Destination: Moonbase Alpha (68 page)

The most unfortunate aspect of ‘The Bringers of Wonder’ is the way the Alphans and the Bringers act based purely on the perception that the other race is ugly. The Bringers conclude that the Alphans are unworthy of living, while the Alphans’ response seems to be that women should scream and weapons should be fired. That said, the audience is left with some tempting lines of thought to pursue in relation to the Bringers of Wonder. Were they really from a different dimension? With their limited kinetic energy and obvious ability to transport themselves, why did they need a spaceship, and how could they manage to operate it? Where did they go at the end of the episode? With his winning scripts for both ‘New Adam New Eve’ and now ‘The Bringers of Wonder’, it’s a shame that Terence Feely didn’t contribute further to the series. Director Tom Clegg meanwhile proves his adeptness with action sequences, and his work will be seen again on the upcoming episodes ‘Devil’s Planet’ and ‘The Dorcons’.

‘The Bringers of Wonder’ stands as a clear and pure Year Two vision in every way – style, feel, look and moral statements. It is also, due to the two-part length and well-known feature compilation
Destination Moonbase Alpha
, one of the most significant episodes of the season. But while it is undeniably highly entertaining, ‘The Bringers of Wonder’ ultimately remains a step below the best that the series had already produced, and that it would deliver again.

Rating:
7.5/10

2.19

THE LAMBDA FACTOR

Screenplay by Terrance Dicks

Directed by Charles Crichton

Selected Broadcast Dates:

UK
              LWT:

             
Date: 8 October 1977.               Time: 11.00 am

             
Granada:

             
Date: 20 November 1977.               Time: 1.15 pm

US
              KRON (San Francisco):

             
Date: 12 February 1977.               Time: 7.00 pm

Credited Cast: Martin Landau
(John Koenig),
Barbara Bain
(Helena Russell),
Catherine Schell
(Maya),
Tony Anholt
(Tony Verdeschi),
Nick Tate
(Alan Carter),
Zienia Merton
(Sandra Benes),
Antony Stamboulieh
(George Crato),
Michael Walker
(Carl Renton),
Gregory de Polnay
(Pete Garforth),
Lydia Lisle
(Sally Martin),
Lucinda Curtis
(Tessa),
Dallas Adams
(Sam)

Guest Stars: Deborah Fallender
(Carolyn Powell),
Jess Conrad
(Mark Sanders)

Uncredited Cast: Robert Reeves
(Operative Peter Reeves),
Shane Rimmer
(Maintenance Section Voice),
Glenda Allen
(Operative G Allen),
Harry Fielder
(Command Centre Operative),
Jenny Cresswell
(Alphan)

Plot:
A strange space phenomenon increases the psychic abilities inherent in the Alphans. One woman, Carolyn Powell, is especially vulnerable and uses her new powers to take control of Alpha. The only person with the psychic ability to stop her is John Koenig, but he is in danger of losing his own mind due to the same phenomenon.

Quotes:

• Sandra:
  ‘Minor bugs, Commander. False signals … ghosts.’
  
• Maya:
  ‘I can only go by my instruments, Commander. I assume they are less fallible in their readouts than humans.’
  
• Alan:
  ‘Maya – you sure play rough, honey.’
  
• Koenig:
  ‘How do I command this base if I’m losing my mind?’
  
• Carolyn:
  ‘Down on your knees, Mr Verdeschi. Now I command Alpha. Call me Commander!’
  
• Helena
  :
  ‘Your ghosts hate you. Your ghosts are a creation of your own mind.’
  
• Helena
  :
  ‘We were caught in a telepathic web.’
  

On-screen Date:
2,308 days since leaving Earth orbit.

Filming Dates:
Sunday 19 September – Friday 15 October 1976

Commentary:

Zienia Merton:
‘There was a scene with a chimp, where Maya transforms into a chimp in “The Lambda Factor”. Well, I saw it coming, and I’m not a very brave person. Those chimps are quite strong. They weigh about six stone – they’re not little monkeys. The director was Charles Crichton (all the best things always happened with Charlie, he really was a lovely man, absolutely smashing … but so wicked) and he said to me, “Okay, Zienia, we’ll have Catherine leaning here …” I’m always very careful to position myself well away from special effects. This was a sequence where we all had to freeze, and this chimp was wonderful. It sat on my console, and three cameras were shooting this scene to get as much footage as possible. The chimp suddenly thought we were all very funny, because we had all frozen, so he sat there looking at me, and because I didn’t move, he turned upside down, and of course I was dying to giggle, but I had to suppress myself. All those off set were killing themselves laughing and we, in front of the cameras, had to remain frozen. Then the chimp noticed a television screen, started twiddling the knobs, and I was still trying to keep a straight face. And then he suddenly got down and got hold of my leg and got very affectionate, and then finally he crossed the set, as he was supposed to do …

Tony Anholt:
[Regarding animals used in the filming] ‘One I recall was a black panther, and they had the whole of the set [made as] a giant cage with the trainer there and the cameraman looking very worried as the beast seemingly leapt at him. They had a chimp, too, in “The Lambda Factor”. It had to climb over my face, and it slobbered all over me – fairly disgusting.’

Terrance Dicks:
‘I wrote a very weird episode for
Space: 1999
, and the whole experience was very strange. Basically, I heard from my agent that they were making the show in England and were going to take a certain number of scripts from English writers. I went down to Pinewood, where they were making it, and had a very peculiar meeting with Fred Freiberger, who was the American producer and terribly high-powered. He said, “We’re in the middle of discussing our storyline, aren’t we?” I said, “No.” Then he said, “But you’ve read all our material and seen the other films,” and I said, “No.”

‘He told me briefly about the show and said that if I had any ideas to give him a call. Well, I went away thinking that it was never going to work, but after a while I got a nagging feeling that I really should give it a go. I worked out an idea that was basically about a combination of science fiction and the supernatural. The Moonbase and, in particular, the Martin Landau character were haunted. I phoned up Fred Freiberger and this voice at the other end said, “Okay, shoot.” I told him the story and after a long silence he said, “We have a deal. I’ll call your agent,” and he put the phone down.

‘A contract came through, and I wrote the script, sent it off and after a while the money came through, but I never heard anything more. I never got any feedback or an invitation to the shooting – nothing, not a word! The whole thing faded from my memory until an American
Doctor Who
fan told me he’d seen “The Lambda Factor”, my
Space: 1999
episode. I didn’t even know it had been made! I did eventually see it when it got relegated to 10 o’clock one morning on ITV. There had been minimal tinkering, but it was basically the show as I wrote it. I had one meeting and one phone call and that was it!’

Bloopers:
Superimposing the images of Sam and Tessa into certain shots using half-silvered mirrors resulted in the reversal of their images – watch their badges!

Wires can be seen pulling objects around the Medical Stores in the opening sequence.

Observations:
‘The Lambda Factor’ provides an entertaining opportunity to watch the dramatic differences in lighting on Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, even when they are in the same shot standing next to each other. Virtually without fail he is dramatically cross-lit, while she is gently soft-lit. The lighting is successfully flattering on each of them, but it does look seriously incongruous.

Review:
‘The Lambda Factor’ features superb scripting by Terrance Dicks (a
Doctor Who
stalwart making his sole contribution to
Space: 1999
) and direction by Charles Crichton (in the last of his 14 episodes). The cinematography is excellent, especially during the death scenes of Sally and Mark. Sally’s is preceded by a dynamic, dark, slow motion sequence. Prior to Mark’s, there is a dramatic build-up of tension with the lights going out as he walks down an Alpha corridor (shades of Year One’s ‘Force of Life’), followed by the arrival of the winds and crushing psychic forces that kill him. The simple effects of objects moving, flying about the sets and crashing down, coupled with the lighting, direction, wind effects and noises, create a frightening and effective portrayal of powerful telekinetic abilities.

The main cast are mostly faultless, although Tony Anholt flagrantly overacts his way through the private interrogation scene with Carolyn Powell. Martin Landau is especially commendable for an acting triumph as John Koenig, confronting his ghosts. His is an Emmy-calibre performance and displays a depth and range of characterisation (as well as weakness in a lead character) rarely seen in science fiction television at the time. The addition of significant back-story on John Koenig, relating his past experiences on a Venus space mission and the epidemic that killed his friends Sam and Tessa – as previously mentioned in ‘The Exiles’ – is a wonderful example of inter-episode continuity, and adds greatly to his history.

Deborah Fallender excels when depicting the more sadistic moods of her character, and while her performance is somewhat over-the-top, she is playing an over-the-top character, so it does work quite well. Carolyn’s psychic powers are effectively portrayed as a potent threat to the safety of Moonbase Alpha and to some of the most important characters in the series. Some of the minor supporting Alphan actors such as Anthony Stamboillieh and Gregory de Polnay give rather limited performances, but they are at least acceptable, and the characters are well-rounded human beings with appreciable emotions.

Watch for the incredible slow motion transformation of Maya into a tiger; Catherine Schell has the features of the animal perfected as she snarls and leaps into the air, and the sequence is reminiscent of her transformation into a black panther in ‘The Exiles’. However, her ape shape-shift (utilised to rescue Alan, who is trapped in Engineering with an atomic motor about to blow up) leads to a sorry exhibition of a grunting man in an ape suit – at least it passes quickly.

Moonbase Alpha is expanded through the incorporation of the Recreation Area, with a nice glimpse of Alphan off-duty activities: playing games and relaxing. The Recreation Area is also one of the rare sets in Year Two to incorporate windows.

The effect of the lambda factor space phenomenon itself is the greatest weakness of the episode. It looks like the ‘whirly-gig thing’ it is referred to as, and this visual presentation does much to detract from the dramatic impact of the episode: it just looks silly. By contrast, one notably appealing, yet simple, visual effect is the on-screen blurring of the Engineering Section screen-saver while Alan has his dramatic encounter with the malfunctioning Eagle motor.

Helena provides a convincing explanation as to what the lambda variant is and how it was discovered, and the prominent exploration of ESP is intriguing. That a space phenomenon could be emitting waves with the ability to increase telepathic powers and cause mental disturbances is a very strong concept to base an episode around. In basic premise it does bear resemblance to the 1972 Russian film, and original novel by Stanislaw Lem,
Solaris
(remade in 2002).

The dramatic climax of the episode begins as Carolyn takes over Command Centre – sitting in the Commander’s chair, freezing the personnel and forcing Tony to kneel and call her ‘Commander.’ Her psychotic madness and powers are then used to control Maya and make her transform into a chimpanzee
[24]
and then a caterpillar. In this memorable sequence, Carolyn first threatens to step on the Maya caterpillar, and then traps her under a clear Perspex box, ultimately deciding to discover how much air a caterpillar needs to survive and suggesting the others all ‘pass the time by watching Maya die.’ It’s a very effective scene.

Koenig’s final confrontation with Carolyn is an excellent climax, as he uses his own heightened ESP powers against hers. It is dramatic from both character and visual standpoints, and grips the viewer. What is most appealing about ‘The Lambda Factor’ is that it ultimately is not really concerned with the space phenomenon itself, but with the conflicts and interactions of the people affected by it. With a pleasing similarity to such episodes as Year One’s ‘Force of Life’ and Year Two’s ‘Catacombs of the Moon’, the alien phenomenon here remains utterly unexplainable. How did it come to exist, where did it come from, or go to, and what was its purpose? These are ambiguities that allow outer space to retain an appealing degree of mystery. There is also a prevalent theme stressing how power can corrupt and pervert, both psychically and politically. ‘The Lambda Factor’ is another highly recommended episode.