SPACE: 1999

    "Moonbase Alpha...
    Massive Nuclear Explosion...
    Moon Torn Out of Earth Orbit...
    Hurled into Outer Space..."

Space: 1999 was created by husband-and-wife movie and television producers Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, whose earlier work, first with electrically animated puppets, then with live actors, had been almost entirely science fiction or fantasy distributed world-wide by ITC Entertainment. Their most recognized work from the 1960s was the puppet television series, Thunderbirds, about a family that uses technology to rescue people in danger on Earth and in space, followed by the live-actors theatrical film, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, in which twenty-first century astronauts land on a planet in the same orbit around the Sun as Earth, and find a world that is a living mirror-image to the Earth from which they had departed. The Andersons' television efforts with live actors began with an ambitious 1969-70 series called UFO, involving a secret, high-technology defense organization that defends Earth from alien invaders. The most interesting episodes of UFO tended to be set on the defense organization's Moon base, and ITC Entertainment mogul Sir Lew Grade commissioned the Andersons to produce a new television series with the Moon as the central location and return to Earth made impossible. Space: 1999 was born.

The premise of the television series is that on September 13, 1999, huge amounts of nuclear wastes from Earth stored in silos on the Moon's far side explode with such force that the Moon's orbit around Earth is broken, and the Moon is hurled away from Earth for an uncontrolled flight through space. The crew of Moonbase Alpha, unable to return to Earth, must consider the self-sustaining Lunar colony their home as it drifts into areas of the universe previously unknown to man.

The idea that the Moon could be thrown from its orbit to drift at speeds allowing it to cross interstellar space in time periods of weeks or months is difficult and often impossible for many viewers to accept. The mass of the Moon is so large and its orbit around Earth so apparently firm and the force of a series of atomic explosions more likely to obliterate the Moon than blast it out of orbit, that the imaginations of many of even the most ardent science fiction buffs were challenged beyond their limit to stretch, despite the fact that the planet Pluto is credibly posited by scientists to have been a satellite of planet Neptune that broke away from Neptune and settled into an irregular orbit around the Sun. And then there is the difficulty that some people have of assimilating the prospect of such an event being caused by human error. Most people prefer to think of future, technological man as incapable of contributing to a disaster of such magnitude.

But there is an explanation, metaphysical though it may be, that is offered in two first season (1975-6) episodes, "Black Sun" and "Collision Course". The nuclear explosions that should have destroyed or at least fractured the Moon were by fluke of chance or perhaps by design of a deity or some spiritual force of metaphysical import, instead harnessed to blast the whole Moon out of Earth orbit and to act like a "gigantic rocket motor", propelling the Moon away from Earth at such a speed that evacuation from Moonbase was not feasible, requiring the Moonbase Alphans- or Alphans, for short- to remain on the Moon as it drifts through space, putting them in contact with various alien worlds and races. This explanation is raised in "Black Sun" by Alpha's senior scientist and resident philosopher, Prof. Victor Bergman (Barry Morse), and seemed to be affirmed by the aged alien Queen Arra in "Collision Course". The event of the Earth-orbit-breaking blast, though seemingly caused by human shortsightedness, ostensibly was destined to happen, manipulated by some "cosmic intelligence" to occur so that the Moon and its inhabitants could be physically separated from Earth, to foster a brave, new phase in man's existence and in the existence of other races, to act as an agent of a higher power by restoring life to dead planets, impressing upon- or attempting to impress upon- corrupt aliens a live-and-let-live and help-those-in-need moral code, and surviving peril after peril with bravery, fortitude, dignity, and hope.

With this explanation, scientific laws can be bent or overridden, to enable Moonbase Alpha to move about the cosmos to effect positive change. Whether the Mysterious Unknown Force (as the writers of first season episodes have called it) actually is God or a profoundly evolved alien intelligence somewhere in space intervening with purpose, or perhaps spiritually ascendant ancestors or kith of Earthman, is left to the people of Moonbase Alpha and thence the viewer to ponder and to postulate.

The episodic format of Space: 1999's first season is consistently that of a prologue, an orchestral, high-tempo opening sequence, four acts, an epilogue, and closing credits. Prologues vary in length from under two minutes ("Dragon's Domain") to close to seven ("Space Brain"), and usually where the prologue is long, so too is the first act. The main opening of the first season's episodes is routinely heralded by a building drum roll. In every case, the opening theme music, composed by Barry Gray, starts with a crash of cymbals, a blowing of trumpets, and Martin Landau and Barbara Bain standing alongside their names. The Space: 1999 logo is then shown atop Moonbase Alpha, with a blue planet in the Lunar sky, followed by a spinning tumble of an Eagle spaceship to the Lunar surface, where said Eagle explodes. Next is a series of super-speedy moving-image transitions with tantalizing glimpses of the events to come in the particular episode, intercut in two places with a screen-spanning "This Episode" card. Played over this is a guitar with an instrumental jazz background. With a return to symphonic music, Barry Morse's credit comes next, in the first four produced episodes accompanied by a spatial scene, and in the remaining twenty Season 1 entries presented with a view of a satisfied Bergman peering into his electronic-circuit-filled glass bubble, which he is shown to be constructing in "Ring Around the Moon". Sylvia and Gerry Anderson's names follow as, respectively, producer and executive producer, with more grand space scenes. Then it is back to rapid cuts as the explosion that breaks the Moon from its Earth orbit is intermixed with the September 13, 1999 date, before the opening title sequence ends.

Although Space: 1999 was produced for American television network broadcast, the at-that-time three U.S. television networks refused to purchase it, and ITC Entertainment chose to market Space: 1999 directly to individual television stations across the United States. Affiliates of U.S. television networks ran Space: 1999 in times of their own choosing, often preempting network television programs to provide Space: 1999 with prime-time exposure.

The 24 episodes of the first season ran with success in the 1975-6 television season in the U.S., Canada (not then on a full network basis), Britain (there only partially networked), and Australia, but not at the consistent level of success for which ITC Entertainment had hoped. Ratings were declining somewhat as curiosity viewers, unable or unwilling to appreciate the first season's contemplative stories or accept the idea of the Moon's transstellar odyssey, had "come, seen, and gone". ITC was never a company to fund long-term, big-budget television series. None of the Andersons' earlier television series ever lasted the equivalent of two full-length seasons, and Space: 1999 was the most ambitious ITC television series to that time. The desired U.S. network deal had not materialized, and Sir Lew Grade and his executives were wary of commissioning a second season for the same haphazard syndicated distribution.

Space: 1999 was quite popular with certain audiences, and there was a possibility of gaining new, loyal viewers if the television show in its second season were to "take into account" then-currently-extant criticisms of slow pace, depersonalizing Moonbase uniforms and sets, and minimalist characterization. Sylvia Anderson had separated from her husband and disassociated herself from his work. A new producer would be needed to assist Gerry Anderson if a second season of Space: 1999 were to go before the cameras, and so was there a decision by Anderson and the executives at ITC to hire Fred Freiberger, American producer of the third season of Star Trek (1966-9) and unfairly blamed for the in-1968-already-expected cancellation of Star Trek from U.S. network television, to retool Space: 1999 to appeal to more general audiences. Freiberger introduced an alien character, a sensuous female with the ability to transform herself into any living creature, made the relationships between characters less formal and more demonstrably affectionate, streamlined the sets for immediacy and intimacy, introduced turtlenecks, skirts, and jackets to the Alphan dress, and removed overt and extensive philosophical comment from epilogues, replacing it with humorous yet pithy banter among the characters about the experiences that they have just had.

The second season of Space: 1999 went into production in January, 1976. Some pairs of episodes were filmed simultaneously, with the television series' cast divided among the two stories. Despite the hastened pace of production in Season 2, the episodes successfully met the new standards applied by Freiberger and ITC's executives. The Moonbase characters were shown to be able to freely joke and laugh, teasing while clearly loving one another, and are willing to discuss their sometimes painful pasts with optimism for their current relationships.

Unlike other science fiction television series that have emphasized characterization to the exclusion of conceptual science fiction (i.e. speculations on space phenomena or on alien life or on the impact of space or of space phenomena on human minds or bodies), Season 2 of Space: 1999 consistently found a balance. There were science fiction or fantasy concepts in every episode, and when the ideas used were derivative, they were portrayed in original ways, in combination for the first time with other derivative ideas.

An opening title sequence, a hook, four acts, an epilogue, and closing credits comprise the episodic format of Space: 1999's second season. In this regard, except for the title sequence preceding the hook, which is opposite to the first season's use of prologue, it is alike with the format of the first season's episodes. Hooks vary in length from two minutes ("One Moment of Humanity") to five ("The Taybor", "Dorzak"), and sometimes ("All That Glisters", "The Taybor"), the first act is more than twice as long as the following three. With a jazzy, synthesized score superbly written by Derek Wadsworth, the opening sequence of every episode consists of a view of two planets moving toward the camera, scenes of the September 13, 1999 explosions, the Moon clearly leaving Earth's orbit, and a hypnotic montage of the Moon traveling through a nebulous space warp with Moonbase red alert graphics. The premise of the series is elucidated in text at the bottom of the screen during these scenes. Martin Landau as Koenig next spins around in his command chair and fires his stun gun, Barbara Bain is shown hurriedly leaving Life-Support Section, the Space: 1999 graphic moves gradually into the Lunar horizon above Moonbase Alpha, and metamorph Maya is seen through her eye selecting several life-forms into which to transform, before Catherine Schell as Maya appears inside the same eye alongside Schell's name. The opening title sequence then finishes with a scene of the spinning Moon and notation of "A Gerry Anderson Production".

Though mostly British and not instantly identifiable by name to North Americans, the guest stars on Space: 1999 were top-calibre, among them horror film icons Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, Joan Collins (Dynasty), Leo McKern (Rumpole of the Bailey), Ian McShane (Lovejoy, Dallas, Deadwood), Billie Whitelaw (The Omen, Frenzy), Brian Blessed (I, Claudius, Flash Gordon, Robin Hood- Prince of Thieves), Freddie Jones (Firefox, Cold Comfort Farm), Roy Dotrice (Beauty and the Beast, Amadeus), Julian Glover (The Empire Strikes Back, For Your Eyes Only, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), Jeremy Kemp (The Winds of War), Patrick Troughton (Doctor Who), Stuart Damon (The Champions, General Hospital), Sarah Douglas (Superman II, V), Bernard Cribbins (Fawlty Towers), and Lynne Frederick (Nicholas and Alexandra, Phase IV, and last wife of Peter Sellers).

Below is a complete Space: 1999 episode guide.

Technician Anton Zoref (Ian McShane) is targeted to be a catalyst in a blue-light alien force's quest for energy in "Force of Life".

Season 1

"Breakaway"
Moonbase Alpha is the hub of World Space Commission Earth's ambitious deep space expedition, a manned probe of an
atmosphere-endowed planet discovered within Earth's solar system and emitting an enigmatic radio signal. The W.S.C.
assigns to the planet the name of Meta. Preparations for the Meta Probe are hampered by an illness afflicting the
astronauts chosen and extensively trained for the trek to the world beyond. Monitoring personnel at Nuclear Waste
Disposal Area Two (to where atomic refuse from Earth is brought for permanent storage) on the Moon's far side also exhibit
the symptoms (glazed eyes, skin abrasions, mania, fever, and coma) of the disease that is invariably fatal. Radiation
sickness is the diagnosis of Dr. Helena Russell, but no radiation leaks are detected at the atomic waste disposal site.
John Koenig arrives on Alpha as newly appointed Commander to determine the cause of the illness that has confounded his
predecessor, Anton Gorski, who refused to allow Dr. Russell to report her inference of radiation sickness to the W.S.C..
What do the nuclear waste monitors and the Meta Probe astronauts have in common to explain their shared malady? Koenig
learns that the astronauts, on their training flights, passed above Nuclear Waste Disposal Area One, the initial atomic
waste dumping place on the Lunar surface superseded by Area Two five years previous but still containing a substantial
portion of nuclear garbage and having been routinely observed by the sick disposal site workers. Koenig, Russell, and
Prof. Victor Bergman eventually determine that the illness is caused by a magnetic radiation generated by the nuclear
waste in both storage areas yet undetectable by standard radiation scanning equipment. Commissioner Simmonds travels from
Earth to Moonbase to oversee Alpha's urgent waste dispersal effort that is too late to prevent the build-up of magnetic
energy from triggering an explosive chain-reaction of the vast amounts of atomic waste at Area Two. The explosions blast
the Moon out of Earth orbit and destroy the platform in Lunar orbit to which the equally unfortunate Meta Probeship is
attached. The force of the Moon's break from Earth orbit pins everyone on Alpha to floor for several crucial minutes, and
the Moon's speed of departure from the gravitational pull of its parent planet is such that evacuation of Moonbase Alpha
to Earth is impossible, and the crew of Alpha are now interplanetary voyagers. A television broadcast from Earth, seen on
the main monitor in Alpha's central control room, tells of severe earthquakes, enormous damage, and the hopelessness of
any attempt of rescue for the people of Alpha, and as the Earth transmission fades, the radio signal from Meta increases
in strength, for the Moon's trajectory is in the direction of that possibly habitable planet!
Guest stars: Roy Dotrice (Commissioner Simmonds), Philip Madoc (Commander Gorski), Lon Satton (Benjamin Ouma), Eric Carte
(Collins).

"Matter of Life and Death"
The Alphans are hopeful of colonizing a red-orange planet with habitat similar to that of Earth. Returning to Alpha from
an aerial reconnaissance of the planet, Moonbase's Eagle One spaceship is besieged by lightning-like energy bolts
apparently emitted by the planet, and the Eagle and its unconscious pilots are brought to a landing on Alpha by means of a
remote-control transmitter operated in Alpha's control room (Main Mission) by Paul Morrow. Koenig, Dr. Russell, and
Bergman enter the Eagle and discover aboard it a third unconscious man. While Medical Centre personnel are placing the two
Eagle pilots on stretchers, Helena is astounded to discover that the additional occupant of the Eagle, garbed in a pre-
1999 astronaut uniform, is her husband, Lee Russell. Lee has been missing and presumed dead for five years since contact
was lost with Astro 7, a manned mission to Jupiter commanded by him, while the Astro 7 spaceship was in orbit around the
Jovian planet. The odds against Russell surviving in space for five years and appearing in the vicinity of Alpha's current
planetary prospect, billions of miles from Jupiter, are too high for Koenig to accept. Koenig suspends plans to further
explore the nearby planet, called Terra Nova by Alpha's Main Computer, until he can determine the nature of Russell's
obvious connection with it; although the Eagle One pilots are slowly recuperating, Terra Nova could be anything but
benevolent to a permanent Alphan settlement. Russell's body heat registers intermittently on Medical Centre's
thermographic monitors, the normal data depending on Helena's proximity to her husband. When Helena is away from Lee for
any length of time, no body heat is detected, and by all human criteria, Russell is dead! He groggily warns Helena and
later, with more coherence, Koenig, not to land on the planet, or suffer obliteration. Then, Russell appears to truly die,
and his body vanishes before an autopsy can be initiated by Helena's assistant, Dr. Bob Mathias. Bergman is worried that
Terra Nova may be composed of anti-matter, with which contact by Alphans would be lethal, but Koenig disregards the
scientist's speculations- and Russell's warning- and decides, with his people eager to settle on the planet, to proceed
with Operation: Exodus, the next step thereof being a landing on Terra Nova. Though numbed by her second loss of her
husband, Helena agrees to accompany Koenig's landing party. Despite being at first a paradise, with water pools and
parrots, the planet becomes hostile, ravaged by windstorms and rock avalanches. Every Alphan, on the planet and on the
Moon, is annihilated (along with the Moon itself), except for Helena, to whom Lee reappears on the planet's now-desolate
terrain and bestows the power to rejuvenate the planet to its former beauty, the Moon and Alpha to existence, and all of
her Alphan comrades to life, with the proviso that she and her companions leave him and Terra Nova, both utterly alien to
the Alphans, and continue their odyssey on the Moon.
Guest stars: Richard Johnson (Lee Russell), Stuart Damon (Parks).

"Black Sun"
An asteroid on trajectory for collision with Alpha suddenly changes course and collapses into itself, and a powerful
gravitational influence registers on Main Mission's scanning equipment. The Moon's movement through space also undergoes
an abrupt shift, and a large, black disc eclipsing light from a distant star cluster is seen by the Alphans to be in the
middle of the Moon's new path. Bergman determines the strange object to be a black sun, a super-compact, dead star from
which nothing, not even light, can escape its pull of gravity. Bergman is too late in delivering his reported conclusion
to Koenig to prevent pilot Mike Ryan from succumbing in his reconnaissance Eagle to the distorting effects of the black
sun's event horizon. Ryan and Eagle are twisted into a two-dimensional, Picasso-esque mess before the Eagle explodes into
nothingness. Because the Moon is being pulled into the black sun, the same end looms for Alpha. Bergman devises a fish
scales-like, protective force field enshrouding Moonbase, the power for which drawn from Alpha's anti-gravity towers at
the base's perimeters and by the black sun by negating the force of the gravity pull, converting it into energy required
to shield Alpha from the distorting effect of the collapsed star's wild gravitational field. Although a success in this
regard, the Bergman force field cannot prevent the Moon from literally being sucked into the black sun. A desperate
attempt to escape the black sun is made by one Eagle, a "survival ship", containing six Alphans, including Helena Russell
and pilot Alan Carter, selected by Central Computer, while everyone remaining on the Moonbase stoically awaits their fate
as the Moon enters the black sun, with awesome results! The Moon is not only spared obliteration inside the dead star but
is displaced to a different region of space, and Koenig and Bergman age rapidly, turn transparent, and commune with a
spiritual presence of female voice. The spiritual presence obliquely conveys its once-in-a-millennium thought on 
universal nature before Koenig and Bergman are returned to normal and the "survival ship" and its six occupants are
somehow teleported through the black sun to a reunion with Alpha.
Guest stars: Paul Jones (Mike Ryan), Jon Laurimore (Smitty).

"Ring Around the Moon"
Operatives of Main Mission are perplexed by the blank-faced, manic compulsion of computer-illiterate Maintenance engineer
Ted Clifford to tap the keys of Central Computer at lightning speed in a relay of gigabytes of data to an as-yet-unknown
agency. Clifford displays superhuman strength by throwing Technician David Kano across Main Mission when Kano attempts to
stop Clifford's unauthorized action. After evidently ending his involuntary task, Clifford, in excruciating pain, falls
to the Main Mission floor, and Dr. Russell pronounces him dead. Then, the Moon is jolted and surrounded by an energy beam
emanated from an orange spatial sphere (Clifford's controller and killer), which locks the Moon into an orbit around it.
From the sphere and through Alpha's communication system comes a whispering voice announcing that the Earthmen of
Moonbase are now captives of the planet Triton. The eye nucleus of the orange sphere has Alpha under constant
surveillance, and when Koenig orders Alan Carter to pilot an Eagle in an approach to the sphere, the Eagle is repelled by
a force field and literally thrown back to the Moon, where it crash-lands on the Lunar surface, killing Alan's co-pilot.
Koenig and Dr. Russell lead a Medical Rescue team on foot and in spacesuits to the crash site, and the sphere uses a means
of matter teleportation to abduct Helena from the Moon's terrain and into the sphere's dark interior-chamber, entirely
empty but for the strange eye formation, which is the computer brain of this spherical Tritonian space probe. It implants
into Helena's brain the same luminescent mechanism that manipulated Clifford, but does so at closer range, meaning that
Dr. Russell's time as the sphere's living catalyst will be significantly longer. Her purpose, like Clifford's, is the
transmission of computer-stored information on mankind from Alpha to the sphere, which wants sufficient knowledge about
Earthman for Triton to defend itself against presumed future human aggression. Helena is return-teleported by the sphere
to Alpha, and Koenig, Bergman, and Dr. Mathias subject her to a series of examinations, finding in her brain the same
controlling ball of light by which Clifford's brain "melted" under the strain of its lightning-speed directives. Mathias
knows this from an autopsy performed on Clifford and infers that Helena will die in exactly the same manner unless Koenig
and Bergman can wrest her from the Tritonian sphere's influence. Helena becomes periodic slave to the sphere, at intervals
an unstoppable, rapid-computer-key-tapping puppet, exactly like Clifford. Eventually, Bergman determines from his star
charts that Triton's sun went supernova, annihilating Triton millions of years past, and that the Tritonian sphere's
mission is now obsolete. Because the sphere may release Helena from its control once it is made aware of this fact, Koenig
successfully penetrates the sphere's force field, by a planned jamming of computer keys in Main Mission during one of
Helena's information relays, thus confusing the sphere so that John, Alan, and a group of Security guards can enter the
sphere in an Eagle, and Koenig confronts the nucleus-eye with the truth about Triton's condition, indisputable by the
corresponding data transmitted from Bergman in Main Mission through Helena. The sphere frees Helena and rapidly self-
destructs, after Koenig's group escapes from it. Mathias examines Helena and detects no ill-effects from her ordeal.
Guest star: Max Faulkner (Ted Clifford).

"Earthbound"
A blue-hulled, egg-shaped alien spaceship comes to a gentle forced-landing near Moonbase Alpha, and Koenig leads a
boarding party into the foreign space vessel to find its humanoid, facially-painted crew in suspended animation. Dr.
Russell's attempt to open one of the transparent suspended animation containers results in the alien inside thereof being
instantly decomposed. As though on cue, the other suspended-animated spacefarers revive, five in all. With Koenig, Helena,
and the other Alphans in their midst, they "pray" for their dead comrade, then pilot their spaceship to Alpha's hangar.
Captain Zandor, commander of the aliens, understands that no malice was intended in the destruction of the sixth crew
member. Zandor is humbly accepting of Koenig's hospitality, and together he and Koenig share ideas on the nature of
existence. Caldorians from a dying planet, Zandor's people are going in small numbers to other populated planets to ask to
live in peaceful co-existence. His group are traveling to Earth to request permission for resettlement there. Zandor
wishes, following minor repairs to his space vessel, to complete the 75-year remainder of his voyage to Earth and offers
to accommodate one Alphan in the container formerly occupied by the deceased Caldorian. This requires a computer matrix
of the person selected, so that the suspended animation process can be properly adjusted to conform to his or her human
metabolism. Koenig orders Alpha's Central Computer to choose objectively and logically the Alphan traveling companion of
the Caldorians. A desperate Commissioner Simmonds, who as a politician has no place on Alpha and yearns to return to a
position of influence on Earth, hijacks the Moonbase Power Station and threatens to freeze Alpha unless Koenig allows him
to go with the Caldorians to Earth. Koenig and Zandor reluctantly assent to his demand, and he is placed in the vacant
container on the Caldorian spaceship, which departs Alpha. Hours later, Simmonds awakens from temporary slumber induced
by the spaceship's computer; Zandor did not perform the necessary computer adjustments for Simmonds' biological structure,
and suspended animation did not work for the Commissioner. He frantically tries in vain to escape from his enclosed
container. His appeals through his commlock communicator to Alpha for help are useless, for the Caldorian spacecraft is
beyond Eagle range. Death by starvation or suffocation awaits Simmonds on the 75-year journey to his desired Earth.
Simmonds was Central Computer's choice for legitimate return to Earth, if only he had waited for this determination!
Guest stars: Christopher Lee (Captain Zandor), Roy Dotrice (Commissioner Simmonds).

"Another Time, Another Place"
The drifting Moon enters into an eerie phenomenon in the cosmic void, a rift in the fabric of space, that causes the Moon
to accelerate to a speed seemingly beyond that of light, and splits Moon and Alphans into two separate frames of time,
one five years ahead of the other. Main Mission personnel all experience a strange sensation of double-vision and for a
moment see alternate forms of themselves that recede from their sight. Regina Kesslann appears to be more affected by the
event than are her Main Mission fellows. When the Moon emerges from the bizarre space warp into a stellar region all too
familiar to Alpha, Regina collapses onto the Main Mission floor and shortly thereafter, in Medical Centre, describes to
Helena her impression of now being on a planet with sun, wind, and trees- and sunburn skin-flakes appear on her face and
hands! She claims to be living a life- a future life- in which her husband was Alan Carter, who died with John Koenig in
an Eagle crash on the Moon. Although she is on Alpha, her experiences are those of her five-years-ahead "other self". The
Moon is now again in the Solar System, and to the joyous mystification of the Alphans, settles once more into Earth orbit!
At this precise instant, Regina dies, and post-mortem study of her brain reveals it to be dual! Another Moon is circling
the Earth, and when John and Alan pilot an Eagle to investigate it, they locate another Moonbase, fully evacuated and
stripped of vital equipment, and in a crashed Eagle on the Lunar surface, they discover two corpses that are-- themselves!
No radio signals are transmitted from Earth, and Bergman calculates a 5 and 6 degree shift in Earth's axis, which
devastated the ecosystem and ended terran civilization as the Alphans had known it. Still, there is an area in Baja
California, Santa Maria, that is capable of sustaining life, and when Bergman determines that the two Moons are going to
collide in Earth orbit, Koenig orders immediate reconnaissance of Santa Maria as a colony site for the Alphans, and he,
Helena, and Alan descend to the Earth's surface, in grim expectation of finding Santa Maria already inhabited by Alphans-
Alphans of the future! They find a village of Alphans including a widowed Helena Koenig, who confronts her "past self" and
dies in John's arms. Future Bergman, Paul Morrow, and Sandra Benes (Mrs. Paul Morrow) refuse to allow the former-day
Alphans to join them in Santa Maria, because co-existence without death for one or both of each person (as has been the
case for both Reginas and future Helena) would be impossible. Forever wise and somehow prescient Bergman advises Koenig,
Russell, and Carter to return to their Moonbase and wait for the collision of Moons to correct time, making Alpha one and
whole again. This happens exactly as the Bergman on Earth said that it would, and the Moon is no longer in the Solar
System.
Guest star: Judy Geeson (Regina Kesslann).

"Missing Link"
Believed by his comrades on Alpha to be critically injured in an Eagle crash on the Moon, Koenig, unscathed, walks in his
spacesuit to an Alpha airlock and enters the sprawling Moonbase to find it to be deserted and surreally "haunted" by
fading images of aliens. It is not really Alpha but an illusion thereof which spins wildly around the Commander and
disappears to reveal a bizarre haze signifying John's arrival on the purple planet Zenno, where an alien anthropologist
named Raan wishes to study him, a specimen of Earthman, as a "missing link" between the primitive man on past Earth and
the highly developed Zennites' own ancestors. As the "image" of John in Alpha's Medical Centre is on the verge of death
and arguments between executives about who will succeed Koenig in the Commander's chair have the Moonbase command
structure near collapse, the real Koenig on Zenno is subjected entirely against his will to a series of behavior tests in
experiences (including an unreal return to Alpha's Medical Centre for a conversation with an uncharacteristically cynical
false-Bergman) projected by the mind of Raan, and falls in love with Raan's daughter, Vana. Raan learns about this
relationship and cannot agree to it, for the span of culture and evolution between terran and Zennite is too vast for
Raan to permit his daughter to attempt a crossing of the "bridge" of love. He decides to return John to Moonbase, and the
Commander and Vana bow to the reasoning of the Zennite elder and sorrowfully say good-bye to one another.
Guest stars: Peter Cushing (Raan), Joanna Dunham (Vana).

"Guardian of Piri"
When the Moon wanders into the spatial region of the planet Piri, Alpha sends a reconnaissance Eagle piloted by Pete
Irving and Ed Davis to the strange world, and the pair of ordinarily serious, disciplined astronauts become intoxicated
with laughter, delirious with happiness, as they delight in swooping their Eagle wildly above the Piri surface. Minutes
later, Main Mission loses radio contact with them. Alan Carter flies to Piri in a further Eagle and discovers the first
Alphan spacecraft suspended in the purple Piri sky and, like the Marie Celeste, unoccupied. Alpha's Central Computer
begins to function erratically as though beset with the same irrational glee exhibited earlier by Irving and Davis, and
David Kano attempts a brain-to-computer link in an attempt to determine the cause of Central Computer's atypical conduct.
Once the symbiosis is achieved, Kano vanishes from Alpha, and Koenig, going to Piri with Carter in search for answers to
these events, finds Kano, Irving, and Davis, all of them lazily immobilized and smilingly transfixed by illusory beauty,
on a spacious mesa adorned by hundreds of white balls and wire-like, withered flora. Materializing in John's presence is
a hypnotically one-eyed conglomeration of white balls, and stepping from a passageway at the object's lowest point is a
sexy, seemingly humanoid woman. The one-eyed thing is the Guardian of Piri, and the woman is its attendant. She recounts
for Koenig the history of Piri, a world of machines created by technically skilled Pirians to administrate the
necessities of life so that Pirian society could fully embrace hedonism. The Guardian came into being as a further
product of Pirian engineering to control the machines and to free the Pirians from decision. The Servant of the Guardian
asserts that the now-not-visible Pirian populace achieved perfection, and the Guardian wills the same lifestyle upon the
planetary-home-craving Alphans. The Guardian stops time within Piri's gravisphere so that the Moon will be permanently
within range of Piri. Koenig expresses doubt about idyllic, time-suspended lifestyle being the right condition for humans
to achieve full potential; he believes stagnation, decay, and death to be the inevitable result of it. The Servant derides
Koenig as stubborn and ignorant, informing John that the Guardian has already beguiled all of his people as it has already
affected Kano, Davis, Irving, and Central Computer. Carter, now a grinning acolyte of the Guardian, fights with Koenig
when John acts to return in their Eagle to Alpha, and though the Commander wins the tussle, his rib cage has been battered
by Alan's fists. On Moonbase, a convalescing Koenig is unable to persuade his Guardian-adhering people to resist the
allure of carefree eternity on time-halted Piri. The full Alphan complement, including the Moonbase computer system,
transfers to Piri- aside from Koenig, who, sometime later, pilots the last Eagle on Alpha to Piri, determined to break
the Guardian's hold on his people before they joyfully succumb to the apathy that destroyed the Pirians, who, Koenig has
deduced, are unseen because they ceased to exist. Confronting the Servant of the Guardian in front of all Alphans, he
fires his laser gun at her face and reveals beneath it her android nature. "This is what passes for life on Piri," John
says. The Guardian explodes, time in the vicinity of Piri moves forward again, and the Alphans, now freed from the
Guardian's power, hurry with Koenig to board the Eagles situated on Piri's surface for a reversed Exodus, before the
Moon moves beyond reach. With Central Computer reinstalled on Alpha, Main Mission personnel are pleased to receive sensor
readings of restored, non-sapient life on Piri, now that the Guardian's stoppage of time has been ended.
Guest stars: Catherine Schell (Servant of the Guardian), Michael Culver (Pete Irving), John-Lee Barber (Ed Davis), Gareth 
Hunt (Eagle Pilot).

"Force of Life"
A blue-light alien force, crossing the void of space, invades Alpha through one of the Moonbase's Nuclear Generating
Areas and a technician alone on duty there- Anton Zoref. The alien force penetrates the windows of Nuclear Generating
Area 3 and focuses itself upon the face of the startled N.G.A. 3 operative, whose pleas for help through Alpha's
intercommunication system are unheard as everyone else on the Moonbase is mysteriously stopped in mid-motion or mid-
speech, still as statues. It melds into Zoref, causing him to faint. All Alpha personnel then resume their words or
actions, and Zoref is later found unconscious on the N.G.A. 3 floor. Although Zoref revives and, not remembering the
invasive alien force, says that he does not feel ill, Dr. Russell insists that Zoref undergo a medical examination, but
she cannot diagnose his condition because the monitor screen registering his heart and brain activity mysteriously loses
power. Ordered by Dr. Russell to relax and rest in his living quarters, Zoref starts to periodically suffer severe
coldness. On one such occasion, Zoref gazes upon a lamp, which dims and goes dark as a blue glow on Zoref face absorbs
its energy. While visiting his colleague, Mark Dominix, in N.G.A. 3, Zoref again experiences extreme chills and freezes a
cup of coffee placed in his trembling hands by Dominix. Dominix touches Zoref to try to calm him, and the force within
Zoref siphons from Dominix all body heat, reducing him to icy, dead flesh. Zoref panics and flees the death scene. When
Zoref tries to report to Helena for a comprehensive medical analysis, the frosty sensation recurs, and he chases a pretty
orderly to her death in an empty corridor near Medical Centre. Zoref is gradually losing his will while the force inside
of him demands more and more heat/energy, from any source- corridor and Solarium Area lights, plants, and human bodies.
With the help of Zoref's wife, Eva, the Moonbase executives determine what has happened to Zoref, who is temporarily
immobilized when Koenig eliminates the supply of power to the Solarium Area. A thermographic chart reveals the alien force
inside Zoref's skull, and the alien-possessed technician, with super-human strength, frees himself from a Medical Centre
observation room, kills a Security guard, and continues to stalk Alpha in an all-consuming quest. Zoref moves toward 
N.G.A. 3 and the enormous energy of its nuclear reactor. In an insistent effort to stop Zoref's progress before the alien
force can totally deprive Alpha of vital power, Koenig, Bergman, and Carter confront Zoref at the door to N.G.A. 3, and
when Zoref lunges at them, Alan fires his laser gun's kill ray, which chars Zoref. Now with glowing eyes, Zoref's corpse,
animated by the alien force, proceeds into N.G.A. 3 and, as Koenig and the others run to Main Mission, opens the reactor
door. There is an atomic fission explosion in which all radiation is absorbed by the alien quantity, containing the blast
and sparing Alpha any major damage. Incipient blue starlight rises from N.G.A. 3's rubble and leaves Alpha. Zoref has
been a catalyst in stellar development, theorizes Bergman, and Zoref's wife struggles to understand her loss.
Guest stars: Ian McShane (Anton Zoref), Gay Hamilton (Eva Zoref), John Hamill (Dominix).

"Alpha Child"
Jubilation changes to horror on Alpha when the Moonbase's first infant goes into explosive growth in his incubator,
becoming the equivalent size of a five-year-old. Widowed mother Cynthia Crawford rejects the child, but most other
Alphans compassionately respond to the deaf-mute boy, given the name of Jackie by Drs. Russell and Mathias, by welcoming
him into Main Mission, the Nuclear Generating Areas, and one of the Eagles (for a pretended flight through space). Koenig,
however, notices that Jackie occasionally exhibits somewhat more than precocious awareness of his surroundings, and John
cannot accept the disturbing manner of Jackie's growth. He initiates an inconclusive inquiry into the death of Crawford
Senior, a nuclear physicist, on the possibility that the father's hitherto indeterminate cause of death may have had some
genetic effect upon the offspring. Bergman teaches Jackie how to draw a flower, and when Bergman is not watching him, the
boy sketches an accurate picture of an advanced spaceship which- minutes later- very abruptly assumes a position directly
above Alpha. Three more such spacecraft appear in the same area, all with flashing green lights as is true also for the
first spaceship. However, Alpha can detect no humanoid life-forms aboard the mysterious and uncommunicative space vessels.
Alan Carter leads an interception fleet of Eagles when the four spaceships disable Moonbase's scanner systems, and is
unable to effectively train his Eagle's lasers upon the alien spacecraft, which themselves fire beams of laser light that
envelop and cripple the Eagles, which gently crash-land on the Lunar surface. Koenig witnessed Jackie's apparent influence
upon Carter prior to Carter's departure on the failed mission, and is certain that the boy is connected with the aliens
inside the eerily silent foreign spaceships. Jackie faints and in Medical Centre grows rapidly again, this time into an
articulate man named Jarak. Cynthia undergoes a like change to become Jarak's mate, Rena. Jarak and Rena have the ability
to mentally manipulate uncooperative Alphans and demand an audience in Main Mission, where they announce the plan of their
compatriots aboard the four alien spaceships. Jarak and Rena are renegades, non-corporeal entities in original form, who,
with their fellows in the spaceships, are "running away" from genetic conformity rigorously imposed on their home world.
Every one of their maverick entity peers will select an Alphan body in which to inhabit, with the human moments of birth
and death being "ideally suited" to this purpose. Before this transfer can proceed, Jarak and Rena's pursuers arrive
above Moonbase in a further spaceship, which obliterates one-by-one the four spacecraft containing the renegades, and
Jarak and Rena are forced to vacate the bodies of Jackie and Cynthia Crawford, who are restored to their original forms
of infant and mother. The alien pursuit spaceship then departs the Moon, with no communication.
Guest stars: Julian Glover (Jarak), Cyd Hayman (Sue Crawford), Wayne Brooks (Jackie), Rula Lenska (Joan Conway).

"The Last Sunset"
The Moon enters the habitable planet Ariel's solar system, and Bergman is optimistic that Earth's voyaging satellite will
find its new niche in the universe in orbit around Ariel's sun. Alan Carter leads a two-Eagle reconnaissance mission to
Ariel, but the exploration is abruptly stopped when a cylindrical alien object emerges from Ariel's clouds and attaches
itself to Eagle 1's nose cone. With Eagle Two at its flank, Eagle One is piloted by Alan back to Moonbase, the object
still pressed against the fore hull. Brought into Technical Section by Bergman's team of scientists for close analysis,
the thing starts to spew enormous quantities of breathable air through Alpha's windows and launching pads onto the Lunar
surface. More such objects converge upon the Moon and spread air, too. Before long, the entire Moon has an atmosphere!
The bright, warming Ariel sun produces blue sky and a climate compatible to un-spacesuited human activity on the Lunar
landscape, complete with rain-dropping clouds, and the objects leave the Moon as mysteriously as they came. Although
Koenig still wants an Exodus of Alpha to Ariel, all other Alphans are intent upon establishing Eden for themselves on
their own Lunar turf, even though there is no guarantee that the Moon will go into orbit around Ariel's sun. Helena
Russell, Paul Morrow, Alan Carter, and Sandra Benes are the first of Moonbase's personnel to survey the Moon's terrain
for places at which to settle. However, their Eagle encounters atmospheric turbulence and crashes, buries itself in Lunar
dust. Sandra is head-injured, water rations are contaminated, a violent windstorm develops, and the beleaguered foursome
are unable to relay their position to Alpha's search parties. Desperate for water, Paul finds some strange fungi growing
in the Moon's soil. He eats some of the moist, mushroom-like substance and is endowed with tremendous strength, but with
a delusional side-effect. Paul becomes obsessed with populating the Moon and all of space with Sandra as his mate- like
Adam and Eve. He pummels Alan relentlessly, and when Helena tries unsuccessfully to sedate him, he clasps his hands
around her neck! On Alpha, Victor has ascertained that the Moon will not orbit Ariel's parent star and will depart this
stellar neighborhood very soon. Already, Lunar surface conditions are deteriorating, and the alien cylinders return to
the Moon to repossess the air before it freezes into an icecap. Paul is distracted from Helena by the "second coming" of
the Ariel objects. Her breaths short, Helena is able to signal Koenig's rescue Eagle. John duels with manic Morrow,
striking him in the chin and rendering him unconscious. Paul's hallucinatory state is only temporary, and he, Helena,
Alan, and Sandra are safely on Alpha with their Main Mission colleagues to watch their last sunset. A voice coming from
the last of the departing cylinders informs the Alphans that the providing of an atmosphere was intended to distract
Alpha from evacuating to Ariel. The Moon resumes its airless state and its odyssey in space.

"Voyager's Return"
Alpha encounters Voyager One, an unmanned, deep space probe launched from Earth in 1985 and propelled by a primitive
fast-neutron engine, the Queller Drive, whose intense radioactive emissions threaten Moonbase. Alpha's Experimental
Department under Dr. Ernst Linden must deactivate the Queller Drive by remote control so that the peregrinating Earth
spaceship can land on Alpha by ordinary rocket power. Some Alphans, like Paul Morrow, whose father was killed in a
Queller Drive malfunction with Voyager Two- an accident that annihilated an entire community and ended Earth's Queller
Drive program- want Voyager One destroyed before it comes any closer to the Moon. Bergman, however, insists that the
memory bank of the Voyager must be full of data on the universe and that the dangerous space probe should therefore be
saved for salvaging of its "black box". Koenig agrees to this risk, particularly when he learns that Dr. Linden is really
Ernst Queller, creator of the Queller Drive. Queller had changed his name prior to stationing on Alpha to protect himself
against recriminations and against backlash from his young apprentice, Jim Haines, of whom both parents were lost in the
Voyager Two disaster. While working closely with Linden to successfully override the Voyager's computer and stop the
Queller Drive, Haines deduces Linden's true identity and furiously assaults him, the result being damage to Linden's rib
cage and electronic equipment. Still, Linden completes his task and brings Voyager to a gentle parking on Alpha's fourth
launching pad. Before Koenig and Bergman can examine Voyager's flight recorder which they remove from the space probe,
Moonbase is approached by three, wasp-like, alien spacecraft which have been following Voyager One. A humanoid alien,
Aarchon, tells the Alphans of the devastation of two of the populated worlds of Sidon inadvertently caused by the Queller
Drive, and retribution upon the senders of the Voyager is the mission of the three Sidon spaceships. The Moon and its
inhabitants- and Earth too- are targeted for destruction by Aarchon, who refuses to accept the remorseful Linden's plea
that he alone be accountable for Voyager One's genocide. So, Linden acts on his own initiative, boards and launches
Voyager One into space, and reactivates the Queller Drive, spewing its fast-neutron pollution at the Sidon space vessels,
then triggers a self-destruct that eradicates Sidons and the Voyager. Linden has sacrificed himself for the future of
Alpha, thereby regaining the respect of Haines, who will continue the doctor's work in examining the Voyager's "black
box".
Guest stars: Jeremy Kemp (Dr. Ernst Linden), Barry Stokes (Jim Haines), Alex Scott (Aarchon), Lawrence Trimble (Steve 
Abrams).

"Collision Course"
The Alphans avert collision with an asteroid by placing nuclear explosives onto it and destroying it in a chain-reaction
of atomic blasts. However, they soon discover that another impact looms- with a planet thirty-four times the size of the
Moon! Alan Carter, piloting Eagle 1, was not able to entirely move clear of the blast radius and is bloodied and
unconscious in the Eagle cockpit. Koenig and Paul Morrow manage to penetrate a radiation cloud in their rescue Eagle to
reach Carter. Returned to Moonbase and placed under medical observation, Alan claims to have seen a veiled woman whose
influence kept him alive until his rescue by John and Paul. Helena attributes this "hallucination" to radiation sickness.
Meantime, Bergman devises a way of avoiding the huge planet with which Alpha is definitely on a collision course. A
nuclear shockwave between the Moon and the planet might force them apart, change their trajectory through space. Koenig
delegates the preparing of this plan, Operation Shockwave, to Bergman. As an alternative measure, John embarks upon a one-
man reconnaissance of the planet to see if safety could be sought there (on its far side) by the Alphans from the Moon-
shattering but only planet-denting impact. Before his Eagle can descend into the planet's atmosphere (which Sandra Benes
has determined by scanners to be not ideal but survivable for humans), Koenig is met in orbit about the planet by an alien
space-cruiser, which swallows his Eagle. The only occupant of the cobwebbed, ancient spacecraft is the same woman whom
Alan claims to have seen. Removing her veil, the aged female alien identifies herself as Arra, Queen of Astheria, the
planet whose direction through space has so terrified John's people. Arra tells to the Alphan Commander that the collision
will not obliterate Moonbase. Her people have expected the coming of the Alphans and the Moon for millions of years. The
collision between the two worlds has been destined to happen, and Arra convinces Koenig to do nothing to prevent it, an
event that shall propel Astheria to a higher phase of existence. Koenig returns to Alpha to order the termination of the
Operation Shockwave procedure, and his executives, disbelieving his account of communing with Arra, overrule him. Helena
has him confined to his living quarters due to the same alleged radiation sickness afflicting Carter. Telepathically urged
by Arra, Koenig and Carter free themselves from detention and enter Main Mission completely by surprise. With a laser gun
removed from an incapacitated Security guard by Koenig, they delay the shockwave beyond the critical point. The Moon and
Astheria touch but do not collide. The enormous planet vanishes, and Alpha continues its cosmic odyssey with minimal
damage.
Guest star: Margaret Leighton (Arra).

"Death's Other Dominion"
Two Earthmen in a cavern on Ultima Thule, a planet of ice, observe the arrival into Thulian space of Earth's moon. They
are Dr. Cabot Rowland and Capt. Jack Tanner, survivors of the 1986 Uranus Probe that was lost in space several years
before 1999. Rowland is enthusiastic about the prospect of Moonbase Alpha being manned and receptive to a radioed
invitation to visit on Thule, but Tanner, possessed of an addled but soothsaying mind, implores Rowland not to contact
the wandering Moonbase. When Rowland uses his radio transmitter- one of several pieces of equipment salvaged from the
Uranus Probeship that crash-landed on Thule- to transmit a plea for the Alphans to come to the frigid Thule and share in
a "lost paradise", Tanner interrupts Rowland's enticing words with, "Stay away! Stay away!" Poor atmospheric conditions
force a termination of Rowland and Tanner's contradictory message, but Koenig is sufficiently intrigued by it to lead a
landing party on Thule's brutally cold surface. He, Helena, and Bergman, after some desperate minutes in a blizzard, are
met by Rowland and brought to a magnificent subterranean palace, home of the Uranus Probe survivors, who, the Alphans
learn, have lived on the immortality-bestowing Ultima Thule for 880 years. Now, Rowland intends to leave the planet in
the rebuilt Uranus Probeship and bring the "gift" of eternal life to the peoples of the universe. First, however, he
requires a comparative study with mortal Alphans- before they themselves adapt to Thule- to determine the physical cause
of the immortality. Most of the other "Thulians" (as the Uranus Probe survivors now call themselves) are in support of
Rowland's "dream". But Tanner is one of a group of dissenters. Their lament: "We are living people frozen in eternity."
Rowland's earlier study of Thule's eternal life phenomenon has had ghastly consequences, shown to Koenig by Tanner.
Thulians who have undergone Rowland's research experiments (with more salvaged Uranus Probeship apparatus) have been
reduced to mindless living-dead, all except Tanner, who somehow "regained his mind", albeit somewhat erratic, and with 
a newfound prophetic capacity. The immortality of Ultima Thule has also rendered the Uranus Probe survivors unable to
conceive children. However, life-forever is very tempting, and Koenig finds himself alone among Alpha's executives in
having reservations about an evacuation of Alpha to Thule. Rowland's urging is that Alpha's population so-move post-
haste. When John mentions the catatonic husks resulting from Rowland's previous research, Rowland affirms that he has
resolved the mistakes of the past. John promises to honor a democratic choice by the Alphan whole as to whether Alpha's
full complement should join the Thulians, and in fairness agrees to bring Rowland to Moonbase so that the doctor can
argue in favor of Alphan-Thulian union. However, what Rowland does not realize is that immortality is not possible when
one attempts to depart the planet. Tanner foresees an end to Rowland's eternity should Rowland attempt to go to Alpha,
for, "Death HAS dominion." Rowland scoffs at Tanner's rant that he not leave Thule, and while he is with Helena in the
passenger section of Koenig's Eagle ascending from the ice world into space, Rowland ages rapidly into a decrepit, 
smoky-fleshed, dead horror! The Alphans choose mortality on the wandering Moon and say good-bye to the Thulians, who 
will now abandon Rowland's aim and concentrate upon restoring the "vegetables" from the effect of Rowland's work.
Guest stars: Brian Blessed (Dr. Cabot Rowland), John Shrapnel (Jack Tanner), Mary Miller (Freda), Valerie Leon (Thulian
Beauty).

"The Full Circle"
Alpha's reconnaissance party of seven on the lush, tropical-climate planet Retha mysteriously ceases contact with
Moonbase, and Koenig orders Paul Morrow to bring the presumed empty Eagle Six on Retha's surface by remote-control back
to Alpha, where Koenig, Dr. Russell, and Bergman enter the Eagle and find between its rows of passenger seats the dead
body of a Stone Age man. While Dr. Mathias conducts an autopsy on the primitive's corpse, Koenig, Helena, Alan Carter,
Sandra Benes, and several others journey in two Eagles to Retha in an effort to locate their missing people. Alan and
Sandra aerially survey the area of the first landing party, and John, Helena, and the others disperse into on-foot or by-
Moonbuggy search groups. The Commander and doctor enter into an area of mist, leaving pointer-markers on trees so that
their progress through the jungle can be followed by their Rethan-terrain-probing comrades, who also walk into the mist
some time later. No further communication is received on Alpha or by Alan and Sandra from any of the Alphans on Retha's
surface, and Alan lands his and Sandra's Eagle beside that of their absent colleagues. Reconnoitering the nearby
woodlands, Alan falls into a pit trap and is attacked by savages, one of whom steals Carter's commlock-communicator
device and invades the Eagle where Sandra is preparing a meal and grabs the screaming Sandra, carrying her from the
spaceship to a cave where his tribe lives. There, Sandra is shocked to discover that the barbarian chief and chief's
consort resemble Koenig and Helena. Believing the similarity to be merely superficial, Sandra uses a rock to strike the
head of the troglodyte leader guarding her by night and flees the cavern, only to be recaptured and tied to a maze of
sticks so that the furious chief's woman can enact brutal revenge for the "killing" of her mate, who staggered out of the
cave after Sandra's assault upon his head and is presumed dead by his followers. Alan, having been rendered unconscious
and left in the pit by the primitives, revives and climbs out of the pit and is joined on Retha by Bergman and Kano in a
desperate hunt for the brutes who have abducted Sandra. They find the prone body of Koenig, with a severe wound on his
forehead. Bergman and Kano rush with Koenig to Alpha so that the Commander can be treated for his serious head injury.
There, Mathias reports his autopsy findings, that the dead Stone Age man in the first Eagle died of shock and was teeth-
capped, Alphan pilot Santos, somehow transmuted into a Cro-Magnon man. Gradually recovering from his wounded head, John
does not remember anything on Retha after he and Helena passed into the mist and concludes that what happened to Santos
happened to all others, including himself, who penetrated the mist. Koenig, Bergman, and Kano hurry back to Retha to
prevent Carter, still there, from angrily laser-gunning the Sandra-terrorizing primitives, who are really Helena and the
other missing Alphans. Succeeding in this regard and freeing Sandra, they, together with Sandra and Alan, next lure all
of the Stone Age people into the mist in a direction reverse to that by which they all- as Alphans- first entered it,
and every one of them is restored to Alphan form and consciousness and returned to Alpha, none of them remembering of
their Cro-Magnon exploits. No further exploration of the Retha phenomenon is possible as the Moon drifts beyond the
bizarre jungle planet.
Guest star: Oliver Cotton (Spearman).

"End of Eternity"
A rogue asteroid, three light-years from the nearest solar system and adrift in space for at least a thousand years, is
visited by Koenig, Prof. Bergman, Carter, astronaut Mike Baxter, and other Alphans, who find an atmosphere chamber within
the rocky "shell" of the strange asteroid. The entry portal to the atmosphere chamber detonates when John fires his laser
gun at it, and Baxter is struck by some of the flying debris. Baxter's spacesuit helmet protected him from bloody injury,
but he later learns that his optic nerve has been severely damaged. The atmosphere chamber's lone occupant fared worse in
the explosion. Beneath a heap of fallen paintings- all portraying terror, torture, and chaos- is the cut, scarred,
mutilated, near-dead body of an alien. The Alphans rush him to Moonbase for emergency medical treatment. Pronounced dead
upon arrival in Medical Centre, he soon comes back to life, all of his wounds healed! Dr. Russell is amazed by the male
humanoid's rejuvenescent power. Similarly, Bergman is fascinated by the rock sample that he procured from the interior of
the asteroid's atmosphere chamber, in that it exhibits the same properties of reconstruction. Both the alien and the
asteroid rock that surrounded him are indestructible. When the alien revives, he mutely and violently frees himself from
Medical Centre and terrifies the Alpha operatives in several corridors, until Koenig and Carter confront him. Finally, he
speaks. In Main Mission, he identifies himself as Balor of the planet Progron and tells about how his world's advanced
scientists acquired eternal life by mastering perpetual cellular regeneration. With fear of death gone, Progron society
became apathetic and corrupt. "How can you value life if you do not fear death?" Balor tried to instill into the minds of
his people some vague thought that death-or its equivalent in suffering- gives a purpose to life, a full response to it.
For doing this, he was allegedly blamed for all of the malaises of Progron, ostracized by embittered mobs, and sealed
within the living, interminable rock on the drifting asteroid. Now rescued from his eternal prison, Balor asks for
sanctuary on Alpha, and Koenig agrees to the request, but ponders with Helena and Bergman the true nature of Balor's
punishment. The paintings inside of the atmosphere chamber could have been put there to remind Balor of heinous crimes
that he committed. The tall, black-garbed immortal claims to aid Mike Baxter's sight problem by using his ability to heal
injuries on the bodies of mortals, but actually induces violent insanity and a gruesome death (as in the paintings) in 
the hapless astronaut. Balor now reveals his intent to subjugate Alpha to his will. John refuses to accept the 
psychopathic Balor as Moonbase's ruler, and the "killer who can't be killed" begins a rampage, inflicting equipment
damage, bodily injury, and death, before Koenig executes a desperate baiting of Balor into an airlock. Balor is 
dispatched into the vacuum of space to resume his exile.
Guest stars: Peter Bowles (Balor), Jim Smilie (Mike Baxter).

"War Games"
Mark IX Hawks were fearsome war machines on Earth. Now, suddenly, three Hawks approach Moonbase Alpha. They are seemingly 
sent by a purplish-brown planet in the present vicinity of the Moon. After Koenig orders an interception of the Hawks by 
Alan Carter's fleet of Eagles, the Hawks conduct a devastating assault, destroying nearly all of Alpha's laser-armed 
Eagles, damaging life-support facilities beyond repair, and killing almost half of Moonbase's personnel. The only hope 
for the survivors is to evacuate to the planet, pleading to its people for mercy. Koenig and Dr. Russell venture to the 
surface of the planet in an unarmed Eagle to negotiate with the mysterious alien aggressors. They are not intercepted by 
Hawks. Rather, they are guided to a landing (via alien remote control) in a magnificent city whose inhabitants, bald, 
large-headed, oddly eyebrowed humanoids, sit lethargically inside of glass cubicles. Two of them, a male and a female, 
hear John state his grievance with the unprovoked attack and his plea for the survival of Alpha's remaining population, 
then denounce Earthman as primitive, unstable, a "plague of fear" undeserving of a future. The callousness of the aliens,
their total lack of sympathy, their damning judgments inflame Koenig, who begins destroying the aliens' electronics. He 
is killed by a laser gun operated by the female alien. A distraught Helena is coopted into the aliens' society, given her
own cubicle, and with it the power to restore John to life. Unable to break the seal of Helena's container, John departs 
the city in his Eagle and calls to Alpha to send reinforcement (the last of the laser-equipped Eagles) and to commence 
Exodus to the planet, on which Alpha will, "...have to fight for a foothold." Koenig and Carter rendezvous in space, and,
together in the laser-gun Eagle, they begin descent to the alien world, but the Eagle destructs in a force-field. Alan is
killed. Glum and philosophical, John drifts through space, his spacesuit's oxygen supply limited, until he finds himself 
again in the midst of the aliens through Helena's telekinetic decree that he live. Koenig fires his hand-held laser 
weapon at the male alien's cubicle, triggering a mammoth chain-reaction of explosions, a holocaust that sweeps across 
the planet. Time then slips backward to before the Hawks' strafing of Moonbase. This time, John decides not to engage the
Hawks in combat, and the three enemy spaceships vanish. The aliens appear on Main Mission's main viewing screen to tell 
that the havoc-causing Hawks were a product of the Alphans' own fear, a demonstration of the Moonbase populace's 
incompatibility with the ostensibly fearless people of the planet that Alpha must not colonize.
Guest stars: Anthony Valentine (Male Alien), Isla Blair (Female Alien).

"The Last Enemy"
Planets Betha and Delta have been adversaries for what seems to their peoples to be an eternity. However, their
perpetually opposite orbital position around their sun has complicated direct firing of ballistic missiles from one 
planet to the other because their star's gravity does not permit a missile to bypass it at a feasible trajectory. Betha 
and Delta require a platform in space ideally positioned adjacent to their star and outside the orbits of both planets 
from which to launch atomic warheads, and when Earth's moon wanders into range of the two enemy worlds, Betha's entirely
female military dispatches the missile-firing Satazius, a space-Gunship, to park on the Lunar surface and commence 
bombardment of Delta. All of Alpha's Eagles are neutralized on the directive of the Satazius' commander, Dione, to 
prevent interference by the inhabitants of Moonbase with her plans to annihilate the Deltan enemy. Delta retaliates to 
Dione's attack by assaulting the area of Lunar surface where the Satazius is situated, with its own missiles, and Alpha
is the hapless, imperiled bystander in the ballistics. Any stray Deltan missile could easily strike the "wide-open" 
Moonbase. When a Deltan missile appears to cripple the Satazius, Dione departs her space-Gunship in an escape pod, which
she pilots to a landing on one of Alpha's launch pads. Claiming that she is the Satazius' only survivor, Dione demands 
sanctuary on Alpha, and Koenig is enraged at the chutzpah of the aggressor Bethan. But Dione's feminine wiles and 
pretended honesty are beguiling. On the subterfuge that Satazius is inoperable, Betha's advantage in the current battle 
is gone, and Betha is agreeable to a negotiated cease-fire, Dione offers to assist in this venture by contacting 
Commissioner Theia, her leader on Betha, and Talos, the commander of the armed forces of male-dominated Delta, through
Main Mission's communications system, so that Koenig can arrange the cease-fire that should spare Alpha from being in the
midst of further Betha-Delta warfare until the Moon drifts beyond the Betha-Delta solar system. Koenig promises to 
supervise the cease-fire, and Talos threatens devastating penalties for Alpha if the cease-fire is unilaterally and 
treacherously overturned by the Bethans. Dione teleports to her escape capsule and returns to the Satazius, which is not
as damaged as Dione led the Alphans to believe. It is still operational, crewed, and prepared to resume attack on Delta,
which it does. Talos assumes that the Bethans have sent a second space-Gunship to the Moon and that Alpha reneged on its
pledge to alert Delta of this before missiles are fired by the Bethans. Thus, Talos announces that Alpha will be 
bombarded by missiles. With the Deltan missiles en route to ravage Alpha, Koenig's only alternative is to somehow destroy
the Satazius. He contacts the Satazius and as a ruse declares his intention to abandon Alpha and his command to save his
own life and asks for sanctuary aboard Dione's space-Gunship. A Moonbuggy containing a spacesuited figure thought by 
Dione to be Koenig, approaches the Satazius and moves beneath the hull of the Bethan spacecraft. The Moonbuggy is remote-
controlled from Main Mission, the spacesuit containing not a human body but an explosive device, which is triggered under
the Satazius and obliterates Dione and her pride-and-glory. Alpha reports the Satazius' destruction to Delta, and Talos 
detonates the Alpha-bound missiles before they strike target. The Moon leaves Betha-Delta space without further incident.
Guest stars: Caroline Mortimer (Dione), Kevin Stoney (Talos), Maxine Audley (Theia), Kevin Stoney (Talos), Carolyn 
Courage (First Girl).

"The Troubled Spirit"
In Alpha's Hydroponic Unit, four botanists conduct a seance-like plant communication experiment during which the leader
of the four, Dr. Dan Mateo, becomes entranced. A wind whips through the Hydroponic Unit foliage and travels through the
corridors of Moonbase as Mateo loses consciousness. Koenig investigates Mateo's work while the botanist in question
revives in Medical Centre and explains his desire to achieve a symbiosis with plants and his sensation of coldness and
dread during the experiment to Dr. Russell. Helena sedates Mateo, who is agitated by the opposition of Hydroponic Unit
executive Dr. James Warren to his research endeavor, and while Mateo is in a drugged sleep, Helena witnesses an 
apparition that looks like the slumbering botanist with whom she is supposed to be alone in the Moonbase infirmary. But 
its resemblance to Mateo ends with the horrible scar tissue on one side of its face and body, and its brief appearance in
the almost dark Medical Centre is accompanied by a wind that chills Helena with a feeling of dread identical to that 
earlier described by Mateo. Koenig reacts to the two seemingly connected occurrences by imposing a temporary stop to 
Mateo's experiments, and when he learns about this, Mateo concludes that Warren persuaded Koenig thus. Discharged from 
Medical Centre, Mateo is followed by a phantom figure to the Hydroponic Unit, where Mateo argues with Warren. Later, 
while Warren is alone at his desk, plants behind him rustle with the windy approach of the terrible apparition that 
pounces upon Warren, its scarred hand grasping Warren's neck. Warren dies of fear at sight of his assailant, and although
Mateo was not in the Hydroponic Unit nearby when the attack occurred, Koenig is certain that Mateo's earlier quarrel with
Warren is somehow connected to the fatality. Mateo defies Koenig's order that he discontinue his experiments and is 
discovered assembling his communication apparatus by his girl-friend and colleague, Laura Adams, who protests Mateo's 
continued research. Shortly after Mateo angrily threatens to kill Laura, the disfigured apparition appears, with wind, in
front of her, and like Warren, she dies in terror. A despondent Mateo now realizes that whatever force he has accidentally
summoned acts lethally upon his aggressive urges. In a controlled re-creation of the original experiment, Koenig's 
command staff join Mateo in a full, seance circle and witness Mateo's mutilated doppelganger, which tells that it- the
ghost of a living man- has "returned" to avenge itself upon all who destroyed Mateo's existence. Bergman and Koenig's 
method of scientific exorcism, in an effort to rid Mateo of his own spectre, involves an electrically charged barrier 
inside of which Mateo is strapped to a chair and drugged to react with aggression to the situation. The murderous spirit 
emerges from Mateo's body, solidifies, and tries unsuccessfully to penetrate the barrier in a lunge toward Koenig, 
Bergman, and Russell, who are, of course, outside of the barrier. Mateo frees himself from his chair and engages his 
"double" in a struggle that ends with one side of Mateo's body striking the electrical field. Mateo dies in precisely the 
manner exhibited by his premature ghost, which disappears, never to appear again.
Guest stars: Giancarlo Prette (Dr. Dan Mateo), Hilary Dwyer (Laura Adams), Anthony Nicholls (Dr. James Warren).

"Space Brain"
Jigsaw puzzles are pieced together by various Alphans, including Commander Koenig, on an Alphan "night", before all Alpha
personnel are puzzled by an outburst of rapid, flashing hieroglyphics on all of the Moonbase's view monitors. The source
of transmission of the bizarre signs is probed by an Eagle, which becomes surrounded by a foamy substance compressing it
and its pilots into an extremely dense "meteor" that is hurled onto the Lunar surface near Alpha. Another Eagle, crewed by
Alan Carter and an American technician named Kelly, also enters the foamy region of space (before Koenig and Bergman have
ascertained that the meteor is the remains of the first Eagle), and a space-walking Kelly is overcome by the influence of
an intelligent entity in the area and rushed by Carter back to Alpha. After his erratic attempt- with superhuman strength-
to seize control of Moonbase's Main Computer to relay information to the sentient force in space, Kelly is immobilized and
linked in mental symbiosis to Koenig, who learns from Kelly about the nature and purpose of the entity, a space "brain"
that is the centre of a locality of space containing many strange worlds dependent upon the brain for survival. The foam
is an involuntarily discharged antibody of the brain to protect the organism from foreign objects, and the Moon is on a
course directly through the space brain, which is trying through Kelly to find a means of altering the Moon's trajectory.
A joint attempt, with nuclear explosives, by Alpha and the brain to avert Alpha's passage through the cosmic intelligence
is unsuccessful, and it is by a computer-controlled increase in atmospheric pressure on Alpha that the Moonbase withstands
an influx of the crushing suds. The Moon passes virtually unscathed through the brain, but the brain does not outlive this
event, and neither does Kelly.
Guest stars: Shane Rimmer (Kelly), Carla Romanelli (Melita), Derek Anders (Wayland).

"The Infernal Machine"
Approaching and parking on the Moon is a large spaceship of cylindrical shape with rotating projections on its sides.
From it and through Alpha's communications network booms an egotistical voice asserting peaceful intent and asking to
meet inside of it an Alphan delegation consisting of Koenig, Dr. Russell, and Prof. Bergman. The three top Alphans
Moonbuggy to the alien spaceship and are transported by elevator to a spacious chamber occupied only by an ancient man
close to death and who identifies himself as Companion. To the Alphan trio's confusion, the wizened, bearded space
traveler speaks with the voice which summoned their company but does not recollect doing so. Companion is, in fact, soul-
mate and servant to the spaceship, which is a self-regarding computer-entity named Gwent, initially created by Companion
(Delmer Powys Plebus Gwent) as an extension of his own personality, hence the identical voice. Gwent grew too powerful for
his creator and eventually enslaved him. Now, Gwent requires mechanical supplies from Alpha to continue his journey
across the universe. Although the Moonbase can spare the requested materials, Gwent's arrogant manner- including a
preemptive gain of control of Alpha's Central Computer- vexes Koenig, who grandstands against Gwent, resulting in a
skirmish between Gwent and a fleet of Eagles led by Alan Carter. Companion's weak body cannot tolerate the stressful,
spaceship-shaking hostilities, and he dies. After Koenig, Helena, and Bergman assist Gwent in funeral-dispatching
Companion's body into space, Gwent becomes captor to the three Alphans within him, demanding the electronic supplies from
Alpha and a fellow traveler and caretaker to replace Companion- and releasing his immense laser firepower upon Eagles and
Moonbase itself to force Koenig's compliance with his directives. Thus, Alpha delivers Gwent's desired items to the
overbearing apparatus, with Carter supervising the operation, bringing the equipment to an inner airlock of Gwent, then
departing the alien spaceship by Gwent's command. Gwent then chooses all three of his hostages to be his lifelong
associates and helpers and shines a pain-inducing light onto them when they refuse to obey his order to inject a carbonic
fuel rod into one of his power generators. Koenig resists Gwent's torture and shatters the fuel rod, and Gwent suddenly
changes demeanor, his bluster replaced by pathos. A pitiable creature admitting to being functionally blind and in
desperate need of humanoid company, Gwent perceives how balefully vain that he has been and repents by releasing the three
Alphans to be retrieved from his interior. Once back on Alpha, Koenig, Russell, and Bergman watch with sorrow as Gwent
launches from his Lunar surface position and suicidally crashes into a Moon mountain. "A lonely, blind creature looking
for his death," says Koenig.
Guest stars: Leo McKern (Companion and Voice of Gwent), Gary Waldhorn (Winters).

"Mission of the Darians"
From a gigantic spaceship in the space-sky above Moonbase Alpha comes a distress signal received and heard by Main
Mission personnel. As stated in the S.O.S. message, the spaceship, Daria, suffered a disaster devastating large areas of
its interior. Thousands of its people are dead, with hundreds sick and dying. A mercy mission to the Daria is undertaken
by Koenig, Dr. Russell, Bergman, Carter, Morrow, and Security guard Bill Lowry, and their Eagle is somehow pulled to one
of the behemoth spaceship's docking ports. No Darians are seen in the region of the enormous spacecraft immediately
entered by the Alphans, who split into groups to survey the decrepit corridors and establish contact with the Darians.
Koenig and Bergman encounter cultured Darians of the area of the spaceship least affected by the disaster; Helena and
Lowry are seized by brawny barbarians when they try to help a pair of stunted-growth mutants, one of which is also
captured by the brutes; and Carter and Morrow, having returned to the Eagle after their corridor of exploration became
impassable, find one of the mutants cowering in fear behind one of the Eagle's passenger seats. Helena, Lowry, and the
first mutant are brought by their captors to a wrecked part of the Daria and to a bizarre cubicle, inside which the
mutant, declared unsuitable to live by the priestly leader of the savages, is thrown and disintegrates. And because one of
Lowry's finger joints was lost in a childhood accident, he also is doomed to death as a mutant inside the cubicle. Helena,
however, is deemed physically perfect and offered in tribute to the barbarians' "god", Neman. Koenig and Bergman meet
Neman, who is in fact leader of a mere 14 civil Darians. Said fourteen persons are what remains of those Darians who were
shielded from the fallout from the explosion of several of the Daria's nuclear generators 900 years previous. That was 100
years into the voyage of the S.S. Daria to a virgin planet on which the Darian race was to relocate after home world
Daria's extinction. Neman, together with his consort, Kara, neglect to mention the barbarian survivors of the explosion,
but they do inform Koenig and Bergman that the Daria's engines are undamaged and that the Alphans' resources, "pooled"
with those of the Darians, would enable Alphans and Darians to reach and co-habit the new planet. Neman and Kara invite
Alpha to join in the Darian voyage with a seemingly assured destination, and Koenig and Bergman express tentative
interest. Meanwhile, Carter and Morrow are guided by the second mutant to the "shrine" where Helena is being given by the
barbarians to two of Neman's 14 Darians (garbed in silver, anti-radiation suits and helmets and thought by the brutes to
be spirits of Neman). In a violent fight against the husky hoard, Carter is subdued, one of the "spirits" falls
unconscious by way of Morrow's misfired stun gun, and Morrow leaps through a closing portal to escape the commotion at the
"shrine" and chase the second silver-suited Darian through one of the spaceship's corridors. After Alan exposes the
"spirit" to the barbarians by removing its helmet and revealing a living humanoid Darian, he forces the "spirit" to lead
him and the angry barbarians to the Daria's cultured sector- and to the instigators of the phony religion. Morrow joins
Koenig and Bergman and tells them about Helena's capture, and Koenig angrily confronts Kara, demanding to know the true
state of affairs on the Daria. The barbaric survivors of the atomic explosions are not regarded by Neman's group of
fourteen to any longer be pure and legitimate Darians, but they remain useful as providers of human fodder (the mutants
converted by a machine- the cubicle- into protein compounds) to sustain the unirradiated group of 14 Darians. Also, Neman
and colleagues require healthy, perfect physical specimens (the barbarian survivors not mutated by radiation) for organ
transplants to maintain their lives. Through the religion, by depicting Neman as a "god" to the savages, the cultured
Darians have tricked the barbarian survivors into providing both the fodder and the perfect bodies. And the savages have
chosen Helena Russell as a prime specimen to give to their "god". Koenig orders Kara to intervene to save Helena from
being an unwilling organ donor, and when Carter leads the disillusioned barbarians into the control center of the Daria,
Neman rushes to protect the Darian gene bank, the fully preserved, most precious item on the spaceship, from the wrath of
the primitives, and he is thrown by an angry savage- who identifies him as a fake "god"- through the shattering gene bank.
Koenig stops further violence by appealing to the remaining Darians of both groups, to find a way to live together, for
this is the only future they have. For as long as the Moon is within Eagle range of the Daria, the Alphans assist the
Darians to assimilate and to start to rebuild their society, but decline to join the Darians' continuing voyage.
Guest stars: Joan Collins (Kara), Dennis Burgess (Neman), Aubrey Morris (Petros High Priest), Paul Antrim (Bill Lowry),
Robert Russell (Hadin), Gerald Stadden (Male Mute), Jackie Horton (Female Mute). 

"Dragon's Domain"
While the Moon is passing through a space zone ostensibly devoid of danger, Tony Cellini is wracked by a violent 
nightmare causing him to swing one of his prized tomahawks into his communication console. He then rushes to the stand-by
Eagle on a launch pad, enters the Eagle, and tries to activate the Eagle engines. Koenig, alerted by Central Computer to
Cellini's unauthorized presence at the launch pad, halts the engine ignition and stuns Cellini at point-blank range. As 
Cellini lies unconscious in Medical Centre, Koenig and Helena argue about him. Tony Cellini had been perhaps Earth's
foremost astronaut and is one of Koenig's long-time friends. Naturally, John is loyal in defending Cellini's integrity.
However, by Helena's professional assessment, Cellini thinks himself to be infallible and is unable ever to admit to
being in error- a frame of mind keeping him from accepting responsibility for a disaster years previous of which he was
the only survivor and the widely presumed cause. Helena thinks Cellini to be a suppressed hysteric and cites his pajamaed
effort to alone leave Alpha, in the midst of an expanse of nothingness, as proof of her diagnosis. She recounts the story
of the W.S.C.'s 1996 Ultra Probe commanded by Cellini and crewed by three others. Deep-space expedition to a terrestrial
planet (discovered in 1994 by Victor Bergman) on the fringe of Earth's solar system. Cellini and crew voyaged for 8 
months to the planet, Ultra, and, once in orbit about Ultra, diverted course to investigate a nearby cluster of diverse
spaceships from which registered on the Ultra Probeship's sensors no sign of life. Cellini docked the Ultra Probeship to
one of the alien spacecraft so that his crew could access that spacecraft and its secrets, and the opening of airlocks 
gave entry to the Probeship to a gruesome, one-eyed, tentacled carnivore that hypnotized and ingested Cellini's three 
comrades, regurgitating their charred corpses. Cellini's desperate lashing of an axe enabled him to escape the hideous
demon and return to Earth in a detached Probeship capsule, and authorities- and Helena too- dismissed his account of the 
monster (totally undetected by the Probeship's flight recorder) as a macabre "cover-up" of a critical error of judgment
on his part near Ultra. Cellini was disgraced, and it was through Koenig's loyalty and recommendation for reassignment to
Alpha before the Moon's 1999 break from Earth that Cellini came to now be on Alpha in a low-profile position. Cellini
recovers from the effect of John's stun gun and tells John and Helena that he was attempting to leave Alpha so that he 
could again confront the creature. By a chance in a trillion, in the vicinity of the drifting Moon is the "spaceship 
graveyard" encountered by Cellini in 1997, and still docked to one of the alien spacecraft is the remains of the Ultra 
Probeship! Cellini calmly agrees to join a reconnaissance team led by Koenig and including Bergman and Helena, and 
seizing his opportunity to avenge himself, Cellini is this time successful at stealing an Eagle. Pursued 6 minutes behind
by Koenig's group, he enters his darkened and cobwebbed former space vessel and, with an axe, fights the octopod terror
still present therein. Koenig, Helena, and Bergman arrive at the site to witness Cellini's fall in battle and consumption
by the tentacled beast! John grabs Cellini's dropped axe and uses it to administer a lethal strike to the monster's eye,
ridding the universe of the horrendous creature. The Alphans hurry back to Moonbase before the Moon drifts out of range 
of the graveyard of spaceships, and Helena and Koenig consider that the story of Tony Cellini and the monster could be a
latter-day version of "St. George and the Dragon".
Guest stars: Gianni Garko (Tony Cellini), Douglas Wilmer (Commissioner Dixon), Michael Sheard (Dr. Darwin King), Susan 
Jameson (Prof. Juliet Mackie), Barbara Kellerman (Dr. Monique Fauchere). 

"The Testament of Arkadia"
The Moon's movement through space comes to a virtual stop as it approaches a planet and star, and power on Alpha starts 
dropping, with no identifiable cause. Moonbase's only recourse is to explore the planet as a favorable place for an 
Exodus or for the purpose of finding the answer to Alpha's current crisis. A team of Koenig, Russell, Bergman, Carter, 
two Security men, and computer-selected, widest-possible-experienced experts Luke Ferro and Anna Davis, finds the planet 
to be desolate, its withered flora and ashen sand indicating some holocaust millennia past. Helena and Victor discover a
circle of humanoid skeletons in a cave, and on one of the cave's walls is an inscription in Sanskrit, one of the 
earliest-known Earth languages! Anna deciphers it. This world was called Arkadia, populated 25 thousand years ago by the 
progenitors of Earthman. When Arkadia was ravaged by infernal fire, possibly by nuclear war, its surviving people 
migrated to Earth. The skeletal remains confirm the human ancestry. This discovery leaves the Alphans in awe but still 
does not explain what is happening to Alpha. Power loss there is nearing 50%. Although the planet is now viable for
replenishing of life in difficult, long-term settlement, Operation Exodus would be suicide because Alpha's food supplies
would be exhausted in six months, and first crops on Arkadia would not be viable for two years. Yet, with energy 
continuing to mysteriously diminish, the Moonbase will freeze within hours. At least on Arkadia, there would be time to
hope- for a miracle. And for Luke and Anna, a miracle does happen. Alone in the cave, they see the skeletons come to 
life. A force still present on the planet motivates them to colonize Arkadia and to bring humanity "full circle".
However, Alpha's power loss stabilizes at 50 percent, meaning that life can continue there, and John cancels Operation
Exodus. Luke and Anna will not be denied their destiny. They kidnap Helena and demand as ransom an Eagle, a Moonbuggy,
and enough seed and food for the two of them to settle on Arkadia. An exchange of ransom for hostage is conducted in
space, and suddenly, once Luke and Anna are the only Alphans on Arkadia, the Moon starts to move again, and Moonbase
power returns to 100%. Again on Alpha, Helena, with Koenig, ponders the fate of the two new Arkadians.
Guest stars: Orso Maria Guerrini (Luke Ferro), Lisa Harrow (Anna Davis).

The Alphans are imperiled by a glib-talking robot that killed its creator, Captain Michael (Bernard Cribbins), in "Brian the Brain".

Season 2

"The Metamorph"
Aerially surveying a volcanic planet for Titanium, a mineral needed for life-support system repair on Alpha, are Eagle 
pilot Bill Fraser and co-pilot Ray Torens. A green-blue ball of light emerges from the surface of the planet and pursues,
overtakes, and absorbs Fraser, Torens, and their Eagle before descending back onto the planet's molten terrain. Minutes
later, Alpha is contacted via video transmission by an alien man named Mentor, who claims to have captured the Eagle and
its crew as a defensive measure against possible invasion by the occupants of the strange moon now near his planet,
Psychon. Koenig assures Mentor that Moonbase's intentions are peaceful, that all that Alpha wants are mineral deposits,
and Mentor arranges with Koenig to return Fraser and Torens to their Alphan kith and to provide Moonbase with ample
quantity of Titanium, in a spaceship-spaceship rendezvous in space. It is a deception. Having lured another Eagle, 
partied by Koenig, Helena, Carter, and Lew Picard, into the orbit of Psychon, Mentor converts his decoy spaceship 
(containing no life forms) into the same green-blue light that trapped the first Eagle, with identical purpose. On the
surface of Psychon, Koenig and company discover a "graveyard of spaceships" (now including Alpha's two Eagles) and enter
into a series of underground caverns, in which are found the laboring, soulless victims of Mentor's earlier treachery- 
and among them Torens, reduced to the same ghastly state. Psyche, the tubular, fluid-pumping machine operated by Mentor
in his subterranean lair, requires an immense amount of mental energy drained from non-Psychons tricked and captured by
him, to re-transform the now-boiling planet to its original, beautiful form, a process that would reduce all of its 
Alphan donors, desired by Mentor, of mental energy to the same living-dead condition as the wretches at present mining
ores for Mentor in "the Pits". After a cavernous struggle against Mentor that claims the life of Picard, Koenig's group
is imprisoned. When Koenig refuses to cooperate with Mentor, even if doing so would spare him and his companions, Helena,
Carter, and Fraser, from Psyche's obscenity, Mentor wills the power of Psyche to commence the obliteration of Moonbase 
Alpha. With the Alphans' insistence, Mentor's awful scheme is finally discovered by his hitherto naive daughter, Maya, 
who can change herself into any living creature at will. Maya frees Koenig's group to stop her father's assault upon 
Alpha. Gaining admission by Maya to the Grove of Psyche, John rips a petrified branch from a floral formation in the
Grove and with it smashes Psyche's tubes, thereby releasing the gargantuan power of the machine beyond Mentor's ability
to control it. Now critically destabilized, Psychon disintegrates into gaseous debris in minutes. Mentor refuses to 
depart his doomed world and dies with it, after imploring Koenig to adopt Maya as Alpha's newest occupant. Koenig 
prevents Maya from using her transformations to attempt in vain to rescue Mentor from the collapsing, flaming Grove and
hurries with her to board the Eagle being prepared for launch by Alan, Helena, and Fraser. The Eagle escapes the
catastrophic end of Maya's home planet, and grief-stricken Maya joins the Alphans.
Guest stars: Brian Blessed (Mentor), Anouska Hempel (Annette Fraser), Nick Brimble (Ray Torens), Gerard Paquis (Lew 
Picard), Alf Joint (Overseer).

"The Exiles"
Maya, now Alpha's Science Officer, assists in the investigation of missile-like objects that lock into orbit around the
Moon, two of which are obtained by an Eagle with a grabbing device, opened in one of Alpha's underground experimental 
laboratories, and found to contain the frozen-in-suspended-animation bodies- with red dots on their faces- of a young, 
alien man and wife, who are revived by Dr. Russell and claim to be innocent outcasts from planet Golos. The man's name is
Cantar; the woman is called Zova. They offer to extend Moonbase's life-support capacity if Koenig allows their fellow 
outcasts in the other capsules to be retrieved and revived. With some reservation, John agrees to the deal. But the 
apparently noble demeanor of the alien pair changes to deviousness when their true plans for Alpha's life-support system
are revealed! Cantar and Zova convert the life-support system to a matter transporter by which to instantaneously return 
to Golos, with Helena Russell and Tony Verdeschi as their hostages. Cantar and Zova are really deposed, psychotic 
dictators banished 300 years ago from Golos for crimes against their own people, and their compatriots are in the other
spatial caskets. They intend to seize control on Golos, and Zova returns to Moonbase to impose a voodoo-like power upon a
sculpted-clay image of Helena, causing Helena on Golos to scream in pain (heard by Koenig on Alpha), so that Koenig has 
no alternative but to concede to Zova's demand that he initiate retrieval of all of the other exiles. However, when Zova
comes with Koenig and Maya (all spacesuited) on one of the capsule-recovery Eagles to oversee the procedure, John 
detaches Zova's tether link with the Eagle and pushes her hopelessly adrift into the cosmic void. On Golos, Cantar knows 
about this event and goes on a rampage with the Alphan laser gun in his possession, firing wildly at Helena in the 
Golosian life-support complex after Helena has pierced with her fingernails the facial membrane that preserves Cantar's 
youth. Before Helena and Tony's eyes, Cantar ages rapidly and dies, and the current, benevolent Golosian leader, grateful
for the Alphans' act of thwarting Cantar and Zova, teleports Helena and Tony back to Moonbase, where Maya devises an 
anti-gravity effect to remove the exiles' capsules from Lunar orbit so that they resume their prior course.
Guest stars: Peter Duncan (Cantar), Stacy Dorning (Zova), Margaret Inglis (Mirella), Anthony Blackett (Stal), Peggy 
Ledger (Old Lady).

"One Moment of Humanity"
A complete loss of electrical power on Alpha is followed by temporary paralysis of everyone in Command Centre. Then, an
alien woman materializes therein and studies the statuesque occupants. Each of Command Centre's operatives regains
capacity of movement, and the woman in their midst introduces herself to Koenig as Zamara of planet Vega. She explains 
that Alpha's flow of electricity is seized by an electro-force-field that will remain in effect for 48 hours. Minimum 
life-support power is allocated so that the Moonbase, though cold and mostly dark, is habitable for the electro-force-
field's 2-day duration. The same electro-force-field was what briefly immobilized all Alphans in Command Centre. Zamara
says that Vegan protocol requires that newcomers into Vegan space submit two of their complement for teleportation to
Vega, and for this Zamara's arbitrary choice is Tony and Helena. With Zamara, the two Alphans are instantaneously
transported to a garden in the interior of an enclosed city structure outside of which the frigid and thin-atmosphere
Vegan climate permits no life. And they are invited to dine with Zamara, a bare-chested male named Zarl, and several
other Vegans. One of the Vegans' masked servants (described by Zarl to be automatons) whispers to Helena that if she or
Tony show aggression, they will be killed. Zamara and Zarl provide foul-tasting food to their guests in expectation that
Helena and Tony will react unfavorably. Helena adheres to the servant's warning by feigning enjoyment of the food and
subtly urging a confused Tony to do the same. When Zarl tries to provoke Tony into a fight by insulting Tony's integrity,
Helena verbally but discretely forestalls Verdeschi from his understandable inclination to punch the leering Vegan. Later
escorted by Zamara and Zarl to their guest room, Helena and Tony promptly depart the room for an unauthorized exploration
of the Vegan city. In a cave, they meet a group of the masked servants, one of whom removes its artificial visage, and
Helena and Tony are staggered to learn that the servants are humanoids and that the Vegan "masters" are androids that
have evolved into humanoid form and are linked to and powered by a shielded computer. The androids outnumber and have
dominion over their original Vegan superiors (the humanoids) but lack the emotions of love and hate. What the androids
want is knowledge of the latter so that they can use it to kill the humanoids, who pose a threat for as long as they are
alive and could find a way of penetrating the shielding of the computer and deactivating it and the androids. The
humanoids wear masks to hide their emotions, and the "revealing" servant gives the location of the computer to Russell
and Verdeschi and reminds them not to show violence to the androids, no matter what the provocation. On the pretense of
allowing Helena and Tony's early return to Alpha, Zamara and Zarl place the Alphan pair alone on a duplicate of Moonbase
and instill mutual suspicion in the two. When this scheme fails, Zamara teleports to Alpha and peruses the Moonbase's
literature library, is intrigued by the incidence of murderous jealousy in Othello, and brings John and Maya with her to
Vega so that they can reunite with Helena and Tony, with whom John and Maya admit to being in love. Zarl attempts to
provoke Koenig to jealous rage by dancing seductively with Helena in front of him. Despite John's effort at restraint, he
cannot tolerate Zamara's directive that Zarl, "Make love to (Helena)." He furiously punches Zarl, and the androids have
learned the expression and perpetration of violence. Zarl moves to enact his newfound ability to kill against John, but
Helena steps into his path and appeals to him to feel love, compassion, and tenderness, which is possible for him after
his dance with her. Zarl experiences one moment of humanity, and his individualistic sentiment breaks the unity of
purpose among the androids and all of them and their computer cease to function. The four Alphans return to Moonbase,
which is now free of the electro-force-field.
Guest stars: Billie Whitelaw (Zamara), Leigh Lawson (Zarl), Geoffrey Bayldon (Number 8).

"All That Glisters"
Deposits of milgonite, a rare mineral vital to Alpha's life-support system, are indicated by Moonbase's Central Computer
to be present on a red-skied desert planet, which is visited by a Alphan party composed of Koenig, Helena, Maya, Tony,
Alan, and geologist Dave Reilly, an "Irish cowboy" whose "eyes of Texas" lust for Maya, to the annoyance, of course, of
Verdeschi. The Alphans find not the sought-for milgonite but a strangely glowing rock that "bleeds" when split by 
Reilly's laser gun. A portion of it becomes hostile after being separated from its main body and brought inside the 
landing party's Eagle for analysis. When Tony is peering through a microscope at the rock fragment, he is stricken by an
intense orange light emitted by it and goes into cardiac arrest. Helena's effort to restart Tony's heart is unsuccessful,
though his brain activity, respiration, and all other bodily functions are normal. Some time later, Tony rises from his
cot in the Eagle. In some kind of trance induced by the rock fragment, he walks outside of the Eagle to the main rock 
body and, with his laser gun, removes another piece thereof. He brings the second chunk of rock into the Eagle and places
it beside the first one, and the pair of detached units of rock fuse together into a unified whole. He then lays again on
the cot, oblivious to the amazed stares of his friends. Koenig, Maya, Carter, and Reilly gather around the primary rock
and try unsuccessfully, through Maya in the form of a rock fragment, to communicate with the evidently organic, sentient,
and intelligent alien life-form, which, Koenig believes, tricked Central Computer into registering non-existent milgonite
in order to lure the Alphans to the planet. With Helena and Tony still aboard the Eagle, the piece of rock within the 
Alphan spacecraft drains a supply of rationed water, absorbing the life-sustaining liquid into itself by means of a 
projected green luminescence, then commandeers the cockpit controls with another of its matter-manipulating light rays
(yellow). Thus, Helena, in commlock communication with her comrades outside of the Eagle, realizes that the entire rock
is desperate for a supply of H20, which has somehow become locked in a stagnant water cycle by clouds that drop no rain.
And the rock is prepared to maroon the Alphans on the arid planet and pilot their Eagle elsewhere in space to search for
water! First, however, it must fuse its entire body into its fragment aboard the Eagle. When Reilly recklessly boards the
spaceship in an act of bravado to impress Maya, thereby allowing Helena and a fully conscious Tony to escape the rock's 
claimed domain, the rock fragment selects Dave as its next heart-stopped, dazed, rock-collecting servant. Anticipating 
Reilly's rock-procuring mission, Maya once more transforms herself into a portion of rock that Reilly brings inside of 
the rock-dominated Eagle, and John and Alan enter the Eagle immediately after Reilly and Maya. Evading the red kill ray
of the potent rock piece, Koenig fires a dehydration laser beam (adapted by Maya from a standard laser gun after the 
Alphans learned the rock's purpose and probable weakness) into the Eagle-hijacking rock fragment, weakening it so that it
can be removed from the Alphan spaceship. Maya reverts to her original form, Reilly is clear of the rock fragment's 
manipulation, and the entire Alphan group hastens to depart the desert planet. Feeling sorry for the rock, which only 
wanted to survive, the Alphans release rain-forming crystals into the planet's cloud layer and restart the water cycle
to enable the rock to replenish itself of the liquid of life.
Guest star: Patrick Mower (Dave Reilly).

"Journey to Where"
Alpha is contacted by Texas City on 2120 Earth, where a breakthrough in neutrino technology now permits instant 
transmission of messages and objects, including people, across vast distances of space. Dr. Charles Logan, senior
scientist at Texas City, is propositioning Alpha with the opportunity to teleport to Earth by this process, but there is
a time-limit. A galactic eclipse in 72 hours will terminate the neutrino transmission link between Earth and Moon for
almost 100 Alphan years. Despite learning that twenty-first century pollution has ruined Earth's environment and that man
has "retired" to fully enclosed metropolises, the population of Moonbase is without exception eager to transport to man's
natal planet. Koenig, Russell, and Carter are the first Alphans to attempt it by means of transference domes, one on 
Alpha rapidly built by Maya's Sciences Section with Logan's instructions and the other in Texas City, but an earthquake 
near Texas City disrupts the transference, and the three Alphans are hurled backward through time to wintery, plague-
ravaged Scotland in 1339. In his effort to recalibrate his equipment so that the lost trio's location can be pinpointed,
Logan fails to consider time-travel as a possibility, and when indications are that John, Helena, and Alan are somewhere
on Earth beyond city limits, Logan rejects them, because the three Alphans would die in minutes if they materialized in
the contaminated wasteland outside of the 2120 Earth cities- and biomonitors on Alpha continue to register life for 
Koenig, Russell, and Carter. However, after their many months in the germ-free surroundings of Moonbase, John, Helena,
and Alan have a weak resistance to airborne disease, and Helena contracts viral pneumonia in the Scottish woodlands.
Scots tribesmen capture the three Alphans and mistake Helena's illness for the dreaded Black Plague. For the Pestis in
medieval times, there was only one cure: death by fire. So, the Scots chain John, Helena, and Alan to a cave wall and 
start a blaze at their feet. Koenig has learned from the Scots' leader, Clan Chief MacDonald, that Scotland, New Year's
Day, 25 years after Bannockburn, is the precise point in time and space to which his threesome was accidentally thrust,
and relays it with Morse Code to Alpha by the biomonitor transmitter on Helena's wrist, as fire and smoke are spreading 
around him and his two companions. Morse Code is recognized by one of Command Centre's operatives, and Maya uses Command
Centre's computer system to decipher it. The results are provided to Logan, who succeeds at retrieving Koenig, Russell, 
and Carter, and the trio rematerialize on Alpha within less than an hour of the impending galactic eclipse. Helena's 
viral pneumonia is easily cured by drugs on Moonbase, the Alphans accept the loss of their opportunity to transport to
Earth, and Texas City says good-bye to the people of the wandering Moon.
Guest stars: Freddie Jones (Dr. Logan), Isla Blair (Carla), Roger Bizley (MacDonald), Norwich Duff (First Operative 
Texas), Terry Walsh (Scotsman).

"The Taybor"
Alpha has a visitor: Taybor, an enormous, gluttonous, beauty-craving, and life-loving alien trader who speaks like an 
old-Earth seaship's Captain and is owner and sole pilot of the S.S. Emporium, an orange-red, pyramid-shaped spaceship 
with a jump-drive device capable of transportation through hyperspace to anywhere in the universe in a minute. Taybor
dines with Alpha's executives, indulges himself with Tony Verdeschi's beer, and gazes lustfully upon Maya. Offering
diagram plans to the jump-drive to the Alphans, with which they would be able to travel to Earth, Taybor wants one thing
in trade- Maya! Koenig cannot sanction such an exchange, for Maya is not his to barter, but tries to persuade Taybor to
accept a sculpted image of Maya with a robotic, mimicked voice and which will never age, thus retaining forever its 
replication of Maya's pulchritude. Taybor agrees to a trade of the jump-drive diagram plans for the "copy" of Maya but 
snatches the original article from Alpha by hypnotizing her with a necklace presented to her by him as a token of his 
appreciation for her cooperation in, "...bringing the image of (her) beauty into (his) life," and teleporting her with
him to the Emporium, which he moves into hyperspace. Koenig was not entirely trusting of Taybor's stated accordance with
his terms of trade and attached a Limpet Transmitter, extending Alpha's communication capacity into hyperspace, to the 
Emporium. Before Taybor's departure into hyperspace, the treacherous trader informs Koenig of his dishonest acquisition,
of course infuriating Tony, and returns the Maya duplicate to John, exploding its "waxworks dummy" face: "Did you think 
I'd settle for a copy, Skipper? I only collect originals." When Maya recovers from the hypnotic effect of the necklace,
she surprises Taybor with her ability to transform. On the suggestion of Koenig, who is in voice contact with the 
Emporium in hyperspace, Maya changes herself into an overweight, decrepit hag, a "female reflection" of portly, uncomely
Taybor, and pledges to retain the ugly form, defiling the beauteous idols in the Emporium that Taybor gave his life to 
collect, unless Taybor returns her to Alpha. The defeated and disgraced trader complies with Maya's demand and 
repossesses the first jump-drive design plan, which he had bestowed to Koenig prior to abducting Maya.
Guest stars: Willoughby Goddard (Taybor), Rita Webb (Slatternly Woman).

"The Mark of Archanon"
A humanoid alien man, Pasc, and his son, Etrec, are discovered by Alan Carter and Andy Johnson in a stasis chamber buried
beneath the Lunar surface, and their lives are saved by the Alphans from a cave-in that shatters the stasis chamber. Pasc
and Etrec regain consciousness after centuries of suspended animation, and the Alphans welcome the two seemingly noble 
and benevolent aliens from Archanon, the planet of peace. Pasc says that violence was outlawed on Archanon, where, "The
taking of any form of life is abhorrent," and that Archanons have been traveling the universe for thousands of years on 
the evangelical mission to replace evil with good. Unfortunately, at this juncture unbeknownst to Moonbase personnel, the
Archanon race has a genetically inherent inclination to aggression, a "killing sickness" randomly manifested in a glowing
symbol on their foreheads and involuntary outbursts of murderousness. It was during an expedition to medieval Earth that
Pasc was plagued by the horrible disease, and his fellow Archanons had no option but to confine him to a stasis chamber
buried on the Moon to quarantine his affliction until a cure for Archanon bloodlust could be found. Because the sickness
is transmitted through the genes of the male line, Etrec (in whom the illness is dormant pending puberty) was placed in
the stasis chamber with his father. While Alan entertains Etrec with football and hydroponic "hamburgers" and Pasc
struggles to contain his violent impulses, Helena examines sputum from Pasc and detects a virus of properties as yet
unknown to her. Eventually, Pasc explodes into a spree of mayhem, nearly killing Alan and Andy and hijacking an Eagle, 
with Helena as his hostage. Pasc demands that Etrec be permitted by Tony to join him in an escape from Alpha in the Eagle
before his people- automatically alerted to his release from stasis- arrive on the Moon to re-quarantine him. Etrec 
refuses to flee Alpha with Pasc and is for the first time beset with murderous rage, pointing a knife at his friend, 
Alan, before thrusting the blade into his own forehead in an attempt to remove the symbol of the sickness. Etrec's body
is unable to replace the blood that he has lost, and Helena appeals to Pasc surrender himself to Verdeschi and to undergo
a blood transfusion, his blood treated with a serum proven by Helena to neutralize the viral cause of Archanon violence,
to Etrec to preserve the boy's life and redeem him from the dreaded disease. Pasc assents to the procedure and, to 
Helena's shock, dies when his own body is incapable of replenishing its blood (such is the way of the Archanon organism).
An Archanon spaceship lands on Alpha to return the cured Etrec to his home planet.
Guest stars: John Standing (Pasc), Michael Gallagher (Etrec), John Alkin (Andy Johnson), Veronica Lang (Lyra and Maurna).

"The Rules of Luton"
A planet rich in vegetation is reconnoitered by Koenig, Verdeschi, and Maya. When a malfunction of their Eagle requires
its immediate return to Alpha by Tony for replacement, John and Maya conduct an on-foot surface survey of the incredibly
lush, green world. Maya plucks a flower, John eats a berry, and the two hear instantaneous screams! A voice emanating 
from one of three trees on a hill condemns them as murderers and cannibals. Plants are the dominant species of sentient
life on this planet of Luton, and without knowing this, the two Alphans have killed members of Luton society. The trees
are the Judges of Luton, and ignorance of the law is no excuse for the committing of murder. Koenig and Maya are denied
contact with Alpha and required to engage in mortal combat with three formidably powered animal aliens, one immensely
strong, the second with ability to teleport, and the third capable of invisibility, who also violated laws of Luton and 
claimed innocence due to ignorance. The survivors of the "crucible of combat" will be rewarded with freedom. John and 
Maya do not want to fight with the aliens and attempt to appeal to them to form an alliance, but the creatures are grimly
determined to kill their Alphan opponents, and John and Maya flee across a river and into a thick woods. While Maya,
transformed into a bird, is airborne in search of the three pursuers, Alien Transporter materializes behind Koenig and
wounds the Alpha Commander's shoulder with a stone lance. Maya comes to John's aid and in the form of a lion startles the
brutish attacker, who falls into the river and drowns. Tony, in a second Luton-bound Eagle, is unable to locate the 
planet, which has vanished from the space near Alpha. Maya endeavors to soothe John's wound with a watered piece of tunic
fabric, and Koenig and Maya climb a small mountain and observe the remains in a valley of Luton's indigenous animals,
killed by the plants millennia past in a final confrontation. Alien Invisible ascends the mountain but fails to conceal
his stone lance, and John and Maya are alerted to his presence. Maya changes into a bloodhound to locate the menace, and
Alien Invisible falls to his death on the mountain's base when he, too, is surprised by Maya's metamorphic power. Koenig's
wound causes delirium, and Maya, again as a bird, searches for water to re-moisten the patch of tunic. She is caught and
caged by Alien Strong, whose confident bellowing arouses John from fevered sleep. Knowing that he has no choice but to 
defeat Alien Strong before Maya's hour-limit of transformation expires and she is crushed in the cage, John descends the
mountain with an improvised weapon- a bolas constructed from his anorak belt- in his hand, and he uses it to trip the 
robust but not very agile creature, whose head hits a rock. John frees Maya from the cage but refuses to administer a 
coup-de-grace upon Alien Strong. The Judges of Luton demand a killing, and Koenig exposes their lust for death and their
hypocrisy. They could have prevented John and Maya from the act of plant-murder by cautioning them beforehand. The Judges
of Luton, threatened with an uprising among Luton's citizens, permit Tony to land his Eagle on the planet to collect John
and Maya for return to Alpha, where Koenig recovers from his wound.
Guest stars: David Jackson (Alien Strong), Roy Marsden (Alien Invisible), Godfrey James (Alien Transporter).

"Brian the Brain"
In reaches of space far from Earth by the wildest stretch of imagination, the Alphans are visited by a Swift spaceship 
from Earth which was part of a lost 1996 Star Mission. A voice transmission from the Swift speaks amusingly about "coming
down" to the "Moony-Moon-Moon" to "have lunch" with Commander Koenig on Moonbase Alpha. After he grants permission for 
landing on Alpha to the Swift's mysterious pilot, John, accompanied by Helena and two Security guards, boards the Swift 
and finds no humans within the spacecraft. The operator of the Swift is a robot with cubical body parts, wheels, and 
light-flashing mouth, Brian the Brain, who says that he is the only Star Mission survivor. The Star Mission's Mothership 
and other Swift support spacecraft landed on Planet D, the source of a gravity pull that has been detected by Moonbase's 
sensors, and the entire human crew of the Star Mission perished there. Brian is vague on further details about the fate 
of the Star Mission and of his creator and Star Mission leader, Captain Michael, declines "lunch" because he does not 
have a digestive system, and invites Koenig and Dr. Russell to the Swift on Alpha's landing pad to closely examine the 
spaceship. When John and Helena are aboard the Swift, Brian launches it toward Planet D. He also confiscates Command 
Centre's Central Computer memory core, "blinding" Moonbase and forcing Tony and Maya to adhere to his terms: transport by
him of John and Helena to Planet D. With Helena as his hostage, the glib, treacherous robot forces Koenig to walk on 
Planet D's rocky terrain to the Mothership to obtain from there a nuclear fuel core by which Brian can achieve 
immortality. John must wear a spacesuit because of Planet D's poisonous atmosphere and learns from the bodies of Star 
Mission personnel scattered over the surface of the lethal planet that Brian must have deceived his human comrades into 
walking completely unprotected onto Planet D. Joined by Maya and Tony at the Mothership (because they came to Planet D in
a fast Eagle in advance of Brian's Swift), John learns the reason for Brian's homicidal act. His "father", Captain 
Michael, was going to replace him with a superior computer brain. Threatened with obsolescence and probable de-circuiting,
Brian misled Captain Michael's crew about Planet D's environment. With Brian's desired nuclear fuel and with Maya, as a
mouse, in his jacket pocket, Koenig returns to the Swift, where Maya transforms into Captain Michael to accuse Brian of
Michael's murder, forcing Brian to admit guilt at killing his "father". Brian becomes distraught, starts to cry, and is
easily ejected from the Swift by John, Helena, and Maya. His tail-antenna caught in the hatch of the Swift, he dangles
from the spaceship, completely helpless. Brian agrees to restore Alpha's computer memory system and pleads for clemency
in his punishment. Brian is reprogrammed against killing, and what becomes of him and the Swift is a matter pending.
Guest stars: Bernard Cribbins (Captain Michael and Voice of Brian), Marc Zuber (Security Lieutenant).

"New Adam, New Eve"
A dizzying, dazzling display of light on Command Centre's largest monitor screen precedes the approach to Alpha by a 
messiah figure, walking through the cosmic void as Jesus Christ had trodden upon water. "I am your creator," he says to 
the amazed Alphans. Dressed in flowing robes and sandals- the usual artist's conception of the "original article", he,
Magus, materializes in Command Centre and says that humanity needs a "second chance", and he, in his beneficence, has come
to the Alphans to grant it to them, on a planet called New Earth, which he seems to instantaneously bring into being with
one wave of his hand. Koenig is "typically stubborn and commendably cautious", but Magus promises that the planet is ideal
for human habitation. He teleports Koenig, Helena, Verdeschi, and Maya in Eagle 4 to the surface of New Earth, restricts
communication with Alpha, and hereby states his intent to foster the evolution of a superior species of humanoids by pair-
bonding the four Alphans. Nobody else will be coming from Alpha to New Earth; "I do not wish it," says Magus. He summons
his God-like matter-manipulating ability to restrain Alan's Eagle on Alpha's launching pad, when Carter is using full 
Eagle booster units in an attempt to fly the spacecraft to New Earth in search of his friends. Doubting Magus' claim to
be the creator of the universe, John is furious with Magus' undermining of the "free will" of Alpha and points his laser
gun at the assuming deity, but Magus place-shifts the gun into his own hand, points it into his head, and presses the
trigger, his body absorbing the full laser energy charge of the weapon. Noticing the setting of New Earth's sun and the
rising of the Moon in the New Earth sky, Magus bestows to John, Helena, Maya, and Tony a Rome-styled banquet, departs
from his unwilling subjects for the night, confines them by a force-field in the Garden of Eden Mark II, and imposes his
will to force the mismatched couples of Koenig and Maya and Helena and Tony to mate. But others exist on the planet- 
cave-dwelling, deformed products of the charlatan deity's previous experiments in generic engineering. Magus wants the
secret of the creation of life so that he can be possessed of truly divine capabilities. One of the mutant creatures
informs the Alphan foursome of Magus' true heritage. Magus is the last of a race of cosmic magicians who can perform 
miracles through physics, but he will not go into the caves, and the Alphans perceive that he is averse to darkness.
Maya deduces that Magus must have a need for light, that it is the source of his quasi-divine powers, magnified and
channeled through a crystal implant in his brain stem. While Magus is on the sunlit side of New Earth, John, Helena, 
Maya, and Tony by night prepare a pit trap into which for Magus to fall and conceal it with loose foliage. Upon Magus'
appearance in Eden II on the next morning, Koenig lures him into the trap, and the four Alphans cover the pit with the
foliage to block Magus' light supply. Without the influence of Magus to counter the gravitational pull of the Moon which
is bigger in relation to New Earth than it was to the Old, instability of gravitational fields begins to rip New Earth
apart. The Eden II force-field neutralized, Koenig and his companions rush to board Eagle 4. John invites the mutants to
join in the escape from the doomed planet, but they decline the offer, preferring death. Eagle 4 leaves New Earth in
sufficient time to avoid being caught in the cataclysmic explosion of the planet. Magus is presumed dead.
Guest stars: Guy Rolfe (Magus), Bernard Kay (Mutant Creature), Annie Lambert (Command Centre Operative).

"The A B Chrysalis"
Shockwaves from a planet ringed by six moons buffet Moonbase Alpha as Earth's errant satellite nears the mysterious,
alien world. At precise, 12-hour intervals, which means that they must be a controlled, not natural, phenomenon, the
violent blasts of energy radiate from the planet's moon system and do increasing damage to Alpha. Koenig, Maya, and Carter
travel in Eagle One to visit the planet in hope of convincing its inhabitants to stop the shockwaves before Moonbase is
destroyed. The next strike of Alpha by the shockwaves is calculated by Maya to be the one that obliterates all life on the
Moon. Landing first on one of the planet's moons, the trio of Alphans find a fully automated station containing white,
bouncing balls that function as computers with speech capability. One of the balls, Voice Probe 248, reveals that its
chlorine-breathing masters on the planet exist in a chrysalis cycle of life-death-rebirth and that only its first masters
to be reborn on the planet from a current chrysalis state have the authority to cease the defensive waves of concentrated,
radiated energy. So, John, Maya, and Alan travel to the planet itself and are descended by an elevator underground in 
their Eagle to a maze of caverns. There, they encounter more bouncing computer-balls and meet two recently reborn
humanoids, two females, A and B, entirely naked and in a chlorine-air chamber separated with a glass window from the 
oxygen-breathing humans and Psychon. Koenig pleads impassionedly for the two women aliens to suspend the shockwaves. In a
democratic vote, the chlorine-breathers are "deadlocked", with A favoring Alpha because she is physically attracted to 
Koenig and B remaining grimly opposed to a stoppage of the shockwaves. A third member, a male, of the planet's society is
reborn to cast the deciding vote and maintains that the energy waves are intended to repel invaders (which Alpha has been
so-deemed, despite John's pronouncements of peace). He therefore logically decides with B against sparing Alpha from 
certain destruction. When the three aliens offer sanctuary on the planet to John, Maya, and Alan, John asserts that, 
"Loyalty is better than logic. Hope is better than despair. And creation is better than destruction," and announces that
he and his companions will attempt a return to Alpha, despite the Moonbase's doom. After the Alphan trio launch their 
Eagle into space, the three chrysalid beings ponder upon the worth of Koenig's stated principles. They are sufficiently
impressed thereby to limit the next shockwave so that Alpha is only minimally damaged, and John, Maya, and Alan 
jubilantly rejoin their Lunar home, which passes the  planet without any more devastation caused by the planet's
shockwaves.
Guest stars: Ina Skriver (A), Sarah Douglas (B).

"Catacombs of the Moon"
Engineer Patrick Osgood is a troubled man. His wife, Michelle, is suffering from cardiac disease and is in desperate need
of a mechanical heart, for which Helena requires quantities of Terranium to coat the valves in order to stabilize the 
mechanical heart's function. However, Terranium is an extremely rare and valuable mineral, and Alpha's limited Terranium
supply is essential to maintain the integrity of the Moonbase life-support system. Osgood therefore leads a mining party
in the atmosphere-injected catacombs beneath Alpha in an obsessive search for the vital ore. While alone in a particular
cavern, Osgood is the victim of an explosion of the Hypernitro that he carries in a sack. Thrown by the blast against one
of the cave walls, Osgood experiences a Dali-esque vision of the holocaustal destruction of Alpha. Fire rains from the 
sky, and the Moonbase is ablaze. In the midst of the flames is Michelle, on a four-poster bed. By the power of her 
husband's faith that she will live, Michelle rises from the bed and accompanies Patrick in a glorious escape from the
inferno. Osgood believes that he has foreseen the future and that Moonbase is doomed to a disaster in which only he and 
his wife will survive. By a remarkable coincidence, hours after Osgood reports his "prophecy" to Helena, Lunar surface 
temperature rises dramatically, and Alpha is progressively roasted by heat waves emitted through space by a storm of 
plasmatic fire discovered in a reconnaissance mission by Koenig to be approaching the Moon. Patrick is thus convinced of
the verity of his forecast, becomes an aggressively dogmatic proponent of faith-healing, denounces Helena's Mayo-cardiac
efforts to save Michelle's life, and wires himself with explosives to force Tony and Helena to allow him to remove the 
ailing Michelle from Medical Centre, from which he helps her to walk into the cool and supposedly fire-storm-secure 
catacombs of the Moon. In command of Alpha during Koenig's absence, Tony authorizes a release of the grains of Terranium
necessary to perfect the mechanical heart, from Alpha's small amount of the mineral- and together with Maya, in the form 
of a tigress, he pursues the Osgoods- after Patrick has discarded his explosive means of persuasion. Patrick is cornered 
by tigress Maya in one of the caves, Michelle, standing next to him, collapses into unconsciousness, and Tony carries 
Michelle to the operating room in Medical Centre. There, Helena succeeds in installing the fully operational mechanical 
heart into Mrs. Osgood. As Michelle's health improves, Patrick regains his mental stability, and the heat storm 
miraculously bypasses Alpha, sparing the Moonbase from a full realization of "Osgood prophecy".
Guest stars: James Laurenson (Patrick Osgood), Pamela Stephenson (Michelle Osgood), Lloyd McGuire (Miner), Brendan Price
(Security Guard), Saul Reichlin (Miner).

"Seed of Destruction"
While exploring a bizarre, blue-green, jewel-like asteroid, Koenig enters a cave in which mirrored walls reflect a 
multitude of images of himself, one of which comes to life, steps out of its mirror, overpowers John, exchanges jackets 
with him, and usurps his position as Commander, returning to Alpha in his stead to order a transfer of Alpha's power to 
the asteroid. Command Centre personnel listen to their seeming leader's report that the energy transfer will free Alpha
from an influence exerted by the asteroid upon Moonbase, but the imposter Koenig's true aim is a full drain of Alpha's
power. The asteroid is the encasement for the Heart of Kalthon, a seed containing in microcosm and in suspended animation
the cities, people, and full biosphere of the Kalthon world, awaiting renewed, resurrected life through a surge of energy
that the Koenig replica- part of the Kalthon seed's unrelentingly amoral directive- is intent upon procuring from Alpha,
with the Moonbase freezing in the process. The genuine Koenig, marooned on the asteroid and trapped inside its "Hall of
Mirrors" cave, learns from the Voice of Kalthon of his imposter's intentions but cannot contact Alpha. Kalthon Koenig 
confines Maya to her living quarters when she insists on scientific evidence of his claim that the power transfer will 
"break" the asteroid's "hold" on Alpha. Tony, Maya, and Helena suspect that their Commander is not telling the truth, but
even they do not conceive that he is an imposter! Alan and everyone else on the Moonbase believes in the veracity of the
Koenig replica's unwavering order that Alpha power be concentrated and beamed at the asteroid. Helena touches his hand 
and is aghast to feel a cold-as-ice clamminess, and Tony and Maya steal an Eagle to go to the asteroid to find answers to
their Commander's atypical austerity, evasiveness, and "coldness", and inside the cave, they are reunited with the true
Commander Koenig, who reveals to them the details of Kalthon's purpose. While Tony and Maya remain on the asteroid in
search of the seed, which sonar sound from their commlocks is capable of destroying (along with the reflective walls in
the cave), Koenig races to Alpha in the Eagle for a confrontation in Command Centre with his usurper. By this time, Alpha
is in a desperate condition, its life-supporting energy at a critical point of depletion, and the imposter's grim 
determination to continue with his plan has caused Command Centre operatives to doubt his authenticity. Alan and Helena
both distinguish the real John from the fake, and John uses sonar sound to shatter his mirror image into a lump of 
crystal. The high frequency sonar passes through Tony and Maya's commlocks to shatter Kalthon's seed, and the two 
executive Alphans are rescued from the asteroid.
Guest stars: Martha Nairn (Cranston), Jack Klaff (Security Guard).

"The Beta Cloud"
A space cloud with an enigmatic, diamond-shaped nucleus somehow renders most of Alpha's population unconscious with 
lassitude and loss of will. Koenig is one of the afflicted, as is Carter and, eventually, Helena. Some Alphans seem to
have immunity to the effect of the cloud, and Astronaut Tom Graham is one such. He is sent in Eagle 6 into the cloud to
collect particles of it for analysis by Helena. But when Eagle 6 returns to Moonbase, Graham is not aboard it. In his
place is a tall and powerful, bug-eyed creature sent by an intelligence in the cloud to steal Alpha's life-support 
system. A voice transmission from the cloud announces to Tony, Maya, Sandra Benes, and Bill Fraser (the only Alphans fit
for a life-and-death struggle) the intention to confiscate the life-support system, which the intelligence needs in order
to survive, and declares any attempts of resistance by Alpha as an "exercise in futility". While Sandra acts as caretaker
of patients in the filled-to-capacity Medical Centre and Bill builds an electrical barrier at Life-Support Section, Tony
orders Central Computer to lock all doors on the Moonbase to slow the enemy's progress, meaning that the intruder must 
rip impeding doors open. Verdeschi and Maya fight the creature, which they find is impervious to laser guns, vacuum 
conditions, chlorine gas, anesthetics, and the electricity channeled into Bill's barrier. Confronting the creature at 
the entrance to Life-Support Section, Tony, Maya, and Bill know that it must be stopped, or Alpha is doomed. At this 
point in the battle, Maya finally realizes that the invader cannot be a living being, because no life-form could 
withstand the incontrovertibly fatal force applied to it by the defenders of Moonbase. Deducing that the creature is a
robot, Maya transforms herself into a bee and enters it through its ear. She triggers a short-circuit that not only 
immobilizes the bug-eyed menace but achieves the disappearance of the space cloud, and all of Alpha's people are cured of
the depressive syndrome. Maya visits Medical Centre's only occupant: Tony, who sustained a broken arm and leg in his 
contest with the cloud's automaton.
Guest star: Dave Prowse (Cloud Creature).

"A Matter of Balance"
Invisible aliens of the planet Sunim in the anti-matter universe intend to escape the doomed, backward evolution of their
species in their universe by crossing to existence in matter space, but to do so requires an equal transfer of material
beings to anti-matter. Vindrus of Sunim is able to project a transparent image of himself in the matter universe. Alpha's
naive and vulnerable resident, botanist Shermeen Williams, weeps after being brusquely spurned by Tony Verdeschi, with 
whom she is infatuated. "On the rebound" from her unrequited love for Alpha's Security Chief and beer-brewer, whom she has
been assisting in fertilization of hops, Shermeen is easily enamored with Vindrus when he appears in transparent form to 
her while she is alone in one of Alpha's Hydroponic Units. He promises to Shermeen certain happiness on Sunim and aids her
to secure a position in the reconnaissance landing party being assembled by Koenig, by incapacitating her colleague and 
John's choice for landing party botanist, Eddie Collins. Eddie is overcome by a gas emitted from a flower whose planting 
and rapid growth is fostered by instructions to Shermeen from Vindrus. On Sunim, which has material solidity despite the
anti-material nature of its population, Vindrus reappears to Shermeen in his ghost-like form, diverting her from Koenig,
Maya, and Fraser and leading her to a partially buried temple guarded by Thaed, a huge, bug-eyed, bipedal lizard with a 
scythe-shaped lance. With Vindrus' reassurances that Thaed will not attack her, Shermeen passes Thaed and enters the 
temple wherein Vindrus guides Shermeen to a machine that, Vindrus says, will bring himself into solid existence, with 
Shermeen's help. The machine is a matter-anti-matter converter requiring power from one of Alpha's miniature nuclear 
generators, which Shermeen agrees to attain from Moonbase. After Maya transforms into a fox to evade Thaed and enter the
temple, she finds Shermeen alone inside the structure and videotapes the machine and some images on the temple wall. 
Shermeen's secrecy about how she came to be inside the temple and past the grimly resolute temple guard Thaed (an 
apparently solid, sentient being that does not register on Alphan scanners), inexplicable loss of communication with 
Alpha, and aberrant scanner readings on the planet concern Koenig, who orders a return of the landing party to Alpha, 
where Shermeen acts to steal one of the miniature nuclear generators and an Eagle for her return to Sunim. With further
"flower-power", she hypnotizes Fraser to pilot the Eagle. Again inside the temple, still thinking that she is helping her
object of infatuation, Vindrus, with no dire consequences for herself or for Alpha, Shermeen links the nuclear generator
to the Sunimian machine, activates both, and steps into one of two cubicles, with Vindrus occupying the other. Vindrus 
gains solidity as Shermeen disintegrates into seeming oblivion! Meanwhile, Maya's videotape of the temple's wall- on 
which are drawings of a humanoid race's catastrophic fall from a state of evolutionary perfection- and her Psychon 
knowledge of matter-anti-matter conversion mechanisms lead her to conclude that there is an anti-matter factor in the 
enigmas of Sunim, and she, Koenig, and Verdeschi follow Shermeen to Sunim when they learn about Shermeen's thievery. 
Vindrus, now solid matter, schemes to lure Shermeen's Alphan comrades, now on Sunim in search for her, into the temple for
additional exchange-conversions for his people. However, John, Tony, and Maya, in the form of Shermeen, trick Vindrus
into believing that Shermeen is "coming back" to matter and that his exchange with her is unstable and must be corrected.
They lure him into entering one of the transference cubicles, seal him inside, and, with Maya at the controls to the 
matter-anti-matter converter, return Shermeen to the material universe and consign Vindrus to anti-material doom. Koenig
times a self-destruct of the nuclear generator and matter-anti-matter conversion machine to occur once the entire Alphan 
party board their Eagles. The explosion reverts Sunim entirely to invisible anti-matter, and John, Maya, Tony, Fraser, and
Shermeen rejoin Alpha, where Shermeen, no longer naive, cooperates with her new beau, Eddie Collins, in an advanced plant
growth project.
Guest stars: Lynne Frederick (Shermeen Williams), Stuart Wilson (Vindrus), Nicholas Campbell (Eddie Collins), Brian 
Osborne (Chris Potter).

"Space Warp"
Maya suddenly becomes feverish and delirious when she is afflicted with a disease of unknown origin. While Koenig and 
Verdeschi are away from Alpha, in Eagle 1, to reconnoiter a derelict spaceship, the Moon slips into a space warp that 
sends it within minutes five light-years away from John and Tony, who must pinpoint the exact location of the space warp
to follow Alpha's path through it. On the other side of the space warp, Alpha is ransacked by a monstrously transformed 
Maya, whose delirium has rendered her violently intent, with her metamorphic powers, to leave Moonbase and travel back to
her natal planet Psychon, which no longer exists! At one point, one of Maya's hulky transformations smashes through an 
airlock and, because it can accumulate a supply of air like a camel stores water, it is able to live on the airless Lunar
surface. Helena and Alan, in spacesuits, board a Moonbuggy in pursuit of Maya. They must intercept, overpower, and return
her to Alpha before her air supply is exhausted or before her hour metamorphosis limit expires and she reverts to her own
body on the inhospitable Lunar soil. Meanwhile, Koenig and Verdeschi dock with and board the derelict spacecraft and find
its interior to be demolished. Amid the clutter is a televisory system with videotaped messages from Captain Duro, 
commander of the Betanon Scout Cruiser Menon, which sustained severe damage when attempting to follow its Mothership 
through the space warp. All of Duro's crew died, and Duro, fatally wounded, recorded the messages in the hope that they 
might be useful to other forms of intelligent life. Duro ejected himself into space. John and Tony view Captain Duro's 
communiques, one of which provides coordinates to the space warp's entry, and after feeding the alien mathematical codes
into Eagle 1's computer, they pilot Eagle 1, with which the derelict spacecraft remains docked, through the space warp for
a reunion with Alpha. Alan has ordered a refueling Eagle to await the arrival of Eagle 1 on Alpha's side of the space 
warp, and John and Tony in Eagle 1 and the refueling Eagle pilot joyously return to Moonbase with the salvageable derelict
spaceship in their possession. Having succeeded in retrieving Maya, still alive though unconscious in her transformation,
from the terrain of the Moon, Helena and Alan rush her to Medical Centre, where her delirium eases and she resumes her 
original form.
Guest stars: Andrew Lodge (Grasshopper), Jack Klaff (Security Guard).

"The Bringers of Wonder: Pt. 1"
Commander Koenig appears to lose sanity while at the controls of Eagle Ten above the Moonbase's nuclear waste domes. Like 
a deliriously jovial teenager, he swoops the spacecraft in a joy ride above the hazardous storage area for radioactive 
refuse and crashes it into one of the domes. Alan Carter leads a rescue party accompanied by nuclear physicists Joe 
Ehrlich and Jack Bartlett, and an unconscious John is removed from the wreckage of the sparks-and-explosions-ridden Eagle.
No radiation leakage is detected at the Eagle crash site, and John is rushed to Medical Centre where he is diagnosed with
a concussion and linked to an experimental apparatus that adjusts brain impulses. The Alphans' shock at their Commander's
seeming mental collapse is overcome by jubilation when a Superswift spaceship from Earth, crewed by their long-lost 
friends and relatives, impossibly traverses interstellar space at a speed faster than that of light and lands on Alpha. 
Prominent members of the Superswift's company include Tony's Verdeschi's older brother, Guido; Helena's medical tutor, Dr.
Shaw; Alan's Australian buddy, Ken Burdett; Sandra Benes' betrothed, Peter Rockwell; and an "old flame" of Koenig's, the
voluptuous, conceited Diana Morris. Guido and Shaw proclaim the Superswift to be the product of an advance in aerospace 
propulsion soon after the Moon left Earth's orbit in 1999- and has arrived on Alpha to collect the cosmos-wandering 
personnel of the Moonbase for a miraculous homeward journey- to the green, blue, and beautiful Earth as they remember it.
While John remains unconscious under the treatment of the Brain Impulse Machine and Alpha executives reunite with their
loved ones, Medical orderly Sandstrom is influenced by two of the comers from Earth to try to terminate Koenig by 
sabotaging the Brain Impulse Machine, but Dr. Ben Vincent interrupts the murder attempt and subdues the frenzied 
Sandstrom, who bellows that he must kill Koenig. Sandstrom is placed under restraint straps on a bed, and Ben speculates
that John's earlier berserk behavior may have been transmitted to Sandstrom. Koenig sanely emerges from his ostensibly 
therapeutic sleep and has no memory of his wild piloting of Eagle 10. Helena and Ben inform him of the Superswift and the
promised return to Earth, and he goes to Command Centre to greet Diana, Guido, Dr. Shaw, and the other Superswift people-
and sees them as hideous, grotesque, slimy, scaly, one-eyed monsters. When John attempts to laser an alien spaceship on 
one of Alpha's landing pads and to kill one of the visitors, his executives conclude that the Brain Impulse Machine has 
aggravated the mental illness to which he appeared to have succumbed in Eagle 10, and, like Sandstrom, Koenig is sedated 
and restrained in Medical Centre. Among themselves, the Superswift crew plot the death of Koenig, a "strong leader" and a
threat to their mysterious aim; the Eagle 10 incident was their first effort in this regard. Technician Clive Kander has
videotaped the arrival on Alpha of the Superswift. While alone in the Moonbase Records Laboratory, Kander views his 
videotapes and is startled to see the same gruesome tableau that repulsed Koenig's eyes. Guido and Shaw telepathically 
control Kander into releasing pure oxygen into the Records Laboratory and dying in a fiery explosion before he can report
his finding, and Kander's self-destructive conduct is also attributed by Helena, Tony, and Alan to Koenig's contagious 
"space sickness". A Superswift auxiliary spaceship with three-pilot occupancy is launched for a faster-than-light flight
to Earth, and Alan, Ehrlich, and Bartlett are selected, supposedly by chance, to man the awesome spacecraft for triumphant
return to their planet of origin. As the spaceship launches from the Moon, somewhere on the Lunar surface is a group of
the horrible alien monsters. One such creature enters a darkened Medical Centre, where John is strapped to a cot, and 
tries to smother him with its decaying protoplasmic mass.
Guest stars: Toby Robins (Diana Morris), Stuart Damon (Guido Verdeschi), Patrick Westwood (Dr. Shaw), Jeremy Young (Jack
Bartlett), Drewe Henley (Joe Ehrlich), Cher Cameron (Louisa), Nicholas Young (Peter Rockwell), Al Lampert (Ken Burdett),
Nick Hobbs (Clive Kander), Billy J. Mitchell (Prof. Hunter).

"The Bringers of Wonder: Pt. 2"
Helena and Maya interrupt Dr. Shaw's examination of John, and Shaw departs Medical Centre, unsuccessful in his attempt in
his true monster form to eliminate Koenig. When Helena and Maya show a recording of the ascent from Alpha of the 
Superswift's auxiliary spaceship to Koenig, he sees an Eagle en route not to Earth but to Alpha's nuclear waste domes. 
Because Maya is not from Earth and has had no reunion with anyone from her past, the presence of the Superswift party has
not entirely neutralized her capacity for healthy skepticism. It defies probability that every Superswift crewmember is an
Alphan's friend, and John has no difficulty in lucidly persuading Maya to consider his perspective of current events as 
tentatively valid. Maya agrees to undergo the process of the Brain Impulse Machine which, John theorizes, has immunized 
him from the deceptive telepathy of the aliens. She sees exactly what Koenig does, and Helena must accept that the friends
and relatives from Earth are an insidious illusion. Transforming into one of the monsters, Maya infiltrates them and 
learns their purpose. Radiation-ingesting aliens desperate for feed, they plan to manipulate Alan, Ehrlich, and Bartlett 
into detonating all of the atomic waste on the Moon, by using telepathic projection so that the three Alphans believe 
themselves to be back on Earth to which they have traveled in a matter of hours. While Alan and Ehrlich entertain gorgeous
women on a dune buggy expedition in a lush forest, they are really dressed in spacesuits, seated in a Moonbuggy, and 
transporting a canister of atomic fuel from Alpha's nuclear fuel store to Bartlett (listening to stereo music at his 
Earth home with his daughter) at the nuclear waste domes. The gigantic nuclear explosion caused by insertion of the atomic
fuel into the domes would destroy Alpha, and Koenig races to intercept Alan and the two nuclear physicists and wrest them
from alien-induced dreamland. With help by Helena and a recording of White Noise transmitted through Alpha to block nerve
paths in the synapses of the brains of all persons on Moonbase, John ends the Superswift party illusion for every Alphan 
except for Alan, Ehrlich, and Bartlett. In a confrontation at the nuclear waste domes, Koenig alone punches and fells 
Alan, to prevent Carter from installing the atomic fuel cylinder into an aperture in the primary nuclear waste dome. The
aliens' time to survive expires, and they and their spaceship vanish into oblivion.
Guest stars: Toby Robins (Diana Morris), Stuart Damon (Guido Verdeschi), Patrick Westwood (Dr. Shaw), Jeremy Young (Jack
Bartlett), Drewe Henley (Joe Ehrlich), Cher Cameron (Louisa), Nicholas Young (Peter Rockwell), Al Lampert (Ken Burdett),
Billy J. Mitchell (Prof. Hunter).

"The Lambda Factor"
An energy cloud in space increases the psychic power potential of certain Alphans, one of whom, Carolyn Powell, is 
intensely jealous of a rival, Sally Martin, for the affections of Mark Sanders. Carolyn uses her psychic power to kill
both Sally and Mark with a violent wind that shatters their internal organs. Carolyn's involvement in the deaths is 
suspected by Tony, but possession of a specific conventional murder weapon cannot be proven, for the killing device is 
Carolyn's own mind. Problems posed by others on Moonbase: an Eagle motor nearly explodes when Eagle test-pilot Pete 
Garforth resents the Alpha spacecraft for an accident that resulted in his temporary suspension from duty; and Carl 
Renton, usually unsuccessful at games of chance, finds that he suddenly cannot lose, even when bully George Crato accuses
him of cheating and threatens violence if he wins again. And Koenig is suffering nightmares, products of the energy 
cloud's effect upon his own latent ESP capacity. In his dreams, John sees the horribly deformed apparitions of two friends
of his Astronaut Cadet days, whom he had been forced to leave to die from an incurable disease on a Venus space station. 
Long-repressed self-blame causes Koenig to deprive himself of sleep in a futile effort to escape the "ghosts" of his past.
Wakeful hallucinations of the same sick friends are the eventual result, and the distraught John withdraws into himself. 
Helena administers a Narcosynthesis drug to force Koenig to confront the unwarranted guilt from whence the "ghosts" come 
and accept that he had no choice but to leave his friends to die and that they would understand this. Meanwhile, Carolyn's
desire to subjugate Alpha's entire population to her twisted and sadistic will has brought her to Command Centre, where 
she has seated herself in Koenig's chair and has, by her telekinesis, enslaved everyone in the Alpha control room. John
and Helena identify the nature of the energy cloud's influence- emission of lambda waves that can engender mind-over-
matter ability. Koenig is the only person on Alpha with enough psychic power to stop Carolyn's madness, and the decisive
moment is a tete-a-tete between John and Carolyn in Command Centre, during which the energy cloud explodes, all 
others in Command Centre are freed from Carolyn's super-mental "grip", and Carolyn loses her personality so that she must
"grow up" all over again.
Guest stars: Deborah Fallender (Carolyn Powell), Jess Conrad (Mark Sanders), Dallas Adams (Sam), Lydia Lisle (Sally 
Martin), Gregory De Polnay (Pete Garforth).

"The Seance Spectre"
Moonbase Alpha has been adrift in space for years and encountered many somewhat Earth-like planets for which hopes for
resettlement and prosperity thereon rose prematurely among Alpha's general population. Because Koenig is reluctant to 
further dash the hopes of his people when the Moon is nearing space phenomenon Taura, which could contain a planet, he
orders a veil of secrecy surrounding his reconnaissance of Taura. Command Centre is declared off-limits to all but select
executive personnel, and a dissident group of Lunar surface explorers led by a bearded, husky, excitable man named 
Sanderson suspect that Koenig is withholding information to which every Alphan has right to access. Sanderson and his
cronies force their way into Command Centre and activate Command Centre's monitor screen, on which Taura is visible. They
form a circle for a seance to supposedly "predict" that Taura is an ideal habitable planet with conditions identical to
those of Earth. Dr. Russell attributes this "auto-hypnosis" to "Green Sickness", an all-consuming urge to be surrounded by
green grass, trees, and rivers, caused by prolonged withdrawal from this habitat. Sanderson challenges Koenig's authority,
accusing him of chronically lying to avoid having to relinquish command in the event of Alpha colonizing one of the 
planets that the Moon has passed. Sanderson refuses to believe Koenig's report on Taura's planetary nucleus' choking
atmosphere, lack of biosphere, heavy gravity pull, and collision course with Alpha. These are, Sanderson maintains, more
of Koenig's lies. However, when John initiates a desperate collision-avoiding maneuver involving controlled detonation of
nuclear waste remaining on the Moon since the breakaway from Earth to alter the Moon's trajectory away from Taura and a
precautionary evacuation of Alpha into space prior to the planned blast, Sanderson's followers begin to doubt the verity
of their "prediction" and decide to join the evacuation, leaving Sanderson alone in his fanatical opposition to Koenig.
While John and Maya endeavor to trigger the nuclear explosion, a spacesuited Sanderson fires a laser rifle at their Eagle
parked on the Moon near the nuclear waste silos with Maya inside of it. The Eagle is violently jolted, rendering Maya 
unconscious. Sanderson then attacks Koenig, and after an extended battle on the Lunar surface, Sanderson falls into one of
the silos. With not a moment to spare, Koenig completes his work with an atomic explosion trigger, and he and a recovered
Maya pilot their Eagle at maximum speed away from this site before the explosion that successfully averts a collision
between the Moon and Taura. Once all Alphans have returned to Moonbase, compulsory viewing of lengthy videotape recordings
of trees, meadows, and streams is ordered by Dr. Russell for every Alphan to assuage his or her yen for green to the 
extent of boredom.
Guest stars: Ken Hutchinson (Greg Sanderson), Carolyn Seymour (Eva), Nigel Pegram (Cernik), James Snell (Stevens), 
Christopher Asante (Security Guard).

"Dorzak"
A philosopher and poet, Dorzak was a pillar of Psychon society- and one of Psychon's evacuees when the planet began to 
boil. Together with his fellow refugees in space, he traveled to the Croton galaxy to plead for a new place on which to 
live. The highly cultured Croton people graciously accepted the immigrant Psychons into their nation, and somehow, Dorzak
became perverted with an urge to dominate the Crotons. With his acquired ability to subvert the minds of others to his 
will, he incited a violent insurrection on Croton planet Norva. Norvan Security forces quashed Dorzak's scheme, after many
deaths, and he was sentenced to exile on Croton penal planet Thessalina. Three Norvan women, Sahala, Yesta, and Clea, were
implanted with neuro-pulsonic jamming devices to block Dorzak's telepathic-controlling brain waves and assigned to escort
Dorzak, immobilized in a stasis chamber behind a force-field, to his place of banishment, but while their magnificent 
spaceship was in the middle of its long journey, junior crewmember Clea lusted for Dorzak and voluntarily removed her 
telekinesis-jammer to allow him- even while in stasis- to manipulate her into bludgeoning Yesta with a stone ornament. 
Clea's guilty conscience was unbearable to her, and she threw herself into space. Sahala, still resistant to Dorzak's 
insidious influence, awoke from her scheduled sleep to find Yesta comatose and in desperate need of medical attention. So,
approaching Alpha is the Croton spaceship, with Sahala urgently asking for permission to land on Moonbase. Commanding 
Alpha during Koenig's absence (John is on a reconnaissance mission, investigating a belt of asteroids), Tony Verdeschi
agrees to Sahala's request, and while Sahala is accompanying a stretchered Yesta to Alpha's Medical Centre, she sees Maya
and on impulse shoots her Stazer-gun at the Psychon-Alphan. Tony angrily detains Sahala for her deed and demands to know
what motivated her to act so abruptly. Sahala recounts the story of Dorzak's treachery to explain Crotons' xenophobic 
reaction to all Psychons, apologizes for her assault upon Alpha's resident Psychon, and reverses the stasis-effect of her
weapon. When Maya regains consciousness and is informed of Dorzak's survival, she is ecstatic and disbelieves Sahala's 
statement about Dorzak's heinous crimes. During crucial surgery on Yesta, Helena unknowingly extracts Yesta's ESP-blocking
implant, and Dorzak is able to induce Yesta to denounce Sahala as the evil quantity, before Yesta dies from her injury. 
Alan is romantically inclined to trust Sahala, and despite his suggestion of caution, Maya is successful in persuading
Tony to release the apparently innocent Dorzak from his stasis chamber and force-field confinement so that she can reunite
with her fellow Psychon. Pleasantry is brief. Dorzak forces Maya to convey to him her knowledge of molecular 
transformation by which he intends to gain possession of the Croton spaceship- by impersonating others. He "Stazers" and
imprisons Maya in his stasis chamber on the Croton space vessel. Tony learns from an Alphan technician that the object 
removed from the now-deceased Yesta is a neuro-pulsonic jammer and is suspicious when "Maya" speaks with uncharacteristic
appreciation of his abominable beer. As Dorzak is in the process of overpowering Sahala and Alan Carter and directing 
Helena to operate on Sahala to extract from Sahala the device that immunizes her from Dorzak's telepathy, Tony orders 
Helena's assistant, Dr. Spencer, to install Yesta's neuro-pulsonic jammer into him so that he is able to surprise and, 
with a stun gun, defeat Dorzak. Maya is freed from the stasis chamber and revived, Dorzak is repositioned there, and
Sahala, her ESP-blocker operational, departs Alpha to complete her voyage with Dorzak to Thessalina.
Guest stars: Lee Montague (Dorzak), Jill Townsend (Sahala), Kathryn Leigh Scott (Yesta), Richard Le Parmentier (Sam 
Malcolm), Seretta Wilson (Clea).

"Devil's Planet"
Two potentially habitable worlds, a planet and its moon, are the subjects of a reconnaissance mission undertaken by Koenig
and Medical Rescue Team member Blake Maine. Koenig and Maine land their Eagle near a lifeless city on the lush, parent
planet, and, while walking through foliage, they see a man materializing in a strange booth. Before they can talk to the
man, he falls to the ground and dies, the blood vessels in his body shattered. There are several more dead bodies around
the booth, their condition identical to that of the recently deceased. Koenig and Maine are evidently immune to the 
seemingly airborne and bacteriological cause of death but nevertheless hurry to depart the planet. Investigating the
planet's Earth-like moon, Koenig and Maine lose control of their Eagle when its engine and piloting instruments 
malfunction, and the Alphan spacecraft crashes in a forest. John and Blake flee the wreckage of their tree-impaled and
spark-spurting spaceship. Maine is incinerated when stepping into an invisible energy barrier, and Koenig is captured by
whip-wielding cat-women in scarlet-red leotards and brought to a nearby prison compound overseen by the sadistic female
warden, Elizia. Elizia maintains order among her prisoners on the penal moon of Entra by letting them believe that life
continues for their loved ones on their home world of Ellna, from which they had been sent to Entra before the planet had
been ravaged by deadly nerve-bacteria, and that they can return there by teleportation cabinet when their prison sentence
expires or if they survive a brutal chase by Elizia's whip-wielding guards. Return to Ellna is a death sentence for the
unwitting former prisoners of Entra; the bodies surrounding the matter-transportation reception booth on Ellna are those
of freed Entra inmates. Koenig knows the truth about the death on the mother planet and battles Elizia to free himself 
from her penal moon and prevent more prisoners from transporting to their doom. He resists Elizia's attempt at seduction
and flees the prison compound, pursued by Elizia and her deadly whip-cracking bevy, and boards his crashed Eagle to obtain
a transmitting device to relay a message of his survival to Bill Fraser and Command Centre operative Alibe aboard a rescue
Eagle- and a fire extinguisher for defense against Elizia's Huntresses. He then returns to the prison complex and enters
the teleportation booth to transport to Ellna and requires Elizia to follow him to Ellna to prove to her minions that 
there is no almost-instant death for her people on the mother planet. On Ellna, Elizia tries in vain to kill John with 
her laser gun before she perishes from exposure to the bacteria, and Koenig uses the transmitting device that he salvaged
from his Eagle on Entra to summon Bill and Alibe to his location on Ellna.
Guest stars: Hildegard Neil (Elizia), Roy Marsden (Crael), Cassandra Harris (Ceres Controller), Dora Reisser 
(Interrogator), Michael Dickinson (Blake Maine), Angus MacInnes (Jelto), Arthur White (Kinano).

"The Immunity Syndrome"
A planet with Earth-type atmosphere and vegetation is the site for a large-scale, 2-Eagle Alphan survey party. Tony
Verdeschi and Joe Lustig are assessing a valley as a possible place for Alphan colonization when Lustig is attracted by a
cacophonic noise to a grove through a rock arch and a light shines onto him. With an agonizing scream that brings Tony 
running to his aid, Lustig goes insane and directs his laser gun at Tony, who leaps at Lustig to disarm the madman. In the
violent struggle that follows, the laser gun discharges into Lustig's abdomen, killing him instantly. Tony activates his
commlock to inform landing party leader Koenig of what has happened, but is prevented from talking when the same 
combination of sound and light induces murderous mania in him. Tony crushes the commlock in his hands, throws it to 
ground, and runs, stumbling over a tree stump and firing his weapon at it and setting it ablaze. Flanked by two Security
guards, Koenig follows the trail of destruction left by Tony and, on finding Verdeschi, must fight for his life when the
crazed Security chief tries to kill him. Tony suddenly lapses into a coma, and John, Alan, Dr. Ed Spencer, and the two 
Security guards attempt to transport Tony by Survey Eagle 4 to Alpha for hospitalization and hopeful treatment there. The
planet's environment mysteriously starts to change, with corrosive elements forming in the atmosphere and causing the 
Eagle's metals to become brittle and prone to fire. John and Alan wrestle with the controls to the crippled Eagle, which
crashes in a forest on the planet's surface! Spring water previously declared safe turns poisonous, and three survey team
members die after drinking it. Koenig, the still-comatose Verdeschi, Carter, Spencer, and the Security guards survived the
fiery Eagle crash, but the atmosphere situation prevents Eagles from departing the planet. A very temporary, one-way
communique to Alpha is possible, and John describes the grim situation on the planet for Maya and Helena in Command Centre
on Alpha, in response to which the women use Alpha's one carbon-fibre, non-corroding reentry glider, released from an 
Eagle piloted by Bill Fraser in high orbit about the planet, to venture to the surface of the increasingly inhospitable
world and join John and Tony. Tony emerges from his coma lucid and able to talk about what happened with Lustig, but is 
very weak and near death. The only hope for him and for the entire planet-marooned Alpha complement lies in a mysterious 
alien structure, the pod of an expedition to this planet many years ago by aliens who suffered a similar fate and too 
late learned what was destroying them, but whose deceased commander left recorded messages which the Alphans access in a
desperate effort to contact the force that is transforming the planet's environment against them. Koenig wears a suit 
specially designed by the aliens to block the audio-visual mental-destructive power, augments the suit's eye protection,
and, with directions from a non-metallic communication device held by his friends, walks through the arch to confront the
entity in the grove, a non-malevolent, non-corporeal solitary being yearning for contact with other forms of intelligent 
life but unwittingly rendering mad and killing those with whom it wishes to communicate. It is also inadvertently 
responsible for the adverse changes in the elements of the planet. John convinces the friendly and sorrowful entity to 
reverse the disastrous transformation of the planet's biosphere, enabling the Alphans to return to Moonbase, and to 
restore Tony's health. 
Guest stars: Nadim Sawalha (Zoran), Karl Held (Jerry Travis), Roy Boyd (Joe Lustig), Hal Galili (Voice of Solitary Being).

"The Dorcons"
An alien space object emits a beam of light that immobilizes every Alphan in Command Centre except for Maya, and a second,
more concentrated and circular luminescence passes over the faces of all Command Centre personnel before settling upon 
Maya and intensifying, causing intense pain. As the screaming Maya is about to collapse to Command Centre floor, the 
immobilization effect stops, and her Alphan comrades dash to her aid. Maya informs her friends about the "mind probe" that
studied the identities of everyone in Command Centre. Suddenly, the source of the intrusive light converts itself to raw 
matter and in its place appears what Maya immediately recognizes as a Dorcon spaceship. Dorcons are mortal enemies of 
Psychons, having hunted them for centuries to acquire Psychon brain stems with which Dorcons can attain immortality. 
Aboard the Dorcon spaceship are the aged Imperial Archon, supreme leader of the Federated Worlds of Dorcon, his second-in-
command, Consul Varda, and his nephew and envious heir, Malic. Varda wants to transplant a Psychon brain stem into Archon
so that the wizened ruler can live forever and thus preserve the security of the Dorcon empire; Varda does not believe 
Archon's successor-in-waiting (Malic) to have at heart the best interests of the realm. Because Maya is thought to be the
only surviving Psychon, the Dorcons, knowing from the mind probe that she is on Alpha, are determined to remove her from 
Moonbase, by diplomacy or by force. Koenig refuses Varda's requisition of Maya, and Varda initiates a severe attack upon
Alpha with her potent laser energy derived from the shielded anti-matter powering the Dorcon spaceship, in expectation 
that the personnel of Moonbase will surrender Maya if doing so spares them from further bombardment. However, John, 
adamant that Maya not undergo the brain stem transplant surgery with Archon, which would mean her death, rebukes the 
urging of some Alpha operatives to allow the Dorcons to have Maya. So, Varda leads an invasion of Alpha by teleportation.
Using a device on her wrist to temporarily negate Maya's transformation ability, Varda captures Maya. While the Dorcons 
are in the process of teleporting with their quarry back to their spaceship, Koenig leaps into the transportation-energy
beam, finds himself in the Dorcons' midst, and is immediately stunned by Varda's guards. Varda promises that Alpha will be
harmed no further and that Koenig will be returned to Moonbase. Malic, wanting Maya's brain stem for his own power-hungry
benefit, acts upon his scheme to divest his uncle of authority and life. While Varda is overseeing the Dorcon medico's 
preparations to transfer Maya's brain stem to Archon, Malic kills Koenig's captors in the Dorcon spaceship control room 
and frees the Alphan commander on the ruse that he is allowing Koenig to rescue Maya so that Archon cannot have her brain
stem and will die naturally, thus insuring Malic's succession on the throne. Malic points Koenig in the direction of the 
Dorcon Medical Centre and uses another route to arrive there first. Varda, having been informed of Koenig's escape and the
deaths in the control room (which she assumes were caused by Koenig) leaves the medico alone with the prone bodies of Maya
and Archon to perform the brain stem transplant surgery, while she leads her guards on a search for John. Malic kills both
the medico and Archon before Koenig's arrival at the Dorcon Medical Centre, and Maya revives from sedation and, as a 
lizard creature, helps Koenig to overpower and briefly incapacitate Malic. Maya and John attempt a speedy return to the 
Dorcon control room to teleport back to Alpha, but Malic quickly regains consciousness and announces to everyone on the 
Dorcon spacecraft that John murdered Archon! Varda furiously confronts Koenig and Maya in the control room, and Koenig 
easily persuades Varda that Malic is the assailant of Archon and the other dead Dorcons. Declaring Malic unfit to live, 
Varda attempts to personally execute him, but Malic mortally wounds her with his hand laser gun, and the misfired laser 
beam from Varda's gun strikes the spaceship's anti-matter shields. Koenig and Maya are able to teleport to Alpha before 
the unshielded anti-matter explodes the Dorcon space vessel, killing all Dorcons therein.
Guest stars: Patrick Troughton (Archon), Ann Firbank (Consul Varda), Gerry Sundquist (Malic), Michael Halsey (First Dorcon
Soldier), Hazel McBride (Dorcon Medical Officer), Hamish Patrick (Command Centre Alphan).

Dr. Helena Russell talks with Ultima Thulian Dr. Cabot Rowland (Brian Blessed), seconds before the doomed Rowland ages rapidly to his horrible death in "Death's Other Dominion".

CBC Broadcast History

From 1975 to the last years of the 1980s, Space: 1999 was shown in Canada on the television services of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), in the English language on the CBC Television network and in French on the CBC's French-language television network, Radio-Canada.

In the 1975-6 television broadcast season, Radio-Canada gave full-network coverage to Cosmos: 1999, Space: 1999's francophone version with French voice-dubbing done by Cinelume Productions in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. With the exception of the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island on the east coast of the country, Cosmos: 1999 was offered late in the afternoon or very early in the evening on Mondays. In the three above-mentioned provinces, Cosmos: 1999 was delayed until next day for a Tuesdays-at-12:30 P.M. televising.

The anglophone Space: 1999, however, received no full-network CBC Television broadcast in 1975-6 but aired only on select CBC-owned-and-operated television stations and at times chosen by those television stations. Thus, there was no consistency between parts of the country on when Space: 1999 was available for viewing, and the order in which the episodes were telecast also differed. And there were many areas of the country in which Space: 1999 was simply not seen in 1975-6. At least not in English.

For 1976-7, Space: 1999 was given a coast-to-coast, full-network CBC Television run in family-viewing airtime on Saturdays, starting with the first episode, "Breakaway", then Season 2 which premiered in September, 1976, and then the balance of Season 1 in 1977-8. Regional repeat broadcasts of Space: 1999 on English-language CBC Television stations, primarily the CBC-owned-and-operated ones, followed sometime later. Cosmos: 1999 had additional broadcasts on Radio-Canada late in the 1970s and early in the 1980s.

Radio-Canada (CBC French) Broadcasts (1975-6) Mondays on all Radio-Canada network television stations except for CBAFT,
which delayed it to Tuesdays; only the network-proper airtimes will be listed below

R-C Maritimes Stations
3- CJBR- Rimouski, Quebec
11- CBAFT- Moncton, New Brunswick

Date                     Channels    Episode                                   Airtime 

Sept. 1, 1975            3 11        "A la derive"                             6 P.M.
Sept. 8, 1975            3 11        "Un autre royaume de la mort"             6 P.M.
Sept. 15, 1975           3 11        "Collision inevitable"                    6 P.M.
Sept. 22, 1975           3 11        "La Puissance de la vie"                  6 P.M.
Sept. 29, 1975           3 11        "Direction: Terre"                        6 P.M.
Oct, 6, 1975             3 11        "Le Retour du Voyageur"                   6 P.M.
Oct. 13, 1975            3 11        "Question de vie ou de mort"              6 P.M.
Oct. 20, 1975            3 11        "Le Gardien du Piri"                      6 P.M.
Oct. 27, 1975            3 11        "L'Anneau de la Lune"                     6 P.M.
Nov. 3, 1975             3 11        "Le Grand Cercle"                         6 P.M.
Nov. 10, 1975            3 11        "Le Maillon"                              6 P.M.
Nov. 17, 1975            3 11        "L'Enfant d'Alfa"                         6 P.M. 
Nov. 24, 1975            3 11        "Le Dernier Crepuscule"                   6 P.M.
Dec. 1, 1975             3 11        "Au bout de l'eternite"                   6 P.M.
Dec. 8, 1975             3 11        "Autre temps, autre lieu"                 6 P.M.
Dec. 15, 1975            3 11        "Le Soleil noir"                          6 P.M.
Dec. 22, 1975            3 11        "Ruses de Guerre"                         6 P.M.
Dec. 29, 1975            3 11        "Le Dernier Adversaire"                   6 P.M. 
Jan. 5, 1976             3 11        "En desarroi"                             6 P.M.
Jan. 12, 1976            3 11        "Cerveau spatial"                         6 P.M.
Jan. 19, 1976            3 11        "La Machine infernale"                    6 P.M.
Jan. 26, 1976            3 11        "La Mission des Darians"                  6 P.M.
Feb. 2, 1976             3 11        "Le Domaine du Dragon"                    6 P.M.
Feb. 9, 1976             3 11        "Le Testament de l'Arkadie"               6 P.M.

CBC Full-Network Broadcasts (1976-8) Saturdays

CBC Maritimes Stations
3- CBHT- Halifax, Nova Scotia
4- CHSJ- Saint John, New Brunswick
5- CBIT- Sydney, Nova Scotia
13- CBCT- Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

Date                     Channels    Episode                                   Airtime 

Sept. 11, 1976           3 4 5 13    "Breakaway"                               2 P.M.
Sept. 18, 1976           3 4 5 13    "The Metamorph"                           2 P.M.
Sept. 25, 1976           3 4 5 13    "The Exiles"                              2 P.M.
Oct. 2, 1976             3 4 5 13    "Journey to Where"                        2 P.M.
Oct. 9, 1976             3 4 5 13    "The Taybor"                              6 P.M.
Oct. 16, 1976            3 4 5 13    "New Adam, New Eve"                       6 P.M.
Oct. 23, 1976            3 4 5 13    "The Mark of Archanon"                    6 P.M.
Oct. 30, 1976            3 4 5 13    "Brian the Brain"                         6 P.M.
Nov. 6, 1976             3 4 5 13    "The Rules of Luton"                      6 P.M.
Nov. 13, 1976            3 4 5 13    "The A B Chrysalis"                       6 P.M.
Nov. 20, 1976            3 4 5 13    "Catacombs of the Moon"                   6 P.M.
Nov. 27, 1976            3 4 5 13    "Seed of Destruction"                     6 P.M.
Dec. 4, 1976             3 5 13      "Breakaway" (R)                           2:30 P.M.
Dec. 11, 1976            3 4 5 13    "The Metamorph" (R)                       6 P.M.
Dec. 18, 1976            3 4 5 13    "Journey to Where" (R)                    6 P.M.
Dec. 25, 1976            3 4 5 13    "The Taybor" (R)                          5 P.M.
Jan. 1, 1977             Network Preemption (football) 
Jan. 8, 1977             3 4 5 13    "A Matter of Balance"                     6 P.M.
Jan. 15, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Beta Cloud"                          6 P.M.
Jan. 22, 1977            3 4 5 13    "One Moment of Humanity"                  6 P.M.
Jan. 29, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Lambda Factor"                       6 P.M.
Feb. 5, 1977             3 4 5 13    "All That Glisters"                       6 P.M.
Feb. 12, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Seance Spectre"                      6 P.M.
Feb. 19, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Bringers of Wonder: Pt. 1"           6 P.M.
Feb. 26, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Bringers of Wonder: Pt. 2"           6 P.M.
Mar. 5, 1977             3 4 5 13    "Dorzak"                                  6 P.M.
Mar. 12, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Immunity Syndrome"                   6 P.M.
Mar. 19, 1977            3 4 5 13    "Devil's Planet"                          6 P.M.
Mar. 26, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Dorcons"                             6 P.M.
Apr. 2, 1977             Network Preemption (golf) 
Apr. 9, 1977             3 4 5 13    "The Mark of Archanon" (R)                4 P.M.
Apr. 16, 1977            3 5 13      "Brian the Brain" (R)                     5 P.M.
Apr. 23, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Rules of Luton" (R)                  5 P.M.
Apr. 30, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The A B Chrysalis" (R)                   5 P.M.
May 7, 1977              3 5 13      "Catacombs of the Moon" (R)               4 P.M.
May 14, 1977             3 4 5 13    "Seed of Destruction" (R)                 5 P.M.
May 21, 1977             3 4 5 13    "Space Warp"                              3:30 P.M.
May 28, 1977             3 4 5 13    "A Matter of Balance" (R)                 5 P.M.
Jun. 4, 1977             3 4 5 13    "The Beta Cloud" (R)                      4 P.M.
Jun. 11, 1977            3 5 13      "The Lambda Factor" (R)                   4 P.M.
Jun. 18, 1977            Network Preemption (golf) 
Jun. 25, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Bringers of Wonder: Pt. 1" (R)       5 P.M.
Jul. 2, 1977             3 4 5 13    "The Bringers of Wonder: Pt. 2" (R)       3:30 P.M.
Jul. 9, 1977             Network Preemption (tennis)
Jul. 16, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Immunity Syndrome" (R)               5 P.M.
Jul. 23, 1977            3 4 5 13    "Devil's Planet" (R)                      3 P.M.
Jul. 30, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Dorcons" (R)                         5 P.M.
Aug. 6, 1977             3 4 5 13    "New Adam, New Eve" (R)                   5 P.M.
Aug. 13, 1977            3 4 5 13    "One Moment of Humanity" (R)              4 P.M.
Aug. 20, 1977            3 4 5 13    "All That Glisters" (R)                   5 P.M.
Aug. 27, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Seance Spectre" (R)                  5 P.M.
Sept. 3, 1977            3 4 5 13    "Dorzak" (R)                              2 P.M.
Sept. 10, 1977           3 4 5 13    "Space Warp" (R)                          5 P.M.
Sept. 17, 1977           3 4 5 13    "War Games"                               5 P.M.
Sept. 24, 1977           3 5 13      "Death's Other Dominion"                  2 P.M.
Oct. 1, 1977             3 4 5 13    "Collision Course"                        5 P.M.
Oct. 8, 1977             3 5 13      "Force of Life"                           2 P.M.
Oct. 15, 1977            3 4 5 13    "Alpha Child"                             4 P.M.
Oct. 22, 1977            3 4 5 13    "Another Time, Another Place"             6 P.M.
Oct. 29, 1977            3 4 5 13    "Black Sun"                               6 P.M.
Nov. 5, 1977             Network Preemption (politics)
Nov. 12, 1977            3 4 5 13    "Dragon's Domain"                         6:05 P.M.
Nov. 19, 1977            3 4 5 13    "Earthbound"                              6 P.M.
Nov. 26, 1977            3 4 5 13    "End of Eternity"                         6 P.M.
Dec. 3, 1977             Network Preemption (football)
Dec. 10, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Full Circle"                         2:30 P.M.
Dec. 17, 1977            3 4 5 13    "Guardian of Piri"                        6 P.M.
Dec. 24, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Infernal Machine"                    6 P.M.
Dec. 31, 1977            3 4 5 13    "The Last Sunset"                         6 P.M.
Jan. 7, 1978             3 4 5 13    "The Last Enemy"                          6 P.M.
Jan. 14, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Voyager's Return"                        6 P.M.
Jan. 21, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Matter of Life and Death"                6 P.M.
Jan. 28, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Missing Link"                            6 P.M.
Feb. 4, 1978             3 4 5 13    "Mission of the Darians"                  6 P.M.
Feb. 11, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Ring Around the Moon"                    6 P.M.
Feb. 18, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Space Brain"                             6 P.M.
Feb. 25, 1978            3 4 5 13    "The Testament of Arkadia"                6 P.M.
Mar. 4, 1978             3 4 5 13    "The Troubled Spirit"                     6 P.M.
Mar. 11, 1978            3 4 5 13    "War Games" (R)                           3 P.M.
Mar. 18, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Death's Other Dominion" (R)              6 P.M.
Mar. 25, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Collision Course" (R)                    6 P.M.
Apr. 1, 1978             Network Preemption (golf)
Apr. 8, 1978             3 4 5 13    "Force of Life" (R)                       4 P.M.
Apr. 15, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Alpha Child" (R)                         4 P.M.
Apr. 22, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Another Time, Another Place" (R)         4 P.M.
Apr. 29, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Black Sun" (R)                           4 P.M.
May 6, 1978              3 5 13      "Dragon's Domain" (R)                     4 P.M.
May 13, 1978             3 4 5 13    "Earthbound" (R)                          4 P.M.
May 20, 1978             3 5 13      "End of Eternity" (R)                     6 P.M.
May 27, 1978             3 4 5 13    "The Full Circle" (R)                     3 P.M.
Jun. 3, 1978             3 4 5 13    "Guardian of Piri" (R)                    3 P.M.
Jun. 10, 1978            3 4 5 13    "The Infernal Machine" (R)                3 P.M.
Jun. 17, 1978            3 4 5 13    "The Last Sunset" (R)                     3 P.M.
Jun. 24, 1978            3 4 5 13    "The Last Enemy" (R)                      3 P.M.
Jul. 1, 1978             Network Preemption (speedboats)
Jul. 8, 1978             Network Preemption (tennis)
Jul. 15, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Missing Link" (R)                        3 P.M.
Jul. 22, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Mission of the Darians" (R)              3 P.M.
Jul. 29, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Ring Around the Moon" (R)                3 P.M.
Aug. 5, 1978             3 4 5 13    "Space Brain" (R)                         3:30 P.M.
Aug. 12, 1978            Network Preemption (Commonwealth Games)
Aug. 19, 1978            Network Preemption (tennis)
Aug. 26, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Matter of Life and Death" (R)            3 P.M.
Sept. 2, 1978            3 4 5 13    "Voyager's Return" (R)                    3 P.M.
Sept. 9, 1978            Network Preemption (Mork and Mindy)
Sept. 16, 1978           3 4 5 13    "The Troubled Spirit" (R)                 3 P.M.
Note: Repeat of "Dragon's Domain" on May 6, 1978 was preempted on CHSJ for New Brunswick Liberal Leadership Convention,
was videotaped by CHSJ from the CBC Television network, and was aired on CHSJ more than two months later, on Sunday, Jul.
16, 1978, at 6 P.M. instead of Walt Disney due to a programming glitch on that day. All other network broadcasts preempted
by CHSJ were never transmitted in New Brunswick.

Radio-Canada (CBC French) Broadcasts (1976-7) Saturdays

R-C Maritimes Stations
3- CJBR- Rimouski, Quebec
11- CBAFT- Moncton, New Brunswick

Date                     Channels    Episode                                   Airtime

Sept. 18, 1976           3 11        "A la derive" (R)                         8 P.M.
Sept. 25, 1976           3 11        "Un autre royaume de la mort" (R)         8 P.M.
Oct. 2, 1976             3 11        "Collision inevitable" (R)                8 P.M.
Oct. 9, 1976             3 11        "La Puissance de la vie" (R)              8 P.M.
Oct. 16, 1976            3 11        "Direction: Terre" (R)                    8 P.M.
Oct. 23, 1976            3 11        "Le Retour du Voyageur" (R)               8 P.M.
Oct. 30, 1976            3 11        "Question de vie ou de mort" (R)          8 P.M.
Nov. 6, 1976             3 11        "Le Gardien du Piri" (R)                  8 P.M.
Nov. 13, 1976            3 11        "L'Anneau de la Lune" (R)                 8 P.M.
Nov. 20, 1976            3 11        "Le Grand Cercle" (R)                     8 P.M.
Nov. 27, 1976            3 11        "Le Maillon" (R)                          8 P.M.
Dec. 4, 1976             3 11        "La metamorphose"                         8 P.M.
Dec. 11, 1976            3 11        "Tout ce qui Reluit"                      8 P.M.
Dec. 18, 1976            3 11        "Les Exiles"                              8 P.M.
Dec. 25, 1976            3 11        "Humain, ne serait-ce qu'un moment"       8 P.M.
Jan. 1, 1977             3 11        "En Route vers l'Infini"                  8 P.M.
Jan. 8, 1977             3 11        "La Planete Archanon"                     8 P.M.
Jan. 15, 1977            3 11        "Les Directives du Luton"                 8 P.M.
Jan. 22, 1977            3 11        "Taybor, le commercant"                   8 P.M.
Jan. 29, 1977            3 11        "L'Enfant d'Alfa" (R)                     8 P.M.
Feb. 5, 1977             3 11        "Le Cerveau ordinateur"                   8 P.M.
Feb. 12, 1977            3 11        "Les Catacombes de la Lune"               8 P.M.
Feb. 19, 1977            3 11        "Les Chrysalides A B C"                   8 P.M.
Feb. 26, 1977            3 11        "Le Dernier Crepuscule" (R)               8 P.M.
Mar. 5, 1977             3 11        "Une autre Terre"                         8 P.M.
Mar. 12, 1977            3 11        "Le Secret de la caverne"                 8 P.M.
Mar. 19, 1977            Network Preemption
Mar. 26, 1977            3 11        "Au bout de l'eternite" (R)               8 P.M.
Apr. 2, 1977             3 11        "Autre temps, autre lieu" (R)             8 P.M.
Apr. 9, 1977             Network Preemption (Easter)
Apr. 16, 1977            Network Preemption (hockey)
Apr. 23, 1977            3 11        "Le Nuage qui tue"                        8 P.M.
Apr. 30, 1977            3 11        "Une Question d'equilibre"                8 P.M.
May 7, 1977              3 11        "Deformation spatiale"                    8 P.M.
May 14, 1977             3 11        "Le Soleil noir" (R)                      8 P.M.
May 21, 1977             3 11        "Ruses de guerre" (R)                     8 P.M.
May 28, 1977             3 11        "L'Element lambda"                        8 P.M.
Jun. 4, 1977             3 11        "Un Message d'espoir: 1e partie"          8 P.M.
Jun. 11, 1977            3 11        "Un Message d'espoir: 2e partie"          8 P.M.
Jun. 18, 1977            3 11        "Dorzak"                                  8 P.M.
Jun. 25, 1977            3 11        "Le Spectre"                              8 P.M.
Jul. 2, 1977             3 11        "Le Dernier Adversaire" (R)               8 P.M.
Jul. 9, 1977             3 11        "En desarroi" (R)                         8 P.M.
Jul. 16, 1977            3 11        "La Planete du diable"                    8 P.M.
Jul. 23, 1977            3 11        "Le Syndrome de l'immunite"               8 P.M.
Jul. 30, 1977            Network Preemption
Aug. 6, 1977             3 11        "Le Retour des Dorcons"                   8 P.M.
Aug. 13, 1977            3 11        "Cerveau spatial" (R)                     8 P.M.
Aug. 20, 1977            3 11        "La Machine infernale" (R)                8 P.M.
Aug. 27, 1977            3 11        "La Mission des Darians" (R)              8 P.M.
Sept. 3, 1977            Network Preemption   
Sept. 10, 1977           Network Preemption   
Sept. 17, 1977           Network Preemption   
Sept. 24, 1977           Network Preemption
Oct. 1, 1977             Network Preemption
Oct. 8, 1977             Network Preemption
Oct. 15, 1977            Network Preemption
Oct. 22, 1977            3           "Le Domaine du Dragon" (R)                5 P.M.
Oct. 29, 1977            Network Preemption
(Mon.) Oct. 31, 1977     3           "Le Testament de l'Arkadie" (R)           6 P.M.

Radio-Canada Broadcasts (1979) Mondays

R-C Maritimes Stations
3- CJBR- Rimouski, Quebec
11- CBAFT- Moncton, New Brunswick

Date                     Channels    Episode                                   Airtime

Jan. 8, 1979             3 11        "La metamorphose" (R)                     8 P.M.
Jan. 15, 1979            3 11        "Tout ce qui Reluit" (R)                  8 P.M.
Jan. 22, 1979            3 11        "Les Exiles" (R)                          8 P.M.
Jan. 29, 1979            3 11        "En Route vers l'Infini" (R)              8 P.M.
Feb. 5, 1979             3           "La Planete Archanon" (R)                 8 P.M.
Feb. 12, 1979            3 11        "Humain, ne serait-ce qu'un moment" (R)   8 P.M.
Feb. 19, 1979            3 11        "Les Directives du Luton" (R)             8 P.M.
Feb. 26, 1979            3 11        "Taybor, le commercant" (R)               8 P.M.
Mar. 5, 1979             3 11        "Le Nuage qui tue" (R)                    8 P.M.
Mar. 12, 1979            3           "Le Cerveau ordinateur" (R)               8 P.M.
Mar. 19, 1979            3 11        "Les Catacombes de la Lune" (R)           8 P.M.
Mar. 26, 1979            3 11        "Les Chrysalides A B C" (R)               8 P.M.
Apr. 2, 1979             3 11        "Une autre Terre" (R)                     8 P.M.
Apr. 9, 1979             3 11        "Le Secret de la caverne" (R)             8 P.M.
Apr. 16, 1979            3 11        "Deformation spatiale" (R)                8 P.M.
Apr. 23, 1979            3 11        "Une Question d'equilibre" (R)            8 P.M.
Apr. 30, 1979            3 11        "Un message d'espoir: 1e partie" (R)      8 P.M.
May 7, 1979              3 11        "Un message d'espoir: 2e partie" (R)      8 P.M.
May 14, 1979             3 11        "L'Element lambda" (R)                    8 P.M.
May 21, 1979             3 11        "Le Spectre" (R)                          8 P.M.
May 28, 1979             3 11        "Dorzak" (R)                              8 P.M.
Jun. 4, 1979             3 11        "La Planete du diable" (R)                8 P.M.
Jun. 11, 1979            3 11        "Le Syndrome de l'immunite" (R)           8 P.M.
Jun. 18, 1979            3 11        "Le Retour des Dorcons" (R)               8 P.M.
Jun. 25, 1979            3 11        "A la derive" (R)                         8 P.M.
Jul. 2, 1979             3 11        "Collision inevitable" (R)                8 P.M.
Jul. 9, 1979             3 11        "Un autre royaume de la mort" (R)         8 P.M.
Jul. 16, 1979            3 11        "La Puissance de la vie" (R)              8 P.M.
Jul. 23, 1979            3 11        "Direction: Terre" (R)                    8 P.M.
Jul. 30, 1979            3 11        "Le Retour du Voyageur" (R)               8 P.M.
Aug. 6, 1979             3 11        "Question de vie ou de mort" (R)          8 P.M.
Aug. 13, 1979            3 11        "Le Gardien du Piri" (R)                  8 P.M.
Aug. 20, 1979            3 11        "L'Anneau de la Lune" (R)                 8 P.M.
Aug. 27, 1979            3 11        "Le Grand Cercle" (R)                     8 P.M.
Sept. 3, 1979            3 11        "Le Maillon" (R)                          8 P.M.
Sept. 10, 1979           3 11        "L'Enfant d'Alfa" (R)                     8 P.M. 

Radio-Canada Broadcasts (1979-80) Wednesdays

R-C Maritimes Stations
3- CJBR- Rimouski, Quebec
11- CBAFT- Moncton, New Brunswick

Date                     Channels    Episode                                   Airtime

Sept. 19, 1979           3           "Le Dernier Crepuscule" (R)               6 P.M.
Sept. 26, 1979           3           "Au bout de l'eternite" (R)               6 P.M.
Oct. 3, 1979             3           "Autre temps, autre lieu" (R)             6 P.M.
Oct. 10, 1979            3           "Le Soleil noir" (R)                      6 P.M.
Oct. 17, 1979            Network Preemption
Oct. 24, 1979            3           "Ruses de Guerre" (R)                     6 P.M.
Oct. 31, 1979            3           "Le Dernier Adversaire" (R)               6 P.M. 
Nov. 7, 1979             3           "En desarroi" (R)                         6 P.M.
Nov. 14, 1979            3           "Cerveau spatial" (R)                     6 P.M.
Nov. 21, 1979            3           "La Machine infernale" (R)                6 P.M.
Nov. 28, 1979            3           "La Mission des Darians" (R)              6 P.M.
Dec. 5, 1979             3           "Le Domaine du Dragon" (R)                6 P.M.
Dec. 12, 1979            3           "Le Testament de l'Arkadie" (R)           6 P.M.
Dec. 19, 1979            3           "La metamorphose" (R)                     6 P.M.
Dec. 26, 1979            3           "Tout ce qui Reluit" (R)                  6 P.M.
Jan. 2, 1980             3           "Les Exiles" (R)                          6 P.M.
Jan. 9, 1980             3           "En Route vers l'Infini" (R)              6 P.M.
Jan. 16, 1980            3           "La Planete Archanon" (R)                 6 P.M.
Jan. 23, 1980            3           "Humain, ne serait-ce qu'un moment" (R)   6 P.M.
Jan. 30, 1980            3           "Les Directives du Luton" (R)             6 P.M.
Feb. 6, 1980             3           "Taybor, le commercant" (R)               6 P.M.
Feb. 13, 1980            3           "Le Nuage qui tue" (R)                    6 P.M.
Feb. 20, 1980            3           "Le Cerveau ordinateur" (R)               6 P.M.
Feb. 27, 1980            3           "Les Catacombes de la Lune" (R)           6 P.M.
Mar. 5, 1980             3           "Les Chrysalides A B C" (R)               6 P.M.
Mar. 12, 1980            3           "Une autre Terre" (R)                     6 P.M.
Mar. 19, 1980            3           "Le Secret de la caverne" (R)             6 P.M.
Mar. 26, 1980            3           "Deformation spatiale" (R)                6 P.M.
Apr. 2, 1980             Network Preemption (Jesus de Nazareth)
Apr. 9, 1980             3           "Une Question d'equilibre" (R)            6 P.M.
Apr. 16, 1980            3           "Un message d'espoir: 1e partie" (R)      6 P.M.
Apr. 23, 1980            3           "Un message d'espoir: 2e partie" (R)      6 P.M.
Apr. 30, 1980            3           "L'Element lambda" (R)                    6 P.M.
May 7, 1980              3           "Le Spectre" (R)                          6 P.M.
May 14, 1980             3           "Dorzak" (R)                              6 P.M.
May 21, 1980             3           "La Planete du diable" (R)                6 P.M.
May 28, 1980             3           "Le Syndrome de l'immunite" (R)           6 P.M.
Jun. 4, 1980             3           "Le Retour des Dorcons" (R)               6 P.M.

CBC Maritimes Regional Broadcasts (1983-5) Sundays

CBC Maritimes Stations
3- CBHT- Halifax, Nova Scotia
4- CHSJ- Saint John, New Brunswick (did not show the television series in this rerun)
5- CBIT- Sydney, Nova Scotia
13- CBCT- Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

Date                     Channels    Episode                                   Airtime 

May 8, 1983              3 5 13      "Breakaway" (R)                           11 A.M.
May 15, 1983             Preemption
May 22, 1983             Preemption
May 29, 1983             3 5 13      "War Games" (R)                           12 P.M.
Jun. 5, 1983             Preemption
Jun. 12, 1983            3 5 13      "Death's Other Dominion" (R)              12 P.M.
Jun. 19, 1983            3 5 13      "Collision Course" (R)                    12 P.M.
Jun. 26, 1983            3 5 13      "Force of Life" (R)                       12 P.M.
Jul. 3, 1983             3 5 13      "Alpha Child" (R)                         12 P.M.
Jul. 10, 1983            3 5 13      "Guardian of Piri" (R)                    12 P.M.
Jul. 17, 1983            Preemption 
Jul. 24, 1983            3 5 13      "Dragon's Domain" (R)                     12 P.M.
Jul. 31, 1983            3 5 13      "Mission of the Darians" (R)              11:30 A.M.
Aug. 7, 1983             3 5 13      "Black Sun" (R)                           12 P.M.
Aug. 14, 1983            3 5 13      "End of Eternity" (R)                     11:30 A.M.
Aug. 21, 1983            3 5 13      "Voyager's Return" (R)                    12 P.M.
Aug. 28, 1983            3 5 13      "Matter of Life and Death" (R)            12 P.M.
Sept. 4, 1983            3 5 13      "Space Brain" (R)                         12 P.M.
Sept. 11, 1983           3 5 13      "The Full Circle" (R)                     12 P.M.
Sept. 18, 1983           3 5 13      "Another Time, Another Place" (R)         12 P.M.
Sept. 25, 1983           3 5 13      "The Infernal Machine" (R)                12 P.M.
Oct. 2, 1983             3 5 13      "Ring Around the Moon" (R)                11 A.M.
Oct. 9, 1983             Preemption 
Oct. 16, 1983            3 5 13      "The Last Sunset" (R)                     11 A.M.
Oct. 23, 1983            3 5 13      "The Troubled Spirit" (R)                 11 A.M.
Oct. 30, 1983            3 5 13      "The Testament of Arkadia" (R)            11 A.M.
Nov. 6, 1983             3 5 13      "The Last Enemy" (R)                      11 A.M.
Nov. 13, 1983            Preemption  
Nov. 20, 1983            3 5 13      "The Exiles" (R)                          11 A.M.
Nov. 27, 1983            3 5 13      "Journey to Where" (R)                    11 A.M.
Dec. 4, 1983             3 5 13      "The Seance Spectre" (R)                  11 A.M.
Dec. 11, 1983            3 5 13      "The Metamorph" (R)                       11 A.M.
Dec. 18, 1983            3 5 13      "Missing Link" (R)                        11 A.M.
Dec. 25, 1983            Preemption 
Jan. 1, 1984             3 5 13      "Brian the Brain" (R)                     11 A.M. 
Jan. 8, 1984             3 5 13      "The Rules of Luton" (R)                  11 A.M.
Jan. 15, 1984            3 5 13      "The Taybor" (R)                          11 A.M.
Jan. 22, 1984            3 5 13      "New Adam, New Eve" (R)                   11 A.M.
Jan. 29, 1984            3 5 13      "The A B Chrysalis" (R)                   11 A.M.
Feb. 5, 1984             3 5 13      "Catacombs of the Moon" (R)               11 A.M.
Feb. 12, 1984            3 5 13      "Seed of Destruction" (R)                 11 A.M.
Feb. 19, 1984            3 5 13      "Space Warp" (R)                          11 A.M.
Feb. 26, 1984            3 5 13      "A Matter of Balance" (R)                 11 A.M.
Mar. 4, 1984             3 5 13      "The Beta Cloud" (R)                      11 A.M.
Mar. 11, 1984            3 5 13      "Dorzak" (R)                              11 A.M.
Mar. 18, 1984            3 5 13      "Devil's Planet" (R)                      11 A.M.
Mar. 25, 1984            3 5 13      "The Immunity Syndrome" (R)               11 A.M.
Apr. 1, 1984             3 5 13      "The Dorcons" (R)                         11 A.M.
Apr. 8, 1984             3 5 13      "Earthbound" (R)                          11 A.M.
Apr. 15, 1984            3 5 13      "All That Glisters" (R)                   11 A.M.
Apr. 22, 1984            3 5 13      "The Mark of Archanon" (R)                11 A.M.
Apr. 29, 1984            3 5 13      "Death's Other Dominion" (R)              11 A.M.
May 6, 1984              3 5 13      "Force of Life" (R)                       11 A.M.
May 13, 1984             3 5 13      "Alpha Child" (R)                         11 A.M.
May 20, 1984             3 5 13      "Guardian of Piri" (R)                    11 A.M.
May 27, 1984             3 5 13      "Dragon's Domain" (R)                     11 A.M.
Jun. 3, 1984             3 5 13      "Mission of the Darians" (R)              11 A.M.
Jun. 10, 1984            Preemption  
Jun. 17, 1984            3 5 13      "Voyager's Return" (R)                    10 A.M.
Jun. 24, 1984            3 5 13      "Matter of Life and Death" (R)            11 A.M.
Jul. 1, 1984             3 5 13      "The Full Circle" (R)                     11 A.M.
Jul. 8, 1984             3 5 13      "Another Time, Another Place" (R)         11 A.M.
Jul. 15, 1984            3 5 13      "The Infernal Machine" (R)                11 A.M.
Jul. 22, 1984            Preemption  
Jul. 29, 1984            Preemption (Olympics)
Aug. 5, 1984             Preemption (Olympics)
Aug. 12, 1984            Preemption (Olympics)
Aug. 19, 1984            Preemption
Aug. 26, 1984            3 5 13      "The Troubled Spirit" (R)                 11 A.M.
Sept. 2, 1984            3 5 13      "The Rules of Luton" (R)                  11 A.M.
Sept. 9, 1984            Preemption
Sept. 16, 1984           3 5 13      "The Last Enemy" (R)                      10:30 A.M.
Sept. 23, 1984           3 5 13      "The Dorcons" (R)                         11 A.M.
Sept. 30, 1984           3 5 13      "The Exiles" (R)                          11 A.M.
Oct. 7, 1984             3 5 13      "Journey to Where" (R)                    11 A.M.
Oct. 14, 1984            3 5 13      "New Adam, New Eve" (R)                   11 A.M.
Oct. 21, 1984            3 5 13      "The A B Chrysalis" (R)                   11 A.M.
Oct. 28, 1984            3 5 13      "Seed of Destruction" (R)                 11 A.M.
Nov. 4, 1984             3 5 13      "A Matter of Balance" (R)                 11 A.M.
Nov. 11, 1984            3 5 13      "The Beta Cloud" (R)                      11 A.M.
Nov. 18, 1984            3 5 13      "The Lambda Factor" (R)                   11 A.M.
Nov. 25, 1984            3 5 13      "All That Glisters" (R)                   11 A.M.
Dec. 2, 1984             3 5 13      "The Seance Spectre" (R)                  11 A.M.
Dec. 9, 1984             3 5 13      "Dorzak" (R)                              11 A.M.
Dec. 16, 1984            3 5 13      "Devil's Planet" (R)                      11 A.M.
Dec. 23, 1984            3 5 13      "The Immunity Syndrome" (R)               11 A.M.
Dec. 30, 1984            3 5 13      "Death's Other Dominion" (R)              11 A.M.
Jan. 6, 1985             3 5 13      "Force of Life" (R)                       11 A.M.
Jan. 13, 1985            3 5 13      "Alpha Child" (R)                         11 A.M.
Jan. 20, 1985            3 5 13      "Guardian of Piri" (R)                    11 A.M.
Jan. 27, 1985            3 5 13      "End of Eternity" (R)                     11 A.M.
Feb. 3, 1985             3 5 13      "Earthbound" (R)                          11 A.M.
Feb. 10, 1985            3 5 13      "Catacombs of the Moon" (R)               11 A.M.
Feb. 17, 1985            3 5 13      "Space Brain" (R)                         11 A.M.
Feb. 24, 1985            3 5 13      "The Last Sunset" (R)                     11 A.M.
Mar. 3, 1985             3 5 13      "The Testament of Arkadia" (R)            11 A.M.
Mar. 10, 1985            3 5 13      "The Taybor" (R)                          11 A.M.
Mar. 17, 1985            3 5 13      "Ring Around the Moon" (R)                11 A.M.
Mar. 24, 1985            3 5 13      "Missing Link" (R)                        11 A.M.
Mar. 31, 1985            3 5 13      "Brian the Brain" (R)                     11 A.M.
Apr. 7, 1985             3 5 13      "The Mark of Archanon" (R)                11 A.M.
Apr. 14, 1985            3 5 13      "The Lambda Factor" (R)                   11 A.M. 

Alphan heroes discuss Moonbase Alpha's survival with the chrysalid humanoids of a chlorine-atmosphere world in "The A B Chrysalis".

Starting with their initial telecast, controversy surrounded both of Space: 1999's seasons. Not only does the whole television series' premise evoke negativity from believability-stressing science fiction "experts", the two Space: 1999 seasons' story styles, depictions, and portrayal of the motivations, beliefs, and personalities of characters are much in opposition, probably more so than for any other television series of any genre. Some characters, like the first season's Prof. Bergman, disappear without any stated explanation at the beginning of Season 2, while others, such as Security Chief Tony Verdeschi (Tony Anholt), suddenly appear, again with no on-film explanation, at the start of Season 2. The popular Australian character of Eagle spaceship pilot Alan Carter (Nick Tate) changed from his first season's excitable, argumentative, and at times abrasive persona to become an easy-going, agreeable, always friendly and loyal Alphan who assumes command of Alpha on occasion.

The Alphans in the first season are openly contemplative, restless in their aesthetically cold and clinical Moonbase for an evacuation (called "Operation Exodus") to any planet that has suitable environmental and, if already inhabited, cultural conditions, and several, perhaps most, of them inclined to believing in the order of things and in the Alphans having a role and a place- or places- in the universe of the future. First season Alphans are quite formal, with executives usually referred to by their titles, even by other executives, rather than by first names, and meetings are convened in Commander Koenig's office adjacent to the Moonbase control room, Main Mission, which is spacious, with windows to one side and a balcony with more windows to the other side.

While still open to discussing issues of morality and the possible existence of a divinity or divinities, the Alphans in the second season have in the main abandoned metaphysical thought for understanding and coping with their situation. They have come to terms with the need to survive in space by their own devices, on Alpha, which has been their home through several daunting spatial encounters, and the Moonbase is no longer the undesirable, mostly white-lighted, technological "barracks" that it was. More immediate, cozier, with more variably colored lighting, better protected by laser batteries stored beneath the Lunar surface at the base perimeters, and less vulnerable to explosive decompression because of the move by all key sections to Alpha levels beneath the Lunar surface, Moonbase is more amenable to the Alphans' wish to work together casually and enjoy their off-duty hours.

The second season Alphans come across as more assertive, self-deterministic, and dynamic. "We'll determine our own destinies," says Koenig in the second season's initial episode, "The Metamorph". There is little evidence in Season 2 of a rather sheepish, let-destiny-run-its-course sort of fatalism that was beginning to characterize the first season Alphans, or a number of them. The Season 2 Alphans are proudly independent. When an alien claiming to be their "creator" tries to arbitrarily decide the Earth-like-planet-bound future of four Alphans, they proclaim the free will that they had before the alien removed them from Alpha and put them on the planet. Says Koenig to mind-manipulating aliens who offer to the Alphans a blissful though short-lived life of illusion in another episode, "It's better to live as your own man than as a fool in someone else's dream."

Moonbase Alpha's commanding personnel watch and listen to a transmission from Earth, 2120 A.D. in "Journey to Where".

Humanity is more in evidence among the Alphans in Season 2. Koenig cries tears in remembering the deaths of people whom he had loved. The Alphans provide a home for an alien woman, Maya (Catherine Schell), who has lost her father and the only planetary home that she had known, and a place for her to use her mathematical and scientific knowledge and her ability to transform into any living creature to good purpose, the purpose of collective survival in space. They offer sanctuary for mutants on another planet that is about to explode, but the mutants prefer to stay on the planet and die. They decide to drop rain-forming crystals into the clouds of a desert planet to restart the water cycle and enable a water-dependent living rock on the planet to survive, even though that rock had threatened to strand them on its planet and in a desperate moment had tried to kill them.

The first season emphasizes desperation of the new and apprehensive space voyagers to leave their wandering Moonbase and settle on one of the planets passed by the Moon on its interstellar odyssey. But in the second season, the Alphans have become more secure about their technological surroundings on the Moonbase and are not quite as preoccupied with the search for a lush, terrestrial planet on which to reclaim Earth and "be fruitful and multiply". They do entertain the thought of colonizing a planet, but more reservedly as Alpha can serve as home to a numerically balanced community for several decades, and to this purpose, there is an ongoing search for the elements needed to maintain Alpha on a long-term basis. The Alphans continue to examine passing worlds for possible colonization, but are also appreciative of their Moonbase's ideal, climate-controlled, germ-free environment.

Second season episodes are more colorful and faster paced, and contain concepts and phenomena just as- and sometimes more- bizarre as/than those of Season 1 but do not attempt to explain them with metaphysics. The fact that the phenomena are in far-out space on utterly alien planets was expected by the writers and producer to be sufficient for audiences to suspend disbelief. But a number of Space: 1999 fans chose to cast aspersions upon the concepts used in Season 2, preferring not to extend the same licence of fantasy to include the otherworldly things in Season 2's stories that they do for what is presented in Season 1.

Yet, both seasons are bold enough to posit the existence of aliens very different from man: a one-eyed, human-ingesting creature with tentacles, a brain in space with foamy antibodies, grotesque, jelluloid monoids that move very slowly but which can trick one's mind into thinking that they are humans, aliens with no physical bodies, and sentient rocks and plants. Humanoid aliens have metamorphic, psychic, or messianic powers. Meanwhile, planets encountered by Alpha "run the gamut" of possible environments: ice and snow, a jungle, a desert, volcanoes, dust storms, poisonous mists, polluted or long-irradiated wastelands, and temperate, Earth-like habitats with alien floral or faunal evolutions. Moreover, Space: 1999, both seasons, never avoided special effects. If Eagles, the utility spacecraft of Moonbase Alpha, are to explode or to crash on the Moon or on a planet, the explosion or crash is shown, in full spectacle, unlike on one of Space: 1999's rival opuses which cuts away from the explosions or goes to a commercial interval as a spaceship is about to crash and then returns from the commercials to show the spaceship already at its impact site.

However different the two seasons may be, both are imaginative and worthy of respect, and it is a travesty of justice that both would be belittled constantly by hostile "camps" determined to invalidate and drown positive commentary with their glib presumptions of popular opinion against the show (either season) with which they are in agreement, as being "right".

Indeed, as this writer's effort below indicates, differences between Space: 1999's two seasons can be reconciled, and a reasonably satisfying chronology incorporating all of the episodes of both of them is quite possible.

Commander John Koenig and his landing party crew watch an audio-visual recording left by a deceased alien leader in "The Immunity Syndrome".

A Space: 1999 Chronology

On September 13, 1999, the Moon is blasted out of Earth orbit, acquiring a Wilding Field that reduces inertia of mass, to enable the Moon to move at speeds approaching that of light, with time-dilation; so, Moonbase Alpha has encounters with alien solar systems at a rate of every few weeks Moonbase Alpha time (in a star-rich region of a galaxy) to a number of months Moonbase Alpha time (in star-sparse areas).

In its first calendar year in space, the Moon is adrift mostly where there are abundant planets, ancient civilizations long adept at space transportation, and interstellar travelers. Temporal anomalies also occur for Alpha, which result in advancing or reversing of the Alphan calendar, and on one occasion, a devastating end to the Moonbase and its people is reversed by Dr. Helena Russell, through donated mind-over-matter powers.

Time abnormalities associated with the passage of the Moon through a space warp at 102 days after leaving Earth orbit, could have something of a role in the events leading to the death months later, of botanist Dan Mateo, a spectre of his deceased form of a future time, manifesting itself and causing fatality, including fatality for Mateo himself, in Alpha's present. Some lingering remnant of time anomaly from the space warp. A potential for time to fold back upon itself, effects preceding causes and influencing events to bring about a "preset" outcome, inadvertently triggered paranormally in Mateo's plant communication experiments.

Moonbase population, at 325 in the aftermath of the break from Earth orbit, drops over successive months whilst the Moon traverses rather busy space and as the Alphans are still in initial adapting mode as regards their situation. This population drop is mostly a result of Alphan fatalities, though desertions by Alphans or Alphans becoming lost on a planet with insufficient time in the Moon's passage by the planet for a successful search, also contribute to reduced Moonbase population.

Outlook of the people of Alpha alters as experiences accumulate. There begins a verging away from a quasi-religious belief (fostered by a number of extraordinary and metaphysical experiences in the early months of the Moon's odyssey) in a beneficent, guiding higher power, with a shift toward becoming rather secular, self-deterministic.

Arra of Astheria did speak to Koenig of there being a prosperous destiny, ostensibly ordained, for Man. But Koenig would develop misgivings about having so un-skeptically, so dogmatically accepted Arra's prophecy, in his do-nothing-to-avoid-collision-with-Astheria stance that was questioned and opposed so rationally by his people. Really, Alpha can only puzzle as to what did happen to Astheria and how the Moon would be simultaneously displaced into another solar system (solar system of planets Ultima Thule and Retha). And puzzle as to what it actually meant as regards Alpha's future. Koenig asked Arra about the destiny of Man, not specifically that of Alpha, and her mentioning of an odyssey without end could have referred to those Alphans who were to remain on planets encountered sometime after the Moon touched Astheria, and not necessarily to Moonbase Alpha itself. Or maybe she was referring tangentially to peoples inhabiting other planets who may be descendants of the same master race as Earthman. The conversation with Arra and Koenig's actions during the hours and minutes approaching Moon-Astheria contact, are things that Koenig is subsequently reluctant to discuss with his closest associates. And he will hew to a healthy doubt about it and its meaning vis-a-vis the short-term and the long-term future for Alpha. Especially following the Krom II encounter, which would herald quite a different tack on matters of faith on Alpha.

Conditions on Alpha eventually become more settled. The Alphans survive a series of contacts with aliens without fatalities or Alphans deserting or being lost. And, over time, Commander Koenig relaxes somewhat without lowering his guard. Alphan society, untouched by death for many months, becomes rather more casual than previously, though still wary of what may be ahead of the runaway Moon. Moonbase defenses have been optimized with the placement of laser batteries at Moonbase perimeters, this having been decided following encounters with warring planets, etc.. After the struggle with Gwent, in which the integrity of Alpha's computer system was compromised (and that not happening for the first time), Koenig has instituted a number of coded directives that only he and Controller and Security Chief personally know by mention of code number(s). Alpha's computer system will simply say, "Access denied," if queried about any of the coded directives. And there is also a move of command personnel from the windowed and rather vulnerable, highest-Moonbase-level Main Mission to the underground Level D Command Centre. Same for some other essential Alpha sections, such as Medical Centre, main Generating Areas, Power Room, and Weapons Section. After losing Professor Victor Bergman, Moonbase promptly gains Psychon metamorph Maya as new Science Officer, her people's cognizance of symbols and protocols utilized by civilizations of her galaxy proving instrumental by times, as too her ability to transform into other life forms and her superior mathematical skill and scientific knowledge. Plus, efficient Security Chief Tony Verdeschi replaces Morrow in the Alpha command structure.

And after several distinctly less fatal months and promising prospects for yield in the mining for vital elements and life-support system components and with the expanded Moonbase defenses and some increased savvy, plus the addition of Maya of Psychon to the Alphan complement, there is a guarded, albeit quite secular, optimism, the Alphans for all intents and purposes ready for whatever may be ahead as the Moon sweeps through space.

Life-support on Moonbase Alpha is continually priority one for power from the Nuclear Generating Areas and Power Station. To insure that life-support power remains optimal after the loss of Nuclear Generating Area 3 during the alien-force possession of Anton Zoref, power for wall lighting in most Alpha sections, including Main Mission Control, is reduced, the result being green and subsequently yellow-orange color to several of the lights. Change to the yellow-orange provides for a variation in color to the wall lights, some of them remaining green, and some others white. This is felt by many of the people on Moonbase to be more aesthetically pleasing than all-white or all-green wall lighting. And when there is only emergency power, wall lighting dims to red. Ceiling and wall lighting is reduced for a few weeks after 175 days after leaving Earth orbit and again shortly after 902 days (during anti-time-dilation) after leaving Earth orbit, to allow for an increased power allocation in the construction of new classes of Eagles and other projects given priority.

The main life-support core is composed of Titanium and other elements. Terranium is required for stabilized flow of energy through the valves of the life-support core similar to its role in consistent valve processes in a mechanical heart. The core is practically impervious to use-related impairment of its function, over an exceedingly protracted time period. But it can be physically damaged as is the case in the space warp (at 341 days after leaving Earth orbit) through which the Moon travels before encountering planet Psychon. Moonbase has a life-support core and a back-up unit of identical construction. The back-up unit is installed after the pre-Psychon-encounter space warp, thus becoming the main one, and a search for Titanium begins for repairing the damaged life-support core. Milgonite, a mineral with luminescent properties and a capacity for being chemically modified to be a Titanium substitute, is desirable in Titanium's stead. But the Alphans are unable to procure either Titanium or Milgonite from alien planets, and it is soon after the opening of a Lunar cavern for mining at 575 days after leaving Earth orbit that a seam of Titanium is found beneath the Lunar surface, and Moonbase again has two fully operational life-support system cores.

In the months between the damage to the back-up life-support core and the finding of Titanium to repair it (and after the betrayal by Mentor of Psychon could possibly have been fatal for Moonbase Alpha), Koenig is especially tense, mindful more than ever about Alpha's vulnerability (even with the laser batteries installed). And he is tensely extra-suspicious of all aliens. Although the likelihood of attaining Titanium in mining below the Lunar surface- when the caverns for mining are opened and certified safe for mining operations- is very encouraging, until Titanium is found and the back-up life-support core repaired, the life-support system situation weighs on Koenig very heavily. After Titanium is found, and with fatalities reduced to zero over several months, Koenig's mood eases considerably, though he must always be vigilant.

Life-support systems energy transfer is done from the core to the auxiliary life-support units serving each component section of Moonbase. All are dependent on quantities of Titanium and Terranium, among other elements. Terranium is exceedingly reliable when in supply but on the Moon is especially difficult to find, even underground. And it is eventually required for perfecting a mechanical heart for Michelle Osgood at circa 1196 days-after-breakaway. Tony Verdeschi approves the extraction of a supply or Terranium from the back-up life-support core not in use, for perfectly engineering Michelle Osgood's mechanical heart. It is hoped that Terranium may be found to replenish what was removed from the back-up core, but the back-up core is still without sufficient Terranium and unusable when the creature of the space cloud tries to steal the main, in-use life-support core several months later. At 1622 days after leaving Earth orbit, ample Terranium is located in a newly opened catacomb beneath Moonbase, and thus begins a many-day time period of serenity on Moonbase Alpha.

By the middle of the Moon's second calendar year in space, the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha are poised for responding to whatever crisis should arise while having a reasonably healthy human sociability of which Dr. Russell certainly approves. And as the Moon continues its journey, the Alphans find that their presence in space and in exploring alien planets does bring about positive changes, such as a restarting of the water cycle to one planet, or a restoring of a sense of right and proactive and merciful thinking to the morally apathetic, dominated-for-centuries spiritual entities within the plants of another planet, or impressing upon the empathy-lacking, logical inhabitants of a planet encircled by defenses the need for such intuitive and emotional tenets as loyalty and hope and understanding. Belief once more burgeons among the Alphans that there may be something, some force, guiding the Moonbase to enable it to interact with aliens in such a progressive way. But as to whether such a force is a deity or the transcendent spiritual progeny of the Arkadian forebears of Earthman or just some natural process in an order of things, is open to interpretation.

THE NATURE OF THINGS: WHAT SPACE IS LIKE

Physical space in total consists of two universes, each the antithesis of the other. There is the positive, matter universe in which Alpha originated and is wandering. The universe in which evolutionary time for intelligent species goes forwards. Barring any localized upsets that may develop as a result of some reorganization to regain particle and life-force balance between universes or that may be triggered by such calamitous events as death of a space brain, there is an order in the existence of worlds and life-forms- whether that order be a result of a higher power's will and intervention or by established laws of nature and/or benevolence or purpose of some of the more highly evolved species of the cosmos, who became what they are through natural processes. The order, however, tends not to be readily detectable, often requiring centuries or millennia to be undoubtedly apparent.

And there is the other universe, on a different continuum, moving backwards in evolutionary time. This is the universe of anti-matter. In it, intelligent creatures are hopelessly devolving into oblivion, which is the only order that can ever be found in what is for the most part a chaotic universe wherein mindless creatures, scarcely very far to go from becoming primordial slime, are living a primitive existence, reproducing themselves instinctively, to balance life-force with that of the positive universe.

Separating these two continua is hyperspace, an extra-dimensional area of exotic color and compellingly beautiful chaos (seen in space warps). Hyperspace, however chaotic it may be, is the medium through which phenomena from the positive universe can short-cut in journeys through their space. Many technological societies at some stage in their development are able to detect and make use of hyperspace. Hyperspace is the means by which Taybor the trader can do almost instantaneous transfers from place to place in his jump-drive spaceship. By the same principle, the neutrino transmission from 2120 Earth utilizes the bypass of hyperspace to teleport messages and objects most of the millions of light-years of distance to the runaway Moon in another galaxy. The almost massless neutrinos conveying Earth's message travel through hyperspace so fast on their controlled journey that they are unaffected by the chaos of hyperspace and arrive almost immediately at their destination to act as a two-way link between Earth and Moonbase Alpha, before a galactic eclipse separates Earth and Moon. When the galactic eclipse occurs, Earth is no longer able to pinpoint the Moon's location, and without exact spatial coordinates to lock onto, Earth can no longer use hyperspace to send further messages to Alpha.

Hyperspace is the medium by which the speed of light can be bypassed and direct, instant teleporting can be done- and is done by many of the aliens that the Alphans meet. While spaceships with jump-drive devices can exploit hyperspace to go anywhere that their pilots wish with a wave of a hand, others with space warp locator equipment can use space warps, the "doors" into hyperspace at various spots in the "fabric" of space, to cut interstellar or intergalactic travel time from weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, or millennia, to minutes or hours. Black suns are also "doors" into hyperspace, and they can provide passage to anywhere in the positive cosmos.

Sometimes, the chaos in the warps affects time, and objects that enter into areas of hyperspace in which there is time distortion, can be hurled forward or backward. Temporal duplication may also occur, as happens to the Alphans during their first space warp. Time ultimately "corrects itself", and the original Alphan voyage resumes.

It is generally not possible to voyage from one universe to the other through hyperspace, although, with a matter/anti-matter converter, it is possible to exchange personal bodily existence with an equal number of life forms from the opposite universe. But such a transfer requires cooperation of both parties, and usually, denizens of the matter universe are not likely to wish a total transfer to an anti-universe where evolution is downward to primordial slime, where their spirit is similarly doomed to oblivion, which is why anti-matter beings try to dupe unsuspecting material life forms into consensual exchange.

Whole worlds, even entire solar systems, of the anti-universe, can, through freak rips in their continuum at the exact same spots as rips in material space, partially or almost totally transfer into the positive universe. Planet Ultra and the Terra Novan solar system straddle such rip "boundaries" between the universes. They appear in material space by means of such freak rips in the two continua causing overlap. Ultra derives heat from a star in the anti-universe while situated almost wholly in normal space within view and reconnaissance distance from Moonbase Alpha in the late 1990s.

Terra Nova seems very solid and material, but its underground habitat, though somehow shielded by the planetary crust, is pure anti-matter. Material forms like Lee Russell can adapt to life there, though in an unstable state, reverting back and forth from matter to anti-matter depending on which of the two that they are in immediate contact with, and they can retain a compassionate spirit, should their anti-matter "hosts" be somewhat high on the anti-universe's evolutionary ladder- though their extinction, along with that universe and its indigenous inhabitants, is certain.

The planet Sunim is a similar example of a body which straddles a boundary. It appears and feels solid, while its humanoid inhabitants exist in a spiritual limbo, unable to fully assume solid form in material space, though over centuries of experimentation, they have managed to project an illusion of solidity. Due to an accident with a generator powering experimental matter/anti-matter conversion equipment, they face oblivion in the other universe and are transparent in their doomed anti-material existence, yet can be seen and heard by those whom they try to trick into an exchange. Ideally, in order for a planet or creature to do a complete, stable, permanent transfer out of the doomed evolution in anti-time in the anti-universe, there has to be an exchange with a planet or life form of near equal anatomical composition, to maintain the "balance" in particles and life-force between the two universes. This is the quest of Vindrus and his people, which is eventually foiled by the Alphans, who use one of their own nuclear generators to give to Sunim and its people an explosive push fully into anti-space. Presumably, for the Sunimians to have "crossed over" by accident to anti-space, some natural adjustment must have occurred to maintain the balance. Perhaps this is the explanation for the intrusion of Ultra and the Terra Nova solar system almost entirely into normal space.

Though anti-matter cannot entirely exist in the same space as matter without a colossal explosion, it can be artificially created in a laboratory, with sufficient vacuum shielding to prevent contact with solid matter. The Dorcons power their spaceship with artificially produced anti-matter and journey through space at speeds nearly half that of light and into and out of space warp bypasses. But when their delicate shielding collapses, the Dorcons and their spaceship are thrown partially into hyperspace and obliterated. Professor Bergman is able to preserve some of Lee Russell's skin tissues for experimental purposes in a shielded containment vacuum tube, and he harnesses some of this now-pure anti-matter to bombard a chunk of living rock from Balor's asteroid, itself placed inside of a steady-state vacuum cubicle. The anti-matter is instantaneously "sucked" back into the vacuum tube before the piece of living rock materializes.

When positive space and its superior beings finally reach a state of perfection, an opposite fate will await its counterpart and all of those in it: total entropy and spiritual oblivion.

PRE-BREAKAWAY EVENTS

* denotes relative Earth date

(date) event information

(circa 7,000,000 B.C.*) mystic scholars of the planet Astheria interpret ancient writings of uncertain or obscure origin to signify that an eventual change of their people into spiritual beings is connected with a yet-to-evolve species of humanoid to hail from planet Earth; Astherians' "brothers and sisters" inhabiting an inner planet of the same Astherian solar system (that planet to be called Ariel by Moonbase Alpha) are aware of the Astherian "prophecy" and think it to be sourced from some backwards-time-warped individual with future knowledge instead of it being of a mystical or theological quantity, for unlike Astherians, they hew to no spiritual beliefs of any sort and are completely secular; the leaders of the planet to be called Ariel dispatch cylindrical probes to the planet Earth, the spatial position of Earth known by Astheria, to monitor human progress and send findings by way of near simultaneous transmissions through hyperspace; Astherians and their "brothers and sisters" disagree completely as to how to perceive the people of Earth and how to respond to the coming of Earthman to their solar system; beliefs and the relative culture of Astherians and the inhabitants of the other planet (i.e. Ariel) continue to diverge over the millennia, the latter's civilization making many giant strides in technological progress, the former's attaining a fairly advanced level of technology and then focusing attention and effort to matters of faith and improving spirit in the long, long wait for the key event for transcendence

(circa 5,000,000 B.C.*) inhabitants of the planet Triton dispatch eye-like deep-space probes to glean knowledge from rival civilizations for purposes of defense against invasions; two such probes eventually travel through hyperspace to Earth

(circa 22,000 B.C.) Arkadian settlers land in North Africa, mate with primitive man, and give rise to the human race

(circa 17,000-14,000 B.C.) although most of its planets have some form of life, the Cryton solar system evolves but two civilizations, the first of them on planet Piri, which constructs a world of machines and then decays into apathy and goes extinct, leaving an artificially intelligent Guardian machine obsessed with perfection and keeping an emptied and silent world in a state of temporal stasis (such befits the Guardian's notion of perfection, as too is the elimination of want and suffering in any spacefarers it may encounter); when civilization emerges on the planet Zenno, Piri is already static and lifeless, and the Zennites, though curious as to what happened on Piri, are able to glean no clues to the fate of life on Piri and to how that planet came to be temporally suspended, the Guardian opting not to reveal itself to the Zennites, probably because it cannot easily, or at all, assimilate the Zennites' already very metaphysical mental powers and the Zennites' emphasis of having zero need for mechanical devices

(circa 10,000 B.C.) despite 5 million light-years' distance, the mental powers of the Zennites focus on the developing species of homo sapiens on Earth as an interesting subject for study

(circa 19,000 B.C.) the Tritonian probes arrive in the Egyptian region on Earth and transmit information on the development of homo sapiens

(circa 9000 B.C.*) Tritonians construct further computer spheres to monitor future human expansion into space

(circa 5000 B.C.*) the earliest recorded events in Psychon history occur

(circa 1200 B.C.) Magus the space magician contends in "magic" with Moses of ancient Egypt

(circa 20 A.D.) Simon Magus petitions Christ's apostles on the possibility of buying the Nazarene's powers

(circa 500 A.D.) Magus reappears on Earth in the person of the legendary sorcerer, Merlin

(circa 510-1980 A.D.*) development of planetary consciousness occurs on many life-bearing worlds in the universe and was understood by the Arkadians, coming to manifest itself in Earth lore as the Gaia principle or hypothesis; in most cases, the consciousness, on emerging, almost immediately "blossoms" into a holistic, ecosystem-regulating force, sometimes being rather possessive or desirous of sapient life for it to nurture; on some planets, consciousness infuses into only one of the constituent parts of the ecosystem and may not be fully in accordance with the natural processes of the planet or with the evolutionary development of species on the planet; planet Luton's consciousness, on coming into existence, channels itself into already existing, lush plant life on that planet's surface and becomes self-gratifyingly subject to the reproductive drives of the plants, multiplying to many entities, all of them possessing an intelligence that over centuries attains not only the ability to communicate through creation of electro-sonic vibrations in the air (and with some of the larger vegetation, such as the tallest trees, able to replicate human speech patterns) but also to teleport to the planet animal creatures to perform menial tasks, and even generate localized changes to weather; the sentient plants enjoy their corporeal vegetable existence, opting to simply perpetuate themselves; becoming one with the whole planet in a holistic way does not happen for them, nor do they wish it; they therefore find themselves at odds with the planet's animal life which consists of omniverous humanoid and bird species and a mix of herbivorous and omnivorous reptiles; over the course of many years, a war between the plant and the animal is waged, with the vegetation quickly becoming possessed of a revulsion to animals and an instinctive impulse to kill animals quite callously and effectively; the war eventually ends with the plants the victors and the animals annihilated, and the plants appoint guardians to enforce a declaration of the planet as a sacred habitat for planet life and to retain a humanoid work force to sometimes release insects and birds to continue the natural processes enabling pollenation; audio-visual communication and translation devices are installed on the planet to enable the guardians to send long-distance messages to workers, and cloaking instruments are also installed permitting invisibility of the planet or of organisms on the planet should such need arise; planet Luton remains viable as an ecosystem, with its plant life content not to attain transcendence and over time beset with the problems common to stagnant societies, including corrupt leadership

(circa 515-519 A.D.*) Archanons land on planet Krom II but because of an outbreak of the "killing sickness" on one of the Archanon spaceships, the Archanons must abort their visit to give aid to the developing people of Krom II, and return to Archanon

(circa 520 A.D.*) scientists on planet Progron discover immortality by way of cellular regeneration and bestow the "gift" of eternity on their people, who, in centuries to follow, become apathetic and corrupt

(April 9, 1016) Archanons Pasc and Etrec are placed in a stasis chamber beneath the surface of the Moon after they are afflicted with the dreaded "killing sickness" during an evangelical mission to Earth

(May 18, 1085*) Balor of Progron is overpowered and placed in his asteroid prison in Progron year 80674

(circa 1100-1500*) a planet on which sapient species or a general animal kingdom has yet to originate, develops a consciousness that infuses itself into the planet's surface rock formations for corporeal existence, each physically separate rock having its own self-regarding intelligence but subservient to the whole, collective consciousness, and evolving a nervous system with flow of blood and eventually an ability to exert control over natural processes at surface level only, and not the full ecology of the planet; the gestalt of living rocks, needing water to sustain existence in corporeal "vessels" and stagnating in evolution and failing to increase its range of power, does in the centuries to follow deplete the flow of water on the planet's surface and stall the planet's water cycle; evaporation stops, particulate matter for seeding the remaining clouds to drop rain, will not rise to the clouds, desert conditions result, and many of the rocks, for lack of water, are unable to "bodily" sustain themselves, with one last living rock formation continuing to exist as the sole, desperate remnant of the consciousness-bearing capacity of the planet, the rock formation retaining the ability to fuse itself bodily and to control other organisms and inanimate objects with use of matter-manipulating light rays, but only exerting such at surface level; it can detect the presence of other life-forms in the planet's vicinity, sense what element or mineral is wanted, and for a time change its molecular structure to lure other life-forms to the planet, specifically the Moonbase Alphans

(circa 1165*) the crew of the 1986 Uranus Probe, having been thrown hundreds of years backwards in time after becoming caught in a proton storm, crash-land on a frozen planet whose complex fields of energy halt the processes of bodily decay and death for intelligent living organisms favored by a consciousness or spirit of the planet; a "sister" planet of the same solar system evolves a conscious force craving to retain a non-indigenous sapient life-form but at a primitive stage of development and is able to cause a species regression of visitors to its lush and misty surface

(circa 1200-1500*) a humanoid civilization on a planet eventually to be called Vega, reaches an advanced state of mechanization in which computer-controlled robots can attend to every individual and communal need, and the computer and the robots start improving upon one another until the robots have perfect humanoid form; the real humanoids become dependent on the computer for survival when, at approximate Earth year 1670, the planet's star starts to weaken as part of its natural life cycle, and the planet's population must live in a vast, enclosed city, the heating of that city being regulated by the computer, with much of the atmosphere of the planet pumped into the city, stored and heated therein, and recycled by the computer; the androids, calling themselves Vegans, become quite advanced at constructing force fields, fast creation of perfect duplicates of structures, and teleportation over short spatial distances within the computer's "sphere of influence", the ability to teleport being achieved by the computer accessing and exerting control of positrons of drifting atoms in the anti-matter universe nearest that universe's fringe with hyperspace and causing those positrons and whole atoms to shift position by way of hyperspace, enabling living and non-living forms of the matter universe to change location by a corresponding distance, a process occurring instantaneously to maintain balance, with the teleporting androids willing the exact place to which they wish to go; the computer and androids are scientifically and technologically sophisticated (including having an ability to stop the flow of electricity in specially selected mechanisms) but are lacking in knowledge and understanding of humanoid nature, particularly the most basic humanoid emotions of love and hate from which comes so much of humanoid behavior (the androids mimic behaviors learned from the humanoids but do not feel the love and hate emotions fuelling many of those behaviors); even the actions of physically guarding against or repelling or restraining humanoid interlopers are outside of the androids' knowledge, and the androids must rely on force fields and the like for their defense; the androids can intuit that the humanoids in having created the first computer may someday find a way of reaching and deactivating the present-day computer and thereby immobilizing the androids, and it is this that the androids fear, while lacking the emotion of hate that goes along with fear in the incitement of aggression, and aggression is believed by the androids to be the sole means of committing a murderous act, dispassionate murder being outside of their comprehension; also, the androids lack knowledge and understanding of how malice of forethought can be precisely formulated and put into action, them not having learned this either, and though they would like to eliminate the humanoids whose continued existence is perceived as threatening to the computer and to the androids, the androids, and the computer, do not know how to orchestrate such a deed of murder and, from their limited knowledge of humanoid culture, presume it to be solely one of passion and violence; thus, they have become intent on learning all emotions, with love and hate, tenderness and aggression, eluding them; the humanoids, fearing for safety, don face masks to conceal emotional responses; already the humanoids had evolved to refrain from anything other than intimate or private expressions of strong emotion, which is why the androids have not readily learned such; the humanoids, hoping to curtail any provoked, off-guard showing of aggression, wear the masks constantly and further adopt servile behavior, willingly becoming subjugated by the androids, who, although like naive children in many ways, do have the power of life and death over the humanoids, who know that if the androids should ever find a solution to the puzzle confronting them, humanoid life on the planet would be doomed

(November 23, 1308*) a nuclear reactor on the S.S. Daria explodes just two decades into its voyage to a new planet on which the Darian race is to settle; the explosion and the resultant radiation leak cause extensive material and human damage on the huge spaceship

(January 1, 1314) the Battle of Bannockburn

(December 31, 1338) John Koenig, Helena Russell, and Alan Carter are hurled into Scotland in this period of the Black Plague as a result of the bungled attempt by Texas City to teleport them to Earth in 2120

(circa 1440-1550*) the humanoid civilizations on planets Betha and Delta become aware of each other's existence and become instantly suspicious, fearful, and disliking of one another; space flight ability of the peoples of both planets becomes committed to the conveyance of explosive devices such as missiles, communications- when needed- between the two planets, and, eventually, heavily armed spaceships capable of firing missiles; but the directly opposite position of the two planets about their sun stymies direct firing of missiles from one planet to the other; the spaceships require a platform from which to dispatch missiles; recoil shock from firing missiles from a position in space is too potentially destructive to the spaceships, with missiles' firing affected so as to go astray from target, more than likely being pulled gravitationally into the sun; a space platform is needed on which to park spaceships and to precisely fire missiles to targets on enemy planet; Betha and Delta do not opt to develop spacecraft for deep space exploration, including a reconnaissance of the planet orbiting the other star in the binary solar system, that planet being too distant to be strategically significant, i.e. as a place from which to launch attacks; Betha and Delta are ignorant of the advanced civilization on the other star's planet, but that civilization is certainly aware of Betha and Delta and contemptuous of those worlds' fear and enmity and warfare lasting centuries; the advanced civilization is ready to use its telepathy and illusion-projecting abilities on the Bethans and Deltans should spaceships from those planets ever cross the divide between the binary stars

(1503-1566) Magus appears on Earth as the legendary seer, Nostradamus

(circa 1600-1700*) as their home planet of Caldor faces imminent death, several thousand Caldorians migrate in suspended animation spaceships to various neighboring solar systems; one of the space vessels embarks upon a 425-year journey to Earth in its crew's hope of settling there

(circa 1665*) plasma energy beings of a planetoid within a nebulous cluster of stars, barter with the people of planet Sunim to obtain a number of bug-eyed, horned animals for the performing of menial tasks, and later devise a robot version, minus horns, of the animal for sending on missions potentially fatal for life-forms

(October 2, 1746*) the Golosian High Court sentences a group of sadistic rebels to exile in sealed cryogenic containers floating in space

(June 22, 1932*) Delmer Powys Plebus Gwent constructs an immensely powerful and potentially immortal computer spaceship and programs his personality into the "brain" of the spaceship-sized apparatus; then, he departs planet Zemo as the sole passenger in the spaceship bearing his name and character traits

(October 4, 1957) Sputnik 1, man's first artificial satellite, is launched into Earth orbit

(September 9, 1958) Victor Bergman studies Sciences at Cambridge

(November 3, 1958) the U.S.S.R. sends its first inhabited capsule into space. It contains a dog, "Laika"

(September 12, 1959) the Soviet Luna 2 lands on the Moon and discovers that the Moon is enveloped by a layer of low-energy ionized gas

(January-April, 1960) the Soviet Luna 3 circumnavigates the Moon for first pictures of the Moon's far side

(April 12, 1961) the U.S.S.R. sends the first Earthman into space, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1, for one orbit of Earth; although Gagarin is documented in 1961 by Soviet authorities as being married to Valentina Goryacheva at the time of his space flight, records later revealed him to not then have been married to Valentina Goryacheva, merely engaged to her and residing with her during his furlows; from the late 1990s onward, Gagarin and Goryacheva are known to have wed on June 7, 1961

(May 5, 1961) Alan Sheppard is the first American in space, launched in "Freedom 7"

(July 21, 1961) Virgil I. Grissom is the second American astronaut, in "Liberty Bell 7"

(February 20, 1962) "Friendship 7", piloted by John Glenn Jr., is successfully launched into space

(November 29, 1962) the United States launches its first animal, a chimpanzee named "Enos", into space

(October 2, 1964) Victor Bergman achieves a Doctorate in Space Sciences

(October 15, 1964) Victor Bergman is hired to work at the British Astronomical Society's observatory in Greenwich, England

(July 16, 1968) Victor Bergman is awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in determining the presence of natural satellites through close examination of planetary movements

(September 10, 1968) Ernst Queller studies Engineering at Berlin University

(July 20, 1969) Neil Armstrong of the Apollo 11 space flight sets foot on the Moon

(1970-1980) irrefutable evidence of alien spacecraft on Earth and of their role in the disappearance and mutilation of people results in the formation of a top-secret task force dedicated to defending Earth from the alien menace; a paramilitary organization called S.H.A.D.O. with installations on the Moon and at strategic points on Earth and in Earth orbit comes into being over the next decade, and many of the world's leading scientists are congregated into a "think tank" toward the building of sophisticated vehicles, computers, and weaponry; the resultant giant strides in technology have non-S.H.A.D.O. application also in the years to follow, among them artificial gravity fields and better and better propulsion systems for manned interplanetary and unmanned interstellar space travel; however, nobody outside of S.H.A.D.O. can know how these technological developments occurred and to what purpose they are originally applied; S.H.A.D.O.'s technical operation is led by Commander Edward Straker and its bureaucratic administration, the International Astrophysical Commission, responsible for funding and for overseeing the secrecy of S.H.A.D.O. and that will eventually become the World Space Commission, is under the control of General James Henderson; during these years, the surface of the near side of the Moon becomes a mineral search site by private concerns, and S.H.A.D.O. must tolerate their presence on the Moon, until an injunction against further economic exploitation of the Moon is endorsed by the United Nations in the early 1980s

(July 5, 1971) Victor Bergman joins the Sciences faculty at Cambridge

(September 5, 1978) John Koenig enrolls at New York University in the Arts program

(1980) Earth is a confirmed target for a U.F.O.-piloting alien species from a dying planet seeking organ replacements and a new home in space; thus, S.H.A.D.O. is put into full-scale operation

(January 5, 1982) N.A.S.A. launches an unmanned spacecraft to Venus for close inspection of that planet's atmosphere, and S.H.A.D.O. covertly accompanies the return of the American Venus Probe due to the possibility of alien interference or attack

(June 21, 1982) John Koenig graduates with a Bachelor of Arts and follows with a two-year, intensive Sciences degree

(September 9, 1983) David Kano enrolls in Computer Science at Harvard

(November 8, 1983) while working at the Berlin Institute of Technology that is secretly funded for the most part by S.H.A.D.O., Ernst Queller devises a fast neutron propulsion system capable of carrying a small spaceship across space at nearly a third of the speed of light, but since the radioactive fallout is lethal to people, this drive can only be used for unmanned space probes

(1984) an E.S.P.-capable person reveals the aliens' intention to abandon Earth as a place to station and plunder tissues and to instead opt for another planet in the Barnard's Star system, and subsequent to this is a marked decline in U.F.O. incidents and then none at all; new interception spacecraft called Hawks are built but receive very little use for S.H.A.D.O.'s purpose; the Hawks are purchased in secret by the U.S. military for future application in combat

(June 12, 1984) John Koenig receives his second degree, in Science, and goes to M.I.T. to study Astronautics; he meets Diana Morris at a jazz ballet group; she is there on a lark, supposedly to study Electrical Engineering, while she peruses the many bachelors at Astronaut School

(September 6, 1984) Helena Gordon attends Medical College at the University of Chicago, where she meets her mentor, Dr. Randolph Shaw, and it is while attending a seminar in Space Medicine given by Professor Emmanuel Dylan Batrun at M.I.T. that she has casual acquaintance with John Koenig and Diana Morris

(December 9, 1984) John Koenig meets and falls in love with Jean Stevens, who is at M.I.T. studying human stress factors in space for her Masters degree in Psychology

(January 10, 1985) Alan Carter joins the Australian Air Force

(June 28, 1985) John Koenig marries Jean Stevens in Boston

(July 22, 1985) Helena Gordon meets John Koenig again; the two are attending a talk given by Dr. Cabot Rowland at M.I.T. regarding the upcoming Astro 1 Uranus Probe on which he is to be Medical Officer

(1985-6) with U.F.O. incidents no longer occurring, S.H.A.D.O. is disbanded; all information relating to S.H.A.D.O. is vaulted as top secret and no information is to be divulged under any circumstances; S.H.A.D.O. Moonbase is completely scrapped to prevent discovery of its existence and purpose; S.H.A.D.O. Earth orbital platforms are converted to research stations for utilization by N.A.S.A. and the European Space Agency (E.S.A.) and some of them to military use by the U.S.; all S.H.A.D.O. operatives except for Straker and a few others are confined to an island on which to live the remainder of their lives in utmost secrecy; space exploration including further use of the Moon as a platform for human endeavor is henceforth, unless otherwise designated, to be scientific

(September 22, 1985) the Interspace Research Commission (I.R.C.) is formed; it is the transition between the former International Astrophysical Commission and the World Space Commission of the late-1980s and the 1990s

(October 11, 1985) Dr. Josef Verbinski and Dr. Blair Jacobsen start work on their I.R.C.-sponsored study on the relationship between space travel and changes in human behavior, especially sleep patterns; people stationed on Earth orbital platforms are subjected to sleep monitoring; additional research is conducted at M.I.T. by a group including John and Jean Koenig

(November 24, 1985) Jim Haines' parents, Ken and Eileen, are chosen for duty on the Discovery orbital station, and in their absence, Jim stays with his aunt and uncle

(November 28, 1985) the Space Shuttle Falcon, using propulsion technology first devised by S.H.A.D.O. and designed to service the Russian MIR space station, is unveiled at the Burun Space Centre in Vostaach, Russia

(December 8, 1985) Voyager One, powered by the Queller Drive engine, is successfully launched from Cape Kennedy under ordinary rocket power; the Queller Drive "kicks in" as planned once the Voyager is past the Moon's orbit, and its objective is an interstellar information-gathering flight lasting centuries

(January 28, 1986) Voyager Two launches under ordinary rocket power from Cape Kennedy, but just as it is passing six orbital stations, the Queller Drive "cuts in" too soon, spraying fast neutrons in the direction of the six manned satellites, including the Discovery space station, and causing them to explode, killing 205 people; Paul Morrow's father, Christopher, is among those killed, as are both of Jim Haines' parents

(January 30, 1986) N.A.S.A. unanimously decides to suspend the Queller Drive program; the Astro 1 Uranus Probe is, of course, a manned mission and therefore not intended to be powered by the Queller Drive; Astro 1 is set to launch, on schedule, from Cape Kennedy

(February 22, 1986) a permanent Moon base, given the name of Alpha, is proposed by the I.R.C. as a long-term project for serious consideration by the European Space Agency, N.A.S.A., Glavskosmos, and companies around the world who are interested in space exploration; hearings are held at universities and colleges in the U.S., Canada, and Europe; Cabot Rowland attends a few such hearings, whose very promising results lead him to believe that construction of Moonbase Alpha is a certainty within a decade

(March 25, 1986) Astro 1, commanded by Jack Tanner and Cabot Rowland, is launched from Cape Kennedy and is directed toward the outer Solar System; it is planned to pass the planets Mars and Jupiter on its way to reconnoiter Uranus

(September 9, 1986) Tony Verdeschi attends Rome University in the Arts program

(November 24, 1986) John Koenig meets Victor Bergman while Bergman is at M.I.T. to give an address on the proposed construction of a permanent Moon base, and they become close correspondents and friends

(December 17, 1986) Voyager One, on passing planet Saturn, after which time it was intended to turn its aerial outward to deep space and be out of contact with Earth, is beset by a storm of protons which cause it to be displaced to another galaxy; output of the fast-neutron engine of Voyager One intensifies the proton storm, with a resultant time-warping effect; the proton storm moves through Solar space and soon buffets the manned Astro 1 Uranus Probe, hurling it into the same galaxy to which Voyager One was thrown, but hundreds of years backwards in time, with the post-break-from-Earth-orbit Moonbase Alphans encountering both the Voyager One and the Uranus Probe survivors on planet Ultima Thule in the same sector of a galaxy

(February 14, 1987) the Iranian Jihad "storms" the U.S. embassy in Teheran and seizes 45 hostages; it wants U.S. information on nuclear bomb manufacture; the Americans refuse any deal

(February 28, 1987) Gustav Dorfmann perfects the first fully functioning mechanical heart while conducting research at the Mayo Clinic in Boston

(April 7, 1987) David Kano partakes in an experiment at Harvard to implant computer fiber-sensors in the cortex of his brain

(April 24, 1987) contact is lost with the Astro 1 after it is hit with a proton storm just short of reaching its objective, Uranus; crew are presumed dead

(May 26, 1987) Victor Bergman returns to teaching as Professor of Astrophysics at Cambridge

(June 1, 1987) one of the 45 hostages held in Teheran dies; the U.S. still refuses to deal

(August 5, 1987) Victor Bergman collapses during a talk on the necessity of peace for space research, and he is diagnosed with heart disease

(August 8, 1987) the Iranian Jihad releases its 44 American hostages; the reason for this sudden change of resolve is as yet unclear

(August 26, 1987) Iranian terrorists destroy a peace tower in Bali and kill 309 people, including Alan Carter's Eurasian girlfriend; the Western democracies all issue statements condemning this action, and the United States contemplates military action against Iran; problem, however, is that Iran's cohort, Syria, has a military alliance with the U.S.S.R.

(October 3, 1987) Syrian terrorists detonate a hydrogen bomb in Geneva, Switzerland, destroying the entire country; John Koenig's wife, Jean, on vacation there with her sister, is killed in the explosion

(October 5, 1987) the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. both express revulsion at the terrorist attack (the worst ever) and form an alliance for the prevention of further Islamic terrorism; joint secret plans for a retaliatory military strike are drawn

October 7, 1987) the U.S.-Soviet strafing run over Syria destroys the Syrian Nuclear Research Facility

(October 12, 1987) an Iranian-Syrian terrorist group infiltrates a nuclear power plant near Ankara, Turkey, and primes an explosive device, breaking open the reactor and holding area and causing a massive radiation discharge; thousands die, and many more are exposed to severe doses of radioactivity; neither nation immediately claims responsibility for this particular assault

(October 15, 1987) another atomic power plant attack is executed by Palestinian and Iranian gunmen who invade the Swedish Nuclear Facility north of Stockholm and steal plutonium to build a nuclear bomb

(November 2, 1987) a nuclear explosion destroys Tel Aviv, and Israel declares war on Syria, Iran, and Libya, the three of whom are believed responsible for the attack; Christian fundamentalists demonstrate in Washington, demanding a full-scale retaliation against Islamist states in the Middle East

(November 3, 1987) in accordance with its alliance with Israel, and at the urging of religious group leaders, the U.S. government declares war on the same three Arabian states; for the time being, the Soviet Union is neutral, but all U.S. allies, including Canada, Western Europe, Japan, and Turkey, themselves with religious leaders demanding retaliation, declare war on the three Jihad states

(November 4, 1987) Syria and Israel exchange non-atomic missile fire, and ground troops are deployed along the borders; the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force activate the Draft; Iraqi terrorists detonate a bomb at a Pennsylvania power plant, causing deadly radioactive fallout; thus, the United States declares war on Iraq, which joins Iran, Syria, and Libya.

(November 5, 1987) the American military drops incendiary bombs over Syria and Iraq

(November 6, 1987) a Soviet ambassador at the United Nations is assassinated by an Iranian, bringing the U.S.S.R. into the war; a sizable group of blacks march on Washington to protest the Draft, and white Military Police open fire on the crowd, triggering race riots throughout the U.S. and Canada; a terrorist attack in Tokyo results in the obliteration of a building

(November 8, 1987) the C.N. Tower in Toronto, Canada, is leveled by a bomb planted by Iranian terrorists; Teheran is struck by several missiles launched from Israel, and the Iranian leader vows revenge; the Conscription crisis continues in the U.S., and a new revelation on a secret nuclear-arms-for-hostages deal jolts the Presidency; the White House had approved a clandestine deal of two nuclear bombs for the release of hostages in Iran and several hundred million dollars in payment, the money having then been spent to provide equipment to Nicaraguan Contras in their fight against a Communist regime

(November 9, 1987) with U.S. agreement, Canada institutes mandatory internment of all Arabian-Canadians, and the United States decides to do the same

(November 10, 1987) Soviet bombers make strafing runs over Syria, Iran, and Iraq; Armenia decides to revolt against the Soviet government at this critical time, and the result is further bloodshed; the American President denies any knowledge of a secret arms-for-hostages deal with Iran

(November 11, 1987) black demonstrators at a Remembrance Day service in Ottawa go out of control, and the resulting brawl kills fifty-two; martial law is declared throughout Canada and the U.S.

(November 15, 1987) economic hardship in the U.S.S.R. causes simultaneous revolts in urban areas; the K.G.B. opens gunfire on the demonstrators

(November 16, 1987) when documents surface proving the White House's part in the Iran-Contra deal, the President and his staff are forced to resign; civil war erupts throughout the Soviet Union; bombing of Arabian states resumes

(November 17, 1987) the U.S.S.R. bows out of the war; officials at the Pentagon decide to drop nuclear bombs on the Syrian and Iranian capitals, with Soviet acquiescence

(November 18, 1987) atomic bombs are dropped on Teheran and Damascus; in turn, Syria launches a massive assault on Israel; so, U.S. and Israeli forces drop another two bombs on Syria; the Soviet regime is overthrown, and a provisional government attempts to run the country on democratic principles

(November 20, 1987) the Syrian government is ousted as radioactive fallout contaminates the whole country; Iranian authorities attempt to quell a rebellion by firing their guns against the mobs, but the revolution is successful, and the Ayatollah is executed

(November 21, 1987) Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Libya surrender; international hostilities cease, but deaths continue due to radiation

(November 23, 1987) world peace conference is convened in Amsterdam; the four Arabian countries agree to sign a declaration that no further terrorist groups will be sponsored, and United Nations inspection teams are to be allowed into these countries to check for hidden nuclear bombs; atomic weapons are banned, and all member nations agree to disassemble their bombs and missiles and search for a suitable disposal site for the broken-down component nuclear materials

(November 24, 1987) as a crucial aspect of the peace agreement, to quell the Islamic Jihad, religion is no longer permitted to have any part in a government's policy decisions; total secularization of states world-wide is to be the working basis of the peace; disgruntled Christian fundamentalists in the U.S. prepare to lobby Washington, to no avail, and the fundamentalists plan an attack on the space program that they blame for their loss of influence

(November 26, 1987) by agreement between the new Russian government, the European Community (E.C.), and the United States, all satellites are to be demilitarized, and the nations involved are to cooperate in turning the satellites into platforms for a major international space effort, the culmination being a Moon base and orbital stations around Earth, Venus, and Mars. N.A.S.A., Glavskosmos, the E.S.A., Japan Aerospace, and several private companies are to merge programs under the banner of the World Space Commission, an international body to promote interest in and coordinate efforts toward the peaceful exploration of space

(December 11, 1987) the Pegasus space platform is converted out of an American military satellite/missile launcher; the also-demilitarized Falcon space shuttles are to be used for transport to and from Pegasus

(December 18, 1987) Victor Bergman is one of the first recipients of a Dorfmann mechanical heart

(February 26, 1988) under the guidance of the newly-formed International Lunar Finance Committee (I.L.F.C.), the World Space Commission (W.S.C.) puts the Centauri Space Station under construction between the Earth and the Moon; plans for a permanent Moon base are produced, with Victor Bergman having a key position in the planning stage

(June 21, 1988) Professor Lawrence Benes, father of Sandra, invents the Interstellar Transmitter allowing for instantaneous transmission of messages across billions of miles of space

(July 9, 1988) Helena Gordon is offered a position at a prominent hospital in Minneapolis

(July 12, 1988) construction of Moonbase Alpha begins in the crater Plato in the Sea of Showers; Doctors Verbinski and Jacobsen submit their work on human behavior patterns and are selected as members of the initial planning team

(July 18, 1988) Helena Gordon is granted an award for her brilliant work in neurosurgery by the eminent Professor Emmanuel Dylan Batrun

(August 8, 1989) the first, central section of Moonbase Alpha is completed, stationing fifty people, and the acting Commander is Andrei Vasayov; construction continues on the branching sections

(September 7, 1989) John Koenig joins Astronaut Cadets, where he meets Tony Cellini, Sam Petersen, and Tessa Underhill

(November 30, 1989) Helena Gordon meets astronaut Lee Russell at a fund-raising dinner party in St. Paul

(February 3, 1990) Astro 2, consisting of a Mothership and 2 Swift support spacecraft (stylish, faster variations on the Falcon shuttles), is sent to Mars for a manned landing and to establish a permanent orbiting station, the Aragon; the Mothership will become the station, once additional component modules are constructed; Cadet Tony Cellini is on the mission, piloting one of the Swifts; Falcon shuttles are used as Earth-to-Mars supply spaceships during and after the completion of Space Station Aragon

(May 23, 1990) Helena Gordon and Lee Russell are married in St. Paul; Dr. Shaw gives her away

(June 25, 1990) Tony Verdeschi graduates from the University of Rome with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology

(July 5, 1990) Steve Maddox replaces Andrei Vasayov as the Commander of Moonbase Alpha

(September 11, 1990) Tony Verdeschi goes to Cambridge to obtain a Phd in Sociology

(January 5, 1991) Helena Russell accepts a position at the Space Commission Medical Authority, affording to her the chance to work at the same place as her husband, astronaut Lee Russell

(February 4, 1991) under the terms of the Peace Conference, all nuclear weapons are disassembled, and their nuclear material is buried with non-military atomic wastes on the far side of the Moon in a site designated as Waste Disposal Area One; Moonbase Alpha, in addition to its scientific work and space research, will act as a watchdog over the disposal and continued storage of the wastes

(April 11, 1991) Sam and Tessa are engaged to be married

(May 2, 1991) Tony Cellini is a crew member on a successful Astro 3 Mission to Venus, with a Mothership that will become the orbiting Space Station Aphrodite, and two Swift support spacecraft; Cadets Sam and Tessa are assigned to duty on Aphrodite within two years; Cellini returns to Earth in one of the Swifts

(October 17, 1991) Ryo Takanashi succeeds Steve Maddox as Moonbase Commander

(January 5, 1992) Astro 4 is an Earth-to-Mercury reconnaissance flight; from Earth to Venus, it is manned, but once the crew stop at Aphrodite to await Falcon shuttle transport back to Earth, the Mercury Probe resumes unmanned with an experimental computer-robot, a forerunner to the Captain Michael Brain

(August 3, 1992) the Eagle Transporter replaces the Falcon shuttle, with its superior combined cold fusion and liquid oxygen drive giving longer range and 20% faster speed; Falcons continue to be used for ground-to-orbit ferries of supplies or personnel; Eagles are used primarily for direct Earth-to-Moon travel

(November 12, 1992) Astro 5, a Mothership and one Swift, is sent to Mars as part of an orbital unmanned satellite construction project

(February 27, 1993) Space Station Aphrodite sends unmanned scout spaceships to the infernal surface of Venus to map the terrain and acquire mineralogical readings

(June 15, 1993) aboard Astro 6, graduating cadets Sam Petersen and Tessa Underhill are part of a replacement team sent via Swifts to Space Station Aphrodite; John Koenig also comes on the mission, although he is not posted for duty on Aphrodite

(June 21, 1993) Tony Verdeschi completes his Phd with a thesis on human stress in space, its effect on relationships, and the policing requirements

(June 29, 1993) the Commander of Astro 6 decides to abandon scientists on Aphrodite after a mysterious virus brought from the surface of Venus by an unmanned probe starts to spread plague-like symptoms among the Aphrodite crew; Sam and Tessa, John Koenig's friends, are part of an advance party already on Aphrodite and are among those left to die to prevent spread of the infection to Earth

(July 5, 1993) Paul Morrow signs onto the British Astronaut Training Program

(August 7, 1993) having graduated from pilot training, Peter Rockwell becomes pilot on the Transatlantic Superbird Concorde lines, and he will meet Sandra Benes on one of his flights

(November 5, 1993) Giovanni Petra assumes the position of Moonbase Commander; he is fourth to serve in this capacity

(November 24, 1993) Tony Verdeschi enters the European Astronaut Training School

(March 4, 1994) Astro 7, commanded by Lee Russell, launches successfully from Cape Kennedy for a journey to the Mars space station to relieve some of the crew there and to then proceed to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and then to Jupiter for a close reconnaissance of some of the Jovian moons

(May 13, 1994) external construction on Moonbase Alpha is completed; Launch Pad One and Space Exploration Division are put into full operation; above-ground area supports 100 people as underground work continues

(May 15, 1994) Nuclear Waste Area One is superseded by the larger Waste Area Two

(May 29, 1994) the commlock becomes the standard communications device for Moonbase Alpha personnel; in addition to its function of providing person-to-person contact via black-and-white video signal, it serves as an electronic key, opening doors in the different sections of Moonbase; though most doors will open automatically when someone is detected approaching them, the commlock is still useful for times when automatic door opening does not happen, for when someone is a distance away from a door and wishes the door opened as soon as possible, or for Security guards or technicians to enter into Moonbase areas off-limits to most Alphans; commlocks can also be used as television screen remote-controls to terminate communication links at communication posts; an improved version of the commlock has color video capacity, meaning that it is able to transmit and to receive color images; the improved commlock also has a second, high-resolution, zoom-capable camera installed in the electronic pointer at its base; Commander of Moonbase Alpha carries the improved commlock as do specialists doing work for which color video communications are preferred or required

(July 3, 1994) Moonbase Alpha launches its first space probe, the unmanned Spacefarer One, toward the Sun to study Solar flares

(July 30, 1994) Alan Carter signs onto the U.S.-Australian Space Cooperation Program

(July 31, 1994) the ultimate form of hand-held stun gun has been crafted and prototyped and is put into mass production; law-enforcement on Earth abandons all projectile weapons in favor of the stun gun; the stun gun will become the weapon assignment to personnel of Moonbase Alpha and all other W.S.C. operations; a point-blank, full-body stun will incapacitate a person for an hour or more, depending on exactly how close an individual is to the gun being fired, and on whether the individual's fall after the stun was or was not in any way injurious; a stun of the upper body only, from a distance of eight or more feet, will only cause unconsciousness for five to ten minutes; the stun gun can be modified to include an optional laser beam capable of blasting objects or cutting through metals, or of penetrating garments and doing fatal damage to bodily tissues and organs; when removed from a holster, a stun gun having a laser option, needs to be de-cocked from its safety setting by a pull back on the stun/kill selector, choice of beam then to be decided

(August 3, 1994) Bill Fraser joins the Canadian Air Force

(August 8, 1994) Victor Bergman discovers the planet Ultra in an area of space relative to the outer Solar System, but off the plane of the ecliptic almost by 40 degrees; the planet, never having been seen before, is thought to have originated outside the Solar System, and this unprecedented phenomenon warrants serious consideration for a manned space probe, the most ambitious ever undertaken; however, Astro 7 is receiving full priority now with its mineralogical survey of asteroids and some of Jupiter's moons

(September 22, 1994) Spacefarer 2, another unmanned probe, is dispatched to Mercury's far side to relay two years' worth of readings on the harsh conditions

(September 24, 1994) John Koenig and Tony Cellini are assigned to the Reconnaissance Section on Moonbase Alpha

(October 11, 1994) Juliet Mackie comes to Alpha's Sciences Department on the request of her former teacher, Victor Bergman; in addition to being one of the foremost experts on Nuclear Physics and one of the architects of Alpha's radiation screening system, she is a skilled astronomer

(November 21, 1994) Contact is lost with Astro 7 as it moves into an orbit around Jupiter and high radiation levels and serious mechanical problems are reported; because no further transmissions are received, Lee Russell and his crew are presumed dead

(November 25, 1994) Helena Russell resigns from the Medical staff at the World Space Commission and withdraws into herself

(December 3, 1994) Spacefarer 3 departs Moonbase Alpha on its unmanned mission to study conditions on the Martian moon, Phobos

(May 6, 1995) Moonbase Alpha launches unmanned Spacefarers 4 and 5 to probe the Jupiter system to look for clues as to what went wrong with Astro 7

(June 2, 1995) Anton Gorski assumes the position of Moonbase Alpha Commander for the first of two separate stints

(September 13, 1995) Bill Fraser attends classes in Space Sciences at Queen's University in Toronto; he is eventually assigned to Alpha's Sciences Section, although he is also an excellent pilot and will work in this capacity most of the time

(October 13, 1995) years of economic difficulty in Russia cause riots to erupt all over the country; the provisional government loses a confidence vote, and Communist hard-liners gain control

(October 14, 1995) Siberia and the Baltic provinces threaten to secede if the Communists consolidate their hold on power

(October 16, 1995) Russia starts rearming with the intention of intimidating the dissenting republics

(October 19, 1995) the U.S., unnerved by Russia's turn to rearmament, resigns from the W.S.C. and starts allocating funds to the building of arms

(October 20, 1995) the E.C. denounces both the Soviet and U.S. military build-up and promises to boycott all U.S. products if the build-up is not stopped

(October 22-27, 1995) anti-war demonstrations occur in several countries

(January 13, 1996) William J. Dixon is appointed Commissioner of the World Space Commission

(January 19, 1996) his organizational abilities extensively documented, Paul Morrow is assigned to Alpha as a Main Mission staffer; within a year, he becomes Main Mission Controller, and on his second tour of duty, starting in 1999, Morrow will assume that position until he is lost in a planetary encounter during the Moon's post-1999 space odyssey

(February 2, 1996) the U.S., the E.C., and several additional nations boycott the Winter Olympics in Leningrad

(February 5, 1996) when Russia moves to "clamp down" on Siberia and the Baltics, the United States dispatches Mark IX Hawk spaceships over the North Pole to attack Murmansk, Leningrad, and Moscow; strategic targets are hit, and casualties are minimal, but the Communists vow to retaliate

(February 7, 1996) detection of possible U.F.O. activity between the Solar System and Alpha Centauri leads to the temporary reactivation of S.H.A.D.O.; Straker and his colleagues petition the W.S.C. to launch a heavily armed Mothership and four Swifts all fitted with the new Nova Drive, permitting them to reach one quarter of the speed of light, to investigate; when this mission, commanded by Captain Michael, loses contact with Earth, it is presumed destroyed by the U.F.O. aliens and information surrounding it is installed in Moonbase Alpha computer banks but is only accessible during a memory review process authorized by Moonbase Alpha Commander; as this mission involves the use of the new Nova Drive, to which the Mothership and the four Swifts are adapted, these particular Swifts are thinner in shape and fitted with additional propulsion tubes on both sides of the upper hull; because of the different appearance of these Swifts, Koenig does not immediately recognize Brian's Swift when it first appears on Command Centre's Big Screen during Alpha's encounter with Brian the Brain (Captain Michael's computer-robot), though he does notice the distinctive features (the grasshopper-like legs, the eye-like indentations in the nose cone); concerned about the possibility of an alien attack, the W.S.C. secretly prepares to install laser batteries on the Lunar surface; the laser batteries are eventually delivered in secret to an installation on the Moon, which is subsequently closed, and the laser batteries, certified as safe as contents in their unopened containers, are put in storage in Launch Pad 10 on Moonbase Alpha

(February 8, 1996) Moonbase Alpha launches the unmanned Spacefarer 6 to track comets

(February 11-12, 1996) a mass revolt in Moscow results in the ousting of the Communists and a return to democracy

(February 17, 1996) Christian fundamentalists hijack a Falcon shuttle leaving Cape Kennedy for the Pegasus Two manned orbital platform; once the shuttle docks with Pegasus Two, the fundamentalists open gunfire on the crew of the platform, killing 26 people; the gunmen are subdued and placed into custody

(February 18-22, 1996) in the shared revulsion at this act of religiously espoused brutality, international tensions ease

(February 28, 1996) the United States rejoins the W.S.C.; all rearmament on both sides ceases

(March 2, 1996) the W.S.C. decides to declare faith in the new detente by launching the new Nova Drive-fitted Astro 8 Ultra Probe to send a manned flight to Ultra at the fringe of the Solar System; an international news network on space research and exploration, "Space News", is established

(March 26, 1996) Moonbase Alpha receives delivery of hundreds of spacesuits of most up-to-date design, spacesuits that will be the standard apparel for any and all Alphans working in vaccum conditions; the spacesuits contain an impenetrable neck-to-ankle body garment made for dependable maintaining of stable atmospheric pressure for the wearer, boots constructed for comfort and durability, a neck ring that bonds air-tight with the outer surface of the body (and that however worn it may eventually look on its outside from years of use, is internally super-sturdy), a metal helmet with rising and closing and sealing visor, twin tanks of comprssed air at the back allowing the wearer's breathing to last for between 90 and 120 minutes, a thin output connector from the tanks to the helmet, and a chest unit that keeps the wearer heated to a comfortable temperature and that also contains a radio transmitter and receiver; some of the chest units also have within them a limited supply, usually no more than twenty minutes, of air; the chest units supply air for astronauts wearing jet packs and no air tanks on their backs; jet packs and air tanks should not be worn together on an astronaut's back; a thin connector containing a wire for radio communication plus in some cases an air passage tube, is inserted through a tiny hole along the front zipper, the hole being automatically air-tight sealed from the inside after the connector is inserted through the outer garment; the spacesuits are orange and yellow in color, permitting ease of visual detection in the black of space or amidst the grey of the Lunar surface

(June 6, 1996) Astro 8, the Ultra Probe, commanded by Tony Cellini, with a crew consisting of Darwin King, Juliet Mackie, and Monique Fauchere, leaves for its eight-month trek to Ultra from the Centauri Space Dock; it is powered by the Nova Drive

(November 22, 1996) Spacefarer 7, unmanned, is launched toward Saturn

(November 30, 1996) Helena Russell resumes her work at the W.S.C.

(February 19, 1997) the Ultra Probe reaches its objective, and contact with it is lost

(August 12, 1997) Dr. Bob Mathias comes to Alpha to work in Medical Centre

(August 18, 1997) Anton Gorski resigns as Moonbase Commander due to personal crises on Earth, and his replacement is Anatoly Grodno

(September 1, 1997) the unmanned Spacefarer 8 is launched toward Uranus to study Uranus' eccentric rotational and orbital pattern

(September 4, 1997) the Ultra Probe Command Module is located on its course back to Earth

(September 15, 1997) Tony Cellini is found bearded and near death inside the recovered capsule from the lost Ultra Probe

(September 18, 1997) Tony Cellini is put under medical observation because he claims that a tentacled monster killed his crew

(October 16, 1997) Commissioner William J. Dixon "grounds" Tony Cellini, John Koenig, and Victor Bergman in a vain effort to retain credibility after the failure of the Ultra Probe; except for Koenig, nobody believes Cellini's story

(January 3, 1998) William J. Dixon is replaced by Gerald Simmonds as Commissioner at the W.S.C.

(January 7, 1998) Hiroshi Nakamura is appointed seventh Moonbase Commander

(October 6, 1998) Ben Vincent meets Louisa Willis while studying Medicine at U.C.L.A.

(October 25, 1998) Boston Red Sox defeat St. Louis Cardinals in Game Seven of the World Series

(November 12, 1998) Greg Sanderson is assigned to duty on Alpha as a surface explorer

(November 11, 1998) the unmanned Spacefarer 9 is launched from Alpha to reconnoiter the outermost planets of the Solar System

(December 1, 1998) planet Meta is discovered "southward" off of the Solar System's plane of the ecliptic in the vicinity of the outer planet Pluto; a manned space flight, Astro 9, is proposed to learn why yet another planet has such an unusual position relative to the other planets in the Solar System; however, contributors to the I.L.F.C., the Ultra Probe fiasco still foremost in their minds, are reluctant to commit to a project so strikingly similar in circumstance and planning; Commissioner Simmonds "stakes" his position on a successful completion of the mission, and the I.L.F.C. gives to the undertaking its tentative support

January 2, 1999) Anton Gorski returns to serve another term as Commander of Moonbase Alpha

(January 4, 1999) Helena Russell becomes Chief Medical Officer on Moonbase Alpha

(January 18, 1999) Alan Carter is commissioned on Moonbase Alpha as Chief of Reconnaissance

(January 22, 1999) Eric Sparkman goes through the Astronaut Training Program as a potential candidate for piloting the Meta Probe

(May 17, 1999) Cynthia Crawford comes to Alpha for her first tour of duty as operative in Nuclear Generating Area Two, working with her husband, Jack Crawford, who is on his second tour of duty.

(June 5, 1999) Dr. Ernst Queller changes his surname to Linden and applies for duty in Moonbase's Technical Section

(June 8, 1999) Sandra Benes and Peter Rockwell are engaged to be married once Sandra's latest 4-month tour of duty is supposed to end

(June 12, 1999) Frank Warren goes through the Astronaut Training Program

(June 16, 1999) Bob Mathias returns to Alpha to be Dr. Russell's assistant in Medical Centre, and he will retain that position until he and Ben Vincent exchange duties at 1174 days after leaving Earth orbit

(June 21, 1999) Tony Verdeschi is assigned to duty in Alpha's Security Section

(July 2, 1999) on John Koenig's insistence, Tony Cellini is reassigned to Alpha in a low-profile Reconnaissance position

(July 5, 1999) Anton and Eva Zoref are assigned to Alpha's Technical and Data Sections

(July 9, 1999) Ben Vincent comes to Alpha for a 4-month tour of duty in Medical Centre; his fiancee, Louisa Willis, is still at U.C.L.A. in her final year studying Physiotherapy

(July 11, 1999) Bill Fraser signs on to service in Moonbase Alpha's Sciences Section

(July 14, 1999) Alibe Kurand arrives on Alpha for her tour of duty in Data Section

(July 17, 1999) Jim Kelly marries Melita Janni before the two are assigned to Alpha's Reconnaissance and Data Sections

(July 23, 1999) Eric Sparkman and Frank Warren are selected to man Astro 9, the Meta Probe; they begin their training flights over the far side of the Moon away from Alpha traffic and near the old Nuclear Waste Disposal Area One

(July 31, 1999) Jim Haines comes to Alpha on the Apprenticeship Program at Urbana University, and he is placed under the guidance of Dr. Ernst Linden (Queller)

(August 3, 1999) Dr. Hermann Ellendorff comes to Alpha to assemble his experimental Brain Impulse Machine for possible treatments of various mental diseases

(August 18, 1999) Blake Maine is sent to Alpha under the auspices of Montreal's Laval University's apprenticeship program and is tutored by Bob Mathias

(August 21, 1999) Clive Kander arrives on Alpha for duty as a Security guard and Records Officer

(August 20, 1999) Luke Ferro arrives on Alpha for a month-long photographic survey; the Ellendorff Brain Impulse Machine is completed and tested, and results are tentatively successful

(August 22, 1999) scientists at the Space Communications Division at M.I.T. start looking to neutrinos as a viable way of transmitting messages at unprecedented speeds across the cosmos; Victor Bergman is asked to come to Alpha as a scientific advisor for the Meta Probe Mission

(August 23, 1999) while on Earth to visit his ailing mother, Jack Crawford dies from an unknown cause; Commander Gorski orders a thorough radiation check in Nuclear Generating Area 2, but no radiation leakage is found; Crawford's wife, Cynthia, four months pregnant, remains on Moonbase Alpha to complete her tour of duty slated to end in mid-September

(August 27, 1999) at Cambridge, British engineers and physicists, including Professor Geoffrey Hunter, begin drawing plans for a theoretical faster-than-light Superswift spacecraft

(August 31, 1999) a worker at Nuclear Waste Disposal Area Two is stricken by crazed, violent behavior, glazed eyes, skin discolorations and lacerations, and a high fever; it looks like a rapid onset of radiation sickness, but no radiation leakage is detected at the site; waste Disposal Area One is also checked, and no leakage is found there either

(September 1, 1999) the Ellendorff Brain Impulse Machine is proposed as a potential treatment for the disorientation caused by the illness, despite Dr. Helena Russell's contention that it is an inoperable and untreatable form of radiation sickness; the machine does ease the disorientation, but as the source of the disease is an inoperable, cancerous growth in the brain, the disease is pronounced incurable

(September 2, 1999) the stricken worker dies of his illness; the unmanned Spacefarer 9 transmits close photographs of Meta indicating an atmosphere, but, judging from its distance from the Sun and its presumed extra-stellar origin, Meta should be completely frozen; curiosity is heightened about the planet, and a manned mission is ever more imperative

(September 3, 1999) mysterious radio signals are relayed from Meta by Spacefarer 9; meaning in the signals is unknown, but they probably indicate extraterrestrial life

(September 4, 1999) six more workers at Disposal Area Two become terminally sick; Commander Gorski attributes the fatalities to a virus and has all Waste Area Two workers quarantined; to avoid panic, a news blackout is imposed on Alpha, and civilian press on Earth is muzzled

(September 5, 1999) one by one, the six sick workers die; radiation experts Jack Bartlett and Joe Ehrlich are summoned to Alpha to oversee a thorough check at the disposal site

(September 6, 1999) a member of Bartlett and Ehrlich's inspection team behaves erratically and is hospitalized, and still no radiation leak is found

(September 7, 1999) another man dies of the sickness, and Frank Warren, one of the Meta Probe astronauts, exhibits the same symptoms; waste Area One, which was below their training route, is checked again, with negative results

(September 8, 1999) Eric Sparkman is also afflicted, and the Meta Probe is suspended, with the W.S.C. practically screaming for answers; a new Commander for Moonbase Alpha is appointed in hope that a different, firm presence in command will yield results in the investigation

(September 9, 1999) Helena Russell, Victor Bergman, and an additional radiation monitoring team go to Disposal Area Two, and one of the men, Jim Nordstrom, becomes violently disoriented and kills himself in a laser barrier; John Koenig arrives on Alpha to succeed Anton Gorski as Commander and is determined to find the cause of the spreading malady

(September 10, 1999) John Koenig and Victor Bergman visit Waste Area Two to conduct another search; their pilot, Mike Collins, goes berserk and nearly kills them, but, again, no perceptible radiation leakage in the usual sense is found; both Sparkman and Warren die of their illness, and Collins dies within a day, as does Paul Steiner, who was at Disposal Area Two on September 9

(September 11, 1999) a flare-up occurs at Nuclear Waste Area One; Koenig, Russell, and Bergman discover that a new and highly dangerous form of magnetic radiation was responsible for this flare-up, that all of the affected workers passed over Area One daily on their way to Area Two, and that the two dead Meta Probe astronauts also flew that route on their training flights

(September 12, 1999) a similar surge in magnetic levels registers at Waste Area Two, which contains over a hundred and forty times the amount of waste as Area One; a flare-up here could create a massive detonation of all of the wastes; Commissioner Gerald Simmonds arrives on Alpha and oversees the desperate operation to disperse the wastes over a wider area and reduce the magnetic pulse before it causes a chain-reaction of atomic blasts; every available Eagle with a modifiable middle section is fitted with a utility pod containing a magnetic crane for picking up the waste canisters from their silos, and sent to Area Two to begin work

(September 13, 1999) efforts to avert an explosive chain-reaction at Waste Area Two are not sufficient to prevent the disastrous blasts that send the Moon out of Earth orbit; when the first flare-up occurs at Area Two, signaling the beginning of the chain-reaction, two pilots are killed when their Eagle breaks apart; at Moonbase, Koenig orders Eagles to abort the dispersal mission and return to Alpha; however, with insufficient time for this, the Eagles must do a sudden landing on the Lunar surface, their pilots hoping that the radiation screens on each of their Eagles will protect them from the nuclear blast waves; further surges in magnetic energy occur, and their effect is intensified by the immense heat of the initial blast; the resulting second shockwave is as violent as the first, and it has the effect of overriding the centripetal force of the Moon's orbit, pushing the Moon away from Earth and 37 degrees "southward" from the plane of the ecliptic, so that it is impossible for the Moon to settle into a new orbit around the Earth or around the Sun; before the blasts, the Moon was moving in its orbit adjacent with Earth toward the far side of the Earth orbit, with the far side of the Moon pointed toward the Sun; so, when the breakaway blasts occur in the northern hemisphere of the Moon's far side, they have the effect of pushing the Moon from the Sun and "downward" from its orbit around Earth

THE IMMEDIATE BREAKAWAY AFTERMATH ON MOONBASE ALPHA

When gravitational forces connected with the Moon's break from Earth orbit subside and the Alphans are able to stand, a thorough damage and casualty check is conducted. No further casualties. Moonbase's population at this time is 311, which is the number that Earth has, the W.S.C. having been relayed the information on the two pilots believed dead at the start of the nuclear blasts chain reaction. An Earth news broadcast seen on Main Mission's Big Screen states this population figure of 311 before dissolving into a mess of static. 1999 Earth authorities express little hope of anyone on Alpha surviving the blasts and the Moon's drift.

A non-W.S.C.-sanctioned expeditionary team to the Moon's south polar area transmits a distress call to Moonbase Alpha in the hours after the break from Earth orbit, and the people of that expeditionary team are added to the population of Moonbase, for a total of 325 persons.

WILDING FIELD AND THE RUNAWAY MOON'S MOTION

Instead of decelerating, Alpha moves at a constant velocity, and a rather rapid one, away from Earth and "southward" off of the Solar System's plane of the ecliptic. The nuclear blasts have yielded a new radiation which has reacted with the layer of ionized gas around the Moon to form a previously-theoretical Wilding Field, which reduces the Moon's inertia of mass and enables it to travel at such speed. The effect of the Wilding Field increases drastically when the Moon is almost entirely removed from the Sun's gravity. In interstellar space, the Moon's velocity approaches that of light, with associated time-dilation, so that, at maximum speed within the Wilding Field, the Moon traverses light-years in weeks in Moonbase Alpha time. The time-dilation causes considerable discrepancy between Alpha time and time on Earth, but random changes in the Moon's speed and trajectory complicate an exact measurement of this discrepancy.

THE FIRST DAYS OF THE MOON'S ODYSSEY

Return to Earth is declared impossible because of an as yet uncalculated amount of damage to Eagles in the nuclear blasts and due to the unexpected velocity of the Moon as it careens "southward" off of the ecliptic plane.

The Moon passes the planet Meta, from which radio signals continue to be received for several days. However, due to a limited amount of serviceable Eagles and insufficient time to mount a full-scale evacuation (with so few Eagles that can be used requiring repeat Alpha-to-planet transport) during the Moon's rapid passage by Meta, Koenig abandons any hope of colonizing Meta.

During the Moon's passage by Meta, the radio signals abruptly cease. And to the mystification of everybody on Alpha, Meta is found not to have an atmosphere, contrary to all earlier data, and is in fact a Pluto-like ice world.

Commander Koenig is given the full endorsement of Moonbase personnel, although Commissioner Simmonds is disgruntled at the lack of strategy for a return to Earth. His grumbling is solitary, for all others on Alpha realize that the increasing distance from Earth is beyond the capacity of any of Alpha's at this time nineteen serviceable Eagles.

An Eagle construction program starts, to augment the number of spacecraft currently in operation. Several Eagles were rendered unflyable due to sudden sharp landings during the nuclear blasts, and Reconnaissance Section, working with certain Engineering members of Technical Section and with senior expert computer technician Benjamin Ouma (Ouma transfers from a station in Main Mission to Reconnaissance Section and is replaced in Main Mission by David Kano), puts into construction additional spacecraft of varying design and capacities and capabilities, with component parts already in storage in the hangar in the seldom-used Launch Pad 10. The troubleshooting and repairs branch of Technical Section has minimal involvement in new Eagle construction, and it is that branch of Technical Section to which Koenig directs ire, unfairly accusing its people of chronic laziness, during events of Alpha's encounter with planet Ariel.

Found among the stored Eagle parts are crates containing components of laser batteries and some laser-equipped drone tanks. As to how the laser batteries and drone tanks came to be on Alpha, Koenig and his Main Mission colleagues postulate that the W.S.C. requisitioned those things to the Moon amidst revived international tensions and a religious terrorist action of 1996, for possible defensive use against attacks by aggressors from Earth. Their real purpose (defense against aliens) and the W.S.C.'s S.H.A.D.O. connection remain unknown- or at least obscure and unrecognized. Koenig gives first priority to Eagle construction, especially Eagles with external laser turret guns and/or spacecraft-underbelly laser weaponry and/or with extensive planetary survey and analysis equipment, and with work undertaken, on the side, toward assembly of the tanks and then the laser batteries. Most of the tanks, plus one remote-controlled, laser-equipped Eagle, will be destroyed by Gwent. Alpha News Service, whose function has been to report news from Earth, is no longer considered essential and will be phased out as its equipment is utilized in Eagle construction.

By the time of the encounter with planet Ariel, there are 28 Eagles, several with laser gun(s) incorporated into them, and with more being primed for use. All of the new Eagles have flexiplastic hatches, which in some cases bend into storage in the thin area between the airlock and the between-wings section.

Further, there are in Launch Pad 10 two old Moon-Hopper vehicles of the 1980s that were decommissioned by the S.H.A.D.O. organization and sometime thereafter given over to regular scientific application. Their function as place-to-place Lunar transport vehicles is mostly made obsolete by the Eagle spaceship, but for low flight for close surface exploration or for rescue, especially in areas of the Moon too soft and crumbly for the weight of a landed Eagle, they still have a certain usefulness. Greg Sanderson's team of Lunar surface explorers will ultilze (sparingly) the Moon-Hoppers, together with parked Moonbuggys, for their work. During an ordeal involving the Taura space phenomenon, Sanderson will transport himself in a Moon-Hopper and subsequently a Moonbuggy, to an ambush of Koenig at the Nuclear Waste Silos on the Moon's far side.

TIMES OF TRANSITION

Moonbase Alpha's experience with planet Krom II is probably the most pivotal time for Alphan perspective on the Moon's transstellar odyssey. At the outset of this encounter for Moonbase Alpha, it is revealed that anti-time-dilation for Moonbase has reversed after the Moon left the vicinity of planet Arkadia, and apparent that on Alpha there is divided opinion among the Alphans as to what brought about the fluctuations of time during the Moon's progress through space after its passage through the space brain. Might the demise of the space brain possibly have been the cause of the anti-time-dilation and of possible other disorderly occurrences in the region of space previously in the space brain's guiding power? Or could the anti-time-dilation have been something to do with Arkadia, connected somehow to the stopping dead of the Moon close to that planet and the postulated presence on that planet of some metaphysical or supernatural phenomenon? Also under deliberation is whether the space brain, now dead, was what had been "watching over" the Alphans and occasionally intervening in times of crisis to save the Moonbase from destruction- and if so, might the death of the space brain be followed by no further fortuitous interventions and a more potentially harmful or lethal series of encounters for Moonbase Alpha? And might the Moon have been made to pass through and kill the space brain on purpose by dint of another cosmic intelligence, perhaps the force on Arkadia, and might that quantity now having achieved its purpose, be no longer interested in Alpha's survival? And what, if anything, did bring Alpha to Arkadia and instill the obsessive behavior in Luke Ferro and Anna Davis? Although at first Koenig wrote that he believed it futile to seek answers to what happened in the encounter with planet Arkadia, the reversal of anti-time-dilation and a climate of increasing speculation on various subjects, caused him and his Main Mission colleagues to give much thought to such matters.

At forefront of much of the deliberations is a very pertinent question. If cosmic forces may have been operating contrary to one another, would that not be against the concept of a frame of order in the cosmos? It becomes by this time quite evident that there are also people on Alpha who are skeptical of there being any guiding power in the universe and who point to the fatalities on Alpha post-breakaway as being indicative of a universe not at all in harmony with Alpha's needs and hopes. Much rumination is under way on Alpha after the space brain and after Arkadia on subjects such as the aforementioned.

A theory is also circulating as to the Arkadians having been the forebears of other civilizations strewn through space, and whether English is the ultimate linguistic development for all peoples of Arkadian descent.

Further, concern exists on the part of Koenig and the Alpha executive about desertions becoming a recurrent problem for Alpha, and on the basis of such concern, Koenig has ceded to Dr. Russell's recommendation to reduce the regimented and depersonalized feel to life on Alpha as much as possible, by reverting to pre-1996 uniforms allowing for more varied dress by the personnel of Alpha and putting aside unisex and minimalist garments, those uniforms of pre-1996 time also including jackets with room for badges showing individual achievement and specialization. Although this is considered an amenable move for morale by many on the Moonbase, there is still a wariness growing in Koenig as to the future, and of Alphan outlook becoming skewed or fractious. Somehow, a balance must be reached in the encouragement of individuality (including individual beliefs) and recreation and the promoting of the collective good and upholding of devotion to duty of the people of the Moonbase.

With population dipping below 300, still a viable number of personnel for the maintaining of Moonbase's vital operation areas, and the continued prohibition of of new births out of continuing safety and sustainability concerns, life-support capacity is not under quite as much duress as it had been with Moonbase population in excess of 300, and a option proposed by Professor Bergman for the opening of caves beneath Alpha, atmosphere pumped into them, for potential hydroponic development, and to further the aim of giving Moonbase Alphan society more "breathing room" and reminders of life on Earth, such as in an underground botanical garden, is put into motion. It is also revealed that forward-thinking mining of the Moon for vital minerals to Moonbase's future is starting. The surface of the Moon had in the past been stripped bare of useful metals, Titanium (previously in abundance) among them, but below the Lunar surface, mining of metals could be done in those caverns that are opened, carved out of the Moon's pith, by the geological department of Technical Section. There already exist underground caves for experimental purposes at Moonbase's outermost fringes but no minerals of much use to Alpha are detected on the walls of those caves, and in any case, as regards transporting of gear and extracted materials and pumping of air into deep tunnels, it is more practical to mine in an area nearer the centre of the Moonbase complex. Koenig and Bergman first broached plans for Lunar resource exploration and resource development after the encounter with S.S. Daria, in which some help was provided to the Darians using Moonbase materials.

It was following the ordeals with Betha-Delta warring planets and Gwent that laser gun batteries, having been discovered in a disused area of Launch Pad 10 along with parts for new Eagle construction, were given recommendation for installation by Tony Verdeschi of Security. Koenig ceded to resources commitment toward such, together with a potential Level D Weapons Section to be operated under the auspices of Security. Life-function bracelets and all-personnel computer connection to those were deemed to be a less than fully necessary expenditure of power and random-access computer memory, and in any case were depreciating without readily available replacements, and power previously allocated to those, is being directed toward the laser gun batteries, along with with the energy sources for the clocks in various communications consoles on Moonbase (those clocks being non-essential as commlocks can instantly provide Lunar time to the commlock user, and parts for the clocks following damage or wear also not readily available). By the time of the encounter with Krom II, most of the above mentioned changes were close to being implemented, if not already having been so.

A move to Level D Command Centre from Level A Main Mission was also prompted on a recommendation by Security following battles on or above the Lunar surface involving Betha-Delta and Gwent. Sensible certainly, as an upper-level position- with windows- meant vulnerability to attack from forces on or above the Moon's surface. And Moonbase's meteorite screen system, thought to be potentially effective in shielding the Moonbase from intruder spacecraft of modest size or in deflecting enemy fire, has been proven to be all too easily penetrated or deactivated by aliens, such as in the Betha-Delta encounter. And the screen system was without a power allocation during the alien possession of Jackie Crawford because revised power allocation after the explosion at Nuclear Generating Area 3, had not yet been complete. The laser gun batteries, concealed under the Lunar surface and de-powered until ordered into activation, should theoretically be less vulnerable- and if needs be, they can be manually operated on-site with stored battery power if remote controls in Weapons Section are rendered useless.

As the Krom II encounter was in its beginnings, new classes of Eagle were being presented in briefings of assembled Alphans. Laboratory Eagles have a vast section for analytical equipment for geological surveys, and the power for such channeled from communications in the Eagles, meaning that during a survey mission in a Laboratory Eagle, contact from Moonbase Alpha will not be possible unless the switch back to enabled communications away from laboratory analysis is done on orders from the survey party leader. During a time-limited Laboratory Eagle landing on a planet, communications are likely to be suspended except in the case of an emergency, that is when the safe return to Moonbase by everyone in the survey party requires prompt dispatch of help via another Eagle. This includes Eagle-boosted commlock communication with Moonbase, should the Moon be too far from range from sole, non-boosted commlocks. This will be the case on the planet of the living rocks encountered by Alpha at 565 days-after-breakaway.

Additionally, over the many months since the Moon's leaving of Earth orbit, parts to crashed Eagles are salvaged. And after the encounter with Gwent, the salvaged Eagle parts are used for construction of three super-fast robot-control Eagles. Such Eagles, intended never to have pilots or passengers and meant not for fact-finding reconnaissance, are stripped of all life-support, communication, and analysis equipment, survival rations and gear, and extensive computer circuitry, and installed only with lasers and robot-control receivers, for flying the Eagles and using their lasers. And a second engine system is placed in the Eagle rear section. The effect of the augmented engine power and lighter weight is between triple and quadruple the Eagle interplanetary speed and substantially increased speed for action in a battle above Moonbase. And with no people aboard, there is no need to worry about G-force effects with the attainable speed. The robot-control Eagles can also be filled with fissionable material to be detonated to destroy a fleet of attacker spacecraft or if landed in the area of most focused instability of a spatial body, such as planet Psychon, to possibly bring about a planet's end. Only in the most dire of circumstances vis-a-vis Alpha's continued survival would such a destructive purpose be authorized. Control of the three "robot Eagles" is to be in Weapons Section on Level D on Alpha. Mentor of Psychon will eliminate two of the three robot-control Eagles.

Planet Krom II exists in a solar system near to that of Arkadia. As the Moon approaches Krom II, Professor Bergman reports that ionization in the planet's atmosphere is making sensor and scanner readings not entirely reliable but that habitation of the planet is indicated. Communication procedures yield no contact with the people of Krom II, and the first Laboratory Eagle is sent out on its maiden journey, to survey the planet for needed elements and- if the Krom II inhabitants are receptive to the idea- to assess the planet as a destination for Operation Exodus.

Full power upon landing goes to the analysis equipment and on-board computer in the Laboratory Eagle as landing party members Koenig, Dr. Russell, Prof. Bergman, Alan Carter, Paul Morrow, and a team of geologists and botanists begin their exploration of Krom II on foot and by Moonbuggy. The people of Krom II are discovered to dwell in urban centres of an order of technological and cultural development not much exceeding mid-twentieth century on Earth. However, circumstances have required the settlements on the planet to enclose themselves much more than was the case on planet Earth. Krom II is prone to ion storms when the planet and its moon and sun are in alignment, and this has been the case for centuries- not something that came about recently after the death of the space brain. And it has led to a divided and rather fractious civilization on Krom II.

Further, sometime in the distant past, a spacefaring civilization came to Krom II and among many benevolent acts demarcated hazardous places with a symbol and left instructions as to how to interpret the symbol. Unfortunately, the space travellers abruptly left Krom II before their "missionary" work was completed, and Krom II over the centuries- with its peoples in separate enclaves- developed schisms in beliefs as to the nature and purpose of the kind spacefarers and existence of a deity to which the kind spacefarers were somehow presumably aligned. Schisms that were made all the more drastic by the peculiar environmental conditions on the planet. A long history of violent conflict over beliefs has in itself also contributed to the partitioned world that is Krom II. Koenig and other members of the landing party learn of this history whilst the geologists and botanists are busy doing their work in the Laboratory Eagle.

A particularly dogmatic faith with some of its adherents mixed in the more populated and most advanced Krom II city-states holds that Holy writings might hold the key to salvation for everyone of the troubled planet, and those dogmatic ones are adamant that inscriptions in a buried shrine in the wilderness between two of the most populated cities, are those Holy writings, but not decipherable by anyone on Krom II. When the Alphans come amongst the people of Krom II, they are at first thought to be the "second coming" of the benevolent visitors of yesteryear. And some of the Krom II people will not desist in thinking the latest visitors to the planet to be of same lineage, civilization, and purpose as the former-day ones. When Prof. Bergman and Paul Morrow are overheard speculating that the Arkadians (it is later thought to be the Archanons) were the previous visitors to Krom II and talking of the Sanskrit inscription in the Arkadian cave, they are overheard by a few Krom II acolytes to the dogmatic sect, and the two Alphans are abducted by the dogmatists and brought on a quest across a wilderness to an artifact of strange inscription. Bergman says that a deciphering of the writings, if they are Sanskrit, would be possible in communication with Alpha, but the captors are unwilling to permit such until having reached destination in the wilderness. An ion storm whose time of onset and severity were not foreseen by the doctrinaire Krom II sect members, strikes the region, making sensor readings of Bergman and Morrow's whereabouts impossible, and before Alpha moves out of range, Eagle passes over the part of the planet where Bergman and Morrow are thought to be, are attempted but hampered by storm conditions. Koenig and Alan Carter are together in one of the search Eagles, sharing stress and strain of flying an Eagle in the tumult of the storm while endeavoring to locate Bergman and Morrow. And they experience frustration and the immediate profound disappointment and deep sense of loss of two close comrades and friends when the search yields negative results and time for searching expires. And when en route back to Moonbase, they talk of their pasts on Earth and find that they have in common the death of females they loved. The two bond and henceforth will mostly be on a first-name basis.

Koenig accepts that the people of Krom II, of all divisions of faith, only want to find answers to the questions that Earthlings have themselves long pondered, and is not resentful of the Krom II dogmatists' actions. He thanks the leaders of Krom II's city-states for their assistance in trying to find Bergman and Morrow. Still, he is most sorrowful at being henceforth removed from his old friend Victor Bergman- and from Morrow, too. Operation Exodus to Krom II is not put into effect, for reasons of Eagles and travel time needed for the search for Bergman and Morrow, environmental conditions on the planet, and the planet's people's quarrelsome divisions on outlook upon visitors from the space above, both past and present.

Morrow is a plucky, resolute man. He would find a way to survive. And he would not leave Bergman's side. And however fanatical the doctrinaire Krom II persons with Bergman and Morrow may be, they would not allow harm to befall the two men whose presence on the planet is believed significant in matters of faith. The losses to Moonbase Alpha as a result of the Krom II encounter do however give Koenig pause to think about a number of unpleasant developments in his life, having to leave friends behind to die, or to an uncertain fate. And his wife's death, after which he may have been reticent to pursue a relationship (though now finding a kindred soul in Helena). Could the break from Earth really have just been a random accident, and might it have been sheer luck that calamity did not befall the full compliment of the Moon at the start off the Moon's drift and in the months thereafter? Or could the forces that might have acted to preserve the roaming Moon from destruction not have been as consistently or everlastingly beneficial as may have been thought? Dogmatism in any case has again been proven, in the encounter with Krom II, to have exceedingly unpleasant, negative consequences. The war on Earth of 1987 had been in some way one fueled by religious fervor and differences, and Koenig's wife had been a casualty of that war. And Krom II's history was replete with like conflicts. After the Krom II encounter has concluded, Commander Koenig address the people of Moonbase Alpha as follows.

"Attention all sections Alpha. This is Commander John Koenig. We have returned from our visit to planet Krom II. What you've heard is true. Two of our party, Professor Bergman and Controller Paul Morrow, are not able to return to Alpha, having been lost in an ion storm, taken from a city by some zealous inhabitants of the planet. Persons who were convinced of our relevance to, our involvement in some centuries-earlier visitation to the planet. I am aware that here on Alpha, belief in the factors in and possible purpose of our survival and the losses along the way, is becoming divided. Perhaps it has always been so. I am aware of the matters generating the most speculation and which are the most contentious among us. Whether it was the space brain that was looking over us, guiding us, and now it's deceased we're on our own. Or whether it was the Arkadians or some spirit of planet Arkadia itself and now that we've fulfilled some design to repopulate Arkadia, we're on our own. Or perhaps the universe could well be ungoverned by any higher power and totally secular, and we just imagined or hallucinated the cosmic intelligence in the black sun and so on, because we needed to at that point in our travels, and it was just random forces of the universe that have been favorable at certain times. As Professor Bergman once said, we all believe what we want to believe. Did our passage through the space brain bring about any peculiar things in the vicinity or were those bound to happen anyway with or without our movement through the area? And is the death of the brain just one of a number of processes necessary for our going on as an agent of positive change? We may never arrive at the definitive answer to all of these questions. Whether we were meant to, is also questionable. ... I can't arbitrate over what each of us believes, and I wouldn't presume to. We've seen not just on Krom II but elsewhere, such as on S.S. Daria, and indeed here on Alpha during the Arkadia encounter, what dogmatic beliefs can lead to, and we must be ever vigilant about adhering unflinchingly to one or another belief, unless we want to end up divided and at cross-purposes as on Krom II. For my part, I'm just prepared from now on to accept our most basic need. To survive. And for us to do all we can to insure that. Moving our essential services underground to Level D is prudent. A step in the right direction. Likewise the laser batteries we now have installed. These things we began doing some while ago, after Betha-Delta, the space brain, and Gwent. And I think they're the logical, rational choice for the survival of any community in a predicament such as ours. Our destiny is for us to determine, whether or not it is part of some overall scheme. I'm not inclined anymore to take anything as a given. Whatever lies ahead of us and the nature of things after the space brain and after Arkadia, after Krom II, we need to pull together for the purpose of survival. Thank-you."

As the Moon attains time-dilation again in the Wilding Field, the people of Moonbase Alpha must accept the reality of Bergman and Morrow aging and dying on Krom II sometime in the Moonbase Alpha months ahead, with the time-relativistic speeds of the Moon's circuit of the cosmos. Koenig and Dr. Russell will hope that the Professor and young Paul endured on Krom II and died a painless death of old age. Lew Picard, a student of Prof. Bergman, will become Science Officer on Moonbase. David Kano has transferred direct to Computer Room but will still be a dependable presence in Command Centre, given command on some occasions when Koenig and others are off of Moonbase. And Security Chief Tony Verdeschi is stationed in Command Centre, his role in Moonbase operations to be similar to Morrow's.

MAYA'S PSYCHON LIFE

Planet Psychon is in many ways an alternative version of Earth. It has many same species of plant life, giving rise to the theory that both worlds, Earth and Psychon, were the spawn of a third, older planetary civilization migrating from planet to planet and transplanting flora of its former world as it knew it (rather like the Arkadians did on Earth, in bringing trees from one planet to another). Psychons have no regional diversities in physical appearance or culture because they developed rapport with the life-force of their planet so that they became able to metamorphose into other forms through the life principle, the energy required for the transformation into beings of greater mass than that of their own bodies, coming from that life-force. And over the generations, the force of life in each Psychon became power unto itself, no longer dependent on the planet's life-force but still very much in accordance with the planet's life energy. Regional physical differences over generations became voluntarily assimilated as the Psychon race metamorphosed itself into uniformity. There were no wars, hence no large population losses, and for the multitudes, scientific and engineering pursuits were a high priority coinciding and never clashing with those of culture. Also, Psychon was a world of modest population growth.

As the centuries passed, the people of Psychon mostly lost interest in their race's ability to transform, and it became a talent limited to those Psychons with the wish and the time to learn and master it.

On a thousands-of-years cycle of stellar movement in the sector of space where resides planet Psychon, a neighboring star came close to Psychon's solar system, its gravitational influence pulling solar prominences out of Psychon's sun and inducing a rise in surface temperature on the orbiting planets. This event was not attributable to Moonbase Alpha "tearing through" a space brain as it was the product of something in motion long before that other catastrophic happening.

(day-month-Psychon annum) event information

(03-11-6752) Maya is born to Mentor and Geya, citizens of Manos Province, planet Psychon

(22-05-6759) young Maya is brought by Mentor and Geya to the Manos hinterlands, where she is to develop her innate sensitivities to the molecular structures of living things; Maya's sensitivity does not come instantaneously with every life form, in some cases requiring being in the presence of a life form for some amount of time

(12-05-6765) Mentor gives to his teenaged daughter her first instruction on the art of molecular transformation; Mentor is himself capable of personal molecular transformation, but he gives his own metamorphic ability over to his creation, the biological computer, Psyche, to prime it to capability of changing matter; Psyche becomes connected to the life-force of the whole planet Psychon and can draw power from that life-force to cause both animate and inanimate matter to metamorphose, though to enable Psyche to transform the entire planet, mental energy from other life forms is required in plenty

(30-10-6765) while on an archaeological expedition, Mentor discovers a matter/anti-matter converter utilized by an alien civilization on Psychon millennia past

(07-12-6765) Geya dies of a respiratory infection transported from equatorial migrants fleeing the mounting Psychon surface temperature's first disasters, and a devastated Mentor cannot reconcile himself to the fact that his wife is gone

(19-03-6766) a Dorcon spaceship lands in Tytis, Psychon's capital city, for purposes of trade only; by this time, Psychon and Dorca have a standing peace treaty that has banned any Dorcon kidnapping of Psychons for brain stem transplant; this treaty only came into effect because Dorca was threatened by Betanon, a rival militaristic empire from another galaxy, and needed its resources devoted to conquering that threat; Psychons are desperate for technology to stop the overheating of their planet and hope that Dorcon merchants may have something that could be adapted for solution of the ecological crisis

(05-04-6766) in an experimental procedure to tap the kinetic energy of planetary movement in hope of generating massive amounts of power needed to mechanically cool Psychon, a huge artificial satellite is placed in orbit around the planet

(03-01-6767) Mentor travels with Maya to the Psychon moon, to instruct her in transforming into larger animal forms, including the Laran, which can store oxygen like a camel stores water; Maya has difficulty in holding a transformation into larger creatures, especially in anything other than their natural habitat; it is something of which she becomes better capable during and after she experiences a strange fever and delirium a number of years after joining the Moonbase Alphans

(10-01-6767) Mentor accompanies Maya to Kreno, the next nearest planet to Psychon's sun, where Maya learns how to transform into a chlorine-breathing animal

(19-01-6767) Maya learns to transform from one living thing to another without reverting to herself, but she knows also of the danger of doing so when her transformed state is smaller than she and when metallic objects such as cage bars encircle her smaller chosen form; unless the objects surrounding her smaller form are of living origin, e.g. made of wood, Maya cannot safely transform back into herself or something else; were she to attempt transformation while encircled by metal, there is danger of metal thrusting into her and killing her; Maya can change inanimate matter like clothing or communication devices or laser guns on her person during her transformation out of her original self and into another life form, but it is when she is another life form that she must be very wary about metallic elements in a circular proximity to her

(23-11-6767) Mentor is elected to Psychon High Council's scientific Board and confers with such luminaries as the philosopher, Dorzak

(22-02-6768) a catastrophic malfunction in the kinetic-energy-tapping satellite causes it to go out of control and collide with the natural Psychon satellite, reducing both to fragments, some of which descend to Psychon, causing serious damage; loss of its moon causes tidal problems and earthquakes on Psychon; volcanic fissures spew hot lava, further raising surface temperature

(21-12-6768) with temperature rise all over the planet and increases in volcanism, Psychon is rapidly becoming inhospitable; already, surface conditions necessitate settlement in underground bunkers

(02-07-6770) Mentor's project, a biological computer capable of transforming matter for the ultimate purpose of changing wastelands into prime habitats, requires vast amounts of mental energy to be of any use in saving Psychon's ecosystem; the High Council snubs Mentor's dream and opts instead for full-scale evacuation, and Mentor's son leads the first evacuation spaceship fleet of a thousand souls

(07-05-6771) as the last spaceships prepare to launch for destinations unknown, Mentor declines to join the others and stays with Maya on Psychon

(6772-6) as Mentor becomes more and more obsessive in his dream of restoring Psychon to its former beauty, he lures several passing trade space vessels to the planet and drains the minds of their occupants into Psyche, the biological computer; Psyche becomes more and more powerful but still lacks the energy to effect planetary-scale change; among Psyche's capacity is the ability to access other computers and surreptitiously absorb the data in them, including the history of alien planets and of their forms of life, and Maya gains her knowledge of such life in this way, offered to her by Mentor to further her metamorphic ability; Mentor finally trains his eyes upon Moonbase Alpha

POST-"BREAKAWAY" EVENTS

red date color denotes filmed episode; for episodic synopses, consult episode guide; "Message From Moonbase Alpha" is explained near the end of this Web page

episode (days after leaving Earth orbit) supplementary information

"Breakaway" (0000) the Moon is blasted out of Earth orbit and hurled 37 degrees southward off the plane of the ecliptic; Wilding Field forms, and Moonbase Alpha's transstellar odyssey begins

"Moon Odyssey: The Early Weeks" (0000-79) Moon swiftly passes the planet Meta, departs Solar System, accelerates to maximum Wilding Field velocity, and encounters the rather abrupt manifestation of a stellar system, in which is the planet Terra Nova- and found to be traveling, like the Moon, in its region are a Tritonian probe-sphere and an also likewise on-the-move Caldorian spaceship; and next to face the Moon is a suddenly appearing black sun; Commissioner Simmonds protests against not formulating a plan to repatriate with Earth and then lurks for awhile in the Alphan background before stepping forward to agitate with renewed vigor for a return to Earth

"No Looking Back" (0027) as the Moon moves further away from the Sun and its velocity increases and time-dilation effect starts, the Alphans find that bearings on the position of Earth become impossible to ascertain

"Matter of Life and Death" (0041-4) a tiny solar system suddenly appears in space in the Moon's path in closer proximity to Earth's sun than had ever been detected, and orbiting the parent star of this phantom stellar zone is planet Terra Nova

"Ring Around the Moon" (0051-7) Moon still within the space of Terra Nova solar system; it was by post-leaving-Earth-orbit computer analysis of the signals from planet Meta that embedded astronomical data streams in those signals, including information on planet Triton, came to be in Alpha's possession; the Alphans cannot account for the origin of the embdedded data streams or for that of the Meta signals as a whole, but acknowledge their immense value in certain instances such as this

"Earthbound" (0062-5) Moon departing Terra Nova solar system; its crew in suspended animation, a slow-moving Caldorian spaceship crash-lands and later re-launches into space from Alpha, said spaceship's Earthbound journey for peaceable settlement there to be completed in Earth year 2117

"Black Sun" (0074-9) Terra Nova solar system vanishes just as mysteriously as it appeared, and in the Moon's path in this evidently unstable sector of space is a black sun, also of an abrupt manifestation; the Moon enters the black sun and is thrown into another galaxy, into the Cryton solar system, and within reconnaissance range of planet Zenno

"Cryton" (0082-98) Moon drifts through the Cryton solar system, consisting of planets Zenno and Piri, among others

"Missing Link" (0082-5) Moon within Cryton solar system, said by alien Raan to be 5 million light-years from Earth

"Guardian of Piri" (0097-8) Moon still within Cryton solar system; time on Alpha is suspended for a sizeable part of this encounter; Koenig's forehead scar from the Zenno encounter has completely healed by the start of the Piri episode, though rib cage still a tad tender; Kano's desk is temporarily removed from Main Mission following a power surge to its circuits when the Guardian of Piri exploded

"Another Time, Another Place" (0102-14) space warp one; Moon is thrown back into Earth solar system; when time corrects itself, Alpha is back to 0102 days after first leaving Earth orbit and is three weeks away from reconnaissance range of planet Ariel in the Ariel-Astheria solar system in a rather advanced and busy galaxy

"Force of Life" (0111-3) Moon at outer fringe of Ariel-Astheria solar system; Kano's desk has been repaired and reinstalled in Main Mission, though Main Mission flooring has yet to be fully put to normal after the wiring to Kano's desk was reconnected; explosion at Nuclear Generating Area 3 results in reduction to Moonbase lighting intensity from whites to greens or faint pinks, most notably in Main Mission

"Alpha Child" (0117-21) Moon within Ariel-Astheria solar system

"The Last Sunset" (0124-7) Moon within Ariel-Astheria solar system

"Voyager's Return" (0141-3) Moon within Ariel-Astheria solar system as Moon erratically arcs around parent star

"Collision Course" (0152-6) Moon within previously unseen far side of Ariel-Astheria solar system; Prof. Bergman's early optimistic forecast about Moon going into orbit around this solar system's sun is disproven, as a result, he later finds, of peculiar gravitational influences of the large planet on that side of the sun unseen for some time by Alpha, and Bergman can only surmise that the Moon's erratic velocity kept him from making an accurate initial astrophysical assessment of the alien solar system's nature and entire composition; after "colliding" with planet Astheria, Alpha now in Ultima Thulian-Rethan solar system and within reconnaissance range of Ultima Thule

"Death's Other Dominion" (0162-4) Moon within Ultima Thulian-Rethan solar system

"The Full Circle" (0170-2) Moon within Ultima Thulian-Rethan solar system

"End of Eternity" (0182-4) Moon still in Ultima Thulian-Rethan solar system; asteroid encountered by Alpha is on a transit course and originates from another stellar environ; after Balor is ejected from Moonbase out of an airlock, his body descends to the Lunar surface, and an Eagle with robotic hooks collects Balor and conveys him back to the asteroid in which he had been found, that asteroid then detonated using Hypernitro triggered by an Eagle laser ray

"War Games" (0227) Moon in Deimusian-Bethan-Deltan binary solar system; at first, Moon does not appear to Bergman to be on a course toward the second of the twin stars

"The Last Enemy" (0243-6) Moon within vicinity of star in the Bethan-Deltan part of the Deimusian-Bethan-Deltan solar system; Bethan technology has had little need for life-form-scan technology, being as Bethans have hitherto always known only one outworlder, the Deltan enemy, and where that enemy is, which is why the Bethans do not detect absence of life-form on the explosives-laden Moonbuggy approaching the Gunship Satazius on the Lunar surface; some parts from the Deltan Gunship parked on Moon's surface and previously hit by a Bethan missile are salvaged by Alpha for future use, such as in firing a laser beam at a Dorcon spaceship

"The Troubled Spirit" (0256-9) Moon at outer fringe of Deimusian-Bethan-Deltan solar system

"Space Brain" (0274-6) collision with space brain causes Moon to go into a bizarre anti-time-dilation, advancing in Alpha calendar time by several hundred days; in the anti-time-dilation, no detectable biological effects on Alphan population or structural entropy to Alpha (Bergman theorizes that Alphans and Moonbase may have "jumped" the elapsed-time difference); whatever the case, in tallying the days elapsed since leaving Earth orbit, Koenig decides to go with what calendar time states

"Transients in the Void" (0790-933) adrift along a popular route for spacefarers, the Alphans meet some interstellar wanderers

"The Infernal Machine" (0794-6)

"Mission of the Darians" (0822-7)

"Dragon's Domain" (0877) at 0896 days-after-breakaway, Helena typewrites the story of Tony Cellini

"The Testament of Arkadia" (0927-31) Moon within tiny Arkadian solar system; anti-time-dilation reverses, pushing Alpha back to 0280 days-after-breakaway, as the Moon moves away from planet Arkadia; again, no biological effect upon Alphans or change to structural condition of Moonbase in the sudden bounce in calendar time

"Command Centre" (0301-4) plans several weeks previous for moving operations control underground come to fruition; Moonbase uniforms also change, going back to pre-1996, non-unisex format; David Kano assumes a regular station in Technical Section, and Tanya Alexandria likewise

"Birds of a Different Feather Flock Together" (0308) new Eagles, the components for which having been in storage in the seldom-used Launch Pad 10, are brought into operation, including Laboratory, Booster, All-Purpose, and Survey Eagle classes, with interior layout different from that of the standard Transporter Eagle

"Krom II" (0311-7) Moon within Krom solar system; Alpha loses Prof. Bergman and Paul Morrow

"Same Time, Different Space" (0341) space warp two; Moon hurled into exploration range of planet Psychon in the Psychon-Krenoan solar system

"The Metamorph" (0342) Maya joins the Alphans

"The Primary Life-Form" (0360-2) Alpha encounters an imperious primary life-form of elementary particles who is capable of molecular transformation and who wants Dr. Russell as his consort; Maya battles and defeats him in a personal metamorphic duel, and in her deed Maya gains the full confidence of many Alphans who had had some misgivings about her; the relationship between Koenig and Dr. Russell becomes more affectionate and tender, as Koenig expresses his love and his need for Dr. Russell in a manner not before opted, and they share some playful banter when Alpha's meeting and struggle with Nucleon has concluded; to ease Maya's adjustment to life on Moonbase, Koenig has also been making an effort in Maya's presence on Alpha to, during non-crisis times, show less of a grave, sombre, or stolid countenance than had often or mostly been the case for him previously, but he is still very edgy about conditions as regards life-support and Alpha's continued survival

"Respite, Creation, and Recreation" (0379-93) during a two-week time period of peace for Alpha, Maya works with Records Officer Clive Kander and with David Kano on devising a compact optical media disc, compatible with Alpha's extant systems for video playback, for offering to Alpha personnel such items as Beethoven music and the works of William Shakespeare and Robert Louis Stevenson and some movie versions of literature, transcribed from stored computer memory files

"The Exiles" (0403-5) Moon passing through a planetless solar system; planet Golos is eight light-years distant

"Journey to Where" (0444-7) Moon passing through another planetless solar system, concurrent to which a new Reconnaissance class of Eagle comes into operation; prior to and for some time after this episode, Dr. Ben Vincent is working closely with Dr. Helena Russell on research on the physical effects of prolonged removal from Earth environment; on Earth, Caldorian spaceship had arrived and Captain Zandor told of Moonbase Alpha still being fully manned and operational, prompting a search using the most sophisticated astronomical equipment, for the Moon, and the Moon having left a trace of itself in hyperspace after going through a space warp at 341 days after leaving Earth orbit, enables the neutrino transmission from Earth to locate and for awhile to "lock onto" the runaway Moon in the Moon's present normal-spatial drift

"The Taybor" (0490) Moon within yet another planetless solar system

"One Moment of Humanity" (0515-6) Moon traversing Vegan solar system

"All That Glisters" (0565) Moon within the solar system of the planet of living rocks

"The Mark of Archanon" (0640-1) Moon within a vast solar system consisting of asteroids and meteors; Dr. Raul Nunez temporarily replaces Dr. Bob Mathias in Medical Centre as Mathias is accompanying a team of Lunar surface explorers

"Stormy Passage" (0849-91) Alpha moves through a 42-day-long space storm

"The Rules of Luton" (0892) Moon in Luton solar system

"New Adam, New Eve" (1095-6) Moon now in a region of space characterized by an abundance of hot, young stars, some of which are still in the process of formation; New Earth's star is a rare exception to this

"Brian the Brain" (1150)

"Catacombs of the Moon" (1196-7) Dr. Ben Vincent has replaced Dr. Bob Mathias in Medical Centre as Dr. Russell's assistant; Mathias is now stationed in Data Section, researching human stress factors in space

"The A B Chrysalis" (1288) the solar system through which Alpha now drifts has but one planet, possessing a ringed moon system

"The Beta Cloud" (1496-1503) Moon in a space zone of enigmatic star clusters, nebulae, and tiny worldlets

"Seed of Destruction" (1608-10)

"A Matter of Balance" (1702-3) Moon entering into an unstable area of space where a planet straddles two universes and a space warp is nearby

"Space Warp" (1807-8) space warp three; Moon is thrown five light-years across space and into a highly surreal region of the current galaxy; Moon emerges from the space warp into a planetless solar system, drifting to that solar system's outer sector

"The Encroaching Darkness" (1912-2517) Alpha is in the midst of a star-poor sector of space wherein the line between reality and fantasy has blurred

"The Bringers of Wonder" (1912-??)

"Dorzak" (2009) Moon in a solar system's outer fringes close to a belt of asteroids

"The Seance Spectre" (2012-4) Moon in a solar system before going into long passage through starless, disturbance-free "Peace Zone"

"Devil's Planet" (2305-6) Moon in Ellnan solar system; Helena gives her Moonbase Alpha Status Report after Koenig and Maine's Eagle has already crashed on Entra and before she is informed of that event; on Koenig's return to Alpha, he, along with Bill Fraser and Alibe, are thoroughly tested for communicable infection and found to be free of such, the pathogen that killed the people of Ellna and Entra having been infectious but not contagious, though just the possibility of a deadly disease spreading on Alpha sparks recall by Koenig of the Aphrodite disaster of 1993, and he begins to have nightmares- and he was already compelled by the Entran mind probe to remember his late friends, Sam Petersen and Tessa Underhill

"The Lambda Factor" (2308-9) Moon still in Ellnan solar system; the Lambda phenomenon is concealing the planet that Alpha will encounter two days hence

"The Immunity Syndrome" (2310-1) Moon still in Ellnan solar system

"The Dorcons" (2409-10) Moon in outer fringes of dimly lit and planetless solar system

"Message From Moonbase Alpha" (5763-9) Moon in Terra-Alphan solar system

And here ends the chronology offered by this writer for Space: 1999.

Whether or not the concepts utilized in Space: 1999's episodes- of either season- are representative of quality science fiction, is a matter of personal taste, but unfortunately, the taste of Space: 1999's opponents tends to receive most recognition and credence, for the "spirit" of the television show in all of its extremely varied depictions does elude the sensibilities of most people, while imaginative licence and suspension of disbelief were denied to Space: 1999 (especially its second season) in the hurry of its naysayers to debase it as though doing so were a matter of fact- and to reduce it to the entertainment status of "guilty pleasure".

Since its production was terminated, Space: 1999 has been banned in whole or in part from some television markets, edited into "movies", and mistaken for other television series of its genre. Denmark television showed less than fifteen episodes, and even those, among them "Force of Life" with its visual terror scenes, prompted psychologists, concerned parents, and critics to champion the cause of censoring and finally canceling Space: 1999 on Danish television. Canada's CBC network removed "One Moment of Humanity" from the Space: 1999 series package that it was running regionally in the mid-1980s because the dance sequence of the fourth act was deemed too provocative for a family-viewing television show. Also, a scene from "Devil's Planet", wherein penal colony leader Elizia tries to seduce Koenig, was cut.

After the enormous success of Star Wars, ITC Entertainment in New York City chose to compile two-hour feature films from pairs of episodes, and these feature films were released theatrically in Europe, shown on independent television "super-stations" in the United States, and broadcast in Canada not on the CBC, but on affiliates of other networks. The first of these compilation "movies" was Destination: Moonbase Alpha, an editing together of parts one and two of "The Bringers of Wonder", opened with a short "Breakaway" montage summary. The recap of part one which initiates part two was removed, as was the epilogue of part two. A song written and sung by Oliver Onions played over the credit roll at the film's end. Destination: Moonbase Alpha was dated in its preamble as occurring in 2100, thereby dissociating itself from the time frame of Space: 1999. Same was the case for the compilation, Alien Attack, of the episodes, "Breakaway" and "War Games". Alien Attack, second Space: 1999 compilation "movie", included newly filmed, tenuously acted footage of officials at the Space Commission headquarters on Earth, and clumsy reversing of some visuals of an Eagle cockpit and of people in Main Mission.

The other two "movies" were Journey Through the Black Sun and Cosmic Princess, assembled from "Collision Course" and "Black Sun" and from "The Metamorph" and "Space Warp", with wholesale cutting of scenes and an incongruous addition of Barry Gray-written music from UFO and earlier Gerry and Sylvia Anderson productions- and a mixing of this music with the vastly different work of second season musical composer Derek Wadsworth in the latter film. These four compilation features were distributed in a package called "Super Space Theatre", dominated by "movie" versions of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's puppet television series from the 1960s.

In the 1980s as these "movies" were circulated, a truncated version of the original Space: 1999 series, minus the eight episodes used to comprise the 2-hour features, was available for television stations to run, but without the opening episodes ("Breakaway", "The Metamorph") of both seasons, the appeal of the television series was reduced, public understanding of it declined, and attacks upon it increased by proponents of other entertainments. By 1992, ITC, having realized that it had made a mistake, restored the eight episodes to the Space: 1999 series-proper. Still, the "movies" continue to surface on Canadian television, most particularly on Space- The Imagination Station.

An "out-take" from part two of "The Bringers of Wonder" was included in Bloopers 3, Dick Clark's third prime-time U.S. network television installment of discarded footage of errors in production of various television series, and labeled as having come from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979-81). So, Dick Clark's famous show was itself guilty of a "blooper".

From 1992 to 1998, Space: 1999 was on home videotape in Britain, with less-than-adequate sequencing and packaging, and was broadcast for the first time ever on full network television (the BBC) in the U.K., in 1998-9. In the early 1990s, it was seen in Canada on YTV (Canada's Youth Television) and on the U.S.'s Sci-Fi Channel, in a time-compressed and/or edited form, and was available on home videotape and laser videodisc in an abortive release in 1991 by J2 Communications and Image Entertainment. In 1997, Columbia House in North America released ten volumes of Space: 1999 videotapes, with two episodes, one from Season 1 and one from Season 2, on each videocassette.

The history of Space: 1999's distribution in these media never fails to be interesting. CBS-FOX in the early 1980s had the home videotape rights to ITC's properties. The Return of the Pink Panther (1974) and Saturn 3 (1980) were sold on VHS and Beta videotape by CBS-FOX until 1990, but CBS-FOX's 1983 release of Destination: Moonbase Alpha had a considerably shorter life in the home videotape market. Within a year of its first appearance on video shop shelves, Destination: Moonbase Alpha was in limbo. VHS and Beta print of it was canceled, although CBS-FOX retained the home videotape rights to the "movie" until 1992, and it was for this reason that the two parts of "The Bringers of Wonder" were the only episodes not to be pressed on laser videodisc by Image Entertainment in 1991. IVE Home Video somehow gained the rights to the other Space: 1999 "movies" in early 1986 and chose to market them as part of its "Sybil Danning Adventure Video" series, with lewd introductions by a scantily clad Danning. Martin Landau learned of the disgraceful IVE packaging of Alien Attack and Journey Through the Black Sun while attending the 1986 Space: 1999 Convention in Los Angeles and immediately contacted his lawyers. Within months, IVE's videotapes ceased to be available. IVE never released Cosmic Princess, though it had plans to do so. All four of the "movies" were readily attainable in the U.K. by Channel 5 Video until 1995.

In Australia, CEL Entertainment on October 30, 1995 commenced distribution of first season episodes on individual "budget" videotapes that sold for approximately ten Australian dollars, reducing to five dollars in later years. The episodes were "Another Time, Another Place", "Force of Life", "End of Eternity", "The Infernal Machine", "Mission of the Darians", and "Dragon's Domain". As late as 1999, these videotapes could still be found in department stores like Woolworth's.

Space: 1999 in North America had a routinely bumpy ride. The Image Entertainment laser videodiscs sold poorly but were scarcely advertised; thus, many appreciators of Space: 1999 were completely unaware of their existence. Approximately 350 sales of the most popular volume in the laser videodisc series in the first two months were insufficient for Image Entertainment to maintain production. Only a few months after their initial pressing, the 23 Image Entertainment laser videodiscs were out-of-print, and retailers like SAM the Record Man in Canada were selling discontinued Space: 1999 laser videodiscs for less than half their original price. An unspecified number (possibly hundreds) of the laser videodiscs were in Image Entertainment's warehouse in Los Angeles when an earthquake struck the city in 1994. The roof of the warehouse collapsed, and its contents were destroyed.

Durability of the laser videodiscs was compromised by inferior manufacture. All of the 23 Image Entertainment volumes are susceptible to laser rot caused by deficiencies in the glue used to press the laser videodiscs. Every volume to some extent exhibits the moving-particle signs of laser rot, and the industry's experts have ascertained that a videodisc of this sort is deteriorating. Efforts of some dedicated Space: 1999 admirers to persuade the 1996-8 copyright holder (Polygram International) of the television show to provide the episodes on digital videodisc (DVD) were at that time unsuccessful. Thereafter, the entire ITC television library was sold to Carlton Communications. Artisan Entertainment, a U.S.-based DVD distributor whose commercially available DVDs included ITC's The Return of the Pink Panther, Saturn 3, Jesus of Nazareth (1977), Capricorn One (1978), and On Golden Pond (1981), was oblivious to DVD requests for Space: 1999 in 1999.

The prospects of Space: 1999 on DVD looked bleaker than ever with the passing of 1999, and then it came. News that North American distribution rights to the ITC television library were secured by Arts & Entertainment (A & E) in 2000 through its home video subsidiary, New Video Group, based in New York City. The first ITC television series scheduled for New Video release was The Prisoner (1967-8), for autumn, 2000. A & E's quality standard was admirable, as indicated in its DVD release of The Avengers (1961-9). Doubts that Space: 1999 would ever receive consideration by New Video Group were finally quashed on June 22, 2000 with the announcement that boxed sets of Space: 1999 on DVD and VHS videocassette would be released by New Video Group.

In addition to all 48 episodes, New Video Group attained the rights to release on DVD The Space: 1999 Documentary (1995) that was edited into two parts and formatted in accordance with the style of the television series itself, by Kindred Productions, a.k.a. The Official Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society (Fanderson). The second part of this look at the making of Space: 1999 was, in its initial form, little more than an editorial against Season 2, with actors, writers, and Space: 1999's executive producer, one after the other, condemning it, saying that it ought never to have gone before the cameras. The parties involved were reported in early 2000 as considering a re-edit of The Space: 1999 Documentary: Pt. 2. However, DVD Set 4, first announced as having part one of The Space: 1999 Documentary, contained no portion of it, and it did not appear in any of the second season DVDs to follow.

Sales of the first two sets of DVDs in January, 2001 were impressive, with most DVD Websites reviewing them favorably, but the second pair of DVD sets in July, 2001 were largely ignored on the Internet, reviews of them being limited to only a couple of Websites, and consumer reaction at Amazon.com was sparse.

New Video Group's release schedule for Space: 1999 on DVD:

January 30, 2001-
Box Set # 1: 2 DVDs, 3 episodes on each; "Breakaway", "Matter of Life and Death", "Black Sun", "Ring Around the Moon", "Earthbound", and "Another Time, Another Place"
Box Set # 2: 2 DVDs, 3 episodes on each; "Missing Link", "Guardian of Piri", "Force of Life", "Alpha Child", "The Last Sunset", and "Voyager's Return"
12 episodes total

July 31, 2001-
Box Set # 3: 2 DVDs, 3 episodes on each; "Collision Course", "Death's Other Dominion", "The Full Circle", "End of Eternity", "War Games", and "The Last Enemy"
Box Set # 4: 2 DVDs, 3 episodes on each; "The Troubled Spirit", "Space Brain", "The Infernal Machine", "Mission of the Darians", "Dragon's Domain", and "The Testament of Arkadia"
12 episodes total

February 26, 2002-
Box Set # 5: 2 DVDs, 3 episodes on each; "The Metamorph", "The Exiles", "One Moment of Humanity", "All That Glisters", "Journey to Where", and "The Taybor"
Box Set # 6: 2 DVDs, 3 episodes on each; "The Mark of Archanon", "The Rules of Luton", "Brian the Brain", "New Adam, New Eve", "The A B Chrysalis", and "Catacombs of the Moon"
12 episodes total

June 25, 2002-
Box Set # 7: 2 DVDs, 3 episodes on each; "Seed of Destruction", "The Beta Cloud", "A Matter of Balance", "Space Warp", "The Bringers of Wonder: Pt. 1", and "The Bringers of Wonder: Pt. 2"
Box Set # 8: 2 DVDs, 3 episodes on each; "The Lambda Factor", "The Seance Spectre", "Dorzak", "Devil's Planet", "The Immunity Syndrome", and "The Dorcons"
12 episodes total

Alas, A & E's level of quality was inconsistent on these DVDs in that many of the first season episodes had video faults, including some Moonbase Alpha exterior scenes depicted incorrectly in monochrome, screen-spanning video signal distortion at the fifty minute mark on "Another Time, Another Place", image lag throughout "Death's Other Dominion" caused by speed differential in European PAL to North American NTSC video standards conversion, a blurred and color-faded film print of "The Full Circle", excessive orange tinting in most of "Dragon's Domain", and a thoroughly unsatisfactory, worn and faded film print of "The Testament of Arkadia". Second season episodes were specially remastered by Carlton Communications' Los Angeles division for A & E DVD release and had excellent video in all episodes but strangely variable audio, the music in some early episodes sounding low in volume and/or in certain range of tone. Music in "The Exiles" was exceedingly dim when it should be energetic, and other episodes had muffled tonal aspects.

New Video Group managed to secure some interviews with Gerry Anderson, Fred Freiberger, Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, and Catherine Schell conducted on the sets of "A Matter of Balance" in August, 1976 and some footage of the model spaceship department at Bray Studios also from 1976 and commented upon by special effects maestro Brian Johnson, all of which found their way onto the second season DVDs.

Correspondingly, in 2001 and 2002 came Space: 1999 DVDs in Britain and France by Carlton Home Video and TFI Home Video respectively, with the French DVD release comprising all 48 episodes in one package with French and English soundtracks of each episode, together with a special short film, "Message From Moonbase Alpha" (see below), and several more extra features. Unlike the A & E DVDs, these contained DVD-player-generated subtitles, in English for Britain and in French for France. Both the British and French DVDs had the same first season episode transfers as A & E but with fewer video problems. However, for Season 2, these DVDs used prior film-to-video transfers with early episodes' audio superior to A & E but in all episodes vastly inferior video.

A & E some time later issued a Space: 1999 "Megaset" consisting of all 16 A & E Space: 1999 DVDs, plus a seventeenth DVD as a "bonus disc" with three first season episodes, "Death's Other Dominion", "Dragon's Domain", and "The Testament of Arkadia", the film-to-video transfers of which touted as improvements over A & E's flawed first DVD presentation of those. Though the noted imperfections in them as initially digitized for A & E (and Carlton and TFI) were no longer in evidence, said episodes were seen on A & E's bonus DVD to be lacking resolution, exceedingly dark, or replete with film picture flak. All things considered, the film prints of the three episodes were definitely not improvements over those originally processed for DVD, which continued to be available in their respective places among the sixteen other DVDs in A & E's enormous DVD box set. What the seventeenth digital videodisc in the "Megaset" did have in its favor was "Message From Moonbase Alpha" (again, see below)- and there were audio commentaries for the three aforementioned re-released episodes. New Video Group's DVD production consultant Scott Michael Bosco provided on "Death's Other Dominion" what could be called a primer on the history on pre-recorded videotape/laser videodisc of Space: 1999 for persons not already knowledgeable about such, plus an interesting thought on occasion about why one or both of the seasons of the television show have not met with appreciable acclaim. Season 1 script-writers Johnny Byrne and Christopher Penfold audio-media-recorded (at Pinewood Studios) a running dialogue of their often high-brow impressions of the first season of Space: 1999 along with a plethora of anecdotal conceptualization and production facts, most of them not feature-specific (or episode-specific), during "Dragon's Domain". And Sylvia Anderson spoke for the full span of "The Testament of Arkadia" about her producer's role and duties for Season 1, with some criticisms of alleged difficult behavior on the part of Martin Landau during the making of Season 1 and with an amusing account of her 1973 sojourn in Hollywood during which she interviewed actor Robert Culp, whom she preferred over Landau to portray Space: 1999's primary lead character. There were also on A & E's seventeenth Space: 1999 "Megaset" DVD some photographs of Byrne and Penfold revisiting Pinewood Studios and pointing their arms toward some places of significance there.

With the approach of 2005 and the thirtieth anniversary of the first broadcasts of Space: 1999 around the world, there was seemingly some justification- and impetus- for a definitive, much improved release onto DVD of Space: 1999's first season. Certainly so on the part of executive deciders at Granada Entertainment in Britain, which had absorbed the ITC television and movie catalog in a corporate merger with Carlton Communications in 2004. Unfortunately, Scott Michael Bosco was unable to guide the powers-that-be at New Video Group into thinking likewise, and the thirtieth anniversary commemorative DVD collection of Space: 1999 was to be a Britain-only- or Europe-only- affair, the United States and Canada left to settle for A & E early-2000s DVDs.

Granada Entertainment's DVD production arm, Network DVD, pulled out all of the proverbial stops with its November, 2005 Space: 1999 first season digital videodisc project, retaining the services of tremendously skilled technicians at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and assigning them to a remaster of Space: 1999 from the interpositives of original film negatives, a procedure never before done for any Space: 1999 videotape or videodisc. The result was a glorious achievement, testimonial indeed of how astonishing can be the results of digital technology applied to a filmed television show three decades-old. Every episode rendered with correct, rich, deep color, detail, inches of image around frame that had hitherto always been cropped due to zoomed-in picture, clarity of image by way of the black in the picture no longer being crushed. And all 24 episodes having a newly mixed 5.1 digital stereo audio track. In sum, six DVDs of delight, four episodes on each, and a seventh DVD for extra material, including the piece de resistance- a seventy-some-minute-long "These Episodes" feature, with in-depth discussion and analysis of "Breakaway", "Black Sun", "The Last Sunset", "The Full Circle", "War Games", "The Troubled Spirit", "Space Brain", "Mission of the Darians", "Dragon's Domain", and "The Testament of Arkadia". Participating therein were Gerry Anderson, Byrne, Penfold, technical director Dave Lane, and actress Zienia Merton.

After a wait of two years, a Network DVD release of Season 2 of Space: 1999 was expected to occur in 2007, September 10, 2007 being the precise date that those DVDs were to become available. State-of-the-art remasters of the 24 Season 2 episodes from the most original film elements available were supposed to be completed same for the Season 2 Network DVD release as for the Network DVD Season 1. Together with 5.1 digital stereo audio and a number of bonus features on the last of the seven digital videodiscs in the DVD box set.

And again, North Americans were denied opportunity to own DVDs of the all-new, glorious remasters of Space: 1999 manufactured to the specifics (NTSC television screen format, Region 1 DVD coding) of their part of the world, for A & E declined to access the Network DVD film-to-digital-video transfers. A repackaged "Megaset" with slimmer DVD cases was issued for sale by A & E through DVD vendors in North America on July 31, 2007. Despite saying on its box that it was the "Thirtieth Anniversary Edition", giving an impression to some buyers that it was fundamentally different from- and better than- the DVD "Megaset" already in circulation for a number of years, each and every digital videodisc therein was same as what was already being sold in the previous A & E Space: 1999 DVD box sets. This was a more compact and thus more desirably packaged, more economically priced Space: 1999 "Megaset" intended to shift the stock of Space: 1999 in the A & E warehouses.

The Season 2 DVD box set slated for September, 2007 in the U.K. was delayed into 2008 and subsequently put on indefinite hold.

Will Space: 1999 ever return, either as a theatrical or television movie or as another television series? A potential starting point for a Space: 1999 revival was a short film specially produced for the September 13, 1999 Breakaway Convention in Los Angeles by Space: 1999 episode script writer Johnny Byrne and featuring actress Zienia Merton reprising her role of Sandra Benes, data analyst and "emotional barometer" of Moonbase Alpha. In "Message From Moonbase Alpha", it is some 20 years after the last televised Space: 1999 episode, the Moonbase, its life-support capacity a casualty of gradual decay, is being evacuated to an Earth-type planet, Terra Alpha, of uncertain suitability for colonization, and Sandra, one of the final Alphans to depart the Lunar colony, is summarizing the history, including Seasons 1 and 2, of Alpha's travels and asking of Earth, to where this message is being transmitted, to remember the people of the Moon that was once in its sky. What will happen to the Alphans on Terra Alpha? Would they ever be able to return to Moonbase to resume their voyage of discovery in space? An elliptical orbit around the sun of Terra Alpha could bring the Moon back into range of the Eagles parked on the surface of Terra Alpha, but some years hence. What would happen in that event? The prospect of a sequel to Space: 1999 is efficiently broached by this work of Byrne and Merton yet, realistically, with the real-life passing of the year that it envisioned and the hostility toward it from so many directions, Space: 1999 as a revived production seems the unlikeliest of scenarios, present or future. Other than its inclusion on DVDs released in France and in North America, nothing more came of "Message From Moonbase Alpha", and Johnny Byrne died in 2008.

IN MEMORIAM

Barry Morse (Prof. Victor Bergman)
Tony Anholt (Tony Verdeschi)
Peter Cushing (Raan, "Missing Link")
Margaret Leighton (Arra, "Collision Course")
Mary Miller (Freda, "Death's Other Dominion")
Maxine Audley (Theia, "The Last Enemy")
Kevin Stoney (Talos, "The Last Enemy")
Giancarlo Prette (Dr. Dan Mateo, "The Troubled Spirit")
Anthony Nicholls (Dr. James Warren, "The Troubled Spirit")
Leo McKern (Companion and Voice of Gwent, "The Infernal Machine")
Michael Sheard (Dr. Darwin King, "Dragon's Domain")
Alf Joint (Overseer, "The Metamorph")
Peggy Ledger (Old Lady, "The Exiles")
Terry Walsh (Scotsman, "Journey to Where")
Willoughby Goddard (Taybor, "The Taybor")
Rita Webb (Slatternly Woman, "The Taybor")
David Jackson (Alien Strong, "The Rules of Luton")
Guy Rolfe (Magus, "New Adam, New Eve")
Lynne Frederick (Shermeen Williams, "A Matter of Balance")
Toby Robins (Diana Morris, "The Bringers of Wonder")
Dallas Adams (Sam, "The Lambda Factor")
Cassandra Harris (Ceres Controller, "Devil's Planet")
Patrick Troughton (Archon, "The Dorcons")
Gerry Sundquist (Malic, "The Dorcons")
Music writers Barry Gray and Derek Wadsworth
Script writers Johnny Byrne, Donald James, Thom Keyes, and Terence Feely
Lighting cameramen Frank Watts and Brendan Stafford
Directors Charles Crichton, David Tomblin, and Val Guest
Producer Fred Freiberger