Space: 1999 - Set Seven (Episodes 37-42)
The second half of Space: 1999’s second year kicks off with Seed Of Destruction, an episode which truly shocked me. I’ve harped quite a bit on how many Space: 1999 plots seem to have been recycled later as Star Trek: Voyager episodes, but Seeds was recycled by Star Trek: The Next Generation. Koenig is snared in an alien trap, an almost-exact duplicate of him is created and sent back to Moonbase Alpha, and the doppelganger issues bizarre instructions to an increasingly suspicious crew while the real Koenig tries to figure out a way out of his predicament. Sound familiar? Think of Allegiance, an episode from Next Generation’s third season, where virtually the same thing happens with Picard. (Only we’re not treated to the sight of Martin Landau leading his castmates in a round of drinking songs - darn!)
Next up is the reasonably suspenseful Beta Cloud, which has the odd distinction of featuring Dave Prowse as “the Creature.” Basically, this isn’t the living, breathing personification of evil role that Prowse would come to embody in his next major SF project. No, this time, Prowse is basically stalking every possible reconfiguration or redress of the Moonbase Alpha corridor set, killing various guest artists and uniformed no-dialogue extras by giving them what appear to be only slightly less-than-affectionate noogies, and smashing stuff up. The Creature also very conscientiously puts out any fires on its costume that have been started by people shooting at, electrocuting or otherwise attacking it. Seriously though, it’s a suspenseful little show, more coherent than most of the second season, and it sidelines Landau and Bain, giving second-string stars Tony Anholt and Catherine Schell a chance to take center stage. One wonders if the show’s star couple wasn’t being sized up for an enforced exit for budgetary or other reasons in the event of a third-season pickup. Overall, The Beta Cloud is one of the better shows in the second year.
Sadly, that’s more than we can say for the mishmash that is A Matter Of Balance. It’s a bit of a rip on classic Star Trek’s Alternative Factor episode, which was miserable enough in and of itself. A guy in inadvisably tight bright yellow shorts - and with fashion sense like that, he could only be from an evil universe of anti-matter, right? - wants to swap places with someone from the universe of matter, so of course, he picks an attractive young member of the Moonbase Alpha crew we’ve never seen before. The high point of this episode is Koenig’s clear-thinking, evenly-weighted command decision: when Maya tells him that forcing a reversal of the process could bring matter and anti-matter into a collision, Koenig acknowledges that such an event could “blot out this whole portion of the universe” - but wants his crewmember returned to the universe of matter anyway!
The second disc improves this situation quite a bit - so help me God, volume 14 is full of good episodes. First up is the standalone Space Warp, which involves the moon being sucked into a freak wormhole, and Koenig having to figure out how to catch up with it. Meanwhile - obligatory goofy B-plot coming up here - Maya goes nutso on Moonbase Alpha during the space warp and morphs into any number of forms which are decidedly unfriendly to her crewmates. I guess the goofiest thing about that plot is the story’s notion that Maya’s internal anatomy morphs to match her exterior, which means that Dr. Russell can’t operate on her until she morphs back into her human/Psychon form. Easily one of the strangest shapeshifter theories I’ve ever heard in science fiction, it really defies logic - but it helps keep everyone busy until Koenig can figure out how to return home.
Next up is what, in all fairness, I must describe as an excellent two-part episode, The Bringers Of Wonder. The plot’s familiar to anyone who’s seen the fourth season finale of Star Trek: Voyager - a super-fast experimental ship from Earth arrives to take our heroes home at last. Only their super-fast ship isn’t what it seems - and neither are its occupants. And Seven of Nine, oops, sorry, Maya isn’t so hot on the idea of going back to Earth anyway. This is easily the most suspenseful adventure since the pilot, and it plays out nicely - hell, even Martin Landau and Barbara Bain do an excellent job here, overacting a little bit, but understandably given the circumstances. The plot is coherent and well thought-out, lacking that aimless feeling of a few Space: 1999 episodes I could name. It’s my pleasure to recommend this to you not as one of the series’ finest hours, but as two of the series’ finest hours. I’m pleasantly surprised. Bravo!
Adding to my shock is the fact that this two-disc set is the first to give us any kind of meaningful bonus materials. The theatrical trailers are shown for the foreign-market movies Alien Attack and Destination: Moonbase Alpha, both of them consisting of two edited-down hour episodes sold to regions that didn’t air the series. Also, an excerpt from a BBC behind-the-scenes special is shown, giving away some secrets that I didn’t know about the filming of the show’s formidable-for-the-70s lunar surface shots.
It’s got its share of strangeness, but the penultimate set of Space: 1999 DVDs won’t steer you wrong on enjoyable episodes. My first hearty recommendation for this series in quite a while - and perhaps the only must-have set from the second year.