List of Space: 1999 episodes

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The science fiction television series Space: 1999 produced 48 episodes during its original two-year syndicated run--24 episodes in its first season (production to end of broadcast) (1973 - 1976) and 24 in the second season (production to end of broadcast) (1975 - 1978). The synopses are the original ITC descriptions of the episodes.

In addition to the series' television run, a number of feature films were created out of multiple episodes--some with additional footage--and a semi-official series denoument was filmed for exhibition at the Breakaway 1999 Convention, held in Los Angeles during September of 1999.

Contents

Individual episodes were intended to be broadcast in almost any order. The only guidelines are that "Breakaway" should be the first episode, followed by Season 1 episodes. Then "The Metamorph" should be the first of Season 2, followed by the remaining episodes (there is a two-part episode in the second series). Different regional and national stations showed the series in very different orders. In some cases, this included mixing Season 1 and Season 2 episodes at random.

One preferred order is to use the original production order, to account for subtle changes in sets. For Season 2 episodes, the number of days since the Moon left Earth orbit is often provided in dialog, although this number does not always progress consistently. DVD releases have followed this order as well.

Production number Title Original air date (ATV, UK)
1-01 "Breakaway" October 17, 1975

Suspected radiation from nuclear waste containers threatens a deep space probe from Earth's space research center on the moon. It is a prologue to disaster and mankind's most fantastic adventure. 

1-02 "Matter of Life and Death" January 16, 1976

A man returns from the dead and promise of a new civilization on a planet resembling earth opens for those stranded on the runaway moon. But there is drama ahead. 

1-03 "Black Sun" December 19, 1975

Terror in Outer Space confronts the breakaway moon personnel when on a collision course with an all-devouring "black sun." 

1-04 "Ring Around The Moon" February 20, 1976

The moon becomes a prisoner of an alien planet as an eerie new menace grips Alpha in a ring of light and turns Dr. Helena Russell into an involuntary informer, with death as her threatened reward. 

1-05 "Earthbound" January 23, 1976

Representatives from a dying planet land on the moon. Their spacecraft has been programmed to take them to Earth. Is this an opportunity for key Moonbase personnel to return to Earth? Commander Koenig is faced with unexpected drama. 

1-06 "Another Time, Another Place" February 6, 1976

An eerie phenomenon grips the moon. Moonbase Alpha Personnel become duplicated and come face to face with their future selves on Earth again. But for how long? 

1-07 "Missing Link" February 27, 1976

Commander Koenig finds himself in another world and another time. It is a world of light and beauty. He has to choose between life back again among his companions on the moon and the love of a beautiful girl. Love is the only weapon he can use... 

1-08 "Guardian of Piri" December 26, 1975

A mysterious power from an alien planet takes control of the moon, luring its inhabitants to a paradise of eternal peace but living death. Only one man has the will to resist—Commander Koenig. 

1-09 "Force of Life" October 24, 1975

A terrifying force from Outer Space brings freezing death to Alpha personnel. One man has been chosen as the instrument of destruction. 

1-10 "Alpha Child" November 28, 1975

The first baby is born on the moon...but terrifying events follow with an outer space battle between spaceships deciding the fates of hundreds. 

1-11 "The Last Sunset" March 5, 1976

The prospect of a normal life dangles tantalizingly for the occupants of the runaway moon. Real air and sunshine; a new existence, similar to that on Earth. But there is drama behind the dream. 

1-12 "Voyager's Return" November 21, 1975

Grim danger emerges from the past. Moonbase Alpha is threatened with destruction from an unmanned spacecraft sent up from Earth many years earlier, with tragedy in its wake. Even worse lies ahead from outer space victims seeking revenge. 

1-13 "Collision Course" October 31, 1975

Who is Arra? She is old - older than Earth itself - with a beauty that only age can bring. Commander Koenig's encounter with her is also an encounter with destiny. It all happens when the Moon is on a collision course with a planet many times its size... 

1-14 "Death's Other Dominion" November 14, 1975

Commander Koenig and his colleagues speed through space and time into a chilling world of ice - and meet former inhabitants of earth. 

1-15 "The Full Circle" January 30, 1976

The centuries roll back for the occupants of the moon through a time warp of 40,000 years to the Stone Age, and meeting up with themselves as cavemen. 

1-16 "End of Eternity" January 9, 1976

The Alphans unleash a terrifying power when they free a killer who can't be killed. How can you deal with a psychopath who is immortal? 

1-17 "War Games" November 7, 1975

Moonbase Alpha finds itself at war with an unnamed planet. The outcome is disastrous. Everything is wrecked. But can there be a future for the survivors on the aggressor planet? 

1-18 "The Last Enemy" April 2, 1976

Moonbase Alpha finds itself caught up in a war between two planets—and the wiles of a beautiful woman. 

1-19 "The Troubled Spirit" March 19, 1976

A ghost stalks the moon—the ghost of a living man—bringing horror and death in its wake. 

1-20 "Space Brain" March 12, 1976

Alpha encounters an intangible mass as it heads though space...and towards disaster. Whatever the mysterious energy field might be, it possesses a strange and frightening power. 

1-21 "The Infernal Machine" February 13, 1976

Machine or man? Alpha encounters one of the strangest mysteries of the universe - a living machine. 

1-22 "Mission of the Darians" December 12, 1975

A call for help from the survivors of a dying world…an incredible world that has been flying through space for 900 years, with contrasting inhabitants. Some have never changed; others have reverted to barbarism. But can this offer new hope for the Alphans? 

1-23 "Dragon's Domain" December 5, 1975

A macabre monster in outer space...an eerie graveyard of lost spaceships. Real or imagination? Years of mental torment reach a terrifying climax. 

1-24 "The Testament of Arkadia" March 26, 1976

Is it the end for the moon, or the beginning of a new life? In far-off outer space are found the origins of life on Earth itself as the moon's random progress comes to a sudden, inexplicable halt. 

  • Although not broadcast until the fall of 1975, production of the first episode, "Breakaway", actually began in 1973.
  • The description for "The Black Sun" is modified from the original ITC summary, which states that the moon is on collision course with an asteroid that turns into a black sun. In the episode an asteroid changes course and is destroyed by what the heroes discover to be a "black sun" or black hole.
  • The cynical "War Games", said to be the highest-budgeted single episode of any TV series up to that time, was an overt commentary on humanity's combative nature. Alpha finds itself under attack by an unstoppable alien force that kills much of its population. Yet in another of the series' metaphysical twists, the Alphans are given a second chance at the end, reverting to mere moments prior to the attack so that John Koenig (Landau) can rethink his fateful decisions. (In a reworked version titled "God's Will" created by Canadian video editor Eric Bernard and shown at the MainMission:2000 convention in New York City, this ending is changed so that there is no second chance after Bergman, Kano and Morrow are killed, making the episode a "bridge" between the two seasons. Characters introduced in Year 2 are digitally added to certain key scenes.)
  • "Dragon's Domain" and "Force of Life" were more typical variations on the alien monster theme, although both took a more metaphysical bent. "Dragon's Domain" became essentially a retelling of "Saint George and the Dragon", while "Force of Life" raised questions about what exactly life is, and what forms it could actually take.
  • "Voyager's Return" was essentially an allegory of whether someone who causes death and destruction in the pursuit of knowledge—whether knowingly or not—can truly redeem himself and/or can be forgiven. It also touches on whether an entire populace is responsible for the actions of one of its members.
  • "The Testament of Arkadia"' predated the original Glen Larson Battlestar Galactica by almost three years, in delving into the "life here began out there" concept. The episode also addresses one of the sub-plots that were briefly touched upon throughout Series 1, in that the journey of the Alphans might not have been as happenstance as it appeared to be.
  • "Death's Other Dominion" deals with the question of what price is too much for the advance of medical science; in this case, the search for the cause of an immortality that has already been achieved for reasons unknown.

Production number Title Original air date
2-01 "The Metamorph" September 4, 1976

Terror from a doomed planet—a planet of death, despite advanced scientific knowledge, but a new life for a beautiful girl who has learned the secrets of molecular transformation. 

2-02 "The Exiles" September 11, 1976

Mysterious objects in the space sky. In them: humans from another planet, preserved in a frozen state for 300 years. Two who return to consciousness on the moon have a grim story to tell. But can they be trusted? 

2-03 "One Moment of Humanity" September 25, 1976

A planet of human robots...but their complete mastery over those who have created them needs one further sense. They need the emotion that will enable them to kill. Can they learn from the Alphans? 

2-04 "All That Glisters" October 29, 1976

A battle for life with a rock that pulsates with power, energy, intelligence and purpose...a rock fighting desperately for its own preservation, seeking water that it can obtain only from the Alphans. 

2-05 "Journey to Where" September 18, 1976

The promise of a return to Earth—but the space-wandering Alphans find themselves lost in the midst of time. 

2-06 "The Taybor" November 5, 1976

A boisterous, flamboyant, larger-than-life trader from hyper-space makes a remarkable appearance on the moon—and falls in love with Maya. 

2-07 "The Mark of Archanon" October 15, 1976

A sensational find below the Moon's surface...an imprisoned man and his son. Who are they? How did they get there? How long have they been there? And why? 

2-08 "The Rules of Luton" October 22, 1976

A grim fight for survival takes place between Koenig and Maya and three weird aliens on a planet of living plants. 

2-09 "Brian the Brain" October 1, 1976

Hijacked by a robot—a living machine with a brain, a human voice, and a terrifying secret. 

2-10 "New Adam New Eve" October 8, 1976

A saintly, impressive figure claims to be God, the creator of mankind. He offers Koenig and his companions a new Earth, a new Eden, where life can begin again. But who is he really? What are the fantastic powers he possesses? 

2-11 "The AB Chrysalis" November 19, 1976

A planet on which people enter a chrysalis stage when they reach their allotted span.… Reborn, they attain new heights of mental and physical perfection...but for Moonbase Alpha, the planet threatens disaster. 

2-12 "Catacombs of the Moon" November 26, 1976

Dr. Helena Russell wages a desperate fight for the life of a girl whose husband has visions of Alpha being destroyed by fire...visions made all the more ominous when a fire storm sweeps towards the moon. 

2-13 "Seed of Destruction" November 12, 1976

An ice-cold replica of Commander Koenig takes control of the moon—and orders its destruction. 

2-14 "The Beta Cloud" December 17, 1976

A mystery illness strikes the moon. An eerie cloud utters a sentence of death. And a frightening space creature runs amok. 

2-15 "A Matter of Balance" December 10, 1976

While exploring an apparently lifeless planet a member of Alpha's crew comes under the influence of an "anti-matter" being and suddenly all Alphans are in danger of having their futures swapped for the past...! 

2-16 "Space Warp" December 3, 1976

Eagle 1 gets lost in space and, as if that isn't enough, Moonbase Alpha has problems of its own when Maya's ability to transform herself into any living entity goes out of control. 

2-17 "The Bringers of Wonder Part One" August 4, 1977

Everyone on Moonbase is electrified by the arrival of a spaceship from earth. Everyone, that is, except Commander Koenig. Where the others see long-lost friends and relatives, he sees hideous aliens, bent on taking over the Moonbase... 

2-18 "The Bringers of Wonder Part Two" August 11, 1977

People from Earth have landed on Moonbase Alpha, promising to take the Alphans back home. Commander Koenig, however, sees not fellow human beings, but aliens, and tries to kill some of them. Horrified, Helena stuns him with a laser gun and later, as he lies unconscious in the Medical Center, Koenig is approached by one of the aliens (for that is what they really are) who tries to smother him... 

2-19 "The Lambda Factor" December 24, 1976

A pretty, young Alpha technician dies a horrible and unexplained death. Dr. Russell's experiments reveal that one of the crew is possessed of paranormal mental powers and is trying to take control of Moonbase Alpha.... 

2-20 "The Seance Spectre" August 18, 1977

A new planet is sighted, but is it habitable? By holding a seance, one of Alpha's crew becomes convinced that it is and tries to force Commander Koenig to evacuate all Alphans onto this new, green land. 

2-21 "Dorzak" August 25, 1977

A spaceship arrives on Moonbase Alpha carrying a prisoner, whom Maya is astonished to learn is Dorzak, a survivor from her planet, Psychon. But can he, a man of peace, really be guilty of the crimes of violence for which he is being exiled? 

2-22 "Devil's Planet" September 1, 1977

Answering a distress signal, Commander Koenig is forced to crash-land his Eagle on Entra— moon of the planet Ellna— which turns out to be the planet's penal colony, and Koenig finds himself a prisoner of the beautiful Elizia and her equally beautiful prison guards. 

2-23 "The Immunity Syndrome" May 1, 1978

Commander Koenig and company find what appears to be a habitable planet; but it is ruled by a single being who, in its efforts to make contact with the Alphans, unwittingly puts them in peril of their lives! 

2-24 "The Dorcons" August 28, 1978

The Dorcons—the most powerful race in the galaxy—demand that the Alphans hand Maya over to them. Koenig refuses, until Moonbase Alpha is savagely attacked and invaded! Then, having let them take Maya he makes a desperate attempt to save her.... 

  • The number of days since leaving Earth orbit might allow an interpretation of the calendar date; however, even if the Alphans still use the Gregorian Calendar, Earth has moved forward considerably in time, as evidenced by "Journey To Where," where it is 2120 on Earth. The series was not consistent in how it used this number; the two parts of "Bringers of Wonder", for example, are said to take place hundreds of days apart, which is not possible. If the number of days mentioned throughout the second season are accurate, then the episodes of year two take place over a period of more than five years. Additionally, it is stated in "Dragon's Domain" that it has been 877 days since the moon left orbit.
  • Season 2 aired on ATV over the course of more than a year. Due to the long mid-season gap, some sources consider episodes 2-17 to 2-24 to be a third season. In some parts of Britain, the final episode, "The Dorcons", did not air until the summer of 1978; in others, it was not shown until the 1998 BBC "repeats". Season 2 was available in other markets before Britain - CBC in Canada where Season 2 was completely aired by May, 1977 and 10 episodes were aired before being aired in Britain.

Four films were culled together from various episodes of the series in the 1970s and 1980s. One aim was to provide content for new US and European Cable TV and Satellite TV stations (and, potentially, for theatrical release which occurred in several European countries). A fifth film, Spazio: 1999, was created specifically for theatrical release in Italy. These films (with the exception of Spazio: 1999) were released to home video years before any episodes were officially available in that format.

  • Spazio: 1999 was a 1976 Italian release made up of heavily edited segments from the episodes "Breakaway", "Ring Around the Moon" and "Another Time, Another Place". This obscure release is notable for having a musical score by noted film composer Ennio Morricone, replacing the original television score by Barry Gray.
  • Destination: Moonbase Alpha, released in 1978 by ITC London, was the first widely available re-editing of the series, based upon the two-part second season episode "The Bringers of Wonder." In many countries, this episode could only be seen in the movie form, as it was removed from the syndication package (though the two episodes were restored for the North American DVD release).
  • Alien Attack, released in 1979 by ITC London, retroactively introduced foreign audiences to how Moonbase Alpha came to be travelling through space, by combining the by-now six-year-old pilot episode "Breakaway" with another episode, "War Games", but moving the events far into the 21st Century from 1999. This feature also included new footage shot for this release, specifically scenes at offices of the International Lunar Commission on Earth.
  • Journey Through the Black Sun (1982) made by ITC New York combined the first season episodes "Collision Course" and "Black Sun", though some scenes were cut from both episodes, such as Alan Carter confronting Koenig in "Black Sun".
  • Cosmic Princess (1982) also made by ITC New York, focused on the second-season character Maya and featured the episodes "The Metamorph" and "Space Warp" combined together. The alien's dialogue from "Space Warp" is altered, and the alien's difficulties, and Maya's condition, are staged as being directly related to the events of "The Metamorph" as if they occurred only days before. A small number of scenes such as Maya's father Mentor chiding Maya for what he sees as her misuse of her shapechanging abilities were cut. This release was featured on an early episode of the cult TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000

Some US home video editions of the English-language releases included specially filmed introductions by b-movie queen Sybil Danning. Series stars Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were reportedly upset at this re-packaging and launched legal action.

At the Breakaway 1999 convention held in Los Angeles, California in 1999, a short featurette entitled Message from Moonbase Alpha premiered on, appropriately enough, September 13th. Produced by fans and written by former Space: 1999 story editor Johnny Byrne, the short film features a tearful monologue performed by series regular Zienia Merton in character (and costume) as Sandra Benes.

The premise of the film is that Alpha's life-support systems, after decades of travel, have finally begun to fail. Fortunately, a space warp has propelled the moon within range of an Earth-like planet, dubbed Terra Alpha, and following a vote (which was contested by some), Koenig has made the decision to evacuate Alpha and settle on the planet before the moon travels out of range. Operation Exodus is a gamble, Sandra says, as the planet is an unknown factor; the moon is determined to be entering an orbit of sorts, though it won't return to Terra Alpha for another 25 years.

Meanwhile, Maya has devised a way for Alpha to send a message back to Earth using another space warp, and Sandra - the last Alphan to leave the moon - is given the task of sending a message, although it is not known when or if the message will ever arrive. The film ends with the Meta probe signal featured at the end of the pilot episode "Breakaway," indicating that the first signal the Alphans receive from space is, in fact, one they have sent to themselves from the future. The featurette was shot on a small set using design elements from both Years 1 and 2, and includes character and special effects footage from several episodes, some of which was slightly altered for this featurette.

Aside from Sandra, the only series characters mentioned in the present tense (meaning they are still active at the time of arrival at Terra Alpha) are Maya and John Koenig. Sandra also eulogises several notable Alphans who are now deceased, in particular Professor Bergman and Paul Morrow.

Johnny Byrne devised Message so that it allowed the possibility of a sequel series. According to Byrne's revival concept, the series would take place some 25 years after the events in Message, and feature the children of the Alphans who leave Terra Alpha when the Moon and its Moonbase mysteriously return. Although there was some press and fan speculation at the end of 1999, there has been no more proposals or development to date.

Initially, it was announced that Message from Moonbase Alpha could only ever be shown at conventions due to licencing issues, however A&E home video was able to obtain the rights to the short and it is available as part of the complete Space: 1999 DVD boxed set.

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