Destination: Moonbase Alpha (65 page)

It is oddly fascinating watching the Alphans fall, one by one; succumbing to some alien sickness and knowing no cure to save themselves. Then, with most of the base unable to fight, the threat of the monster from the Beta Cloud arrives – in fact, if this were a B-movie, it could very well be called
The Creature from the Beta Cloud
.

This is, in some senses, a lobotomised version of ‘End of Eternity’ from the first season. How do you stop an unstoppable alien? If you want to be fascinated by the possibilities of this idea, or the underlying motivations of the alien threat, watch ‘End of Eternity’. If you prefer turning your brain off prior to watching television, tune in to ‘The Beta Cloud’. What does work quite well here is the direction by Robert Lynn, in his second and final contribution to the series. He injects a stronger sense of pace into this episode than his counterpart Val Guest was able to bring to ‘The Rules of Luton’.

There are impressive performances from Zienia Merton in an unaccustomed lead role that gives her more to do than most of the rest of Year Two, an out-of-action Nick Tate and Martin Landau (in a very small role). The story, though, is truly Maya’s and Tony’s. Freiberger creates what could have been a strong character-building scene where Tony professes his love for Maya’; but unfortunately he then undermines this by putting what amounts to a retraction into Tony’s later dialogue, simply to create an amusing joke for the end of the show. There is also some astoundingly bad dialogue, including the following:

Maya:
‘Give me a fix on its position.’

Beta Cloud
: ‘Our relative positions are of little consequence.’

Verdeschi:
‘Who are you?’

Beta Cloud:
‘Who we are is too complicated for your comprehension.’

Verdeschi:
‘Try me.’

Beta Cloud:
‘Time does not permit.’

Fraser:
‘We’ve got time. A lot of it.’

Beta Cloud:
‘You are in error. You have very little time.’

Tony:
‘What do you want?’

Beta Cloud:
‘Your life support system.’

Verdeschi:
‘You mean we just give it to you?’

Beta Cloud:
‘We have sent for it.’

Maya:
‘We can’t exist without it.’

Beta Cloud:
‘Neither can we. So we must deprive you of yours.’

This lengthy exchange displays how lazy the script is – not one detail has been worked out in advance. What is the nature of the Beta Cloud? Where is it in relation to the Moon? What is the nature of the beings inside it? Why do they need Alpha’s life support system? None of these questions – so obviously posed in this dialogue – is answered. All are diverted with weak comebacks that are supposed to sound mysterious or threatening.

Moonbase Alpha’s giant surface laser cannons fire here for the first time, which is a positive on the effects side of the production, but unfortunately the realisation of the Beta Cloud itself is a massive disappointment.

The original script ran short and is obviously padded with endless repetition to bring it up to full length. It lacks any trace of substance and subtlety vital to quality
Space: 1999
episodes. Certainly, it features the fantastic music of Derek Wadsworth to great effect, but the problem is that without this pulsing score driving the pace, the episode would be completely tedious. The resolution, as well, is an absolute letdown. Once Maya realises the creature is a robot, she is able to fell the giant and end the crisis in a convenient matter of moments. But why does the Beta Cloud then disappear? Were the alien beings so close to death that they instantly perished when their robot was defeated? Did they not have a second robot they could send to Alpha? If they require a piece of Alpha’s technology to survive, they must be a technological society, and if they can build a big hairy robot, they must be able to build spaceships of their own – right? What becomes obvious when one considers these aspects of the script is that the writer, Fred Freiberger, did
not
give them any consideration! And if the writer didn’t care enough to provide a back-story, or any logical motivation at all for his monster, then why should an audience care for the filmed show?

As intelligent and challenging science fiction, this totally fails to make the grade. But as an empty piece of pure bug-eyed-monster sci-fi silliness, ‘The Beta Cloud’ has few challengers.

Rating:
4/10

2.15

SPACE WARP

Screenplay by Charles Woodgrove (Fred Freiberger)

Directed by Peter Medak

Selected Broadcast Dates:

UK
              LWT:

             
Date: 4 December 1976.               Time: 10.55 am

             
Granada:

             
Date: 14 August 1977.

US
              KRON (San Francisco):

             
Date: 8 January 1977.               Time: 7.00 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),
Jeffery Kissoon
(Ben Vincent),
Peter Porteous
(Petrov),
Tony Osoba
(First Security Guard),
John Judd
(Second Security Guard),
Trevor Thomas
(Refuel Eagle Pilot Gary),
Andrew Lodge
(Grasshopper / Captain Duro),
Suzanne Heimer
(Nurse)

Uncredited Cast: Robert Reeves
(Operative Peter Reeves),
Quentin Pierre
(Security Guard Pierce Quinton),
Jack Klaff
(Security Guard),
Nick Hobbs
(Security Guard – Medical)

Plot:
Alpha enters a space warp and is catapulted light years from its last position – but Koenig and Verdeschi have been left behind in an Eagle exploring a derelict spaceship. The duo must find the precise window into the space warp to return to Alpha, but the chances are a million to one. Meanwhile, Maya has developed a high fever and is beginning to lose molecular control.

Quotes:

• Maya:
  ‘I’m beginning to lose molecular control – I don’t know what will happen. You’ve got to put me in restraints!’
  
• Koenig:
  ‘I guess there are going to be no miracles today.’
  
• Helena
  :
  ‘Luck? In space? You think his chances are a million to one.’
  
• Sandra:
  ‘You’re the doctor, Helena, so forgive me for prescribing: but you need some rest.’
  
• Tony:
  ‘Well, how about that! We’ve been beating our brains out trying to jump back through a space warp, and they’ve been doing nothing back on Alpha, except catching up on their sleep.’
  

On-screen Date:
1,807 days since leaving Earth orbit.

Filming Dates:
Friday 6 August – Tuesday 24 August 1976

Commentary:

Nick Tate:
‘In “Space Warp”, Maya becomes a monster and they strap her down on the table in Medical, and I have to come in and talk to her. Whilst I’m talking to her, she metamorphoses back into the monster and she grabs me and throws me across the room … They wanted to shoot [this scene] from the floor looking up, and we had a ceiling on the set. They don’t usually have ceilings on sets, because that’s where all the lights are. But it was a very low ceiling. Timmy, my stuntman, set up this little trampoline for me and told me to come into the shot, bounce on the trampoline and go up and over and land on the floor. Just doing a roll onto the floor I can do – even now. But I didn’t want to bounce on a trampoline up into the air and then land on the floor. Then I said, “The more height I get, [the more risk there is that] I’m going to hit that roof.” Then the director wanted to put the camera on the floor and have me come flying through the air and land smack right in front of the camera. This stunt was becoming one I didn’t want to do. There was even more to it, and I didn’t like the way it was going. So Timmy said, “I’ll do it.” I said, “You’re going to land on the floor.” He said, “We’ll put a mattress down and the camera will be just above the mattress.” So he wound up doing this stunt: he jumped on the trampoline, hit the ceiling, landed short of the mattress and snapped his two front teeth and broke his collarbone! So I’m glad I didn’t do it. That was tough – it was very sad. There was one other time a stunt was done for me, when I fell off the top of the Main Mission balcony, but that wasn’t Timmy. That was another guy who was an expert at falling; I don’t like falling!’

Bloopers:
As Alan and Helena, in a Moon Buggy, chase the Maya creature circling around a rock several times, the buggy is visibly ripping up the floor of the set.

Alan’s space-suit helmet pops open while he is fighting the monster on the surface.

Another blooper occurs during the fight scene between the Maya creature and Alan, when his oxygen tank is damaged. As the Maya creature throws Alan, he is clearly seen landing on the flat ground, on his back. In the next shot, he is shown rolling off a large rock!

Observations:
One of the Moonbase Alpha laser tanks from Year One is seen in the Eagle hanger segments of this episode. Obviously Alpha is still equipped with some of these tanks, and it would have been rewarding to see them featured again.

Also of note, an elevator is seen on Moonbase Alpha for the first time. It would appear again in ‘The Seance Spectre’.

Review:
‘Space Warp’ is the third and final script penned by Fred Freiberger under the pseudonym Charles Woodgrove and is the ‘double-up’ pair to ‘A Matter of Balance’. Here, two plotlines are combined into one episode. The half involving John and Tony out in space with the derelict ship is dull, poorly written and features lacklustre performances by Martin Landau and Tony Anholt, who both appear bored with the proceedings. While they’re off being dreary in deep space, the more exciting and interesting half of the show features Maya ripping the base apart and Helena, Alan and the rest of the crew trying to stop her. The original premise of this is appealing: what would happen if Maya became ill? Unfortunately, the results are not as profound as they could have been.

The sudden shocking entrance into the space warp is successfully presented. There may be a bit too much camera spinning, but the blurring and twisting effects are highly dynamic and the sequence (and, indeed, the whole episode) is effectively accompanied by Derek Wadsworth’s exciting music.

Most of the episode takes place in a dimly lit Alpha (due to power failures following the journey through the space warp), adding to the mood of the proceedings. This is certainly one of the most beautiful and cinematically-lit episodes of Year Two.

Catherine Schell is outstanding in the opening sequences, before Maya begins her wild string of transformations. Barbara Bain and Nick Tate are truly the stars of this episode, though, and they both deliver intense performances filled with conviction. Zienia Merton is also wonderful in significant scenes with both Tate and Bain. Although it amounts to little more than a string of contrived action sequences, it’s entertaining to watch the Alphans, led by Alan and Helena, trying to deal with the various Maya creatures and her rampage through the base. Director Peter Medak has succeeded as well as possible, considering the limitations of the material he has to work with. While all three of his episodes are widely derided by fans of
Space: 1999
, Fred Freiberger’s last script actually adds even less to the series in terms of character development than his previous efforts, ‘The Rules of Luton’ and ‘The Beta Cloud’.

The climactic fiery effects sequence in the Eagle hangers – where Maya lifts off in an Eagle that’s been brought down to the hanger bay – is an absolutely stunning display of miniatures and explosions. The Moon Buggy chase on the lunar surface is a lot of fun too, and marks another appearance of these iconic and appealing
Space: 1999
vehicles.

It is a thoughtful addition to the script that Koenig orders the derelict ship taken back to Alpha for further study and possible use. It may be a derelict, but the advanced technology could be greatly beneficial to the base, and it’s rewarding to see the characters take advantage of that. What is more dubious is the simple manner in which Koenig and Verdeschi figure out the alien space warp locator and utilise it to get back to Alpha.