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Space 1999 - Death's other Dominion
episode 1.5
UK / Italy 1975
produced by Sylvia Anderson, Gerry Anderson (executive) for Group 3/ITC, RAI
directed by Charles Crichton
starring Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Barry Morse, Nick Tate, Brian Blessed, John Shrapnel, Mary Miller, Valerie Leon, Prentis Hancock, Zienia Merton, Clifton Jones, Anton Phillips, Suzanne Roquette
screenplay by Anthony Terpiloff, Elizabeth Barrows, created by Gerry Anderson, Sylvia Anderson, music by Barry Gray
TV-series Space 1999
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Earth's runaway moon passes an iceplanet which seems not the least bit
inviting, so the crew of Moonbase Alpha decide to not investigate the
planet any further, when suddenly they are contacted from the planet ...
& soon, the usual skeleton crew - commander Koenig (Martin Landau),
Helena Russell MD (Barbara Bain), scientist Victor (Barry Morse) &
crack pilot Alan (Nick Tate) go down to investigate - but soon enough they
get seperated & get lost ... until all of them are saved by the
natives who have radioed them.
& these natives turn out to be earthlings like the Alphans, the
crew of a lost Uranus mission who have somehow made it to the other end of
the universe, & have, led by their on-board scientist Rowland (Brian
Blessed), made this icey desert their home. & Rowland wants the
Alphans to stay (on a planet of ice, I don't know ...), & even
promises them eternal life (for some reason, the Uranus crew has achieved
that on the ice planet, & they are now all 800 years old), & all
the Alphans seem to be taken by the idea (... now wait a minute, they want
to live on an ice planet ? Forever ? Please ...), all but Koenig, whom the
Uranus crew's half-crazed pilot Jack (John Shrapnel) shows what has become
of several of the crew in an attempt to attain immortality ... they have
turned into living walking vegetable.
Suddenly the prospect of immortality doesn't seem all that cool to him
anymore, but he just fails to convince the others, & furthermore
Rowlands asks to be taken to Alpha, to suggest moving to his plantet to
the whole crew, a wish Koenig can't deny him ... but on the flight to
Alpha, somehow Rowland's immortality comes to an aprupt end & he
immediately decomposes ... which makes this planet uninhabitable for the
Alphans.
A story that features all the usual spaced out sci-fe theories &
pseudo philosophy, peppered with a bit of simple stupidity & the
occasional lack of reason, that makes Space 1999 such an
endearing if utterly insignificant science fiction series. & Brian
Blessed handles his role of the benevolent villain competently as could be
expected from him, only John Shrapnel as halfcrazy Jack of Fools manages
to get on one's nerves right away.
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