I noticed that, in the book version of this episode, it is Maya and TONY that are left on the planet alone together. Was this from the original script? If so then they committed a "Shatnerism"--giving the juicy role to the lead rather than letting a secondary character shine for a change.

Because of the production crunch of the second season, a lot of the regular actors weren't availible for certain eisodes. The original script may have called for Tony Verdeschi to be in this episode, but the actor Tony Anholt may not have been availible, so they had to give his part to Koenig.

Fred Freiberger? No wonder the second season of 1999 reminds me of the very worst 3rd season Trek episodes.

This just wasn't a very well thought-out episode. How do a bunch of trees make a planet disappear? How do they take over Koenig's comlock? Why can't Maya transform into another smaller animal? How do they swim across a river and not get wet? Why doesn't that Bird-Face alien's club disappear the third time? Why is there never mention before or after of this wife Koenig still obviously grieves for? And the wonderful world that he describes is hardly realized in some of the petty bureaucrats (Simmonds, Dixon) from season 1, or the dangerous mutineers from Season 2 (Sanderson, Osgood). Also, if this was such a wonderful new civilization, how could they, after surviving and coming together after a devastating world war, go on to decimate the natural resources of their planet (as evidenced in Journey to Where)? You'd think after creating this world-wide feel-good thing, they'd band together to protect the Earth instead of destroying it with pollution. This ep just screams "Freddy!" Anybody who'd take the name of an episode from a road sign is about 3 sandwiches short of a picnic anyway.

I remember thinking this wasn't a bad episode, in 1979, when I was eight years old. Now, it's the sort of episode that Trek fanatics like to show, to others, to show that 'their' programme is far superior. This is while failing to mention that the guy who wrote this episode that they're slagging off, was the producer for year 3 of the original Star Trek. Rather amusing, in a sad sort of way.

Never seen this one, but have read plenty about it. As to all the listed errors and inconsistencies, they can be answered in one word--Frieberger! Let's see, he ruined Trek, tampered with 1999, and the last I heard of him, he was producing the short-lived Superboy series. I had high hopes for that show, but when F.F.'s name appeared on the screen I all but turned the set off. And, my gut instinct turned out to be correct, too! S-boy tanked after two actor changes and incoherent plots that bore no resemblance to the comic character. Don't let this man produce again!

There's only one scene in this episode that I like...the part where Koenig and Maya are discussing their old lives. I get a little choked up when Koenig starts talking about his wife, especially since I lost someone close to me in a similar way (not a nuclear explosion obviously, but in a war). And the way he struggles for words and then describes her as being "like Helena." Is very effective. The love he feels for Helena really shines through in this episode. Of course, then it's back to talking trees and bad monster suits. That's why I think so many people have a hard time liking Space:1999 - despite moments like the one I described, there's so much other rotten stuff. Kind of like finding a diamond in a pile of horse •••• -- it's tempting, but do you really want to dig for it?

Oh Freddy, Freddy, Freddy... I said it before and I'll say it again, he must've (correctly?) assumed he was making a children's show, so his story editing/writing reflects a juvenile sensibility.

I like that scene too Alex...I think it's very moving the way Koenig tries to describe his beloved late wife and the joy he clearly feels at having a new, loving relationship with Helena. Too bad they didn't flesh out the characters a little more earlier to include remembrances of these family members. A little background would have been appreciated.

OK, I've arrived on an unexplored and aparently uninhabited planet. I realize time is of the essence and I need to make some quick decisions about whether or not my people can colonize this world. Oh, what the heck, I'll just forego any tests and pop an alien fruit into my mouth! MMM!
Yikes, what an episode. Ranks right down there with The Taybor.

And not only that, let's explore the WHOLE PLACE with just two people. Now that's economy for ya!

As Freddie you-know-who was involved in this episode, a thought occurs to me. Was this a go at doing the "1999" version of Star Trek's Arena? A couple of years later, Blake's 7 would do a similar story with "Duel".

Ever read the short story upon which Star Trek's "Arena" was based? Many years ago, Starlog magazine printed it; I thought it was fairly entertaining, though quite different from ST's version of it. I never made the S:99 connection, but that's a good observation!

As for this episode, if the plants were the dominnant life forms, why would there be a skeleton of a HUGE creature entwined in a patch of vines? I would expect that any indigenous animal life, if any were present at all, would be fairly tiny due to competition from the plants.

Gene Coon's adaptation of "Arena" for Star Trek was actually an unintentional subconcious plagerism. When someone reminded him of the "Arena" short story he realized that he'd read it long ago and had unthinkingly based his story on it even down to the title. He had to hurriedly secure the rights. One thing in the Trek story that isn't in the original is Kirk refusing to kill the gorn and impressing the race of superbeings with his mercy. This scene is of course completely stolen to give "The Rules Of Luton" the exact same ending, the two scenes are almost identical.
One saving grace of this otherwise silly episode is the nice long bit of dialogue between Koenig and Maya in which she reminisces about her Psychon family and he about his dead wife ("She was like Helena.") One of the best scenes in the series from one of the worst episodes.

I like that scene, too Todd. Especially Koenig's part about the war and his wife. One thing that bothered me about the scene was Koenig's description of the world-wide peace, love n' harmony thing. I think it would have been better if he'd just left it with "that was the last world war, and people tried to live together more peaceably." Maybe he could have even mentioned Alpha being built as a collaborative effort between nations. But prejudice wiped out? Come on. Simmonds, Sanderson, that freaky little Carolyn Powell - they don't seem like people who came from a civilization that had wiped out hatred.

And once again we have proof (with the peace speech) that Series 2 virtually ignores Series 1...the world as set up in S1 just didn't seem like the one Koenig mentions in this episode, where humanity had learned from its mistakes (especially given that the war was supposed to have occured in the 1980's).
Still, as much as I disliked this ep, I agree this was a good character-driven scene. If I treat each season as separate series, it becomes even better.

Yes, I agree this is incompatible with the earth seen in "Breakaway" (and the earth seen in "Journey To Where" for that matter) . . . it's a totally Star Trek view of the universe.

Koenig seems to be worried about Maya being crushed by the cage her bird-form is trapped in. It seems that she's in no danger, that when she returned to human form she would tear that flimsy little cage to shreds.

The talk about Koenig and Mayas respective pasts were good, unfortunately that doesn't save the rest of this episode from being a stinker. If Freddies stuff could only have been more like the Maya/Koenig dialogue rather than goofy aliens he might not have been so bad.

It seems thst the "Curse Of Freiberger" has Struck Again ! Martin Landau, in the latest edition of Dreamwatch Magazine, stated in a interview that he sometimes had to work all night with the Script Editor, Johnny Byrne, to rewrite some of the scripts, as some were truly DIRE!
Apparently, the title comes from Freiberger seeing a roadsign, which showed the distance from the studio to the town of Luton,
Old ad tag line "Were you truly wafted here from Paradise ?" "Nah, Luton Airport!"

Yeah, naming the planet Luton was the equivalent of an English writer working in the US calling an episode "The Rules of Hoboken" because he liked the way the name looked.

At the start of the episode, when Koenig and Maya are being yelled at by a disembodied voice, it calls them "Murderers and Cannibals" for eating berries. Surely a cannibal eats his own species?

Now, now. "Cannibals" sounds so much more effective than "Herbivores!"

Of course, it could just be a matter of perspective.

...given Freiberger's infamous writing "talent", it's a wonder the line wasn't "Berry Butchers!"

HA! That sounds about right.
Hmm... That wouldn't refer to Blue Berry, who posts to many other boards at NitCentral, would it? (That's a joke, people!)

Actually, Frieberger's scripts for other genres (detective, western tv, etc.) are pretty decent, it's just in sci-fi that he seemed to be out of his element.

Where did the bad guys get the cage they trap Maya in from? Did the judges of Luton provide it for them? If so, isn't that unfair since Koenig and Maya have to manufacture all their own weapons and 0equipment from the natural reasources?

The chicken wire--erm, I mean metal mesh--came from one of the aliens' outfits; he pulled it off of his torso area, IIRC. (It's been a while since I saw this ep, and I vowed never to watch it again, unless we're doing MST3K night or something.)
You could say it's a parallel to Koenig using his jacket belt to make the bolos.

Red means DEATH!

'How do a bunch of trees make a planet disappear?'

(From BarbF in 1999!)

Quote of the year! LOL

Two issues;
D.K.Henderson mentioned back in February '99 that the show committed a 'Shatnerism' by giving Tony's part to Martin Landau, denying a chance for a 'secondary character to shine for a change'.
Season 2 is filled with epiusodes that allowed Anholt's character and also Tate's character to shine. Season 1 also had one-time character's as the center of attention, whether attacked or taken over by aliens, so I don't see a problem with Landau getting this part, especially since we got to learn a little more about his past.
Secondly, Douglas Nicol said on September 5, '99;
'It's the sort of episode that Trek fanatics like to show to others to show that 'their' programme is far superior. This is while failing to mention that the guy who wrote this episode that they're slagging off was the producer for year 3 or the original Star Trek. Rather amusing, in a sad sort of way'.
I'm afraid your smugness is misplaced, Douglas, as the vast majority of Trek fans would rather have a root canal than defend ol' Freddie Freiberger. It's like you having a really bad, unlikeable teacher, and saying that I had that same teacher and would defend him. Uh-uh. Freiberger was one of the worst things to happen to Trek, and fans would probably jettison half of the season 3 episodes into the sun in exchange for 12 better episodes.
If there's anyone that should be smug it's Trek fans who could have told their 1999 counterparts when it's second season started; 'You'll-be-sorrrrryyy!!!'

I didn't say Matt that Trek fans didn't get Freiberger and and they defended him, its just the basic principle. I suppose when belittling one show and defending another it is normal for particular episodes to be shown as examples of 'good' and 'bad' TV, so apologies if I come across as smug, I DID get a bit tired of some of the more fanatical Trek fans that would compare each and every sci fi show to Star Trek, though I realise this is just a small part of the fandom.

Matt's point about a secondary character being 'the lead' is fair enough. There was one episode where Tony was in charge of the Moonbase while Maya and Koenig were battling through a particle storm. IIRC, that episode was 'Dorzak'.

My point, back in '99, (how time flies!)was that the novelization, presumably based on the script, had Tony in the lead role. I would like to know if he was originally intended to be the lead, and the Powers That Be later swapped him for Koenig? This would be the "Shatnerism".

It's entirely possible that the novelist thought that it would be more romantic to have Tony and Maya alone together, and arbitrarily changed the storyline.

the scene at the end where the "chattering" flowers are threatening an uprising against the trees is a classic ... a classic piece of schlock!!!

Again, Matt, if you still visit here, Series 3 of Trek did have some good episodes. For The World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky being a good example.

This episode however is awful. In my mind the only thing about it that is redeeming is the bit of background we get to Koenig and the 'moment' between him and Maya. Both of them have lost someone very dear to them and he can relate to her.

...and let's not forget Trek's third season (intellectual) equivalent of Luton - "Spock's Brain" with the Spock zombie and some chick in go-go boots babbling about not knowing what a brain is!

I'm fascinated with the plant society depicted in this story. A hierarchy clearly exists with trees at the top, flowers in the middle, and vines on the bottom. The vines are forced to perform the menial tasks such as capturing criminals. The trees clearly possess upper crust accents. The flowers quickness to voice dissent with the trees suggests a prior resentment with the trees. Perhaps, the flowers were mad at the trees for blocking out thier sunlight.

Some interesting thoughts. However, as Barb F pointed out, how do trees make a planet disappear?

The Rules of Luton brings back the use of the mysterious unknown force. Remember the disappearing Eagle from 'The Back Sun', this planet disappears through a similar method. I believe the same Black Sun Entity is at work here. This planet is her pristine Garden of Eden, which she protects from invaders. Further biblical references include the berry bushes. They were froced to assume the role of sacrificial lamb in this lovely story.

Now I understand. So 'The Rules of Luton' is a sort of sequel to 'The Black Sun'. These two stories did share a similar mix of metaphysics and lovely character moments.

I was wondering if Mr. Woodgrove wrote this story because he had a special affinity for plant life.

I believe Mr.Woodgrove holds dear a Buddist belief of respect for all forms of life.

All this talk of plants rebelling against other plants reminds me of a Rush song...

What song? "Ode to Freddie's lousy scriptwriting"?

"The Trees," off of Hemispheres. Rush drummer/lyricist Neil Peart was big on Ayn Rand in those days and its generally taken as some sort of Rand inspired parable. But could it be he was actually thinking of "The Rules of Luton" when he wrote the lyrics?

"There is unrest in the forest..."
Hey, tim, glad someone knew what I was referring to!
The Rush tune could just be an ironic song about logging, too. (Spoiler alert for those who'd like to hear the song first...) "Now there's no more Oak oppression, For they passed a noble law, And the trees are all kept equal, By hatchet, axe and saw..." (Musical spoiler ended.)
As for Peart thinking of "TRoL," I suppose it's a possibility, since Hemispheres came out in 1978.
If this thread keeps going, we'll have to move over to the music boards!

We also have talking trees on our island. Then again, we smoke a lot of magic mushrooms!

There's a whole topic on the music board devoted to rock songs with a sci-fi theme. There are a few rush songs listed there.

If you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you like to be?

A mighty oak.

One of the judges of Luton. I'm impressed by their leadership qualities.

Hmmm...is this a trick question about my wooden acting?

Mate, I'd say a Eucalyptus Tree...with a fat Koala munching on my leaves!

I've been a tree twice...an orange tree in the grove of Psyche (my daddy likes oranges) and a tree on an Eagle (the Commander needed air).

With the strict food rationing on Alpha, wouldn't an orange tree be more useful?

Surely, since most of hydroponics is taken up by hops for Tony's beer!

And Yasko, how about you? What kind of tree would you like to be?

You ask tough questions...a Banzai Tree of course! Hee Hee (you talk funny just like Brian the Brain!).

That's "Bonsai" tree, you funny talker, you.

Talking about trees....

Oh..I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay
I sleep all night and I work all day...

I bet these tree just hate the Kreetassians from Enterprise.

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas.

Take off, to the Great White North!

Plant a tree, oh plant a tree...

Hi, I'm Euell Gibbon. Did you know the bark of a hickory tree was edible?

That old fart couldn't have thought of a better way to get fiber?

On Luton, Mr. Gibbons would have been a cannibal! Murderer!

I feel neglected. So much talk of trees, yet no one says "What nice Bonsai trees Yasko grows!". I guess only Taybor appreciates my little treasures!

The Rules of Luton stands out as a sore point for many. It's a dumb story. Three things good about it include the previously mentioned character information on Koenig and Maya, the refueling Eagle, and the 'transporting' effect of Alien Transport. That was one of the more elaborate optical effects presented in the series.

As ridiculous as Lost in Space's "Great Vegetable Rebellion" is at least its talking plants are depicted as being hybrid combinations of plant and animal. "The Rules of Luton" presents ordinary trees and vines as being able to talk and move (or should I say vines being pulled by visible strings).

Some fools want an overly literal story. This is a story of beautiful IDEAS.

But even the best ideas can get lost if poorly presented...

What is a good presentation? Watching some man with a weapon murderering?

No.

Rose, if you look at some of the views on this episode you'll see that the parts most people appreciate are the parts where Koenig tells Maya about the death of his wife and what happened to Earth, in my opinion, this is him showing a more personal private side, and bears little resemblance to any macho posturing.

The rest of the episode itself is pretty much trash, with some decent ideas poorly presented.

Talking trees...one of the Trek novels features talking trees. Diane Duane's often hilarious "Doctor's Orders" feature a visit to a planet named Flyspeck (by the Federation). Dr. McCoy gets cranky about the captain's orders, so Kirk leaves him in command and goes down to the planet. Kirk discovers that the trees are intelligent and starts communicating with him. Unlike the Lutonian losers, these trees are actually friendly, and, after the expected miscues of communication and understanding, starts having a great relationship with them (like the Hortas of Devin in the Dark). However, Kirk's chats, while taking a short time for him, take several days shiptime. So, everyone is freaking out, and some admiral shows up to find Kirk. I don't remember specifically if the planet joins the Federation, but I think they'd be great members. (Can you imagine a 6 foot tall tree on starship duty? Better than the Great Veggie Rebellion on Lost in Space! LOL)

Although I've never seen it mentioned, one thing that bugged me (as a kid) in the original Star Trek was the talking rabbit in "Shore Leave". I thought it was ridiculous then, and I still cringe when I see it (yes, I know it was supposed to be a reference to "Alice in Wonderland").

But at least the rabbit was a robot. Robot Rabbit to the rescue! Meet the new security chief, Robot Rabbit. He can shoot you with his phaser or do a powerful ninja kangaroo kick on you!

Is it possible Freiberger meant this story as a parable along the lines of "Charlotte's Web". Plants,as with farm animals, obviously can't talk, but were they meant to convey a point in the style of old Trek...a society was depicted in a manner as to not offend viewers. The conflict presented within the story reveals some moral truth.
In classic Trek, issues such as Vietnam ( A Private Little War) and race relations (the one with Frank Gorshin) were presented in a somewhat absurd manner as to not offend. Although I don't see any profound issues discussed in "Rules of Luton", it does reveal a positive humanistic outlook in the mention of the rebuilding of a post-war world. In another words, a classic Trek view. Did working on Trek affect Frieberger in his treatment of stories?

That's an interesting possibility. I don't think I'd wager on it, but very fascinating... You could probably see a 'message' in the story about how mankind treats nature....

One poster suggested not taking this story literally. Maybe that's a good way to make this awful episode more bearable.

I felt sorry for director Val Guest (director of one of my favorite films as a kid,"When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth") being handed this mess of a script to direct.
Maybe as a consulation prize (just kidding), Freiberger later handed Guest the script for "A B Chrysallis" which turned into one of Year Two's best episodes.

FLOWER POWER!!!

TULIPS, DAISIES, DAFFODILS UNITE!

UPRISING!!!

Why, oh why do they ridicule Mr. Freiberger's scripts?

That's Mr. Woodgrove to you!

I just realised something. This is an episode about plants and Freiberger's psudonym refers to plants: "Wood" and "grove". I wonder if that was intentional.

Mr. Freiberger could have used another psudonym; "Sir Irwin Allen Wood" (as in Ed Wood).

And, Ed Wood directed Plan Nine From Outer Space....
And, Bela Lugosi was in that film...
And, in the biopic Ed Wood starring Johnny Depp as the infamous director....
Martin Landau played Bela Lugosi!

Six Degrees of Ed Wood!

All roads lead to Luton!

Not if the whole place disappears they don't!

How do trees make a planet disappear?

Because then you can't see the planet for the trees?

No dissertation on "Freibergian" physics?

Don't forget Dr. McCoy's little hand-held scanner...the Feinberger...what are Feinbergian physics?

Didn't one of the Trek shows call something a "Zimmerman" in tribute to the production designer?

Yeah, that's right. Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, played by the same actor (Robert Picardo) who is the holographic doctor. Zimmerman's an engineer; he was in a DS9 story and a few VOY tales.

B5 also did the same with the episode 'Exogenesis'. Dr Franklin allegedly had a 'Copeland J500 Medical Scanner' in a nod to one of the producers John Copeland.

Oh boy, bad 70's Sci Fi. I'm glad others noted the Arena connection.

I loved the sound of the two styrofoam rocks hitting each other too.

Since when did Maya have a brother, and since when can she only hold a form for 1 hour? Is this the first it has been mentioned?

My wife made this comment in the beginning - why doesn't Maya morph into something bigger than the rubber-suited aliens and whomp them? Granted, she is always the Deus Ex Machina plot device, but this seems obvious from the start. It would have been a short episode though.

Somebody get Sondra back, PLEASE!!! To quote the Comic Book Guy, Yasko is "the worst actress ever!"

The one good thing was the discussion about Koenig's wife. I'm glad we missed that 1987 war. I do find it hard to believe that things would change so quickly that would give humanity time to build an international moon base. Do we know what type of government Earth has in the 1999 universe?

Another nit:
When Koenig and Maya inspect the skeletal remains of an animal, Koenig remarks that he hasn't seen any other animal life on the planet (aside from his alien opponents). He obviously isn't very observant. In quite a few shots, insect are seen flying around. They're certainly animals.

Perhaps, Freddie in his infinite wisdom, reasoned that the Rulers would allow some animals to live; insects play a very important part in pollinating some plant species.

hands down, the stupidest script Fatal Fred ever pushed on an unsuspecting public. Beta Cloud and the Thirsty Rock Ep are close.....

dont forget to buy at Amazon: Freiberger, F. "How to Kill a SF Series in One Season or Your Money Back!"

The plants were jerks. I half expected the talking trees to tell Koening and Maya to 'make like a tree and leave'.

How did the plants make the planet vanish? Did they have some kind of cloaking device?

Apparently, in 1987, there was a terrible war that killed millions of people, including Koenig's wife. I don't seem to remember anything like that happening in 1987 (of course, I don't recall the Moon being blown out of Earth's orbit in 1999 either).

The surviving alien was played by David Jackson, who went on to star as Gan on Blake's 7.

Hey, Freddie, pronouncing the planet as LOO-TAN is not going to make the name sound more alien!

There's a rural road near me that has a "Luton Drive" branching off from it. I can't drive past it without thinking of this episode.

As long as there are no silly monsters there

I remember reading a story about this episode that said that Freiberger was driving about, saw a road sign that said 'Luton' and he liked the name so much that he wanted to use it as a planet name in 1999.
To anybody not from Britain, this was okay, but to the Brits it sounded weird to them, because everyone knew that there was a town called 'Luton'.

To everyone else, it would be like seeign an episiode called 'The Rules of Springfield' or 'The Rules of Ottawa'.

Planet Houston.

Points to anyone who gets that reference.

"As long as there are no silly monsters there :-)"



There -are- quite a number of trees.



-shudder-

Planet Houston.

Points to anyone who gets that reference.

Superman II.

That is what Zod and his fellow criminals think that Earth is called (because they overheard one of the astronauts they were attacking calling Houston for help).