Is it me or does Koenig seem rather naive and trusting. A point was made earlier about him bringing potential explosives into Alpha, and how many 'slumbering bad guys' does he bring into Alpha. This episode, 'The Exiles', 'The Mark of Archanon' and 'Dorzak'

Well, you can't really blame Koenig for 'Dorzak', since he wasn't even in that episode! :)

Also, he did have reservations about the aliens in the Exiles -- even went so far as to stun one of them. Funny thing to me that nobody in medical bothered to check and see if the guy was really stunned or not. Also, Dr. Mathias mentions to the female alien that a stun will put somebody out for "about an hour." Then how come Tony gets stunned later in the episode and is back up and hopping around after 10 minutes? I would think after losing consciousness and muscular control for an hour, artificial respiration would be necessary.

Ok, already. I was wrong about 'Dorzak' and I'll grant that in 'The Exiles' he had reservations, but it does seem to me, as well as many others, that he does take some awful risks with the base at times. Also as a general note, you wouldn't know Koenig was an astronaut. I mean the number of Eagles this guy totalled in the two years of the show must be quite high.

True...he doesn't always make sense. For example, in the Exiles and in Last Sunset from Season 1, he brings what are assumed to be missiles into the moonbase. Hello? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that's not a good idea...

Something I never understood about the way they get rid of the evil guy in this episode is that when he's tricked into entering an airlock and is sucked out, he ends up out in space, and not the Moon's surface. They did the same thing to an unfortunate Alphan in 'War Games' when the base came under Hawk attack.

Bergman has demonstrated to Koenig that not even exposure to antimatter will destroy the rock the asteroid is composed of, yet at the end of the episode, Koenig still tries to destroy it with a conventional laser from an Eagle. Sure enough, the asteroid regenerates.

I'll say this much about the episode End Of Eternity, I can see where John Carpenter got his
idea for Michael Meyers and where Ridley Scott
got his inspiration for ending ALIEN. This episode
was very dark, if not gothic in nature. It had a
really good plot, and plenty of suspenseful
moments. British actor Peter Bowles was very
convincing as Balor. I mean, he really played an
alien psychopath to the hilt! This guy could send
chills down anybody's spine. The way he even spoke, reminded me of another maniac. Dr. Hannibal
Lector. This episode also showed another intersting element. John Koenig risking his life
to dispose of Balor. I can see why everyone on
Alpha looks up to this man. He really put his life
on the line. That is the mark of a hero. A true
hero. And a leader. As to Balor being dead after
being blasted out into space, that's something to
think about. If he could survive being ripped apart in an asteroid, he could survive the icy
cold of space. Anybody care to comment?

Well nowhere does it say that Balor can't breathe in a vacumn. He may look human but that doesn't make him human.

"How to be rid of a demon who cannot be
killed? The answer lies right behind a door...."
(caption to a photo in the novelisation of the
episode.) Balor may be immortal, but he may
still require oxygen. His asteroid prison had
an internal atmosphere. Expose him to an
unlivable environment long enough and his
body's ability to resist cell-death may be finite.
What I don't understand is how blowing him
out of an unmarked airlock is supposed to get
rid of him. That should only put him oustide
Alpha, on the moon's surface, where he would
stand wagging a reproachful finger at Koenig
as he looks in through a window. Then he'd
probably just force his way back in again. My
point is, how is flushing him out the lock
supposed to get him OFF THE MOON?
Never mind, it's just another example of bad
science in the service of a good play. (well,
halfway-decent play.)

I thought that the force of sudden decompression on being expelled from Alpha put him on a firm trajectory with deep space. He may have been immortal, but was he not still subjected to the same laws of physics as anyone else?? If not, couldn't he of just smashed his way out of that asteroid in the time he was in there???

I presume he was a victim to the effects of reduced gravity at the lunar surface and thus floated off into space...

Well, if they managed to blow the moon out of
orbit by conveniently underestimating the
moon's mass, I suppose they can blow Balor
off the moon by conveniently underestimating
it's gravity as well.

When they bring Balor's body onto Moonbase, why are they all in their regular clothes? They're bringing in an alien who could have something contagious! We see a mad dash to get him to Medical Centre, but no precautions are taken against contamination! Only after he's supposedly died does Dr. Russell conduct an autopsy in surgical gear - a bit late in the day!

Why, at the beginning of this episode, do they bring Balor's body into Moonbase Alpha, into the Medical Centre, and nobody is wearing any kind of protective clothing? Surely they must take some precautions against any alien contagions/infections? No, the only time any protective gear is worn is when they're doing an autopsy - a bit late in the day, wouldn't you say?

Has anyone noticed that the female medical orderly Balor "kills" just to demonstrate his power appears in several episodes after this one? She appears in the Medical Center in Wargames (If you have the Viewmaster reels of Wargames, she's visible holding an IV and screaming while Medical reels under the attack.), the Alpha Music Recital (and later in Medical) in The Troubled Spirit, and I'm pretty sure she's the O.R. assistant in Space Brain.
It's good to see that Helena and staff rescussitated her!
By the way, the Power Records (LP 8179) adaptation of this episode gives her a name: Marisa Welles. Unfortuantely, the LP dialog states she's been murdered and forgets about her after that.

I was hoping with the DVD release that we might get to see the scene that was cut when Koenig was attacked. I had seen a still of that, and it was quite graphic for its day.

Oh, that's right. And Douglas is right...very bloody! I don't know if the actual film footage still exists; I've only ever heard of (and seen) the still photo.

The filming of Balors fighting in total silence only somehow made him seem more menacing. The attack on Koenig by the possessed Eagle Pilot with a model aircraft was fairly disturbing.

Definitely not kids viewing.

My copy is off BBC - heavily cut after protests on the ending of Death's Other Dominion. It looks like Koenig has just decided to faint from embarrasment at watching Baxter play with his toy planes.

I'm not picking on the episode, because I kind of like it, but does anyone else find Mike Baxter hilarious? The episode is self-consciously "stylish" anyway, with the silent fights and the "Kubrick Jr." cinematography, and the dubbed-in screams. Then in the middle of the whole thing is this method actor with an Oxford accent, doing a whole Lee Strassberg sense-memory exercise about how he can't fly any more. And flirting with Helena, just to get the scene going... Like I said, a fine episode, and a source of one of the "primal 1999 images" in my head from childhood (tall dude in black sucked into space) but the Mike Baxter guy thinks he's in a Harold Pinter play.

At the start of the episode, I really like the high-tech apparatus that Professor Bergman uses to carry some rock samples - you know, the one that's cunningly disguised as a shopping bag!

And just how much more advanced are sample bags supposed to get in the future? Self-zipping, self-unfolding metal & plastic boxes? Hey, actually that almost sounds kinda cool... At least the bag didn't have a brand label on it like the snowsuits in "Death's Other Dominion."

A real nit: as the survey team first enters the airlock, Koenig's right hand glove is not properly attached to the sleeve's cuff.

Right, but those spacesuits hardly hold up under scrutiny. It's so obvious that you just zip the thing up like it's a ski parka and then place the cylindrical part over your head and let it rest there (without any seal)...

Hey! I think I saw a couple of Velcro tabs that hold the corrugated collar in place. What more of a seal do you need?

That hair dryer Bergman uses to scan through the door looks way too much like a hair dryer. Were those things really so new in 1974 that it's shape wasn't an immediate giveaway to the audience?

Sometimes I think the SFX people have it in for Barry Morse; he always gets the worst props, with no sound-effects support. Watching him solemnly click the spring on the hair dryer while solemnly intoning the sensor readings, you gain an appreciation for what actors have to pull off all the time...same goes for Bergman's "charts," which always look like someone made them out of colored masking tape.

I believe the hair dryer was in "Earthbound," actually.

From the sound of it much of the character in general came from Morse "acting into" the part more than was there. Apparently the character was pretty vaguely defined at the outset.

That doesn't surprise me; I can't decide whether Morse is the worst scenery-chewer I've ever seen or merely dealing with the vagaries of Space:1999's emotion-starved style, where they can barely bring themselves to allude to the main characters' romances. For season 2 they decided to try to change the tone and make it funny; I wonder what it would have been like if they'd gone an entirely different direction and gotten more soap-opera, with a warmer, melodramatic style, characters dealing with issues TAXI style etc. Would it necessarily have been so much worse than what they did? (They still could have introduced the jackets.)

Perhaps the nurse who Balor apparently kills did die, and the woman we see in later episodes is her identical twin, who is also assigned to Alpha and also a nurse. :-) This happens elsewhere, with Shane Rimmer's voice being heard as that of an Eagle pilot in "Testament of Arcadia" even tho' he played the now deceased Kelly, also an Eagle pilot, in "Space Brain."

Watched it this evening, and listening to Mike Baxter's voice makes me wonder if he didn't overdub the voice of the nuclear waste technician checking Disposal Area 2 for Koenig and Bergman in "Breakaway." Both men certainly have deep voices.

I wonder if John DeLancie ever saw this episode. Bowles portrayal of Balor reminds me somewhat of Q, altho' Q is more an annoyance than a psychopath.

I am an annoyance? You mere humans couldn't hope to be even that much in the eyes of the Contiuum.

Great work by Peter Bowles on this one.

The sudden appearance of the torture pictures accompanied by screams is startling and chilling.

It seems mean of Helena to make Keonig tell Baxter he's grounded. She's a doctor - delivering bad news is part of the job.

During this episode we get a number of good looks at the corridor comms pillars - when Balor first escapes medical, before and after the plane attack, during the final confrontation. Here's the nit: the clock is on 12:00 every time!

(I can imagine the creators cursing that prop. It may be difficult to get into it to adjust the clock.)

I agree with the "doctor telling the patient the news" nit, but since Koenig was also a pilot (and the commander), maybe she felt Baxter would take the news better from Koenig.

As for the commpost props, I recall seeing an itneresting nit in one S1 episode (just can't recall which one, though) that reveals they may not have been as difficult to access as you think. In a corridor scene, an Alphan walks behind a commpost, and if you look closely, you can see through the post's slots/vents to the person walking by! I'm guessing that each commpost only had two sides, since that's the most you'd ever see onscreen anyway. It would also allow for easy access to fix the tv monitors (or replace them with the "Red Alert" screens as needed). There's also a monetary and labor-saving issue in their construction to consider.
Of course, it's a pretty effective prop to have tricked people all these years, including me until I noticed the vent thing.

Watched this one yesterday. Cant bel they didnt reshoot the scence where Landau says "excuse me Jim". Its so obvious its painful.

Lots of string visible in the rock exps to pull the rock apart. Was compressed air not invented yet in 1975?

You would have to guess that that asteriod did not have nearly as much mass as the moon *since the Eagle is perched sideways on it and the pics show it much smaller than the moon), yet the landing party is prancing around on it with the same apparent gravity as the moon. IN reality they would prob have to be tethered to the rock to keep from floating away. Naturally, once they r inside, its Earth-normal grav *hehe*

In "Earthbound" the Eagle they initially dock to the Kaldoran ship is able to extend its artificial gravity onto the other ship, so perhaps the Eagle on the asteroid is generating a "gravity field" within the asteroid.

I always assumed the asteroid "prison room" has artificial gravity (that happens to be 1G).
I rather like your idea, tim, except the artificial gravity doesn't kick in until the airlock door seals the Alphan crew inside, cutting them off from the Eagle.

if the Eagle is extending a gravity field, then why doesnt it apply to the surface as well? The team is obviously experiencing Moon-like gravity levels on the exterior of the asteroid.

The gravity towers stopped working, that's why they modified one and stuck it (rotating) on top of an Alpha building in "The Metamorph".

From a 2 Feb 2003 post by Comfortably Dumb...
Lots of string visible in the rock exps to pull the rock apart. Was compressed air not invented yet in 1975?
Obviously, compressed air was around; see the Eagle take-offs & landings for example. (Not to mention the invention of SCUBA gear decades earlier. "SCUBA gear?" Hey, I told you not to mention it.)
On the other hand, I also noticed the strings/wires in the rock explosion. I assume they may have been part of a wire armature (frame) used to construct the rocky surface, or perhaps they were part of the cable(s) that activated the explosion. Either way, they shouldn't have shown up.

As for the Curious point about the gravity towers ("Curious point?" That's almost a play on words...), that's an interesting theory, but it wasn't something that was planned for at this point in Season 1. Is it one more way that the two seasons can be made to fit together better? Could be, I suppose. Not sure exactly how it ties in with this particular ep, though...

I thought the discussion of immortality was interesting. Immortality seemed to bore Balor's people, so they turned to diversions such as violence. Star Trek's "Metamorphasis" expressed a similar sentiment "Immortality consists largely of boredom".

Boy, immortals lack imagination! With such a vast universe and all the time in it to explore, my mind reels at the things I could do, the places I could see... A single lifetime is far too short, especially if one dies at a young age. The biggest drawback to immortality (in my opinion) would be outliving one's friends and family.

I think the writers were trying to make the point that with immortality one might lose motivation, interest,etc...Although, there aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do the restraint of time definately affects productivity. Things always get done when there is a strict deadline to be met. With unlimited time, things get put off and off.

Babylon 5's Lorien dealt with the subject of immortality. He basically says that with the humans having such a relatively short lifespan, they can live their lives with greater intensity, more passion. Whereas immortality makes you more blase.

Found the quote, personally I think it sums up the double edged sword of immortality very well.

Lorien: It wasn't necessary. We were born, naturally immortal.

Ivanova: That's impossible. Everything dies.

Lorien: Yes. Now. At first we were kept in balance by birth rate. Few of us were ever born, less than a handful each year. Then I think the universe decided, that to appreciate life for there to be change and growth, life had to be short. So the generations that followed us grew old, infirmed, then died. But those of us who were first went on. We discovered the Vorlons and the shadows when they were infant races and nourished them -- helped them and all the other races you call the first ones. In time, most of them died. Or passed beyond the rim to whatever lies in the darkness between the galaxies. We've lived too long; seen too much. To live on as we have is to leave behind joy and love and companionship because we know it to be transitory; of the moment. We know it will turn to ash. Only those whose lives are brief can imagine that love is eternal. You should embrace that remarkable illusion. It may be the greatest gift your race has ever received.

Well, that's certainly cheerful!

OK, point taken, and it is a good quote, btw!

>Star Trek's "Metamorphasis" expressed a similar sentiment

As did "Requeim For Methuselah". The man called Flint had been many of Earth history's great people, but by the time the Enterprise crew discovered him, he had become misanthropic and self-centered.

If I recall, didn't the man in "Requeim for Methuselah" claim to have appeared on Earth in several different incarnations much as Magus claimed so in "New Adam,New Earth" ? Wouldn't an advanced being find being forced to live out several lifetimes in primitive cultures to be an unpleasant ordeal (to be avoided)?

Flint's problem was his body regenerated instantly...he probably tried to kill himself as many times as Bill Murray's character in Groundhog Day...but the wounds would always heal instantly. Obviously poison would wind up just like indigestion. He might not even have needed to eat or drink; an attempt to fast himself to death might have resulted in unconsciousness, followed by a sort of photosynthesis reaction. Overeating wouldn't be a problem, as his fast-healing/fast-acting/fast-digesting metabolism would burn up extra fat. He might not have needed to eat, but certainly would have for variety and to fool the mortals around him.
As for having to change who he was so often...he states that his first existence was that of Akharin, a common bully/foot soldier. He's grown a lot as a person, maybe because he had all of that time to think. He probably explored every possible existence available to Mesopotamians of circa 3830 BC: gambler, drinker, gigolo, general, priest, trader, merchant, diplomat... Eventually he would have migrated around the Middle East, exploring everything he could; visited India and even China; down through Africa and across Europe. As scientific thinking and knowledge slowly grew during the Classical Period, he became aware of that, as well as creating art, more diversions for an immortal. He probably played the game of letting a 'long-lost son' that nobody knew inheriting his wealth a few times before that got boring. At some point, he must have decided to see if the world was really round (a Greek named Eratosthenes measured it, and discovered the approximate size of the Earth). Perhaps he was the legendary St. Brendan, the Irish monk who supposedly visited the New World in the first millenium (and created the legend of Quetzalcoatl in the Aztec mythos that Cortes used to his advantage to conquer the Aztecs a thousand years later), and then inspired the Vikings to come across the Atlantic.
At some point, he would have had to learn how to ride horses, or else he would have walked all over Europe, Asia, and Africa. By about 1900, he would have been the world's greatest horseman, having ridden hundreds (if not thousands) of them for centuries and millenia.
He probably began dabbling in the affairs of humanity (ala Q) because of his great knowledge and desire to speed things up; but he probably learned to play everything safe so as not to betray his secret to the world (no testing of alchemical potions or anything as Merlin, no more sailing around the world as Brendan). As science and technology began growing in the post-Renaissance world, he would have seen possibilities undreamt of by mortals until the beginning of science fiction. A simple goal really...find or create a lover as long-lived as him. (And, unfortunately, no vampires to hang ten with, either...they would have had interesting viewpoints to discuss with him.)

Speaking of vampires I wonder what would happen in case one had decided to take a little sip o flint? This might be a subject for another board to discus though.

The non-canon Star Trek novel Federation has a character that most likely is Flint, during the early years of warp drive. There's a board about the book under ST novels.

Interesting historical overview, Gordon. That's kind of what I was getting at, only I have a sense of future history: if just having lived on this planet long enough could have yielded all those experiences, imagine what the future (with the ability to visit other worlds, explore the universe, etc.) could bring.

Putting immortality back into the context of this episode, I suspect Balor's world didn't have extensive space travel, and certainly nothing interstellar (somewhat like current Earth, I imagine). Perhaps if they could have freed themselves from their world at speeds which wouldn't have taken generations to go from one star to another, they might have rekindled their sense of wonder, of purpose.
Alas, it was not to be, and so they punished in the best way they saw fit the man who cursed them ...

Based on an idea by Curious on the Sink 1999 2 board, here's my list of improved effects for "EoE":
Eliminate the wires that show up in the explosion.
The Catacombs website pointed out that the first shot of the entry corridor to Balor's chamber is upside down! (I can't believe I never caught that!) Obviously, that should be fixed.
The apparent nit about the medical orderly being killed (who shows up very much alive in subsequent eps) could be fixed by looping in some background dialogue just after Helena declares Balor to be a "cold blooded killer." Perhaps we could just hear Mathias's voice saying "We've stabilized her!" or something.
I really don't know how to fix the nit of Balor being ejected into space (and not the lunar surface). Did his body actually end up on the lunar surface, where it couldn't regenerate until brought back inside an atmosphere? Did the Alphans use a cargo Eagle with a winch to haul the body back to the asteroid? Maybe some quick footage showing just that very thing would be helpful.
I liked the "electric slap" effects of Balor smacking Koenig's face; nice and subtle.

In the scene where Balor is ejected, the black background could be fixed by 'pasting' a lunar landscape at the bottom (although it would necessitate some rotoscoping around the figure).

In the context of the episode it appears that Balor has been blown clear of the moon and is floating free in space, and that takes care of the menace of the week. I know it shouldn't work that way, I brought that nit up myself earlier, but it's the only way to explain the end of the act. This is a nit that is probably better left alone.

He could have been launched into space if Koenig would have strapped a jet(rocket)pack to him!

That brings to mind an interesting variation of the final fight scene. Koenig: "Here, Balor, hold still for a moment while I attach this to you... There! OK, continue beating me up now. Oh, and come through this doorway with me..."

"Balor, would you mind holding this jet pack while I go check the thermometer. I seems a little hot in here."

...Koenig heads to the door controls, and it is revealed he also has a remote control to fire the jet pack!

Writers are confronted with some dilemas when trying to think of a way to get rid of the villain!

I loved the look on Balor's face when he admits the truth to Koenig. This guy is NUTS!

I too wonder what became of Balor once he was sucked out into space. Did he die? If not, what happens when some ship happens upon him and brings him aboard? Will Balor have his fun with the poor crew of said ship.

Reminds of the ST: TNG episode, Datalore. Data's android twin brother, Lore, is found and assembled. Lore turns out to be a raging psycho. In the end, they beam him into space and act like he's gone for good. However, Lore was eventually found by a passing ship and returned to haunt the lives of Data and Co.

I wonder if Balor would do the same if he gets a ship. Would he use it to track down Alpha again?

"...what became of Balor once he was sucked out into space."

Mentioned earlier by others, but he shouldn't have appeared to be sucked out into space, since Moonbase Alpha is not a spaceship. Balor should have been shown to be sucked out to the surface of the Moon. The only explanation is that from the camera angle, you can't see the surface from this second or third-story hatch-- it's just below the rim of the door.
Then you gotta ask yourself why is there a door 2 or 3 stories up without a ladder or balcony outside it?

I watched all of the episodes when they were brand-spanking new in the '70's, and even as a 14-year old, the empty, black background of space made no sense to me.

Balor should be lurking around the surface of the Moon.