Space: 1999 | Eagles Crashed & Lost | Year Two

[@andysimmons2648]

Thank for this excellent series. I still say that Eagles are the safest way for Alphans to fly. Admittedly, they’re the only way for them to fly...

[@LatitudeSky]

The sound of a Rolls Royce Viper engine never gets old. Still one of the best-sounding jet engines ever, and forever linked to this show. Long after the last Viper has stopped working, the videos will remain. It's poetic in a way. Poetry of a machine.

[@krizzys]

Whatever they pay the Eagle mechanics, it's not enough!!

[@Trek001]

The minute one worker is sacked, they all go out on strike... Thats why the Commander allows so many deaths - its a workaround

[@dogwalker666]

It never is maintenance are always un appreciated.

[@timepoet77]

High turnover rate in that job.

[@varanid9]

Meanwhile, the Eagle pilots are over-paid.

[@datacipher]

Plus in one episode where aliens have the moon atmosphere… Koenig went nuts and started screaming about how the eagle maintenance staff were a bunch of lazy space slackers who did nothing most of the time lol.

[@squonk86]

As a huge fan of Space:1999 this was OUTSTANDING and love the Eagles...

[@greedycapitalist8590]

In my many and various employments, I've learned the hard way never to let the boss handle anything that's breakable and/or necessary to the smooth functioning of the business.

[@harriehausenman8623]

Same for me :-). Is that like a universal thing?!

[@werdna1969]

What an humorous and pleasant trip down the memory lane.

[@may86bear]

Good thing they had an Eagle factory at the base or there wouldn’t be any left for emergencies. That’s a lot of spare parts though 🤔👽

[@timepoet77]

Yeah, that’ll raise the premiums sky high.

[@harriehausenman8623]

Pretty sure they had some Franken-Eagles in the end :-)

[@TedRivers-1999]

Excellent editing and commentary!

[@harriehausenman8623]

Yes, I thought the same.

[@dogwalker666]

Alough I loved Space 1999 i hated every time they destroyed a beautiful Eagle.

[@brianartillery]

It very rarely happened that a model was destroyed - the model was shown crashing, and then the cameras were stopped, and the model replaced by a pyro charge, which was detonated and filmed, and the shots were edited together. This can be seen, if you watch the spinning Eagle in the opening credits of season one. There's a miniscule gap visible between the model impacting, and the explosion occurring. To show close up crashes, there were 'stunt' models used, that were not as detailed as the 'hero' models. Sometimes, when the hangar set was shown, the models in the background were basic vac-form models, or even cardboard cut outs. Eagles flying in formation were often different sized models, and filmed using forced perspective - so the 'nearest' Eagle is actually a big model, and the 'furthest' is a small model. Very often, the sight of many Eagles in flight, was simply achieved by photographic means - shooting one model on different passes, and optically compositing them together. Also, if you're looking for support wires, look underneath the models, as Brian Johnson often filmed models upside down, to eliminate the visibility of the wires. Most often, though, the models were stationary, and the camera moved past them. But for a good old fashioned dusty crash on a planet or moon, the models were basically run down carefully measured zip lines on to the miniature sets, being filmed, as were explosions, at a far higher frame rate than normal. When played at the normal speed, the shot looks far more impressive. I'm not saying that they DIDN'T destroy Eagle miniatures, as they were intricate and expensive to build, but they didn't destroy any of the really good, large models in the making of the show.

[@echozgus]

Was fun playing with toys and doing the same the metal toys of course

[@michaellaplant9543]

@@brianartillery That's fascinating ! Thank you. 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

[@fuzzybobbles]

What I liked about the Eagle is that it was a realistic functional type of spacecraft. Not like a lot of scifi where they look sleek or sports car looks. It was built to do a job and be reliable.

[@AUTISTICLYCAN]

The Mark 9 Hawk was good looking too.

[@Craig1967]

This has to be one of the biggest coincidences in my life! I just recently started watching the Space 1999 series that I loved as a child. Now 45 years later, I have started asking the same question - how can they have so many Eagles? Did they have an "Eagle Factory" on the moon? How many Eagles did they have in inventory when the series started? Thanks for the great video. I loved it!

[@stevenkivel1665]

I found the loss of human life and Eagles to be astounding since they started with a finite number of both

[@speeta]

Fan speculation leans towards the idea that the largest underground Eagle hangar was a Vehicle Assembly Building and the Alphans had a foundry for refining titanium.

[@wrathofatlantis2316]

@@speeta No need for that at all. They had 30 eagles at the start plus one for the polititian. Plus a few likely spares. They would still have over a dozen even by the end of season 2...

[@johnfosteriii5792]

I am a member of 'Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum' (www.eagletransporter.com/forum/index.php) and this has been bounced back and forth and argued every which way but loose. I like the tally being kept on both damaged and lost Eagles. I enjoyed both parts of this and want to thank you. With your permission, I would like to post links to both parts of this so others of the forum can watch it and let them argue about it some more. Again - Thank You

[@timepoet77]

Grand total: 32. The insurance rates must be (pardon the term) astronomical.

[@richmcgee434]

Nope. The two categories overlap partially, with some but not all "crash" results also adding to "lost" totals (which includes all the Eagles either destroyed outright on screen or left behind somewhere with no attempt at recovery). Actual total is 19 - which will certainly result in quite the bump in their rates regardless.

[@harriehausenman8623]

*pun alarm*

[@maridaudran]

after the first 3 are lost, Alan says there are 27 remaining. So they started with 30, and by the end of 2nd season they have 11 left. They could have easily had enough for 2 more seasons!

[@terrygriss4132]

Loved this show as a kid. There stood the test of time still enjoyable today

[@fuzzybobbles]

Brilliant. So much time and effort must have gone into making this. Also how good a 70's tv show looks 45 years later. Gerry Anderson was onto something when he insisted everything was shot on film and not video tape. Now we have HD Space 1999 and it looks perfect.

[@evertonporter7887]

George Lucas must have been watching this show, because most of the Space 1999 production crew went on to work on Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

[@explorer806]

Another brilliant and hilarious video, Chris! I can't imagine the effort in sifting through the episodes to find all the clips...great edit.

[@starfan4019]

Great stuff. I have wondered how many lost. They seemed to have an inexhaustible supply!

[@xairman565]

Note to self: do not fly with Commander Koenig at anytime. Whether he’s at the controls or not.

[@AlexGreeneHypnotist]

So in effect, Tony Verdeschi was the safest regular to fly with, even if the flights get a bit scary.

[@cswint21]

How bout with beer.

[@cswint21]

Tony's beer from episode Journey to Where.

[@johnmichaeldorienjohn467]

I'm going to say..but I love a good Eagle crash!

[@michaellaplant9543]

@@johnmichaeldorienjohn467 I suspect most everyone does...I know I certainly do. 👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾

[@johnmichaeldorienjohn467]

@@michaellaplant9543 most Definitely!👍

[@spacemanspiff3052]

Awesome! Kept wondering while streaming how Alpha didn’t run out of Eagles; this proves that, dispute miraculous Moon Base repair crew efforts, they still came pretty darn close to burning through their entire fleet.

[@wayneoates8842]

Brilliant Chris, very funny 😂

[@johnstockdale1343]

I think John Koenig has well and truly lost his no claims bonus!

[@jeffreycollins8634]

He's clearly NOT in good hands...

[@michaellaplant9543]

@@jeffreycollins8634 😊😊😆😆😆

[@harriehausenman8623]

*lol*

[@OneofInfinity.]

Got an Eagle kit around 1985 (Airfix I believe) sadly lost it a while ago, loved the design as a kid and I still do.

[@richardmattocks]

I love the phrase “glorious mess of fire and explosions”. I can see that being an actual script description 😊. I’d have just said “Make it blow up and look awesome”. Lol

[@richmcgee434]

1:55 "To prove his power he destroys an Eagle on its launch pad." Chorus of yawns and "I've seen better" and "What, again?" from jaded Alphans ensues. Panel of Olympic judges in the background rate it a 2.9.

[@xenomorphphantom8991]

Koenig just dismisses the poor chap muttering "Done before"

[@matthewcaughey8898]

He destroys the eagle. “ want me to believe in god? How about you conjure up about a dozen eagles out of thin air. Then I’ll think about maybe believing in you”

[@Aspectify]

Before the age of VHS and DVD, for years I thought the forest crashes in 'Devil's Planet' and 'The Immunity Syndrome' were recycled footage from each other. Though there is a reused shot from 'Devil's Planet' in 'The Immunity Syndrome' (from underneath the Eagle, showing the standard non-'booster' pod), the special effects team took the trouble to stage two separate and equally spectacular crashes. That's impressive.

[@nuk1964]

"four is an unlucky number for an Eagle .." -- in Chinese and Japanese, the number four (四) is sometimes avoided because it is a homophone for death (死) (i.e. both can be read as "shi")

[@SteveInScotland]

Naoto Kimura in that case Eagle 4T was the worst of all, lol

[@nuk1964]

I should also add the warning that in Japanese how you say a particular Chinese ideogram could change (often depending on the context). The previously mentioned four (四) could also be read as "yon" or "yo" (again, depending on context) - and sometimes this way of reading is used to avoid association with death.

[@tanyajackson3833]

"1" is the unlucky number!

[@JohnWilliamNowak]

Fire in vacuum is possible, although difficult. If I had to justify it, I'd suggest that we were seeing hypergolic fuels leaking and combining, or that the crew we saw was leaping in before the fire had time to snuff out. Fun fact: magnesium can burn submerged because it will extract oxygen from water. Alternately, real-life spacecraft carry extra oxygen or air which is released to maintain pressure if the hull is breached, so any crew in shirtsleeves will remain conscious. Soyuz 11, the only case of a crew loss because of a breach, did not have such a system. This was later addressed. So it's just possible we're seeing fires fed by the oxygen from the emergency pressurization system.

[@arielfilmsinc1926]

there was an ep where a helmet visor on some pops up

[@dinomonzon7493]

Apart from Alien Attack, there were at least 2 other Space: 1999 movies: Destination: Moonbase Alpha (The Bringers of Wonder edited as a film), & Journey Through the Black Sun.

[@davidschecter5247]

Beautifully done, and I love your sense of humor!

[@brianartillery]

I'm beginning to think that Alpha's Eagles were manufactured by Volvo. High passenger survivability in a crash, and still operable after a 'slight' scuff. Into an alien planet.

[@matthewcaughey8898]

If they were they would’ve had Volvo’s planet safety system. That system is designed to stop you from crashing before you hit the planet

[@datacipher]

They were also remarkably similar in that they were heavy, sluggish, unmaneuverabke, and marketed towards somewhat unattractive middle aged people.

[@TheRobbiUno]

Can we have a count of all the exploding trees and rocks please? They both be made of some highly unstable elements it seems.

[@MartinFutter70]

Superb! Wonderful tongue and cheek humour and excellent clip usage 👌

[@cswint21]

Allen Carter said in year one that there are 27 eagles ; if you combined year 1 and year 2, moonbase alpha have no working eagles left.

[@darrenrosenberg5289]

27 'serviceable' Eagles. Which implies that there were others that could be cannibalised for parts. There's also the possibility that Alpha could build their own.

[@epiendless1128]

I always supposed Alpha was a manufacturing base, which is a damn good reason to have a moonbase. I'm disappointed that they never made that canon.

[@echozgus]

They created more eagles I guess

[@HepCatJack]

They could have salvaged duplicate eagles from the duplicate Alpha base of season one.

[@andrewmorke]

They 3D printed new eagles out of recycled garbage. And harnessed the raw power of Tony's machismo to power the process.

[@rsfs3676]

اجمل الموسلسلات القديمه واهمها من حيث المضمون..الخيالي ولواقعي🔆©🔆🌀☸

[@CosmicCleric]

Translation: "The most beautiful and important old series in terms of content... both fictional and realistic"

[@georgemartin1436]

Terrific production value here! Such a well done video...my compliments!

[@varanid9]

I figure from the numbering system and how many Eagles they would need to evacuate Alpha's 311 staff members, they had approximately 30 eagles. Including Commissioner Simon's Eagle, that would leave them about a dozen craft left by the end of season 2. Although, Eagles being modular, they might have been able to assemble a few new ones from wrecks and spare parts. I always figured they recovered the one cast adrift from Dragon's Domain, just that the recovery wasn't shown.

[@johnstockdale1343]

Thanks Chris for yet another excellent video. I wonder if you could do one about the number of failed space missions that the Alphans encountered, or were referenced, over the course of series 1 and 2? It was certainly a recurring theme through both series and I would love to the know the actual number.

[@kennethholland9021]

If you count the loss of the Meta Probe in Breakaway there were 5 failed missions, 4 in year 1 (Breakaway, Matter of Life and Death, Dragon's Domain, Death's Other Dominion), 1 in year 2 (Brian the Brain).

[@johnstockdale1343]

Voyagers Return could be included also (albeit unmanned). There were some alien ones too, I'm thinking Mission of the Darians, Ring Around the Moon and even Earthbound from Season 1. There are some Season 2 episodes that I can't recall where a derelict spaceship appears and another in which Koenig is haunted by friends that he had to leave to die of Venusian Plague...?

[@SEPK09]

love the ending

[@power2084]

Sensational !!!!! Loved it !!

[@Ingens_Scherz]

Good fun. Bonkers show.

[@heedmywarning2792]

This was such a well made video. Thank you.

[@lunaticfringe8066]

Space 1999 Eagles, the galactic enigma: they survive horrendous crashes one episode and pop like balloons the next!

[@edwardburek1717]

There I was thinking that the only person deserving of the nickname "Calamity Koenig" was one-time real life netminder for the Coventry Blaze Trevor Koenig...

[@BillHalliwell]

G'day Chris, When this series went to-air in Australia, in the 70s, I was in the air force so I only saw intermittent episodes and never really caught the continuity of the storylines. As spacecraft, we did think that the Eagles were a cool design and more realistic for the period than the Star Trek spacecraft and shuttles. One thing I could not work out, however, was the numbering routine of each individual Eagle. Given there were a stated 27 Eagles on the base, and although they apparently had the ability to repair Eagles, they presumably didn't have the facilities to build new Eagles. In the RAAF, the numbering system for one aircraft type is, say, A16-01 to A16-35 if you have 35 of the same type of aircraft. One would have thought a British TV series would, logically, number Eagles in a similar fashion; for instance: EG-01 to EG-27, or adopt the system used by the RAF which is a similar ‘squadron-based’ routine. Why then, do we only ever hear dialogue that refers to Eagles as either Eagle 1, 2, 3 or 4? This is a really confusing spacecraft identification system. Given a crash or a spacecraft loss, did they just ID the Eagle with the number of the one that was taken out of service? This is not an efficient numbering system as it doesn't ID a craft that was damaged in a crash, taken out of service for repairs and then re-entered service. It didn't allow for command to keep a track of how many potentially serviceable craft there were at any given time. I know that, in comparison to the sweep of the entire two-year run, this is a small point; the fact this is a simple numbering system made it even more logical to use. Apparently, no one working on the show, writers included, had any idea of an air force registration routine. If the Eagle numbering system was based on the number of Eagle pilots, e.g. 4 pilots, then this was even more confusing as certain pilots were killed in crashes or battle damage. Although, I never saw every episode of the first season, I did, like so many other fans, much prefer the tone, atmosphere, acting and dialogue of the first series. It was far more realistic than the original Star Trek seasons. Although I enjoyed Star Trek, their silly, rubber-suited aliens, like the Gorn (BTW a surname that pops up in the credits of Space: 1999??) or the sentient rock that looked like a pulsating blob of pizza toppings that Mr Spock mind-melds with were, sadly, more comedic than terrifying. When I saw a few of '1999' episodes from the second season I thought their rubber-suited aliens were way past comedic, they were downright cheap and stupid. This turned me off the second season, also because of the dramatically changed cast list, that kept changing. The first season of Space: 1999 was historically important as it inspired, and made legitimate, many space-based sci-fi TV programs and films that followed. This was no mean feat in the British TV market that was dominated, for decades by the seemingly endless Dr Who series. Frankly, even as a kid I never liked the Andersons' puppet-based TV shows and it is such a pity that they decided not to continue, independently, with Space: 1999 the way they envisioned it in the first season. I am really pleased and a little surprised that Space: 1999 still has a strong fan base as demonstrated by this, my first exposure to these series of KZbin documentaries. Maybe, some creative types and networks will decide to resurrect this concept in a format suited to modern day TV and internet streaming audiences. Cheers, BH P.S. In a totally unrelated, coincidental circumstance, I happened to have known young Nicky Tate when he was an up-and-coming actor back in Australia. I can tell you that his appearances on Space 1999 certainly gave his career and reputation a huge boost in Australia thus casting directors began to take him much more seriously upon his return home , good on ya Nicky, long, long time no see ;) ‘Duke’s Place Uptown’ ring a bell? ;)

[@TheBullDurham]

Eagles are modular with warehouses full of replacement modules. There were 27 operational eagles if you don't count the ones that could be assembled as needed. Most of the moonbase was also modular design. It's a shame they never showed more of the lower levels. They hinted at a mining operation and factories in those levels and based on the population of 300 and how few actually were seen I would guess many worked down there.

[@markasimmons]

As the Alpha ladies may have said, you can fly with Verdeschi, but you'll only ever wake up in sick bay with Koenig.

[@DENSUTUBE2008]

OMG this is the best and most hilarious Eagle crash study I have ever seen. Ive lost 1 if blowing it up with fire crackers as a kid counts :)

[@epiendless1128]

I just realised: they say Star Trek anticipated the mobile phone, but at 6:00 , Space: 1999 anticipated the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

[@chriswalker2858]

Good fun as always.... 😎

[@speeta]

The reason we see Eagles plowing into the surface of the moon and other planets so frequently is because that's exactly what the model was built to do from the first episode onwards - stage a crash landing and remain sturdy enough to do so again and again.

[@Hykje]

The footage from that "Space 1999" "movie" gave me the feeling of a Godfrey Ho movie. Godfrey Ho created his movies by cutting material from two or three already existing B-movies together with newly filmed material to create a new movie that almost made sense.

[@varanid9]

Actually, in "Breakaway", they mention 2 different waste dump areas; the one that blew up was the much larger and older of the 2.

[@CosmicCleric]

Didn't they fly over one of them to get to the other one?

[@varanid9]

@@CosmicCleric Yes. They flew over the older one, no longer used, where the reaction was occuring.

[@peterboczan2116]

It's not just the Eagles that are subject to abuse, but also Moon base Alpha itself! Explosions, sudden decompressions, girders falling from ceilings, fires, alien missile attacks, death and destruction etc. Yet at the end of every episode Commander Koenig and co simply shrug them off and it's on to the next adventure.

[@CosmicCleric]

Scarcity of materials/manufacturing never seemed to be a problem for a people/base cut off from the rest of the species/homeworld.

[@iandeeley9033]

Great Crash Scenes here!

[@ProMace]

10:51 That headwound 😂😂😂😂

[@free-birdrocker8809]

I reckon the moon had resources to keep rebuilding those eagles. Lots of eagle crunchies.The humanity! Brian Blessed? A true Man's man! I think Brian did 2 episodes on the 1999....

[@timepoet77]

He did. Death’s Other Dominion in Year One and The Metamorph in Year Two

[@free-birdrocker8809]

Cool bro. Brian did star wars, and black adder if my memory serves me correct.

[@folginator]

Well done Chris! Entertaining as ever.👍

[@chagadiel]

This show affected my space Lego play. Every spaceship i made crashed at least once on its adventures.

[@michaelbruvolt4221]

So how many eagles were there at the beginning? If 32 were lost during the 2 seasons and there always seems to be a few more around, they must have started with at least 40-50. That's quite a fleet!

[@Departures1]

I"m sure more were destroyed by Maya in Space Warp but the fleet miraculously recovered next episode. Operation Exodus was never impacted!

[@BradGryphonn]

Thanks, Gerry.

[@champisthebunny6003]

I often wondered what it cost to actually build an eagle? While clearly modular and mass produced, they were still probably pretty pricey, especially given the wide range of custom modules that were available. We are are probably looking at 100s of billions in financial losses. And that doesnt include damages to Alpha itself of course. Good thing that money and resources are not really an issue here, because replacement costs and repairs alone would have sunk alpha in an afternoon.

[@adriansherlockdamondark.1094]

Most of year 2's Eagle action was in the last eight episodes. I keep telling people season 2 improves a lot in its second half.

[@astroguster5522]

Looking forward to tomorrow!

[@themercer4972]

Thanks for the vid. Both informative and entertaining.

[@joannegray5138]

Interesting videos. I'd often wondered how many Eagles were totalled altogether and why there was a seemingly endless supply of them in deep space. You'd have thought that with all the different aliens and civilisations they encountered, the Alphans would have had to start reconnoitring and adapting alien craft to.supplement the dwindling Eagle fleet. After all, it's not like they could just pop to the nearest Eagle dealership, is it?

[@bri55118]

With a total of 311 personal assigned to alpha, 26 Eagles be needed to evacuate with 12 per eagle max (10 people per transport pod and pilot & co pilot). Some extra Eagles would be in maintenance and storage as backups . also alpha was said to be self sufficient in all aspects so a eagle factory would be stationed there .

[@WorldofVirtualPinballNews]

Funny, Entertaining and Fun. Thanks

[@Bod8998]

I’ve watched them all several times and can’t remember seeing a hangar where there all stored how many did they have in total do you think

[@harriehausenman8623]

Perfect editing & so funny - Thanks! Let's hope Starship doesn't even come close :-)

[@capdavis2002]

How many Eagle 1's do we have?

[@donnie2832]

They should have had smaller Eagles built for fighting.

[@karlkammer3050]

Hilarious and tragic at the same time, well done!

[@evildrganymede]

Number of lost/crashed eagles in Season 2 - I'm going to guess 5-10? Number of killed extras in Season 2? I'm gonna say less than 5. Deaths were very few and far between compared to Season 1.

[@evildrganymede]

I was close :P

[@edgardagosto1917]

Eagles had the top of the line 8track tape stereo

[@sci-fimodeler1701]

32 Eagles gone, but Allen once said there were 28 serviceable eagles. I guess they had LOTS of spare parts

[@neothurmic3780]

My Dad was alway impressed at the infinite supply of eagles they had, but given they started with about 30, the maths actually works out. I'm impressed

[@marqsee7948]

nicely done! good editing.

[@stevelodge2378]

love these facts,great work .....I dont suppose you want to work out how many Alphans died or left the base during the two series, do you?

[@Mark-wx6xr]

If you look closely at the opening of Psirens (Red Dwarf S 6 Ep 1) you can see an Eagle bottom left on one of the rocks,

[@zacmumblethunder7466]

10:53 Was the next line "WHAT? Some idiot's let him take another one out?"

[@matthewcaughey8898]

It’s a good thing eagles were modular. Cause I’m sure they were plenty busy connecting various salvaged modules to salvaged frames. By the end I’m not sure that any eagle was one complete ship as opposed to a collection of salvaged modules. And those salvaged modules probably looked like a car after your 16 year old accidentally hits the gas in a mall parking lot

[@Trek001]

Watching this and year 1, I'll take an Eagle with Sandra please

[@power2084]

naughty naughty !!

[@Trek001]

@@power2084 It is for science purposes and not what you think

[@power2084]

@@Trek001 yeah riiiiiiight

[@richmcgee434]

She does seem to be a good luck charm of sorts, at least compared to most Alphans. Probably still want to throw Koenig and Carter of the bus before takeoff, though.

[@Trek001]

@@richmcgee434 It is most likely for the best Actually, has an Eagle with Sandra crashed?

[@dongilleo9743]

Has anyone done a similar accounting for Alpha crew members. It's been years, so I can't remember if there was ever any mention of how many people were alive at the Moonbase after the moon left orbit. Except for Maya, there couldn't be any additions. That meant that every lost crew member reduced the total of a fixed number of people. That made it extremely weird for a constant influx of new characters never seen before appearing for one episode, and then never being seen again. Where were they before, and where did they go? The same question arose years later when watching ST: Voyager. Lost in the Delta Quadrant, there was no way at first to increase the number of crew from the 150 or so who survived the premier episode. I decided right from that first episode to keep track of crew lost or killed. For a while it seemed like they were losing someone every week or two. I thought they were going to run into trouble with the numbers. Someone on the writing staff must have been keeping count as well, because on the few occasions the crew total was mentioned, it matched the original total minus the crew members lost. Eventually they found a way to add some extra crew, like Seven of Nine, and a few discredited Federation crew people from another ship.

[@1Kent]

The pinto space travel.

[@ScotInTheDot]

I think the only less fortunate space vehicle that may have crashed more often might be Starbug! Thank goodness Koenig never served on Red Dwarf. I think Moonbase Alpha needs to strengthen it's pilot exams and training...

[@paktype]

The Eagles were nice looking but they were essentially like Model T Fords. The various sections of the Eagles - the nose cone, the lattice-like area behind it that held the cargo/crew area, the landing pads and the engines - were all manufactured on Alpha using materials mined from inside the Moon and also by recycling old or damaged Eagles. They were modular - any Eagle part could fit on any other Eagle. Basically, the sections were built, snapped together like LEGO blocks and presto - more Eagles. That explains how they were always able to replace the Eagles after they were destroyed.

[@gan9e]

Around 1980 I threw a Dinky Eagle off Point-Royal in Bracknell... the wind caught the tumbling eagle and it hit the side of the building at tremendous speed which made the eagle explode in many parts... one metal part ended up in some old codgers bonce didn't it... he became mong factor 75 and couldn't remember D-Day or nothing... it was in the paper... "Mong Lad Toy Chuck Tower Horror" I couldn't live it down... they called me The Lobotomizer... I ended up doing time, got no teef... covered in tats... and I've got an A... never mind, I was going to say... you know... anyway I'm so sorry Mr Boncington... please forgive my eagle transgression...

[@jukeboxjohnnie]

did that really happen?

[@hgwells1899]

Yes Jonathan that really happened

[@johnmainwaring6556]

Eagle transport is still statistically the safest way to travel from Moonbase Alpha to an alien planet.

[@vonVile]

So how many Eagles did Alpha 1 house to lose so many?

[@RWSCOTT]

Koenig: flight license revoked!

[@houstonhelicoptertours1006]

My memory is a bit hazy. Was there ever a scene where they blew up the actual filming models(or rather a cheap break-away version) or was it always superimposed explosion footage?

[@lunaticfringe8066]

I saw an interview with the model builder of the Eagles stating they were too expensive to destroy and thus the breakaway explosions.

[@walterlyzohub8112]

This proves it, they made a 3D assembly plant on the Moon before it was blasted away from Earth. Left over from making the lunar base I guess. The soil has the materials needed anyway so it makes sense.

[@issiewizzie]

So wanted an Animation version of space 1999

[@davidfrost2819]

And all done without boring CGI, and at least the special effects team didnt do a Battlestar Galactica by keep using the same shots over and over and over again

[@douglastaggart9360]

So by the end of series 2 only had 8 eagles left Thats provifing some of the crashed ones where repaired if not they would have none left

[@garryfield5319]

loved it!

[@ThorntonValiant]

Mentor's alive?

[@AlphanPeter]

Great video.

[@sniperic1]

They started with 28, lost 19, leaves them with 9. That's not good odds unless they have a hanger that builds Eagles.