13. Collision Course
Written by: Anthony Terpiloff
Directed by: Ray Austin
Special Guest Star: Margaret Leighton
Filming dates: Tuesday 27th August to Tuesday 10 September 1974
World premiere broadcast: 4th August 1975 (HSV 7 Melbourne, Australia)
UK premiere broadcast: 18th September 1975 (ATV/Yorkshire)
Guest star Margaret Leighton, a major British film star of the forties and fifties,
was very ill during filming and died soon afterwards. Director Ray Austin, a personal friend of the actress, shot all
her scenes in two days.
Arra's ship is somewhat similar in concept to Biofeld's rocket in You Only
Live Twice (1967), and is reused in Space: 1999's two spaceship graveyard scenes, in Dragon's
Domain and The Metamorph.
The name Operation Shockwave, used here as Alpha's plan to move the Moon from its collision course
with Planet Atheria, was later used by Gerry Anderson for the title of a movie project which lost its funding late in the
pre-production stage.
We have seen the Alphan's follow the forceful Koenig's orders at all times up to this point, sometimes
quite reluctantly, so it is quite a shock to find them going against his orders. Until the very end, even we aren't
entirely sure that he isn't going mad.
14. Death's Other Dominion
Written by: Anthony Terpiloff and Elizabeth Barrows
Directed by: Charles Crichton
Guest Star: Brian Blessed
Guest Artist: John Shrapnel
Fimling dates: Wednesday 11th to Monday 23rd September 1974
World premiere broadcast: 11th August 1975 (HSV 7 Melbourne, Australia)
UK premiere broadcast: 18th September 1975 (Ulster)
Death's Other Dominion was inspired (rather obviosuly)
by the Frank Capra movie version of Lost Horizon (1937) which was based on the novel by James Hilton.
At the time Space: 1999 was being shot Lost Horizon had recently been the subject of a disastrously-received
musical remake. The original film had become such a ubiquitous part of Britain's popular culture that The Goon
Show mounted a remake for BBC radio in 1955.
Another movie inspiration for this episode was the 1951 production When World's Collide.
This gave Martin Bower the basic idea for Dr Rowland's partially completed Phoenix spacecraft, although the rocket designed
for the film is quite different.
The Ice Palace set was constructed by Keith Wilson from rubbish collected around Pinewood, sprayed
with a chemical foam which covered the shapes and hardened. The chemicals gave off such fumes that Landau and Bain refused
to work on the set until it had been confirmed safe by specialists. The crew members building the set had long-since
got used to the smell and no longer noticed it.
Like Dr Queller in Voyager's Return, Dr Rowland seems to use a lot of Meccano parts in his
experimental equipment.
Nick Tate is revealed here to have quite a passable singing voice, and
it is no surprise to learn that he has performed in stage musicals.
15. The Full Circle
Written by: Jesse Lasky Jnr and Par Silver
Directed by: Bob Kellett
Filming dates: Tuesday 24th September to Tuesday 8th October 1974
World premiere broadcast: 29th September 1975 (HSV 7 Melbourne, Australia)
UK premiere broadcast: 11th December 1975 (ATV)
The Full Circle is one of only two Year One episodes (the other being The
Last Sunset) with no Guest Star or Guest Artist credited, as the plot required only the regular cast.
Full value was extracted from Keith Wilson's Ultima Thule set from the previous episode, resprayed
here to serve as the cave on planet Retha.
According to Bob Kellett, he rewrote most of the script which had been delivered by Jesse Lasky Jr
and Pat Silver on 17th September, a week before shooting started. Kellett also pushed for the crew to be allowed to
do Year One's only actual location filming (as in leaving the environs of Pinewood) when cast and crew decamped to nearby
Black Park. Although the cold and wet autumn gave the production authentic mists Landau and Bain didn't travel to the
location, so their outdoor scenes were shot on the studio backlot.
Barry Gray composed a primitive-sounding percussive score specifically for the episode, very different
from his usual work on Anderson productions. Recorded at Wembley on Tuesday 3rd December 1974, this was Gray's final
work for Gerry Anderson.
The Stun Guns were slightly redesigned for this episode, with the addition of stun/kill slider control
at the top.
