The Last Enemy

Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections: Space: 1999: Season One: The Last Enemy
PLOT SUMMARY: The moon wanders smack dab into the middle of an interplanetary war between two superpowers and finds its safety compromised.
By Douglas Nicol on Saturday, July 17, 1999 - 5:23 pm:

If an alien gunship needs to 'moor' itself to and asteroid/planetoid to fire why maintain a large fleet in the off chance one comes along.
Also following that up, during the period of truce, why does one side say it wants to keep a gunship in orbit if it has no firing platform.
The technology of the missiles looks rather outdated.


By BarbF on Wednesday, August 04, 1999 - 11:23 am:

Another thing that bothered me -- WHY are these planets at war? If they're on opposite sides of a sun, unable to fire at each other, then what's the war about? How did they maintain on-going hostilities with no way to fight? I would think after awhile they'd stop bothering, since there was no way anyone could "win." (And who goes to war wearing leather pants and a motorcycle helmet???)


By ScottN on Wednesday, August 04, 1999 - 2:38 pm:

And who goes to war wearing leather pants and a motorcycle helmet???

The SideHackers, obviously (go to the MST3K board to find out more)!

Sorry BarbF, I couldn't resist.


By BarbF on Friday, August 06, 1999 - 7:04 am:

I also recall a scene where Dione gets put up in Sandra's quarters, and when she escapes back to her gunship all she has to do is concentrate and she "disappears" and reappears in her spaceship. Now, if Dione and supposedly the rest of her people can pull of this neat trick, why bother with sending a gunship to the Moon? Why not just have your army re-materialize over on the other planet? The more I think about this episode the less it makes sense.


By ScottN on Friday, August 06, 1999 - 10:09 am:

The more I think about this episode the less it makes sense.

BarbF, I hate to say this, because I liked the show when it was on, but doesn't that describe the entire series?


By BarbF on Monday, August 09, 1999 - 6:27 am:

Well, yeah, sometimes they were lacking in the common sense department. I liked it when it was on also, but then I was only 11 at the time. Viewing the show now, I still like it, but now I get to pick it apart! ;)


By Douglas Nicol on Sunday, August 22, 1999 - 2:59 pm:

I noticed something else. When Koenig finds out Dione has betrayed him he communicates with the gunship. On Main Missions' screen it looks like she has a 'necklace' of sorts coloured black and yellow. When you see Dione in the control room of her own ship, there is no sign of this. When you are taken back to Main Mission the 'necklace' reappears.


By Douglas Nicol on Sunday, September 05, 1999 - 4:37 pm:

Somebody commented elsewhere on the Net about the dramatic moment when the helmet falls off the spacesuit sitting in the Moon Buggy when it is inches from the gunship. They said that it was lucky, the helmet didn't fall off earlier, when Dione could have done something about it.


By tim gueguen on Sunday, September 05, 1999 - 8:16 pm:

The helmet bit is a classic. Just an instant before she's about to be blown up Dione realises that she's being paid back for using the Alphans. Its certainly a much more satisfying way of taking care of her ship than the novelisation, where Koenig gives her enemies the coordinates of her ship.

Supposedly the original premise for this episode was a "battle of the sexes" type of situation, and it purportedly was an idea of Barbara Bain's.


By yul_tolbert on Wednesday, March 01, 2000 - 4:24 pm:

Here's something. If we assume that Delta and Betha are about the same distance from their sun as Earth is from its, then shouldn't it take a number of minutes for their transmissions to reach Alpha. Oh, right! They have faster than light commincations. But can we say the same of the Alphans? If Alpha doesn't have FTL communications, then their simultanous talk with Deltan and Bethan authorities would have been a very slow commlink.

Yul Tolbert, Wednesday March 1, 2000 6:22 PM EST


By wiseguy on Monday, November 20, 2000 - 3:31 am:

The shot of Dione screaming in the "This Episode" segment doesn't match the shot in the episode.


By tim gueguen on Monday, September 03, 2001 - 12:36 pm:

As far as Dione's teleportation goes perhaps the method used is only very short range or requires line of sight contact with the destination.


By Anonymous on Tuesday, November 27, 2001 - 7:00 am:

Re the helmet falling off the spacesuit just as the buggy passes under the ship - possibly dramatic licence on the part of the director? It would be implausible, but look good dramatically.


By Craig Rohloff on Monday, January 21, 2002 - 2:43 pm:

Why was Sandra ousted from her own quarters? Didn't Alpha have visitor quarters for, well, visitors? If not, enough people have died on Alpha over the course of its journey to free up a few rooms...
The teleportation thing is just plain bad writing. A cloaking device would have been a better idea, but I suppose the writers didn't want to be accused of ripping off Star Trek. Too bad they couldn't have done an effect like the 1980's film Predator!


By Douglas Nicol on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 7:51 am:

Craigs visitor quarters comment is fair enough. There were quarters for the aliens in Earthbound, and even prior to leaving Earth orbit there would probbaly be a small number of spare quarters to accomodate VIP's and Lunar Commission officials. Simmonds, or Dixon for example are not stationed on Alpha on a permanent basis, but there would probably have been times that they were needed for a few days. Also scientific teams. If I remember correctly, one episode has a young female character, maybe Shermeen from season 2, that said she was there on a science class trip and was trapped there.


By tim gueguen on Thursday, March 14, 2002 - 5:00 pm:

In fact we have no idea how large of a crew compliment Alpha would be designed for. Its reasonable to assume the number of people stationed on Alpha could vary quite considerably depending on what projects were being worked on, so one would assume there would be a surplus of rooms.


By tim on Thursday, November 07, 2002 - 7:38 pm:

Gerry Anderson seems to like planets in the same orbit but on opposite sides of a star. remember "journey to the far side of the sun"


By Sophie on Friday, November 08, 2002 - 3:01 am:

Is it established that the two planets are always on the opposite side of their Sun? (It's been a while since I saw this.)

Perhaps their orbits have temporarily placed them on opposite sides of the sun. This would explain how hostilities existed before the Moon arrived.

I recall from somewhere that the idea of planets in the same orbit but on opposite sides of the sun is a sci-fi myth: in reality that situation is not stable.


By CR on Friday, November 08, 2002 - 8:02 am:

Well, the planets certainly didn't look like they were exactly opposite from each other relative to their star!
Realistically, they'd have to be the exact same mass, the exact same distance from their sun and travelling at the exact same speed to remain opposed to each other--a situation that seems highly unlikely. If those conditions were somehow met, then hypothetically the planets would remain stable in their orbit... presumably there are no other large and/or nearby planets in their solar system to perturb that orbit!
If, on the other hand, one planet was slightly farther from its sun than the other, but still relatively close to the same orbit, the planets needn't be exactly matched to, say, avoid a collision. At least in the short term. In the long term, though, they'd eventually get close enough to each other that they'd disturb their orbits, eventually skewing off onto wildly random paths that could either drive them into a collision (with each other or with their sun) or out of the system altogether.
Bottm line: it seems unlikely that in the real universe the planets would remain stable enough long enough for life to develop, let alone intelligent life to develop into a spacefaring culture(s).
A side note: I started reading a novel many years ago about a double planet--a pair that developed so close together, they were tidally locked in an eternal dance, so to speak, their shapes more egg-like than spherical, and their atmospheres merging. Flight of the Dragonfly was the title (if I recall correctly), though I think it got slightly re-written by its author under a different title a few years later.


By Douglas Nicol on Friday, November 08, 2002 - 5:18 pm:

I also would like to know why they NEED mooring points for their gunships. The missiles look like medium sized chemical rockets. Now assuming Newtonian physics, if the rockets cause a bit of 'kick back' surely there are maneuvering thrusters on these vessels.

Why do neither the Bethans or Deltans have fighters to hit these gunships, since they don't seem to have any great form of defensive weapons. I sure wouldn't envy the crew of one of these things as it is essentially a suicide mission because as soon as the enemy gets a bead on your position, you are stuffed.

Mind, using that premise, Alpha might very well have come across two ruined planets. :)


By CR on Sunday, November 10, 2002 - 7:06 am:

The one painting we see of the surface of Dione's world shows us a fairly desolate place. Sure, the military structures appear to be intact, but the landscape itself appears ravaged.
Does this imply that the worlds are indeed ruined, or was this just a desert-like area on an otherwise verdant world? (If I came to Earth from another planet and happened to land in the Sahara or in Death Valley, that wouldn't be a true indicator of the rest of the planet's surface.)
Personally, I'd always inferred that the worlds had been decimated over the years, with little effort (or ability, or even willingness) to restore or repair anything non-military. In other words, the need to strike back at the enemy outweighed everything else. Sad, really, but it fits with what we are shown of the single-mindedness of the Bethans and the Deltans.


By CR on Tuesday, December 03, 2002 - 7:49 am:

I know some people have pointed out on other boards the difficulty of using keyboards with no markings, such as those on Alpha. Dione sure is a whiz, being able to use Kano's desktop keypad with no training! (Heck, even if the keys were marked, she'd be a whiz to understand what all the marks mean.)


By Kinggodzillak on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 3:25 pm:

After the opening credits, there is a shot of Alpha on attack standby, and three pilots board a Travel Tube to get to the Eagles. The last one on looks a hell of a lot like season 2's Bill Fraser. Does anyone know if this is John Hug, or just a convincing double? It sounds like him, and the writer of the Space 1999 Chronology seems to think it was.


By tim gueguen on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 12:40 am:

Looking at the entry at the Catacombs site at space1999.net it lists John Lee-Barber and Shane Rimmer as Eagle pilots in the episode. There's no mention of Hug having any connection with the series prior to trying out for the character that eventually became Tony Verdeschi when they were casting for year 2, including in an interview with Hug. http://www.space1999.net/~catacombs/press/wrefphug.html


By Kinggodzillak on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 9:13 am:

Rimmer only does a pilots voice, he isn't one of the ones on the travel tube.


By CR on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 11:08 am:

Wasn't the footage of the pilots re-used from another ep? ("Voyager's Return" or "Wargames," perhaps?)


By Anonymous on Wednesday, January 28, 2004 - 9:29 am:

Shane Rimmer - Anderson series official "Yank" voice over...


By Rose Baum on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 2:53 pm:

What a coincidence. Everytime a society/spaceship is led by a woman, the leader always ends up dead by the end. Last Enemy,Devil's Planet,etc.


By The Zookeeper on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 5:09 pm:

Please do not feed the troll.


By J.T. on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 5:48 pm:

Rose, you've only stated the obvious.


By Anonymous on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 7:48 pm:

Both planets are depicted as being very close to that sun. Closer than Mercury is to our sun. Shouldn't the inhabitants of both planets have been fried?


By anontrollfeeder on Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 9:09 pm:

Maybe they where regenerative trolls?


By Curious on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 7:49 pm:

It would be nice if people would stop posting vitriol. It's not funny, it's tiresome.


By CR on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - 5:50 pm:

Based on an idea by Curious on the Sink 1999 2 board, here's my list of improved effects (actually, most of them are edits this time out) for "TLE":
Although the shots of Dione & her crew and their flight to Alpha are interesting, they blow any tension that the Alphans feel from not knowing why their defenses are failing, and ruin the surprise they feel when they first meet Dione in person. I would edit these interior scenes out completley, but I would keep the shot of the planet's surface; it would fit just before Bergman announces that the planet is inhabitted. All the exterior shots of Satazius breaking orbit from its two escort ships and its arrival on the moon, as well as its attack and apparent destruction, would be left intact.
Change Koenig's line about taking Dione to Sandra's quarters to taking Dione to guest quarters. (I recall an interview archived at The Catacombs where Zienia Merton herself was dissatisfied with her character having to share quarters.) With today's technology, the fix should be pretty convincing; look at what movie makers did several years ago in the film Forrest Gump.
Add an effect that makes it look as though Dione activates some kind of personal cloaking device, rather than becoming invisible just be she concentrates hard enough. (I'd mentioned this back in one of my 2002 posts, but I don't think I'd use a Predator-like effect as I'd mentioned then; that would still be noticed by Sandra and the guards.)
Shots of incoming missiles could be touched up just a little to make the exhaust flames look just a little less flame-like (or perhaps removed entirely).
I do like the explosion of Satazius at the climax, especially the way all the lunar dust get kicked up by the shock wave. Of course, in a vaccuum, this "kick-up" effect wouldn't occur, but this is one effect I'm personally willing to leave in place, because it looks cool.
:)


By CR on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - 5:52 pm:

"...rather than becoming invisible just be she concentrates..." should have read "...just because she concentrates..." OOPS!


By Curious on Thursday, April 15, 2004 - 6:33 am:

The explosive flames superimposed over the Satazius's missile launcher are awful. They're too quick and look too 'miniature'.


By CR on Thursday, April 15, 2004 - 7:04 am:

Good catch! I forgot all about those. I guess I should start watching the eps as I make these lists, rather than just relying upon my memory (supplemented occasionally by forays to The Catacombs).


By Peter Stoller on Thursday, April 15, 2004 - 7:16 pm:

How about adjusting the scale of the elements of the effects shot that displays the apparent distance between and sizes of the planets and the sun of this system?
An animated graphic on Main Mission's big screen (a la Star Trek's tactical displays) could serve to illustrate Bergman's exposition of their orbital relationship in place of the photographic image.


By Peter Stoller on Thursday, April 15, 2004 - 8:38 pm:

OTOH, the initial image of the system from Alpha's POV is okay if the view is still from very far away; the telescopic image would compress the apparent depth and cause the objects to appear much closer together than they actually are.

Spotted another nit: there's an empty hole in Kano's desk where the small video screen should be ("There's a ship approaching...battleship size!")
…as opposed to, say, tanker or freighter sized?
Kano and Koenig immediately assume it's a ship of war. So what if it turns out they're right?
It's a hasty assumption.

Worst technobabble of the series:
Koenig guesses Alpha's systems are being affected by "some kind of ultrasonic magnetic distortion."
Say what!? How would he know, anyway?


By Mark on Friday, April 16, 2004 - 6:00 am:

Ultrasonic magnetic distortion...
almost as bad as some of the technobabble nonsense on ST:TNG!


By CR on Friday, April 16, 2004 - 7:14 am:

ST: TNG-style technobabble... further proof that S99 was ahead of its time!


By Peter Stoller on Friday, April 16, 2004 - 11:29 am:

At least NG had people who's job it was to keep the technobabble consistent, with some logical thought behind it instead of simply offering up something nonsensical but important-sounding.


By CR on Friday, April 16, 2004 - 8:44 pm:

True. On the other hand, I knew someone who was writing a story which was so laden with ST: TNG-style technobabble ("because it sounds futuristic"), that the story was unreadable.
Oh, well. I suppose we could always rely upon reversing the polarity of the neutron flow to solve the latest problem of the week! (Which is to say, every show does it to some degree; some are better at it than others.)


By Mark on Saturday, April 17, 2004 - 8:16 am:

I have to agree with Peter. The scientific and medical terms and phraseology never seemed to be particularly sophisticated in S99. To be fair though, many advances in technology (computers and medicine, for example) and science were made between S99 and some of the later Trek shows.


By Harvey Kitzman on Monday, July 12, 2004 - 12:04 pm:

I liked the Star Trek type music in the beginning. And this episode is similar to A Taste of Armageddon.

Helena yells at John about the damage and the casualties, however in the end, only 5 people had middle ear damage. Seems kind of light for the damage Alpha took. The DVD's I am watching might have some bad editing cuts that caused me to miss some things.

Man, Koenig is a shoot first kind of guy, huh?

And what is the deal with the leader of the other planet looking like his eyes were closed?

BTW - Both my wife and I could see Koenig's deceptions from a mile away. However, I probably would have done the same thing he did.


By CR on Saturday, October 23, 2004 - 9:54 pm:

Just noticed another continuity nit...
When Koenig and crew are on the Main Mission balcony watching the missiles impact the "planet on the right," the closeups of Koenig are actually of him standing by the row of windows on Main Mission's main floor, not the windows on the balcony. Not only are they glowing from the red emergency lights (lights not present on the balcony), but the wall they are in is vertical, not angled like the wall on the balcony. (The main floor windows are of course much smaller, but the shot is cropped enough that this isn't too obvious.)


By Greyblooz on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 12:26 am:

Just saw this ep, and quickly realized it's not one of the better ones. Dialogue, special effects, models, acting are all even more inconsistent than usual. But as a story, this is one where Koenig is not completely powerless against the episode's threat, and can actually take credit for saving everybody at the end.

This suggests that the Deltans and Betha's technology is not that much further ahead of us than in '1999.' Thus the technobabble actually increases the plausability-it shows us the Alpha's have some idea why none of their equipment is suddenly not working.

Also, has it occured to anyone that in a universe where a moon can be blown out of orbit by nuclear waste, that maybe a WHOLE PLANET could have it's orbit altered by a state of constant interplanetary war? Dione's house on Betha looked like it was situated on a nuclear waste dump!

Wouldn't it also be reasonable to assume that this constant war has resulted in the LOSS of certain technology like:
-Accurate interplanetary missle guidance systems.
-Ship missle defense systems.
-sensors that can distiguish between a real man from an empty space suit.

Dione suggests as much when telling of the battle platforms that were soon destroyed. On the other hand, there is evidence that they may posses:
-holographic simulacrums (like on ST. This could explain Dione's disappearance*. Maybe she was really a HOLOGRAM!)
-FTL communications and propulsion for ships and missles.
-"ultrasonic magnetic distortion fields"(or EMPs)
*(Dione was probably 'escorted' to Sandra's quarters because Koenig didn't completely trust her, but couldn't put her in the brig. Putting her in Sandra's room would give her an excuse to go in from time to time and keep an eye on Dione. Oh well...)

Of course if someone had explained all of this in the course of the dialogue, it would insult our intelligence, right? No, I don't think so either.


By CR on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 - 8:20 am:

Very interesting ideas... bearing them in mind makes this ep a little more palatable, for me anyway. Thanks for the fresh perspective!


By WarrenNTopeka on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 12:33 pm:

ultrasonic means sound waves. Nothing to do with magnetics. Just more Freiberger gibberish.

..and yeah, now that you mention it, every female-dominated society fails in S:1999. A not-too-subtle message. Thanks for pointing that out.


By Douglas Nicol on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 1:11 pm:

Why is Freiberger being mentioned in the Year 1 forum, he wasn't involved then.


By Douglas Nicol on Wednesday, June 29, 2005 - 2:22 am:

Another thought about Dione's teleportation device. Maybe it wasn't a teleportation device and was instead a cloaking device. Maybe she 'disappeared' and slipped out the door when Sandra arrived.


By Peter Stoller on Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 9:23 pm:

Having watched the ep again recently, It really feels like a year 2 kind of story: exciting, but juvenile and poorly premised. Planet of women, planet of men, always at war, putting Alpha in constant jeapordy for the duration. Not mysterious or thoughtful like year 1 was getting good at. Credit this one to writer/director Bob Kellet?


By Anonymous on Friday, September 30, 2005 - 5:23 pm:

and the leader of the male planet seems to be more interested in sleep rather than conduct a war.


By Tim on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 6:39 am:

So how did this war get started in the first place? Did one of the planets go into space, meet a ship from another, and things got ugly? Isn't it amazing that both planets technology progress around the same rate at the same time (they would have to, or else one would have long since destroyed the other)! There is much about this episode that just doesn't make any sense.


By Rose Baum on Thursday, January 24, 2008 - 3:59 pm:

only part that makes sense is that the woman-run society is defeated, and cannot compete with men. That's the message the producers were trying to get over to the public.


By Tim on Friday, January 25, 2008 - 9:48 am:

Where did you get the idea that the Bethans were defeated, Rose? From what I undestand, the departure of the Moon just restored the status quo in the system. No doubt the Bethans and Deltans will just stew until another asteroid happens along?

Was it a case of women VS men? Okay, the Bethans we saw were all female, but the only Deltan we saw was Talos. There could have been women in the Deltan goverment.

How come neither side built space stations. They could build them on their side of the sun, where the other side can't see them, arm them, and then move them into position. Then they could shoot at each other at will.


By Douglas Nicol (Douglas_nicol) on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - 10:11 am:

Well I believe Barbara Bain put the idea forward for it basically being a battle of the sexes, but I would argue againsts Roses position that the female society is defeated and certain against her posting a few years back that the female leader is called. Now, apologies, I can't remember the names of either leader, but Dione certainly wasn't one of them. She might have been highly placed, but the lady with the short dark hair was the Bethan leader, she remained safe, the only concern was the gunship on the moon itself.


By Tim McCree (Tim_m) on Saturday, October 22, 2022 - 5:36 am:

Wonder how this war got started in the first place.


By E K (Eric) on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 - 5:02 pm:

Men .... women ..... not too hard to guess....


By E K (Eric) on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 - 5:08 pm:

Its intriguing that here Victor fusses at Koenig for being trigger-happy...

when in "War Games" .... Bergman was the first one to urge Koenig to open fire on the Hawks....

"Its an attack, John....Alpha is wide open"


By Tim McCree (Tim_m) on Wednesday, January 25, 2023 - 5:06 am:

So now both sides will sit and stew until another rogue asteroid happens by?


By Francois Lacombe (Franc0is) on Wednesday, January 25, 2023 - 5:23 am:

Well, no, they will keep the war going, it's just going to be harder for them to target each other. Which makes little sense, there are a number of orbital dynamics solutions to their problem that do not involve a chance visit by a convenient planet or asteroid.


By Tim McCree (Tim_m) on Thursday, January 26, 2023 - 5:38 am:

Really is a pointless war, IMO.


By E K (Eric) on Thursday, January 26, 2023 - 10:16 am:

Most of them are.


By Tim McCree (Tim_m) on Friday, January 27, 2023 - 5:48 am:

Good point.


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