Episode Guide: Year Two
Title: "The Metamorph"
Within this page: Overview | Backplot | Plot Synopsis | Unanswered Questions | Analyses/Observations | Comments | Memorable Lines
Overview
Moonbase Alpha meets Mentor of the planet Psychon... and Maya.
Production Number: 001 (Season Two)
Original U.K. airing week: 4 September 1976 (ATV Midlands)
Original U.S. airing week: 4 September 1976 (syndication)
Written by Johnny Byrne
Directed by Charles Crichton
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.
- (Most) Alphans have survived various cosmic forces in Year One. "The Metamorph" sets the stage for the more action-oriented Year Two.
- Absent from Year Two: Professor Victor Bergman, Paul Morrow, David Kano, and Tanya Alexander, among others. No explanation for their absence is given or hinted at, save for an exorcised mention within Johnny Byrne's original script. (See John Muir's "The Foresaken" book for one possibility.)
- Tony Verdeschi, a security officer, is now John Koenig's second-in-command, replacing controller Paul Morrow.
- Main Mission is no longer used as the main control area for Moonbase Alpha. An underground section, named Command Center, is used instead.
Plot Synopsis
(From the original ITC Press Release.)
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.
Annette Fraser (ANOUSKA HEMPLE) watches in horror as pictures on Moonbase Alpha's Command Centre screen show her husband's Eagle enveloped in a ball of light which drags it towards a planet, later to be known as Psychon. The two pilots, Bill Fraser (JOHN HUG) and Ray Torens (NICK BRIMBLE), have been on a flight to reconnoitre the planet which may provide the rare metal titanium urgently needed for the repair of one of the moon's damaged life support systems.
Then the face of an alien, introducing himself as Mentor (BRIAN BLESSED), appears on the screen. Persuaded by Commander John Koenig (MARTIN LANDAU) that the Eagle's mission was peaceful, he offers to return the pilots if another Eagle is sent to collect them.
Koenig takes Dr. Helena Russell (BARBARA BAIN) with him, together with pilot Alan Carter (NICK TATE) and Lew Picard (GERALD PAQUIS) to the monitoring equipment. But a space rendezvous is not kept. They are trapped into landing on the planet... and encounter the sickening sight of strange creatures part humanoid, part animal, working as miners, all obviously suffering from brain damage which has turned them into virtual zombies. One of them is the pilot Torens!
Caught agonizingly in the force field, the Alphans are helpless, but Koenig is able to reach Mentor - and to come face to face with a wild animal which is immediately transformed into a startlingly beautiful girl. It is his introduction to Mentor's daughter Maya (CATHERINE SCHELL), and realization that here on Psychon they have mastered the secrets of molecular transformation and that this fascinating girl can become anything she wishes, changing into any form of living organism.
The powers, and tragedy, of Psychon are soon revealed to him as Mentor shows him a biological computer, created and fed from the minds and bodies of those of his people who survived the disaster which overwhelmed them when nature ran wild and turned the planet into a volcanic furnace.
Mentor believes he can change it back into the beautiful world it was and that it's civilization can begin again. But the computer needs energy to complete the task - energy that is only found in the minds of intelligent life forms. He needs the Alphans!
Koenig resists, better for the moon to be destroyed, as Mentor threatens, than to doom his people to a terrifying form of living death with the other pitiful objects he has seen. Forced to play for time, he feigns defeat and transmits an order to Moonbase Alpha that it should be evacuated.
This time, it is Koenig who has tricked Mentor. A codeword in his instructions is understood. But when Mentor realizes this, Koenig has one remaining card to play. He is certain that Maya is ignorant of her father's psychopathic ruthlessness towards his own people. She must be convinced and only her molecular transformation skill can enable her to do this and to help in the final destruction of the doomed planet, with only just sufficient time for the Alpha to get away and force Maya into accompanying them. Two Alphans, Torens and Picard, have died. But for Maya, there is a new life. There is room on the moon for a girl with her remarkable scientific knowledge.
SPACE 1999 - SERIES II
CAST LIST
EPISODE NO 1 - "THE METAMORPH"
DIRECTOR - CHARLES CRICHTON
KOENIG - MARTIN LANDAU
HELENA - BARBARA BAIN
TONY VERDESCHI (formerly Simon Hayes) - TONY ANHOLT
ALAN CARTER - NICK TATE
ANNETTE FRASER - ANOUSKA HEMPLE
BILL FRASER - JOHN HUG
SAHN - ZIENIA MERTON
LEW PICARD - GERARD PAQUIS
RAY TORENS - NICK BRIMBLE
PETROV (formerly Jameson) - PETER PORTEOUS
1ST OPERATIVE - SARAH BULLEN
SMALL CHIPPING ALIEN - JOHN DIXON
ZOMBIE CHIPPING ALIEN - NEIL McCAUL
OVERSEER - GEORGE LANE COOPER
COLOURED CHIPPING ALIEN - ROY STEWART
DR. MATHIAS - ANTON PHILLIPS
MAYA - CATHERINE SCHELL
OVERSEER - ALF JOINT
MENTOR - BRIAN BLESSED
Unanswered Questions
Analyses/Observations
Comments
- Season Two ("Year Two") of the series differs noticeably from the first, due to a large number of cast changes as well as set redecoration, redesigned uniforms, and a move towards more action-oriented stories.
- Actress Teresa Graves was Executive Producer Freddie Freiberger's first choice for the role of Maya. Gerry Anderson said his first choice was Catherine Schell. Graves, an African American, was best known for roles on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and the lead on Get Christie Love. She passed away 9 October 2002 at age 53 in a space heater-sparked fire in her Hyde Park, Los Angeles, California apartment.
- Catherine Schell and John Hug both commented at the MainMission:2000 convention on the fact that the men took longer than the women in makeup. And that Nick Tate and Martin Landau were quite concerned with the status of their hair.
- Maya's makeup underwent a subtle change as Season Two goes on. Initially, she has brown ears as large "sideburns." In later episodes, her ears are normal colored, and her sideburns are thinned out.
- In England, the second season was broadcast over the course of two years, with part shown in the autumn/winter of 1976-77, then a season break until August 1977, with new episodes running into the fall. The final two episodes were broadcast months apart in 1978.
- A third season of 13 episodes was planned, with production set to start in the autumn of 1977, however low sales of the series in America forced a last-minute cancellation.
- The Tony Verdeschi character (played by Tony Anholt) was originally named Simon Hayes. Supplemental Italian television funding led to the character's name change.
- Barry Morse decided to leave after the first season had ended and the explanation given for his character's (Professor Bergman) absence was that he died after his artificial heart failed. In a conversation with Space1999.org webmaster Michael Faries at MainMission: 2000, Mr. Morse cited that his agent failed to secure more $$ for his role. His role may have been downsized dramatically, too, had he returned. At that point, he opted to move on. Executive Producer Freddie Freiberger also exhibited signs of ageism -- and not wanting the older actor mixed with a refreshed cast of younger actors.
Memorable Lines
"Do something, Alpha, for god's sake, do something!" - Bill Fraser
"Would I make a good Alphan, father?" - Maya
"John. There are no life forms on that ship. Fraser, Torens, they're not on it." - Tony Verdeschi
"She won't take it! She'll break up!" - Alan Carter "Boosters, full power!" - John Koenig
"It's like a graveyard of spaceships." - Helena Russell "And we're right in the middle of it." - John Koenig
"Be patient with her, Tony. They have only been married two months." - Sandra (Sahn) Benes
"My father would harm no one. Come. He wants to see you." - Maya
"You've seen this planet. A volcanic furnace. Through Psyche I shall transform it, change it back into the beautiful world it once was. A world fit enough for our civilization to begin again." - Mentor
"Commander, Psyche! Psyche needs energy to complete her task. Energy that is only found in the minds of intelligent life forms. In other words, Commander, she... needs your Alphans." - Mentor
"Refuse what I ask and I shall reduce your Moon to ashes." - Mentor
"What is directive four?" - Sandra (Sahn) Benes "It's a coded signal. A clear instruction to destroy the place it originated from." - Tony Verdeschi
"No, Commander! No more! Release Psyche's energy will destroy the whole planet! No!" - Mentor
"I was in the pits. I saw what was down there, I saw!" - Maya
"Everywhere, but on Psychon, I'll be an alien." - Maya "We're all aliens. Until we get to know one another." - John Koenig
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