Destination: Moonbase Alpha (50 page)

What it comes down to is that Barry Morse
did
want to return to the series, despite whatever reservations he had about the quality of the scripts in the first year. He even went so far as to accept, eventually, the huge pay decrease being offered him – but it was in vain. Clearly, his participation was not desired, as has been acknowledged by Fred Freiberger: ‘We had big discussions about how to explain the disappearance of Professor Bergman, that he had a disease or something … Barry Morse is an excellent actor, but I felt his part was all wrong … I have great respect for Marty and Barbara, but I think science fiction should have young faces.’ It can be easily concluded that Freiberger never really intended for Barry Morse to return to the series. Was the original offer of the pay decrease a ploy to string him along long enough for them to come up with the statement, ‘Other plans made’? Anderson certainly shrank from his ample opportunities to speak with Morse personally. Additionally, it must be noted that production on Year Two did not begin until 26 January 1976 – well over a month after Morse attempted to accept the original offer presented to him. If there had been any desire on the part of the producers to return Morse to the cast, there was plenty of time to do it in, and to add his character into whatever scripts were being formulated. But it didn’t happen.

So, Professor Bergman’s presence was lost, and his character was never mentioned again in the series. Fred Freiberger proclaimed: ‘Gerry was in charge of physical production. He was Executive Producer on the show. Nothing could go by unless it was okayed by him. But if people thought there was an error … that we didn’t explain the characters, that’s my fault. Like with the Tony Anholt character, or Barry Morse … I just felt that it wasn’t necessary at the time to explain the changes … It’s best if you don’t start explaining things. Generally in a show you don’t want to explain – it seems heavy-handed.’

What Freiberger misjudged the most was the popularity of Morse and his character: in all the years since the series was produced, Bergman has proven to be
the
single most popular character in either year of the programme. The loss of Morse was widely felt by viewers and by those who had worked with him. Martin Landau has said: ‘[Barry] was wonderful … He was always prepared, completely professional and always very good. He was a joy to work with. Barry was always there for you when you needed a friend, and I value the time we spent together … I was very sad when Barry didn’t return to the series in its second, and final, season. Barbara and I fought to get Barry back on the show to no avail … The series was never as good without his character, Victor Bergman. He lent a large chunk of class to the series, and we missed his presence on the set immensely, not to mention on the screen.’ Zienia Merton has said: ‘Barry Morse was smashing and I thought it was a pity he wasn’t with us for the second season, because he was a very good balance for us.’ Johnny Byrne commented about Morse, and about the tone of Year One in general: ‘The particular cleverness of Barry Morse’s portrayal of Bergman was that when he said, “I don’t know,” what he was really saying was, “I might know, but I’m not telling you” … I could watch Prentis and Barry Morse and Martin Landau talking forever while they’re waiting for the black hole to swallow them up. It doesn’t matter that it’s slow and people are not running around and bashing each other on the head. It’s important that they’re in that situation, they’re sharing something warm and human, and they’re also discussing interesting philosophical thoughts, as they occur.’

It can now be easily suggested that a degree of Morse’s subsequent criticism of
Space: 1999
resulted from the disrespectful way he was treated by the show’s producers, which coloured his recollections of the show. In later years, he reflected: ‘I have been delighted to learn that Martin fought “like a tiger” for me to come back to the show. I wasn’t aware of that at the time, but I can imagine it was the kind of friendly thing he would have done, and I’m very grateful to hear it. It’s always amused me that I disappeared without any trace. People used to ask me, and still do sometimes, “Whatever happened to Victor Bergman? Why did he suddenly disappear?” and I’d say, “Well, I guess he fell off the back of the Moon.”’

It was a joke that Morse enjoyed repeating, but there was an edge of truth to it, and it would be more accurate now to say that Professor Bergman was
pushed
off the back of the Moon – by Gerry Anderson and Fred Freiberger.

THE
SPACE: 1999
NETWORK

Movie industry news source
Screen International
reported on 22 November 1975 that Year One of
Space: 1999
was an international success. This was followed on 15 December 1975 by a press report from ITC that stated, ‘Sir Lew Grade announced that due to the extraordinary success of
Space: 1999
in the United States and the rest of the world, we have decided to make another series of 24 one-hour episodes. The production will commence at Pinewood Studios in the middle of January 1976.’

ITC advertised in
Variety
on 28 January 1976: ‘Within 24 hours after the announcement of second year production, stations representing 42% of US TV homes renewed … Within the same 24 hour period, 69 countries renewed, including Canada’s CBC network.’

Abe Mandell stated, ‘The world-wide acclaim and popularity that characterised the first year of
Space: 1999
provides an inspiring platform for the second year. We will build on the success of
Space: 1999
… Fast action will be the keynote, human emotion the propelling force and life-or-death suspense the theme in our sci-fi hours … In 27 years in the entertainment business, I have never been as enthusiastic as I am about the second year of
Space: 1999
… We are riding the crest of a huge wave of popularity throughout the world of science fiction … We are on top of this crest with the only
new
science fiction series … The world is going wild for sci-fi.’

ITC’s self-branded ‘
Space: 1999
Network’ issued its own ‘Network News’ publication, serving to promote the series to its affiliate stations in the US. Indeed, the second issue began with the statement, ‘Welcome to new affiliates of the
Space: 1999
Network! The
Space: 1999
Network has been formed by ITC to better service those stations telecasting the only new sci-fi series. The Newsletter will keep you abreast of advertising, promotion and publicity plans by ITC and stations across the [US] telecasting the spectacular sci-fi series of the 1970s.’

One story of note, excerpted from the
Space: 1999
‘Network News’, Issue 2: ‘The Bicentennial Time Capsule in Kauai, Hawaii was spotlighted by ITC’s contribution of the video cassette recording of the first episode of
Space: 1999
… In his letter to the people of Kauai, to be opened in the Tri-centennial year of 2076, Abe Mandell, president of ITC, said, “Our objective was to entertain television audiences throughout the world with exciting adventures in space. Based on the widespread acceptance of the series, we feel we accomplished that and, as an added benefit, hope that we helped stimulate interest in space exploration, an exciting endeavour we trust has continued and pray will continue for many, many years.”’

Changes to the regular cast were radical. Freiberger felt no connection to the characters he saw in the first season episodes and intended to replace all of them – apart from those of stars Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. He later recalled his impressions of Bain and Landau: ‘When I had spoken on the phone to Barbara [Bain], whom I had never met, she was charming and delightful. I tried to give her more to do. I tried to give her character some sense of humour, because she’s a natural in social situations. She’s sharp; she knows story and character very well. Marty Landau was a delight, an excellent actor and fun on the set … He tells beautiful stories.’

Gone were Prentis Hancock, Clifton Jones, Suzanne Roquette and, most significantly, Barry Morse, whose negotiations to return to the series had come to an unfortunate end on 17 December. Morse later noted: ‘I’ve seen only odd snippets of shows done in the second series. I’m not a devoted TV watcher in any event, but I certainly didn’t want to be taking up a lot of time watching what they were doing after I left. From what I’ve seen from the few glimpses I have had, the storylines got even more extravagant and wild. Whether the fans are merely being polite to me or not, the impression I get is that quite substantially the first series is regarded as being better than the second series. Well, as you know, I had my reservations about the first series, so I don’t know what that says about the second! I do know that Martin and Barbara and I – having formed a very close and loving professional association during the shooting of the first series – were all rather regretful I was not going to be with them for the second series.’

Prentis Hancock also reflects on his departure from the series: ‘Ultimately, I think, I was disappointed. At the time, no: I was quite surprised. It would have been nice to be informed. But, he who pays the piper calls the tune. The producers hired me, and I did the series. I was then free and at liberty to do anything else I liked, and I did. I learned that the series was going again, but it was a very strange season, and it had problems. I think a few years down the line I looked back and I was rather disappointed. It had meant more to me than I realised … For me to weave a fantasy about how life might have been if I had done series two is nonsense … It’s a shame, I think. There was probably more to be made with that series. In some ways it was a ’60s series, in the ’70s. The world had changed … But you cannot control things. Many series go down the drain that you think would have been lovely, and others, well … and they seem to be successful. I don’t think we can control anything in life.

‘I was disappointed with the way series two went. I knew all about the budgetary stuff, and what have you. I wasn’t asked to join series two, so I got on with my life as an actor. But I heard funny stories, and I got the odd message saying, “You’re probably better off where you are.” So that was quite rewarding for me in one sense, but I kept an eye out on the people who were involved…

‘Paul Morrow wouldn’t have fit into series two, and from what I hear Zienia tell me, I wouldn’t have fit into series two, because I wouldn’t have been there on those terms. In the first series, everybody made me very welcome. We were joined by Nick, Zienia,
Clifton and Anton, and we did form a team. There were the stars up there on the top shelf, and then there was us. We gave the whole thing backbone and we were there all the time … Paul Morrow [must have been] killed, or atomised, or whatever happened … Actually, I think he went on holiday. He went with Victor Bergman and took up guitar playing, or chess manoeuvres. Perhaps he thought he’d join
The Hitchhiker’s Guide
and see how it went. I think Paul wouldn’t have coped with series two and would have had a nervous breakdown.’

By 22 December 1975, Johnny Byrne’s script ‘The Biological Soul’ (originally written for the Year One format and cast) had been revised as ‘The Biological Computer’ and introduced for the first time the character of Maya, who – as portrayed by Catherine Schell – eventually became one of the most memorable and defining aspects of
Space: 1999
. An emotional alien from the planet Psychon, capable of molecular transformation, she could become any living thing at will: monster, person, plant or animal. Freiberger created the character and envisioned her as Moonbase Alpha’s science officer. The usage of ‘Maya’ as a moniker for a metamorph has been interpreted by fans in many ways over the years; one of the most significant meanings is that ‘Maya’ is the Sanskrit word for ‘illusion’.

Fred Freiberger stated: ‘We went after Teresa Graves for Maya. We wanted her but we heard she was deep into religion and had gone into retreat somewhere – had left acting. The original Maya was to have been a black girl. We did test a lot of black girls in
England. Abe Mandell recommended Catherine Schell; we looked at the
Return of the Pink Panther
film she was in and were quite impressed. The character of Maya was a tough concept to sell to the British writers, but for some reason, easier to sell to the Americans. I knew that science fiction fans would accept this character if we did it right.’

Catherine Schell said: ‘I know they had a tremendous problem casting Maya. It was all very strange. I was visiting some friends and I had lunch at their house that day. I hadn’t worked for some time and I was a little bit desperate, and the friend’s husband told me, “Don’t worry about it Catherine. When you get home there will be a telephone call and you will get a wonderful job.” I said to him, “But Gerald, it’s Sunday. Agents don’t work on Sunday.” When I got home, the phone rang. It was Gerry Anderson. He said, “Excuse me for ringing you up personally, but we have a huge problem. We’re desperate to cast this part in
Space: 1999
as a regular, and I’d love to see you and talk about it. Can I send my chauffer-driven Rolls Royce to come and pick you up?” I said, “But of course.” I drove out and we had a long chat at his house, and he offered me the part. That’s when Gerry actually said, “We are doing another series. We are introducing another character, and we would be very interested if you would play that character, and it’s the character of an alien.” The only alien that I’d seen up until then was Mr Spock, with the long ears. I said, “No ears!” It just sort of developed from there.’ Schell also recalled actor Barry Morse from their time working together on
The Adventurer
: ‘We got on very well. He’s a nice man, and it was sad he wasn’t in Year Two.’