Well, two MD's. There also seems to be an undefined number of techs/orderlies hanging about as well. Probably about right for a crew of around 300 when you're not expecting to leave the Earth's orbit.All two of them
Re-Watching Space: 1999
- Thread starter Mysterion
- Start date
No, it was much, much goofier in the early days, although they made a point from the start of never using a laugh track in the OR scenes. It had dramatic moments from time to time, but it was much more in the irreverent vein of the Altman movie. Its ratio of drama to comedy increased substantially over the years. Cartoonish characters like Blake and Burns were replaced with deeper, more nuanced characters like Potter and Winchester.
But I was referring to length in my original post that you were responding to. I was saying that it was probably unprecedented for a half-hour comedy series specifically to get the kind of movie-length finale that you generally only saw with hourlong series, particularly one that was even longer than the usual 2-hour TV movie block. It was very, very far from being just a typical series finale. It was seen as a huge, important event and its ratings were through the roof.
And yes, of course M*A*S*H was more a drama than a comedy then. That is also part of my point -- it was a very unusual sitcom, and that's why it got a huge event finale of a sort that other sitcoms did not.
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Doing a bitty rewatch of season one (episodes I remember being good, and others on the same disc), it strikes me that there are a lot more good episodes towards season end, and a lot of them would work as well as odd events on a Moonbase still in Earth orbit.
Interesting that in the 1996 flashbacks Gorski is mentioned as Alpha's commander; possibly there were rotations so he was on his second or third stint in 99.
Side note... cut scenes from Breakaway say Koenig was Alpha's first commander, which he definitely isn't in 1996, but maybe he could have commanded the first small base that expanded into the city of 1999.
EDIT: Reaching the last episode of season one... never struck me before, but the over-theme of season one is very nu-BSG...
Interesting that in the 1996 flashbacks Gorski is mentioned as Alpha's commander; possibly there were rotations so he was on his second or third stint in 99.
Side note... cut scenes from Breakaway say Koenig was Alpha's first commander, which he definitely isn't in 1996, but maybe he could have commanded the first small base that expanded into the city of 1999.
EDIT: Reaching the last episode of season one... never struck me before, but the over-theme of season one is very nu-BSG...
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106 million viewers holding on until the final scene, then:
“An estimated million viewers in New York City alone used the toilet after the show ended, pouring 6.7 million gallons of water through the city’s sewers, United Press International reported at the time. “In speaking to engineers who’ve been around 30 or 40 years, they haven’t encountered anything like this before,” Peter Barrett, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, told UPI.”
My dad was, until retirement, a senior planner for the UK electricity board; they had to be notified to the second of schedules, including ad breaks, to ensure capacity as kettles were turned on, and water pumping stations powered up to cope with 16mm loo flushes.
Four, once season two started just dropping in new characters without thought.All two of them
Alpha Child
Not much to write home about here. Kid was kind of creepy. Julian Glover also comes of as creepy. Stuff happens, but no one seems to learn a whole lot and then it all goes away. Ok, fine. Is it possible Jon Povill might have seen this episode around the time he was writing The Child for Phase II?
The Last Sunset
Aliens make the moon habitable to keep the pesky humans out of their yard. Interesting idea, and some good visuals. Paul discovers psilocybin. Then the aliens decide we're not worth it and undo everything. Why does the base have windows that can be opened? Are there also screen doors for the airlocks?
Not much to write home about here. Kid was kind of creepy. Julian Glover also comes of as creepy. Stuff happens, but no one seems to learn a whole lot and then it all goes away. Ok, fine. Is it possible Jon Povill might have seen this episode around the time he was writing The Child for Phase II?
The Last Sunset
Aliens make the moon habitable to keep the pesky humans out of their yard. Interesting idea, and some good visuals. Paul discovers psilocybin. Then the aliens decide we're not worth it and undo everything. Why does the base have windows that can be opened? Are there also screen doors for the airlocks?
Who was the second because Dr. Berman certainly wasn't a medical doctor?All two of them
In season one there is Dr. Russell and Dr. Matthias in Medical. And it was Professor Bergman, not doctor. I suppose he probably has a doctorate of some sort, but he's always referred to a "professor".Who was the second because Dr. Berman certainly wasn't a medical doctor?
I read somewhere that there was a scene that was cut where a technician was installing a new window.
Look at the third section down at this link: http://catacombs.space1999.net/main/merc/vmvus1.html
Hope they got it switched back before the aliens took all their air back.
Far more likely that both writers independently used the same ideas that have been used in numerous other stories over the decades. Babies that rapidly, unnaturally grow into adults are a pretty widespread trope in SFTV, and it's easy to see why if you think about it. Even aside from the general difficulties of working with babies in TV, the episodic series of the past needed to wrap up each story within a single hour rather than being able to stretch it out over time. So telling a story that compressed an entire childhood and maturation process into one episode was kind of a natural outgrowth of that, which is why you see it all the time in SF/fantasy, as late as things like Deep Space Nine's "The Abandoned" or episode 2 of Fringe.
And of course the idea of babies that turn out to be inhuman, eldritch entities of some sort is a trope that goes back to folklore and myth, with gods seducing/raping mortal women, faeries stealing babies and putting changelings in their place, infants being possessed by Satan, etc. A lot of mass-media sci-fi is just older fantasy/mythic tropes given a high-tech or alien veneer.
Voyager's Return
This was a pretty good one. Great guest shot from Jeremy Kemp. Nice tight plot and pacing. Like the theme of second chances/redemption. Interesting design of the Voyager probe, as well as the alien attack ships which are a bit similar in general shape/configuration to the Mk IX Hawks that I recall show up later in the series. A stand-out in the series so far, IMO.
This was a pretty good one. Great guest shot from Jeremy Kemp. Nice tight plot and pacing. Like the theme of second chances/redemption. Interesting design of the Voyager probe, as well as the alien attack ships which are a bit similar in general shape/configuration to the Mk IX Hawks that I recall show up later in the series. A stand-out in the series so far, IMO.
In Koenig's defense - Haines was acting purely emotionally at that point and was putting things that Alpha really needed at risk. Of course, Koenig's response to Haines was also coming from a very emotional place as well. It wasn't perhaps the most sensitive response Koenig could have had, but I get it in context. And I think he makes up for it at the end of the episode once things have calmed down.
I do like that these characters are near contemporary with us and are allowed to act like human beings and sometimes respond more emotionally than rationally, unlike in some other SF series which I won't name here. Except maybe for Russell who I suspect of being some sort of android.
It would explain so much! 
Because of the side discussion, I keep wanting to transpose M*A*S*H characters into Moonbase Alpha, like having Hawkeye as Dr. Russell's medical assistant. And my brain just will not picture it. "That way lies madness!"
Because of the side discussion, I keep wanting to transpose M*A*S*H characters into Moonbase Alpha, like having Hawkeye as Dr. Russell's medical assistant. And my brain just will not picture it. "That way lies madness!"
Not sure what it is with those two. Maybe it's the writing for their characters.
The most consistent acting in the series is coming from Barry Morse as Bergman. Though I've haven't quite figured out what he's a professor of. He's written very much like a "television scientist" who seems to have studied everything - I do like, though, how often he readily admits that he's got no clue about what's ahppeing around him. But Morse makes it all work somehow. It's too bad he wasn't around in season two - Bergman and Maya would have been fun together, I think.
Pfff. He never made a phone out of coconuts, so I think that might be overselling.
poking around in parts of the net that can't be mentioned under board policy, I came across a moonbase alpha technical notebook. Not sure of the origin of it's contents but in the section on the Alpha laser guns, mentions they were powered by the Bergman cell - developed by one Professor V. Bergman which doesn't help us workout his field of speciality. Though I'd say either physics of engineering.
Oh and the same source mentions that Alpha had 40 Eagles.
Well, I'm sure if they'd had any coconuts available...
BTW, what are these people doing for food? I recall reference to a hydroponics area so I assume they're covered for veggies and such. What are they doing for meat though?
@Marc - is this Keith Young's stuff or the old Starlog manual? Desperately seeking copies of Keith Young's S:1999 tech material.
