Space: 1999 | S1. Ep.2 "Force of Life" | REACTION

[@Eltonlaleham]

Space 1999 for me was awesome, in trillions of ways and I am glad to have it on dvd and I must watch both the two series again.

[@ShamrockParticle]

Same here. These reactions spur interest. Have you ever seen Babylon 5 at all?

[@kieronball8962]

Marie, just so you know, the moonbase is called Moonbase Alpha and the main characters are John Koenig, Helena Russell, Victor Bergman, Sandra Benes, Alan Carter, Paul Morrow and David Kano. But Space 1999 is also famous for the amazing array of actors, who made guest appearances in the show.

[@1monki]

Older episodic shows often had a distant goal that takes the entire series to reach. _The Fugitive_ spent the series looking for the "One Armed Man," for example. In the first season of Space 1999, it's Meta. Meta is a distant mystery. It doesn't play a role in many episodes, including this one. In modern serialized narratives, it's expected we'll get a fast solution to this puzzle. But that isn't how these shows worked.

[@leslieride5813]

Sorella Lamps used in Space 1999 can also be seen in Blakes 7 "Weapon" and Dr Who "The Keeper of Traken" and "Four To Doomsday" the props were passed on to the BBC after Space 1999 ended.

[@stevetheduck1425]

At the time of Space: 1999 people often compared 'monster of the week' series like 'Lost in Space' or 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea', with 'mysterious unknown force' series. Space: 1999 was both, first season like this, second and last was MOTW, with a few scripts from the first season unmade thrown in. It's highly variable in quality, and got more so.

[@kennethlee494]

Alpha is never shown reaching Planet Meta but a short film produced 20 or so years after the end of the show called "Message From Moonbase Alpha" reveals what Meta may be as well as the fate of Alpha. Don't watch "Message" until after the end of Season 2 unless you don't mind major spoilers.

[@gbhxu]

Episode 2 should be "A Matter Of Life And Death." Some say that Terra Nova is the planet Meta

[@kierenevans2521]

This one is written by Johnny Byrne who wrote Keeper of Traken, Arc of Infinity and Warriors of the Deep.

[@robertsrobots6531]

I first saw these as a kid in the Seventies, I wanted to live on Moonbase Alpha! Thing about Space: 1999 is that like a lot of TV programmes at the time it was format-based, rather than a continuous story.

[@kieronball8962]

A wonderful guest star performance from Ian McShane in this episode, only a few years before he found fame in Lovejoy, Dallas and the John Wick movies! :)

[@darrylguerrant5101]

That single Episode in Season 6 of 'Game of Thrones'

[@Darren79]

You can forget about Meta :D it'll never be mentioned ever again. The show was written so that the episodes could be shown in any order once the first one was over:)

[@simoncurry5336]

For what it's worth Nick Tate who played Alan Carter in Space: 1999, was considered for the part of Tarrant in Blake's 7.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

It had that retro 70s sci fi design vibe big time.

[@kevinputry5655]

It's always fun to see someone discovering a new show. Yes, the designs and the FX and everything was top notch in it's day. Some people may not think this holds up very well but with a certain perspective, this looks way more impressive than shows that came before this like Star Trek. I say it still looks fantastic. This isn't really a spoiler but they abandoned the whole Meta thing. They managed to keep it interesting in every episode anyway. Quite a few of these episodes have a horror element to them. I think it's a cool combo with the sci-fi.

[@neilmcdonald9164]

The man with cold touch was later Lovejoy 🎩

[@kieronball8962]

The planet Meta was, as far as I can remember, used for the pilot episode ( but when the show was picked up for a full run of 24 episodes ) Gerry Anderson and his wife Sylvia Anderson decided that the moon should continue its trek through space, on an eternal search for the ideal planet for the inhabitants of Alpha to live on.

[@SYLTales]

There is a fan film made much later that supplies some closure for the series and Meta. It's called _Message From Moonbase Alpha_ . Written by Johnny Byrne(!), about seven minutes long, and with Zienia Merton as Sandra -- shot at the Producer/Director's house. He put her in her Season 2 costume in front of a small set, and shot her right there. I heartily recommend it for anyone who's watched the show. It's here if you search for it (use the longer version). Like _Star Trek Continues_ , it provides the series finale that we never got to see. 😊

[@rudolphclancy8293]

​@@SYLTalesIt was filmed for the Breakaway convention held in Los Angeles, 1999. As I understand it, it was hoped that it would lead to a revival series. The slingshot effect Sandra mentioned would return the Moon to Terra Alpha, and the descendents of the original crew would rediscover it.

[@Tyrconnell]

Apart from regulars Prentis Hancock and Zienia Merton the only other DW actor is: John Hamill (Mark Dominix) who was a Shrieve (with Hancock as his Captain!) in 'The Ribos Operation'. On a side note, Eva Reuber-Staier (Jane) was in 3 Roger Moore Bond films as Rublevich, the secretary of the head of the KGB

[@exile220ify]

Fun facts: Martin Landau (Commander Koenig) was offered the role of Spock on Star Trek but turned it down and went to star in Mission: Impossible. Leonard Nimoy was cast instead. A few years later, Landau left Mission: Impossible. His replacement on that show was Leonard Nimoy.

[@leslieride5813]

All the unusual white chairs and Lamps were specially imported from Italy at the time the Lamps in Main Mission and Living Quarters and the Generating Area are called Sorella Lamps i have one in my lounge at home.

[@ronaldjeffrey8712]

Interesting bit of trivia. You may have noticed that a few of the lamps used on Alpha eventually found their way to Matt Smiths Tardis.

[@simonparry5958]

Great episode

[@alfmalf3310]

I remember watching space 1999 on Sunday afternoons and now I wonder how they got away showing it on a Sunday afternoon considering the next programme was Weekend World followed by songs of praise

[@MarkSW]

Technically, this is episode 9. You’re watching them in broadcast order, which is the wrong order. For future reference, some Anderson shows you need to watch in production order, otherwise you may end up getting confused.

[@andrewkearley]

Not this one though. I would argue that production order throws up just as many inconsistencies as any of the broadcast orders used over the years. My advice - for anyone invested enough to want to do a deep dive - is to watch all the episodes and then draw up the episode order that works for you. That's what I did.

[@rudolphclancy8293]

Not really, as the entire series is episodic. I tend to watch in production order, but put Earthbound and Black Sun second and third.

[@simoncurry5336]

As @andrewkearley wrote: "Mild" horror?? Blimey! Hold tight, Series 1 will be a bumpy ride. 1975 was the year that also gave us "The Changes" and Series 1 of "Survivors" both of which I recommend.

[@noahrobin1941]

I'm about a month late to this party; I've not seen this show before. The thing which struck me is how much this one reminded me of The Hand of Fear (or vice-versa, if you prefer).

[@davidstanton1373]

Just wait until you see episode 8 : Dragon's Domain - that might make you traumatised for life.

[@mark-s]

Good episode and a cracking opening title

[@andrewkearley]

As I'm sure you've been told by now - it's not Meta! I think the best way to think about this is that the Moon is constantly moving into space, and every now and then they encounter something that affects them. So they encountered Meta at the end of the first episode, but we've moved on now and we don't know what happened. (I prefer to think that they didn't pass close enough to Meta to be able to launch an exploratory mission - especially since they were recovering from the explosion and a lot of the Eagles had been damaged.) This is a great episode. I particularly like that the alien force is not necessarily malevolent, it's just following its life cycle. Is it the birth of a star, as suggested in the dialogue? Who knows? The cosmology of Space: 1999 may well not fit in with actual science, but it's very much part of the ethos of the series.

[@elainemusselwhite2325]

I think most of your questions have been answered already, such as Meta is long gone, the programme was the most expensive show made in the 70's at the time. And Moonbase Alpha. Throughout watching your review, which was entertaining as always, my husband was calling out "It's not Meta" everytime you mentioned Meta, LOL!.

[@exile220ify]

Growing up I loved this series and this episode in particular. There's just SOMETHING about Ian McShane, so I made sure - going forward - to try to follow this guy's career. And my word what a career it's been. He's probably better known to you in the UK for Lovejoy, but over here in North America he's probably better known as Al Swearengen in the amazing HBO series "Deadwood"

[@alexfletcher5192]

I forget who said it (it might even have been Terrance Dicks) but there's a quote about these kind of shows and how the aliens either come to us or we go to them. Space 1999 has its cake and eats it: things come to them while they're half-way there! Then again, swap out the moon for the Starship Enterprise and you basically have original Star Trek (which was in syndication by then and becoming as well known outside the United States as it was within it).

[@leslieride5813]

One of the first series very best episodes written by Johnny Byrne his 3rd script for the series at the time which for me still optimises what the show was all about. Here we have an Alien Lifeforce the like of which humans have never encountered before a complete unknown. It sees Moonbase Alpha and its personnel as a means a Catalyst to evolve to the next stage of its existence. The fact that it leaves a trail of burnt out equipment and frozen corpses in its wake means nothing to it at all it has no sense of morality right or wrong good or Evil whatsoever and Koenig and his people really dont understand what they are dealing with or how to stop it? The Episode was also beautifully shot by Director David Tomblin with much use of wide angle lenses and unusual points of view. However this Episode was not filmed as Episode 2 in production order but was in fact 9th.

[@macokreeftmeijer5874]

Yes on KZbin

[@awall1701]

so was it Space 1999 that started the mannequin challenge 🤣🤣

[@tonyb2600]

This MC episode contains mild horror and wet hair 😱

[@detectivesquirrel2621]

I know Ian McShane as the love-able rogue, Antiques dealer Lovejoy

[@michaellevenson2200]

The moon has certainly left the solar system and left Meta well behind. The base is Moonbase Alpha. Hopefully not a spoiler, but you did ask, Alpha has a hydroponics centre to grow food, and water is recycled, so as long as it all functions okay they'll be able to survive on the Moon for a long time. As space is a vacuum there's nothing to slow the moon down , so it'll keep on moving, being affected by gravity or of course pesky aliens. This may be the first show you've done MC where episode order doesn't really matter. With the American market in mind it was made with episodes not really carrying on from previous ones. Force of Life was shown 2nd originally but made later, 9th , and is 9th in the dvd boxset.

[@paulhammond6978]

This is a show made in the 70s, trying to look futuristic - so I guess if you think it looks a bit 80s that means the designers did a good job of being futuristic from their point of view?

[@alexfletcher5192]

My girlfriend is very much into Merlin and caught it in Germany. Which I was a bit surprised about. I do tend more towards the sci-fi shows though. We kind of meet in the middle, if you see what I mean.

[@darrenbrunton130]

Hi MC hope this isn't a spoiler but when this 1st came out it was the most expensive sci-fi show 2 date at the time, and it shows with the sets and everything

[@garethmorgan8326]

That is not a spoiler, just a great bit of Trivia.

[@davidmckie7128]

You should watch Ian McShane in Lovejoy - great show.

[@andrewkearley]

"Mild" horror?? Blimey!

[@simoncurry5336]

I couldn't agree more.

[@detectivesquirrel2621]

Writer Johnny Byrne was talked into adding the conversation in the epilogue inferring that the alien entity would be metamorphosing into a star. It wasn't his idea, or preference.

[@lurkerrekrul]

You can forget Meta, that was just something that they had in a the pilot. As far as I can remember, nothing else in the show has any connection to Meta.

[@chessmoon]

bossman or betty's father Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em or just father to hell boy in Beauty and the Beast

[@Cruithneach]

5:42 Gay Hamilton has a look of Catherine Schell...

[@detectivesquirrel2621]

Moon Base Alpha, often simply referred to as Alpha. Everything they use is recycled or things including water and some minerals are mined from lunar craters. It is estimated they had the resources to survive as much as 800-900 years

[@xaviergillis932]

You gave up on BlackAdder? Must have been during the first series because no one ever stops once they hit the 2nd series set in Elizabethan times and it’s onward and upward from there

[@Jamienomore]

Have you never seen Lovejoy?

[@yesh3]

Merlin was drawn out too long. Space 1999- season one is stylish and far-out, season two is more action oriented, but has the character Maya, who is great.

[@alansmith1989]

The storyline about Planet `Meta` was totally dropped after the first episode and it is never touched on again. Sadly, one thing letting this series down, is poor `continuity` sometimes, very poor continuity. It was also- at that time, the most expensive (Per Episode) Series made by British TV - either ITV or BBC. The show dates from the mid to late 1970s - about 1974 to 1977. Two series, the second series the budget was cut back. The date of the Moon `departing` as given in the opening titles of September 9th is the Birthdate of actress Barbara Bain who played the Doctor, Helena!

[@leslieride5813]

The Series only has poor continuity when shown totally in the wrong order as these are on Britbox.

[@jimjones1652]

The physics of the moon travelling through space isn't realistic, even if they could survive the acceleration the nearest planet outside our solar system is four light years away and at that speed you'ed pass it before you could blink.

[@alexfletcher5192]

Pre-Star Wars (which this is, although that was basically in production), sci-fi did seem to have more of a crossover with horror or the metaphysical. And the universe is painted as a huge canvas of ideas to experiment on. And poor poor Ian McShane. He doesn't look well, does he? Of course the whole show is an antique now...

[@Concreteowl]

Just ignore the science aspects as the moon is now travelling faster than light and hopping from planet to planet but people can travel to and from the moon.

[@neilmcdonald9164]

A lot of plausibility issues-food supplies etc-would have been ignored in those days:realisticness wasn't so much of a thing back then🎩

[@ianh452]

It gets weirder. Remember this first time round and got a merit for essentially copying an episode for a story writing competition at junior school! lol.

[@CardiffOneOne]

Meta, eh? Hmmm...