Catacombs Reference LibraryOut of orbit
Catacombs Reference LibraryReviews from TV Zone, "the monthly magazine of cult television", an early 1990s UK genre magazine
TV Zone Special Number 2 (1991); p12-15 (6bw)
Space: 1999 is one of the most underrated science fiction series of the 1970s. It has frequently been compared with Star Trek, and with good reason, although it was originally intended to be something quite different.
The format was devised in 1973, as Gerry and Sylvia Anderson began work on what was to be the second season of the live-action fantasy series UFO [see Sylvia Anderson interview, TV Zone issue 20]. The intention was to take UFO further into the future; leaving 1980 behind and beefing up the action at the end of the Twentieth Century. The working title of the show was UFO: 1999, although UFO 2, Space Probe, Menace From Space and Space Journey: 1999 were all used at various times. Moonbase Alpha became the centre of attention as the main line of defence against the aliens, although the more the concept was updated, the more it gained its own identity.
The final metamorphosis occurred when Lew Grade, then Head of ATV, announced that he wanted an all-new series; links with UFO were severed entirely. The aliens were left behind, and the Moon became a travelling platform for the Alphans' voyage of discovery.
A half-hour pilot show called Zero G was written by the Andersons, and then later re-written by George Bellak with a new title The Void Ahead. The episode was expanded to an hour, and finally called Breakaway.
It became clear from an early stage that the main focus of the series would be the spectacular special effects, which in turn would demand a huge budget.
Space:1999 would therefore need American backing, and that could be acquired by casting American actors in the lead roles. Initially, Commander John Koenig was to be played by Robert Culp (who had appeared in the American series I Spy) and Katherine Ross (remembered for The Stepford Wives and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) was cast as Doctor Helena Russell. When their contracts fell through, the Andersons travelled to America to meet husband and wife team Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, best known for their roles in Mission: Impossible. They presented the Landaus with story outlines for the series, and after a few meetings the couple were contracted.
Gerry Anderson had denied that Katherine Ross was ever considered for the series, for instance in this Starburst interview in 1979.
The third lead character, Professor Victor Bergman, was to be played by an English actor. The Andersons were able to convince Barry Morse (who had been one of the leads in The Zoo Gang) that his role would not be overshadowed by the visual effects.
With a budget of three million pounds, the first season of Space 1999 began filming on November 11th 1973 at Pinewood Studios. The schedule was fast and furious, with scripts often arriving very late. Some of the blame lay with the American backers, who would constantly demand changes. Johnny Byrne, who was to write and script edit much of the first season, claimed at the time, "One week there wouldn't be enough pretty girls. Next week, they would complain that the shows were too slow, so we'd speed them up. Then they'd complain that we needed more depth and characterisation.... Of course, the moment you start putting characterisation in you lose the speed."
A dynamic title sequence was prepared for the show, accompanied by a superb score by Barry Gray (who had composed themes for the Andersons' previous series). The sequence was intended to grab the floating viewer, and contained snatches from the climax of Breakaway together with glimpses of the episode it accompanied.
The first season aired in Britain in September 1975, dates and time differing with the various ITV regions. It was not a huge ratings success, but given the various production pressures it is a miracle that the series had as many merits as it did. There were some abysmal offerings (Ring Around the Moon and Full Circle), some rather average ones (Alpha Child, The Last Sunset and Space Brain), but also some outstanding examples of television science fantasy.
Breakaway is marvellous, Death's Other Dominion, Dragon's Domain and Earthbound are classics, and at least a dozen others are worthy of praise.
However, there was a general feeling of unhappiness over the show, and when Sylvia Anderson chose to resign as producer, it was decided that her replacement should be someone who would gear it more readily to the American audience. Freddie Freiberger (branded by some as 'the man who had killed Star Trek') was brought in to make the programme more upmarket. Freiberger viewed a mere eight episodes of season one before passing comment.
He found the special effects excellent, but the leading characters cold and humourless. He wanted to inject life into the Alphans, thus making them more likeable to a viewing audience who could not identify with them at all.
As a result, the second season brought some major cast changes, and Paul Morrow, Kano and Victor Bergman disappeared without trace. Barry Morse had failed to reach agreement with Gerry Anderson on a new contract; the other two characters were deemed redundant. Alan Carter was also marked to disappear, until it was discovered that he was extremely popular with the American fans. This left room for Freiberger to introduce some new characters: another science officer, a shape-changing alien called Maya, and the security officer, Simon Hays. Tony Anholt, who had appeared in The Protectors, but is probably best known now as Charles Frere from Howards' Way, was cast as Hays - who was then re-named Tony Verdeschi two days before filming started.
Maya was to be a female Spock-like character, with shaded cheekbones, warty eyebrows and the miraculous ability to transform herself into any living creature. Catherine Schell, who had appeared in the first season episode The Guardian of Piri as the Servant of the Guardian, and was also one of the leads in the watchable science fiction movie Moon Zero Two, was chosen out of forty actresses who auditioned for the role.
According to costume designer Emma Porteus, Francesca Annis was one of the other names up for the part. Schell was put through three days of arduous make-up tests until the final Maya 'look' was decided upon, and early plans to give her contact lenses were abandoned when it was found that they severely obstructed her vision.
Series Two began filming on 26th January 1976, with a script by Johnny Byrne called The Metamorph (with the working titles of The Biological Soul and The Biological Computer).
The whole style of the production had now changed; the impressive Main Mission set had been scrapped, and a more compact Command Centre introduced. The focus was now very much on Koenig, Helena, Maya and Tony Verdeschi; Alan Carter remained a peripheral character, while Sandra Benes was nick-named Sahn and left to recite print-outs. There were some fresh faces, like Yasko, Alibe and Bill Fraser, but they tended not to enter into the action as much as, for example, Paul Morrow had. Everyone smiled a lot more, called Koenig by his first name, and Maya could change into something amusing for light relief.
Despite this tendency to use Maya for the end of episode joke, the character really is the highlight of the second series. Whereas the Landaus could be rather wooden, Catherine Schell would take the most average script and make something of it. She is superb in the otherwise dreadful The Beta Cloud, and acts her heart out in The Metamorph and The Dorcons. Indeed, her reaction to the Dorcon spaceship in that final story is one of the series' most dramatic moments.
Most episodes would feature Helena Russell updating her Status Report, something which had been experimented with in season one's Dragon's Domain. Aside from being an obvious lift from Star Trek's Captain's Log, this also created continuity problems. The events in Dragon's Domain take place 877 days after leaving Earth orbit, and Season Two begins 342 days after leaving Earth orbit - so what has happened to Main Mission, and where are Victor, Kano and Paul Morrow?
A change unpopular with many viewers was the change in titles sequences. Clips from Breakaway were still in evidence, mixed with footage of Koenig standing up and firing a laser, Helena walking down a corridor into freeze-frame and Maya transforming into various animals. The 'This Episode!' section was discarded, and Barry Gray's wonderful music was abandoned - although the replacement version by Derek Wadsworth was still very enjoyable. Gerry Anderson felt that Gray's symphonic version suited the sense of wonder that accompanied series one; the following year the emphasis was on action and characters, and so a more upbeat version was required.
Also lost was the classical music which had accompanied stories like Dragon's Domain and Space Brain. Derek Wadsworth provided his own scores, which were rather more intrusive than the visuals required.
When the series aired on British television in September 1976, scheduled opposite Doctor Who, it was already on to a loser. Although it could beat Who hands down on effects, Space:1999 was not telling such good stories. The Metamorph, The Exiles (starring the future Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan, with his voice re-dubbed!) and Journey to Where were all entertaining instalments, but the series seemed to have lost some of its bite. As ratings slumped, many regions hastily re-scheduled the show mid-season, with ATV dumping it into the children's spot on a Thursday afternoon, before forgetting it altogether. All faith in the series was lost, and a third season was never commissioned.
Freddie Freiberger's version of Space:1999 was like his third season of Star Trek; too homely and predictable. There was too much reliance on such unbelievable concepts as talking, psychopathic plants, a talking psychopathic cloud and a man pretending to be God.
Also, whereas season one had kept away from alien monsters (the only exception being the marvellous creature in Dragon's Domain), season two frequently had people in shoddily-made fur and plastic costumes running around Alpha. What was needed was fresh, inventive stories - but, again, there were elements of Freiberger's year on Star Trek showing through. For instance, the penultimate episode of Space: 1999, The Immunity Syndrome, is a title used in Trek, with parts of the story similar to Is There In Truth No Beauty.
Which is all a great pity, because the first series offered so much promise. What the makers of Space: 1999 needed was the freedom enjoyed by Doctor Who and Blake's 7. Creativity was throttled by the American financial backers, and Gerry Anderson's output has never really been the same since.
David Richardson
Production information supplied by Chris Bentley and Roger Rice