I actually like this episode. That scene where Zoref walks down the corridor and all the lights go out after him is quite creepy. I must admit though that Main Mission seem quite calm at the end considering one of their reactors has either exploded or suffered major damage.

The scene where Zoref stalks and kills the young female technician is one of the most horrifying in the series, it was the solitary memory of this series that I carried from childhood. I'd like to see this one again, too bad it's not on the Columbia House offerings . . .

Hi,

I really liked this episode - except for one small part toward the end. When the alien life form is leaving Alpha we see the "guys" running toward Main Mission, all the while being tossed about as though the Moon were being tossed..I didn't get that!

And when they did get to Main Mission, the same thing happens. Why?

Anthony

A minor nit: a microphone can be seen in the upper left of the picture as Koenig and Bergman are looking out the Main Mission windows as the Force is nearing Alpha in the opening teaser.

The power room is one one of the most impressive set that seems to have been built. It like much of Alpha looks practical, functional and used. Unlike, for example, the Trek universe where everything looks as if it just came out the factory, or replicator or whatever.

A minor quibble, but one that occurred to me - if Zoref is going around draining the power from whatever happens to be nearby, how come his commlock still works?

When Zoref's medical monitor is shorted out, Helena tells Dr Mathias to repair it and he complies. Shouldn't this be the job of an electronics technician? Mathias should tell Helena "I'm a doctor, not a mechanic!"

This was also one of my favorites, despite some flaws. My dad and I watched it when I was a kid, and the image of lights going out as Zoref moved past them stuck with us for years (decades in my case).
A minor nice touch the novelization made was having the plants in the solarium wilt and frost over as Zoref walked by them.
The dvd release (region 1) has cropped the frame a bit so the infamous microphone in the teaser is no longer visible.
Who can forget Nuclear Generating Area 3? Still one of my favorite sets. (I even built a model of it to go with the (inaccurate) Main Mission that came with the Moonbase Alpha kit!) Did anyone notice the re-use of the NDA2 domes on NGA3's wall? I like to think they store coolant/water in this case, as storing waste right in the room seems a tad reckless. That would also justify their later re-use in the Hydroponics Lab in The Troubled Spirit. (Another favorite set, btw. I miss those big sets from Series 1; Series 2 was claustraphobia-inducing; even the Eagles lost part of their interior!)

I recently bought the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy on DVD and I AM sure that the thick reactor doors were somewhere in the series. It could have been in the flashbacks to Deep Thought, or on the Ark ship.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is on DVD?! Cool! I suppose I'll have to get a hacked dvd player that can read other region encoding...

Back to "Force of Life," another minor nit: when Zoref starts to feel cold in NGA3 (just before Mark Dominix gets him some coffee), the light on his desk stays on. I thought at first it may have been due to the light getting a constant power flow from the generator, but that's really reaching...lights throughout the base would be getting the same flow of power. A better explanation could be that the force was seeking out "better" sources of energy to feed on, eventually finding that energy in human victims. Later in the episode, when fewer humans were forthcoming, the force took whatever energy it could (lights again) to keep itself going.
Of course, nothing beat the raw energy of the reactor. It's a good thing for Alpha the force absorbed most of the release of that energy, or else the moon would have a new crater where Alpha had been! (Despite the placement of radiation screens, I think the force absorbed most of the radiation released as well.)

Series 1 definitely had some very impressive sets. The Nuclear Generating area, the Ultra Probe interior, Waste Disposal Area 2 monitoring station.

I don't mean to go too far off-topic here, but what's your favorite set? Next to MM/Koenig's office, I like Gwent. The crane shot ouside the door. The illusion of depth within.

Sounds like we've got another Sink subject! (See you over there for my response.)

The props guys were behind the ball in keeping up the comlock props. Both Koenig's and Eva Zoref's comlocks are missing buttons, and Koenig's did so in several episodes.

NANJAO: "Zoref" is an anagram of "froze", which is what happened to the people he came in contact with. Could this have been deliberate?

IIRC, I read that Zoref was a friend of the writer's, and so the name was given to the character.
Still, I never made the anagram connection.

When Zoref is draining power in the solarium and Tanya and the other female Alphan see this, Tanya calls security. Huh? Wouldn't this poor guy need a doctor? Nobody knew Zoref was dangerous at the time. He looked like he was in trouble physically.

The female med tech that Zoref stalks down the corridors and then Helena ignore a life-saving device right at their hips, at their fingertips-- their commlinks! Why not call for help using those?

Some people might be annoyed that this is one of those episodes where you need to find your own answers. What was the blue ball? Was it alive? Why did it need Zoref? Why did it freeze time for everyone but him? Why did it need to enter the nuclear reactor in Zoref's body?

Why did Koenig need to cut power to the entire base? Different sections of Alpha must be able to be sealed off, so why not shut down power to just whatever building Zoref was in? I realize for dramatic effect this was done, but it's completely unnecessary. It's like a doctor cutting off your arms and legs because you have a hangnail on one toe.

Hey, that's a really good point about the call to security instead of medical!

As for Hilary Preston not calling for help, I often wondered why she didn't just yell "Help!" to the two guys entering the travel tube, but chalked it up to the fact that she was panicking and not thinking rationally. That also explains her not using her commlock. (Not "commlink", by the way... Pick, pick, pick! )

LOL at amputation to remove a hangnail!
On the other hand, in Koenig's case, I assume he didn't want any power source for Zoref to be able to home in on. Since Zoref had already demonstrated great strength by breaking down an isolation ward door (presumably a strong door, in spite of what the set prop may have looked like), Koening probably didn't want to risk Zoref breaking through any other sealed doors to get to an active power source, so he just cut power to the whole base.

Ah, true, but the dude was just *walking* everywhere. Zoref should have been able to be slowed down or blocked over and over by a security force that probably outnumbers him 50 to 1.

This was the episode that got me banned from watching 1999 when I was 8 or 9. My folks couldn't handle Zoref draining the life from his victims, his burnt look, or his walking into the reactor. I'd missed Breakaway, and only saw about 7 or 8 shows (plus sneaking Year Two's Rules of Luton while my folks were out one night). I've seen a few more since, thanks to video, but not quite half of Year One, and nothing of Year Two.

Time to catch up, Gordon! Enjoy!

Based on an idea by Curious on the Sink 1999 2 board, here's my list of improved effects for "FoL":
I was going to mention the microphone that strays into the opening shot of Koenig & Bergman on the Main Mission balcony, but I see that's already been cleaned up.
When the SBOL stops above Alpha, it looks like it's either about to "attack" Main Mission Tower, or like NGA3 is located within MM Tower. I'd change the shot so that MM Tower is featured less prominently, possibly using the shot near the end of the episode just before the explosions.
The map Bergman uses to track Zoref's movement throughout the base is backwards; flopping it should be an easy fix, except in the shot where he waves his hand in front of it.
Just before the explosion of NGA3, a white glow surrounds the building. Maybe the glow should be blue instead.
The explosions might look neat if they became absorbed by the SBOL as they occured. (And NOT by simply rewinding the film!!)
The only other thing I might change would be the smoke wafting up out of the gnerator building after the explosions... it ruins the reality of the airless vacuum that should be present. (OK, technically, sparkly explosions ruin it, too, as do sound effects, but I'm willing to leave those.) Anyway, I think digitally removing the smoke and possibly adding a few electrical flashes within the building would look cool. Also, the next wide shot showing the blue SBOL leaving Alpha should have the wrecked generator building actually looking wrecked.

This is another one of those MUF stories critics of the show despise. I think it adds to the ep's appeal (ST:TNG would have overexplained everthing).

CR, on your nit about location of the "attack": doesn't every episode feature a discrepancy like that. Not only do the interior sets not match up with the miniature work, but the miniatures representing Alpha change in various eps. There's little continuity.
The circular building with the radar dish is from the Nuclear Waste site in Breakaway. It was destroyed. What's it doing here? For that matter, it also shows up in "The Metamorph" with another revolving radar dish!

As to the smoke rising from the ruined building, it's minimal compared to similar shots in "The Dorcons": there's way too much "smoke" rising from the ruins in that one (looks more like a smoldering campfire than the results of a lunar explosion).

One effect I liked, the shot of the blue ball of light through the big window. It was nice that the BOL and space were integrated into a shot of the live action set. Too often, there is a clear cut-away from the live action to an effects shot.

I had no problem with the building I call a tracking station in this ep resembling the monitoring depot from NDA2; clearly, it was not supposed to be the same building, but a tracking station outlying the base some distance. (I imagine a ring of them surrounding Alpha.) As to the design similarity, since so many things about Alpha are modular, it only makes sense that small outbuildings be modular as well. (Of course, the reality of the sfx is that the same model was used as a cost-saving measure, with a radar tower added.)
I didn't care for how Season 2 had the same building popping up all over the base, though, especially within the main part of the base itself (and even atop buildings). On another board, I mentioned something about the things sprouting up like mushrooms!

Just watched this ep last night (hadn't seen it in over ten years). As with so many Y1 eps, it's full of many pleasant surprises. One almost takes for granted the magnificent production values in Y1 ( that is, until one starts watching some Y2 eps). The sets in "Force of Life" are impressive: Nuclear Generating Area 3, along with Main Mission, is probably the most impressive Alpha interior. Zoref and his wife also have quite a stylish pad.

The entire ep is filled with distinctive camera work and direction. The 'horror film' style of this turned me off as a kid, but now it seems to be a superior ep (style-wise). One thing I didn't like were the point of view shots (Zoref's) of stalking Hilary Preston. It had an unpleasant "Friday the 13th" feel. I never did like those horror flicks in which beautiful young women are stalked and killed...come to think of it, I didn't even like the killing of the lawyer in "Jurassic Park" (and the audience's cheering of it, count me out of that lynch mob mentality).

I was disappointed with Bergman in the beginning. Upon first seeing the blue ball of light, Koenig asks him what he makes of it. Bergman responds; "Not much, it's a new one on me". Come on Victor, where's your scientific curiousity? I would expect you to at least offer an interesting thought or hypothesis.

I like the musical notes of the alarm call for Zoref. These same musical notes were used in "Devil's Planet" for the prison intercom (must have made Koenig feel at home!) Thank goodness Zoref has a wife to wake him. The heavy sleeper sleeps right through his alarm call and the beeping of his old fashioned alarm clock.

One very hokey moment was the "let's all stand still and pretend we're frozen scene". Every older sci-fi show has similar scenes. In every one, there's always someone who has a hard time standing still.

Praise must go to Barry Gray's terrific music. It has an eerie and unsettling feeling to it (and it's unique to this episode). One thing I can't praise: the sets for Medical center are different. I rather prefered the set-up from "Gaurdian of Piri" (the only good thing about Medical Center in Y2 is that it remained consistant throughout the season).

The charred body of Zoref wasn't as grisly as I remembered...those glowing eyes give it more of a sci-fi look than a straight out horror one (fortunately, no burned bloody 'realistic' eyes). The scenes of Zoref walking into the glowing white reactor had a strange beauty. Almost as if this sad pained creature was entering his "heaven". CR, I think the glowing white light (before the explosion) matched the look of the glowing white reactor. I wouldn't want to see it blue colored.

I found Victor's comments at the end to be a bit of a stretch. Earlier, he indicates he's clueless about the BOL. At the end, he seems to be sure he's witnessed "some sort of creative evolution", the birth of a star perhaps...What!!! The birth of a star! Come on, think of a more plausible explanation (an energy lifeform perhaps).

CR, I think the glowing white light (before the explosion) matched the look of the glowing white reactor. I wouldn't want to see it blue colored.--Mark

Hadn't thought of that!

I agree with you about horror flicks and their terrible treatment of women. I suppose, though, like it or not, the scene in this ep where Zoref stalks Preston probably appeals to fans of the genre. The only saving grace is that Zoref wasn't a psychopath bent on hacking her to bits.

One nit I have about this ep concerns the critical patient in Medical Center. Earlier in the ep, Helena is shown alone in Medical Center with Zoref. When he breaks free, he heads towards Helena seeking "heat". Later in the ep, Koeinig cuts power and Mathais objects because he needs power for a critical patient (who appears to have heart trouble). Where did this patient come from? If he was supposedly in Medical Center all along, wouldn't Zoref have gone straight to him (as an easy victim) and not Helena?

Medical Center isn't one tiny room (like in Season 2), but an entire building full of different rooms (hence the various room designs seen throughout Season 1... critical care units, autopsy wards, surgical units, isolation areas, and so on). The heart patient was in a different section of the building than the isolation ward Zoref escaped from.

CR, isn't that a bit of a stretch? We know they just used different Medical Center sets in the first year. I just wish they would have kept the most impressive one. Some of the details in Main Mission (the steps) changed, but nothing drastic like in Medical Center!

Why is it a stretch? The buildings that comprise Alpha are large, and presumably filled with many rooms. Alpha's medical building is the equivalent of a hospital... Ever been to a real hospital that has all of its facilities in a single room? Would a surgical ward be in the same room as a recovery ward? Autopsy/morgue in the same area as OB/GYN or a birthing unit? Emergency/trauma centers in the same area as doctors' personal offices? Even small clinics (in the US anyway) have separate rooms for general patient care, labs, x-rays and office space. A hospital is even more substantially divided.
Yes, I know the tv show used sets, but I didn't see any conflict with the way a real hospital would be set up. I've spent enough time in various real-life medical facilities of varying sizes, and am related to a few people in the medical field, so I'm rather familiar with certain aspects of some medical buildings. I have a bigger problem with S99's unrealistic CPR techniques (among other medical procedures) than I do with its medical sets.

So, as long as we're on the topic, does anyone wish to mention which Season 1 medical set was their favorite? (I guess that's actually a Sink 1999 topic!)

One could make the point about multiple rooms for every department on Alpha. Viewers want and expect to be able to find some familiarity in a show's supposedly permanent sets. I think the same thing would apply to Star Trek. I don't think fans would have liked it if every other week Bones was in a new medical center. All the different 1999 sets (for Medical Center) replicated the same functions for the most part.

One could make the point about multiple rooms for every department on Alpha.--Curious
Actually, I think there are multiple rooms for every department. Alpha's huge, remember, and there would be various different labs and so forth in each of Alpha's twenty five buildings. (And that doesn't include the launch pads & their hangers.) This is borne out on screen by the various designations for the areas we do see: Care Unit 3 ("MoLaD"), Hydroponic Lab 2 ("TTS"), Technical Area 6B ("TLS") and of course, Nuclear Generating Area 3 ("FoL") are just a few examples.
That doesn't mean I want to see a new location every single episode; the base isn't that huge. But I don't want to see the same exact set redressed every time a "new" area is seen. (I thought Season 1 did a pretty good job of redressing sets as needed without it being too obvious... the least effective redress was the gymnasium from "ToA".)
All the different 1999 sets (for Medical Center) replicated the same functions for the most part.--Curious, again
For the most part, I suppose. I just never was all that put off by it, since I expect it in real medical facilities. Remember, this series wasn't set in the 23rd century, where Starfleet medicine allows for single-room medical facilities. Part of the thing writers for S99 were supposed to bear in mind (at least for Season 1) was that this wasn't the distant future, but the near future, with many recognizable features from present day.
And speaking for myself, I have to stay firm in my assertion that surgery should be separate from other rooms, for sanitary reasons if for nothing else. I'm not trying to start a fight or anything, but with all the science that S99 got wrong, I didn't think the medical sets were a problem, and even if S99 had gotten most of the science right, I still wouldn't be put off by the medical sets. To each his own, I guess... I hope some of the things I've brought up have helped others understand why I feel multiple medical rooms aren't really "wrong" at least.

I was just restating what was a source of irritation for many fans. The show always seemed to have more of a problem with continuity than most scifi shows...not just Medical Center, but other aspects too. The best example would be the pod Eagle. It just pops up for no reason in many eps. The makers of the show should credit the fans with some familiarity with the shows elements. Is there any S99 fan who doesn't catch all those inconsistancies? It's probably a good thing too: it shows fans care (Who cares about all the inconsistancies in Lost in Space?).

Chronic discontinuity syndrome… that's a sink discussion if I ever heard one. I'm going to take it over there and elaborate on it.

The ball of light reminded me of the light creatures in Trek's "Errand of Mercy". It obviously was an intelligent creature. It had to figure out a way to get at the nuclear reactor (through Zoref). Unlike Trek, the viewer is left to decide for themself if it was malevolent or just trying to survive.

One of this ep's low points was the closing observation of having witnessed the "birth" of a star. I read that this was put in over Johnny BYrne's objection. He thought it was a foolish notion too. Byrne thought "it was one of those situations where not knowing the answer was where the drama lay. Knowing would have killed the drama."

In other eps, things were also added to a script over his objection (ex: in "Another Time, Another Place"; the a thermographic plate of Regina with "two brains"). I can see why writers get upset. Their names are attached to a script with the worst part being studio imposed alterations. I now have a little more sympathy with Harlin Ellison's gripes about having his script for Trek's "City on the Edge of Tomorrow" being changed.

"City on the Edge of Forever" in it's original form was a good script but fundamentally inconsistent with Gene Roddenberry's vision of Star Trek; for example it featured an illicit drug-dealing crewmember and Spock having to restrain Kirk from changing history at the climax. Also, Ellison's kind of an egotistical @ssh0le who's easily offended.

One could also argue that he never lets go of a grudge. Quite honestly, I'm a little torn; I sympathize with his feelings over having his story changed, but I also think he should get over it already. Television has rarely, if ever, been about artistic integrity but rather about mass marketing to a large audience. At least the changes made to Ellison's story still left a decent Star Trek episode, treating both its audience & the SF genre with some respect. In S99's case (using the eps mentioned, "ATAP" & "FoL") otherwise good eps were pulled down by goofy babble that seems added to make things more "spacey" sounding.

Regarding the multiple Medical Rooms referred to earlier, it's not too much of a stretch.

If anyone has seen Babylon 5, you'll know that you only see Medlab 1, but there are multiple medlabs referred to, which are obviously 'satellite' facilities.

I think I know why the Blue light chose Anton Zoref as its' victim/host/whatever.

As the light approached Alpha, it skimmed overhead "looking" for potential candidates. Anton Zoref was unfortunately in blue's "line of sight" through those large overhead windows in the nuclear generating area.

One might even say that the shot with the rotating radar dish in the foreground as the light passes overhead foreshadows the concept of 'sightless vision' quite nicely.

It might even explain why Zoref ignored the critical patient in medical as an energy source. It couldn't "see" him.

They ought to form an Alphan Widows Club before long. You've got Sue Crawford (Alpha Child), Eva Zoref (this episode), and soon Mirika Kelley will be joining (Space Brain).

Why didn't they just isolate Zoref in one section of Alpha and then cut the power to said section. That way, they could contain him until finding a way to get rid of the alien. Did they really have to kill this guy?

I noticed the book Zoref was flipping through early in the episode had a large stamp on the front free endpaper. I wonder what it said---maybe "Property of Moon Base Alpha"?

The Catacombs site shows that it says "MOOREDAN LTD" which is a theatrical props supply company.

As the episode ends, Helena wonders why the alien picked Anton Zoref.

From what I saw, seems the poor guy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

One of the few episodes in the series that doesn't feature an Eagle.

When Dominex is frozen by touching Zoref, his face displays a painful grimace showing his teeth. When his body is shown after that on the floor, his facial expression is blank and his mouth closed.

One of the best surprise scenes; Alan rescues Zoref's wife, virtually one-second before Zoref would have killed her, especially with that single, bell-like 'beeeyoooong!' musical note to accompany it. I guess Zoref's humanity took hold, because Alan and Zoref's wife were just a few feet from him, and he could have absorbed the heat from two people instead of one, if he'd just lunged at them.

Earlier posters in this thread have mentioned how much they like the Nuclear Generating Area set and I agree. But, I'm wondering if they were able to create it by simply rearranging the Main Mission set?

As the mutant Zoref is absorbing power in the NGA, and Koening and others are running away, they stumble about as if they're on a spaceship that's rocking about (shades of the Seaview from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea!). The Moon couldn't be tipping about like this, so what was all the stumbling about?

You'd think that restarting power on Alpha would be a complicated process, but Sandra literally presses one button, and everything is turned on.

Four Alphans died in this episode-- and only one was an Alphan (Red-shirt) security guard!

When Alpha lost people, that was it.

No nearby Starbase where they could go to get replacements.

Just rewatched this last night. One of the better Season 1 eps, I think. Not the best, but far from the worst.

I liked the blue light flying over Alpha, esp showing the 'radar' antenna rotating. Does this antenna ever reappear in a later episode?

I appreciated the small opportunity to see Alpha domestic life, and imagine what it must have been like for couples there.

There are some logic lapses, to be sure. Most/all have already been noted in earlier posts. I actually liked the 'flashlight warning' idea, but then to have Russell ignore it was rather lame (plot driven).

At the start of the ep, with Zoref being awakened for duty by the "computer," and the initial deaths being immediately noted via the wristwatch life monitors...it seemed lame later that (amazingly) no one could determine Zoref's location when he's wandering the corridors. Plot necessity, I suppose.

I get the tension needed for the decision to cut the power, but I thought Mathias' histrionics were a bit overboard. It was good that he made the most of his limited screentime, however.

The 'burned' effects on Zoref after Carter lased him were very good - probably some of the best at the time this show was made. Extremely effective.

I realize that Gerry and Lew needed to save some pounds...but the recycle of "Breakaway" scenes during the reactor 'explosion' were terribly obvious. There's even a shot of Simmons....again!

Unlike some other comments I have read, I appreciated the fact that there was no 'neat' answer to what had happened. It started as a mystery and remained a mystery at the end - Alpha could only speculate. I liked that the characters didn't really understand deep space and the dangers that lurked out there.

I appreciated the fact that there was no 'neat' answer to what had happened. It started as a mystery and remained a mystery at the end - Alpha could only speculate. I liked that the characters didn't really understand deep space and the dangers that lurked out there.

I agree.

They didn't bury you alive under meaningless technobabble explanations, like some of the later Trek shows had the habit of doing.

Many first season episodes ended with no clear answers. Something happened, for some reason, and the Alphans could only speculate as to how and why it happened.

Yes, and then unimaginative reviewers or anti-fans would say, "Hey, that's just lazy writing! You need to finish the story!" No, you don't. Finish it yourself or not, but that's how life works sometimes. We don't notice how many things on a day to day basis aren't explained, but put it into an hour-long TV show or movie and people feel cheated.
Not me. The Moon isn't a spaceship that can turn around and activate a universal translator, so it stood out for that reason.

There were a lot of crybabies that felt this way about Space: 1999.

That was one of the reasons for the changes made for Season Two. Changes that many fans, me included, hated.

Agreed - I don't remember Bergman mentioning 'mitichlorians' even once.

Thank the dead gods of Krypton for that.