Destination: Moonbase Alpha (16 page)

Johnny Byrne:
‘“Another Time, Another Place” was very exciting. It was the first script I did for
Space
on my own, in my position as story editor. There’s no sort of set way of writing scripts. In “Another Time, Another Place” I thought – the way you’re faced with a blank page of paper and you’ve got to get a script ready in three weeks, a very complicated script, sets would be built, a hundred thousand pounds or something would be spent – how do you start? Where do you start from? So the first [question] I came up with was: what is the worst thing I can possibly imagine happening to those people? Let’s say they’re hit by a mad cloud or particle storm in space. What would happen if a certain kind of ionised particle storm hits them? So I imagined their bodies separating, their images separating and [them] watching themselves moving away from themselves. Now, that’s as far as I had thought. What are the implications of that? Okay, they all pass out; nobody knows who’s who, because one lot has seen the other lot sort of passing away. That’s the act ending – that’s a fairly strong one – but that’s only the hook. But we’ve got an hour’s screen time to fill.

‘I thought, “Can I sustain a story developing like this?” Okay, we’ve come back now after the credits and they find that they’re not where they were. That’s good. So where are they? They look up and, my God, they’re travelling back to occupy the spot in space they occupied before they were blown out of orbit! All they can do is scratch their heads. They have got some kind of data on the kind of weird force that struck them, but no real idea …‘[That] is one of the reasons I like
Space: 1999
. Their knowledge was fairly limited so you could endlessly speculate. I built a story purely empirically by building situation on top of situation. It all stemmed from the initial logic of the set-up. That was, I think, the easiest way to write that kind of story. It was not possible to do all the stories like that – very few of them you could do like that. That was the fun way. I really enjoyed putting myself in a corner and writing myself out of it. Problems came a good deal along the way, because you could actually [genuinely] put yourself in a corner and yet your efforts to get you out could [appear] fairly gratuitous, or not wholly believable, unless you could find a really stunning turnabout. I was fortunate [that] there with a nice little twist to give it [“Another Time, Another Place”] … Along the way, it dealt with notions of identity, reality and fantasy, and one or two other interesting things about the relationships as well on Moonbase … I like that episode very much, and I thought David Tomblin directed it very well.

‘“Another Time Another Place” was not just about individual Alphans confronting their doppelgangers, but about experiencing a revealed vision of a possible future. It also highlighted the cyclic nature of human experience – the catastrophic failure of 20th Century techno man established in “Breakaway” and a new beginning of the process. A theme also echoed in “Troubled Spirit”. But here I may be expressing retrospective wisdom. Most, if not all, my episodes were written from the inside out. By that I mean they were never planned as vehicles for issues big and small, and frequently the end result was just as surprising to me as to others. Clearly they were tapping into themes and concepts swirling around in my mind at the time. It perhaps explains why episodes of this type finished so multi-faceted – simple on the surface, very complicated within. I particularly remember the highly charged excitement I felt when writing “Another Time, Another Place”. I wrote it at Pinewood, and oft times I’d simply down tools and rush along the corridor to blast Chris’s ear with new and ever more fascinating conundrums arising as the script developed. I also remember knowing
exactly
what I meant by Bergman’s weird but nonetheless clinching comment that if they didn’t get back to Alpha before the Moons collided, they’d have no place to die. Today, if dwelt on, it raises more questions than it answers. So far as I know, I was on nothing more stimulating than the stodgy food served at the studio restaurant.

‘It’s a long time ago now, but thinking back about it, I remember it vividly. It had Judy Geeson in it, who I felt was very good, and I was very sad to see that she didn’t develop her career. I had a very fond feeling for it, simply because it was the first one that I wrote entirely myself. And it was also directed by David Tomblin, whose work I admired enormously and with whom I had a very strong working relationship throughout the series.

‘I’m sure the spark for the stories concerning time is rooted in my Irish background and the pervasive long-lived effects of Celtic myth and legend in Ireland. Their strong hold on the imagination of the ancient pagan Gaels was already firmly in place long before the island was formally Christianised in the early 5
th
Century. It survived virtually intact until the end of the 17
th
Century and thereafter externally in fragmented form, and internally in the minds of our people until the present time … As kids growing up, we knew endless places – churches, rocks, wells – where legend had it that walking around them anti-clockwise a certain number of times could result in meeting yourself, or even something nastier!

‘I wanted the repercussions to affect the Alphans on the human and emotional level, rather than [through] in-your-face gothic horror. [The story] would also, I hoped, open up the relationship of Koenig and Helena in a way that was not normally possible. Carter I chose because I wanted to highlight the man of feeling behind the macho image. I thought he beautifully captured the poignancy of his relationship with the doomed
Regina. On the planet, Morrow’s aggressive response was rooted in fear for the community they were struggling to establish. It embodied elements of the rural idyll/Technological Man dilemma … Morrow and the others had decided to establish a community that, though less comfortable, was infinitely more predictable. Out were the vast uncertainties of the wandering Moonbase Alpha. At least here they knew what to expect and were prepared to make it work. The second Moon’s arrival and Koenig’s appearance on the scene revived all the uncertainties they had hoped to put behind them. Complicating that was the primitive, visceral fear of people mingling with their other selves. The same fear we see expressed today on the subject of human cloning – one of the big issues of our increasingly Brave New World.’

Bloopers:
Watch the buttons on Martin Landau’s Commlock – in some scenes they’re all squished together.

Also note the two children on Earth – when they are seen facing the camera, the girl is considerably shorter than the boy; but when they are seen facing away from the camera, she’s somehow taller!

Finally, there are continuity issues in the scene where the future Helena kisses Koenig: watch younger Helena in the background, because in close-up shots she’s in an entirely different position than she is in the long shots.

Observations:
The highly effective shot of the Alphans leaving the Eagle will re-appear in the last Year One episode, ‘The Testament of Arkadia’. The production team did not construct a full-size version of the Eagle – this effect was achieved by using a two-dimensional cutout that convincingly simulated the life-size ship.Victor mentions that 24 hours are required for total evacuation of Moonbase Alpha (Operation Exodus). This is down significantly from the 48 hours quoted in ‘Matter of Life and Death’ – they’ve obviously been working to speed up the process in case they encounter a habitable planet.

Watch the opening ‘This Episode’ sequence for a view of another Alphan settlement on Earth, absent from the episode itself.

Review:
While the
first five episodes bear evidence of a series trying to find its footing and path, ‘Another Time, Another Place’ represents the crystallisation of a firm direction that the rest of Year One would follow to a very large extent. The teaming of writer Johnny Byrne and director David Tomblin (making his debut on the series) results in the only first season episode to deal with time travel, with the Alphans encountering their future selves. There is also the appealing, romantic notion of returning to a time when life was less complex.

Filled with impressive imagery and effectively subdued and atmospheric lighting, the episode is visually superb. One of the only things that could be fairly criticised is the make-up depicting
Regina’s sunburn, which is somewhat unconvincing. ‘Another Time, Another Place’ has (as Zienia Merton points out in the commentary below) some very surrealistic elements to it. The spatial special effects are stunning, including the Eagle flight sequences between the two Moons, and the Eagle flight over Earth. Regina’s painting of the Santa Maria settlement (actually the work of designer Keith Wilson, and similar in appearance to his original production design paintings for Santa Maria) is a nice touch, showing Alpha has art materials available for use as a leisure pursuit. The settlement itself is a thoroughly realistic vision of the kind of colony the Alphans would establish if they were to colonise a planet.John and Alan still have the tense, argumentative relationship they’ve demonstrated since ‘Breakaway’, although they are now appearing to become more adjusted to each other. They’re less aggressive and are obviously forging the connections of the deep friendship they will soon have. Alan is his gung-ho self, wanting to get down to the planet as soon as possible. Koenig, in a subtle pointer toward the agrarian lifestyle their alternate future selves follow, displays a lack of reliance on Computer. He states, ‘Computer … Computer can’t even tell us why Earth doesn’t answer our signals.’ It is very easy to see how the alternate Koenig came to the decision to move his people down to Santa Maria, favoring a natural environment over a technological one.

The Alphans’ decision to establish a number of settlements throughout the area is a very sensible one, serving to separate each village from potential calamities that might happen to befall others. Examples could be crop failure, natural disasters or sickness.

The relationship between Alan and Regina is very well presented, with Nick Tate’s effective mix of disbelief and compassion as the former and Judy Geeson’s moving portrayal of the latter’s conflicted nature. Regina’s two brains parallel the two Moons – dichotomies abound throughout this episode. It could have been more effective to portray Regina as having two brainwave patterns, rather than two actual brains, which is a physical impossibility. That said, this has no negative impact on the story itself, and is an element easily forgiven.

Barbara Bain, Barry Morse and Nick Tate give some of their strongest performances in the series. The rest of the main cast – Martin Landau, Zienia Merton, Prentis Hancock, Clifton Jones and Anton Phillips – are all in their usual top form, with the added bonus of most of them being able to present their characters as themselves, and also as their counterparts years into the future. The time spent with the other Alphans on Earth offers additional character points (Paul with a beard, Paul and Sandra’s children, Victor’s gardening, David’s greying hair, and more). Barry Morse provides an effective piece of linking characterisation by whistling as both versions of Victor, and Barbara Bain excels depicting the subtle changes in Helena Russell between her optimistic and wide-eyed present and resigned older selves.
Helena’s conversation with her future self is both touching and eerie, and a seamlessly filmed example of split-screen effects. The scene is spoken in whispers and, indeed, a lot of Year One features such subdued dialogue – effectively contrasting the intimacy and closeness of such quiet communication against the cold vastness of deep space. It is very moving to see the ‘future’ Helena encounter and kiss her long-lost love, John Koenig. It is the last moment of her life, and she is completely at peace.

A fascinating scene shows
Helena in Medical with the dead bodies of the alternate John and Alan. She can’t bring herself to raise a sheet over the dead Koenig’s head, even though she has just done the same thing, with no difficulty, to Carter. It is obvious the relationship between her and John is advancing. Another gentle, delicate scene shows Carter placing flowers on Regina’s grave.

The line, ‘If you were to come here there would be chaos and disaster,’ points to interesting parallels with ‘Matter of Life and Death’. The colliding of the two Moons here is also similar to the plotline in the later ‘Collision Course’ involving the giant planet Atheria – the use of colliding planets as a plot point resonates with some of the most mystical and metaphysical elements of the first series. The possibilities are thought-provoking: what could happen in a situation like this? What would happen if we were to meet ourselves?

Elements of horror are common in Year One stories; here it is the spine-chilling scene where Koenig and Carter discover their own dead bodies in the crashed Eagle, followed by Koenig seeing himself on the autopsy table in Medical. Additionally, the visit to the empty, lifeless alternate Alpha is a remarkably haunting sequence. All are unnerving.

The main themes from ‘Breakaway’ recur, notably the dual focus on environmental and anti-technological aspects, encapsulated here by the contradiction between Technological Man and Biological Man – the more we progress toward science the less connected we are to nature. Additional themes are introduced that will reappear in numerous upcoming Johnny Byrne episodes, including the aforementioned nostalgia for a simpler, more natural way of life (which features again most notably in ‘The Testament of Arkadia’), violent or mysterious events (as in ‘The Troubled Spirit’, ‘End of Eternity’ and ‘The Immunity Syndrome’), and gloomy locales (again, ‘The Testament of Arkadia’), but always with the potential for a brighter future. More than anything, ‘Another Time, Another Place’ is about belonging (with whom, and in what place and time), and the fact is that the Alphans are not yet ready for the life they see their alternate selves living. The loss of this alternate Earth, as melancholy as the experience is, makes the glimmer of hope for a new world more rewarding.