Black Sun

Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections: Space: 1999: Season One: Black Sun
PLOT SUMMARY: The Alphan journey appears to be headed for an end when the moon is caught in the gravitational vortex of a black sun.

NOTES: Martin Landau stated in a 1996 on-line interview that this was his favorite Space:1999 episode.

The Disney movie The Black Hole seems to have been at least partly inspired by this episode.

NITS: How come the pilot of the first Eagle doesn't survive the trip through the black sun as the moon and the other Eagle do?

Bergman tells Koenig that he doesn't believe in God because he's a scientist. He says instead that he has the idea that a cosmic intelligence is guiding their universe. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what God is supposed to be?
By Chris Todaro on Wednesday, May 26, 1999 - 6:09 pm:

What Bergman probably meant was that he didn't subscribe to any particular religion but did believe in some sort of supreme intelligence.


By BarbF on Wednesday, August 04, 1999 - 11:02 am:

If the gravitational pull of the black "sun" is strong enough to pull an entire moon into it, what on earth makes anybody think a comparatively small Eagle will be able to break away from the pull?


By wiseguy on Tuesday, September 07, 1999 - 5:03 am:

I know it's a cute shot, but exactly to whom is Prof. Bergman gesturing at the end?


By Douglas Nicol on Sunday, October 03, 1999 - 2:38 pm:

One thing I don't get, the Eagle that was destroyed didn't look as if it was too far from Alpha, but when the survival Eagle lifts off later it doesn't seem to run into any problems. I must admit that Koenig bet a lot on that one ship reaching somewhere inhabitable with the flight time the Eagle had. I still quite enjoy this episode though, and thankfully in my "Journey through the Black Sun" tape the episode looks relatively untampered with.


By Peter Stoller on Sunday, September 10, 2000 - 10:39 am:

Black Sun is one of their best episodes, no
doubt about it. It's a character piece about
coping with something they really can do little
to protect themselves from. The problem with
this story is it's all buildup with a flat climax.
The actual trip through the black hole (as it
should have been called, it's just not as poetic
as "black sun") is a letdown featuring
unconvincing "age" makeup on Landau and
Morse and metaphysical claptrap dialogue
with a cosmic intelligence. (This was done far
more effectively in the premiere episode of
Deep Space Nine, where Sisko has his
audience with the Prophets of the Celestial
Temple.) It serves only to
demonstrate that their passage through the
black hole was conciously guided and
protected by some benevolent entity, which
also conveniently protects and guides the
lifeboat Eagle through so it can return to
Alpha.
The reunion at the end is the most pleasant
scene, when they speak of Alpha as "home"
and look at one another with a sense of
belonging. This contrasts interestingly with
Helena's words in the later episode "Death's
Other Dominion": "Alpha isn't a home- it's a
barracks! A sterile cage on a barren rock
hurtling endlessly through space!"


By wiseguy on Monday, November 20, 2000 - 2:39 am:

NITS: How come the pilot of the first Eagle doesn't survive the trip through the black sun as the moon and the
other Eagle do?

The second eagle didn't go through the black sun.


By Steve Oostrom on Saturday, March 17, 2001 - 10:06 pm:

Well, exactly what was the point of the survival Eagle anyway? They put six people on board and supplies for five weeks. The intent was that if the moon was destroyed by the black hole, the Eagle would survive and go... where? Unless there is a planet very close by, the Eagle is not going to get very far in five weeks. They don't have a warp drive or any other faster-than-light propulsion system, afterall. Any planet that the Eagle could get to in five weeks is going to get sucked into the black hole in short order anyway. It just made no sense to me.

The special effects of the forcefield dome in operation were really bad, looking more like something out of the 50's than the 70's.


By Todd Pence on Sunday, March 18, 2001 - 6:26 pm:

The encounter with the cosmic intellegence in this epsiode was also reminiscent of the end of the Battlestar Galactica episode with that Count Ibley dude in which Starbuck and Apollo converse with strangely disembodied voices.


By MD, Hartlepool on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 2:39 am:

Strange that Koenig at first didn't know what the black sun was - "Whatever it is, we're headed straight for it" - when in the flashback scenes in "Dragon's Domain" he mentions black suns as if he was familiar with what they are. Also, when Bergman's computer tells him it is his duty to inform the Commander, although he replies "One jump ahead of you" and dashes to Main Mission, why does he not use his commlock there and then to contact Main Mission, rather than go there in person?


By Anonymous on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 2:45 am:

When they're discussing the forcefield, Koenig says that all the Eagles have been stripped down to provide the neccessary components/power sources for the forcefield generators. To demonstrate it, he has Alan Carter fly an Eagle to fire at the forcefield to show its effectiveness. Apart from how come Carter's Eagle didn't get sucked into the black hole, how come Helena looks surprised when Koenig mentions that he kept one Eagle back as a survival ship, when everyone must have seen it during the demonstration?


By Anonymous on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 2:52 am:

I liked this episode from the point of view of charcterisation, especially when Carter storms into Main Mission and shouts at Koenig about the survival ship. But why is he so surprised that there is a ship available? He himself has been in the only working Eagle on Alpha. It was a nice touch that after he has a go at Koenig, Koenig then announces the crew of the ship - and Carter is one of them anyway. It would have been interesting to see, though, some dissent amongst the Alphans regarding who went on the ship - perhaps the ringleader from "Seance Spectre" (I forget his name at the moment, but Ken Hutchinson played him.)


By Craig Rohloff on Saturday, January 26, 2002 - 9:13 pm:

I'd always considered that Ryan's Eagle (the first Eagle in the episode) was destroyed because the pilot had the engines maxed out in his attempt to break free of the black sun's hold...essentially, the ship broke apart from the stress.
As for the bad special effect of that Eagle being visible after the explosion occurred, maybe there was some weird visual distortion caused by...um...a gravimetric alteration of the visual...uh, OK, it was just a bad special effect.
One thing that's stuck with me all these years was the "distorto-vision" effect of the Eagle cockpit (and Ryan) just before the ship broke up...it was a freaky depiction of something totally alien going on. Ryan's staring incredulously at his own hand, terror on his face, really enhanced the effect.


By Craig Rohloff on Friday, February 15, 2002 - 9:22 am:

Speaking of bad special effects, this is one episode that would benefit from a "special edition" treatment, enhancing the effects that stood out as less than special. The "afterimage Eagle" I mentioned in my above post and the forcefield really need help. (Steve Oostrom made a great comparison in his March 2001 post about 1950's effects, but I can't help but think this sells short some of the better sf films from that decade!)
Still, sfx aside, this is one of S:99's best character driven episodes.
An observation: Bergman must have kept that brandy bottle very well packed away for it to have survived the breakaway intact!


By Douglas Nicol on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 7:09 am:

I recently got the DVD with this episode and prior to that only had the Channel 5 Black Sun and Collision Course eps mashed together on one tape. I especially liked some of the scenes that were cut out, like Carter confronting Koenig about the the survival ship.

BTW, I've been away from this board too long. Ever since I became a moderator for another SF board I've been there more often. It's good to be back.


By Craig Rohloff on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 8:23 am:

I don't know if I'm out of place to say so, Douglas, but welcome back! I first discovered NitCentral through the Space:1999 board, so it kind of holds a special place for me (and it's fun).
Have fun catching up on old posts!


By Douglas Nicol on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 4:01 pm:

Not out of place at all Craig, thanks. I'm amazed how much I still enjoy Space:1999, it was my first ever Sci-Fi show.


By Craig Rohloff on Wednesday, March 13, 2002 - 6:46 am:

It was my second; Star Trek was first, but had been in re-run mode for years. S:99 was my first NEW sci-fi, and I enjoyed it. Still do, actually!


By Peter Stoller on Friday, March 22, 2002 - 9:31 pm:

Regarding bad FX shots: They were doing most of them the really old-fashioned way, backwinding the camera and adding multiple exposures to the blackness of space. This was much cheaper than matting the elements together in an optical shot. Whenever they used an optical (2 or more seperate elements combined in an optical printer) the resulting picture became noticeably grayer and dirtier, as seen in titles, fades, dissolves, end-of-episode freeze-frames and stungun laser-fire effects. Apparently the studio had less than pristine optical printing quality.


By tim gueguen on Thursday, December 05, 2002 - 9:48 pm:

Paul Jones, who played the unfortunate Mike Ryan, was the singer of Manfred Mann's band until 1966, and in recent years has been a BBC disk jockey.


By CR on Monday, September 29, 2003 - 2:26 pm:

NANJAO: when the survival ship is about to go through the black sun, the cockpit lights are white, instead of their usual yellow-orange.


By CR on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 4:11 pm:

Another NANJAO: when the survival Eagle is about to take off, an exterior shot on the launch pad shows the boarding tube retracting into the pad's embarkation building. Some nifty details on the pad are a moon buggy parked next to the building, and in the background (apparently on the far edge of the "red cross" landing pad) is a flatbed-style cargo module, the kind used in the opening of "Breakaway" to carry canisters of nuclear waste from Earth (seen during the off-loading operations at NDA2). Further beyond that is at least one other Alpha building, giving the whole scene a nice feel of a large base. (Thanks to Moonbase Alpha's Space: 1999 pages for posting a wallpaper-version screen grab of this shot, which is how I noticed all the details. I confirmed that they were there in the episode by viewing an unmodified screen grab on Martin Wiley's Catacombs site, under the images link for the episode.)
Now a nit: when said survival Eagle takes off, it is facing the opposite way than on the previous shot! (Last shot, the boarding tube was to the Eagle's starboard side, this shot it's to the Eagle's port side.) This nit occurs a lot throughout the series, actually.


By CR on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 4:17 pm:

Oops! I forgot to mention a 'part two' to the nit I posted just a few minutes ago... not only is the Eagle facing the opposite direction, but the cargo pod is also missing. Granted, the view is from a different angle (the other, non-moonbuggy side of the embarkation building), but the far end of the pad would be in the shot, as would anything stored there. (I know, in reality it's just one of the stock Eagle shots used throughout Season 1, while the previous shot was made just for this episode.)


By billy bob jenkins on Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 5:00 pm:

this story ain't right. ain't no God in some black hole. every one knows dat God's in heaven with Jesus and Moses.


By Curious on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 2:37 pm:

What was in the Black Sun was never clearly defined. It could have been an entity such as the Wormhole aliens in ST:DS9.


By CR on Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 8:03 am:

Based on an idea by Curious on the Sink 1999 2 board, here's my list of improved effects for "Black Sun":
Fix the explosion of the asteroid and of Ryan's Eagle. Especially Ryan's Eagle! As for the asteroid, maybe it could simply break apart, rapidly crumbling into dust, instead of exploding.
Add a line of dialogue explaining that Ryan's Eagle exploded because of the stresses it was being put through (full throttle against crushing gravity).
Make the force field (a) cover the whole base and (b) look better. Ken Scott has done a nifty job on his Moonbase Alpha's Space 1999 Pages.
While on the pad, the Escape Eagle doesn't always face the same direction (portside to boarding tube versus starboard side to boarding tube). Shots of the pad showing the whole structure can't be flopped, since the pads have a very specific design that would look backwards, but I think the blue lighted close-up of the embarkation building (with its tube retracting) could be flopped without blowing anything.
Maybe make the dream-like light effects (as Koenig & Bergman experience their cosmic passage) look less technical and more "dreamy" or fluid.
That's all I have for now on this ep.


By CR, who checked up on it... on Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 1:14 pm:

Yes, that "blue light" shot of the Eagle on the pad could be flopped to make the Eagle direction match the other shots.


By CR on Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 4:32 pm:

Yet another NANJAO: Professor Angela Robinson's sleeve appears to be the light orange of the Recon Section, rather than the yellow of the Service Section. It's apparent in the last scene, when Sandra is standing next to her in the embarkation corridor. If so, I wonder what she was a professor of that would place her in Recon. (Astrophysics and astronavigation, maybe? Planetary studies?)


By Curious on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 10:23 am:

One thing you didn't mention. The "Journey Through the Black Sun" movie compilation added a dramtic sound effect to the Eagle firing a energy bolt (at Koenig and Bergman behind the forcefield). I know it's not scientifically accurate, but it did make the scene more 'exciting'.


By CR on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 12:01 pm:

I e-mailed Todd Pence, the moderator, about starting up a new board for the movie compilations, but have yet to hear back from him. ("Journey Through the Black Sun" is one of two compilation movies I've seen, and that was many years ago; I'd forgotten that sound effect detail you mention. I do, however, remember a bad one in the scene where Bergman wipes frost from the window in Koenig's office... it was supposed to sound "spacey," I guess, or "cosmic." Maybe it wasn't even a sound effect, but was actually music of some kind dubbed in. Like I said, it was years ago, for me.)


By Mark on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 4:46 pm:

The problem with the movie compilations is that they aren't available anymore, so few people would have fresh, detailed opinions on them...also, most of the alterations for the movies are awful; from the tacky office set(filled with junk) of "Alien Attack" to the cheesy new titles and music for "Destination: Moonbase Alpha". A few posters mentioned taping them (such as Will in Canada). I taped them in '92, but rarely watch them. Almost all the 'changes' are for the worse.


By Mark on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 4:53 pm:

A good example of the awful changes in the "movie" versions; "The Black Sun" and "Collision Course" are linked by dialog stating that the two eps were part of the same 'adventure' (of course, the episodes had nothing to do with each other). Add in some uncalled for music from "UFO", state the year is 2100, and ITC had the makings for one crappy movie.


By CR on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 8:14 am:

Well, the movies will make good fodder for nitpicking! (Todd told me he'll be setting up a board for them in the near future, by the way.)

This may seem a little off-topic, but it ties in with the ep...
I had the strangest dream yesterday. I was in Main Mission just before the moon entered the Black Sun, joining Morrow in part of the conversation Koenig and Bergman had. When Morrow left, I went up to the balcony (pointedly not looking out the windows at the looming Black Sun), and (here's where my dream added some parts) watched Koening and Bergman discuss how the last vestiges of Earth culture and history were about to be swallowed up. Bergman mentioned music, and Koenig mentioned applause at a concert. I mused to myself (for I didn't want to interrupt the two) that even the idea of applause was soon to be lost along with everything else, and how sad it was that more things couldn't have been saved and sent on the Escape Eagle. As the conversation slipped back into the scripted episode, I woke up.
I told you it was strange!


By Douglas Nicol on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 10:26 am:

I do remember the movies make it seem that Koenig and Carter break out of Medical and wander about Alpha seemingly unmissed for about 2 hours before breaking into Main Mission, this is different from the episode.


By Curious on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 11:38 am:

As to dreams...dreams often incorporate images from the previous day (sometimes from movies, tv, walking down the street, etc.). Back when the series was first aired, I had to stay up late (ten-thirty on a Saturday night) to see Space:1999. I'd be asleep 5 minutes after the program ended. Images from the show crept into my dreams. Some good (piloting an Eagle), and some bad (the monster from "Dragon's Domain"; then again, many kids got nightmares from that one). In 75, of course the most famous example of a movie causing nightmares was "Jaws". Sure enough, the night after I saw it, I had nightmares about a shark attack (and I didn't live anywhere near an ocean). I think we sometimes forget how movies/tv can affect children. I wouldn't go so far as Joanne Canter quoted in Entertainment Weekly as saying that NBC's "Fear Factor" (a stunt driven show) would cause nightmares and long-term anxiety in children.


By CR on Saturday, March 13, 2004 - 5:09 pm:

In my case the other day, it was apparently the mere discussion of the ep that implanted it into my dream; I haven't watched the actual ep in over a year!


By Mark on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 10:32 am:

Well, it's not the worst thing someone could dream about.
...wouldn't want to dream about "The Jerry Springer Show"!


By CR on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 6:34 pm:

Yikes!


By Curious on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 2:52 pm:

There's one effect I love in this ep. It's low tech, but effective. The shots of Helena and Sandra 'dissolving' have an eerie quality to them. Sandra seems to be aware of the change taking place!


By Mark on Friday, June 04, 2004 - 7:21 am:

Since the Black Sun Entity is capable of saving Alpha, I've always wondered why it didn't save Ryan.


By Harvey Kitzman on Friday, June 04, 2004 - 10:43 am:

I saw the episode last night, and the old age scenes of Koenig and Bergman reminded me of the end of 2001. I was waiting for the line "My God, it's full of stars."

It is very interesting to see these episodes now 30 years after the fact. I definitely wouldn't have gotten this episode when I first saw it as a kid.

Also, love the original green screens in the Eagles and on the comm links. The polyester bell bottom pants are groovy too.

Question - is there ever any explanation of Bergman's mechanical heart? Also, I seem to remember reading somewhere that he was supposed to be a Holocaust survivor. Does anyone know anything about these? Thanks.


By CR on Friday, June 04, 2004 - 11:50 pm:

Although it was never explained in the episode why Ryan's Eagle wasn't saved, I've postulated a couple of times that it was because it broke up while trying to break away from the Black Sun's gravitational pull. I would like to add that his Eagle never actually went into the Black Sun; perhaps only things crossing the event horizon could get saved by (or even noticed by) the Black Sun Entity.

Bergman has an artificial heart, but no on screen background is given as to why. The character history of his being a Holocaust survivor was something actor Barry Morse had come up with to "flesh out" his interpretation of the character, if I recall an old Starlog interview correctly.


By Douglas Nicol on Saturday, June 05, 2004 - 8:54 am:

If I recall correctly, the artifical heart was only 'used' as a plot point in two episodes, this one and The Infernal Machine.


By tim gueguen on Saturday, June 05, 2004 - 2:42 pm:

Of course maybe Ryan did survive, but ended up elsewhere and they just didn't show it. :-) You could certainly use that idea to do a fanfic.


By Harvey Kitzman on Saturday, June 05, 2004 - 9:01 pm:

CR,

I think that you are right - the Holocaust survivor idea probably was in Starlog. Thanks.


By CR on Monday, June 07, 2004 - 8:41 pm:

You're welcome. :)


By Curious on Tuesday, June 22, 2004 - 9:54 am:

It's unfortunate that he wasn't able to use that idea in the series. It would have provided an opportunity for a strong moral voice of conscience (for example: in "Voyager's Return", a "survivor" Victor would have surely been more outraged when the Sidons proposed commiting genocide on the Earth). In 1974, when this episode was made, the holocaust wasn't really discussed frankly in series television. With 1978's "Holocaust" miniseries, television began to explore it in a more frank manner.


By Mark on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - 8:00 am:

Why, at roughly the same distance from the black sun as the moon, was that asteroid destroyed by the effects of the black hole, but the moon wasn't?


By GCapp on Sunday, October 24, 2004 - 3:19 am:

CR,

re using computer graphics to "jazz up" episodes, curious, because I wish that Mike Okuda would head a team to jazz up the Classic Trek episodes. I actually have a WordPerfect file of suggested fixups for nearly every episode through the middle of the second season.

It would include fixing up dated-looking items like the "microfilm" images that Spock views in "Where No Man Has Gone Before", to some spectacular scenes of Galileo burning up, its engine pods ripping free, near the end of "The Galileo Seven", and CGI to replace the mechanical clock on the astrogator panel between Sulu and the navigator.

Sometimes, computer-generated tactical images would replace camera images. For example, when the Romulans destroy Hansen's outpost, the computer switches to a computer image Spock had up there before, showing the Romulan ship outline, which then disappears; the effect would be like Klaa's ship disappearing in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier".

I really would like Paramount to authorize this. When the series Enterprise ends, I'd like them to let the SFX team tackle a retouch of the old series and make it something like what Roddenberry would have wanted if the optical technology had been available in the late 1960s.

I digress from Space: 1999, but I wanted to reply to you, CR, since I don't know how else to!

And I agree that Space: 1999 episodes could use some retouch, but not as extensively. It is suprising how well they look only nine years after the oldest weekly episodes of Trek, and 12 years before STTNG.

gcap!p!@ pr!aize!.c!a (not checked daily - and the spaces and ! marks were added to retard webcrawlers that glom addresses)


By Peter Stoller on Monday, November 08, 2004 - 5:19 pm:

Redone FX shots and other fixes would look neat but I don't care for revisionist storytelling like George Lucas has done with his films after they've been finished and released. The originals became unobtainable after that. Altered versions would become the standard and I think these works should stay as they are, true to their origins.


By Curious on Tuesday, November 09, 2004 - 5:58 pm:

Some fixes are undeniably better, such as improving the matte-work in the AT-AT attack in The Empire Strikes Back. There are some shots I miss from the original Star Wars though. I love the shot which shows the X-Wings opening their wings in unison (it was dropped in favor of a more elaborate panning shot).

About the only "improvement" I've detected in the Space:1999 DVDs is squeezing a shot from the beginning of The Force of Life (to eliminate a visible boom mike). Who would want that mike back? But seriously, when showing an episode of S99 today (on DVD), nonfans immediately notice the often visible wires supporting the Eagles. It would be nice if those wires could be digitally erased.


By markvthomas on Thursday, November 11, 2004 - 7:00 pm:

Who knows...
Perhaps the proposed 30th Anniversary DVD box sets, (at least in Region 2) might sort this problem out.
The reason being that a U.K DVD Distrubutor, Network Video, now has the Region 2 DVD rights to a lot of Granada television series, including Space:1999, which has been remastered (recodeced...?), for a possible HDTV release in the near future.
(The existing Region 2 DVD box sets had been remastered, reportedly after a a high up in the U.K Fanderson group had imported the Region 1 A&E boxset & shown it to Carlton Executives, while they were debating the contents of the Region 2 Boxset....)
As a result, a new Region 2 box set is planned for release sometime in 2005 (Sept 13th...?).


By Douglas Nicol on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 2:12 pm:

CGI retouching could be a good thing, but who else remembers some of the outcries when seasons 1-3 of Red Dwarf were remastered. Though I think that had more to do with totally changing the look of the vessel Red Dwarf itself.


By Curious on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 5:04 pm:

I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to change the Eagles; they're probably one of the most loved designs in scifi tv. I have to agree about Red Dwarf though, I much prefered the design (and model) originally used. In any case, the new Doctor Who series will be a showcase of how digital effects can add greatly to a show.


By Adam Smith on Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 10:31 pm:

This is a really beautiful episode. Watching this after "Breakaway" and "Earthbound," it feels like this is really where the adventure begins in deep space, or perhaps another universe! Someone asked who Victor is waving to at the end of this episode. He is waving to us, the viewers; inviting us to come along for the rest of the journey...


By Bob L on Saturday, April 29, 2006 - 11:47 am:

Regarding Victor waving at the end of 'Black Sun', I always took it that he is, in fact, flicking cigar ashes!


By Tim on Monday, January 21, 2008 - 6:18 pm:

Poor Sandra, the woman cannot catch a break!

First she is engaged to some guy on Earth, but Breakaway finished that.

Then she becomes involved with Mike Ryan, who dies in this episode. Clearly, they were very close, she fainted when he died, indicating she took his loss VERY hard.

Finally, she hooks up with Paul Morrow, but loses him sometime between S1 and S2 (whatever the heck happened to him).

Poor woman. Every guy she ends up with, she loses under tragic circumstances. Does Cupid hate her for some reason?


By Gwent on Thursday, January 24, 2008 - 3:52 pm:

dont forget the ultimate indignity...she loses her job to Yasko. :o


By Tim on Friday, January 25, 2008 - 9:45 am:

Good point. What in God's name possessed Koenig to let Yasko anywhere NEAR Command Center!


By Tim McCree (Tim_m) on Saturday, December 03, 2011 - 10:22 am:

How come the universal being didn't save Sandra's boyfriend. Does it have an agreement that only the regulars would be saved?


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