Year: 1976

The moon swings through a solar system containing the Earthlike world of Ariel, but just as the first expedition is launched to visit the planet, an unmanned probe meets Alan Carter’s Eagle halfway there. Fearing it may be a bomb, Koenig orders the mission aborted and has the Eagle brought back to Moonbase Alpha by remote control. The device doesn’t explode, but instead begins spewing out gas. More probes, all identical, touch down on the lunar surface and follow suit, and Koenig fears an invasion. Bergman discovers that the massive amounts of gas delivered by the probes are breathable air, giving the moon a summery, Earthlike atmosphere. If the moon gets close enough to Ariel’s sun to take up an orbit, this new paradise will permanently rid the Alphans of their need to colonize another world. But if the moon slips through Ariel’s system, the atmosphere will dissipate again…and if that happens while members of the crew are still outside exploring their newly terraformed home, it’ll mean certain death for them.

written by Christopher Penfold
directed by Charles Crichton
music by Barry Gray
additional music by Vic Elms

Guest Cast: Prentis Hancock (Paul Morrow), Clifton Jones (David Kano), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Anton Phillips (Dr. Mathias), Nick Tate (Alan Carter)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

While most of the crew enjoys a musical recital, something sinister is taking root in Moonbase Alpha’s agricultural area. An experiment in trying to communicate on a psychic level with plant life has disastrous effects for Dan Mateo, one of the experimenters. A strange creature is spotted stalking Alpha’s corridors, accompanied by an almost supernatural display of wind and sound – and Dr. Russell thinks it’s Mateo himself in some other form. When the apparition begins killing off members of the crew, starting with the other plant-contact researchers, dealing with it becomes of prime importance (even though Alan Carter and other members of the crew don’t even believe the creature exists). But can the intruder be eliminated without killing Mateo, with whom it seems to share a psychic link?

written by Johnny Byrne
directed by Ray Austin
music by Barry Gray
additional music by Vic Elms

Guest Cast: Giancarlo Prete (Dan Mateo), Hilary Dwyer (Laura Adams), Anthony Nicholls (Dr. James Warren), Prentis Hancock (Paul Morrow), Clifton Jones (David Kano), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Anton Phillips (Dr. Mathias), Nick Tate (Alan Carter)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

While Paul Morrow is sidelined by an injury, Commander Koenig installs another crewman in the first officer’s chair – and is a little irritated when Winters calls him not long after Koenig goes off-duty. But it turns out the junior officer has a good reason to call Koenig – a large spacecraft approaches the moon and begins influencing Moonbase Alpha’s computer. A booming voice virtually invites itself to Alpha, despite the misgivings of Koenig and Alan Carter, and demands that Koenig, Dr. Russell and Professor Bergman pay it a visit. When the trio arrives at the gigantic ship, they see an ornate interior, advanced technology, and absolutely no sign of life until the happen upon a bearded old man who introduces himself only as Companion. Before Koenig can find out why the vessel has landed on the moon, another voice rings out, demanding supplies from Alpha – enough supplies to leave the human population of the base in jeopardy. Companion points out that the voice is that of Gwent, the spacecraft itself, a sentient machine. But when even Companion balks at Gwent’s demands, Gwent decides that one of its visitors should become its next spokesperson.

written by Anthony Terpiloff and Elizabeth Barrows
directed by David Tomblin
music by Barry Gray
additional music by Vic Elms

Guest Cast: Leo McKern (The Companion), Clifton Jones (David Kano), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Gary Waldhorn (Winters)

Notes: The late Leo McKern was the only actor to appear twice in the role of Number Two in The Prisoner – a show of which director David Tomblin is also an alumnus. This is also the only first season episode not to feature Prentis Hancock as Paul Morrow.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A glowing red orb appears near the moon, and the first Alpha crewman who sees it, Ted Clifford, goes berzerk, transmitting sensitive information to the orb, attacking anyone who attempts to stop him, and ultimately begging for help just before he falls over dead. The orb envelops the moon with a glowing light while still moving closer. The mysterious object then transmits a warning to Moonbase Alpha: everyone there is a prisoner of the planet Triton. When Koenig dispatches Carter to inspect the orb up close in an Eagle, the object disables the ship’s crew and sends the Eagle tumbling back to the moon, out of control. A rescue party goes to retrieve the ship and Carter, the only survivor, but the orb descends again, extending its influence to Helena and attacking Koenig when he attempts to free her. By the time Koenig comes around, Helena has vanished. Koenig insists on making a return visit to the orb to free Helena, and Carter – disturbed that he alone survived the previous Eagle’s flight – insists on going with him. But Koenig has an ace up his sleeve: Bergman has devised a force field allowing them to get closer. Though they make their way past the probe’s initial attack, it still incapacitates the Eagle’s pilots and sends them back to the moon (though a carefully preprogrammed autopilot prevents another crash landing). This time, however, the Orb returns to the moon, depositing Helena at Alpha. But is she under her own control…or is she doing the bidding of Triton?

written by Edward di Lorenzo
directed by Ray Austin
music by Barry Gray
additional music by Vic Elms

Guest Cast: Prentis Hancock (Paul Morrow), Clifton Jones (David Kano), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Anton Phillips (Dr. Mathias), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Max Faulkner (Ted Clifford)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Koenig, Bergman, Alan Carter and Sandra Benes return from an aborted planetary excursion. Right after they report an unusual gravity phenomenon that almost caused their Eagle to crash on the planet, a similar force grips the Eagle and forces it down into a crash landing on the moon itself. But on Moonbase Alpha, medical scanners indicate that Commander Koenig didn’t survive the crash. And yet he’s alive and well, suited up and trying to wave the rescue Eagle down to the crash site – or is he? When Carter comes to, he sees the commander slumped over the controls, badly injured. But in his mind, Koenig has returned to Moonbase Alpha, though it’s darkened and seemingly abandoned. He makes his way to the main mission control center, activates the viewscreen…and sees an alien city. The environs of the moonbase melt away around Koenig, and he finds himself in an empty space with a humanoid being who introduces himself as Raan. Koenig is to be studied and subjected to experiments, as Raan believes that humans may be the missing evolutionary link in his own species. And yet, Koenig’s body is still in a comatose state, returned to the very-much-populated Moonbase Alpha. When Koenig is subjected to an elaborate illusion in which Bergman acts uncharacteristically emotional, he realizes that Raan is holding his mind captive – and doesn’t intend to release it.

written by Edward di Lorenzo
directed by Ray Austin
music by Barry Gray
additional music by Vic Elms

Guest Cast: Peter Cushing (Raan), Joanna Durham (Vana), Paul Morrow (Prentis Hancock), Clifton Jones (David Kano), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Anton Phillips (Dr. Mathias), Nick Tate (Alan Carter)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A signal from deep space gives Moonbase Alpha’s crew a much-needed bit of excitement after a long dry spell. An Eagle is dispatched to find the source of the transmission, but it is destroyed as it draws close to the object. When Alan Carter takes an Eagle with a rescue module to retrieve the previous Eagle’s crew – or their remains – an object passes his ship at high speed, eventually colliding with the moon. When Professor Bergman examines the object, he discovers it’s composed of various minerals – and a trace of human tissue. Carter’s copilot, Kelly, undergoes an unusual transformation while performing a spacewalk to retrieve one of the other Eagle pilots. Moonbase Alpha continues receiving an indecipherable signal, though Kelly could be the key to interpreting it…but the only way for Koenig to find out is to attempt a risky mental link with Kelly and whatever has taken over the pilot’s mind.

written by Christopher Penfold
directed by Charles Crichton
music by Barry Gray
additional music by Gustav Holst

Guest Cast: Shane Rimmer (Kelly), Carla Romanelli (Melita), Prentis Hancock (Paul Morrow), Clifton Jones (David Kano), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Anton Phillips (Dr. Mathias), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Derek Anders (Wayland)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Moon’s course alters itself as it passes by the lone Earthlike planet of an isolated star. But the planet isn’t big enough to be having a gravitational effect on the passing Moon, and then the impossible happens – the Moon is drawn into an orbit near the planet and then stops dead in its tracks. A spreading power loss means that Moonbase Alpha may be uninhabitable within two days, so Koenig leads an expedition to see if something on the planet is holding the Moon still. But the planet Arkadia holds startling discoveries – a cave full of human skeletons, and a wall-sized inscription in what appears to be Sanskrit. As Alpha’s power supply, heat and life support continue bleeding away, Koenig has to consider the possibility of evacuating his crew to a world sterilized by an unknown disaster. But when the message found on the planet is decoded, it raises a mind-boggling question: will the Alphans be returning to humanity’s ancestral home if they settle on Arkadia?

written by Johnny Byrne
directed by David Tomblin
music by Barry Gray
additional music by Vic Elms

Guest Cast: Orso Maria Guerrini (Luke Ferro), Liza Harrow (Anna Davis), Prentis Hancock (Paul Morrow), Clifton Jones (David Kano), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Anton Phillips (Dr. Mathias), Nick Tate (Alan Carter)

LogBook entry by Earl Green