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Episode Guide: Year One

Title: "Testament of Arkadia"

Overview

The Moon is mysteriously pulled into orbit about a seemingly dead world... and humanity's origins may be revealed.

Production Number: 024 (Season One)
- filmed Tuesday, February 11th - Tuesday, February 25th, 1975

Original U.K. airing week: 12 February 1976 (ATV Midlands)
Original U.S. airing week: 26 March 1976 (syndication)
Written by Johnny Byrne
Directed by David Tomblin

Backplot

In the year 1999, lunar nuclear waste storage dumps have exploded, due to magnetic radiation, sending Earth's moon into interstellar space. The inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha, unable to escape, are seeking a new home.
The Alphans have lost Tony Cellini and defeated a monster in the previous episode, "Dragon's Domain."

Plot Synopsis

(From the original ITC Press Release.)

View additional images
from the episode,
"Testament of Arkadia."

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.

Since the time the Moon broke out of its orbit, life for it's Earth inhabitants has taken on a semblance of normality, but with one ever-present imponderable question mark. Where is it heading for? It's direction cannot be controlled.

Now suddenly and alarmingly, it comes to a complete halt. At the same time the power drops and continues to drop at such a rate that it soon becomes terrifyingly clear that life cannot be sustained for more than a matter of days.

The only possible explanation is influence emanating from an unidentified planet which is within flying distance, and Commander Koenig (MARTIN LANDAU) has no option. A visit must be paid to the planet. He chooses the team with care - Dr. Helena Russell (BARBARA BAIN) Professor Bergman (BARRY MORSE), pilot Alan Carter (NICK TATE) and specialists Luke Ferro (ORSO MARIA GUERRINI) and Anna Davis (LISA HARROW).

The planet is dead, with no signs of habitation. There are rock formations and petrified, leafless trees, all indicating that this was once a living world. But whatever it was that struck it was a long, long time ago. The atmosphere has now stabilised. Then, in a cave, they find human skeletons and inscriptions on the wall which Bergman identifies as being Sanskrit. Anna Davis a trained philogist, recognises it as a very early form of the basic mother of English and, with Luke Ferro's help is able to translate what was the last message from the dead world of Arkadia, but with a declaration that Arkadia lives on in the bodies, hearts and minds of those who left in time, taking the seeds of a new beginning.

Realization dawns, confirmed by identification of the trees as those native to Earth... Earth originated on this planet, the seeds of life carried to a new planet by those who escaped the holocaust!

Koenig has a grim decision to make. The Moon's power loss has now dropped to the point when everyone will freeze to death within a day. Evacuation to Arkadia is the only hope. The chances of survival are slim, but they will at least be buying time. Then, quite suddenly, the power loss ceases. Plans to evacuate are cancelled.

But Luke and Anna have been strangely affected. It is as though they have received some sort of message. They are in love and determined to live on the planet, tricking Koenig into providing supplies and spacecraft to take them there. It is their destiny. The Arkadians brought life to Earth. Now life must be brought back to the dead world of Arkadia.

And as they reach their Eden, full power returns to the Moon and, once again, it is on the move. The search for a new home continues...

SCREENPLAY BY JOHNNY BYRNE

DIRECTED BY DAVID TOMBLIN

Guest Stars:
ORSO MARIA GUERRINI
LISA HARROW

with

PRENTIS HANCOCK as PAUL MORROW
CLIFTON JONES as DAVID KANO
ZIENIA MERTON as SANDRA BENES
ANTON PHILLIPS as DR. MATHIAS
NICK TATE as ALAN CARTER

Unanswered Questions

Analyses/Observations

Comments

In an interview with John K. Muir, writer/script editor Johnny Byrne discussed some insights into "Testament of Arkadia":

Muir: "Any thoughts on 'Testament of Arkadia' and the notion of a story arc?"

Byrne: "It's interesting, but the thing that is pinpointed as the weakness of Space: 1999, the premise, is in fact the stepping stone into everything that happened, all those inexplicable things. And if you take the even larger arc view, you seem to learn more about the series."

"In your book, you spotted an overall arc, and I think you are right. It is there, but it has this almost unconscious kind of sweep. On most normal TV, the writers look for the purpose of it all, what is the point of it all. I think on Space: 1999, it is nearly subliminal. The very circumstances of this story, of this epic journey, became, I believe, an unconscious arc. Had we been aware of it, perhaps we would have taken on a much more directed theme. Unconsciously, we started seeing similarities and patterns, and a way things could happen. The further into the show we got, the more we mirrored the Alphans in their situations, because it was happening to us on that very level. That carried over into the stories, the way in which the humanity of the thing unfolded."

Muir: I thought I had read somewhere that you were unhappy with 'Arkadia.'"

Byrne: "Oh no. I wasn't happy when we started on the show because the budget was so limited. But 'Dragon's Domain' had just been done, and it used the technique of the voiceover. I realized this was a valuable perspective and decided to use it in 'Testament of Arkadia.' It's a very useful technique because it can help you bridge over story gaps. Also, it lends viewers the notion that what they are seeing is history, in the past. For an origin myth, looking back across 10,000, 3,000 or even 300 years of history, that seemed very appropriate to me."

Muir: "Was 'Testament of Arkadia' designed to be the end?"

Byrne: "Absolutely not. It was just another step along the way. Had we known the series was ending, I would have wanted to culminate with 'Children of the Gods.' [One of Byrne's unfilmed scripts.] That was a story that put the series into perspective as an origin myth. We'd be looking back at the Alphans from the vantage point of tens of thousands of years in the future."

Memorable Lines

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