Guest Artists/Additional Cast
Peter Cushing as Raan
Joanna Dunham as Vana
Patrick Brock as Zennite
Writer
Edward Di Lorenzo
Director
Ray Austin
Background
The script for 'Missing Link' was completed on April 5th, 1974. Edward Di Lorenzo departed the
series shortly after, unhappy with the amount of rewriting he was being asked to do. The American was working on a book
project at the same time as he was working on Space 1999, and considered this to be his main priority.
The script for this episode was heavily rewritten by Christopher Penfold and shooting began on Monday,
May 2nd, 1974.
The second unit completed an additional days filming on July 22nd 1974.
Guest star Peter Cushing wore the same long white-haired wig that had been used by his friend Christopher
Lee in the episode entitled 'Earthbound'.
At the time there was only a single forty four inch Eagle model and the script called for three of
the transporters to appear on screen together to take part in a sequence on the lunar surface. The Special Effects team
had a photographic image of Koenig's crashed Eagle to match the scale of their existing model, which lands beside the stricken
transporter carrying a rescue pod. The storyline called for another Eagle to arrive and use a magnetic winch to life
the nosecone from Koenig's wrecked Eagle. This machine would again be their only forty four inch example that had been
superimposed onto the film.
The fight scene between Carter and Mathias in the Medical centre caused problems. Nick Tate
(Alan Carter) rehearsed the sequence for some time with a stunt man and at the last moment Anton Phillips (Bob Mathias) stepped
in to replace his stunt double. The resulting take saw Phillips step forward instead of back and walk straight into
a powerful punch from Nick Tate that floored him.
The Zenno void, where Koenig and Sandra Benes appear to be floating was created by making a ninety
foot long tent of parachute nylon and filling it with dry ice.
This episode also incorporates a number of upgrades, with Kano's desk appearing for the first time
in Main Mission.
The correct Eagle numbers are seen on the inside of the cockpit doors where in earlier episodes it
had always been number 6. The passenger module also undergoes some changes, with a computer now occupying one side (the
seats reappear in 'Guardian of Piri') and the bulkhead by the outer door changing from a viewscreen to a computer panel
with two small TV screens.
The script specified the use of the love theme from Tristan and Isolde, but this was not used and
'Missing Link' became the first episode to have a library soundtrack rather than original music scores. This included
Vana's Theme, a track Barry Gray had originally intended to be the Moonbase Alpha Theme, and a piece of incidental music Barry
originally did for the 'Stingray' episode 'Ghost of The Sea'.
Information from 'Production Notes: Series One' booklet by Michael
Richardson
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