre and challenging. As in all science-fiction dramas, there are spaceships zooming through the heavens. The wonders of worlds beyond the ken of man are shown in a manner that captures the imagination yet with a background of scientific knowledge.

Brian Johnson and Nick Allder are the men behind these special effects in the film.

Both these special effects experts have considerable experience to their credit, working on feature films and television. For "DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA" they had a twelve-man team of special effects and camera crew.

Brian Johnson's credits include such films as "Taste the Blood of Dracula," "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth," "2001, A Space Odyssey," "Mosquito Squadron," "Nothing But the Night," "The Tamarind Seed"; and the television "The Protectors," "Budgie," "Thunderbirds."

His background goes back to working in film laboratories, camerawork on documentaries and commercials, assistant on feature films and then, after service in the RAF, visual effects camerawork, a field in which he has specialised ever since.

Nick AlIder is a man with films in his blood. Son of a noted camera engineer, John Allder, he began as an assistant rostrum cameraman, later switching to camera special effects. His credits include "Khartoum," "A Man For All Seasons," "Twist of Sand," "The Battle of Britain," "Submarine X-1," "Fear is the Key," "The Music Lovers," "The Long Duel," "Man of Gold."

THE DIRECTOR.

The flights of fancy to be found in any science fiction space thriller intrigue Tom Clegg, director of "DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA."

"This," he says, "is a new adventure for me. My speciality has always been down to-earth drama - and literally always on earth."

His work in the past has been on such television series as the crime thrillers "The Sweeney" and "Special Branch." He has over 500 TV programmes to his credit, the

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majority of them on film. In particular, he has an eye for pictorial values. Before entering television, he was a press photographer, and he began in television as a camera man. Now he brings his experience to a full length film.

Clegg learned the rudiments of his craft at a photographic college, then free-lanced for magazines and newspapers until he spotted an advertisement asking for a television cameraman. He applied and got the job, working for ATV in London and Birmingham, then with Granada and what was then ABC Television at Teddington where he put in an application for a director training course Once he became a fully-fledged director, he worked on sports programmes (and won four awards) and documentaries before graduating to drama.

THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Gerry Anderson, executive producer of "DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA," has been living in the future since the time he made a futuristic puppet series which set a new standard in science-fiction starring puppets, produced in a technique he named Supermarionation. The programme, "Supercar," was the most advanced puppet series to date and the forerunner of such internationally acclaimed successes as "Fireball XL-5," "Stingray" and "Thunderbirds." Others followed and then into similar series with human players, "U.F.O." Between these productions came the cinema film "Doppelganger." After them, a departure from the future to the present with the Robert Vaughn-Nyree Dawn Porter series "The Protectors."

His partner since the beginning, Reg Hill, is production executive of "DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA." And another partner from those early days, Sylvia Anderson (who became his wife), is jointly responsible with him for creating this film.

THE PRODUCER

"DESTINATION: MOONBASE ALPHA" producer Fred Freiberger is one of Hollywood's most noted scriptwriters, with a background of futuristic science-fiction to his credit on the production of the third series of "Star Trek."

His career as an advertising copywriter came to an end through his being lined up for a job as a film publicist. This was held up because of a studio strike and while waiting he turned his hand to writing a script. It was accepted. Instead of publicising movies, he wrote them: such films as "The Weapon," "Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," "The Goddess of Evil," "Crash Landing" and the TV "Ben Casey," "The Iron Horse," "The Wild, Wild West" and "Slattery's People," in doing so becoming a script editor and producer.

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