SPACE 1999 - SERIES TWO - Card #02 - NEW PLANET - Unstoppable Cards 2018 For Sale

SPACE1999 – Individual Card from the SECONDSERIES base setof 36cards issued by Unstoppable Cards Ltd in 2018.Space: 1999 is a Britishscience-fiction television series that ran for two seasons andoriginally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, set inthe year 1999, nuclear waste stored on the Moon\'s far side explodes,knocking the Moon out of orbit and sending it, as well as the 311inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha, hurtling uncontrollably into space.The series was the last production by the partnership of Gerry andSylvia Anderson and was the most expensive series produced forBritish television up to that time. The first season was co-producedby the British television ITC and the Italian television RAI, whilethe second season was produced solely by ITC. Storyline:Two series (or seasons) of the programme were produced,each comprising twenty-four episodes. Production of the first serieswas from November 1973 to February 1975; production of the secondseries was from January 1976 to December 1976. Thepremise of Space: 1999 centres on the plight of the inhabitants ofMoonbase Alpha, a scientific research centre on the Moon. Humanityhad been storing its nuclear waste in vast disposal sites on the farside of the Moon, but when an unknown form of electromagneticradiation is detected, the accumulated waste reaches critical massand causes a massive thermonuclear explosion on 13 September 1999.The force of the blast propels the Moon like an enormous boosterrocket, hurling it out of Earth orbit and into deep space at colossalspeed, thus stranding the 311 personnel stationed on Alpha. Therunaway Moon, in effect, becomes the \"spacecraft\" on whichthe protagonists travel, searching for a new home. Not long afterleaving Earth\'s solar system, the wandering Moon passes through ablack hole and later through a couple of \"space warps\"which push it even further out into the universe. During theirinterstellar journey, the Alphans encounter an array of aliencivilizations, dystopian societies, and mind-bending phenomenapreviously unseen by humanity. Several episodes of the first serieshinted that the Moon\'s journey was influenced (and perhaps initiated)by a \"mysterious unknown force\", which was guiding theAlphans toward an ultimate destiny. The second series used moresimplified \"action-oriented\" plots. The firstseries of Space: 1999 used a \"teaser\" introduction,sometimes called a \"hook\" or \"cold open\". Thiswas followed by a title sequence that managed to convey prestige forits two main stars, Landau and Bain (both separately billed as\'starring\'), and to give the audience some thirty-plus fast cut shotsof the forthcoming episode. The second series eliminated thismontage. The programme would then offer four ten-to-twelve minutelong acts (allowing for commercial breaks in America) and finishedwith a short (and, in the second series, often light-hearted)\"epilogue\" scene. In 2004, the American science fictionscreenwriter Ronald D. Moore stated the style of the first season\'sopening credits of Space: 1999 inspired the opening credit sequencefor his acclaimed remake of Battlestar Galactica. Cast:The headline stars of Space: 1999 were American actorsMartin Landau and Barbara Bain, who were married at the time and hadpreviously appeared together in Mission: Impossible. In an effort toappeal to the American television market and sell the series to oneof the major U.S. networks,[3] Landau and Bain were cast at theinsistence of Lew Grade against the objections of Sylvia Anderson,who wanted British actors. Also appearing as regular cast memberswere the Canadian-based British actor Barry Morse (as ProfessorVictor Bergman in the first season) and Hungarian-born, US-raisedCatherine Schell (as the alien Maya in the second season). Beforemoving into the role of Maya during the second series, CatherineSchell had guest-starred as a different character in the Year Oneepisode \"Guardian of Piri\". The programme also broughtAustralian actor Nick Tate to public attention. Roy Dotrice appearedin the first episode as Commissioner Simmonds, and at the end of theepisode it appeared that he would be a regular character; however bythe second (transmitted) episode the character vanished, reappearingpartway through the first season in the episode \"Earthbound\",his only other appearance on the show (in which the character ispermanently written out). Over the course of its twoseries, the programme featured guest appearances by many notableactors including Christopher Lee, Margaret Leighton, Roy Dotrice,Joan Collins, Jeremy Kemp, Peter Cushing, Judy Geeson, Julian Glover,Ian McShane, Leo McKern, Billie Whitelaw, Richard Johnson, PatrickTroughton, Peter Bowles, Sarah Douglas, David Prowse, Isla Blair,Stuart Damon and Brian Blessed. (Blair, Damon and Blessed eachappeared in two different episodes portraying two differentcharacters.) The English actor Nicholas Young (who portrayed John inthe original version of The Tomorrow People) appeared in an episodeof Year Two, \"The Bringers of Wonder\". Several guest starswent on to appear in the Star Wars films, including Dave Prowse,Peter Cushing, Julian Glover, Christopher Lee, Brian Blessed, MichaelCulver, Michael Sheard, Richard LeParmentier, Shane Rimmer, AngusMacInnes, and Jack McKenzie. Production: Conception anddevelopment: Space: 1999 was the last in a long line ofscience-fiction series that Gerry and Sylvia Anderson produced as aworking partnership, beginning with Supercar in the early 1960s andincluding the famed marionette fantasy programmes Fireball XL5,Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90 andThe Secret Service, as well as the live-action sci-fi drama UFO.Space: 1999 owes much of the visual design to pre-production work forthe never-made second series of UFO, which would have been setprimarily on the Moon and featured a more extensive Moonbase.Space: 1999 drew a great deal of visual inspiration (andtechnical expertise) from the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A SpaceOdyssey. The programme\'s special effects director Brian Johnson hadpreviously worked on both Thunderbirds (as Brian Johncock) and 2001.In 1972, Sir Lew Grade, head of ITC Entertainment,proposed financing a second series of the Century 21 production UFOto show-runners Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Grade had one stipulation:the new series would be set primarily on the Moon within the environsof an expanded SHADO Moonbase; the ratings indicated the Moon-centricepisodes had proved more popular with the viewers. The Andersons andtheir team would quickly revamp the production, flashing ahead nearlytwenty years for UFO: 1999 with Commander Ed Straker and the forcesof SHADO fighting their alien foes from a large new Moonbasefacility. However, toward the end of its run, UFOexperienced a drop in ratings in both America and the UK; nervous ITCexecutives in both countries began to question the financialviability of the new series, and support for the project collapsed.In the meantime, Production Designer Keith Wilson and the artdepartment had made considerable progress in envisioning the look anddesign of the new series. Their work was then shelved for theforeseeable future. Anderson would not let the projectdie; he approached Grade\'s number two in New York, Abe Mandell, withthe proposal for taking the research and development done for UFO:1999 and creating a new science fiction series. Mandell was amenable,but stated he did not want a series set featuring people \"havingtea in the Midlands\" and forbade any Earth-bound settings.Anderson responded that in the series opener, he would \"blow upthe Earth\". Mandell countered that this concept might beoff-putting to viewers, to which Anderson replied he would \"blowup the Moon\". The Andersons reworked UFO: 1999 intoa new premise: Commander Steven Maddox controlled the forces ofWANDER, Earth\'s premier defence organisation, from Moon City, atwenty-mile wide installation on the Moon. Maddox would view allaspects of Earth defence from Central Control, a facility at the hubof the base and accessible only by Moon Hopper craft, which wouldrequire the correct pass-code to traverse Control\'s defensive laserbarrier. The Commander would also have access to a personal computercalled \"Com-Com\" (Commander\'s Computer), which would act asa personal advisor, having been programmed with the Commander\'spersonality and moral sense. In the half-hour openingepisode \"Zero-G\" penned by the Andersons, Earth\'s deepspace probes have discovered an advanced extraterrestrialcivilisation. Maddox is kidnapped for an interview with the aliens.Angered by humanity\'s innate hostility and WANDER\'s defensiveposture, they travel to Earth with the intent of isolating mankindwithin the boundary of Earth\'s atmosphere. Having judged Maddox anoble example of mankind, they return him unharmed. They then use abeam to reduce the Moon\'s gravitational influence to zero, sending itcareening out of orbit into deep space. The projectcontinued forward. Group Three Productions (a partnership of theAndersons and production executive Reg Hill) would produce theseries; ITC Entertainment and RAI Italian TV Broadcasting wouldprovide the funding. Grade, aiming for a US network sale, insistedthe series have American leads and employ American writers anddirectors. George Bellak, a well-known American television writer,was brought on staff. As stated by series writers Christopher Penfoldand Johnny Byrne, it was Bellak who created and polished the series\'defining concepts. Bellak wrote a ninety-minute opening episodetitled \"The Void Ahead\", which was a close forerunner of\"Breakaway\". Bellak also set up a writers\' guide definingthe three leads, the facilities of the Moonbase and potentialstorylines. At this point, the staff seemed to makecreative changes that brought the series closer in concept andappearance to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Even the title Space: 1999evoked comparison with Kubrick\'s film. (Before, the title of the newseries had greatly varied: Space Journey: 1999, Journey In Space,Menace In Space and Space Invaders — the invaders of the last titlebeing the Earthmen trapped on the runaway Moon.) For thelead characters of John Koenig and Helena Russell, Gerry Andersonapproached the husband-and-wife acting team of Martin Landau andBarbara Bain. Landau and Bain were high-profile stars in Americaafter three years on the popular CBS espionage series Mission:Impossible. Producer Sylvia Anderson let it be known that she wouldhave preferred British lead actors; since Grade insisted onAmericans, she would have chosen Robert Culp (star of the 1960sespionage series I Spy) and Katharine Ross (co-star of 1960sblockbuster movies The Graduate and Butch Cassidy and the SundanceKid). Lee H. Katzin, a highly respected American television directorwith a speciality for pilot episodes, was selected to helm theopening segment and brought into the fold as a primary director forthe remainder of the series. Special effects, design andmusic: The show\'s vehicles, including the Eagle spaceshuttle and the Moon Buggy, were represented with a mixture offull-sized props, photographic blow-ups, and detailed scale models.Dozens of models for the various alien spaceships and the Mark IXHawk from the \"War Games\" episode were built by model makerMartin Bower, often at several different sizes to account for theintended use. Rather than relying on the expensive andtime consuming blue screen process, as for Star Trek, Johnson\'s teamoften employed a technique that went back to the earliest days ofvisual effects: spacecraft and planets would be filmed against blackbackgrounds, with the camera being rewound for each successiveelement. As long as the various elements did not overlap, thisproduced convincing results. In technical terms, the advantage wasthat all of the elements were recorded on the original negative, asopposed to blue screen, which would have involved several generationsof duplication. Another plus was that the camera\'s exposed negativecontained completed effects—once this film was labprocessed—thereby avoiding the costly, in time and money, bluescreen \"optical\" technique. The disadvantage was that thenumber of possible angles was more limited; for instance, a spaceshipcould be seen approaching a planet from the side, but could not movein front of it without the elements overlapping. Specialeffects director Brian Johnson and most of his team went on to workon Ridley Scott\'s Alien, followed by The Empire Strikes Back.Space: 1999 used Pinewood Studios sound-stages L and M.Each studio measures 90\' x 105\' (27 m x 32 m), with a floor-to-gridmeasurement of 30 feet (9 m). For the first series, Stage L housedthe \"standing sets\"; such as Main Mission, the Eagleinterior, the travel tube, and a small section of corridor. Due tothe limited studio space, other sets depicting Alpha interiors, suchas Medical Centre, were assembled as needed. Stage M was the \"swingstage\" – used for planet exteriors, spaceship interiors, andwhatever else was needed for a given episode. The unisex\"Moon City\" uniforms for the first series were created byrenowned Austrian fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, a personal friendof series star Barbara Bain. Other costumes were designed byProduction Designer Keith Wilson, who was also responsible for setdesign. Wilson\'s innovative Moonbase set construction, using4-by-8-foot (120 by 240 cm) plastic foam-board panels, linkedtogether Lego-like into whatever room configuration was required,made for a uniform and realistic appearance for the Alpha interiors(not to mention being relatively cheap and quickly assembled). Amuted colour palette and the integration of recognisable equipmentand accessories added to the verisimilitude. For thesecond series, the Moonbase uniforms were updated and coloureddecorative stitching and turtleneck collars were added, as werevarious badges and patches. Red, navy, or dark-green jackets alsoappeared, originally on just the senior staff, then on many of themale extras. The female characters tended to wear skirts and kneehigh boots throughout the second series, rather than the flaredtrousers used in Year One. The costumes for Year Two were designed byEmma Porteous, who later designed the wardrobes for several JamesBond films. The Moonbase interiors were also upgraded forthe second year, with the existing stock of wall panels, doors,computer panels, etc. (along with some bits from other Andersonproductions) being assembled for the first time—on Stage L--into astanding complex of interconnected sets (the first series\' sets hadbeen assembled as needed and the size of the Main Mission/CommandOffice complex was prohibitive for the construction of a lastingseries of rooms.) Vibrant colour was much more evident in thisseries\' Moonbase sets. Gadgets and equipment with a futuristicappearance typical of contemporary science fiction were also moreevident. For example, Helena no longer used a stethoscope, but alittle beeping, all-purpose medical scanner similar to Dr McCoy\'swhistling medical \"tricorder\" on Star Trek. Theopening credits for the first series featured a dramatic fanfarecomposed by long-time Anderson associate Barry Gray, whose scores forthe series were his final compositions for an Anderson production.Gray scored five episodes — \"Breakaway\", \"Matter ofLife and Death\", \"Black Sun\", \"Another Time,Another Place\", and \"The Full Circle\" — Vic Elmsprovided a completely electronic score for \"Ring Around theMoon\", and Big Jim Sullivan performed a one-off sitarcomposition for \"The Troubled Spirit\". Library music,classical compositions, and score excerpts from earlier Andersonproductions augmented the five Gray scores and gave the impression ofan expansive musical repertoire. The second series wasscored by jazz musician and composer Derek Wadsworth; Americanproducer Fred Freiberger wanted a more \"driving, searing\"score for his new action-adventure format. Aside from the new thememusic, which was more synthesised than the theme for Year One,Wadsworth also composed original music for the episodes \"TheMetamorph\", \"The Exiles\", \"One Moment ofHumanity\", \"The Taybor\", and \"Space Warp\".Much of this music was reused in other episodes. OtherAnderson shows influenced the Space: 1999 spacecraft and elements.The cockpit of the Eagle has a slight resemblance to the cockpit ofan earlier Anderson Supermarionation series, Fireball XL5. Thrusterand engine sounds were similar to those previously used in FireballXL5, Thunderbirds, and Captain Scarlet. Lighting effects for MoonbaseAlpha were comparable to those from UFO, as well as the concept ofthe elevating spacecraft launch pad. After almost 30years, the original Moonbase Alpha model reappeared in the public eyeonline when a site gained exclusive access to photomap the model andsolicit its sale. Series One: As the November1973 start date approached, George Bellak fell out with GerryAnderson over creative issues and left the production. Storyconsultant Christopher Penfold acted as head writer, bringing inAmerican writer Edward di Lorenzo and Irish poet Johnny Byrne asscript editors. Penfold reworked Bellak\'s opening episode into aone-hour draft first re-titled \"Turning Point\", thenfinalised as \"Breakaway\". One week before liveaction filming commenced, Visual Effects Supervisor Brian Johnson andhis team began work on the visual effects sequences for the firstepisode at Bray Studios near Maidenhead, Berkshire on 5 November1973. For the first six weeks, no usable footage resulted until theteam discovered a dragging brake had affected film speed. Studiorehearsals commenced at Elstree Studios near Borehamwood,Hertfordshire on 12 November 1973. During filming of the firstepisode, it became apparent that the troubled Elstree was under thethreat of imminent closure. One weekend, the company secretlyrelocated sets, props, costumes, etc., to the nearby Pinewood Studiosat Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, resulting in a union blacklisting ofthe production. Scheduled for ten days\' filming,\"Breakaway\" overran an additional fifteen days. Lee Katzinwas a perfectionist and demanded take after take of scenes; evencoverage of reaction shots of the background extras required runninga whole scene from beginning to end. His two-hour director\'s cut wasassembled and sent to ITC New York for a viewing. Abe Mandell washorrified by the finished product. Anderson re-wrote several keyscenes and, after three days of re-shoots, re-edited the pilot into aone-hour episode that appeased the fears of ITC. Katzin was not askedback to the programme after the filming of his second episode \"BlackSun\", which also ran over schedule. Scheduled for atwelve-month shoot, the twenty-four episodes took fifteen months tocomplete, with the production experiencing as many hazards as theirfictional creations. Britain\'s mandatory three-day work week and theunplugging of the National Grid during the coal shortages of theearly 1970s did not delay filming (as Pinewood had its owngenerators), but it affected film processing (the lab was an off-sitecontractor). Group Three\'s commitment to its financialpartner, Italian broadcasting company RAI, to include Italian actorsin the cast also had to be addressed. Originally, two supportingroles were intended for Italian actors; with the casting of Nick Tateand Zienia Merton in those roles, a solution had to be worked out.Four of the later episodes produced (\"The Troubled Spirit\",\"Space Brain\", \"Dragon\'s Domain\" and \"TheTestament of Arkadia\") featured Italian guest artists. Thenecessity to telex story outlines and scripts to New York forapproval caused further production delays. The incessant re-writingthis brought about eventually caused Christopher Penfold to resignduring the shooting of \"Space Brain\", after completing hiswriting commitment with the script \"Dragon\'s Domain\". In alater interview, Johnny Byrne stated that \"one episode they (NewYork) would ask us to speed things up, forcing us to cut outcharacter development; then the next episode, they asked for morecharacter moments, which would slow down the action; then they wouldcomplain there weren\'t enough pretty girls in another.\" Yearslater, Byrne and Penfold would agree that the process they workedunder made \"good scripts less than they had been\" andforced them to waste time re-writing \"bad scripts to make themacceptable\". Byrne remained until the end of production; hislast task writing filler scenes for the desperately short \"TheLast Enemy\" and a re-shoot for the troublesome \"SpaceBrain\". The scenes re-mounted for \"The Last Enemy\"concluded principal photography on 28 February 1975. Countrieswhere the show was popular include France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Poland,Ethiopia, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Greece, the Netherlands,Belgium, Portugal, Peru, Japan, Malaysia, Canada, Mexico,Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. One of the firstpreviews of the series was in Australia on the Seven Network in July1975, but the station later split the first series into two seasons.The second season was shown in 1979. Reception:Response to the series varied; some critics praised it asa classic, citing the production values and multi-layeredstorytelling (\"Space: 1999 is like Star Trek shot full ofmethedrine. It is the most flashy, gorgeous sci-fi trip ever toappear on TV...\" and \"Space: 1999 is a visually stunning,space-age morality play...\"); others panned it for poor plottingand wooden acting, especially on the part of Barbara Bain (\"theplots and characterisation on Space: 1999 have been primitive...\"and \"A disappointing collage of wooden characters, boringdialogue and incomprehensible plots...\"). IsaacAsimov criticised the scientific accuracy of the series by pointingout that any explosion capable of knocking the Moon out of its orbitwould actually blow it apart, and even if it did leave orbit it wouldtake thousands of years to reach the nearest star. He did, however,praise the programme for the accuracy of the representation ofmovement in the low gravity environment of the Moon, and for itsrealistic production design (Asimov\'s responses were based on thepilot episode only). Subsequent episodes (such as \"The BlackSun\", third in production order, and \"Another Time, AnotherPlace\", sixth in production order) suggest the Moon reaches thestars by passing through wormholes and hyperspatial tunnels, a plotpoint made more overt in second-season episodes, notably \"TheTaybor\" and \"Space Warp\". This issue is left somewhatenigmatic in the first season as episodes involving other planetsinvariably begin with the Moon having already reached a planet and inthe first few episodes of this kind, such as \"Matter of Life andDeath\" and \"Missing Link\", the episodes actually beginwith the Alphans on their way back from a planet, an initial Eagleflight having taken place before the episode even begins. Gerryand Sylvia Anderson were surprised and disappointed that the public(and critics) never granted them the suspension of disbelief given toother science-fiction programmes. The characters seem aware of theapparent implausibility of their situation. In \"Black Sun\",Victor Bergman asserts the chances of their surviving the explosionwhich knocked them from orbit are \"just about infinite.\" In\"Matter of Life and Death\", Koenig remarks \"manythings have happened since we broke away from our own solar system,unexplainable things.\" How they survived and are able to travelthe Universe seems to be a central mystery to which the Alphans, andthe audience, have no concrete answers. In speaking aboutthe show in 2010, Bain reflected: \"We had some very good sciencefiction people as advisors who knew what they were talking about. Forinstance, they knew that sound up there wouldn\'t travel, and it wouldjust be quiet up there. But then we wouldn\'t have a series, so wecouldn\'t do that. There were various considerations that had to bemade, but they were based on what is, or what was, known at the time.For all I know now it\'s out of date. I don\'t really know.\" Sheadded that some of the technology on Space: 1999 has come to pass:\"We made up a scanning device for Dr Russell. Someone wouldsimply be lying on the floor half dead, and I would scan them withthis funny little thing that was a prop. I could read all his vitalsigns. They can pretty much do that with a medical device nowadays.There were times that we were playing with props that didn\'t readanything — I just had a bunch of dialogue to say after. We had theCommlock. All of those things were on the verge of happening anyway.Now we\'re way past it. When we made it, 1999 seemed so far away.\"Cancellation and revival Following thecompletion of the first series, the production team prepared for asecond series to commence production in the autumn of 1975. GerryAnderson had staff writer Johnny Byrne prepare a critical analysis ofthe first twenty-four episodes, assessing their strengths andweaknesses in order to mount a new and improved second year. Byrnethen commenced writing scripts in an improved first-series format:\"The Biological Soul\", \"The Face of Eden\", and\"Children of the Gods\". He engaged British writer DonaldJames to develop his first-series format story \"The Exiles\".The largest stumbling block for the staff had been havingall material vetted by ITC\'s New York office. ITC\'s compromise was tohire a high-profile American staff writer-producer. At this time,Sylvia Anderson left her role as producer and as Gerry Anderson\'swife when they formally separated (and subsequently divorced). FredFreiberger, whom Gerry Anderson had considered for the writingposition, was then brought on board to help guide the series as aproducer and acted as show-runner. Freiberger had produced the thirdand final season of Star Trek in 1968–1969 and eight episodes ofthe first season of The Wild Wild West (including one in which MartinLandau guest-starred) before being dismissed. Immediately afterSpace: 1999 he would go on to produce what would be the final seasonof The Six Million Dollar Man. His writing credits includedSlattery\'s People, The Iron Horse, All in the Family, Petrocelli, andStarsky and Hutch. Though Anderson and Grade were satisfied with thischoice, Abe Mandell had concerns about why he was unemployed andavailable at the time. Then ITC Entertainment PresidentSir Lew Grade abruptly cancelled the series\' production in late 1975,when ratings in the United States had dropped during the later autumnmonths of the year. Grade had already been disappointed by the lackof an American network broadcast sale. Gerry Anderson and FredFreiberger rallied and pitched the idea of a new series with theaddition of an alien character to Moonbase Alpha, who would shake upthe dynamic of interaction on the Moonbase and regain viewer interestin the United States. On the strength of Anderson and Freiberger\'sproposal of adding an alien character from the planet Psychon namedMaya, Mandell approved a renewal of the series for a second year.In addition to the alien Maya character, to be played byCatherine Schell, numerous other changes were made for what wasbranded Year Two. The most visible change was the absence ofProfessor Bergman (Barry Morse). Morse\'s departure was due to asalary dispute, but he later claimed that he was glad to leave, andhe had told Anderson: \"I would rather play with grown-ups for awhile.\" With Morse gone, the role of the boffin on Alpha wasfilled completely by Maya, whose people\'s science was far in advanceof mankind\'s. Also, her character was conceived to be able to provide\"outside observation of human behaviour\" as had beenprovided by the character of Mr. Spock on Star Trek. Maya sharedSpock\'s logical approach to problem-solving and advancedintelligence, but differed in that she was a charming, fullyemotional person. Most importantly, however, her Psychon abilities asa metamorph with the power of \"molecular transformation\"allowed her to convert herself into any living thing for an hour at atime, were designed to add a certain \"wow\" factor to thenewly revamped series. Maya had an impish sense of humour. Whenlove-interest Tony Verdeschi offered her some of his home-brewedbeer, Maya tried it, then turned herself into Mister Hyde. Schell hadpreviously guest-starred as the Servant of the Guardian in the YearOne episode \"Guardian of Piri\". In addition tothe cosmetic changes, the characters were \"warmed up.\"Koenig and Russell went from a barely noticeable courtship to aphysically passionate, full-fledged romance, in which the devotionran so deep that they offered to die for each other (\"Brian theBrain\"). In addition to Bergman, Year One supporting charactersPaul Morrow (Prentis Hancock), David Kano (Clifton Jones) and TanyaAlexander (Suzanne Roquette) were also removed from the cast (Pauland Tanya\'s disappearance is explained in the Powys Media book TheForsaken by John Kenneth Muir). Dr Bob Mathias (Anton Phillips) waspresent in the first two Year Two episodes, was mentioned in thethird episode, and then also disappeared without a trace. Hischaracter was replaced by several recurring physicians. Alan Carter(Nick Tate) was to have been written out of the series, but he hadbecome so popular with fans that he remained. Sandra Benes (ZieniaMerton) remained with the series in an on-again off-againassociation, but the character only appeared in a fraction of theepisodes, albeit more prominently in some than in many of those ofthe first series. Security Chief Tony Verdeschi alsojoined as a new character, played by Tony Anholt. Verdeschi, whoassumed the base\'s second-in-command role, neither appeared, nor wasever mentioned, in Year One. However, Moonbase Alpha personneltreated Verdeschi as if he had been in their midst since \"Breakaway\".His character was designed to serve primarily as a secondary maleaction hero, and became a romantic interest for Maya. Noon-screen explanations were offered for the cast changes. One scenein \"The Metamorph\" mentioning Bergman\'s death was scriptedand filmed, but cut from the final edit. The Moonbase Alpha TechnicalManual produced by Starlog magazine picks up this explanation,stating Bergman died due to a faulty spacesuit per the scriptedscene. Likewise, it was mentioned in this publication that Morrow andKano had died in an Eagle crash between seasons, and explained thatDr Mathias, supposedly Alpha\'s psychiatrist (although he seems to bemore Russell\'s assistant) was on sabbatical doing research. FredFreiberger felt that these characters were one-dimensional and had nofan support; he told Nick Tate that the audience would not rememberthem and that, as far as he was concerned, they were just \"somewhereelse\" on Alpha, lost in the crowd of three hundred other people.Freiberger failed to appreciate the value of the supportingcharacters to the show and its fans. Other changesincluded the main titles and theme music. Year One\'s opening montageof events from \"Breakaway\" and the episode about to unfoldwas dropped in favour of a special-effects sequence depicting theMoon being blown out of orbit into space. With Morse gone, Schell wasfeatured in his place as a regular alongside Landau and Bain, and allthree were depicted in action-oriented images as opposed to themannequin-like stances Landau and Bain had assumed in the Year Onemain titles. New series composer Derek Wadsworth\'s new theme droppedBarry Gray\'s alternation between stately, orchestral passages andfunky rhythmic ones in favour of a more consistently contemporarypiece. Rudi Gernreich\'s minimalist costume wasconsiderably modified from the original unisex design to include anoptional skirt and leather boots for women and much more detail workon the tunic portion, including turtleneck collars, colouredstitching, patches and photo ID badges. In addition, colourfuljackets (generally red, blue or green) became part of mostcharacters\' ensembles. The expansive Main Mission set, with itsbalcony and windows revealing the lunar surface, was replaced by amore compact Command Centre, supposedly deep underground (again, thischange was explained in the Year Two Writers\' Bible and TechnicalManual as necessary for security, but never explained onscreen).Medical Centre, Generator Section, Life Support and the Alphans\'living quarters became smaller, while the interior of the Eaglecommand module was updated with additional buttons, flashing lightsand television monitors, while the Eagle also lost a section ofcorridor (the galley/storage area) between the passenger module andthe cockpit. (This was to accommodate its placement on PinewoodSoundstage \"L\", with the other standing Alpha sets; theEagle was permanently affixed to the boarding tube/travel tube setand jammed between the travel-tube reception area and the MedicalCentre.) The sombre mood created in Year One by theeffective use of light and shadow in the filming of Moonbase Alphainteriors was abandoned in favour of a generally brightercinematography, and even the lettering used in signage andcostuming—most noticeable on spacesuits and Eagle Transporterdoors—changed to a simpler, less futuristic style. ProductionDesigner Keith Wilson stated in an interview in Destination: MoonbaseAlpha that he was always being ordered by Producer Fred Freiberger tomake sets smaller, taking away the expansive (and expensive) look ofthe first series\' interiors. Freiberger was very budget-consciousand, despite press releases to the contrary, the production team wasworking with less money this series. If there had been a budgetincrease, the \'stagflation\' economy of the seventies would havecancelled it out. When interviewed, many of the actors state theywere asked to accept less money, including Landau and Bain (who werethe only ones with enough clout to be able to refuse). Freibergeremphasised action-adventure in Year Two stories to the exclusion ofmetaphysical themes explored in Year One. Of Year One, he commented,\"They were doing the show as an English show, where there was nostory, with the people standing around and talking. In the first showI did, I stressed action as well as character development, along withstrong story content, to prove that 1999 could stand up to theAmerican concept of what an action-adventure show should be.\"Since Year One was quite serious in tone, one of Freiberger\'s ways toaccomplish this objective was to inject humour into Year Two storieswhenever possible, but much of it seemed to the more vocal fans to beforced, especially at the conclusion of an episode, where the Alphanswere seen as jovial and light-hearted despite whatever violent ortragic events might have previously befallen them. Freiberger hadappropriated this approach from Star Trek; the endings of many ofthat show\'s episodes featured an upbeat discussion among the cast ofthe lessons learned during the episode and closing on a joke; thisapproach was copied for Space: 1999 with Koenig, Verdeschi, Russell,Carter and Maya enjoying a laugh in the Command Centre. GivenLandau\'s intensity and the brooding nature of the Koenig character,the approach did not fit the series. Members of theSpace: 1999 cast were disenchanted with the scripts. Martin Landau:\"They changed it because a bunch of American minds got into theact and they decided to do many things they felt were commercial.Fred Freiberger helped in some respects, but, overall, I don\'t thinkhe helped the show, I think he brought a much more ordinary, mundaneapproach to the series.\" One particular episode (\'All ThatGlisters\', which dealt with the threat of an intelligent rock) was ofsuch allegedly deficient quality that it sparked a confrontationbetween Freiberger and the cast. Landau disliked the story sostrongly that he wrote the following notes on his copy of the script:\"All the credibility we\'re building up is totally forsaken inthis script.\"; \"...Story is told poorly.\"; and \"Thecharacter of Koenig takes a terrible beating in this script — We\'reall schmucks.\" Anholt revealed that, \"the more the castcomplained about a script\'s flaws, the more intractable andunyielding Freiberger became.\" Dissatisfaction on Landau\'s partabout scripts was not new to Year Two, though. Sylvia Andersonremembers that he often voiced criticisms of scripts duringproduction of the first series. Series Two: Withthe last-minute renewal from Grade, the production team hit theground running. Byrne\'s script \"The Biological Soul\",involving the Alphans\' encounter with the unstable Mentor of theplanet Psychon and his biological computer Psyche, which drewsustenance from the mental energy of intelligent beings, wasre-written to include the new character Maya and the rest of theformat changes. Production began on 26 January 1976 and was scheduledto last a mere ten months due to the already-late renewal order. Tofulfil the scheduling requirement, Freiberger came up with the\"double-up script\" solution. During \"double-up\"instalments, two first-unit production teams would film two episodessimultaneously. Landau and some of the supporting cast would be givenexpanded roles and would film an episode on location or on setsconstructed for that story in Pinewood\'s Soundstage \"M\",while Bain and the remaining supporting cast (also in expanded roles)would film their episode in the standing Alpha sets on Soundstage\"L\". Landau and Bain would then be given minor roles in theopposing episodes. This cost- and time-saving measure was used tocomplete eight stories as four pairs: \"The Rules of Luton\"and \"The Mark of Archanon\"; \"The AB Chrysalis\"and \"Catacombs of the Moon\"; \"A Matter of Balance\"and \"Space Warp\"; \"Devil\'s Planet\" and \"Dorzak\".A ninth episode, \"The Beta Cloud\", was intentionallyscripted with only one day\'s worth of work for Landau and Bain toallow their planned holiday to the French Riviera not to delay theseries\' production; the four supporting cast members (Schell, Anholt,Tate and Merton) were the recipients of much greater than usualexposure. Relations between new producer Freiberger andthe Year One veterans were strained. Landau complained about storieshe felt were light-weight or absurd when compared to the previousyear\'s efforts. He wrote on the cover of a script: \"I\'m notgoing out on a limb for this show because I\'m not in accord with whatyou\'re (Freiberger) doing as a result ... etc. I don\'t think I evenwant to do the promos — I don\'t want to push the show any more as Ihave in the past. It\'s not my idea of what the show should be. It\'sembarrassing to me if I am not the star of it and in the way I feelit should be. This year should be more important to it, not lessimportant to it ... I might as well work less hard in all of them.\"Johnny Byrne said that Freiberger was a good man and good producer,but not good for Space: 1999. He had gotten them a second year afterthe cancellation, but the changes he made did not benefit theprogramme. Principal photography came to an end on 23December 1976 with \"The Dorcons\". An article regarding athird series was printed in the trade papers: \"Now entrenched inits successful second season boom, ITC is looking forward to a thirdseason with more fantastic events and additions, although mum\'s theword at the studio. They will only say that Maya and Miss Schell willbe kept in and that the budget may be raised again, but that\'s alluntil final preparations and an official announcement are made.\"Undeveloped Year Three: The producers andstudio intended to continue the show with a third season. This was tobe shorter than the previous two, with 13 episodes, for budgetreasons. Maya was considered to be a successful character, and theproducers began grooming her for a spinoff show that would runconcurrently with the third series of Space: 1999. Had this projectgone ahead, Maya would have been absent from Space: 1999. The \"Maya\"series was also intended to run for 13 episodes a year. Asfilming on Year Two came to its conclusion, it became apparent thatthere would be no third season, and the series ended with the episode\"The Dorcons\". UK: The seriespremiered in September 1975, on the ITV network but was not simulcastnationally (this remained the case until a repeat airing on BBC2 in1998). Most ITV regions (including Yorkshire, Grampian, Ulster,Scottish, Border, ATV, and Tyne Tees) premiered the series onThursday, 4 September 1975 in a 7.00pm slot. The London and Angliaregions screened the first episode two days later on Saturday, 6September at 5.50pm. The Granada region began showing the series onFriday, 26 September 1975, initially at 7.35pm before moving to6.35pm a few weeks later. The HTV region did not begin showing theseries until October 1975, again in an early Friday evening slot.However, within a few weeks, various stations had moved the serieselsewhere in their schedules. The second series premieredon London Weekend Television (LWT) in a non-prime-time slot onSaturday 4 September 1976 at 11.30am, with ATV following on just afew hours later at 5.40pm. Granada, Westward and Ulster started toscreen the series in early 1977, Grampian, and Tyne Tees did notscreen the series until later in the year. Scottish started to screenthe series on 9 April 1978 on Sunday afternoons. HTV did not pick theseries up until 1984 and then only showed nineteen out of thetwenty-four episodes from Year Two (the last episodes were notscreened in Wales until the series was repeated in the 1990s).Southern Television was the other ITV region known not to havebroadcast series two. Even its successor broadcaster, TelevisionSouth, failed to screen any series two episodes when Space: 1999 wasreshown in various other ITV regions between 1982 and 1985. USA:In the United States, efforts to sell the series to oneof the three networks for the 1974–75 or 1975–76 televisionseasons failed. The networks were uninterested in a project overwhich they had no creative control, being presented with theaccomplished fact of twenty-four completed episodes. Abe Mandell ofITC had secured a \'handshake\' agreement with a network executive in1974, but after the man\'s termination, all his projects wereabandoned. Undaunted, Mandell created what he called his own Space:1999 Network and sold the completed program into first-runsyndication directly to local stations. Much of the publicitymentioned the then-staggering three million pound budget: as a partof the American promotion effort, a glossy magazine-sized brochurewas produced, touting Space: 1999 as the Six-and-a-Half MillionDollar Series (an allusion to the then-popular American programme TheSix Million Dollar Man) featuring American stars, American writersand American directors. In the months leading to thebeginning of the fall (autumn) 1975 television season Landau and Bainparticipated in special preview screenings in select cities. Landauis said to have personally contacted editors of the widely read andinfluential TV Guide magazine in some markets to secure coverage ofSpace: 1999 in its pages upon learning of ITC\'s somewhat poorpromotional efforts. While most of the U.S. stations thataired Space: 1999 were independent (such as powerful Chicago stationWGN-TV, Louisville station WDRB-TV, Los Angeles station KHJ-TV, andNew York City\'s WPIX-TV), a handful were affiliated with the majornetworks (such as Charlotte, North Carolina\'s WSOC-TV, at the time astrong NBC affiliate, and Fresno\'s KFSN-TV, at the time a CBSaffiliate) and sometimes pre-empted regular network programming toshow episodes of the series. Most U.S. stations broadcast episodes inthe weekday evening hour just before prime time or on weekends.Canada: In Canada, CBC Television was thebroadcaster of Space: 1999 from 1975 into the 1980s. The first seasonin 1975–76 was shown regionally on some CBC owned-and-operatedstations, the airtime varying. With the start of the second season inSeptember 1976, CBC Television upgraded Space: 1999 to full-networkstatus, airing it Saturdays on all CBC owned-and-operated stations,with affiliated, privately owned stations also offering the show onSaturdays. Most of the country saw Space: 1999 at 5 p.m. onSaturdays, a notable exception being the Atlantic Provinces in whichit was broadcast at 6 or 6:30 p.m. (their time) or - as was the casein the summers - sometime earlier in the afternoon to accommodatelive sports coverage, the airing of which crossed into or totallyover the usual Space: 1999 airtime. After the 1976–77 broadcastyear (in which second-season episodes were run and rerun), the show\'sratings were sufficiently high for CBC Television to give the firstseason a full-network airing - and with further repeats - from 1977to 1978. The French-language CBC Television, Radio-Canada, showedCosmos: 1999 several times (both seasons) between 1975 and 1980,first on Mondays (1975–1976), then on Saturdays (1976–1977), thenon Mondays (1979), and finally on Wednesdays (1979–1980). Theseries fared admirably on CBC Television in Canada, airing in Englishin a family viewing period, late Saturday afternoons before hockeybroadcasts, with a mostly un-disrupted run and rerun of all 24episodes from September, 1976 through September, 1977. The Frenchversion was also broadcast, in early evening on Saturdays. Ratingswere sufficient for a full additional year\'s transmission of Year Onein the English CBC Saturday programming slot in 1977 and 1978.Episodes of both Year One and Year Two were repeated regionally inCanada in English and French through the early-to-mid-1980s. YTVCanada broadcast both seasons with reportedly good ratings from 1990to 1992, in a late Saturday afternoon airtime closely matching thatof the CBC English network in the 1970s. The full-networkEnglish CBC airing began with the series opener, \"Breakaway\",on 11 September 1976, then \"The Metamorph\", the Year Twoopener, on 18 September. \"The Exiles\", \"Journey toWhere\", \"The Taybor\", and \"New Adam, New Eve\"followed respectively in the subsequent weeks. Next were \"TheMark of Archanon\", \"Brian the Brain\", \"The Rulesof Luton\", \"The AB Chrysalis\", \"Catacombs of theMoon\", and \"Seed of Destruction\". \"Seed ofDestruction\" aired on 27 November, and then with December therecame a month of repeats. And after a pre-emption for New Year\'s Daysports, new episodes resumed airing on 8 January 1977 with \"AMatter of Balance\", followed by \"The Beta Cloud\", \"OneMoment of Humanity\", \"The Lambda Factor\", \"AllThat Glisters\", and \"The Seance Spectre\". The two-partepisode, \"The Bringers of Wonder\", was shown on 19 and 26February. And then \"Dorzak\", \"The Immunity Syndrome\",\"Devil\'s Planet\", and \"The Dorcons\" followed inMarch. \"Space Warp\" would not be shown until 21 May, aftermany weeks of repeats. By 10 September 1977, except for \"TheExiles\", all of the second-season episodes had been repeated.And thereafter, a 1977-1978 run of first-season episodes began with\"War Games\" on 17 September. Finland: InFinland the first season was originally aired by the commercial MTV(Mainostelevisio) channel in 1976, but it was withdrawn after coupleof episodes on demand of the national programme board as the show wasconsidered too brutal and horrifying. The same thing happened whenMTV tried to air the second season in 1978. The complete show wasn\'tseen in Finland until the 1990s when a small local channel,TV-Tampere, aired it. Elsewhere: It was shownin Italy as Spazio 1999 , Argentina, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, DominicanRepublic, Guatemala, francophone Canada, and France as Cosmos: 1999,Denmark as Månebase Alpha, Brazil and Portugal as Espaço: 1999,Germany as Mondbasis Alpha 1, Sweden as Månbas Alpha, Poland asKosmos 1999 (1977–1979), Finland as Avaruusasema Alfa, Greece asΔιάστημα 1999, Hungary as Alfa Holdbázis, Spain, Chile,Venezuela, and Colombia as Espacio: 1999, Mexico as Odisea 1999,Turkey as Uzay 1999 and South Africa as Alpha 1999 (1976, dubbed intoAfrikaans). The series was also broadcast in New Zealand andAustralia. Fan and critic responses to the new seriesvaried. Some missed the mystical plotlines, feature-film ambiance andthe \"British-ness\" of the first series. Others said theyenjoyed the new characters, down-to-earth characterisations andaction. Comparisons with Star Trek were used by both camps to showhow the series had been either saved or destroyed by the formatchange. Reviewing the show as a whole, science fiction historian JohnClute described Space: 1999 as \"visually splendid\" butcriticised what he regarded as the show\'s \"mediocre acting\"and \"rotten scripts\". Message From MoonbaseAlpha and planned revivals: Filmed on 29 August 1999,Message From Moonbase Alpha is a fan-produced mini-episode made withthe co-operation and involvement of Space: 1999 script editor JohnnyByrne, who penned the script. Filmed inside a private house on aremarkable working replica of a small section of the Main Mission setand utilising the original prop of Koenig\'s Command Centre desk andSandra Benes\'s original Year Two Alpha uniform, the short film wasfirst shown at the Space: 1999 Breakaway Convention in Los Angeles,California on 13 September 1999—the day the events in episode 1 ofthe series were supposed to take place. With the permission of (then)copyright owners Carlton Media International, the film included briefclips from seven episodes to illustrate the deserted Moonbase Alphaand the Alphans\' exodus to planet Terra Alpha. Previously unusedfootage shot for the Year Two title sequence and The Last Enemy wasused to create a sequence showing the Moon being affected by agravitational disturbance and thrown into an unknown solar system.Short excerpts from 12 other episodes appeared in a montage as SandraBenes recalls her life on Alpha. The seven-minute filmfeatures Zienia Merton reprising her role as Sandra Benes deliveringa final message to Earth as the only crew member left on MoonbaseAlpha while a massive exodus to a habitable planet, Terra Alpha,takes place with the rest of the crew. The evacuation was alsonecessitated by the degradation and decay of Alpha\'s life supportsystems. This basically gave the series the conclusion that it neverhad in its initial run. Taking place twenty five years after theevents of \"Breakaway\", Commander Koenig and Maya arementioned during Sandra\'s message. It concludes with the terminationof the message as Sandra closes down Alpha\'s operational systems andtransmits the message- which turns out to be the mysterious signalreceived shortly before the events of \"Breakaway\".Modified versions of Message From Moonbase Alpha areavailable on the Space: 1999 Bonus Disk in the U.S. and Canada, andon a DVD bonus disc in France and in Italy. The original versionappears as a bonus feature on the Space: 1999/UFO - The DocumentariesDVD produced by Fanderson. It\'s also available on YouTube. Aroundthe same time \'Message From Moonbase Alpha\' was being filmed, JohnnyByrne and Christopher Penfold attempted to revive the franchise as amovie series, similar to the way Star Trek had been revivedcinematically in the late 1970s. The first film would have picked upthe story several years after the series ended, and would havefeatured a heavily redesigned Moonbase Alpha. Ultimately the projectfailed, and nothing came of it. In February 2012, ITVStudios America and HDFILMS officially announced their intention toproduce a reimagining of Space: 1999, to be titled Space: 2099.Home video releases: UK: The series wasreleased on home video in the 1990s, with each cassette (or \"volume\")featuring two episodes. In 2001, it was released on DVD in the UK byCarlton Media, both in single disc volumes (each volume containedfour episodes) and also as two complete season boxed sets (titled as\"Year One\" and \"Year Two\") comprising six discseach. Each DVD also contained various extra features, including avariety of archive production material, memorabilia, and interviewswith the cast and crew from the time the series was being made. In2005, Network DVD re-issued Year One in the UK as a Special Editionseven-disc box set. For this release, to coincide with the series\'30th Anniversary, each episode was digitally restored by creating new35mm film elements (a new interpositive made from the originalnegative which is then used to make further copies). High Definitiondigital transfers were then made from the interpositives using astate-of-the-art Philips Spirit DataCine. This vastly improved thepicture quality in comparison to the previous DVD releases, howeverthe restoration process has actually made some of the space scenes(that involve special effects and model work) less realistic due toincreased brightness and contrast. This box set also included twobooklets and a new set of extra features that were not on the CarltonDVD releases, including featurettes on \"Concept & Creation\"and \"Special Effects & Design\" (edited from an earlier\"Fanderson\" documentary made in 1996), textless andalternative opening and closing title sequences, a two-partClapperboard special on Gerry Anderson from 1975, and also a brandnew 70-minute documentary entitled \"These Episodes\" inwhich Anderson, Christopher Penfold, Johnny Byrne, Zienia Merton andDavid Lane reflect on the making of key episodes from the firstseries. Network DVD released Year One on Blu-ray in theUK on 1 November 2010, and simultaneously re-released their SpecialEdition DVD box set of Year One with new cover artwork at the sametime. The Blu-ray set includes all of the extras on the 2005 NetworkDVD release as well as some of the extras that were on the 2001Carlton DVD release (including a Lyons Maid ice-lolly commercial, andan SFX segment from the British documentary series Horizon). It alsoincludes several new extras including a \"Memories of Space\"featurette, a Sylvia Anderson interview (in which she franklydiscusses the series and her thoughts about Landau and Bain), anexpanded version of the \"These Episodes\" documentary fromthe DVD set, several PDF files containing scripts and annuals, anextensive set of photo galleries with hundreds of stills, and thefirst episode of Year Two, \"The Metamorph\", in digitallyrestored hi-definition. Network DVD began a similarrestoration process for Year Two in 2007, however progress was slowdue to higher production costs in comparison to remastering Year One(the audio for Year One was already digitised prior to Network\'srestoration, but Year Two was not). In late 2014, Network finallyannounced that Year Two would be released in 2015. As part of thisannouncement, Network released a limited edition (of 1999 copies) ofa special preview disc of the two-part story \"The Bringers ofWonder\" on 8 December 2014. This release also contains arestored version of the feature length Destination: Moonbase Alphafilm. The remastered Year Two was eventually released on Blu-ray andDVD in September 2015, to coincide with the series\' 40th Anniversary.Again containing a wealth of extra features, the sets includegalleries, vintage interviews, a blooper, behind the scenes footage,original source audio recordings, scripts and annuals PDF files, astock footage archive, a textless opening title sequence, trailersand promos, \"music only\" options for all episodes, astop-motion fan film from 1979, and a specially re-edited/rescoredversion of the episode \"Seed of Destruction\" as if it weremade for Year One. USA: A&E Home Videohas released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 in variousincarnations. It was initially released in 8-volume sets between 2001and 2002. On 24 September 2002, a 16-disc \"Mega Set\" boxset featuring all 48 episodes of the series was released. On 31 July2007, A&E released Space: 1999 - Complete Series, 30thAnniversary Edition. This is essentially the same as the 2002 \"megaset\" release (and does not use the 2005 hi-def remasters), butdoes includes a special bonus disc full of extra features. Year Onewas released on Blu-ray in the U.S. on 2 November 2010 by A&EHome Entertainment. Other media: The serieshas been translated into other media. Originally, all the episodeshad been adapted in novelisations, except, for some reason,\"Earthbound\" (though this may be because E.C. Tubb wasworking from a different script of \"Breakaway\" in whichCommissioner Simmons was killed when the Moon was torn out of Earthorbit) and \"The Taybor\" (from Year Two). The authors ofthese works wrote a number of original stories and have since writtennew stories and novels which were published after 1999. As well, theoriginal authors participated in the revised versions of theiroriginal novels. At the time of the series\' original run,several comic book series were published and, in the US, a series ofaudio adaptations were recorded on record albums with the youngeraudience in mind. After 1999, many of these original comic bookstories were revised and reprinted along with new stories. See thelist above.