Destination: Moonbase Alpha (10 page)

The cast are impressive as they find their way with the roles in this premiere segment. Victor Bergman, who proves to be an ongoing ‘Space Uncle’ figure throughout the series, is notable here for prompting the initial meeting of John Koenig and Helena Russell, which goes on to be the primary relationship at the heart of
Space: 1999
.This episode really belongs to Martin Landau’s Commander Koenig. The structure of the entire story is based around him: from his arrival on the Moonbase, through to his post-breakaway decision that they will not attempt a return to Earth. Koenig is the motivational force, the instigator, the hard-edged and strong leader who will be chiefly responsible for the decisions affecting the future survival of Moonbase Alpha.

‘Breakaway’ includes many similarities in concepts, settings and situations to the film
2001: A Space Odyssey
. While the connections to
2001
with regard to the design of Moonbase Alpha, and the artificial intelligence of Computer, have already been mentioned, others are worthy of note. The first is Koenig’s Eagle flight to the Moon, complete with stewardess. The Eagle itself is redolent of
2001
’s Moonbus, while the interior design of Moonbase Alpha recalls the minimalist interiors of the earlier film. Add to these the sub-plots of a virus infection, and a space mission to another planet following signs of alien life, and the result is a remarkable homage to a classic film.

‘Breakaway’ conveys with great success the downfall of modern mankind. Failures of technology abound, and will form one of the most distinctive continuing themes of the series (recurring in such future episodes as ‘Another Time, Another Place’, ‘
Mission of the Darians’ and ‘The Testament of Arkadia’.) The series opening portrays the very realistic challenges of space exploration, and the even more realistic organisational and funding difficulties involved. Internal politics abound on Alpha and, most significantly, within the Space Commission. Motivated by these, and by a desire to cover over any hint of failure and reach simple solutions as quickly as possible, the Commission (embodied by Commissioner Simmonds) behaves as most present-day Earthly political organisations behave – very slowly. The Commission is seemingly more occupied with treating the symptoms of their problems than the causes. Even the appointment of Commander Koenig, and therefore the corresponding demotion of Commander Gorski, is ratified only after Koenig is already in Command uniform and aboard an Eagle en-route to the Moon! A very telling exchange between Koenig and Carter (regarding the Meta Probe Astronaut Virus Infection) reveals the depths of politically motivated cover-up even amongst high-ranking members of the Moonbase crew – all instigated by the Space Commission:

Carter:
‘But, I was told …’

Koenig:
‘You were told lies. Earth Command wanted you to think it was a temporary setback.’

As viewers will discover in upcoming episodes, the Meta Probe is only the most recent in a long line of disastrous space missions from Earth. Taking this into retrospective account, the pressure that Commissioner Simmonds and Commander Gorski are under to launch the Meta Probe and combat (or cover up) the Virus Infection becomes all the more evident, and Gorski’s seeming relief at being removed from his command of Alpha becomes that much more appreciable. Gorski was more a caretaker than a Commander and unable to resolve the challenging issues, as evidenced in the later flashback episode ‘Dragon’s Domain’ by Professor Bergman’s statement,‘We can’t leave it to Gorski’. Gorski is also quite sharply presented as being spineless. (Koenig: ‘He’s always been very flexible.’) Quite simply, there is a lot of subtext behind this episode!

Interestingly, as the Alphans break away from Earth physically they also break away psychologically from these types of political entanglements and deceptions. It’s a symbolic break from the corruption they’re leaving behind.

At its core, ‘Breakaway’ has a dual theme. While it is a cautionary anti-technology tale it is also making powerful environmental statements. These aspects are numerous and hinge mostly on nuclear power and the waste produced by it. What are we to do with such waste? The answer of shipping it to the Moon is a logical one. The Moon being ripped out of Earth orbit leaves the planet in environmental chaos, with earthquakes and tidal waves being reported on the final broadcast the Alphans pick up from their former home.‘Breakaway’ succeeds in presenting a dynamic and interesting group of people with whom viewers are about to embark on an incredible odyssey, including the edgy Commander Koenig, cool Dr Russell and hotheaded Alan Carter. It sets the stage for many future episodes in which the Alphans will be literally hurled into dangerous situations for which they find themselves totally unprepared; and, if one is inclined to think of it in such terms, ‘Breakaway’ is an apt metaphor for life itself.

Although lacking in some of the richer thematic concepts of certain later episodes, this is an admirable and highly refined debut for the series, full of spectacular visuals and promising characters. ‘Breakaway’ sets a high standard to live up to.

Rating:
8/10

1.2

MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Screenplay by Art Wallace and Johnny Byrne

Directed by Charles Crichton

Selected Broadcast Dates:

UK              LWT:

             
Date: 29 November 1975.               Time: 5.50 pm

             
Granada

             
Date: 19 December 1975.               Time: 6.35 pm

US
              KRON (San Francisco)

             
Date: 29 November 1975.               Time: 7.00 pm

Credited Cast: Martin Landau
(John Koenig),
Barbara Bain
(Helena Russell),
Barry Morse
(Victor Bergman),
Prentis Hancock
(Paul Morrow),
Clifton Jones
(David Kano),
Zienia Merton
(Sandra Benes),
Anton Phillips
(Bob Mathias),
Nick Tate
(Alan Carter),
Stuart
Damon
(Parks)

Guest Artist: Richard Johnson
(Lee Russell)

Uncredited Cast: Suzanne Roquette
(Tanya Alexander),
Barbara Kelly
(Voice of Computer),
John Oxley
(Bannion),
Shane Rimmer
(Voice of Eagle Pilot),
Loftus Burton
(Operative Lee Oswald),
Chai Lee
(Operative Anna Wong),
Jeremy Anthony
,
Andrew Dempsey
,
Christopher Matthews
,
Michael Stevens
,
Maggie Wright
(Main Mission Operatives),
Melita Clarke
(Main Mission Technician),
Tony Allyn
(Security Guard Tony Allan),
Quentin Pierre
(Security Guard Pierce Quinton),
Alan Harris
(Alphan),
Saad Ghazi
(Orderly),
Christopher Williams
(Orderly)

Previously Titled:
‘Siren Planet’.

Plot:
Trouble brews on the beautiful planet Terra Nova as a Reconnaissance Eagle encounters problems and returns to the base with an extra passenger – Helena Russell’s husband Lee, who was presumed dead when his spacecraft the Astro 7 disappeared near Jupiter in 1994. Lee warns that if the Alphans land on the seemingly tranquil and hospitable world, their opposite will annihilate them.

Quotes:

• Koenig:
  ‘In three days we’ll be out of range of that planet. Every hour that passes lessens our chances of finding a decent home. There are 300 lives, Helena. Can you or I deny them that chance?’
  
• Helena
  :
  ‘Lee, try to help us. Help us to understand.’
  
• Lee:
  ‘You face power beyond your understanding. It will destroy you.’
  
• Victor:
  ‘So we’ve always thought – on Earth. But we’re a long way from home and we’re going to have to start thinking differently if we’re going to come to terms with space.’
  
• Helena
  :
  ‘The first time I lost Lee I thought I’d never survive it. Now that it’s happened again, I’m just numb. I guess I never really had him back.’
  
• Lee:
  ‘Nobody dies. Matter never dies, Helena. It changes its form. There are many forms of life in space and many forms of death, too. I’m the image in the mirror – the opposite of myself.’
  
• Lee:
  ‘See what you want to see.’
  

Filming Dates:
Monday 14 January – Wednesday 30 January 1974

Incidental Music:
The first use of stock incidental music occurs in this episode, with the inclusion of a track composed by Barry Gray for the film
Thunderbirds Are Go
.

Commentary:

Zienia Merton:
‘I loved Charlie Crichton, because he liked actors. He empathised with actors.

‘They used to give us the script two days before we shot it. I went downstairs and said, “I have to see Sylvia.” She said, “Right. Come in.” I said, “Sylvia, I don’t know how to say this …” and she said, “Oh my God, you’re not pregnant are you?” I said, “No, it’s worse than that. It’s the next script [‘Matter of Life and Death’]. It says here that Prentis and I are walking in the woods somewhere and something funny happens, and I look over, and there’s a spider on his shoulder! I’m supposed to say, ‘Oh look! Don’t worry about it …’ [Zienia gestures as if to brush it off.] No way! I hate spiders. I absolutely loathe them. If that spider is in Pinewood, I’m not coming to Pinewood! If I break my contract, if you sack me, if you sue me – do it. But this place is not big enough for the spider and me. I’m not doing it!” And Sylvia very nicely said, “Oh darling, I know. I had a chaise longue in my house, and I found out there were mice in it. You know what I did? We moved house. We sold the house!” I thought, “Well, that’s good.” What happened was they decided that the events on the planet with the spider were too Earthly. It was too much of this Earth. So there was no spider.’

Johnny Byrne:
‘They didn’t have a second script. And so I found scripts that had been written before the series became a real series … I had to write a script that was geared to the actual production, [and I] based [it] on Art Wallace’s [pre-existing] script, but there wasn’t really very much in it. I did that very quickly. And because I did it very quickly and because it was filmable, they asked me to stay on until the end. Basically I think they asked me to stay on so that I would write my own scripts instead of going off somewhere else.‘We had great trouble with “Matter of Life and Death”. I can’t quite remember what Art Wallace’s script was like. I was working under great pressure. Two weeks to get this thing ready and I was pitched in, as they say, into the deep end. So we came up with a story that concerned anti-matter. They had a very good actor for it, Richard Johnson. And it was me kind of edging my way into the kind of
Space: 1999
ethos … the Alpha Moonbase ethos. I remember it being made very well, and it went over reasonably okay … I was absolutely thrilled, of course, to find myself working with Charles Crichton, who’s a legend. He and I always got on extremely well. He could rub people up the wrong way; drive them mad by his attention to detail on the floor and his absolutely picking away at a script. But I reckoned that a man of such experience – having virtually lived through the entire film industry – had a lot to teach people like me, relatively new to the actual job of making films, [although] not to writing. So, I learned all I could from Charles. I think, for me, [he was] the director who took my work and did the best possible job with it, the one who really excited me to work with creatively – … but he never really had a good script together until we came to the second series. “Matter of Life and Death” had been written too hazily, and could’ve done with a lot more rethinking about it, but it had to be done. But I really started getting into my [stride] when I worked with [subsequent director] David Tomblin.’

Bloopers:
The text on Computer’s screen reads, ‘Resources capable of sustaining human life,’ but the spoken voice says, ‘Resources to sustain human life unlimited.’

An early scene set in a travel tube features a unique camera angle shooting up through the metal structure of a hospital gurney from the floor. It looks great, but where is the mattress for the patient to lie on? Don’t worry – by the time a patient is wheeled away, the mattress has magically appeared.

How does Koenig’s Commlock manage to get an external view of Carter’s Eagle while they’re down on the planet?