...speaking of helicopters, don't forget Tom Cruise 'riding' the explosion in Mission:Impossible.
Shouldn't that be Mission: Improbable?
Actually it should have been renamed Mission:Unwatchable.
I don't think anyone wants to see the results of a real explosion. The other week a program on suicide bombers showed the results- a leg here, a mangled head there...
Space:1999 did show some gore. Example; Mr. Dead Thulian aboard the Eagle in "Death's Other Dominion".
Based on an idea by Curious on the Sink 1999 2 board, here's my list of improved effects for "ATAP."
I actually like the spinning "star cluster" warp effect, but a minor enhancement to make it look just a bit more fluid (as in smooth motion, not as in liquid) could perfect it.
I also liked the "split persons" seperation of the Alpha crew; I don't know if there's anything that could improve it, even though it's a simple double-exposure. Sometimes, simplicity is best.
The big screen view of the "new" solar system, with its zoom in on the third planet, could use minor enhancement, such as what Ken Scott has doone at Moonbase Alpha's Space 1999 Page.
The big screen analysis of Earth would look nice as Eric Bernard enhanced it. (See pics in his interview at Space 1999.org.)
Fix the post-mortem thermograph of Regina Kesslan. Make it a brainwave scan (complied from her medical monitor & scans made while in Medical Center) that shows two distinct brainwave patterns that sometimes overlap, becoming extremely overlapped before going flatline. Alter Bergman's spoken line from "Two brains..." to "Two distinct brainwave patterns..." (OK, it's clunky, but at least it's not as ludicrous as two brains being stuffed into Kesslan's skull! Unless she was made to resemble the Metalunans from This Island Earth... just kidding!)
The views of the moons from Earth's surface aren't bad this time, but as usual are a bit too sharp; a little atmospheric haze to tone down their sharp clarity would help.
Slow down the impending collision of the two moons as the Eagle races back to Alpha; at the speeds shown onscreen, they'd have hit long before the Eagle got back.
That's all I have.
By the way, I was referring to the Metalunan humanoids, not the Metalunan mutant.
Yes, that thermograph of a normal brain. Dr. Russell would be totally incompetent if she diagnosed it as representing two brains! It should be fixed. Maybe, a thermograph with a full-sized ghost image of another brain on it (slighty out of alignment).
The clouds passing in front of the moon are unconvincing. They look like flat, painted images on a glass plate.
The shot of the Alphans exiting the Eagle is perfect (literally, since it was an in-camera shot, no sloppy optical work there!). Today's CGI couldn't improve upon it. It was that shot which made me think (as a kid) that a full-sized Eagle exterior had been built.
Was the thermograph made after Kesslan died? If so, what generated the heat? (I'm assuming it was made before her death, but wouldn't someone have noticed the anomaly right away?!)
Johnny Byrne didn't approve of the "two brains" thermograph, but it was put in anyway. Someone on the production staff did notice the error.
Victor points out that a place called Santa Maria, CA has survived and is habitable.
Just so happens, Santa Maria is home of Michael Jackson and his "Neverland" Ranch. The Alphans would find some quite interesting artifacts!
Some say Michael is living in his own 'alternate' universe...so maybe, this alternate universe story is more appropriate than the writers were aware of.
...about those geodesic domes in the "This Episode": maybe it's a cyrogenic chamber with Michael waiting to be reborn. Get to work Victor!
Isn't Michael living in Santa Monica?
Santa Monica is along the coast, not inland.
He thanked the people of "Santa Maria" outside the courthouse in Santa Barbara.
I've always found the line where the future Victor tells Koenig to return to Alpha or he will have "no place to die" to be intruiging. It's both nonsensical and sensical. Of course, from a rational scientific point of view, one is a part of any environment they're in (so they will "die" in that environment). However, from religious (mystical?) point of view, one's "soul" would belong to the universe one lived in. It also ties in to a comment Victor made early in the episode. On Alpha, remarking about returning to Earth, he says to Koenig "ultimately, we all belong where we belong".
Some nits:
For his updated episode guide, Ken Scott "fixed" a shot of Koenig and Alan's Eagle traveling to the alternate Alpha. He corrects the lighting. In the episode, both Earth and the moon are illuminated from the right. The Eagle, however, is illuminated from the left.
...about the bodies of Koenig and Carter. They are both found inside an intact Eagle, but they died since the seals in their suits was broken. Their suits looked intact. I would have rather more expected the seals on their suits to have been punctured if they were out on the lunar surface (and their space suits were punctured by micro-meteorites). Wouldn't a more plausible explanation for their death have been that their Eagle crashed and they simply ran out of air?
As this ep used real photos of Earth for the composite shots, the Earth looks very realistic! That came to mind when I rewatched some episodes of classic Trek where the Enterprise returns to Earth. The Earth in classic Trek never looked realistic (like it actually was a real image of Earth). Classic Trek's Earth always looked more like a painted globe or an image from a fifties' movie (such as "This Island Earth"). Kudos to Brian Johnson for some nice effects work!
About that geodesic dome seen on the future Earth. The windows in Hydroponics (The Troubled Spirit) feature gridded panels that look as if they could also be used to construct a geodesic dome. So, there is some credibility to those domes. One nit, though. When Koenig and Alan investigate the future abandoned Alpha, it looks as if the Alphans have stripped the base of everything. Main Mission seems to be missing most of its electronics. Down on the alternate Earth, however, little of these electronics seem to be on view. Are we to assume, the equipment they brought from Alpha failed and they had to resort to "primitive" technology?
Wouldn't a more plausible explanation for their death have been that their Eagle crashed and they werre killed by the impact? It's very close to the base.
Classic Trek's Earth always looked more like a painted globe or an image from a fifties' movie because there weren't yet enough good color photos of the earth from space to recreate it realistically.
Main Mission seems to be missing most of its electronics. Down on the alternate Earth, however, little of these electronics seem to be on view. The equipment they brought from Alpha is housed in some other structure. We only saw inside Helena's hut.
Not all of the alternate Alphans' equipment failed. Their generators for electricity (their lights above the dwelling) are working.
The 60's Star Trek wasn't the only Trek series to feature some rather unconvincing planets. The Earth (sometimes) and some of the alien planets looked phoney (like a cheap video effect) in some of the earlier seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
That's not to say that Space:1999 always presented well done planets. As noted on other boards, sometimes a planet's appearance from orbit wasn't consistant with surface shots. Our solar system (with the future Earth) in this episode is depicted with some exta constellations and stars visible (also a problem in the Year Two opening titles; the Earth is shown leaving with some rather unknown constellations behind it!).
If the alternate Commander and Alan were to survive the Eagle crash, it's not likely they'd run out of air. All they'd have to do is make that short walk back to Alpha.
"If the alternate Commander and Alan were to survive the Eagle crash, it's not likely they'd run out of air. All they'd have to do is make that short walk back to Alpha."
Yeah they could make the walk, but alpha is abandoned and devoid of air
I notice in this episode that they dyed Barry Morse's side burns black (giving him a slightly more youthful appearance), but gave a slight gray to the sides of Kano's hair (its most noticeable when he is carrying Helena). I don't know why these two things were put in. Maybe this alternate earth is affecting the alphans differently. Victor is feeling younger while the stress on Kano (his beloved Computer has been sacrificed for the survival of the colony) has caused premature graying? Maybe these guys truly are different from the Alphans we know.
Speaking of love interests for Kano, he seems to be paired up with Tanya (if their proximity to one another as they wave goodbye is an indicator) now that they have found a planet to call home. I'm glad to see Tanya finally gets some planet-time in as she seemed to always get left watching the desk.
Tanya did get out and play some badmitten (with Alan) in The Last Sunset.
On another note, I always thought it would be interesting to speculate if somehow the "other" Alphans survived and continued to live on their world (after the moons collided). It would make for a very interesting story. We could see if Kano and Tanya ever got together!
//Main Mission seems to be missing most of its electronics. Down on the alternate Earth, however, little of these electronics seem to be on view. //
..all went on eBay, I hear....made a killing with the inflated shipping charges, and so on...
This was a strange episode, but I enjoyed it. One has to wonder the way they found the alternate Earth could have been the result of the Moon being hurled out of orbit (Victor said that the Earth had shifted its axis).
So what did happen to the Alt-Alphans when the two Moons merged back together. Did they cease to exist, or are they still there in "another time and place." It would kind of •••• for them to make it down to that Earth, build their colony, have kids, only to have it all vanish! So, I hope they're still there.
Why was Regina affected and not anyone else on Alpha?
That's a good point Tim, if there had been something mentioned that, say, Regina had some unusual mental condition, like for instance an illness or being particularly good at ESP tests or something, you could say she would be 'vulnerable', but Regina seemed unremarkable compared to the other Alphans, she didn't seem to have any outstanding characteristics that would mark her out.
Like most S1 episodes, this one leaves us with a lot of questions. Aside from the Regina issue, I wonder:
1. Alt-Victor said that there were people on Earth, before the Alt-Alpans arrived (he said there were relics of them everywhere). Who were they and what happened to them?
2. If there was a civilization on Alt-Earth, what destroyed it. Was it a nuclear war? A natural disaster (as I mentioned, was it the moon being blown away that did this).
3. How long were the Alt-Alpans on Earth? I'm thinking at least ten years or so?
4. Why did Alt-Helena die when she encountered her younger self? The episode never really explains this?
5. Just why did this whole thing happen to begin with?
Not that I'm complaining, mind you, it was a great episode. Still, it does make one stop and scratch their heads!
Just watched this again a couple of days ago, and found another nit.
Both Reginas die when they confront each other in their minds. This seems to indicate that contact between the duplicate Alphans would be fatel to both of them (why, I wonder, the episode never says)
Anyway, so bearing that in mind, how come when our Helena meets her double, Alt-Helena soon keels over, but nothing happens to our Helena?
Tim (from February 2008), why did the whole thing happen? The Moon passed through what we, in 2021, would call a wormhole or time/space warp, the first of several that the Moon would pass through during the series to explain how it could encounter so many planets. And I suppose Regina's physiognomy wasn't as compatible to others ability to endure such a time warp trip.
My questions are; why are they all wearing robes? Didn't they have civilian clothes from their quarters to bring with them when they left Alpha? At the very least, don't any other them have any moonbase uniforms?
Also, why is Helena whispering to her double and her double whispering back? Why not have a conversation at a normal level? I've never understood why Helena (or *reality check* Barbara Bain) usually delivered her lines so quietly.
Another question; since Helena was somehow able to retain the flowers given to her from the Alt-Earth Alphans, (they survived the final separation of universes), then would the bodies of Alt-Koenig and Alt-Carter still be in her morgue? The flowers were preserved on our Alpha, so the bodies...?
Johnny Byrne wrote this one (and yes, he's the same fellow that created Nyssa, my favourite Who Companion). You saw his name as writer, you knew you were in for a good episode.
I like his work, too.
An oddity of this episode, though, has the computer identify the planet as 'Earth', because it resembles it in several ways. However, after that scene, we find out that this version has, according to Victor, 'an axis that's off by 5 or 6 degrees', and virtually the entire surface has been altered, geologically (Europe's in an ice age, parts of eastern Canada and north-eastern U.S. is desert).
My question is how a computer can identify the planet as 'Earth' if it's not an exact match, or anything less than 90 % similar?
The position of the continents, and the relative position of the planet around the Sun no doubt helped.