Hot Picks
|
|
|
Space 1999 - Catacombs of the Moon
episode 2.13
UK 1976
produced by Gerry Anderson, Fred Freiberger for ITC
directed by Robert Lynn
starring Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Catherine Schell, Tony Anholt, Zienia Merton, James Laurenson, Pamela Stephenson, Jeffery Kissoon, Lloyd McGuire, Brendan Price, Alan Hunter, Nova Llewellyn
screenplay by Anthony Terpiloff, created by Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson, music by Derek Wadsworth, special effects by Brian Johnson
TV-series Space 1999
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
|
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
|
|
To keep Moonbase Alpha running on their runaway moon, the Alphans mine
the moon for tiranium that appears to be an all-purpose mineral driving
the base - but so far none can be found - much to the dismay of mining
chief Osgood (James Laurenson), whose wife Michelle (Pamela Stephenson) is
in desperate need of a new heart that can of course only be driven by
tiranium. So he risks more and more when mining until he gets slightly
injured on the head during an explosion, which gives him a vision of Alpha
going up in flames. He is quick to attribute the vision to his faith ...
and soon becomes something like a crazy prophet. That said, it's getting
hotter and hotter on Alpha, so much so that many Alphans ditch their
uniforms for swimwear (really) - but soon the situation gets more serious
than that, so much so that Osgood's "vision" doesn't sound so
far-fetched anymore. So Commander Koenig (Martin Landau) flies towards the
source of that heatwave, which turns out to be a giant glowing disk
floating through space - and heading towards the moon. On moon, Dr.
Russell (Barbara Bain) desperately tries to create an artificial heart
that doesn't need tiranium to keep Michelle alive, but fails again and
again. The good doctor begs the commander for tiranium, but he refuses to
spare any in a critical situation like this. Meanwhile Osgood figures the
only way to save himself and his wife is to sit it out in the catacombs
under the base, so he snatches her from sickbay and drags her to down,
convinced that his faith will protect her better than whatever the doctor
can do while totally ignoring that this might actually kill her. Tony
(Tony Anholt), who has been left in charge in Koenig's absence, meanwhile
allows Dr. Russell a small dose of tiranium, figuring if the base is going
up in flames it doesn't matter anymore, then goes to fetch Osgood and
wife, but Osgood refuses to return to the station and what's more to give
up his wife. So Tony calls the local shapeshifter Maya (Catherine Schell),
who promptly turns into a tiger and keeps Osgood occupied while Tony
snatches his wife and returns her to sickbay just in time to be
transplanted a new heart. And Osgood, seeing his wife recovering, quickly
loses his religious fervor - while the giant heating disk passes by the
moon, with the temperature dropping again as it floats away and everything
goes back to normal. What was the disk then? No explanation given, but
it might just as well have been a sentient being giving Osgood all his
visions ... Not one of the better (neither funnier) episodes of
the series, the central problem is that it doesn't allow any emotional
investment into its central characters Osgood and wife, as he's pretty
much shown as that religious fanatic almost from the start, and even in
the one scene before he's shown as nothing short of reckless. Michelle on
the other hand isn't allowed any characteristics at all, other than that
she's pretty and (due to her condition) helpless. And as for the
extraterrestrial menace Alpha encounters - it's not really explained at
all, and ultimately just passes with no lasting effects at all, and what's
worse no narrative resolution. Sure there's a bit of camp in the episodes
- the Alphans in swimwear comes to mind -, but other than nostalgia,
there's little reason to watch this one.
|
|
|