Rudi Gernreich, a world name in fashion, was hired to design the uniforms for Moonbase Alpha. These costumes featured colour-coded left sleeves, differentiating the sections of Alpha in which their wearers were stationed. Black was Command, White was Medical, Flame (red) was Main Mission, Purple was Security, Yellow was Data, Orange was Reconnaissance and Brown was Technical. Professor Bergman did not have a coloured sleeve, which meant he was officially a Visitor to Moonbase Alpha. The flared trousers/bellbottoms clearly date Space: 1999 as being a product of the 1970s.
Barbara Bain recalls the origin of the costumes: ‘When we spoke about who would design the clothes for the series, Sylvia Anderson said that the only American designer she would be interested in approaching was Rudi Gernreich, so I said that he was a very dear, close friend … He was as much a philosopher as a dress designer and his thinking was reflected in the first meetings we had with him. There we were in 1973 talking about what people would be wearing in 1999, and Rudi said that people would be wearing armour and face masks. He thought that the world would become such a hostile place that we would encase ourselves in metal and cover our vulnerable parts. We thought about that, but we couldn’t do that for the show because we wouldn’t have been able to move and we couldn’t wrap our faces.’
Production designer Keith Wilson comments on the costumes: ‘I was told that we were going to have this guy from America to design the clothes and his name was Rudi Gernreich. His [claim] to fame was that he had designed the topless dress. I thought, “What the hell has that got to do with us?” It’s something I’ve always been very bitter about. Obviously, he got paid a huge amount of money to do one drawing, and all that credit … his name at the front, while I was still at the back. So I was very bitter about that … He came over with this one design that was universal. It had to fit everybody. Well, this is fine if you’ve got a beautiful body, but not all of our actors had beautiful bodies. I remember one particular occasion – we were shooting a particular sequence with an actor. He was very young, looked really good in costume, fresh young body … but he needed to wear something under it so it wouldn’t be obscene. I said to Sylvia, “What do we do? He looks great in costume, but we do have a slight problem.” And we had to go and tell him to go and put a jock strap on. Anyway, we had to put up with this costume, and I hated it from the word go. It hadn’t been thought out. It was this one quick little drawing. It looked beautiful on paper, but you put it on people and of course it never worked. When we came to do the second series we very quickly designed bits to go with it. We still had to use the original costume, but we added jackets and badges, anything just to jazz it up.’
Barry Morse was frequently known to talk about the costumes: ‘I felt there was far too much uniformity in the whole structure of the crew and the personnel, which was exemplified by that uniform we all wore. I suggested I not wear the same silly uniform we all eventually did wear – but, oh no, that idea didn’t go at all well! Gerry and Sylvia were terribly keen on those dreadful uniforms. That uniformity seeped through, it seemed to me, to everybody in the crew. It was very difficult to distinguish who we all were. What did Nick Tate’s character have about him that could distinguish him or mark him off from Prentis Hancock’s character, or Zienia Merton’s? Never mind me. I felt we were considerably lacking in individuality. I did, I remember, let my hair grow rather long, to indicate Victor had other things on his mind than getting his hair cut or taking care of his appearance. There had not been enough attention paid in the writing, or indeed in the production as a whole, to developing individual characters, which are ultimately the making of any successful dramatic series.’
Keith Wilson also commented on the distinctive orange space suits featured throughout the programme: ‘So much of the action in the series takes place against the stark black-and-white of the Moon’s surface that the suits have been designed to provide contrasting colour, also with the logical reason that those wearing them could be seen clearly.’
SETTING AND HARDWARE
Moonbase Alpha itself was a large and self-sustaining lunar colony constructed inside a crater. Built in the design of a wheel, with various sections radiating out from the central hub, the base is undoubtedly the single greatest defining element separating Space: 1999 from other space-faring science fiction shows in which the protagonists fly around in such ships as the USS Enterprise or the Battlestar Galactica. The design of Moonbase Alpha is at least partially a tribute to 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Moonbase Clavius. Buildings of essentially identical shapes make up both bases and, aside from Clavius appearing somewhat more complex and larger than Alpha, they could be the same place. Located in the central hub of the Alpha base was the command tower, and at its heart the vast Main Mission control room, which would be the most important set of Year One.
Brian Johnson discusses designing the exterior of the base: ‘I just imagined a colony on the Moon and visualised a sort of modular construction for the things – but being modular they could be expanded to whatever you wanted; you could take license with them. For Moonbase Alpha I imagined the control centre (Main Mission) would be in the middle and everything else would radiate out from that. I originally envisaged the whole thing being underground, but Gerry Anderson persuaded me that it wouldn’t be visually very exciting if we didn’t show something on the surface. So I added a lot more than I was originally going to, and we made it much bigger than the original. However, this also allowed us to put new areas into the show without anybody realising they weren’t there in the first place. If you have a small complex, people begin to orientate themselves around that, so when you suddenly come up with a new section they say, “Oh, they added that? Where did they get it from?” But our thing was so big, nobody knew where the hell they were anyway. It was like being in a city.’
Keith Wilson recalls his collaborative work with Brian Johnson on Moonbase Alpha: ‘I’ve known Brian Johnson for a long time. He started for Gerry Anderson at the same time that I did. His first series was Fireball XL5 too. He was [visual effects designer] Derek Meddings’ assistant. I’ve known Brian as long as I’ve been in the business. I knew what he could do and he knew what I could do. We were able to work very well together … When we came to do Moonbase Alpha, I said, “I want to do this style of modular building that will alter the shape of your model”. So, from that point of view, we worked very closely together. But he was at Bray Studios, and I was at Pinewood, so we saw very little of each other, in fact.’
Alpha’s power was produced through a combination of nuclear generators and solar batteries. Food was produced partially through hydroponics, while water and air were recycled. Transport around Alpha was via the Travel Tube, a Moonbase version of a rapid mass-transit system, which received detailed explanation in the 1973 Writer’s Guide.
Displaying more of Space: 1999’s inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alpha was equipped with the powerful, speaking X5 Computer, which became a virtual member of the cast. Known as Main Computer, it was often referred to by characters simply as ‘Computer’ – an entity rather than a piece of equipment. In the original drafts of scripts for early episodes such as ‘Black Sun’, Computer was substantially more interactive with other characters and involved in plotlines. Computer even watched the crew via cameras around the base. Looking at these scripts, one can clearly see how inspiration for Computer was derived from 2001’s HAL-9000. The original Writer’s Guide referred to it as ‘Central Computer’ and focused mostly on its technical aspects.
Moonbase Alpha was equipped with a fleet of Eagle spaceships, which were originally referred to in the Writer’s Guide as the MTU (Multiple Transportation Unit), and described as ‘a workhorse; thoroughly utilitarian spacecraft’. The Eagles are an all-purpose space shuttle/workhorse able to be equipped with a variety of six different service modules. These modules are:
Passenger module (standard on most Eagles)
Laboratory pod (seen in many episodes of both seasons, debuting in ‘Guardian of P
iri’)
VIP pod (seen only in the debut episode, ‘Breakaway’, and featuring orange sides)
Cargo platform (seen in ‘Breakaway’, carrying waste canisters.)
Winch pod (a Cargo pod, with the addition of a winch mechanism, seen in the episodes ‘Breakaway’ and ‘Missing Link’ with a magnetic grappler, and in ‘Space Brain’ with a physical grab)
Rescue pod (seen in ‘Earthbound’, ‘Missing Link’, ‘Space Brain’ and ‘Collision Course’, and featuring distinctive red stripes).
The Eagles served as transport for the Alphans around the Moon, into space and to new alien worlds. The image of the Eagle spacecraft has always been one of the most identifiable and popular features of Space: 1999, and the ships appeared in all but six episodes of the series. The Eagle is nothing less than an icon of science fiction spacecraft design.
Transport on the lunar surface (and occasionally on alien worlds) was afforded by the yellow Moon Buggy. Capable of operating with equal ease in the void of space or in atmospheric conditions, the Moon Buggy was usually crewed by two astronauts, but that number was flexible, and it could even be operated by remote control. The Moon Buggy was realised on screen through the use of no fewer than four different-scaled models. The life-size version was a modified Amphicat – a real-life 6x6 amphibious all-terrain vehicle.
Props for the series were diverse and unique, the most famous being the Commlock and the Stun Gun, both created by Keith Wilson. The Commlock (referred to in the Writer’s Guide by the temporary name ‘IDX’) is a dual communications and locking device worn on the belt by all personnel. It is equipped with a view screen for visual and audio two-way communications and (much like today’s remote keyless locking systems) operates on the push of a button to open doors. The Stun Gun, with its distinctive wrap-around configuration, is an unmistakable design element of the series. The Writer’s Guide introduces the gun as a TSLA, which stood for Tranquilliser, Stun, Laser, Atomic. It features different barrels from which various types of beams (such as stun or kill) would be produced, although this feature was not fully developed on screen in the episodes. Script consultant and writer Christopher Penfold has stated that he was against the concept of the Stun Gun: ‘I recall, very early on, having an absolutely passionate debate – lasting about two hours – about whether or not we should have such a thing as a Stun Gun. I was absolutely opposed to the notion of a Stun Gun.’ Among other props seen throughout the series was the laser rifle. Communications posts are also detailed in the Writer’s Guide, and remain virtually the same on-screen; a ubiquitous fixture in every area of Alpha.
Frequent mention is made throughout the series of life support systems, airlocks, recycling plants, power drains, fuel consumption, radiation sickness, gravity generators and explosive decompression – all examples of the thin line between survival and extinction for those human beings living in the vacuum of space. The Alphans did not take their situation, or their survival, for granted. In Space: 1999, space travel was as perilous as it has proven to be in the real world, and the technology of Moonbase Alpha largely remains a highly believable extension of our present day capabilities.
MUSIC
For a series produced on the monumental scale that Space: 1999 was, the musical score would prove to be of utmost importance. Long-time Gerry Anderson collaborator, classically-influenced composer Barry Gray, provided the majestic orchestral opening and closing themes, as well as scores for the specific episodes ‘Breakaway’, ‘Matter of Life and Death’, ‘Black Sun’ and ‘Another Time, Another Place’, which would go on being used throughout the remainder of Year One, re-arranged as required by music editor Alan Willis. Gray would also compose the primitive percussion tracks heard in ‘The Full Circle’. Artist Jim Sullivan composed and is seen on screen playing the sitar performance in ‘The Troubled Spirit’, while Willis himself worked with Vic Elms to compose music for ‘Ring around the Moon’. Elms (whose surname is actually spelt ‘Elmes’) had been a pop musician with the band Christie, who were well known for their number one hit ‘Yellow River’. He was married to Sylvia Anderson’s daughter Dee, which is how he became involved with Space: 1999. Elms performed the electric guitar solo on the title theme, as well as the guitar arrangment of the theme featured in ‘Matter of Life and Death’. He was to have scored ‘Ring around the Moon’ on his own, but because he was unable to read music or conduct an orchestra, the session musicians refused to work with him. Alan Willis took over, and in the end they created the score for ‘Ring around the Moon’ together. However, Elms wasn’t asked to perform or compose any further music for the series. Elms had also created the music for Gerry Anderson’s unscreened 1972 pilot The Investigator.
Throughout Year One, Willis made extensive use of music originally composed by Gray for previous Anderson productions, as well as library tracks by composers Tomaso Albinoni, Gustav Holst, Jack Arel and Roger Roger, and more. While some were magnificent classical pieces (Albinoni’s gorgeous Adagio in G Minor, heard in ‘Dragon’s Domain’ in an arrangement by Allain Lombard), others included electronic cacophonies (such as Experiments in Space – Dorado, composed by Robert Farnon, featured in ‘End of Eternity’) or were as simple as a few heart-wrenching notes played on piano (Dark Suspense No 1 by Beda Folten, as used in ‘The Infernal Machine’.)
Barry Gray recalled: ‘My involvement with each episode was very, very slight. Because of the [limited] music budget, they recorded only the minimum number of sessions for the series as were required by the musicians’ union. So the music editor used to lay music for different episodes either from music that we’d done before for other episodes, or he was allowed to call on library music when he was short of music. This is how the other pieces of music came into the series.’
The combined impact of the musical scoring and selections for Space: 1999 is inextricably connected to the success and emotional impact of the series. Unforgettable sequences – such as the journey of the Ultra Probe in ‘Dragon’s Domain’, the passage through the ‘Space Brain’, the survival ship leaving Alpha in ‘Black Sun’, or the battle sequences of ‘War Games’ – owe an incalculable degree of their success to the featured music. Whether poignant or powerful, light-hearted or terrifying, the soundtrack stands as one of the grandest in terms of scope and execution ever composed and compiled for a science fiction television series, and never ceases to impress.
THE DIRECTORS
The first 24 episodes of Space: 1999 were helmed by a roster of directors.
RAY AUSTIN, who directed six episodes, had formerly been a successful stuntman in both the UK and the US (where he worked on movies including Spartacus, Operation Petticoat, Have Gun Will Travel and Johnny Staccato.) As a director he oversaw episodes of The Saint, Department S, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Shirley’s World and UFO (of which he commented, ‘UFO never seemed real to me. It was theatrical as opposed to Space: 1999, which seemed more realistic.’) Austin had also directed such films as Oh, What a Lovely Way to Go, The Virgin Witches, Fun and Games and The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood.
CHARLES CRICHTON, who directed eight episodes, was a famed director of Ealing Studios films, including Dead of Night and Hue and Cry. He had also directed the celebrated Alec Guinness film The Lavender Hill Mob. In addition, he had experienced great success on television with such programmes as Danger Man (aka Secret Agent in the USA), The Avengers, Man In a Suitcase, Strange Report, The Protectors and Black Beauty. He directed more episodes of Space: 1999 (Year Two as well as Year One) than any other director.
LEE H KATZIN, who directed just two episodes at the beginning of Year One, was an American noted for his work on such films as The Salzburg Connection, Le Mans and What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? His television credits included episodes of The Wild Wild West, Mission: Impossible, The Mod Squad and Mannix.
DAVID TOMBLIN, who directed four episodes, had previously worked with the Andersons on UFO and The Protectors. He joined Space: 1999 as the replacement for Lee H Katzin when K
atzin was judged an unsuccessful match with the production. Tomblin had previously been writer, producer and director on The Prisoner, and had served as assistant director on such programmes as Invisible Man, Danger Man and One Step Beyond, and films including Night Must Fall, Murder Most Foul, A Warm December and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother.
BOB KELLETT, who directed three episodes, was well known as a director of comedy movies including Up Pompeii, Up The Chastity Belt, The Garnett Saga, Up The Front and Our Miss Fred. Kellett also had extensive experience as a documentary producer and director. He joined Space: 1999 as the replacement for David Tomblin while Tomblin was working with Stanley Kubrick on the film Barry Lyndon.
CONCEPTS
Space: 1999 began with the premise that modern scientific man is responsible for his own downfall. The blast that hurls the Moon out of Earth orbit is the fault of technology and our inability to control what we create. Throughout the series are examples of failed space missions from Earth that not only harm those aboard them (‘Death’s other Dominion’), but sometimes the alien civilisations they encounter (‘Voyager’s Return’).The original Writer’s Guide recognised the rather unique viewpoint that the Alphans were effectively an invading presence in the galaxy, stating, ‘The Moonbase will be left upon its own to survive, to seek a friendly planet to colonise, and to defend itself against other space-lives, for now they are invading aliens.’ (This perspective had also been acknowledged when the production team had considered Space Intruders as a title for the series.)
Destination: Moonbase Alpha Page 4