SPACE 1999 SEASON 2 EPISODE GUIDE

METAMORPH An alien named Mentor threatens to drain the brains of the moonbase crew. He needs their energy to repair his biological computer. His daughter ,Maya, helps the crew to escape and goes with them.

THE EXILES The Alphans find 2 aliens inside a cylinder orbiting the moon. They revive the aliens who respond by kidnapping 2 of the crew.

JOURNEY TO WHERE The moonbase gets a message from a future Earth, offering to return them to Earth, which they do, but they are transplanted to Scotland in the 1300's, during a plague outbreak.

ONE MOMENT OF HUMANITY Dr Russell and Tony are kidnapped by aliens who want to use them to teach their androids how to kill.

BRIAN AND BRAIN A robot kidnaps the commander and the doctor, Maya uses her shape shifting powers to rescue them.

NEW ADAM NEW EVE Magus appears before the Alphans offering them a new home.He wants the commander, doctor, Tony and Maya as his new Adam and Eves.

THE MARK OF ARCHANON 2 aliens are discovered in suspended animation below the Moon's surface.

THE RULES OF LUTON Koenig and Maya are on an alien planet and pick some plants. They are accused by some trees of murder.

ALL THAT GLITTTERS The Aplans meet living rocks on an alien planet.

THE TAYBOR A space trader visits the moon and offers to get them back to Earth, in exchange for Maya.

SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION An astroid is draining power from the moonbase.

THE A B CHRYSALIS An energy beam come from an planet and rocks the station. They investigate and find a computer protecting a humanoid population.

CATACOMBS OF THE MOON Dr Russell tries to save a patient, whose husband is having visions of the station's destruction.

SPACE WARP The moon goes into a space warp, moving 5 light years. But not everyone is on the moon, some are stranded in a space ship trying to get back to the moonbase.

A MATTER OF BALANCE Vindrus, an anti matter alien, tries to take over the moonbase.

THE BETA CLOUD An illness strikes the station and a space creature attacks the station.

THE LAMBDA FACTOR The moon passes by a gas cloud which gives a crew member paranormal powers.

THE BRINGERS OF WONDER A ship from Earth arrives and promises to get the crew home. But Koenig sees through the illusion to the aliens behind it.

THE SÉANCE SPECTRE Some of the crew hold a seance to find out that a recently seen planet will be a good home.

DORZAK A spaceship arrives on the moon with a prisoner from Maya's home planet.

DEVIL’S PLANET The Alphans respond to a distress signal from a penal colony.

THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME Koenig goes exploring an Earth-like planet where is finds a being whose attempts to communicate can drive people insane.

THE DORCONS A Dorcan spaceship demands that Maya be handed over.

SPACE 1999 SEASON 1 EPISODE GUIDE

BREAKAWAY Moon leaves Earth's orbit.

FORCE OF LIFE Crewman is possessed by a heat-craving alien.

COLLISION COURSE Moon on collision course with planet. Alien Queen believes the collision is her people's destiny.

WAR GAMES Moonbase seems to be under attack and most of the crew dies, but all is not what it seems.

DEATH’S OTHER DOMINION An ice planet is discovered that is populated with people from Earth.

VOYAGER’S RETURN The old Voyager space probe is encountered by the survivors. The probe is now dangerous, leaking deadly nuetrons.

ALPHA CHILD The first child is born on the base and the child grows very quickly.

DRAGON’S DOMAIN Tony Cellini, a survivor of a deep space mission tells the crew of story of a monster inhabiting the area that the Moonbase has drifted into.

MISSION OF THE DARIANS The crew of the moonbase respond to a distress call and find a ship that has been drifting for 900 years.

BLACK SUN The moon gets drawn into a black sun with little chance of survival.

GUARDIAN OF PIRI The crew is offered a new life on the planet Prir, but Koenig is suspicious.

END OF ETERNITY Koenig frees a immortal killer from its prison.

MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH Dr. Russell's husband, believed to be dead, reappears warning them not to land on the planet, Terra Nova.

EARTHBOUND An alien ship visits the moon and announces they are on the way to Earth.

THE FULL CIRCLEE A moonbase ship returns from exploring with no crew aboard, only a dead caveman.

ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE The moon and the base's personnel are duplicated and they find themselves orbiting Earth, but it is just a duplicate.

THE LAST SUNSET Probes from an alien intelligence land on the moon and start to change its atmosphere, making it oxygen rich.

THE INFERNAL MACHINE A living machine lands of the planet and its living companion soon dies. It wants Koenig and Dr. Russell to be his new companions.

RING AROUND THE MOON A probe from planet Triton takes over the moonbase.

MISSING LINK Koenig is injured and taken to the planet Zenno to be studied.

SPACE BRAIN A strange phenomenon in space destroys one of the moonbase's ships and takes over the mind of a crewman.

THE TROUBLED SPIRIT Scientist Mateo is trying to communicate with plants and is haunted by his own ghost.

THE TESTAMENT OF ARKADIA The moon stops traveling through space, held by the planet Arkadia. They land of the planet and find evidence that life on Earth originated on that planet.

THE LAST ENEMY The moon drifts into the middle of a war and Koenig must negotiate a cease fire.

SPACE 1999 CLASSIC SCI-FI SERIES

This British series was the last collaboration from the married team of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. They had previous success with science fiction shows using their process of supermarionation. The series were made with marionettes and had wonderful special effects and exciting story lines.



Now the team turned to science fiction using human actors. For their time, the special effects and models were wonderful. Now, of course, they look very dated. The computers were huge and the décor is awful. But in 1975, when the show debuted, this was considered an exciting show.



The series, unlike the Anderson’s earlier efforts, was meant to be a serious sci fi series for adults. It took 2 years for the series to be ready to air and was very expensive. The show was first show in Great Britain, but immediately it was syndicated in other countries, where it was an immediate success. The series was less successful in England and during the show, the creators ended their marriage. This lead to the cancellation of the show, which was going downhill in terms of quality, anyway. But some of the early episodes were very good and the series is worth a second look.

Moonbase Alpha is a thriving station on the moon with over 300 inhabitants. It has various uses, including serving as a base for space exploration and as a dumping ground for nuclear waste. As the pilot opens, there is a problem, some members of the crew are dying. The nuclear waste doesn’t appear to be the problem, but the doctor isn’t so sure.



Commander Koenig has just returned to take command of the station. Earth Command is only interested in getting an explorer ship off the base in time, but Koenig is worried about the deaths and investigates.



By the end of the episode the nuclear waste has exploded and torn the moon out of Earth’s orbit. The station is still intact, but the moon is travelling through space, cut off from Earth. Koenig doesn’t try to get back to Earth, believing there is not a realistic chance of them making it back alive. Moonbase Alpha is now on their own, off to new adventures and dangers and encounters with alien life.

CAST



Martin Landau as Commander John Koenig
Barbara Bain as Dr. Helena Russell
Barry Morse as Professor Victor Bergman
Nick Tate as Alan Carter
Zienia Merton as Sandra Benes
Prentis Hancock as Paul Morrow
Anoton Phillips as Dr. Bob Mathias
Clifton Jones as David Kano
Catherine Schell as Maya
Tony Anholt as Tony Verdeschi



Commander Koenig ran the station, Dr. Russell was head of the medical team and Bergman was the onboard scientist. My favorite character was Maya, who was introduced in the second season. She was an alien with the ability to shapeshift into any living creature.

The Lucy Show

I Love Lucy was arguably a funnier show, but I have always preferred The Lucy Show. I didn't appreciate Ricky spanking Lucy or the nastiness between the characters.

The Lucy Show just seemed a little nice, of course Lucy wasn't quite as daffy, she was a little more responsible and his friendship with Viv was rock-solid. The I Love Lucy episodes where the women were on the outs with each other were not my favorites. Of course on The Lucy Show they had their disagreements, but really they functioned as more of a team.

The premise of the show was that Lucy Carmichael was a widowed mother of 2, to help with expenses she invited her divorced friend Vivian Bagley and her son to move in. The kids were involved in some stories but were not really that important and the acting quality wasn't that great. But to be fair they were no worse than other child actors of the time and they did get better as the series went along.

But the kids were not what made the show funny, it was the team of Lucy and Viv. The series debuted 50 years ago on October 1, 1962 and was quickly deemed a hit, although not in quite the class as I Love Lucy.

Some of my favorite moments in the show were redecorating the basement just before the coal arrived, the Christmas tree feud and the many guest appearances. But one of the best episodes was Lucy and Viv Put In A Shower. If you watch closely you can see the Lucille Ball almost drowned and Vivian Vance saved her life without breaking character or missing a line.

HERE COME THE BRIDES

This series was aired on ABC for 2 seasons starting in 1968 and was set in the American West but it wasn’t really a Western.The Bolt Brothers: Jason, Joshua and Jeremy own a mountain where they run a logging operation, outside the small town of Seattle. But they are having a problem keeping loggers, the town has very few available women.

So Jason decides to get some women to move to Seattle. The Civil War has ended, leaving some towns depopulated of men. Jason and Jeremy go to New Bedford in New England and recruit some women.

But to get the money to bring the brides to Seattle and house them, Jason had to borrow money from Aaron Stemple, the local sawmill owner. There is a bet between the two men, if Jason doesn't get the women married off quickly, Aaron takes his land.

Candy, who is sweet on Jeremy, is the leader of the brides and Biddy is her giddy, silly sidekick. Lottie runs the local tavern and Clancy is the drunken ship's captain, who brought the brides to Seattle. In the second season, Candy's little brother and sister join her in Seattle.

CAST

ROBERT BROWN AS JASON BOLT

DAVID SOUL AS JOSHUA BOLT

BOBBY SHERMAN AS JEREMY BOLT

MARK LENARD AS AARON STEMPEL

HENRY BECKMAN AS CAPTAIN CLANCY

JOAN BLONDELL AS LOTTIE HATFIELD

BRIDGET HANLEY AS CANDY PRUITT

SUSAN TOLSKY AS BIDDIE CLOOM

ERIC CHASE AS CHRISTOPHER PRUITT

PATTI COHOON AS MOLLY PRUITT

Brides were sent from the East Coast to the West Coast after the Civil War, so that part is accurate. But, a logger wouldn't have to borrow money to get them there, he would have taken the money from other loggers. They would willing pay money for a chance at or bride. Or, if they didn't pay upfront, they would certainly have to pay their expenses once the wedding took place.

During the series there was no mention of the loggers paying for their bride's passage. Also, in the show, local men courted the brides, not just the loggers. This would start a riot, the brides were only for the loggers working for the Bolt brothers.

But all this is moot, the girls would not have made it to Seattle. As soon as they got to San Francisco, the men from the city would have immediately proposed and stolen the brides. This did happen in real life, I don't remember if the ship was going to Seattle, but there was a ship full of brides that was hijacked as soon as it hit San Francisco.

Moreover, if the brides had made it to Seattle, they all would have been married within a week. Of course this would have made for a short series. This was a nice family show, but short on historic reality.

BEST OF THE WEST Western comedy

I really enjoyed this sitcom for the short time it was on, it was quite amusing, but the series never took off. Best of the West aired on ABC for the 1981-1982 season. The network didn’t seem to know what to do with the show, their changed the hour and air date several times.

The show was a comic Western set after the Civil War. Sam Best, his new wife and young son go out west to start a new life after he gets out of the service. While fighting in the South he found time to marry a young Southern Belle. They met when he was burning down her family’s plantation.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Joel Higgins as Marshal Sam Best

Carlene Watkins as Elvira Best

Meeno Peluce as Daniel Best

Leonard Frey as parker Tillman

Tom Ewell as Doc Jerome Kullens

Valri Bromfield as Laney Gibbs

Tracey Walter as Frog

Macon McCalman as Mayor Fletcher



Sam Best, his wife Elvira and 10 year old Daniel leave Philadelphia to make a new life in the Western territories. Elvira is taken aback by the primitive conditions in the West, she keeps sweeping the floor and complaining that it is still dirty.

Elvira “I just can’t seem to get the dirt off this floor.”

Sam “It’s a dirt floor.

Daniel is sarcastic and rude about having to leave the big city. The best character on the show was Parker Tillman. He owns the Square Deal Saloon and has his hand in most of the local business. He is a complete villain and doesn’t do anything unless he can make a profit. When there was a flood, he would not give people shovels, they had to rent them for a high price. Tillman has a sidekick called Frog, who was dumb as a bag of rocks but generally good hearted.

Sam became the local marshall when he accidentally drove off the Calico Kid, an outlaw that had been terrorizing the town. Also in the town was Doc Kullens, the drunk local physician. The show was pretty entertaining. Sam was the straight man to the town eccentrics. Tillman was my favorite character but I also liked Frog and Laney Gibbs, who was an eccentric mountain woman who came to town and caused havoc.

Trivia

When this show was on it drove me crazy where I had seen Parker Tillman before and I finally figured it out. In the movie, Fiddler on the Roof, Leonard Frey played the poor tailor that was in love with the eldest daughter.

Meeno Peluce was also the star of a short-lived series called Voyagers! about time travel. I liked that show also, but it was quickly cancelled.

Flo starring Polly Holliday

This spinoff from the successful sitcom, Alice, only lasted one season. Florence Jean Castleberry was originally from Cowtown, Texas but had moved to Phoenix, Arizona years ago. The much married waitress worked at Mel’s diner with fellow waitresses Alice and Vera.

Flo was pretty much the most popular character on Alice, so she was given a spinoff after 4 seasons. The reason given for leaving Phoenix is that Flo was offered a job as restaurant hostess in Houston.

She passes through Cowtown on the way and ends up buying a run down old tavern and staying on. The show was actually funny and had good characters, but it was not a great success.

CAST

Polly Holliday as Flo

Geoffrey Lewis as Earl Tucker

Jim B. Baker as Farley Waters

Sudie Bond by Velma Castleberry

Lucy Lee Flippin as Fran Castleberry

Joyce Bulifant as Miriam Willoughby

Leo Burmester as Randy Stumphill

Stephen Keep as Les Kincaid



Velma was Flo’s feisty mama, Fran was Flo’s uptight sister, who had been engaged for years with no wedding in sight. Miriam was an old friend of Flo’s who helps Flo with the paperwork. Farley Waters is the cheap man who sold her the roadhouse, Flo still owes him money on the mortgage. Randy works at the local gas station and helps Flo with repairs, he had a crush on Flo.

Flo’s two other employees are Les Kincaid, he plays piano at Flo’s roadhouse, named Flo’s Yellow Rose. Earl Tucker is the bartender at the tavern, he has some problems working for a woman. Earl and Flo spend quite a lot of time fighting and flirting.

The show was divided between Flo’s home life, her trailer is parked in her mother’s backyard and Flo’s Yellow Rose, where she is trying to get the business off the ground.

I enjoyed the show when it originally aired, but it never really caught on. Sometimes spinning off a popular character to their own series just doesn't work and this is one example.