Destination: Moonbase Alpha (54 page)

Whereas Year One had been broadcast across the whole of the
UK by the regional ITV broadcasters, Year Two’s reception was poor, with only LWT and ATV picking up the series for its September 1976 debut. Its arrival in other regions would be delayed until 1977 in some cases, if at all. HTV, for example, didn’t broadcast Year Two until 1983-1984, and even then failed to air the full series. Year Two began its LWT airings on Saturday mornings and the first 16 episodes were bumped around in various time slots (11.30, 11.00, 10.20, 10.55) from Saturday 4 September 1976 through to Saturday 18 December 1976, while the remaining episodes were in production. The final eight episodes were screened in similar Saturday morning time slots between 10 September 1977 and 12 November 1977.

Although the pick-ups for the second series were not as strong as they were for the first, the show nonetheless succeeded in making an indelible impression on science fiction audiences around the world. Now, here are the adventures of the second season of this classic British science fiction extravaganza. Travel with Moonbase Alpha and – as promotional material for Year Two stated – ‘Escape Into Worlds Beyond Belief!’

Note: Year Two episodes will be listed in their widely-recognised order of production, although they were frequently dated in a different order by Helena Russell’s on-screen Status Reports

.

YEAR TWO

PRODUCTION CREDITS

CREDITED ON EPISODES

Space: 1999
              - a Gerry Anderson Production

Production Executive
              Reg Hill

Associate Producer
              F (Frank) Sherwin Green

Technical Director
              David Lane 

Lighting Cameraman
              Frank Watts BSC (2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 2.10, 2.11, 2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.22, 2.23, 2.24), Brendan Stafford (2.8, 2.12, 2.16, 2.21)

Production Designer
              Keith Wilson

Special Effects
              Designed and Directed by Brian Johnson

Producer & Script Editor
              Fred Freiberger

Music
              by Derek Wadsworth

Production Manager
              Donald Toms

Casting Director
              Lesley de Pettitt

Editors
              Mike Campbell GBFE (2.1, 2.3, 2.5, 2.7, 2.10, 2.13, 2.15, 2.19, 2.20, 2.23), Alan Killick (2.2, 2.4, 2.6, 2.9, 2.12, 2.14, 2.17, 2.18, 2.22, 2.24), Roy Lovejoy (2.21), Alan Patillo (2.8), Bill Blunden (2.11), Archie Ludski (2.16)

Sound Supervisor
              Roy Baker

Sound Editors
              Peter Pennell (2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.8, 2.9, 2.10, 2.12, 2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.16, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.21, 2.22, 2.23, 2.24), Jack T Knight GBFE (2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.8, 2.9, 2.10, 2.11, 2.12, 2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.16, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.21, 2.22, 2.23, 2.24), Charles Crafford (2.7), Ted Bond (2.11)

Music Editor
              Alan Willis

Financial Director
              Terence Connors

Sound Recordists
              Claude Hitchcock (2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 2.10, 2.11), Brian Marshall (2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.22, 2.23, 2.24), John Brommage (2.8, 2.12, 2.21), Peter Sutton (2.16)

Camera Operators
              Neil Binney (2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 2.10, 2.11, 2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.22, 2.23, 2.24), Tony White (2.8, 2.12, 2.16, 2.21)

Costume Designer
              Emma Porteous

Assistant Directors
              Ken Baker (2.1, 2.3, 2.5, 2.7, 2.10, 2.12, 2.13, 2.15, 2.20, 2.21, 2.23), Dominic Fulford (2.14, 2.16), Robert Lynn (2.2, 2.4, 2.6, 2.8, 2.9, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.22, 2.24), Jack Causey (2.11)

Continuity
              Gladys Goldsmith (2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6), Doreen Soan (2.7, 2.9, 2.10, 2.12, 2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.21, 2.23, 2.24), Doris Martin (2.8, 2.11, 2.16, 2.22)

Construction Manager
              Bill Waldron

Make-up
              Basil Newall (2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 2.10, 2.12, 2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.16, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.22, 2.23, 2.24), Eddie Knight (2.7), Connie Reeve (2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.8, 2.9, 2.10, 2.11, 2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.16, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.21, 2.23, 2.24), Eileen Fletcher (2.8)

Hairdressers
              Jan Dorman (2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 2.12, 2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.16, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.23), Jeanette Freeman (2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.8, 2.9, 2.10, 2.11, 2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.16, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.21, 2.23, 2.24), Michael Lockey (2.20, 2.22, 2.24), Patrick Grant (2.1), Masha Lewis (2.8)

Wardrobe
              Masada Wilmot (2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.8), Eve Faloon (2.7, 2.12, 2.16), Eileen Sullivan (2.9, 2.10, 2.11, 2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.21, 2.22, 2.23, 2.24), Barbara Gillett (2.8)

Assistant Art Director
              Michael Ford

Special Effects

Lighting Cameraman              Nick Allder

Camera Operator
              David Litchfield

Electronic Effects
              Michael S E Downing, Electronics Art Group

Processed by               Rank Film Laboratories

Space: 1999
Based on a Format by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson

Filmed at Pinewood and Bray Studios,
England

UNCREDITED ON EPISODES

Miniatures
              Martin Bower, Derek Freeborn, Terry Reed, Cyril Forster, Ron Burton, Space Models

Additional production crew as listed on a ‘revised unit list’ from the middle of Year Two (July 1976):

Film PA/Secretary              Margaret Nicholas

Secretary to Executive Producer Kate Curry

Secretary to Producer              Diana Healy

Secretary to Associate Producer
              Leigh Taylor

Script Co-ordinator
              Debbie Spill

Second Assistant Director
              John Downes

Third Assistant Director
              Gerry Toomey

Follow Focus
              Mike Tomlin

Clapper/Loader
              Trevor Walker

Sound Mixer
              Brian Marshall

Boom Operator
              Peter Pardo

Sound Maintenance
              Bob Taylor

Wardrobe Assistants
              Elvira Angelinetta and Barbara Gillett

Casting Secretary
              Susan Gillies

Draughtsman
              Dennis Bosher

Art Department Assistants
              Richard Holland and David Allday

Production Buyer
              Sid Palmer

Production Accountant
              Jeff Broom

Assistant Production

Accountant              Margaret Woods

Electronics
              ATT Group

Secretary to M Landau and B Bain              Lindsay Sterne

Publicity (thru ITC) and Stills              Pamela Godfrey, Davidson Dalling Associates Ltd.

Production Office Junior
              Karen Saunders

Production Office Runner
              Steve Homes

Unit Car Drivers
              Steve Smith and Doug Weatherley

First Assistant Editors
              Roy Helmrich and Peter Gray

Second Assistant Editor
              Stephen Pickard

Assistant Dubbing Editor
              Linda Pearce

Standby Carpenter
              Denis Pack

Standby Stagehand
              Len Bailey

Standby Grip
              Mick Beauchamp

Standby Rigger
              Ted Thomas

Standby Painter
              Stan Hillis

Standby Plasterer
              Jock Campbell

Chargehand Props
              Chick McCarthy and Joe Swift

Standby Props
              John Gillies

Supervising Electrician
              Harry Woodley

Chargehand Electrician
              Jack Thetford

Practical Electrician
              Dick Reed

Electricians
              Gordon Gowing, John Sullivan, George Walker, Frank Buck, Roy Saunders and Brian Pudney

Special Effects Unit
              Bray Studios:

SFX Technician
              David Watkins

Chief SFX Assistant
              Terry Schubert

SFX Assistants
              Alan Barnard and Andrew Kelly

General Assistant
              Guy Hudson

Secretary
              Sallie Beechinor

Main Unit Floor

SFX Supervisor              Alan Bryce

2.1

THE METAMORPH

Screenplay by Johnny Byrne

Directed by Charles Crichton

Selected Broadcast Dates:

UK              LWT:

             
Date: 4 September 1976.               Time: 11.30 am

             
Granada:

             
Sate: 15 April 1977.               Time: 7.30 pm

US
              KRON (San Francisco):

             
Date: 21 August 1976.               Time: 10.00 pm

Credited Cast: Martin Landau
(John Koenig),
Barbara Bain
(Helena Russell),
Catherine Schell
(Maya),
Tony Anholt
(Tony Verdeschi),
Nick Tate
(Alan Carter),
Zienia Merton
(Sandra Benes),
John Hug (
Bill Fraser),
Gerard Paquis
(Lew Picard),
Peter Porteous
(Petrov),
Nick Brimble
(Ray Torens),
Anton Phillips
(Bob Mathias)

Guest Stars: Brian Blessed
(Mentor),
Anouska Hempel
(Annette Fraser)

Uncredited Cast: Sarah Bullen
(Operative Kate),
Robert Reeves
(Operative Peter Reeves),
Pam Rose
(Operative P Rose),
Andy Cummings
(Command Centre Operative),
Jenny Cresswell
(Alpha Receptionist),
Chris Figg
(Alphan),
Nina Mitchen
(Alphan),
Reuben Martin
(Gorilla (Maya)),
George Lane Cooper
(Overseer),
Alf Joint
(Overseer #2),
John Dixon
(Small Alien),
Neil McCaul
(Zombie Alien),
Roy Stewart
(Coloured Alien),
Geoffrey Moon
(Short Alien)

Previously Titled:
‘The Biological Soul’ and ‘The Biological Computer’

Plot:
Alpha encounters the volcanic planet Psychon and its remaining inhabitants – the scientist Mentor and his daughter Maya. Mentor wants to use his biological computer – Psyche – to restore their world to its former beauty and asks for the help of the Alphans. While considering this request, Koenig discovers the evil secret that really lies behind Mentor’s plan. When her world is destroyed, Maya escapes with the Alphans.

Quotes:

• Helena
  :
  ‘Moonbase Alpha Status Report. Three hundred forty two days after leaving orbit. Dr Helena Russell recording. We have just survived our second encounter with a space warp. Central Computer states that we’ve been catapulted six light years from our previous position. We’ve had no casualties this time: our population remains stable at 297…’
  
• Maya:
  ‘Would I make a good Alphan, father?’
  
• Maya:
  ‘My father is an honourable man.’
  
• Mentor
  :
  ‘True, you are clever, Maya. But one day we must find a better outlet for your gifts.’
  
• Helena
  :
  ‘They’re all behaving in the same way. It must be some sort of brain damage.’
  
• Koenig:
  ‘We live and hope.’
  
• Maya:
  ‘Leave Psyche – Psyche made you do evil!’
  
• Mentor
  :
  ‘No, Maya. Understand, please! I wanted to do good. I wanted to restore our planet. I didn’t want to hurt anyone!’
  
• Maya:
  ‘Everywhere but on Psychon I’ll be an alien.’
  
• Koenig:
  ‘We’re all aliens, until we get to know one another.’
  

On-screen Date:
342 days since leaving Earth orbit.

Filming Dates:
Monday 26 January – Monday 16 February 1976