Destination: Moonbase Alpha (47 page)

Anton Phillips recalled: ‘Having seen the first series I thought, “If I have this to do again, I’d really like to just loosen up a little.” Mathias looked very serious and uptight, didn’t he? He should have had a drink problem, really. He needed to loosen up a little, smile and have a bit more fun. Pinch
Helena’s bottom – that sort of thing.’

Christopher Penfold said: ‘I think we were interested in asking questions that could not necessarily be answered. I think that was something that many of the stories gave us an opportunity to do. Not affecting closure, I think, is what it’s about. A fine teacher explained to me that most of the action in a picture goes on outside the frame. I think that what you actually see on the screen sets off reverberations that are going to continue in the audience’s minds at least beyond the next ad break. What we tried to do was to write stories that would excite that kind of curiosity, to stimulate the spirit of enquiry, to promote philosophical speculation. That’s a reason why so many of the stories have that “What’s next?” kind of ending.

‘I think curiosity – God, this is
so
essential. I remember being told by a very fine teacher in my school days, “You have to ask questions. The minute you stop asking questions, you’re dead.” I still believe that, and it’s certainly what we believed in
Space: 1999
. We
wanted
to leave [the Alphans’] big questions unanswered, because there are no answers – yet.’

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF
SPACE: 1999

Final post-synching work on Year One was completed in April 1975: actor Barry Morse recorded the specific date in his diary as Friday 11 April. In the intervening period between completion of Year One and the start of filming on Year Two in January 1976, various cast and crew members scattered around the world and worked on different projects.

A NEW BEGINNING

Due to the departure of Sylvia Anderson and the fact that the first series of
Space: 1999
had received a mixed critical reaction (complaints focusing on the low-key characterisation and the more mystical plot aspects), changes were made to the show for its second season. The ratings for Year One had opened spectacularly and, judging from media reports, had largely stayed that way. However, also significant in the eyes of ITC New York was the failure of the first series to secure a spot on American network television.

Asked about the potential for the second series to have continued on in the vein of the first, Christopher Penfold responds: ‘I’m pretty sure the first season format could have been successfully extended to a second season, yes. It was a creative powerhouse, and most of the stories were evolved in response to crisis of one kind or another. I suppose it’s a somewhat arrogant statement to make, but I feel that those responses would have been there. We would have been able to find and continue the variety of that. I think that the possibilities of that format were – like the universe itself – infinite … The whole point of science fiction is that you extrapolate from the known into the unknown, in order to better understand the known. Capital punishment we could have taken on. Genetic engineering we could have taken on. Any issue that confronts us in our everyday lives has within it the germ of an idea, which within the contexts of science fiction can generate a story … We were interested in asking questions that could not necessarily be answered. That was something that many of the stories gave us the opportunity to do. Not effecting closure, I think, is what it’s all about. What we tried to do was to write stories that would excite curiosity, stimulate the spirit of enquiry and promote philosophical speculation.’

Gerry Anderson had Johnny Byrne write a detailed analysis of Year One, considering the strengths and weaknesses of the programme, and looking for the most promising direction forward. Byrne recalls this period: ‘Chris left just before the end of series one and I was somehow still there … There was a great deal of uncertainty at the end of the first series as to what the future was going to be. I stayed on at Pinewood during the long hiatus that followed. During that time I wrote
The Day After Tomorrow – Into Infinity
, an after-school special for NBC. We shot it around some rescued sets from series one. Main cast included Nick Tate, Brian Blessed, Joanna Dunham, two kids and – in one shot – my dog, Bones, which the space-voyaging family in the story were leaving behind.

‘I was asked by Gerry to write a critical commentary on Year One, probably as a way of keeping me around and out of mischief. They were trying to get the second series going. So I wrote a very detailed thing. It was very critical, including of stuff I’d written myself. I was taking a very hard look at everything and trying to find the point of departure to move what we had – the considerable achievement I felt we had managed – forward, on the same path, but correcting obvious anomalies … We had been finding our way. Now it was time to really go for it.

‘I was very hard on everyone. I was particularly hard on myself – I was feeling very sorry for myself. But I looked at some of the difficulties or the disadvantages of the system that we had evolved – Chris and I particularly. There were lessons to be learned about what Chris and I and the other writers had left in our wake – we had not been aware of the larger implications of what we were doing. But there is a good deal of truth in the notion that, as the Alphans were struggling to come to terms with that dangerous and threatening and different universe out there, they were echoing the state of mind and the state of being of the writers. So out of it had emerged what we now call a story arc, as such. And I think in the commentary I wrote I did pick up on this and said, “There is a very large theme here, that we can project forward. We can ask ourselves, ‘What is
Space: 1999
? What is the basic nature of its appeal in the largest universal sense?’” And the idea was that it was an epic story. It was humanity condensed to a small number of individuals, with all their hopes and expectations, going out there. And for me particularly, with my background in Celtic history, it was an origin story – a great epic story of a people in search of a destiny, trying to fulfill a destiny, and a home. All of those things could have picked up from the point we left it at episode 24.’

Nick Tate recalls the period following Year One: ‘Most times when you’re [making] shows, they’re already on the air and you’re getting a lot of feedback, so you know what the audience wants. When we were making
Space: 1999
, we were nearly finished the first series before one episode was shown anywhere, which is an extraordinary thing to do. We were very slow in making them, [and in cases like that] producers have to be very careful about when they start airing. We didn’t know how audiences were going to like the show, what characters were going to be popular and if we were going in the right direction. It turned out in the end that I think ultimately the first series concepts were the right ones and they should have stuck with them. Maybe they could have Americanised it more … It did tend to be very English, and I think that stood, to a certain extent, to its disservice. When we finished the first series, there was a lot of talk about us going straight into the second series. We finished in March 1975, but nobody knew when we might begin again. Most of us thought that the series would go on. We were thinking maybe August. Everybody was kissing each other, saying, “We’ll see you in August.” Then we didn’t hear anything. Everybody said, ”It’s canned. It’s not going to happen.”

‘They told us it was the largest syndicated show in the world, and indeed it was. It was groundbreaking. But, because it didn’t get to be seen until September 1975, ITC was not prepared to go ahead with a second series. So we were all let go. We all went to various parts of the world. I went to
Australia to do a film called
The Devil’s Playground
, which was a very beautiful film. Then I came back and did another thing for Gerry Anderson:
Into Infinity
or
The Day After Tomorrow
– I don’t think anybody could make up their mind what it was gong to be called, so they called it both those names. It was something Gerry did between
Space: 1999
seasons, because I don’t think he knew if ITC was going ahead with another series of
Space: 1999
. Nobody knew.

‘So now we’re talking about September or October. I had actually turned down other work in
Australia that I was offered. I had said, “No, I’m going back to England to do the second series of
Space: 1999
,” which didn’t happen [at that time]. Normally the hiatus is three or four months. So round about October or November, I was convinced that it wasn’t going to happen… I did a lot of other things – got some work in the theatre, met my wife – and then I started to hear that
Space: 1999
was happening…’

In late October 1975, ITC New York finally indicated to
Anderson that they would supply financing for a second season, provided an American head writer be brought in to redesign the show for the American market, with the hope a network deal might result. Anderson flew to Los Angeles to interview candidates for the position, continually reporting his progress to Abe Mandell in New York. Anderson selected Fred Freiberger, whose past series work had included
The Wild, Wild West
and, most significantly in this instance,
Star Trek
. An impressed Anderson hired Freiberger despite Mandell’s concerns as to why he was available and not currently employed.

Freiberger later recalled how he came to join the series: ‘Gerry Anderson came to
Los Angeles, I guess around the end of 1975, and he was interviewing people for the story editor position on the show. I got the job as story editor. When I got to London, I didn’t know if it was going to be a guaranteed year there – [or, more so,] if there was any [certainty] that there would be a continuation of the show. After three weeks, we got word that the show was cancelled. Lew Grade told us. So after about our third week there, we started to pack to go home. Now, I don’t know if it was Gerry or I – the situation is a little hazy [in my recollection] – but either Gerry suggested to me, or I suggested to him, to do a critique of the show. To do something to see if we couldn’t change Lew Grade’s mind. I did a critique. One of Gerry’s points in bringing me over, in bringing an American over, was kind of to create something that would appeal to American audiences, because that’s where the money actually is in the business. So I did a critique. In my critique, I said that the show needed more youth. It needed work in order for
Space: 1999
to be picked up. And it needed more than just band-aids on what was there …

‘I came up with this new character called Maya. We sent that on to Lew Grade, and I’m convinced it was the character of Maya that made the second year possible. One of the reasons I was able to come up with Maya was part of my science fiction background. I’d worked for three years with Hanna-Barbera on their Saturday morning shows. Working in kids’ television sparks your imagination; you can do some wild things. Nobody was thinking “token” anything [with Maya].
Star Trek
did a lot of morality plays – that wasn’t my concern here. I was [aiming] to get a show back on the air again that would get ratings and would be entertaining in the American sense.

‘Once the show was picked up, Gerry asked if I would produce it. I had told my wife we’d go to
London, I’d work as story editor, I’d work with writers, it would be easy and we would have all the great things England had to offer. When I told my wife I had accepted Gerry’s idea for me to be producer – at no increase in salary – she said, “What about the great time we were going to have?” I said, “Well, I have a great rapport with Gerry and I think he needs me. And that’s why I did it.” She said, “No other reason?” I said, “Maybe I like the challenge, too.” So that’s the way I got mixed up into it.’

Fred Freiberger was tasked with drastically revising the series format. He flew to
England in early November 1975 for four weeks. To prepare Freiberger for his new job, a screening was arranged for him of eight episodes from Year One. While only viewing eight episodes as a basis to judge and transform an entire series was undoubtedly insufficient, time was short. Freiberger came, saw, and – with the apparent blessing of Gerry Anderson – proceeded to change …

FRED FREIBERGER
’
S ANALYSIS

Excerpts from Fred Freiberger’s analysis include:

As per your request, I have viewed eight episodes of
1999
and hereby is my assessment.

The production values are superb … But after your production values … what? Everything goes downhill. The format people are one-dimensional … They motivate nothing in terms of the action. They stand around talking instead of ‘doing’. Therefore, the episodes are mild instead of dynamic, driving, searing. The relationships are plastic and meaningless … We, the viewers, have got to care about our format people. We don’t give a damn about people we don’t know, and we certainly don’t know anybody on Moonbase Alpha.

The series fails on the story level in a number of areas. The basic science fiction concepts are usually valid, but the dramatisations of those concepts are poorly executed…

I feel the series has smash potential … but it needs massive shots of adrenaline.

1. Against the backdrop of those marvellous production values we must tell stories of people – thinking, feeling people – about whom we care … So that’s our first task. To put meat and bones on our format characters. Give them dimensions, know who they are, learn to love them.
   

1. We’re going to put flavour and charm and above all, humour, into the scripts.
   

1. We are going to introduce a new character to give the series a charged-up science fiction overlay. This character will be an outer-space alien … She will become the science officer on Moonbase Alpha.
   

When we inject the above elements into
Space: 1999
… a series with unsurpassed production values, we will have a show that in my opinion should go right through the roof.

So, having viewed eight episodes, Freiberger provided those opinions to both Gerry Anderson and Abe Mandell. Freiberger wanted a more emotional relationship between the Martin Landau and Barbara Bain characters. He wanted human-interest stories with more overt action-adventure, humour and character conflict. In Freiberger’s own words, ‘I think the show needed more pacing. Gerry had said he wanted something more American with this. I said to Gerry, “I’m only one American. Every American would have a different idea. But these are the things I think are necessary.”’