Destination: Moonbase Alpha (25 page)

Intriguingly, there is a parallel in dialogue between this episode and ‘Black Sun’. In that earlier episode, Victor asks the mysterious voice in the Black Sun, ‘Who are you?’ The answer is, ‘A friend.’ Here, in ‘Collision Course’, Alan asks Arra, ‘Who are you?’ and receives the same reply, ‘A friend.’ Could there be a connection between the voice in the Black Sun and Arra, or is this purely coincidence?

The culminating scene in Main Mission as Koenig and Carter take over (in their pajamas!) and force the end of Operation Shockwave is an absolutely riveting sequence. The duo can be viewed as religious zealots – madmen leading their people to death through the lunacy of their beliefs … and yet, they are right. As Koenig says in the epilogue, ‘How could anyone possibly know that a planet on a collision course would not collide, but simply touch?’

Of course, the science in this episode leaves much to be desired: Operation Shockwave could never work because shockwaves don’t travel in the vacuum of space, let alone be strong enough to force apart the Moon and Atheria. Apart from that, ‘Collision Course’ successfully presents the kind of mature, philosophical, metaphysical thinking that sets
Space: 1999
apart from other television science fiction programmes.

Rating:
9/10

1.14

DEATH
’
S OTHER DOMINION

Screenplay by Anthony Terpiloff and Elizabeth Barrows

Directed by Charles Crichton

Selected Broadcast Dates:

UK              LWT:

             
Date: 4 October 1975.               Time: 5.50 pm

             
Granada:

             
Date: 24 October 1975.               Time: 6.35 pm

US
              KRON (San Francisco):

             
Date: 20 September 1975.               Time: 7.00 pm

             
WPIX (New York):

             
Date: 4 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),
Mary Miller
(Frieda)

Guest Star: Brian Blessed
(Dr Cabot Rowland)

Guest Artist: John Shrapnel
(Colonel Jack Tanner)

Uncredited Cast: Suzanne Roquette
(Tanya Alexander),
Sarah Bullen
(Operative Kate),
Loftus Burton
(Operative Lee Oswald),
Annie Lambert
(Operative Julie),
Andrew Dempsey
(Main Mission Operative),
Robert Phillips
(Main Mission Operative),
David Ellison
(Ted Foster),
Valerie Leon
(Thulian Girl),
Jack Shepherd
,
Laurie Davis
,
Eddy Nedari
,
Tony Houghton
,
John Lee-Barber
,
Suzette St Clair
,
Barbara Bermel
,
Jenny Devenish
,
Carolyn Hudson
,
Glenda Allan
,
David Murphy
,
Michael Ryan
,
Anette Linden
(Thulians),
Adrienne Burgess
,
Lesley Collet
,
Robert Driscoll
,
Margaret Lawley
,
Terry Rendle
,
Ian Ruskin
,
Ellen Sheehan
(Revered Ones)

Plot:
On the ice planet Ultima Thule the Alphans encounter the survivors of the Uranus Probe of 1986, who have carved out a home within underground caverns. But not everyone sees Thule as a paradise, and it is revealed that life here is immortal – these Earthmen are frozen in time and have lived for 880 years! Attempting to persuade his fellow humans to relocate on Thule, Dr Rowland accompanies the Alphans for a flight to the Moon, but as they leave the icy atmosphere the extent of Thule’s influence becomes clear.

Quotes:

• Jack:
  ‘I am the dog that bays the Moon who sets her cats amongst your pigeons, doctor.’
  
• Jack:
  ‘Good doctor, revel while you can. The hour is late. Our end is near. The road to paradise has seized up.’
  
• Alan:
  ‘Come on, you beautiful bird. Lift off. Lift off!’
  
• Helena
  :
  ‘But Alpha isn’t home. It’s a barracks, on a barren rock, flying endlessly through space! We want a real home. A place to live … to raise children.’
  
• Jack:
  ‘A death on Thule would be a marvellous thing.’
  
• Rowland:
  ‘The blight of human life has been death. The most brilliant minds cut off. Progress held back. We have lived on Thule for 800 years. We have immortality.’
  
• Jack:
  ‘Oh yes, wonderful. Science in the belly and salad on the brain.’
  
• Koenig:
  ‘Come on, Jack. There’s more in that mind of yours than meets the ears.’
  
• Jack:
  ‘The ultimate welfare – where want is dead.’
  
• Jack:
  ‘By all dishevelled, wandering stars, I tell you – death has dominion!’
  
• Koenig:
  ‘Is it death that gives meaning to life, in the end?’
  
• Jack:
  ‘If there is an end.’
  

Filming Dates:
Wednesday 11 September – Monday 23 September 1974

Incidental Music:
Includes a track by Barry Gray from the
Joe 90
episode ‘Big Fish’, heard at the start of the episode while Jack and Dr Rowland discuss the Moon, and as Rowland calls Alpha.

Commentary:

Barry Morse:
‘In “Death’s other Dominion” I was obliged to spend the day struggling through a studio blizzard. I evidently managed to get through it all right. It was very comical, that snow storm, and gave rise to a lot of giggles, especially from Brian Blessed. Dear Brian and I had some testing moments playing together, because you’d only have to give the slightest twinkle of your eye and Brian would be off giggling. We had a wonderful time. I also remember John Shrapnel playing his character rather like The Fool from
King Lear
. The entire episode had a rather Shakespearean tone to it.’

Sylvia Anderson:
‘When we were preparing for the show there were a lot of strikes going on, so we only had so many days a week that we could work, [and] we brought our own generators into Pinewood Studios. One day I walked in and they were building this fantastic futuristic set [of the ice caves for “Death’s other Dominion”]. And I said, “My God, no-one can work in this.” They were using embalming fluid to build the set! I said, “We can’t do this.” Everyone said, “Don’t say anything. Wait for the actors to come on.” Anyway, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain came on and within seconds they were absolutely falling about and came over to me saying, “What’s happening, what’s happening?” So we had to do something about that.’

Christopher Penfold:
‘The episode “Death’s other Dominion” was written by Anthony Terpiloff. I got him involved because he had written an absolutely brilliant television play about Dylan Thomas, in New York, which is about as far removed from a science fiction subject as you could possibly get, but I just thought he was a great writer. So the reason for bringing him on to the show was not that he was a science fiction expert or that he had a great background in science fiction writing, but because he was actually just a great writer. The science fiction expert on the team was Johnny Byrne; and it was a team.’

Keith Wilson:
‘The cheapest set I did was [for] the ice one with Brian Blessed, “Death’s other Dominion” … It was the Ice Palace, the interior. I built it out of rubbish. Literally. We walked around the lot and we picked up rubbish and we constructed … I would say, “A bit more here … An archway there …” and once it was built – out of literally rubbish – we sprayed it all with this foam. It went crispy, but it left (I think) formaldehyde, and it gave a smell. For a few minutes it would make your eyes water. On Friday, the set was being finished and Martin and Barbara just wandered [in] to see what they were going to be shooting on Monday. Martin went, “What’s that smell?” and somebody said, “Oh, it’s formaldehyde. It’ll give you cancer, that will.” We’re shooting the bloody thing on Monday! Martin went wild. He left the stage, he went to Gerry, and he said, “This set will give me cancer!” We had to get scientists in to take tests [and confirm it was safe], and it went on all over the weekend. I had finished the set, but I had to work all weekend because if we couldn’t shoot in it, we had nothing to shoot on Monday. During this period when we had scientists there taking tests, there were a couple of riggers sitting there having their lunch on the set. They were eating shrimp sandwiches, or something, and the scientists said to them, “Does this smell worry you?” They said, “What smell?” They’d been working in it and they’d got used to it. But it was a great worry. It was one of the biggest worries on the series, because I thought, “What the hell are we going to do?”’

Bloopers:
In the command module, Carter brings up an image of the Eagle being buried in snow – but where does this image come from? It is an impossible viewpoint.

Observations:
One interesting ‘behind the scenes’ anecdote – the soap that was used to simulate blowing snow during the blizzard sequences was apparently quite abrasive and took the skin off of Martin Landau’s face.

‘Death’s other Dominion’ features the largest cast of any
Space: 1999
episode.

Review:
‘Death’s other Dominion’, first and foremost, presents a tale of immortals living on an ice planet – what more appropriate setting could there be? Everything freezes in this giant icebox and essentially lasts forever – including the people.

Perhaps the most staggering individual guest appearance in the entire series comes from John Shrapnel as Jack Tanner. He gives himself to the role entirely, and is flanked in all directions by outstanding performances from his fellow Thulians (including the charming Mary Miller as Frieda) and the Alphans. Brian Blessed makes his first of two
Space: 1999
appearances here – the other will come as Mentor in ‘The Metamorph’ – and the parallels between them are quite striking. In both, he rules in underground cavern-worlds symbolic of Hell. His characters both have immense magnetism, charisma and power (all of which are admittedly hard to avoid when you cast Blessed in the role!) The scene here where his laboratory is destroyed is initiated by Koenig, as will be the equivalent scene in ‘The Metamorph’, and in both instances the hubris of Blessed’s character is his downfall. Both Rowland and Mentor have crossed the ethical boundaries of their scientific profession – it’s a fascinating comparison. Rowland’s end is the most gruesome scene in the series. The depiction of his corpse is horrifying: the culmination of the many nightmarish aspects of the episode.

Ultima Thule is a believable frozen world (despite the strangely foamy snow), and the caverns are a model of art direction, design and construction. Thulian life is detailed, with attention to their clothing (fur and skins from a species of Ox mentioned by Foster) and food (at once nauseating, but adaptable). Also deserving of note are the Alphan snowsuits and sweaters, a striking combination of blue, white and red. They are seen only in this one episode. Martin Bower’s model of the
Phoenix
(the ship the Thulians are constructing in order to leave their ice world) is an impressively detailed miniature, inspired by the unfinished rocket in the film
When Worlds Collide
. It would have been lovely if the
Phoenix
had received more screen time.

Characterisation is mixed, unfortunately. Martin Landau gives one of his strongest performances as Koenig, showing a leader at odds against an adversary he doesn’t fully understand, and at the same time lacking the support of his closest comrades. Koenig, above all, is sensible. On the other hand, both Helena and Victor are inconsistent and come across as naïve – simplistically falling under Rowland’s charismatic spell. Bergman’s customary wisdom and
Helena’s usual caution are completely absent, and there really is no basis for their gullibility, other than the convenience of the script. Viewers are left with two of the three series leads acting well out of character, with no reasonable explanation being provided.