Destination: Moonbase Alpha (55 page)

Commentary:

Catherine Schell:
‘There are not a lot of people who can say that on their first entrance into a programme they were a lioness. But I can!

‘I do remember walking in to the Command Centre set, with all the televisions. It was new, it was unthought-of, but it also was easy to work in. Eventually, we felt very at home on that set. We were using it all the time.’

John Hug:
‘When I first started, I didn’t work at all the first day. I was put in a spacesuit. It was quilted and boiling hot. It was one of those wonderful occasional summers we get in England when it is actually hot. People were saying, “My God, isn’t it hot?” Or, “Phew, what a scorcher.” It was up in the 80s, but when you’re in a studio all day wearing a quilted spacesuit, you start losing weight and melting. The first three days I was there I turned up at 7.30 in the morning, got into my outfit, and was cleared again at 4.30 in the afternoon. They would say, “All right, John, we won’t get to you till tomorrow, but can you be back here in costume at 8.30?” So the next day the same thing happens: “Sorry John, we’re not going to get to you today, but you’ll be in the first shot tomorrow morning. Sorry about this.” Next day I’m in costume and all ready to go again, and nothing happened. At 4.30 I finally get in front of the cameras with some epic line like, “Eagle One to Moonbase Alpha.” Then they say, “Okay, John, that’s you for the day. But be back tomorrow first thing in the morning.” So at least I got started. But that’s part of the humiliating process where they grind you down and get you ready for it. But they were all very nice. All the things I’ve heard about the first series versus the second series … Of course, I
loved
the second series! I was
in it
! Of course, Prentis would prefer the first series, for obvious reasons.

‘Anouska Hempel played the part of Mrs Fraser in my very first episode. Unfortunately, that character was short-lived. Although Anouska was happy to do the one episode, I don’t think she was particularly interested in being tied down to a series. Had she agreed to continue doing it, my character Bill Fraser would have had more to do. Originally, they called Anouska’s character Antonia Fraser, but then it was pointed out to the producer, Freddy Freiberger, that there was a real woman named Lady Antonia Fraser. That meant they had to pick another name and they chose Annette. Obviously, I was a lousy husband and she left me. I probably spent too much time flying around space.

‘Sarah Bullen, who played Operative Kate, came up and introduced herself to me that first day. I knew she had been in the first series of
Space: 1999
, but I had never seen it. It was a pleasure to meet her, and she has remained a good friend ever since.

‘There was one scene where I had to rush in, say something to Brian Blessed and leave. I remember going in and saying something like, “The Commander’s waiting,” and then running away. He turned to me and asked, “What are you doing? Stay there and get your screen time. Don’t rush off. You don’t have much to do in this, so stay there after you say your line and I’ll tell you when to go.” So I came in, he grabbed my shoulder, and I said my line. He waited for a moment and then pushed me away. Afterwards he said to me, “Don’t be afraid to stay there a second longer so that somebody sees you.” I thought that was very kind of him.

‘Charles Crichton … He just wanted as much fire as possible and things blowing up all over the place. [On] “The Metamorph” in the tunnel scenes and he just kept saying, “More flames. More flames! This is the last one I’m doing – I want more flames!” He was old then … He knew what he was doing. He’d done feature films.’

Johnny Byrne:
‘“The Biological Soul” was a very interesting concept. I suppose it harked back to this spiritual thing … Here the question was: what is the soul? And it was an attempt to offer some kind of explanation: that it is the kind of source of intelligence in human beings, the sort of thinking, reasoning areas of the brain. In the early script, Mentor was alone with his biological computer, which he calls Psyche. They would have conversations. It was a love affair between the two of them. It had a very different feel about it, but many of the same elements were there [as in the final version]: the attempt to lure Koenig down, and so on. It was the same story as “The Metamorph”, but without Maya, who later arrived in Freddy’s mental baggage. I never considered Mentor having the power to transform – nor, to my almost certain knowledge, did Freddy or anyone else.

‘At the time, I had no idea it was going to be Catherine [playing the part], but I was opposed to the character in principle, at the earliest point. First because I was now the inheritor – the bearer of the torch – of Christopher Penfold (and some others, but particularly Chris, who had given everything he had in the formulation of the series; and George Bellack, who is the unspoken hero of the whole major concept). The reason why I objected to Maya was that on the face of it she was a façade solution to the kinds of problems we had been facing from ITC New York … What do we want? We want
Star Trek
– let’s bring in our resident alien … That’s fine; a resident alien is fine. But if you are bringing in an alien, and we had many aliens, it’s a matter of perception. If those aliens came from outside we could deal with it in the universe that we had formulated and we understood, and which we were sharing – it was us against the great unknown. But when we bring an alien with shape-shifting powers among us, we are melding two very different forms of reality. The problems with the Maya character had nothing to do with the character
per se
– after all, I introduced her – but with the merging of two incompatible realities. I felt that was wrong. I felt it was going to take us in a direction we shouldn’t go. Maya didn’t belong in the universe of
Space: 1999
that we had created.

‘So my first episode from being “The Biological Soul” became “The Biological Computer” and then “The Metamorph”, which is when Maya first appeared. Writing the script for number one of the new series, I was definitely given no instructions to write any [of the non-returning] characters out. At one point it occurred to me that I couldn’t simply ignore them, and I think I brought this to Gerry’s or Freddy’s attention. I think I was asked to put in a line to [cover their absence]. The reason that I was not definitely instructed to write them out was that perhaps they were going to be brought back. You know, once [the actors] had seen sense and decided to take a huge pay cut, and all the other wonderfully sensible solutions that Gerry or whoever was putting into series two. Something did creep in [to my draft script], but that something crept out again, and [in the transmitted version of the] episode, “The Metamorph”, it isn’t there.’

Fred Freiberger:
‘When the character [Maya] was introduced, she was supposed to be a cheetah, or a leopard – something female. Instead, we had a male lion. This was the situation she came into. Gerry told me that the trainer said it was impossible to control the animal. It was very dangerous; we had the whole stage and set wired in. Gerry said that if there was anything that happened with that lion, the law here [in England] would put the Producer in jail. I said, “Make anything you want – we don’t want to go to jail!” So they wired the whole set in for safety.’

Bloopers:
Strings are visible as Koenig’s Eagle launches from Moonbase Alpha.

Observations:
Space: 1999
was always the champion of utilising glowing balls of light to represent alien forces and threats, and ‘The Metamorph’ is no exception. Here the balls of light are green and plentiful!

The Alphans seem to have spent the hiatus between seasons affixing overtly obvious labels around the base – is it really necessary to stick a label proclaiming ‘WEAPONS RACK’ above a rack of guns?

Review:
Destined to be one of the finest episodes of the second season, ‘The Metamorph’ marks the return of Johnny Byrne who, along with Christopher Penfold, was more responsible than anybody else for the story direction and the heart and soul of Year One. His contributions to Year Two would unfortunately be lesser.

The immediate introduction of the altered, but engaging, Year Two cast and sets is generally successful. The change from Main Mission to Command Centre is very disappointing, but the new set is certainly functional, if unremarkable. The alterations to the Alphans’ uniforms are effective, especially the incorporation of the identity badges and various jackets. Commander Koenig’s vest, however, is a terrible addition. (Martin Landau later asserted that he gave it away to a fan visiting the set.)

Commander Koenig has survived the season transition with little discernible change, and Landau’s performance is one of the strongest in the episode. The other anchor, Barbara Bain as Helena Russell, has been altered slightly to make her appear and act a little softer and more overtly warm. In fact, she will look marvellous throughout the second season. Her changes are subtle enough to be a natural progression and serve to make the character more easily likeable to casual viewers. Nick Tate continues as Alan Carter and remains one of the most appealing and dependable Alphans. Tony Anholt is well integrated into the cast as Tony Verdeschi, the new hot-headed Italian chief of Moonbase security and Koenig’s new second in command. Verdeschi is essentially the replacement for Year One’s Main Mission Controller Paul Morrow. Zienia Merton returns as Sandra (although her character will be re-named Sahn from the episode ‘Catacombs of the Moon’ onwards), and is given a very strong supporting role. Her presence is an undeniable asset to the series. Pilot Bill Fraser, played by John Hug, is a beneficial addition in a supporting role, with his new wife Annette, played by Anouska Hempel, adding additional depth to his character. Sadly, she will never be seen or mentioned again. However, as her only duty seems to be delivering coffee to Command Centre staff, her presence won’t be greatly missed (except, one assumes, by her husband!).

Catherine Schell’s first appearance as Maya is also one of her most wonderful in the role. She would have other notable opportunities to shine in later episodes, including ‘The Rules of Luton’ and ‘The Dorcons’, but Maya’s introduction works perfectly, providing a rich background and a fascinating home world for the exotic alien. When Maya is introduced, she is lounging about in the form of a lion, immediately demonstrating her ability of molecular transformation. She changes back to herself and then plays with a partial metamorphosis into Commander Koenig. There is a brief and rare sequence that is normally edited out of the episode: after nearly becoming Koenig, Maya completes a transformation into an orange tree. This serves to give additional meaning to Mentor’s next line, ‘I teach you the priceless art of molecular transformation and see how you use it – childish games.’ It’s unfortunate that this orange tree transformation is almost always absent from prints of the episode. Maya is immediately appealing and fascinating, and emerges in this introductory episode as a fully realised three-dimensional character.

Brian Blessed is wonderfully theatrical in his second appearance in the series (the first having been as Dr Cabot Rowland in ‘Death’s Other Dominion’). Mentor is a classic mad scientist, complete with bubbling tubes of coloured liquid all around him and brain-draining glass helmets at his disposal. He has kept his innocent daughter sheltered from his heinous acts, and when she finally learns the truth about her beloved father, she is shocked and visibly saddened.

The father-daughter relationship between
Mentor and Maya is truly the heart of the episode. Despite all the action, spaceships, brain drains and explosions, ‘The Metamorph’ is a very personal story.

Moonbase Alpha’s new surface laser cannons are shown for the first time. Apparently Alpha has increased its weapons capabilities since the first season, and a new Weapons Section has been added to the base. All of this is in contrast to the initial intentions of the series, which posited the Alphans as Earthmen unprepared for their journey into deep space. They were meant to be vulnerable, and were purposely not heavily armed. It does, however, set up the atmosphere and style of Year Two. The laser cannons will be featured again in a number of upcoming episodes.

Another aspect that clearly differentiates the style of the seasons is Koenig’s statement to Mentor, ‘We’ll determine our own destinies.’ As mentioned previously, it is a strong statement in direct contrast with Year One’s basic philosophical tenets, and is probably the single sentence that most clearly defines this new series of episodes.

Along with screenwriter Byrne, another major player on this episode who had already made a significant contribution in Year One (directing eight episodes) was Charles Crichton. While his work on the first series was always commendable, and often superior, he didn’t do as well on the second series; ‘The Metamorph’ is probably the finest of the six episodes he helms, while a couple of his others rank among the series’ worst.

Psychon is a once-wonderful world that has now become an ‘environmental hell,’ a world of erupting volcanoes. The special effects of the volcanoes have dated over the years, but still admirably depict a distinctly alien environment. The other ‘hell’ on Psychon is the steaming subterranean caverns that lie beneath Mentor’s laboratory. There he keeps enslaved the vegetative aliens whose minds he has stolen. These are among the many clear parallels with Brian Blessed’s earlier episode, ‘Death’s other Dominion’. Mentor is one of the only Psychons to remain, along with Maya. It was Mentor’s dream to transform his world back to the beauty it once possessed, and his dream blinded him. Obviously his dream was seen as futile by most of the rest of his people, as they left in spaceships to attempt to find new worlds on which to live. As viewers will later learn in the episode ‘The Rules of Luton’, Mentor would never leave Psychon because the grave of his wife was there and he couldn’t bear to leave her. While he began his quest with undeniably good intentions, he became mentally warped by his ambitions, to the point of enslaving and draining the mental energies of other aliens in order to power his biological computer. Unfortunately, and ironically, Psyche’s released energy is also what ends up ultimately destroying the planet.