How many home runs did Mark McGwire hit in that World Series?

I don't know, but I'll bet those Red Sox fans went nuts . . . seriously, though, the guy they're talking to must be an amazing sports buff. He says that competitive sports haven't been played in over a century, but he not only knows what baseball and the World Series are, but he's still able to remember the winner of a World Series which took place 121 years ago!

Maybe he was talking to Captain Sisko. He would know that kind of baseball trivia.

I seem to remember that the results of the 1998 World Series given in this episode mirrored the results of the 1968 World Series, or am I wrong?

Only off by one year. It was '67. And the Cardinals won.

An episode of Lost In Space also incorrectly predicted the results of the 1984 World Series, saying the Angels would beat the Mets. (At the time this episode aired in the mid-sixties, the idea of the Mets appearing in a series must have seemed amusing.)

Koenig also asks the name of the wife of the first guy in space, and the old fart says "the first man in space was unmarried"...actually Yuri Gargarin WAS married by the time he went into space and had a couple of kids. Didn't anybody on the set own an Encyclopedia Brittanica?

No Brittanica, it wasn't in the budget.

Well, they had to buy all that neat orange plastic dinnerware, so they probably couldn't afford it.
Was orange Freiberger's favorite color or something? In year 1 they had orange space suits, which was o.k., but in year 2 it seemed EVERYTHING was orange -- the dinnerware, the walls, the makeup. Good thing they didn't allow kids on Alpha, all that bright orange would have given a baby colic...

One big nit for me was the "cave-kissing" scene. I understand Koenig is deeply in love and doesn't want to lose Helena, but what good would it have done for him to get the same sickness just because she had it? If he's well and functioning, at least he could possibly find a way to seek shelter for them and protect her from the Gaelic dudes, but what's poor Alan gonna do with two sickies on his hands? Just seemed like an odd thing for Koenig to do given the circumstances. I mean, a little pat or a peck on the cheek maybe, but he practically sucks her lips off.

I just took that scene as Koenig's way of telling Helena he loved her and didn't want to live without her. Like, "if you're worm meat, babe, I'm worm meat with ya." (Well, maybe not in those exact terms, but you get the idea). I guess he figured Alan could take care of himself.

Freddie Jones who was the controller on Earth was also in the fantasy film 'Krull' from the mid 80's.
All in all I don't think this was a bad episode, but being from Scotland I was almost screaming 'Bannockburn' when Koenig, Carter and Helena were trying to guess the historical significance of the year 1314.

Speaking of worm meat, wasn't Freddie Jones also in Dune?

Yes he was, as Thufir Hawat, the Atreides mentat. Don't know how I missed that, considering I've got Dune on video.

I don't get why the Alphans, including Maya seem awestruck at their first sight of Earth as it was then. Those domed cities with desert like surroundings don't exactly look the most pleasant or welcoming places to live.

The Time-Warner novelization of "Journey To Where" (#6: The Edge of the Infinite) states that Logan looked up the relevant baseball stats on his computer, so he wasn't a fan of archaic, outlawed sports.

...So you've got giant, artificial, sterile-looking cities, chicks in funky white wigs, a planet you've destroyed with pollution, and baseball HAS BEEN OUTLAWED??? Good Lord, what else - is all the beer served warm? Have all the pizzerias been put out of business? Is there nothing but single-ply toilet tissue? Thanks anyway, but to quote that certain Oscar-worthy Oriental chick, Yasko, "I'd rather take my chances in space."

One thing the folks in Texas City never indicate is how they found the Moon. After all its been thru a black sun, several space warps, and who knows what other time/space displacement phenonina.

The script actually says that competitive sports were abandoned in 2026, not banned. Perhaps the people of that pollution afflicted era were too busy to play.

Its interesting that one of the megacities is in Texas, while another purportedly covers the entire Eastern Seaboard of what had been the US. The East Coast and Texas are the locations of two of the Megacities in the longrunning British comic series Judge Dredd, which began a couple of years after this episode first aired. Domed cities are of course a longrunning staple of science fiction, but the timing in relation to 1999, as well as Logan's Run, which also came out in '76, makes you wonder.(FYI apparently some of Logan's Run was filmed at an arena in Texas.)

Maya states that it will be 100 years before Texas City can contact the Moon again because of the upcoming "galatic eclipse." Apparently 100 years don't pass on Earth during the next few years of Alpha time that year two shows us, altho' to be fair Maya doesn't say whether thats 100 years Earth time or Alpha time.

You'd think that in the time remaining after Koenig and co. are rescued from Medevel Scotland Texas City could have at least sent them some supplies of some sort.

I thought the script said they only had a few minutes left. I figure by the time medical checks over the three and gets Helena to sickbay, their time is just about up...

Of course, Tony and the others in command center could have had them send up some goodies once they got the gizmo fixed, but they were too busy watching Yasko slaughter her lines.

"Well, they had to buy all that neat orange plastic dinnerware, so they probably couldn't afford it.
Was orange Freiberger's favorite color or something? In year 1 they had orange space suits, which was o.k., but in year 2 it seemed EVERYTHING was orange -- the dinnerware, the walls, the makeup. Good thing they didn't allow kids on Alpha, all that bright orange would have given a baby colic..."


The futures bright...the futures Orange.

so, Doug, help me out here....is this Bannockburn event important? What was it?

Well the Battle of Bannockburn was when Scotland gained independence from English occupation. And before anyone says that Scotland isn't independent anymore, it's a bit different.

Edward I, King of England was NOT a nice guy. If you want a slightly hollywoodised version of the time, look at the film Braveheart.

ok, got it, Edward sure didnt look very friendly in the movie! thanks...

Here's some more links to the proper events

http://www.braveheart.co.uk/macbrave/history/bruce/bannock.htm

http://www.braveheart.co.uk/macbrave/history/bruce/banseq.htm

For the conspiracy theorists among you there is a rumour that there was a mysterious, hence unacountted force of armoured horsemen. This is one thing that Braveheart the film did get correct, the fact that Scotlands army was largely drawn from the peasantry and had no real heavy cavalry. In contrast Englands was one of the few professional armies. The rumour is that this mysterious force of horsemen were Templars, resident in Scotland at the time of the disgrace of their order which is a story all in itself.

I lived in Texas when this episode was first aired. The total inaccuracy of the topography of the Texas City area was a real hoot! Those accents too!

Finally, a decent episode. But a few nits:

How did Alpha respond in the beginning of the episode if the technology to communicate in this matter wasn't invented in 1999? They had no machinery to respond.

Since when is Alpha germ free?

What's the deal with the time warp with respect to Earth time? When did this occur? The moon isn't traveling close to the speed of light, is it?

Something I forgot:

I think the geological damage caused by the Moon breaking away from Earth would have caused more problems for life on Earth than pollution would.

As for the time difference between Earth and the moon, the beginning of THE METAMORPH states the moon has been through another space warp (handy excuses to cover a wide range of scientific impossibilities!).

It doesn't seem possible for Alpha to be germ free since so many bacteria live inside and on the human body itself. Every Alphan would have to undergo some drastic measures to take care of that ( which would seem unlikely since most don't pose a significant health threat).

This ep does feature many nice character moments, but it also introduces the first of many lame Tony "Beer" jokes.

it turns out that the episode was only off by about six years, it only the Red Soxs four games and not seven games to beat the Cardinals.

SFX Comments:
Time has not been kind to this episode. The effects scenes of Texas City look very dated. Texas City resembles the sort of miniature cityscapes seen in 1960's Italian scifi films (or less flatteringly, like some of the miniature cities from 70s Saturday morning shows such as "The Lost Saucer" and "Far-Out Space Nuts"). It's hard for a miniature to look convincing with plastic bubble tops and disco lights. The same red disco lights on the models are shown on the live action set for the interior (further giving away the scale of Texas City model). To be fair, though, I thought the scenes of Texas City were quite impressive as a kid.

The control room of Texas City features some very cheesy viewscreens. The images on the clear panels are obviously just reflections from television monitors. This has dated particularly badly. Most modern scifi shows also feature some sort of control room (on ships, bases, etc.) with clear panel monitors. Now, elaborate computer graphics are the norm to depict the images on the screen. This episode's version really does look like the prehistoric version of such a monitor. Considering when this was made (1976), that can be forgiven though. The main nit about the clear panel monitors is that the Texans seem to be reading off information that clearly isn't posted on the screens.

The lifesign monitor watches worn by the Alphans are let down by one shot which reveals that the flashing colored "lights" are just wrinkled front projection material pasted onto the prop watches.

This episode is also let down by some of the music played during the fight and action scenes. It's incredibly bad. Not some of Derek Wadsworth's best work.

Those domes were in fact reused from Mission of the Darians ship. And the device they send as a "test package" is Last Sunset's probe but painted in red (orange?).

Overall speaking its a very poor episode. It's not one of the worst because we have some really bad ones on S2 (FF triology, Brian, Glisters, Taybore, etc), but it's a boring suckorama.

It's an episode that had some potential, but like so many Season 2 episodes, that potential wasn't realised.

...the beer jokes are sooooo weak. Anyone can make beer at home, but Earth's best spacefaring lab and scientists cant fermet some hops?

...the mind boggles. slightly.

The 'tony beer jokes' were cringeworthy, and in fact the character of Tony was nearly as irritating as Wesley Crusher or Jar Jar Binks.

yes, incompetent AND annoying. If you are going to be one, don't be the other.

I found myself wondering just what exactly was in that 'test package' the alphans sent back to Earth. Its purpose, as I recall, was to monitor heart, temperature and breathing levels during transport. Would a mechanical device would be able to fulfill this function? Might it explain why two doctors (Helena and Ben)are seen prparing the capsule, and no technicians in sight? Animal organs are my best guess, though to some viewers this might have been a creepy thing to mention in the episode.

"What's the deal with the time warp with respect to Earth time? When did this occur? The moon isn't traveling close to the speed of light, is it?"

Apparently, all the space warps the Moon has gone through is the reason why centuries have passed on Earth.

Bearing that in mind, if the Moon goes through another warp, could they emerge at a point after the eclipse has ended and re-establish contact with Earth? Of course, this is never brought up in future episodes.

I read somewhere that the writers of this episode wanted actors who knew gaelic for the scenes in 14th Century Scotland. They wanted to be accurate. Of course, they never bother to explain why aliens, who have never seen or been to Earth, speak perfect English!

Aliens?

I was particularly amazed that Dr. Russell was able to coach the boys into producing an effective antiviral drug from the first bit of fungus she noticed clinging to a cave wall. That, and the the notion that it was all the rage in medieval Scotland to burn plague victims alive INDOORS.

At least they had a nice, poxy harridan to leer into the camera - very atmospheric.

I'm not sure if I asked this elsewhere, but was the Moonbase Alpha model lost or destroyed between seasons? I seem to remember in this episode in particular, that still shot of Alpha behind the test area seemed out-of-perspective somehow, and I found trhat really distracting.

What kind of civilization has Earth developed where they can communicate over millions of miles (or light years), build immense evelated cities, create matter transmit systems, and re-create awesome 17th century wigs for the ladies, but they can't conquer pollution? Talk about a problem with priorities!

It was good to see Koenig and Alan's uniforms again, minus those jackets. It brought back memories of Season 1. And what a waste to even clothe actors in the original uniforms, only to swallow them up beneath jackets.

By the way, Alan was wearing a red jacket in this episode, but he was wearing a green one (as was Tony) in 'The Dorcons'. Why? Don't the various colors mean anything, such as rank and/or department?

What in the late, great king of the cosmos Carl Sagan is a 'galactic eclipse'?????

I think Koenig should be in a hurry to get to medical center, because any minute now he's going to contract the same illness as Helena had, thanks to that big kiss they shared. After all, only Helena ate the fungus.

Earth has technology that allows instant communication with Alpha, light years away.

However, Alpha has no such technology. Shouldn't they reply take decades to reach Earth?

If you think the Alphans didn't influence history in this, you might want to reconsider. I'll bet that the villagers probably thought, "So, fire DOES kill off people infected with the plague! In fact, it makes them burn up in just a couple minutes! Awright! Let's set fire to more people we think have the plague!"
It occurred to me that Maya might have been the more at home at New Texas City than the Alphans, considering the advanced technology there. Not on par with her own Psychon technology, but 120 years beyond poor old low-tech Moonbase Alpha.
Someone above mentioned that life on this Earth wouldn't be so great, but at least you'd be living on a planet with numerous huge cities, as opposed to a base carved inside the rock of a wandering Moon, unsure of where you're going or how long you'll have before you're rescued or find a suitable planet.

This was just a bad episode.

You can see why most 1999 fans, me among them, consider the first season the superior one.

No argument here from me about that, Tim. Season 1 is the 'real' 1999.
I've just been catching up on season 2, because I've been in the mood to watch the more 'comic book-like' version of 1999.
But I miss the higher-thought scripts and the cool Barry Gray music when I watch season 2.
And Victor Bergman.
And Paul.
And Kano.
And Main Mission.
And NO Yasko!