Missão: Impossível

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Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin.
The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966, to March 1973, then returned to television for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990, retaining only Graves in the cast. It later inspired a popular series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise, beginning in 1996.

Series overview

The series follows the exploits of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), a small team of secret agents used for covert missions against dictators, evil organizations, and (primarily in later episodes) crime lords. On occasion, the IMF also mounts unsanctioned, private missions on behalf of its members.
The identities of the organization that oversees the IMF and the government it works for are never revealed. Only rare cryptic bits of information are ever provided during the life of the series, such as in the third season mission "Nicole", where the IMF leader states that his instructions come from "Division Seven". In the 1980s revival, it is suggested the IMF is an independent agency (as the FBI can only legally operate within the United States and the CIA can only operate outside the country). In the first motion picture, unlike the TV show, the IMF is depicted as part of the CIA.

IMF agents

The leader of the IMF is initially Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill. As an Orthodox Jew, Hill had to leave on Fridays at 4 p.m. to be home before sundown and was not available until after dark the next day. Although his contract allowed for filming interruptions due to religious observances, the clause proved difficult to work around due to the production schedule and as the season progressed, an increasing number of episodes featured little of Dan Briggs^{[citation needed]}. Hill had other problems as well. After cooperatively crawling through dirt tunnels and repeatedly climbing a rope ladder in the episode "Snowball in Hell," in the following episode ("Action!") he balked at climbing a stairway with railings and locked himself in his dressing room. Unable to come to terms with Hill, the producers re-shot the episode without him (another character, Cinnamon Carter, listened to the taped message, the selected operatives' photos were displayed in "limbo", and the team meeting was held in Rollin Hand's apartment), and reduced Briggs' presence in the five episodes left to be filmed to a minimum.^[1] As far as Hill's religious requirements were concerned, line producer Joseph Gantman simply had not understood what had been agreed to. He told author Patrick J. White, "'If someone understands your problems and says he understands them, you feel better about it. But if he doesn't care about your problems, then you begin to really resent him. Steven Hill may have felt exactly the same way".^[2]
Hill was replaced without explanation to the audience after the first season by Peter Graves playing the role of Jim Phelps, who remained the leader for the remainder of the original series and in the 1988–1990 revival.

In theory, Briggs and Phelps are the only full-time members of the IMF. As the series was originally conceived, they would form teams made up of part-time agents who came from a variety of professions, choosing their operatives based on the particular skills necessary for the mission. In practice, however (especially after the first season), Briggs and especially Phelps would choose the same core group of three or four agents for every single mission, leading these regulars to be considered de facto full-time IMF agents. Still, many episodes also feature guest stars playing one-time additional agents who have special abilities.
The regular agent line-up during the first season consisted of:

• Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain), a top fashion model and actress
• Barnard "Barney" Collier (Greg Morris), a mechanical and electronics genius and owner of Collier Electronics
• William "Willy" Armitage (Peter Lupus), a world record-holding weight lifter
• Rollin Hand (Martin Landau), a noted actor, makeup artist, escape artist, magician and "master of disguise"

Landau was billed as a "special guest star" during the first season; he had been cast as a guest star for the pilot with the understanding that he would be one of four or five rotating guest star agents. His contract gave producers an option to have him "render services for (three or four) additional episodes". To fill the void left by Hill's Sabbath absences, producers wound up using Landau for more episodes, always as a "guest star". He eventually struck a deal to appear in all the first season's remaining episodes, but always billed as a "guest star" so that he could have the option to give notice to work on a feature film. Landau contractually became a series regular in season two.^[3]
As actors left the series over time, others became regulars. Replacements often possessed the same skills of their predecessors. For example, "The Great Paris" (Leonard Nimoy), Hand's replacement in the fourth and fifth seasons, was also an actor, make-up artist, magician and "master of disguise." Also seen in seasons five and six was Dr. Doug Robert, played by Sam Elliott. Cinnamon's "replacement" in season four was a series of guest stars, only one making more than one appearance: Lee Meriwether as Tracey. Season five saw the addition of Dana Lambert, played by stage and movie actress Lesley Ann Warren, who was billed as "Lesley Warren" during her tenure in the cast. In seasons six and seven, the female member of the team was cosmetologist Lisa Casey (Lynda Day George) (replaced during most of George's season seven maternity leave by Mimi Davis, played by Barbara Anderson, who had just come from the show Ironside), who in practical terms was another Cinnamon Carter replacement.^[4]
Morris and Lupus were the only actors to last through the full run of the original series. Morris also appeared in two episodes of the revival series, in which the character's son, Grant Collier (played by Morris's real-life son, Phil Morris), is also an IMF agent.

Cold War subtext

Although a Cold War subtext is present throughout the series, the actual Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union is rarely mentioned over the course of the series. (See, for example, the mission objectives for "The Trial" and "The Confession" in Season One.) However, in the early years, specific locations behind the Iron Curtain are named (such as Lubyanka prison in the episode "Memory") and many of the targets appear to be leaders of fictional Slavic countries. Major named enemy countries include the "European People's Republic" and the "Eastern European Republic". Additionally, real languages spoken in Eastern Europe are used. In the Season One episode "The Carriers," one of the villains reads a book whose title is the (incorrect) Russian Na Voina (About War); police vehicles are often labelled as such with words such as "poliiçia", and "poIiia", and a gas line or tank would be labelled "Gaz" which is a Romanian translation. This "language", referred to by the production team as "Gellerese", was invented specifically to be readable by non-speakers of Slavic languages. Their generous use of it was actually intended as a source of comic relief. Uniforms of the target regime frequently include peaked caps, jackboots, and Sam Browne belts, hinting at connections with Nazi Germany or the Warsaw Pact.
In 2004, Professor Douglas Little of Clark University published a lengthy academic article explicitly linking the TV series to CIA history: "Mission Impossible: The CIA and the Cult of Covert Action in the Middle East".^[5]

Adversaries unrelated to the Cold War

The IMF is also assigned to bring down corrupt politicians and dictators of Third World countries uninvolved in the Cold War, such as a particularly brutal practitioner of apartheid, or corrupt Central or South American nations, as well as organized crime figures, corrupt businessmen and politicians in the U.S. In two different first-season episodes, the mission is to stop the revival of the Nazi Party in Germany. Both episodes had Rollin Hand (played by Jewish actor Martin Landau) impersonate a leading Nazi figure – Martin Bormann in one case – in a successful effort to stop the revival. In season two, Hand would successfully impersonate Adolf Hitler in another mission to stop the revival of the Nazi Party in Germany.
As noted in the reference work The Complete "Mission: Impossible" Dossier, by Patrick J. White, many IMF missions were essentially assassinations in disguise. In the first-season episode "Memory," it is established that the unspecified government agency behind the IMF has forbidden it to commit outright assassinations "as a matter of policy." To get around this restriction, many missions instead involve the IMF setting up its targets to be killed by their own people or other enemies. A notable example is the second season two-part story "The Council," later released to European movie houses under the title Mission Impossible vs. the Mob.^[6] This policy is not consistently followed; for example, in the first season's "The Legend," Briggs' original plan is to personally shoot Nazi rallying-figure Martin Bormann, which is foiled by the discovery of a dummy and a tape recorder in the "man's" sick room. Gunplay is relatively rare on the part of the IMF, as its methods are more sophisticated and subtle like those used by con men to fleece the gullible, although several episodes in the early seasons (for example, the second season episode "The Spy," as well as in the pilot episode) do show the agents shooting people when necessary (usually underlings or enemy soldiers).

Fifth season

During the fifth season, with Paramount executives having gained greater control, new producer Bruce Lansbury began to phase out the international missions. This would manifest itself the following year with the IMF battling organized crime in most episodes, though this season still featured more international forays than not. These gangland bosses are usually associated with a criminal organization called "The Syndicate," a generic organization, or its franchises. Generally when describing such assignments, the tape message notes that the target is outside the reach of "conventional law enforcement." The objectives of such missions is usually simply to obtain evidence that might be admissible in court, often taking the form of tricking the mobsters into making a confession while being recorded. Manipulating the targets into killing one another became much less frequent as well. Lansbury also attempted to replace Peter Lupus, who was expressing dissatisfaction with his part at this time, with Sam Elliott. Over the course of the fifth season, Lupus's William "Willy" Armitage appeared in thirteen of its twenty-four episodes, to the outrage of fans who demanded Armitage's return.^[7] By the end of the fifth season, Elliott was gone (he did appear in the first filmed episode of season six^[8]), and Lupus remained in the last two seasons, with Armitage being given a larger share of screen time and more demanding duties.

Format

Mission: Impossible is noted for its format, which rarely changed throughout the series. Indeed the opening scenes acquired a ritualistic feel, befitting the "quasi-official" aura the program sought for the clandestine operations it showcases.

Tape scene

Most episodes begin with the leader of the IMF getting the assignment from a hidden tape recorder and an envelope of photos and information that explains the mission. The tape always begins with "Good morning/afternoon/evening, Mr. Briggs/Phelps." Then it explains the situation and ends with "Your mission Dan/Jim, should you decide to accept it" or words to that effect, with a brief explanation of the mission. The listener is reminded, "As always, should you or any of your I.M. Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions." ^[9] The instructions on the tape were read by voice actor Robert Cleveland "Bob" Johnson. At the end of the tape's instructions, Phelps/Briggs is notified, "This tape will self-destruct in five [or, occasionally, "ten"] seconds. Good luck, Dan/Jim." Then smoke would rise from the tape, and the instructions would be destroyed. In filming, the tapes were not actually destroyed. Instead, smoke was piped into the tape recorder to create the illusion. In some initial episodes, however, self-destructing tapes were created by adding a chemical to the tape and blowing air onto it, forcing the chemical to react by crumbling. This method was abandoned due to cost.^[10]
There were a few exceptions to the use of a tape and standard photos, including a record/darkroom motif and most notably a vintage phonograph that automatically scratched its record into oblivion. In a few instances, instructions at the end of the tape would ask Briggs/Phelps, "Please dispose of [or, sometimes, "destroy"] this recording in the usual manner." Briggs/Phelps would then throw it in an incinerator or use other means to render it unplayable, causing the tape to go up in flames.
There were a handful of exceptions to the "messages from the Secretary." Instead, circumstances more or less forced a team into action. This first occurred in the program's opening season, when a "syndicate" boss kidnapped and threatened to kill the teenage daughter of a friend of Briggs unless he removed a grand jury witness against the mobster from police protective custody. How this man knew Dan was capable of such a task was not explained.^[11] The last such instance was very near the end of the series, when the survivors of a previous IMF operation (specifically, Season Six's "Casino") recognized a vacationing Phelps from security camera photos and kidnapped him to force his team to retrieve evidence that a plea-bargaining mobster is about to turn over to authorities.^[12]
In the fifth season, the producers experimented with the format by sometimes eliminating the taped briefing (and/or the team meeting in Phelps' apartment), starting the episode with the mission already underway. In a few other cases, a personal matter involving Briggs, Phelps or another IMF operative would result in an "off-book" mission being undertaken. After the first year, an entire season's worth of "tape scenes" were usually filmed all at once prior to production of the rest of the episodes, and the crew never knew which tape scene would appear with which episode until broadcast.^[13]
Some tape scenes were re-used in more than one episode, with only minor changes to various insert shots and Johnson's recorded voiceover. In the first season, for example, exactly the same tape scene was used for both "Wheels" and "Legacy". The only differences are that The Voice On Tape gives a different set of instructions in each episode, and there is very briefly a different set of insert shots that show the photographs which Dan Briggs is viewing. The cost-saving practice of recycling tape scenes continued throughout the series run; generally each season reuses at least one tape scene. One particular tape scene, of Jim finding a tape in a parking lot attendant's hut, was actually used in three widely-scattered episodes: "The Astrologer", "Recovery" and "The Vault".

Dossier scene

Next would follow what White refers to as the "Dossier Scene". Briggs or Phelps would be shown in a fancy apartment, retrieving an oversized, leather-bound dossier folder from a locked drawer. Inside this folder were plastic-wrapped dossiers (usually featuring standard 8x10 "glossies" of the respective actors) of the available IMF agents. Briggs/Phelps would toss the selected agents' dossiers onto a table. According to White, most of the never-chosen dossiers were photographs of various series staffers and their wives, including Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Geller [the author reproduces one oft-rejected agent's photo and identifies it as actually being the executive producer^[14]]. A contemporary article in TV Guide^{[volume & issue needed]} claimed that many of the photos put aside in the "dossier scene" were of studio and network executives and that it was considered a measure of one's status in the studio and network hierarchies to appear there, but White makes no such statement.
In early seasons, the agents selected often included guest stars playing agents with skills not possessed by the usual team. A doctor, particularly a specialist in a condition known to afflict the target, was a common sort of "guest agent". In numerous early episodes, the IMF leader would choose only two or three team members, though at least one of the main credited cast members was always involved. One episode, "Elena," featured a team consisting of Rollin Hand and Dr. Carlos Enero (guest star Barry Atwater);^[15] because of Landau's official status at that point as frequent guest star this meant that technically none of the series' regular players was involved. Almost as often, however, Briggs would choose all of the regulars, plus one, two, or even three others.
In later seasons, the team was much more stable, consisting of the leader and the regular cast for the season, and the use of guest agents became markedly less frequent. Numerous dossier scenes from the Peter Graves episodes feature Jim poring through the photographs, only to once again choose the series regulars that had just been shown in the opening credits. By the third season, the dossier scene had been deemed somewhat disposable, appearing only when needed to introduce a guest agent. The first mission submitted by the Secretary that did not have the dossier scene was the last mission of the second season, "The Recovery".
After a period of being seen only occasionally, the dossier scene was seen again frequently in season 4, due to the lack of a regular female team member in that season. It was dropped entirely as of season five.
In the pilot episode, the recorded message stated that the team leaders have unlimited resources and wide discretion in choosing their team. Who devises the plan is never made clear. Preparations and the necessary logistics are almost never shown, although they are generally implied by the scenes that depict various steps of the mission. It is implied that only a short period of time elapses from the initial assignment until the team is in the field. Early episodes occasionally showed more of the preliminaries. "Memory" features a montage of Dan Briggs training a guest agent to assume the role he will play in the mission. "Old Man Out, Part 1" includes a scene of Briggs approaching an operative (played by Mary Ann Mobley) in order to recruit her, meeting with resistance before he finally convinces her to join the mission.

Apartment scene

In the third segment of the opening act, called the "Apartment Scene" by White, the team would next be shown convening for their final briefing in the leader's apartment. Although the series was shot in color, the apartment had a color scheme composed of black, white, and shades of gray, such that the apartment was sometimes referred to off-camera as the black-and-white room (Steven Hill once suggested that an American flag be placed on a wall of Briggs' apartment, but Bruce Geller vetoed it, in order to maintain the color scheme^[16]). Two exceptions are the first season episodes, "Operation Rogosh", when the team immediately springs into action to capture their target in a staged auto accident, and the aforementioned episode "Action!", where the team meeting took place in Cinnamon Carter's apartment.^[17]
The Apartment Scene acted as a teaser. In discussing the plan and their roles in it, the team members would make vague references to preparations necessary for its successful execution while leaving most details undisclosed. This scene also demonstrated and thereby established credibility for various gadgets or ploys that were key to the plan, such as a TV camera hidden in a brooch, a miniature radio-controlled hovercraft, a chess-playing computer, a "mentalist" or sleight-of-hand act, or a trained animal. In addition, this scene would establish, or at least hint at, the specialties and roles of any guest-star agents. Team members posing questions about aspects of the plan or why an alternative was not considered provided the writers with an opportunity to offer explanations for what otherwise might have seemed plot holes. When summing up, Phelps would often stress the difficulties in the action they were about to undertake or some key element of the plan vital to its success, such as a deadline by which the mission had to be completed.
During the fifth season, the producers decided to drop the dossier scene and phase out the tape and apartment scenes. By the end of the season, however, it had been decided to keep the tape and apartment scenes, but the dossier-choosing scene was eliminated for the rest of the series run (this is White's version, but in fact episodes missing the tape and/or the meeting scenes were few). The 1980s revival reinstated the "dossier scene" in the first episode, when Phelps selected his new team, but since he kept the same team in subsequent episodes, no subsequent dossier scenes were made.

Plan

The episode then depicted the plan being put into action. This almost always involved very elaborate deceptions, usually several at the same time. Facilitating this, certain team members were masters of disguise, able to impersonate someone connected to the target or sometimes even the target himself. This was accomplished with realistic latex face masks and make-up. Some impersonations were done with the explicit cooperation of the one being impersonated. Also bona fides would be arranged to aid infiltrating the target organization. In some cases, the actor playing the IMF agent also portrayed the person to be impersonated (this most frequently occurred during Martin Landau's tenure on the series, notably in the pilot) or the voice of the person being impersonated was dubbed. In other cases, a guest-starring actor would play the dual role of both the original and the imposter (Rollin, Paris, or Casey). Sometimes one or more IMF team members would allow themselves to be captured in order to gain more access to or knowledge of the organization they are infiltrating, either by conversing with the target or being held in a jail cell and hatching their plan there.
A few episodes of the early seasons showed the painstaking creation and application of these masks, usually by disguise and make-up expert Rollin Hand. This was later omitted as the series progressed and the audience presumably becoming familiar with the mechanics of the team's methods. In the 1980s revival, the mask-making process involved a digital camera and computer and was mostly automatic. Most episodes included a dramatic "reveal" (also referred to as the "peel-off") near the end of the episode in which the team member would remove the mask.
Various other technological methods were commonly used as well. The team would often re-route telephone or radio calls so these could be answered by their own members. Faked radio or television broadcasts were common, as were elevators placed under the team's control. In some missions, a very extensive simulated setting was created, such as a faked train journey, submarine voyage, aftermath of a major disaster, or even the taking over of the United States by a foreign government. A particularly elaborate ploy, used on more than one occasion, saw the IMF working to convince their target that several years had passed while the target was in a coma or suffering from amnesia. In one episode, the IMF even convinced their target (an aging mobster played by William Shatner) that time had somehow been turned back more than thirty years and he was a young man again.
The team would usually arrange for some situation to arise with which the target would have to deal in a predictable way, and the team would then arrange the circumstances to guide the outcome to the desired end. Often the plans turned on elaborate psychology, such as exploiting rivalries or an interest in the supernatural. Many plans simply caused the target to become confused or erratic or irrational, lose self-assurance, lose trust in subordinates or partners, etc., so that either the target would do what the team wanted (by falling back on predictable acts of desperation), or else the target's subordinates would replace the target and then act according to the team's predictions. These various ploys would usually result in either information being revealed to the team, or the target's disgrace and discreditation, or both.
In many early episodes, the mission was to "neutralize" the target and it was made clear that the target was ultimately shot by his superiors, staff, or rivals, though this was usually not shown on screen. In later seasons, where the targets were usually organized-crime figures or similar, the goal of the mission was often simply to collect incriminating evidence not obtainable by "conventional law-enforcement agencies." The team was not above falsifying such evidence as a last resort.
Dramatic tension was provided by situations in which team members appeared to be in danger of being discovered (especially before commercial breaks). Sometimes unexpected events occurred that forced the team to improvise. On occasion, an outside party or one of the targets realized what was happening and put the success of the plan at risk.
According to White, William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter (who served as story consultants for the first two seasons and became producers of the third season, but did not last long, dismissed for believing that executive producer Geller had no authority over them),^[18] relied heavily on The Big Con, written by David W. Maurer, for their inspiration. Hence Briggs/Phelps became the "grifter-in-charge;" Rollin Hand and Cinnamon Carter were highly effective "ropers," and Barney Collier and Willy Armitage were experts at building and/or equipping "big stores."

Filming locations

The original series was filmed almost exclusively around Hollywood and the Los Angeles Basin. The series opener was held at the Griffith Park Observatory with special guest star Wally Cox. Pasadena and the Caltech campus were common locations. Another noted location was the Bradbury Building used in other films and series (from The Outer Limits to Blade Runner). During the final season, most of the exterior shots are of San Francisco, including the City Hall building and Opera House. The later revival was shot entirely in Australia (though it purported to have Phelps living in San Francisco).

Variations

Several times the series deviated from the standard format. In one episode of the original series, a gangster kidnaps the daughter of a friend of Dan Briggs and forces him to abduct a witness against him. In another, one mistake causes Cinnamon Carter to be exposed and captured by the villains, and Jim Phelps has to prepare a plan to rescue her. Another episode featured Phelps on a personal mission, when he returns to his small hometown for a visit and finds a series of murders among his childhood acquaintances, which the local law enforcement chief is unqualified to cope with. In one episode, a friend of Jim Phelps is framed for murder, giving Jim only 24 hours to find the real killer, prove his friend's innocence and save his life. On two occasions, he is captured and the team has to rescue him. In the 1980s series, former IMF agent Barney Collier is framed for a crime he did not commit and the IMF team has to extricate him, leading to a reuniting of Barney with his son and IMF agent Grant Collier (played by real life father-and-son Greg and Phil Morris). Willy is shot and captured in one episode, and captured and tortured by a drug kingpin in another. Paris is kidnapped and brainwashed in an attempt to get him to kill Phelps. Jim and Rollin are on a hunting trip when Jim is taken mysteriously ill. It turns out the residents of a "Norman Rockwell" town are hired assassins, who attempted to poison Phelps when he stumbled on their secret.

Conclusion

In most cases, the action lasted right up to the final seconds, with the episode ending in a freeze frame as the IMF team make their escape, another successful mission concluded. Most often they leave in a nondescript panel truck. A dramatic device frequently used at the end was the sound of a gunshot or a scream in the distance as the target is killed by his associates, while the IMF team make their getaway. In the 1980s revival, this format was altered with the addition of a tag scene showing the IMF team regrouping (often still in disguise) and walking away. From the middle of the first season onwards, Jim Phelps often makes a quip.

Music

Aside from the now iconic main theme, as well as the motif called "The Plot" which usually accompanied scenes of the team members carrying out the mission, the background music would incorporate minimalist innovations of percussion such as simply a snare drum and cymbals to build tension during the more "sneaky" moments of the episodes (sometimes accompanied by a flute playing in low tessitura). These quieter passages would greatly contrast the more bombastic fanfares when a mission member is at risk of getting caught just prior to a commercial break.
The main theme was composed by Argentine composer, pianist and conductor Lalo Schifrin and is noted for being in 5/4 time. About the unusual timing, Schiffrin declared that "things are in 2/4 or 4/4 because people dance with two legs. I did it for people from outer space who have five legs."^[19] "The Plot" was also composed by Schifrin, who scored three episodes in the first season and went on to score at least one or two episodes for most of the other seasons (season two is the only one to have no Schifrin-scored episodes, in part because he was helping to launch Geller's new series Mannix).
Schifrin was awarded two Grammys at the 10th Grammy Awards for his work on the first series (Best Instrumental Theme and Best Original Score for a Motion Picture or TV Show).^[20] He was also nominated for two Emmys (for the first and third seasons).Among the other composers to work on the series were Jerry Fielding, Walter Scharf, Gerald Fried, Richard Markowitz, Benny Golson, Robert Drasnin, and Hugo Montenegro.

Soundtrack album

Although two albums of re-recorded music from the original series had previously been released under Schifrin's name, Music from Mission: Impossible (Dot, 1967) and More Mission: Impossible (Paramount, 1968) the original scores were not commercially available until 1992 when GNP Crescendo released The Best of Mission: Impossible – Then and Now^[21] featuring five scores by Lalo Schifrin for the original series and five by John E. Davis for the revival (Schifrin also scored three episodes of the revival, including the premiere, but none were included.)

1. "Mission: Impossible – Main Title" 0:49
2. "The Plot" (from "The Contender, Part 1") 0:51
3. "Ready" (from "The Contender, Part 1") 3:12
4. "Rollin" (from "The Contender, Part 1") 0:44
5. "Time" (from "The Contender, Part 1") 0:46
6. "Sleeping Phelps" (from "The Contender, Part 1") 1:11
7. "More Plot" (from "Submarine") 2:39
8. "Mission: Impossible Theme" (from "Submarine") 1:10
9. "Bower Hotel" (from "The Killer") 1:55
10. "Check Out Time" (from "The Killer") 2:45
11. "The Trick" (from "The Killer") 2:16
12. "Signal Light" (from "Takeover") 0:42
13. "Kate Thomas" (from "Takeover") 1:28
14. "Tape Machine" (from "Underground") 3:17
15. "Good Job" (from "Underground") 0:47
16. "Mission: Impossible – End Credit" 0:29
17. "Mission: Impossible '88 – Main Title" 1:03
18. "Tricky Years" (from "The Plague") 0:38
19. "This Is the Chase" (from "The Plague") 2:40
20. "Croc Bait" (from "Bayou") 1:46
21. "Not Worth It" (from "The Bayou") 3:38
22. "Nice Boat" (from "The Cattle King") 0:59
23. "Bait the Hook" (from "The Cattle King") 1:48
24. "Hot Time" (from "The Cattle King") 0:44
25. "I Guess It Is" (from "The Cattle King") 1:17
26. "Freak Time" (from "The Cattle King") 1:34
27. "Whacko Time" (from "The Cattle King") 1:42
28. "Melt Down" (from "Deadly Harvest") 2:00
29. "Framed" (from "Deadly Harvest") 2:05
30. "Coffee" (from "Church Bells In Bogota") 1:16
31. "Ring Around the Finger" (from "Church Bells In Bogota") 1:17
32. "Mission: Impossible '88 – End Credit" 0:35
33. "An Interview with Peter Graves" 14:55
34. "Mission: Impossible Theme" – Israeli Philharmonic cond. Lalo Schifrin 6:07

Extracts Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission:_Impossible

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Espaço: 1999

Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977.^[1] In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and sending it and the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha hurtling uncontrollably into space. The series was the last production by the partnership of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and was the most expensive series ever produced for television up to that time.

Overview

Space: 1999 is the last in a long line of science-fiction series that the Andersons produced as a working partnership, beginning with Supercar in the early Sixties and including the famed marionette fantasy series Stingray, Fireball XL5, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90 and The Secret Service, as well as the live-action alien-invasion drama UFO. Space: 1999 owes much of the visual design to pre-production work for the never-made second series of UFO, which would have been set primarily on the Moon and featured a more extensive Moonbase.
Space: 1999 drew a great deal of visual inspiration (and technical expertise) from the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The programme's special effects director Brian Johnson had previously worked on both Thunderbirds (as Brian Johncock) and 2001.

Premise

The premise of Space: 1999 centres on the plight of the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha, Earth's Space Research Centre on the Moon, following a scientific cataclysm. Humanity had been storing its nuclear waste in vast disposal sites on the far side of the Moon. Prefaced by wild emissions of an unknown form of magnetic radiation, the accumulated waste reaches critical mass and, on 13 September 1999, detonates in a massive thermonuclear explosion. The force of the blast propels the Moon like an enormous booster rocket, hurling it out of Earth orbit and into deep space at colossal speed, thus stranding the 311 personnel stationed on Alpha.^[2] The runaway Moon, in effect, becomes the "spacecraft" on which the protagonists travel, searching for a new home. During their interstellar journey, the Alphans encounter an array of alien civilizations, dystopian societies, and mind-bending phenomena previously unseen by humanity.

The concept of traveling through space to encounter aliens and strange worlds is similar to Lost In Space and Star Trek, although the programme's visual aesthetic was heavily influenced by 2001: A Space Odyssey. In another nod to Kubrick's film, the first series of Space: 1999 explored mystical and metaphysical themes, and offered little explanation of plot points. The inhabitants of Alpha were unwilling travelers, and represented present-day Earthmen cast adrift in a vast, unexplainable universe where Earth-bound logic and laws of nature no longer operated. Several episodes hinted that the Moon's journey was influenced (and perhaps initiated) by a "mysterious unknown force", which was guiding the Alphans toward an ultimate destiny.
The second series centered more on more simplified "action-oriented" plots (à la Star Trek), with a deliberate aim at the American audience, and there was no further mention of the "mysterious unknown force".

Conception and development

In 1972, Sir Lew Grade, head of ITC Entertainment, proposed financing a second series of the Century 21 production UFO to show-runners Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Grade had one stipulation: the new series would be set primarily on the Moon within the environs of an expanded SHADO Moonbase; the ratings indicated the Moon-centric episodes had proved more popular with the viewers. The Andersons and their team would quickly revamp the production, flashing ahead nearly twenty years for UFO: 1999 with Commander Ed Straker and the forces of SHADO fighting their alien foes from a large new Moonbase facility.
However, toward the end of its run, UFO experienced a drop in ratings in both America and the UK; nervous ITC executives in both countries began to question the financial viability of the new series, and support for the project collapsed. In the meantime, Production Designer Keith Wilson and the art department, had made considerable progress in envisioning the look and design of the new series. Their work was then shelved for the foreseeable future.^[7]

Anderson would not let the project die; he approached Grade's number two in New York, Abe Mandell, with the proposal for taking the research and development done for UFO: 1999 and creating a new science fiction series. Mandell was amenable, but stated he did not want a series set featuring people "having tea in the Midlands" and forbade any Earth-bound settings. Anderson responded that in the series opener, he would "blow up the Earth". Mandell countered that this concept might be off-putting to viewers, to which Anderson replied he would "blow up the Moon".^[8]
The Andersons reworked UFO: 1999 into a new premise: Commander Steven Maddox controlled the forces of WANDER, Earth's premier defence organisation, from Moon City, a twenty-mile wide installation on the Moon. Maddox would view all aspects of Earth defence from Central Control, a facility at the hub of the base and accessible only by Moon Hopper craft, which would require the correct pass-code to traverse Control's defensive laser barrier. The Commander would also have access to a personal computer called "Com-Com" (Commander's Computer), which would act as a personal advisor, having been programmed with the Commander's personality and moral sense.
In the half-hour opening episode "Zero-G" penned by the Andersons, Earth's deep space probes have discovered an advanced extraterrestrial civilisation. Maddox is kidnapped for an interview with the aliens. Angered by humanity's innate hostility and WANDER's defensive posture, they travel to Earth with the intent of isolating mankind within the boundary of Earth's atmosphere. Having judged Maddox a noble example of mankind, they return him unharmed. They then use a beam to reduce the Moon's gravitational influence to zero, sending it careening out of orbit into deep space.^[9]
The project continued forward. Group Three Productions (a partnership of the Andersons and production executive Reg Hill) would produce the series; ITC Entertainment and RAI would provide the funding. Grade, aiming for a US network sale, insisted the series have American leads and employ American writers and directors. George Bellak, a well-known American television writer, was brought on staff. As stated by series writers Christopher Penfold and Johnny Byrne, it was Bellak who created and polished the series' defining concepts. Bellak wrote a ninety-minute opening episode titled The Void Ahead, which was a close forerunner of Breakaway. Bellak also set up a writers' guide defining the three leads, the facilities of the Moonbase and potential storylines.
At this point, the staff seemed to make creative changes that brought the series closer in concept and appearance to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Even the title Space: 1999 evoked comparison with Kubrick's film. (Before, the title of the new series had greatly varied: Space Journey: 1999, Journey In Space, Menace In Space and Space Invaders — the invaders of the last title being the Earthmen trapped on the runaway Moon.)
For the lead characters of John Koenig and Helena Russell, Gerry Anderson approached the husband-and-wife acting team of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. Landau and Bain were bankable high-profile stars in America after three years on the popular CBS espionage series Mission: Impossible. Producer Sylvia Anderson let it be known that she would have preferred British lead actors; since Grade insisted on Americans, she would have chosen Robert Culp (star of the 1960s espionage series I Spy) and Katharine Ross (co-star of 1960s blockbuster movies The Graduate and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).^[7] Lee H. Katzin, a highly-respected American television director with a specialty for pilot episodes, was selected to helm the opening segment and brought into the fold as a primary director for the remainder of the series.

Visual effects, set design, costumes and music

The show's vehicles, including the Eagle space shuttle and the Moon Buggy, were represented with a mixture of full-sized props, photographic blow-ups, and detailed scale models. Dozens of models for the various alien spaceships and the Mark IX Hawk from the War Games episode were built by model maker Martin Bower, often at several different sizes to account for the intended use.
Rather than relying on blue screen techniques, à la Star Trek, Johnson's team often employed a technique that went back to the earliest days of visual effects: spacecraft and planets would be filmed against black backgrounds, with the camera being rewound for each successive element. As long as the various elements did not overlap this produced convincing results. In technical terms, the advantage was that all of the elements were recorded on the original negative, as opposed to blue screen which would have involved several generations of duplication. The disadvantage was that the number of possible angles was more limited; for instance, a spaceship could be seen approaching a planet from the side, but could not move in front of it without the elements overlapping.^[10]
Special effects director Brian Johnson and most of his team went on to work on Ridley Scott's Alien, followed by Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Many of the spacecraft were designed around their prescribed functionality rather than being glistening starships, adding a sense of realism that was replicated in future science-fiction features.
The uni-sex "Moon City" uniforms for the first series were created by renowned German fashion designer Rudi Gernreich, a personal friend of series' star Barbara Bain. Other costumes were designed by Production Designer Keith Wilson, who was also responsible for set design. Wilson's innovative Moonbase set construction, using four-foot by eight-foot plastic foam-board panels linked together Lego-like into whatever room configuration was required, made for a uniform and realistic appearance for the Alpha interiors (not to mention relatively cheap and quickly assembled).^[10] A muted colour pallette and the integration of recognisable equipment and accessories added to the verisimilitude.
For the second series, the Moonbase uniforms were updated having been perceived by some as "bland". Coloured decorative stitching and turtleneck collars were added, as were various badges and patches. Red, navy or dark-green jackets also appeared, originally on just the senior staff, then on many of the male extras. The women characters tended to wear skirts and knee high boots throughout the second series, rather than the flared trousers used in Series one. The costumes for series two were designed by Emma Porteous, who later designed the wardrobes for several James Bond films.

The Alpha interiors were also upgraded for the second year, with the existing stock of wall panels, doors, computer panels, et cetera (along with some bits from other Anderson productions) being assembled for the first time into a standing complex of interconnected sets. (The first series sets had been assembled as needed and the size of the Main Mission/Command Office complex was prohibitive for the construction of a lasting series of rooms.)^[10] Vibrant colour was much more evident in this series' Moonbase sets. Futuristic "science-fiction-y" appearing gadgets and equipment were also more evident (for example, Helena no longer used a stethoscope, but a little beeping, all-purpose medical scanner similar to Dr. McCoy's whistling medical "Feinberger" on Star Trek.)
The opening credits for the first series featured a dramatic fanfare composed by long-time Anderson associate Barry Gray, whose scores for the series were his final compositions for an Anderson production. Gray scored five episodes — Breakaway, Matter of Life and Death, Black Sun, Another Time, Another Place and The Full Circle—Vic Elms provided a completely electronic score for Ring Around the Moon and Big Jim Sullivan performed a one-off sitar composition for The Troubled Spirit. Library music, classical compositions and score excerpts from earlier Anderson productions augmented the five Gray scores and gave the impression of an expansive musical repertoire.
The second series was scored by jazz-musician and composer Derek Wadsworth; American producer Fred Freiberger wanted a more "driving, searing" score for his new action-adventure format.^[10] Wadsworth composed original music for The Metamorph, The Exiles, One Moment of Humanity, The Taybor and Space Warp, that music being assembled for reuse in the other episodes to accompany appropriately similar thematic content.
One may note influences of other Anderson shows on the Space: 1999 spacecraft and elements. The cockpit of the Eagle has a slight resemblance to the cockpit of an earlier Anderson Supermarionation series, Fireball XL5. Thruster and engine sounds also may have had previous use in Fireball XL5, Thunderbirds, and Captain Scarlet. Lighting effects for Moonbase Alpha may have come from UFO, as did the concept of the elevating spacecraft launch pad.
The original Moonbase Alpha model reappeared in the public eye after almost 30 years on www.eagletransporter.com when the site gained exclusive access to photomap the model and solicit its sale. Images of the model as it is today can be seen here.

Message From Moonbase Alpha and the aborted cinematic revival

Filmed on 29 August 1999, Message From Moonbase Alpha is a fan-produced mini-episode made with the co-operation and involvement of Space: 1999 script editor Johnny Byrne, who penned the script. Filmed inside a private house on a remarkable working replica of a small section of the Main Mission set and utilising the original prop of Koenig's Command Center desk and Sandra Benes's original Year Two Alpha uniform, the short film was first shown at the Space: 1999 Breakaway Convention^[28] in Los Angeles, California on 13 September 1999—the day the events in episode 1 of the series were supposed to take place. With the permission of (then) copyright owners Carlton Media International, the film included brief clips from seven episodes to illustrate the deserted Moonbase Alpha and the Alphans' exodus to planet Terra Alpha. Previously unused footage shot for the Year Two title sequence and The Last Enemy was used to create a sequence showing the Moon being affected by a gravitational disturbance and thrown into an unknown solar system. Short excerpts from 12 other episodes appeared in a montage as Sandra Benes recalls her life on Alpha.
The seven minute film features Zienia Merton reprising her role as Sandra Benes delivering a final message to Earth as the only crew member left on Moonbase Alpha while a massive exodus to a habitable planet, Terra Alpha, takes place with the rest of the crew. This basically gave the series the finality it never had in its initial run.
Modified versions of Message From Moonbase Alpha are available on the Space: 1999 Bonus Disk in the U.S. and Canada, and on a DVD bonus disc in France and in Italy. The original version appears as a bonus feature on the Space:1999/UFO - The Documentaries DVD produced by Fanderson.
Around the same time 'Message From Moonbase Alpha' was being filmed, Johnny Byrne and Christopher Penfold attempted to revive the franchise as a movie series, similar to the way Star Trek had been revived cinematically in the late 1970s. The first film would have picked up the story several years after the series ended, and would have featured a heavily-redesigned Moonbase Alpha. Ultimately the project failed, and nothing came of it.^[29]Extracts Taken From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space:_1999


Space: 1999 Trailers, Clips & Extracts

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Year One (1975-1976) - Best & Worst Episodes:

Best:

23) Dragon's Domain

Story

It is 877 days after leaving Earth orbit, and the Moon is passing through a stretch of peaceful empty space between galaxies. Doctor Helena Russell is alone in her quarters, typing a report on a World Space Commission Medical Department form regarding the status of one Captain Tony Cellini. Her voice-over narration giving the history of this case leads the viewer into an extended flashback...

Hours earlier, during the simulated 'night-time' on Moonbase Alpha, astronaut Tony Cellini awakens from a fitful sleep in a cold sweat. Sensing danger, he seizes an antique tomahawk from a decorative weapons display. After making several lunges at an imagined enemy (which he perceives as a swirling display of light accompanied by an electronic screeching sound), Cellini ends up hacking the tomahawk deep into the communications post in his quarters.

Medical Computer alerts Helena of Cellini's elevated pulse and metabolic rate. When she contacts him, he assures her that it was just a bad dream. Though not entirely convinced, she bids him a good night. After contemplating the space sky from his window, Cellini leaves his quarters—still in his pyjamas—and makes for the Embarkation Area. His entry into this restricted area while off-duty attracts attention: John Koenig, overseeing the night shift in Main Mission, receives the report from Computer. Suspicious, the Commander orders Cellini's commlock cancelled.

Cellini's progress is halted by his now non-operational commlock. He encounters Alan Carter and clobbers him, appropriating his commlock. He uses it to gain access to the stand-by Eagle. By the time Koenig arrives at the launch pad, Cellini is firing up the ship's engines. The Commander overrides the safety protocols and re-connects the boarding tube; the lift-off is automatically aborted by this action. Koenig boards the Eagle and each man grabs a stun-gun from the weapons rack. During the face-off, Cellini says, 'Let me go, John,' and moves for the command module, but is rendered unconscious by the Commander's point-blank stun-blast.

As Helena cares for the unconscious Cellini, she discusses his case with Koenig. She believes that Cellini is mentally unstable and a threat to the safety of himself and others. Koenig will not accept her diagnosis—he is a long-time friend of Cellini, whom he knows to be an accomplished astronaut, athlete and poet. Five years before, Cellini had a traumatic experience during his mission to the planet Ultra. He never recovered. The two quarrel when she reveals that, at the time, she saw Cellini as a patient; her report to the Space Commission may have helped further damage his reputation. As Koenig storms out of Medical, Helena's narration takes the viewer to a flashback within the flashback...

9 March 1996. At Alpha's Technical Section, Astronauts John Koenig and Tony Cellini and Professor Victor Bergman were working out the final details of the Ultra Probe, a high-profile deep-space mission to explore the then-newly discovered planet Ultra. This tenth planet, discovered by Bergman in 1994, showed every indication of being habitable. Both equally qualified, Cellini and Koenig could not decide which of them would command the mission. The two friends left the choice up to a coin-toss. Cellini won.

The Ultra Probe departed from the Interplanetary Space Station on its seven-month journey on 6 June 1996. Cellini and his crew (astrophysicist Doctor Darwin King, radiation expert Professor Juliet Mackie and medical officer Doctor Monique Bouchere) experienced no difficulty during the voyage. On arriving at Ultra, they marveled at its similarity to Earth and preparations were made for a manned landing. While orbiting behind Ultra—out of direct communication with Alpha mission control—the ship encountered a collection of alien spacecraft. No life signs were detected from any of the derelicts. By consensus, the crew decided to dock with one of the silent vessels.

As the airlock opened, there was an unexpected phenomenon—swirling light, raging wind, screeching noise—and King shouted to Cellini to close the airlock. Emitting a deafening electronic scream, a huge, vaguely octopus-like creature with prehensile tentacles, one blazing eye and a fiery maw materialised, filling the aft portion of the main module. When King attempted to seal it off with the emergency bulkheads, its incredibly strong apendages prevented the closure of the doors—which shorted out the ship's auto-systems. The crew's efforts to defend themselves came to naught. One by one, they were hypnotised into inaction by the creature, devoured alive, and their smoking remains regurgitated.

Cellini was trapped in the command module by the system failure. After a hasty repair job, he released the jammed door in time to witness the death of the last of his shipmates: Monique Bouchere. He fired on the creature, the laser beams bouncing off its armoured hide. Cellini retreated to the command module, pursued by the monster. Fending off the creature's tentacles with a fire axe, he sealed the doors. He then blasted the command module free from the body of the probe-ship to use as an escape craft. In a brilliant manoeuvre, Cellini managed to slingshot around Ultra on a return vector for home.

After a six-month journey, he reached Earth barely alive, sustained by survival rations and sheer courage. His accomplishment was soon overshadowed by the world-wide disbelief of his horrific tale of the alien monster. While recuperating in an Earthside hospital, Cellini was visited by one Helena Russell on behalf of the Space Commission Medical Department to evaulate his competency. From the start, the Italian astronaut poured on the charm, discussing diverse topics ranging from Father Christmas to his own sex life. When the conversation turned to the Ultra Probe incident, he became physically and verbally agitated. Helena was forced to order sedation as the hysterical Cellini pleaded with her to believe him.

World Space Commission executive Commissioner Dixon summoned Cellini, Koenig and Bergman to his offices on Earth. He stated bluntly that there was no evidence on the flight recorder of any 'monster'. He judged that Cellini bungled the decompression procedure, killed his crew and refused to accept the blame. When questioned, Bergman and Koenig tried not to implicate their friend, but were forced to admit there were no facts to support his tale—or refute it, Koenig cheekily rebutted. Dixon ended the interview by stating the ultimate fact was that 'space adventuring' was terrifically expensive. His overwhelming priority was protect the space programme from the financial ruin the probe's failure would bring. Dixon grounded Koenig and Bergman as punishment for their ‘misguided’ support of Cellini. The scapegoat himself was then sent for extended psychiatric assessment.

Time passed, and Dixon's tenure as commissioner ended. Bergman was again welcome on Alpha as a visiting scientist, and Helena was posted there as head of the Medical Section. In September 1999, Koenig was appointed base commander to resolve the Meta Probe crisis, and he transferred his friend Cellini back to Alpha's Reconnaissance Section. After the Moon's breakaway, all memory of the Ultra Probe incident was obliterated by their struggle to survive in a hostile universe—until Cellini's irrational behaviour on this night revived the controversy...

The viewer returns to the present-day flashback as Koenig and Helena reconcile; Koenig apologises for his temper and presents her with a peace offering—a hyacinth he has managed to grow, in spite of his black thumb. As they discuss Cellini, which almost results in another argument, the man regains consciousness. He tells Koenig and Helena that his attempt to depart Alpha was in response to an unconscious feeling that the Ultra Probe monster was near and he needed to go out and face it. Koenig is unsure what to believe.

A summons from Main Mission calls him away from Medical Centre; waiting for him on the big screen is an image of a jumbled assortment of alien craft. Despite five years' time and a distance of uncountable light-years, Koenig uncannily knows it is the spaceship graveyard Cellini had described encountering behind Ultra. Further investigation reveals the main module of the Ultra Probe still docked with one of the derelicts. Koenig agrees to investigate, and Cellini feels redeemed. Helena, though, is concerned by Cellini's unnatural calmness.

Boarding Eagle One, Cellini tells Koenig he is going up front to apologise to Carter for his earlier assault. However, he again knocks Carter unconscious and hijacks the Eagle, leaving the passenger module (and Koenig and company) behind on the launch pad. He radios his old friend, informing him that the beast is his enemy and he must face it—alone.

Koenig orders Eagles Three and Four to pursue Cellini and Eagle Two to pick up his abandoned passenger module. He still supports Cellini—even though his friend's actions could be interpreted as a desperate attempt to destroy evidence. Running three minutes ahead of the posse, Cellini docks Eagle One's command module where the probe-ship's pilot module had been affixed. Taking a fire axe and rope, he enters the eerie darkness of main module and secures his lifeline to a support girder. His presence causes the monster to materialise in full attack mode. After Cellini lands several telling blows with the axe, the monster gets a stranglehold around his neck.

Koenig's Eagle Two docks with the probe-ship; he and the Security team enter the main module to witness the epic battle. Cellini's lifeline is yanked free by the monster and the astronaut is devoured, his ravaged corpse ejected to lie by those of his fallen comrades. Koenig reckons the monster's weakness could be its massive, exposed 'eye', and retrieves Cellini's axe. Evading the flailing tentacles, Koenig dives in and, hacking away at the eye, slays the monster.

Back on Alpha, after the Moon has drifted out of range of the spaceship graveyard, we return to the present. Helena Russell sits at her typewriter, ruminating that when the Alphans finally settle on their new home, they will need a whole new mythology. She suggests to Koenig the tale of Tony Cellini and the Monster. She then hands him the completed report, closing the case and giving the tortured Cellini final vindication.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Domain

Worst:

11) The Last Sunset

Story

The Moon is moving into a solar system containing a single planet, which the Alpha staff code-names 'Ariel'. While approaching with a two-ship reconnaissance mission, Alan Carter in Eagle Two comments that its dense atmosphere looks like pea soup. Expectations are running high. Not only is planet Ariel habitable, but conditions are favourable for the Moon to enter into orbit around its sun. Preparations for final descent are interrupted by an unexpected sensor contact: an alien object is closing fast. Despite evasive manoeuvres, the object homes in on Eagle Two and impacts—without exploding. Carter and co-pilot Pete Johnson are shocked to find it fastened to the outside of their command module.

John Koenig aborts the mission and orders Eagles Two and Seven to return to base. Eagle Two is carefully brought down by remote-control...and the alien device still makes no move. With the object proving resistant to all remote analysis techniques, it is removed from the Eagle fuselage and brought into a secure workshop in the Technical Section for a hands-on examination. Carter wants to lead another mission to the planet. Koenig insists on caution; the satellite hardly seems to be an invitation card—it could be a diversion to prevent them from landing on Ariel.

The alien device defies analysis, but Victor Bergman concludes it to be inert—just when it starts spraying jets of white vapour under high-pressure. The workroom is sealed off, but the gas's tremendous pressure blows out the room's windows and ruptures the locked security door. Technical Section is evacuated and its airlocks opened to expel the tainted air. The mystery gas blasts through the Eagle maintenance hangar, geysering up the launch-pad elevator shaft.

Distracted by the venting operation, no one notices the landing of countless more Ariel satellites. The newly-arrived devices emit more vapour until the moonscape is blanketed in a dense mist. Bergman has performed a frantic analysis of the vapour and calls in the results—the mystery gas is air. As the mist clears, the Alphans are astonished to see the sun rising above the lunar horizon into a dawn-flushed blue sky...the Moon now has an atmosphere.

The satellites depart (with the exception of the original sitting in Technical), but not before performing another scientific impossibility: the Moon's gravity is increased to near Earth-normal. Helena Russell reviews the processed data and concludes the atmosphere to be breathable; though somewhat shallow by Earth standards, it even contains a protective ozone layer. From an abundance of volunteers, Koenig chooses Paul Morrow and Sandra Benes for the final test—breathing the new air. Out on the surface, they open valves in their spacesuits and begin breathing increasing portions of the outside atmosphere. Finally, they open their helmet visors and take a deep breath; it smells like fresh country air. The two joyfully embrace and try to kiss through the bulky space gear.

The next day, Alpha is transformed into a holiday resort, with people sun-bathing and playing badminton and other lawn games on the barren moonscape. Morrow and Sandra go for a private stroll among the moonrocks. The two discuss that, despite their feelings for each other, the thought of taking their relationship to the next level was unthinkable while cooped up inside Alpha. Now, with the promise of a new life, the time has come to reconsider that decision and they passionately kiss.

Bergman obsesses over the formidable task of reclaiming the Moon surface. The first major obstacle is the lack of water, though he is sure the rain cycle can be started with cloud-seeding. Koenig feels their priority should be establishing if Ariel can support them. As if eavesdropping, the satellite′s antennae send bolts of energy streaming into the sky. Heavy clouds accumulate and it beings to storm. The people of Alpha scamper outside to experience this first rainfall. Bergman is elated; as the rains continue, the Sea of Tranquility will become a genuine sea and all the craters will fill to form circular lakes. Koenig gives him a reality check—Moonbase Alpha is built in a crater, and could soon be at the bottom of its own personal lake.

Koenig orders a survey of the Moon surface for an alternative place to live. Eagle Two-Eight lifts off, crewed by Carter, Morrow and Sandra, with Helena as mission commander. Hours into the flight, the Eagle encounters bad weather over the Taurus Mountains. Elated at flying an aircraft again, Carter takes the ship into the clouds. Back at Moonbase, Tanya and David Kano fret over the poor quality of telemetry received from the Eagle as it approaches an electrical storm—the interference is as bad as it was on Earth.

The Eagle is buffeted by high winds and Carter struggles to keep her aloft. Lightning strikes the fuselage and all systems fail, short-circuited. The ship plummets from the sky and crashes into a dust-dune on a barren plateau high in the mountains. In Main Mission, the ship vanishes from tracking radar and contact is lost with the on-board computer. Koenig organises a massive search effort and every serviceable Eagle is pressed into action.

At the crash site, Helena tends to an injured Sandra, finding fractured ribs and concussion. Carter examines the ship's systems, finding burned-out electronics. The men struggle to open the exterior hatch and dig through a suffocating drift of moondust to reach open air. They catch sight of Eagle One flying away over the mountains—Koenig and crew have missed the nearly-buried wreck under its camouflage of dust. Returning to Alpha long after nightfall, Koenig meets with Bergman, who is still optimistic that the Moon will assume orbit around this sun. Koenig points out that if it does not, conditions outside will rapidly deteriorate rapidly.

The next day, in spite of the stifling heat, Carter and Morrow get to work. They stack storage crates in a cross-shape to increase their visibility from the air. Helena inventories their supplies. She is dismayed to find the smashed tank of a corrosive chemical (normally stored in the engine compartment) thrown into the cargo section by the force of impact. The acid has contaminated most of their consumables, leaving only survival rations and two containers of potable water. At Alpha, Koenig receives a report that Eagle One-Five is the latest of six ships grounded by serious system failures. He lambasts Kano over the apparent incompetence of the Technical Section. His final word is that no Eagle will be grounded without his authorisation.

Night falls on the plateau and the temperature drops below freezing. The wind picks up, piling dust-drifts over the marker. Helena doles out their dinner ration of survival cubes and small tumblers of water. The men watch the water supply dwindling and, mindful of Sandra's condition, agree to split one cup between them. Helena will not allow it—for Sandra's sake, they must keep up their strength.

Koenig blasts off at dawn to lead the day's search. His control systems suddenly seize up and the Eagle crash-lands just beyond the base perimeter. Technical's analysis shows that an unknown element in the atmosphere, in combination with airborne particles of moondust, is causing all exposed metals to corrode—except for those coated with a graphite compound. Koenig orders the base re-sealed and re-pressurised with its own atmosphere immediately, then an Eagle stripped down and graphite applied to every metal surface. As an afterthought, he has the Ariel satellite dumped outside.

The wind storm continues through the next night at the crashed Eagle. As the others sleep, Morrow sneaks extra water to Sandra. She protests, but he lies to her about it having rained. Watching her continued suffering, he makes a desperate decision—he will try to reach Alpha on foot and get help. Under the guise of fetching water, he leaves before the others awaken. Unable to withstand the gale-force wind, Morrow soon collapses to the ground. Reaching out, he encounters a mushroom-like growth under a rock; with nothing to lose, he first squeezes liquid out of the fungus to drink, then takes a bite.

Sunrise brings clear skies and finds Morrow alive and with renewed strength. He has built a shelter out of odds and ends overnight. Bringing Sandra out to lie in the open air, he declares his shack to be the new city of Alpha in this de facto Garden of Eden. He offers the others breakfast: the ‘manna from Heaven’ delivered unto him when he lay down to die. Carter is willing to try, but Helena insists on testing it first. Back at Alpha, Bergman reports the Moon will not be going into orbit. Koenig is grim; once they leave this sun, the atmosphere will freeze and crush Moonbase. A small consolation, the corrosion-proof Eagle is ready and Koenig resumes the search for Helena and the others.

Having no real choice, Helena clears the mushroom substance for consumption; she will conduct proper tests when they return to Alpha. With a fanatical intensity, Morrow declares they will not be going back. Recent events have guided them to their destiny: to foster a new civilisation on the Moon, then spread humanity out across the stars. Carter returns in time to witness Morrow's harangue and drop-kicks his gathered ‘manna’ into the dust. Morrow proceeds to beat him senseless over his sacrilegious treatment of this ‘sacred bread’. Helena moves to sedate Morrow, but he evades the hypo-gun and grabs her by the throat.

Helena′s life is saved by the return of the Ariel satellites. As Morrow revels in the ‘second coming’ of the people of Ariel, she spots Koenig's Eagle in the distance. She runs for the wreck of Eagle Two-Eight and opens the valves on every oxygen cylinder. Back outside, she fires a laser rifle into the ship. The laser charge ignites the flammable gas, blowing the ship apart. Koenig's instruments indicate atmospheric pressure is falling—the satellites are back to remove the atmosphere. He spots the column of smoke from the burning Eagle and touches down.

Koenig leaves Bob Mathias to assist Carter and Helena while he goes to retrieve Sandra from the shelter. He is attacked by a psychotic Morrow preaching his new-found dogma. As the air thins, the two men fight until Koenig lays Morrow out with a right cross to the chin. After their return to Alpha, Bergman reports to the senior executives that Morrow's ‘manna’ has high nutritional potential—once the hallucinogenic elements are removed.

The last of the departing satellites pauses and focuses a ray on the Main Mission building. An alien voice states their actions were neither benevolent nor malevolent. Koenig's suspicions were correct—by making the Moon habitable, they prevented Earthmen from penetrating their planet. The Commander insists their intentions were peaceful. The Ariel voice replies they have observed Earth since the beginning of time; human nature is such they are unwilling to take the risk.

Contact is broken and the satellite flies away. As the last of the temporary atmosphere dissipates and the sun sinks toward the horizon, the people of Alpha settle in to enjoy their last sunset.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Sunset_(Space:_1999)

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Year Two (1976-1977) - Best & Worst Episodes:

Best:

1) The Metamorph

Story

It is 342 days after leaving Earth orbit, and Moonbase Alpha is recovering after a recent encounter with a space warp. Without warning, the Moon was flung six light-years across space. Though there were no casualties, one life-support system was critically damaged. A quantity of titanium is required to complete repairs. Commander John Koenig dispatches a survey Eagle to reconnoitre a nearby solar system for the rare mineral. From the new, underground Command Centre, the staff tracks Eagle One as it approaches a near-habitable planet. Though the atmosphere is breathable, the barren surface is covered with active volcanoes and temperatures average 180° Fahrenheit.
Computer analysis reveals large deposits of titanium, and Astronauts Bill Fraser and Ray Torens are recalled. Unseen by the pilots, a boulder inexplicably changes into a large sphere of green energy—which then follows Eagle One. Moonbase sensors detect the mysterious pursuer and Koenig warns Fraser. Despite rigorous evasive manoeuvres, the sphere effortlessly follows the ship. Among the Command Centre staff is Fraser's wife of two months, Annette. She faints as the ball of light engulfs her husband's Eagle and drags it down to the planet.
Following the abduction, Alpha goes to alert status. Tony Verdeschi, head of Security and recently-appointed second-in-command, mobilises the defences—which now include large-scale laser batteries. Koenig insists there must be intelligent life on the planet. Scientific officer Lew Picard declares no life as they know it could exist in that environment. Just then, a middle-aged alien man appears on the big screen, introducing himself as Mentor of the planet Psychon. Koenig immediately accuses the being of attacking an unarmed survey ship—which, Mentor counters, was trespassing on his planet.
After a lengthy exchange, an understanding is reached. Mentor agrees to release the pilots. Their vessel is damaged, however; another Eagle must be sent to collect them. In the interests of peace, the alien will also give them the titanium, asking that a science specialist be sent to discuss the details. Mentor also asks for them to bring a physician, as one of the astronauts was injured. Koenig, suspicious of the alien's generosity, agrees to a rendezvous in space. He orders the excursion Eagle fitted with two booster units—in case there is reason to hurry home.
In a subterranean complex on Psychon, Mentor turns to his companion—a lioness lying across a console—and asks her opinion. The animal transforms into an exotically beautiful young woman: his daughter Maya. The girl is a metamorph, trained by her father in the Psychon art of molecular transformation, able to assume the form of any living organism at will. Well disposed toward the Alphans, she finds them more attractive and agreeable than past alien visitors. When she playfully metamorphoses into Koenig, Mentor scolds her for frivolously misusing her abilities. With work to be done, he shoos her out of the Grove.
With booster units affixed to its fuselage, Eagle Four lifts off, crewed by Koenig, Picard, Helena Russell and Alan Carter. As they arrive at Psychon, an alien craft approaches. Sensors reveal the silent ship is under remote control, is radiating magnetic energy—and contains no life-forms. (Unknown to them, it was created out of rock by Mentor's power of matter transmutation.) Acting like a electromagnet, it drags the Eagle downward. When full engine thrust fails to break the alien's grip, Koenig orders the booster rockets fired. To Mentor's chagrin, Eagle Four blasts free. He converts the vessel into an energy sphere to capture Koenig. Eagle Four comes to rest in a volcanic crater, surrounded by derelict alien vessels.
Mentor contacts Koenig, ignoring the Commander's protests as he welcomes the humans to Psychon. Behind him, the Alphan astronauts are marched into the Grove. Seeing Koenig's image on the screen, Fraser tries to warn him of something, but is stunned by a guard. Mentor tries to pass off his outburst as delirium, then tells Koenig to stay put until contacted again. As Fraser is taken away, Mentor turns to Torens, who is strapped in a seat behind a glass partition. A futuristic skull-fitting dome descends over the pilot's head. The alien scientist touches a panel and Torens arches in agony, mouth opening in a silent scream.
Distrustful of their ‘host’, the Koenig and party disembark into the spaceship graveyard. They enter a tunnel, following it underground. Picard spies titanium ore among the loose gravel littering the ground; Helena pockets the nuggets to take back to Alpha. Rounding a bend, the four enter a large cavern inhabited by a diverse collection of aliens. Guarded by Mentor's Overseers, they are engaged in mining activities. From their mindless behaviour, Helena recognises the aliens are suffering from a form of brain damage. They are shocked to discover one of the zombie-like miners is Torens.
Reaching out to him, Koenig is repelled by force-field. An Overseer is attacted by the commotion; when shot with a stun-blast, the being changes into a stone slab. Picard speculates the guard was created from inert matter by molecular transformation. As they proceed, an image of Mentor blocks the tunnel. The alien warns them the hologram is surrounded by an impenetrable force-field. Hoping to overpower the barrier, Picard fires his laser rifle—but the beam ricochets back to atomise the Frenchman. When their stun-guns transformed into molten rocks, Koenig and company retreat, but are captured by another sphere of light.
Koenig regains consciousness alone in a cell, startled by the lioness guarding the open doorway. As he backs away from the beast, Maya reverts to her normal form. With she and her father the sole remaining inhabitants of Psychon, the girl is eager to interact with the alien commander. When Koenig tries to exit the cell, he encounters another force-field. Though Maya's apology is earnest, Koenig is enraged by what he feels is another Psychon trick. Maya is shocked when Koenig attacks Mentor's character by citing a list of his malicious deeds. Ignorant of her father's activities, she does not believe Koenig, thinking he is still disoriented.
At the Grove, Mentor admits Koenig, but prevents a curious Maya from joining them. The room is dominated by a surreal artefact: a hexagonal dais from which dozens of glass conduits rise to penetrate the rocky ceiling. The conduits contain bubbling organic fluids of every colour, and the object hums and pulses with energy. With affection, Mentor introduces it as Psyche, a biological computer. Using its ability to manipulate matter, he plans to transform this dying world from a volcanic wasteland back to its former splendour.
The alien scientist makes a gruesome revelation: Psyche derives its energy from the minds of intelligent beings. Like Torens, the brain-dead slaves in the pits have all been in ‘rapport’ with the machine. Koenig is appalled as the madman states the arrival of the Moon and its 297 human inhabitants should provide enough energy to make his world live again. When Koenig refuses to hand over the Alpha people, Mentor demonstrates his power by detonating a lunar mountain close to Moonbase.
Koenig refuses to yield, preferring the Alphans be mercifully destroyed than condemned to this obscenity. The wily Mentor then reveals Koenig's missing comrades—strapped down in the brain transfer unit. Unless Koenig submits, their minds will be given to Psyche. Koenig stands firm, and the process begins. As his people writhe in agony under the glass domes, Mentor taunts Koenig with how little time remains to them. Apparently unable to stand by and watch Helena suffer, Koenig surrenders.
On Moonbase Alpha, the mood is sombre. There has been no contact with either Eagle crew and Mentor's complex is shielded against their scanners. The staff is excited when they receive a signal from Koenig—more so when he announces the Alphans have been given permission to settle on Psychon. When Verdeschi questions the abruptness of events, the Commander sternly informs him the operation is covered under ‘directive four’ and will commence at once. Shocked that Koenig would betray the entire population of Alpha, Helena demands an explanation. As the group are led to a cell, the Commander justifies his actions in the name of self-preservation.
On Alpha, a brooding Verdeschi paces, while the staff wonders why the evacuation has not commenced. Sandra Benes consults Computer for the meaning of the unfamiliar ‘directive four’; Computer denies her access due to insufficient security clearance. Asking Verdeschi in private, she is told it is a code signal between Koenig and himself—an irrevocable order to destroy the place from which it is issued. To her horror, the security chief contacts the Weapons Section and orders a remote-controlled Eagle equipped with a maximum load of nuclear ordnance.
Having overheard, Annette demands an explanation. Verdeschi tries to convey the severity of the situation, but the hysterical Annette, thinking only of her husband, refuses to listen. Holding the sobbing woman, Verdeschi orders the ship launched. On Psychon, Mentor and his daughter observe the lone Eagle approaching. The scientist scans the vessel, angered when its deadly cargo is revealed. Indignant, Maya leaves to confront the Alphans. Mentor contacts the prisoners, berating Koenig for trying to deceive him with a kamikaze Eagle. Having shunned Koenig, Helena and the others now realise the Commander's ‘traitorous’ actions were a ruse.
Mentor vows to first destroy the Eagle—then the Moon. After he signs off, an angry Maya arrives to tell Koenig what she thinks of him. She is appalled when he reveals Mentor's horrific agenda—especially the fate of those unfortunate to enter into ‘rapport’ with Psyche. She calls him a liar, but Koenig verbally batters her, demanding she go to the pits and see for herself. The alien girl flees...but finds herself running to the entrance to the tunnels. Koenig's tirade has exposed her inner doubts regarding Mentor's often secretive and condescending manner. Bracing herself, she transforms into a bird and flies on.
Maya soon encounters the mindless slave workers. She is numbed by the discovery, all faith in her father destroyed. During this, Mentor destroys the remote-controlled Eagle, then turns his wrath on Alpha. Via holographic projection, Koenig and company watch as explosions rip through the complex. A distraught Maya returns to the cell in time to hear her father gloat how he will destroy Moonbase piece by piece. Koenig implores her to release them and help prevent the senseless slaughter of three hundred more people. After Koenig promises to stop Mentor without harming him, she lowers the force-field. As the others make for the Eagle, Maya leads Koenig to the Grove.
Koenig acts fast, bashing Psyche's controls with a stalactite ripped from the ceiling. Mentor grabs him, shouting that the sudden release of Pyche's energy could destroy the planet; Koenig throws off the older man and continues his vandalism. Soon, the floor begins to heave and fracture, flames bursting through the cracks. Psyche's ‘death’ is apocalyptic: all across Psychon volcanoes begin erupting in a chain reaction. As the fire spreads, a wounded Mentor implores Maya to stop Koenig. Sobbing, the girl does not move, revealing her newfound knowledge of his horrible deeds.
In the caves, Helena and Fraser try to retrieve Torens, but the pilot is buried alive when the ceiling collapses on the unfortunate miners. In the Grove, Mentor is trapped behind a wall of flame. Utterly defeated, he begs for his daughter's understanding. Watching the Grove crumble around them, he shouts for Maya to save herself. She refuses to abandon him. Koenig restrains her as she desperately transforms from one animal to another, trying to break free. He drags Maya out of the Grove as Mentor is consumed by the inferno. Running for their lives, they navigate the quaking tunnels leading to Eagle Four.
They board and the ship takes off—just as the volcanic crater erupts beneath it. Carter fights for control as the growing tectonic stresses blow the planet apart. Eagle Four makes contact with Moonbase, and the Frasers enjoy a sweet reunion over the TV monitor. During this, Koenig and Helena comfort Maya. The girl is inconsolable, devastated by the loss of her entire existence. They invite her to make a new life for herself on Alpha. Maya believes anywhere but on Psychon she will be an alien. Koenig replies, ‘We're all aliens...until we get to know one another.’

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorph

Worst:

5) Journey to Where

Story

As the Moon drifts through empty space, a woman's voice is heard calling ‘This is a neutrino transmission. Calling Moonbase Alpha by neutrino transmission.’ The mysterious signal is heard over every channel throughout the base. John Koenig and the senior staff are amazed—this communication is specifically intended for them. When the signal is acknowledged, the woman identifies her place of origin as Space Station One, Texas City, planet Earth. As the community rejoices, Koenig is suspicious. How can they be certain this signal is actually from Earth?
After this reality check, the senior executives review the facts. A neutrino transmission is an advanced method of communication which can cover billions of miles in an instant. A neutrino beam from Earth focused on the Moon could provide this miraculous two-way contact. Theoretical experiments had just begun in 1999. As their years in space would translate into the passage of decades on Earth, there would have been ample time for research and development.
Another voice—male, with an American Southern accent—introduces itself as Doctor Charles Logan, Texas City's senior space scientist. He tells them the year on Earth is 2120. This fantastic statement is followed by an even more astounding announcement—the technology now exists to teleport the Alphans back to Earth. Time is of the essence as communications will be cut off by a galactic eclipse in seventy-two hours. Making extensive astronomical calculations, Maya determines a massive star cluster is moving between the Moon and Earth's position; all contact will be blocked for nearly a century.
Logan calls to transmit the schematics for the transfer apparatus. Still suspicious, Koenig quizzes him on Earth history to confirm his identity as a human being. The scientist gives all the correct answers, down to the winner of the 1998 World Series. Convinced, Koenig orders Technical Section to begin construction. Optimism swells—with the exception of Maya. She worries about being the lone alien on Earth and losing touch with those she has become close to...especially Tony Verdeschi.
An impromptu celebration breaks out when amateur brewmaster Verdeschi introduces the Command Centre staff to his latest concoction. Unfortunately, he has more enthusiasm than skill, and the critics are not kind; after a single sip of his beer, an impish Maya transforms into Mister Hyde. The party is interrupted by a call from Logan and his assistant, Carla Cross, to indoctrinate them to life in the 22nd century. As Earth's environment was devastated by runaway pollution in the 21st century, humanity now resides exclusively in enormous, domed ‘metro-complexes’. With the outside atmosphere rendered unbreathable, ‘nature’ is now simulacra produced by a personal tele-sensual system.
Thirty hours prior to the eclipse, the transference dome is complete. An instrument package is prepared for a trial run; its systems will simulate human vital signs during the teleport. These will be read by a medical monitor (as worn on the wrist of every Alphan) re-tooled to transmit via neutrino carrier wave. As the transfer is initiated, Logan receives a forecast of seismic activity in the Gulf of Mexico. The test run continues and the instrument arrives on Earth intact and functioning perfectly.
Koenig is pensive. The imprecise quake forecast renders the transfer process unstable—but with the impending eclipse, they cannot delay. As three people can be conveyed at once, Koenig selects himself and volunteers Helena Russell and Alan Carter for the first trip. They proceed to the dome and the countdown begins. At minus two seconds, Texas City is struck by a major earthquake. Too late to abort, Logan and staff watch a nimbus of light build in the reception area...then fade. No one has materialised. On Moonbase, the transference dome is also empty.
After the quake, Logan's people assess the damage while listening to Verdeschi's demands for immediate action. Suddenly, Doctor Ben Vincent reports the medical monitors are still transmitting. Wherever the three travellers ended up, they are alive. At an unknown location, in a windswept forest glen, Koenig regains consciousness. He finds Helena and Carter nearby. Their relief at being alive soon changes to apprehension as they wonder where in the universe they could be—this wooded area is certainly not Earth's polluted wasteland. Their only hope for rescue is for Logan to pinpoint their location.
When Helena catches a chill, the three trudge through the damp forest in search of shelter...as unseen figures spy on them from the bushes. Soon, the doctor feels as if she is coming down with a cold. She hides her concern: after living in the germ-free atmosphere of Alpha, their resistance is low—a cold virus could prove fatal. Later, Carter hears sounds of pursuit. While searching the underbrush, the astronaut is attacked by a wild-haired, human-appearing man swinging an iron sword. Hearing the scuffle, Koenig rushes to Carter's aid. The two overpower the man, but he escapes into the woods. Having left Helena alone, they return to find the now-feverish doctor surrounded by a half-dozen armed men. The Alphans have no choice but to surrender.
On Moonbase, the staff is concerned over Helena's rising temperature. With eighteen hours remaining before the eclipse, Logan plans to recreate the seismic event with explosives. He hopes re-running the transfer procedure under the same circumstances will help locate the missing three. As the second quake jolts Texas City, their damaged instruments pinpoint a location: Earth. Logan is dismissive; the lost Alphans would be dead if exposed to Earth's polluted environment. His confidence dwindling, the scientist instructs Moonbase to make adjustments to the transference dome. If Koenig and company should be located, engaging the teleport will return them to the Moon.
The castaways are taken to their captors′ headquarters and thrust into a damp, dungeon-like cave. Worse, Helena has a high fever and is wracked by coughing. Her diagnosis is viral pneumonia, incurable under present circumstances. As they look for any way out, Helena spies fungus growing on the cave walls. She tells the men that common fungoids are the basis of the barmycin range of drugs, the only known cure for viral pneumonia. If it possesses similar qualities, it could stave off the infection until they are rescued. If untreated, she will die in a matter of hours.
Koenig and Carter manage to dispatch their guards and flee the cell with Helena and the fungus. Hiding in the forest, they prepare the fungus as per the doctor's instructions. By now, she is delirious, staring into the night sky and moaning about the Moon. After feeding her a dose of the makeshift concoction, they follow her gaze and see a moon flitting in and out of view through the clouds. Taking a long look, the men recognise familiar features and realise it is their Moon. Astonished, they conclude they have been on Earth all along...but in a time before 1999.
With ten hours left, Maya is thinking along similar lines. The odds are a billion to one they could have randomly landed on a habitable planet. All Logan's recalculations have indicated their location as Earth. The inescapable conclusion is that they are on Earth—but in a past or future time. Logan reluctantly agrees to pursue this outlandish hypothesis. On the past Earth, Helena's condition is much improved due to the fungoid mixture. As she recovers, Koenig notices their wrist monitors flashing in a specific pattern—Alpha is trying to signal them via the medical telemetry channel.
Any chance to respond is lost when a band of soldiers crashes out of the surrounding bushes. Koenig is frustrated at not being able to communicate—then floored when the leader speaks to him in Scots-accented English. The Alphans soon discover their captor is the laird of Clan MacDonald. He is the only clansman who speaks English, having learned it twenty-five years previous as chief castellan for the English prisoners taken at the Battle of Bannockburn. MacDonald reckons they are English noblemen, one of whom is running away with the wife of a great lord. The prisoners are escorted back to his headquarters, this time to a cavern furnished as a great hall, and join MacDonald for a banquet celebrating the impending new year.
During the meal, Helena, deprived of her impromptu remedy, begins to relapse. As MacDonald gives a toast in Gaelic to honour the hero Robert Bruce and the Scottish victory at Bannockburn, Koenig and company huddle. They cannot figure the date from MacDonald's clues, but providing Maya and Logan with the information will guarantee the calculation of space/time coordinates for the transfer beam. Koenig begins tapping out a message on the control stud of his wrist monitor. His actions attract the attention of the chieftain, who tears the unfamiliar device off his wrist.
As MacDonald reaches for Helena's monitor, she slumps, eyes glazed from sickness. Jumping to conclusions, the alarmed laird backs away and shouts in Gaelic that the English fugitives carry the Black Death. The clansmen herd Koenig and company away at swordpoint. The Alphans are taken to a torture chamber and manacled to the rock wall. Koenig tries to reason with the laird that Helena's illness is not the Plague and can be cured. Knowing only one cure for the pestilence, McDonald heaves his torch into the bales of straw and faggots piled at their feet. As flames rise, Koenig stretches out for Helena's wrist and desperately begins to tap her monitor's control stud in rapid succession.
With thirty minutes until the eclipse, both the Alphans and Earth scientists have accepted defeat. Suddenly, the readout for Helena's monitor goes berserk, flashing on and off in a series of long and short pulses—which an older astronaut realises is Morse code. Computer provides translation: Scotland...New Year...Bannockburn plus twenty-five. Logan's computer calculates the target date as 25 March 1339 and the transfer is initiated. The clansmen recoil as the three Alphans vanish from the pyre in an unearthly radiance.
Safe on Alpha, Koenig bids Logan and associates an appreciative farewell. As the eclipse commences and contact is broken, the Commander goes to check on the recovering Helena. The doctor reflects that, with Earth's rich history, what bad luck it was to have landed in 14th-century Scotland. Koenig kiddingly reminds her of even worse historical events they could have blundered into. She musters a sad smile; with that kind of history, who wants to go back to Earth?

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_Where

By: MIDNITECAMPZ