Destination: Moonbase Alpha (21 page)

1.10

ALPHA CHILD

Screenplay by Christopher Penfold

Directed by Ray Austin

Selected Broadcast Dates:

UK
              LWT:

             
Date: 18 October 1975.               Time: 5.50 pm

             
Granada:

             
Date: 7 November 1975.               Time: 6.35 pm

US
              KRON (San Francisco):

             
Date: 11 October 1975.               Time: 7.00 pm

             
WPIX (New York):

             
Date: 25 October 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),
Wayne Brooks
(Jackie Crawford)

Guest Artistes: Julian Glover
(Jarak),
Cyd Hayman
(Cynthia ‘Sue’ Crawford / Rena)

Uncredited Cast: Suzanne Roquette
(Tanya Alexander),
Sarah Bullen
(Operative Kate),
Loftus Burton
(Operative Lee Oswald),
Andrew Dempsey
,
Raymond Harris
,
Robert Phillips
,
Michael Stevens
,
Maureen Tan
,
Maggie Wright
(Main Mission Operatives),
Rula Lenska
(Joan Conway),
Tony Allyn
(Security Guard Tony Allan),
Quentin Pierre
(Security Guard Pierce Quinton),
Gerry Crampton
(Security Guard),
James Fagan
(Eagle Co-Pilot),
Vincent Wong
(Medic)

Plot:
Jackie Crawford is born on Alpha, but the baby shocks the base by transforming into a five-year old. As alien spaceships take up orbit over the base, Jackie transforms again, into Jarak, an adult alien whose people are capable of concealing themselves by inhabiting the bodies of other life forms, but only during birth or death. To escape their pursuers, these body snatchers intend to kill the Alphans and occupy their bodies.

Quotes:

• Helena
  :
  ‘Heaven knows I looked forward to this first child born here.’
  
• Victor:
  ‘He senses you’re not as willing to be charmed as the rest of us are.’
  
• Helena
  :
  ‘I saw him smile. It sent a shiver up my spine. Almost as if he was mocking his mother’s death.’
  
• Koenig:
  ‘Ignorance is no reason to start shooting. After all, we’re all afraid of the unknown.’
  
• Jarak:
  ‘I like the intuitive quality of your human mind, Commander. I like the unpredictability of your human emotions. I like the difference between your people. But on our planet we faced extermination because we were different. Yes, we are running away … from genetic conformity, rigorously imposed. We are so happy to have found Alpha.’
  
• Jarak:
  ‘The designated will die.’
  

Filming Dates:
Monday 8 July – Monday 22 July 1974

Incidental Music:
Barry Gray’s score is supplemented by one of his own earlier compositions, from the ‘Last Train To Bufflers Halt’ episode of
The Secret Service.
It is heard here in a number of scenes, including the sequence where young Jackie is given a tour of Alpha.

Commentary:

Barbara Bain:
‘I liked the idea of “Alpha Child”. There was something marvellous in the potential of that whole idea.’

Julian Glover:
‘“Alpha Child” was totally ridiculous, but it was good fun to do. I mean, how many times do you get to run around in a silver skirt?’

Zienia Merton:
‘The guest artists were smashing and one always tried to make them feel at home. We were the regulars, but they were down just for that one episode, and they found that they had to be crying, or making love to someone, two minutes after eating a sausage roll, or something … Frightening. So I used to say, “Would you like to come to lunch?” It’s just hospitality. I remember meeting Cyd Hayman in the corridor [during the making of “Alpha Child”] and saying, “Hello, I’m Zienia Merton, would you like to come to lunch?” It was just to make people feel at home. They don’t think, “Oh, I’m a guest star.” Very few did that.

Christopher Penfold:
‘The genesis of “Alpha Child” is quite difficult to recall. I’m pretty sure that the idea of a child being born on Alpha, and the kind of celebration of that event, being then undermined by the anxiety of the pace of development, was one that came from Gerry. I have pretty clear recollections of sitting in Gerry’s office at Pinewood and us talking about that as an idea. I think that a lot of the actual plot of “Alpha Child” was probably straight from Gerry. Certainly, I think, the idea that it should turn out pretty nicely at the end.’

Martin Bower:
‘Brian Johnson liked my work and gave me my first real break [in special effects], for which I shall always be grateful. He sent me a script from the episode “Alpha Child” and asked to see what I could come up with …’

Observations:
This episode marks the first appearance of the highly impressive bomber-style spacecraft built by Martin Bower and inspired by the Discovery from
2001: A Space Odyssey
.

The lighting panels on the walls in Main Mission had, until this episode, been a stark white. They are now green, and will remain so until the episode ‘End of Eternity’.

It’s appealing to see the Nuclear Generating Area set reappear here, following its debut last episode.

Review:
‘Alpha Child’ began as a story idea by Gerry Anderson in conjunction with Christopher Penfold (see the commentary section for this episode), was developed into a script by Edward di Lorenzo (while he was still involved with the early days of
Space: 1999
) and was then subsequently completely re-written by Penfold, who receives sole on-screen credit for the episode. The results of this convoluted history are uneven, to say the least.

The direction by Ray Austin (his third instalment for the show) and lighting are outstanding, atmospheric and unusual.
Austin has a meandering style with the camera, not always focusing on the conventional element, such as the person speaking in a particular scene. This helps to set his episodes apart from those of the other directors on the series.

From its astonishing beginning, this episode is filled with subtle details, minor character interactions, and a wealth of characterisation. Helena Russell displays the widest range of emotions (giving the lie to those critics who habitually slam Barbara Bain as being ‘wooden’). Her ecstatic joy turns to shocked and horrified disbelief at the sight of the five-year-old child squeezed into the incubator where previously there had been a newborn baby, then to compassionate warmth as she spends time with the boy.

Amongst many noteworthy scenes is one showing Alan, Sandra, Paul, Tanya and Kano discussing whether Jackie’s inhuman growth means they’ll never be able to have normal children, or whether this is just a specific abnormality with a distinct cause.

The supporting cast members are all provided rich parts to play. The young Wayne Brooks is an excellent actor who hits the perfect expression in every scene. He was obviously both talented and well directed. He plays significant scenes with Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Barry Morse and Nick Tate (who turns in some of his finest series acting in this episode). Note how differently the various characters relate to the young child: Bergman is a grandfather figure, Carter is a fun-loving uncle type,
Helena is maternal, and so on. As the young Jackie spends more time with the Alphans, he displays a subtle learning process far beyond his years. It is a haunting and eerie scenario. The mysterious aspects of the boy accumulate, and for the first half of the episode, this is an outstanding show.

With the arrival of an alien ship, which is shrouded in as much mystery as young Jackie, the show is totally satisfying. The effectiveness comes from the mystery. As Koenig says, ‘We’re all afraid of the unknown.’ And in that line, Koenig points to a possible moral of the story: that, although frightened by Jackie Crawford because they don’t understand him, the Alphans nevertheless attempt to accept him and welcome him into their lives. It’s a moral for life whenever anyone encounters someone different than themselves. Later,
Helena sees Jackie smile in the presence of his suffering mother and then tells Koenig, ‘I saw him smile. It sent a shiver up my spine. So knowing … almost as if he were mocking his mother’s death.’ Like John Wyndham’s classic novel
The Midwich Cuckoos
(adapted for the screen as
Village of the Damned
), this is bone chilling and suspenseful material. There are also similarities to
The Omen
, filmed at Pinewood Studios at the same time as
Space: 1999
. It is the unknown-and-frightening horror approach that is a winner, until the unknown is revealed.

Upon the arrival of three more alien ships, young Jackie transforms into the grown form of Julian Glover as alien Jarak, and the episode itself transforms from excellent to inferior. Glover wears a little silver costume (which he gets from where? – a problem that will recur in Year Two with Alpha’s new shape-shifter, Maya) and a disappointing, vaguely Roman hairstyle. From here on in lies the worst material of any Year One episode. It appears that the creative team behind this episode didn’t know what to do with the superior premise already established and resorted to this ridiculous take on alien body snatchers. They should have stuck with the mysterious child.

Jarak kills his mother, who then transforms into his lover Rena (also mysteriously developing a shiny silver costume!) It’s somewhat incestuous and disturbing, and their subsequent attempts to be menacing just aren’t good enough, despite several effective scenes, including the alarming near-murder of everyone on Alpha. Ultimately, all this nonsense is ended by the arrival of another alien ship. The bomber blows up the first four ships, and some of the effects are very nice, while others now appear dated.

The pursuers take Jarak and Rena from Alpha and return Sue Crawford and her newborn baby to their proper selves, unaffected by their previous deaths and/or transformations. It is a bit disappointing that Jackie Crawford was never seen again in the series; it could have been a nice piece of continuity to have the baby make an appearance at some point in a future episode, adding to the sense of community on the base.

‘Alpha Child’ really doesn’t have a lot to say, actually. It does begin to consider the population problems Alpha faces, but it’s lacking in the sort of philosophical or metaphysical elements that mark the finest episodes of the series.

‘Alpha Child’ is replete with unfulfilled promise.

Rating:
5/10

1.11

THE LAST SUNSET

Screenplay by Christopher Penfold

Directed by Charles Crichton

Selected Broadcast Dates:

UK              LWT:

             
Date: 31 January 1976.               Time: 11.30 am

             
Granada:

             
Date: 13 February 1976.               Time: 6.35 pm

US
              KRON (San Francisco):

             
Date: 24 January 1976.               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)

Uncredited Cast: Suzanne Roquette
(Tanya Alexander),
Sarah Bullen
(Operative Kate),
James Fagan
(Eagle Co-Pilot Ken Johnson),
Loftus Burton
(Operative Lee Oswald),
Andrew Dempsey
,
Robert Phillips
,
Maureen Tan, Maggie Wright
(Main Mission Operatives),
Quentin Pierre
(Security Guard Pierce Quinton),
Alan Harris
(Alphan),
Janet Allen
(First Alphan),
Linzy Scott
,
Michael Stevens
,
Lynda Westover
(Alphans on Lunar Surface),
Rommo Gorrara
(Technician / Stunts),
Alf Joint
(Technician / Stunts),
Guy Francis Groen
,
Richard Adams
,
Jack McKenzie
,
Anita West
(Technicians)