Destination: Moonbase Alpha (22 page)

Plot:
The inhabitants of the planet Ariel supply the Moon with its own atmosphere, transforming the lunar surface into a potential paradise. But an exploratory party led by Helena crash-lands in a distant valley during a blinding sandstorm, and when the Moon doesn’t go into orbit around Ariel’s sun, Alpha must race to rescue the team before the atmosphere crystallises and buries the Moon’s surface under a blanket of ice.

Quotes:

• Victor:
  ‘If we go into orbit, I shan’t care about symmetry.’
  
• Sandra:
  ‘Do you know which Earthly sound I miss most in the silence of space?’
  
• Paul:
  ‘Birdsong?’
  
• Helena
  :
  ‘Computer’s telling us nice stories today.’
  
• Kano
  :
  ‘Computer never tells stories.’
  
• Koenig:
  ‘Those circular lakes will look wonderful. But Alpha is built in a crater. And if it rains as hard as you hope it will, right at the bottom of one of those lakes will be Moonbase Alpha.’
  
• Sandra:
  ‘Airsick! That’s why I opted for the space program!’
  
• Kano
  :
  ‘An atmosphere is a mixed blessing.’
  
• Koenig:
  ‘Not much of a new world, is it? Not much of a place to be lost in.’
  
• Paul:
  ‘That was sacred bread, Alan. That was sent to us in our time of need.’
  
• Victor:
  ‘What we have here is a food substance amazingly rich in second class protein and many of the essential vitamins. We can grow almost limitless crops – once we’ve removed all the hallucinatory elements.’
  
• Paul:
  ‘It wasn’t a bad trip … except for the ending.’
  
• Ariel Voice:
  ‘Human nature is such that we could not afford to take the risk.’
  
• Koenig:
  ‘Somehow, I don’t think I’d like the people.’
  

Filming Dates:
Tuesday 23 July – 6 August 1974

21 August 1974
 

Incidental Music:
Older Barry Gray compositions are borrowed from the
Joe 90
episode ‘King for a Day’ (first heard when Helena learns Paul has left the shelter of the Eagle, and then while Paul is disturbed and irrational),
The Secret Service
episode ‘A Case For The Bishop’ (heard here while Paul Morrow performs a remote-contol landing of the Eagle with the alien object attached), the
Stingray
episode ‘Raptures of the Deep’ (heard while Sandra and Paul discuss Earthly sounds and kiss), an incidental library track from
Supercar
(used here while Sandra and Paul test the air on the surface, and when the Alphans are outside sunbathing and enjoying their new world), and the film
Thunderbird 6
(heard during the fight sequence, and while Paul is strangling Helena).

Commentary:

Prentis Hancock:
‘I liked the mushrooms in “Last Sunset”!’

Zienia Merton:
‘When I put my spacesuit on the crew said, “Here’s Mrs Michelin!” It was very, very hot. It was actually one of the worst things. I must have lost five pounds that morning filming “Last Sunset”, because of all the undergarments as well. Then it’s all locked in. There’s no air coming in at all. You’re in your own mini-sauna … You should have one at home. Prentis and I had to do our scene over and over and over … I just thought I’d die …

‘In “The Last Sunset” I thought Sandra was actually a bit of a pain, like in old movies where the woman is always the one holding things up. But it was nice, and it was a good episode for Prentis. The other reason I liked “The Last Sunset” was that, because Paul and I, who were kind of the mainstay in Main Mission, had to go off, suddenly
Kano took over and Tanya came in, and … it gelled. “Okay, you guys have gone off, but we’ve got a backup and they’re just as good.” It was lovely to see Kano giving orders, and that was the kind of everyday vision of life on Alpha, so that people could go off and there was always a back-up team that came in and did it just as well.

‘Series one didn’t take off over here [in England] because it wasn’t screened [as originally planned] … We were going to be shown earlier, the whole point being that we’d get a [simultaneous transmission across the whole ITV] network, and we didn’t …
Space: 1999
was terribly well made and it could have gone out at 7.00 pm. I mean, if we can watch
The Six Million Dollar Man
being boring, I don’t know why
Space: 1999
didn’t get the airing. But they were anxious to sell it in America, and that’s why they didn’t bother about this country. Which is silly, because it was a very competent series, as good as anything the Americans can do.’

Christopher Penfold:
‘One of the features of an open-ended journey was always the notion of an eventual return home. Seeing as we were never actually going to do that, “The Last Sunset” was an attempt to play with that idea and what that possibility might do to those people who had accepted that there would never be a homecoming.

‘Charles Crichton was a brilliant director, very good for Johnny and me to be working with on the series. He had a lot to teach us. We were – Gerry was – extremely lucky that Charles’s film career had been in the doldrums for some time and that he was available to work with us on
Space: 1999
. “The Last Sunset” has, I think, an epic idea – the idea of the human Diaspora that is Moonbase Alpha actually finding a home. A homecoming. That’s a pretty powerful notion. That really was the motivating central idea. The possibility that presented to them. The possibility of finding a place in which all of those things that had been left behind on Earth would be rediscovered, was something that engaged me … And so, something of the idea that Moonbase Alpha finds this new environment where that which was left behind can be rediscovered, and the whole of western civilisation could then begin to be recreated – the whole sense of being given a second chance – was really the epic idea behind it.’

Bloopers:
This is more of a flaw in the script, but why don’t the Moonbase sensors detect the approach of the Ariel satellites before Tanya sees them outside the Main Mission windows?

Apart from the obvious plot requirements, why do Alan and Paul (upon leaving their crashed Eagle and seeing a search Eagle flying overhead) simply yell and wave their arms in the air to attract the attention of the pilots high above? At least one of them might have considered using his Commlock … Of course, that would have meant a much faster end to the episode.

Watch for missing buttons on Koenig’s Commlock – Martin Landau must have been really rough with his props!

Koenig’s desk has been pulled too far forward – it’s actually in Main Mission, rather than his office.

Strings are visible on the Eagles in several shots, and on the alien probe as it attaches itself to the Eagle command module.

Observations:
The Technical Section manual-closing door is shown, which marks another rare occurrence of these non-sliding doors on Alpha. This same Technical Section door is also blasted open by the escaping gas from the satellite.

The sequences that take place outside Alpha around an airlock when the Alphans run out to feel the rain were the first in the series to be filmed outdoors. They were shot in the parking lot of Pinewood Studios, and the artificial rain was very cold – as were the performers!

Review:
‘The Last Sunset’ opens with a gorgeous effects shot (one of the best in the series) of the Moon by the planet Ariel with a sun in the background, followed by a nicely chatty conversation between Koenig and Bergman. It successfully sets up the basis for the episode, and the teaser then ends with a good sense of suspense as Carter’s Eagle is ‘attacked’ by the first Ariel satellite.

The shots of the escaping gas (before it is identified as air) are all wonderful. The sequence of the Alphans running through gas-filled corridors are similar to some in the later episode ‘Space Brain’, where Alpha’s hallways fill with foam. It is always dramatic to see Alpha being ‘invaded’ by strange alien influences, whatever form they take. Also worthy of special note are the visual effects of the gas filling the Eagle hanger bay and the empty travel tube corridor.

The lovely first sunrise effect over the lunar surface signals the arrival of a new hope for the Alphans – that the Moon itself could be the new world they have longed for. It’s a great premise. A stand out moment comes when Paul and Sandra go out onto the surface and breathe their new atmosphere for the first time. Their attempts to kiss in the spacesuit helmets are charming. There is a tremendous atmosphere of light-heartedness and joy throughout much of the first part of the show, until the Eagle commanded by Helena encounters problems and crashes. A genuine warmth and likeability radiates amongst the regular characters.

It has often provoked criticism that the windows in Victor’s lab conveniently feature handles and are able to open, allowing in the breeze from the Moon’s new atmosphere. This was addressed in the original script, and obviously it would have been nice if it had been explained in the episode itself, but an imaginative viewer can simply infer that the Moonbase technicians were overzealous in adapting the base to the new situation, and that the opening windows would have been changed back as soon as it became apparent the Moon wasn’t going into orbit around Ariel’s sun.

The intensifying drama of the episode is gripping. Helena, Alan and Paul struggle to survive in the harsh environment, while Sandra suffers massive concussion, and the Eagle fleet succumbs to the corrosive combination of Moon dust and an unknown element in the atmosphere. The Alphans fear for the safety of their friends in the crashed Eagle and worry about whether the Moon will go into orbit or drift back into deep space. Will Alpha, built in a crater, end up at the bottom of a rain-filled lake, or under the crushing weight of the frozen atmosphere? Christopher Penfold constructed layer upon layer of challenges, intrigue and possibilities in a script that truly challenges the Alphans. The discussions around the analysis of the alien object are also a believable portrait of the Alphans attempting to analyse the latest mystery confronting them.

After eating the mushrooms he finds growing on the Moon’s surface, Paul experiences an hallucinogenic ‘trip’ that provides Prentis Hancock with the opportunity to deliver his strongest performance in the series, and the largest role in this episode. The whole supporting cast play vital parts throughout the episode in one of the best ensemble scripts of
Space: 1999
.

Helena Russell is not only a doctor, but also a leader and the real hero of this episode. She’s strong, decisive, and yet caring at the same time. Her act of blowing up the Eagle to attract the attention of the passing search ship is one of quick thinking desperation and leadership strength. The sight of her holding the laser rifle and being blasted backward by the shockwave is particularly effective, since she so rarely even fires a Stun Gun in the series.

The direction by Charles Crichton is strong, if not as flashy as that of others such as David Tomblin and Ray Austin.
Space: 1999
would frequently pair the same screenwriter and director, so Penfold and Crichton would go on from here to create several more episodes together, including the classics ‘War Games’ and ‘Dragon’s Domain’.

The episode ends with the thought that human nature itself is what led the inhabitants of Ariel to keep the Alphans off of their world, despite their belief in the good intentions of the Alphans. It is an interesting concept, to be judged on the past history of the Earth, rather than on one’s own merits. As in Penfold’s ‘Guardian of Piri’, religious fanaticism is also explored here, with Paul consuming ‘sacred bread’ – manna from heaven – and taking on the role of a messiah. He also refers to a ‘second coming’.

The word ‘Ariel’ is the name of an airy spirit in Shakespeare’s play
The Tempest
, which had already proved a notable inspiration for ‘Missing Link’. Amongst other similarities, including the crash of a ship, it is only appropriate for the mysterious and unseen inhabitants of the planet Ariel (almost spirit-like) to supply the Moon with an atmosphere.

It is an effectively melancholic atmosphere in Main Mission as the Alphans gather to watch the final sunset over the lunar surface before the Ariel satellites leave with the last of the air. There are many poignant moments throughout Year One, but watching the sun go down here is one of the most profound. Lost hopes abound in
Space: 1999
(including in previous episodes ‘Guardian of Piri’ and ‘Matter of Life and Death’ – another episode that shares elements with this one, including part of its
Paradise Lost
theme – as well as upcoming ones such as ‘War Games’) and, again, that’s where much of the emotional reality of the series comes from: the Alphans may encounter failures and their dream may be just out of reach, but that’s the way life can sometimes be.

Most memorable amongst the points made here is that the Alphans already have a home, right beneath their feet. Although occasionally a bit slow, ‘The Last Sunset’ is a memorably fine episode.