Back to Command Center

Back to Season 1 Episode Guide and Archive

Alpha receives an automated distress signal from the spaceship Daria, telling of a catastrophe that has killed thousands and left hundreds sick and dying. It asks for medical and material aid to save the few remaining survivors. Unable to communicate with the vessel,
Koenig, Helena, Victor, Alan, Paul, and Bill Lowery go to investigate. as they fly over the twenty mile long, five mile wide ship, they are unable to locate a point of entry. Suddenly the Eagles control systems are "smothered" and they are pulled into a docking area within the ship.
They try to break free, but cannot. They decide to enter the Daria to look for survivors, and a way to release their Eagle. Inside they find several long passages, in various states of ruin. They split up to look around; Koenig and Bergman one way, Carter and Morrow another,
and Russell and Lowery wait by the Eagle. While the others are gone, Helena discovers a door to another passage covered by wreckage. Lowery manages to unblock the entrance and they enter to take a look. Inside they hear sounds. On further investigation, they see two
frightened little people. The two are unable to speak, but appear to be running from something. Helena tries to calm the female, but the male runs down another corridor, when Lowery attempts to follow, he is struck from behind as he passes through the doorway. Meanwhile,
John and Victor are met by two spacesuited figures. While trying to figure out if this is some sort of welcome committee, the two figures pull out their weapons and fire! Elsewhere on the ship, Alan and Paul stopped by wreckage blocking the passage that they were searching
and return to the Eagle. Inside they find the small male hiding amongst the seats. They coax him out and try to find out where Helena and Bill went. They convince him to show them where they were taken. Koenig awakens on a bed in a pristine area of the ship and is greeted by
the lovely Kara. He asks why they were fired upon, when they came in response to the Darians distress call. She explains that the signal was triggered when the all but one of the Daria's nuclear reactors exploded almost nine hundred years ago, and that they unaware
strangers were aboard their ship, and that's why they were fired upon. Koenig asks if they have located the rest of their party. She tells him, they have not, but will search for them. Helena, Lowery, and the mute woman are taken to an alter where they are judged for "purity".
The female mute is judged as a mutant and forced into a disintegration chamber. Lowery is examined, and when they find he has one finger that is shorter than it should be, he is judged a mutant and forced into the chamber and disintegrated. Kara introduces
Koenig to Neman, the commander of the Daria. They explain that their ship was essentially an "Ark" transporting the survivers of their dying world to a new planet. They offer the Alphans the chance to join them, in exchange for supplies and assistance. Helena is examined,
and is determined to be clear of physical imperfections, and is to be offered to the God Neman. The "spirits" are summoned to take her to their God, as Alan and Paul are lead to her location by the male mute. The "spirits" arrive and are the same spacesuited figures that
stunned Koenig and Bergman. They grab Helena, and Paul and Alan rush from their hiding place to save her. There is a struggle and one of the "spirits" is stunned. The other forces Helena into a passageway behind the portrait of Neman. Paul manages to leap through before the
door closes, and follows them. Alan is being held for the murder of the "spirit". When the stun effect wears off, Alan shows his captors that the "spirit" is , in fact, a man, and offers to lead them to expose their false God. While Koenig and Victor check the compatibilty of humans
and Darians, they discover that the Darians do not have any stores of the components necessary to sustain life, and they are using living bodies for food! They confront Kara, who explains that they must survive to preserve the DNA of the "pure" Darians in order to ensure the
survival of their race. Koenig meets up with Paul who is still in pursuit of Helena. He tells Koenig that the Darians have her. They find Kara and force her at gun-point to show them where the bodies are taken. She takes them and they find Helena unconscious. Kara is able to
revive her and runs off. Alan leads the survivors to the undamaged portion of the ship. They make their way to room with the gene bank. Neman and Kara enter soon after. Hadin is dangerously close to the gene bank and Neman runs towards him. Hadin grabs him and
tells him that he is no God, then proceeds to toss him through the gene bank. He grabs Kara, and Koenig yells for them to stop. Telling them that the only way they will survive is by working together. Kara asks how they will survive. With the gene bank destroyed,
along with the million years of civilization it represents, she asks what future does her people have. Koenig tells her that the survivors are their future, that they must teach them to live and survive in space, and that they will help them. On the ride back to the base,
Helena mourns the loss of Bill Lowery. Kano, finally able to get through, asks what happened. Alan tells him to ask again some time. Alan asks Koenig if Alpha was in the same postition as the Darians, would he choose any differently? Koenig responds by telling him to remind him to tell him some time.

This Episode

Screenplay.......................................................................Johnny Byrne

Director..............................................................................Ray Austin

Guest Stars

Kara................................................................................Joan Collins

Neman..........................................................................Aubrey Morris

Bill Lowery.........................................................................Paul Antrim

Petros..........................................................................Dennis Burgess

Hadin............................................................................Robert Russell

Male Mute..................................................................Gerald Stadden

Female Mute..................................................................Jackie Horton

Random Thoughts

This episode shows Space: 1999's grand scale. Including the largest model built for the series (the Daria) by Martin Bower and Brian Johnson, and three matte paintings to convey the enormous interior of the ship, two showing the interior structures,

and one used to superimpose the cast on a walkway within the undamaged section.

Not to mention the numerous sets showing the different sections of the ship in various states, from pristine, to utter devastation. And one of the largest casts of extras used during the run of the series.

They also tackle serious moral issues in this episode; the question of what price is too high for survival, and the ever-popular theme of eternal life (or possibly just extended life, in this case). I am still unsure how transplant surgery would stop the aging process. I could understand replacing failing organs to prolong life, but I don't see how that would keep them all young and beautiful. But I have to say I am impressed with, what I considered a very daring scene in the body bank. The nude corpses lined up on the table is still a startling image. I am amazed they were allowed to air that scene at all.

They make a strong point of showing that the Darians situation mirrors the Alphans' in many ways, and pose the question "Would they do any differently under the same circumstances?" Would the Alphans resort to cannibalism, if they were unable to produce food to survive? Koenig's cryptic answer at the end of the show sheds no light on the answer, but I imagine that no one really could say for certain what they would do in such an extreme situation without actually experiencing it. It is easy enought to say that one is above that, but would some primitive survival instinct over-ride our delicate sensibilities? "Ask me again some time."

This episode also features some very fine acting. Joan Collins is excellent as Kara. She exudes a sense of aristocracy as one of the few remaining "true" Darians, with total disdain for the poor creatures born of the survivors of the nuclear fallout. She is perfectly aghast when Koenig mentions using the bodies of the Darians for food (they would never use the bodies of true Darians!). She is also convincingly concerned for her own well-being as she tries to revive Helena. She also has an interesting moment at the end of the episode as she sizes up Hadin, potentially the next leader of the Darians. She looks as though she is trying to figure out how she might control him (sex?)

I was slightly shocked at the scene where Koenig raises his hand to strike Kara when he thinks Helena might be dead. This was a very effective moment. It sure seemed to motivate Kara to revive Helena!

Speaking of Helena, she has some great moments as Petros is checking the female mute, Bill Lowery, and herself for physical imperfections. I especially liked the confused, yet slightly relieved look when she is pronounced "Clear!". But she still looks as though she is wondering what is coming next.

Deja View

We see in this episode a few carry-overs from previous episodes in the set design. The "splattered paint" lighted panels from Gwent in "The Infernal Machine", and the diffusing glass panels over the computers in the Darian's computer room were seen on the Setazius in "The Last Enemy".

Wallpaper

Click for downloadable version
Click for downloadable version

Sound Files

Neman: "Emergency! Emergency! This is the commander of the spaceship Daria. A major catastrophe has occurred. Large areas of our ship are devastated, thousands of our people are dead, hundreds sick and dying. We who survive, will perish without urgent medical and material needs. Please, help us."
Kara:

Koenig:
Kara:

Koenig:
Kara:


Koenig:
Kara:

Koenig:
Kara:
"You must understand, Commander Koenig, that apart from this small area, our ship is a wilderness."
"We picked up your signal."
"That signal was automatically triggered when all but one of our nuclear reactors exploded. It's been transmitting ever since."
"Ever since when?"
"Ever since this disaster occurred, nine hundred years ago. Only this part of the ship was shielded. Out of fifty thousand Darians, only fouteen of us survived intact."
"Fourteen?"
"Not all died at once, of course. Thousands survived the explosions. They were sick, irradiated."
"And we came here to help!"
"We're far beyond the call for help that brought you here, but your presence here is vital to our survival."
Neman:

Koenig:
Neman:

Victor:
Neman:

Kara:
Neman:
Koenig:
Neman:
Koenig:
Neman:
Victor:
Neman:
"Has it occured to you how similar our situations are? This ship, your Moon, both of us victims of an unfortunate disaster."
Yes, we have that in common."
"You know that this ship was virtually destroyed? You may recall a ship form your own Earth history..."
"You mean the Ark."
"Yes, this ship has a similar function, to preserve the life and skills of our Darian race."
"You see our planet Daria no longer exisits."
"Is it not true that your planet Earth may, also, no longer exist?"
That's possible."
"So your community may be all that is left of Earth's civilization."
"That, too, is possible."
"But it's a possibilty that you dare not ignore."
"Maybe, but it's also the incentive that spurs our will to survive."
"But will you survive?"
Koenig:
Victor:






Koenig:

Victor:


Koenig:
Victor:

Koenig:
Victor:
"What's the matter?"
"Ahh, I'm not sure.We've established that the Darians are as human as we are, and that their food requirements are similar to ours. But these are the components we use to provide our food on Alpha, they are processed and recycled, of course, to make them palatable, and these are the Darian requirements. See, a different system, but the same requirements. But now, look at their components..."
"No basic proteins, no amino acids, no trace elements, no enzyme variants... The Darians can't support life on these."
"Well, the Darian computer supplied the list, and I checked it. There's no mistake. There are no reserves of those elements on this ship."
"Have you checked the recycling plant itself?"
"Oh yes. All of those essential elements are present and being constantly renewed!"
"Well if the Darians have no reserves on this ship..."
"Just a minute. I said that there were no reserves of these elements anywhere on this ship, that is not strictly correct. There is one source where they could find those elements... a human source."
Koenig:
Kara:
Koenig:
Kara:
Koenig:
Kara:
Koenig:
Kara:

Koenig:

Kara:

Koenig:
Kara:





Koening
Kara:



Koenig:
Kara:

Koenig:
Kara:

Koenig:
"Is it true?"
"Does it matter where we get those elements from?"
"It matters."
"We would have told you."
"Your civilized people. Why?"
"To live!"
"Doesn't it also matter how you live?"
"Our experience on this ship has taught us the truth, the only truth, survival!"
"Look, you can;t justify using the living bodies of your own people to survive!"
"No, no, not our own people! How could we? There are only fourteen true Darians on this ship. The others."
"Others? What others?"
"They exist, out there in the radioactive wilderness, the descendants of the original survivors. They were left to die. It was twenty years before we knew they'd survived. Oh, you can't comprehend what we found. A million years of civilization wiped clean in one generation! And what was left were degenerate creatures, savage, mutant, cannibal."
"Why didn't you help them?"
"We couldn't reveal our presence, they would have overwhelmed us, but we tried to help them survive. We taught them the rudiments of science, we gave them a God to believe in..."
"Gave them a God?!?"
"A God that taught them to preserve only the fittest. The weak the sick the mutant were..."
"Were used as human fodder for your recycling plants!"
"It only became necessary after our own resouces ran out. Don't you see? There were only fourteen of us... we had to survive!"
"You Darians value yourselves very highly."
Kara:
Koenig:
"What is this?"
"You listen to me, we happen to know what you've been doing with those people out there... exploiting them, using them. Tha's your problem and theirs. But you Darians have one of our people, a woman. I want you to take us to her, or we'll tear this place apart."
Kara:

Koenig:

Kara:
Koenig:

Neman:
"Ever since the catastrophe, we Darians have had to prolong life by artificial means."
"That's how you Darians prolong life? Is there nothing you won't do in the sacred name of survival?"
"We can't reproduce ourselves! What else could we do?
"That's the future you had in mind for us, wasn't it? Was it? Was it?!?"
"Yes."
Koenig:

Kara:

Koenig:
"Now stop it, stop it! Listen to me! The only chance you have is to help each other, and live together."
The gene bank's destroyed... a million years of civilization gone. What future do we have now?"
"What future do you have now? These people are your future now. Prepare them to survive in space. We'll help you, but the rest is up to you."
Lowery: Humming
Alan:

Koenig:
"If the same thing happened on Alpha, would you have chosen differently?"
"Remind me to tell you some time."
Sound Effect:
The sound of the "spirits" sensor beam.
Sound Effect:
The alien stun weapon.
Sound Effect:
The medical device used to revive Helena.
Cue: Background sound

Back to previous episode Back to top Forward to next episode