From: "Mark Meskin" (plastic.gravity@newrock44.com)
Subject: Space1999: OT-Event Horizon
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 21:19:26 -0600

Hi all,

Its been a rainy dreary evening here in Milwaukee, so some friends and I
ckecked out Event Horizon tonite.  I'd say it gets 3 outta 4
stars.......definately creepy, superb effects, awesome sets, weak acting by
Lawrence Fishbourne, and Sam Neil though.  Given the weather here today,
the mood of the film was right on target.  If you need a good "dragon's
domain" type of scare, go check out EH, you won't be disappointed.  I'd
recommend a few beers before hand, it keeps you from juping out of your
seat too much.

Goodnite,
-Mark



From: "Petter Ogland" (petter.ogland@dnmi44.no)
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 08:34:30 +0000
Subject: Space1999: Dragon's Domain

I was one of the unfortunate who didn't see DRAGON'S DOMAIN until I had
passed my teens.  As most of us have more vivid imagination as childern,
it might have worked better then, but by todays standards it's hardly
frightning, is it?

There are some elements which are absolutely gorgeous, however, such as the
use of Albinoni's Adagio in G minor during the flight of the probe, which
allows SPACE:1999 to pay hommage to 2001 - A SPACE ODYSSEY.  The models and
interiors are also a tour de force in this episode.

The satirical scenes with Commissioner Dixon, who looks like Henry Kissinger,
seems to be a comment on the Watergate affair, which must have been the
main political event at the time of writing.  In this setting Bergman and
Koening, who is wearing a yellow armed sweater during the episode,
maybe indicating that he was an astronaut at the time, are pretty lame
in Dixon's office, sort of school childern visiting the head master.
The relationships are certainly different from the ones with
Commisioner Simmonds in BREAKAWAY.

On the whole Koenig seems rather relaxed as an astronaut opposed to his
nervously energetic commander role.  The story might have been even more
interesting if, as someone pointed out sometime, it revolved around Alan
Carter or someone else of the regular crew instead of Tony Cellini who is
introduced in this next to last episode of the first series.  Anyway I
think it is a rather good episode.  I see Ggreg rates it as one of the
six best.

The monster, however, is awful!

To me the scene where the crew is fighting with the giant
spider/octopus resembles a similar scene from an Ed Wood movie
(BRIDE OF THE MONSTER?) where Bela Lugosi portrays a mad scientist
fighting an equally silly rubber octopus, fondly portayed by Martin
Landau in Tim Burton's epic.  Were it not for the effective use of sound,
the proceedings would have looked exceedningly silly.

The whole scene where the crew is attacked does not seem to be working
properly.  It begins very promisingly with a burst of wind and light thrown
out of the corridors of the abandoned ship, but when the crew is being
devoured by the monster while Tony Cellini is having technical difficulties
in the cockpit, letting the crew members being atacked one by one, the plot
seems unimaginativly stilted.

The main idea with a spaceship graveyard in a sort of spiders wed is,
however, intriguing.  Many of the psycological aspects of the episode are
also quite good, like whether Cellini was making things up or if he had
experienced something real.  This theme was however much more thoroughly
investigated in the absurdly interesting COLLISSION COURSE whose main theme
seems to be logic vs. faith, a variation on the superior BLACK SUN with its
discour on science and mystisism.

I also wonder if Ridly Scott had this episode in the back of his mind when
he made ALIEN in 1979.  The original ALIEN is pure action, seemingly without
any reflections what so ever, much less entertaining, to me at least, but
with a greater budget it seems to make the rubber monsters look more realistic
and menacing.

Petter



From: "Atomic Possum" (atmcpssm@fastrans44.net)
Subject: Re: Space1999: OT-Event Horizon
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 07:40:10 -0500

     The general consensus amongst our group was that the movie was great
until the last 20 minutes, when it failed miserably and wasted everything
that had gone before it, but make your own decisions. :)

     NOTE FOR DR. WHO FANS:  The late Jon Pertwee's son, Sean, has a good
supporting role as Smith.  He was the one character our group seemed to
like.



From: Boomer1000@aol44.com
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 17:34:28 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Dragon's Domain

Hey! 'Dragon's Domain' is my favorite episode! :) 

I think the thing I like the most about the episode is the way that the tone
shifts gears unexpectedly in places. They're on the 8-month-long trip to
Ultra, no problems, lovely classical music soundtrack, four astronauts on a
historic quest to explore the unknown. Then they dock with an alien derelict
they find, and all of a sudden, SCREEEEECH!!!! they're suddenly being eaten
by a dreadful, nasty, be-tentacled beastie from God-knows-where. I find the
shock value in the monster sequence to hold up well, even twenty years later.
And yes, on close examination the monster does leave a bit to be desired in
the realism department, but the first time you're watching the episode,
you're transfixed by the numbing terror of what's going on. Like knowing the
surprise ending at the end of "The Crying Game", the episode loses its impact
with repeated viewing. 

I think the things that still involve me emotionally about the monster attack
scene are  the mysterious abilities of the monster, the terrifying way in
which Fauchere puts up her last-ditch struggle against the monster, only to
be hypnotized and swallowed as well (did you notice that the monster's
hypnotic ability to overpower her motor skills did not preclude her conscious
mind from reacting with terror as she realized she was about to be eaten?
Creepy!), the way we sympathize with Cellini's frustration as he races to
save his crew from an unknown horror, with Murphy's Law kicking in big-time. 

Now, my question for the panel is, if Koenig had won the coin toss back in
the Reconnaissance lab those several months previous, would the Ultra Probe
mission have turned out any differently?

- Boomer



From: "Amardeep S. Chana" (achana@worldnet.att44.net)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Dragon's Domain
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 20:02:31 -0400

Without question!  After his crew was devoured, JK would not have run away.
 He would have killed the monster using his uncanny ability to destroy any
form of alien life encountered.  Then he would have completed the landing
on Ultra and flown the probe AND the docked alien ship back to Alpha.

Meanwhile, Tony Cellini, having gotten into a bar fight with Alan Carter
and arrested for unruly and lewd behavior, would not have been present at
John's return.  His conversation with Helena in the psychiatry ward would
have centered more on his sex life and less on his problems with men
wearing red suits.

Episode would close with John and Victor having a deep meaningful
conversation about the exceptional feminine attributes possessed by the
nurse in medical centre as they stare out a Main Mission window.

:)

Amardeep



From: "Petter Ogland" (petter.ogland@dnmi44.no)
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 08:07:52 +0000
Subject: Re: Space1999: Dragon's Domain

Do we sense any irony here?

He-he.

Petter



From: "Petter Ogland" (petter.ogland@dnmi44.no)
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 08:02:52 +0000
Subject: Re: Space1999: Dragon's Domain

> I think the thing I like the most about the episode is the way that the tone
> shifts gears unexpectedly in places. They're on the 8-month-long trip to
> Ultra, no problems, lovely classical music soundtrack, four astronauts on a
> historic quest to explore the unknown.

Yes, marvellous! It seems they tried to recreate some of the effect in
THE TESTAMENT OF ARKADIA, the voice over and soundtrack bit.  By the way,
the theme that sounds slightly like the second movement from Mozart's
Piano Concerto no. 21, is that the Apassionata by Serge Lancen?

> Then they dock with an alien derelict
> they find, and all of a sudden, SCREEEEECH!!!! they're suddenly being eaten
> by a dreadful, nasty, be-tentacled beastie from God-knows-where. I find the
> shock value in the monster sequence to hold up well, even twenty years later.

The idea isn't bad.  From the idyllic to the menacing in just a few seconds.
They even used that ingenious idea of having someone carrying a plate of coffee
cups in order to create a cosy athmosphere before disaster breaks loose,
just like they did in BLACK SUN or was it VOYAGER'S RETURN?

> And yes, on close examination the monster does leave a bit to be desired in
> the realism department, but the first time you're watching the episode,
> you're transfixed by the numbing terror of what's going on.

The sound effects are good, but like for instance in Jaques Tourneur's
CURSE OF THE DEMON (1945?), the visuals, at least to me, seem to be the
least frightning of the proceedings.  At least in the close ups, the
monster looks too much like a search-light with rubber tentacles.  If they
had shortend this scene and left the close-ups out, I believe it would
have been much more frightening.

>the way we sympathize with Cellini's frustration as he races to
> save his crew from an unknown horror, with Murphy's Law kicking in big-time.

If we had seen more short glimpses of Cellini fighting desperatly with the
instruments during the scenes of the attack, it might also have worked
better.  In the final version we don't see much of what's going on in the
cockpit before almost the whole crew has been devoured.

I wonder what would have happened to this episode if it were directed by
Lee Katzin instead of Charles Crichton.

> Now, my question for the panel is, if Koenig had won the coin toss back in
> the Reconnaissance lab those several months previous, would the Ultra Probe
> mission have turned out any differently?

Helena and Bergman didn't seem to believe Koenig anymore than they believed
Cellini when Koenig seemed to be rambling about a person called Arra in
COLLISION COURSE.

On the other hand, there seems to be some obvious differences in the
personalities of Cellini and Koening, doesn't it?



From: djlerda@juno44.com
Subject: Re: Space1999: Dragon's Domain
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 15:44:39 EDT

>the theme that sounds slightly like the second movement from Mozart's
>Piano Concerto no. 21, is that the Apassionata by Serge Lancen?

Yes, it is Apassionata.  Do you have a copy?  Some of us have been trying
to hunt one down.  Is Apassionata part of a larger work?  One of our list
members did some work and found a large amount of work by Lancen but
nothing titled Apassionata.

David

David Lerda, Parsonsburg MD  USA
Pilot, Pursuit Eagle 4, djlerda@juno.com
"Just because we haven't experienced something doesn't
  mean it doesn't exist" - John Koenig



From: PatriEmb@aol44.com
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 19:58:22 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Space1999: Re: Dragon's Domain

I've enjoyed reading everyone's posts about this episode, especially about
the difference between Koenig and Cellini.  I think Koenig would have brought
a piece of the dead monster back with him to prove he was right!  I wonder
what the aftereffects of the mission would have been on Koenig.  Would he
have learned anger management techniques in a brief psych admission? 

   The episode was originally written for Carter.  Do you think they would
have killed him off in the end, like they did Cellini, or do you think he
would have overcome the monster?



From: David Acheson (dkach@hotmail44.com)
Subject: Space1999: Dragon's Domain
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 19:27:45 PDT

I have to agree that Dragon's Domain is not as scary today as it was 
back in the 1970s but I don't believe it's as cheesy as some of those 
old 60s and 70s monster flicks either. The tentacled monster still works 
for me but its just not scary anymore. Our society has become just so 
immuned to gore and frightening sequences that each one has to top what 
was done before to be as effective.

I do remember being 11 years old when watching that episode the first 
time and being scared out of my wits. For a short while, I used to go to 
bed thinking that creature might be hiding in the closet. Today I can 
look back and laugh at that. 

I myself feel that if the series was a network show then the network 
would have definitely toned down the episode even more. Thank god for 
syndication! Today is quite a different story - just watch any episode 
of the X - Files.

Overall the episode still ranks as one of the series classics for me.

Note the big goofup in the episode. The Space News announcer gives the 
date as sometime in Sept. 1996 while Koenig and Cellini are trying to 
decide who should captain the Ultra Probe mission. In the next scene we 
see the probe crew heading to the space dock for the mission launch. 
Helena's voice over gives the official launch date as June 6, 1996. This 
means the Ultra Probe took off 3 months before anyone commanded it.



Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 23:09:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lionel Armstrong (notpc@vcn.bc44.ca)
Subject: Space1999: Dragon's Domain Music

For the Alphans who are interested, there are 2 very good MIDI 
versions of Albinoni's Adagio in G minor available at...

CLASSICAL MIDI ARCHIVES

http://www.prs.net/midi.html#index [Editor's Update:  still available as of 2007/08/22]

The files are ALBINONI.MID ( 8:49 Very good ) and
AL_ADAGIO.MID ( 8:03 even better than ALBINONI.MID! )    

Enjoy!



From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi44.no)
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 09:03:21 +0000
Subject: Re: Space1999: Serge Lancen

> Yes, it is Apassionata.  Do you have a copy?  Some of us have been trying
> to hunt one down.

Sorry, no.  In Oslo, Norway, I find if exceedingly difficult to find anything
by Serge Lancen at all.

> Is Apassionata part of a larger work?

The most well known apassionata is the Beethoven Sonata Apassionata, I
suppose, which is a piano sonata in three movements.

I don't know about Lancen.  At least the verion in THE TESTAMENT OF ARKADIA
was arranged for a full symphonic orchestra.  Did he also use some
electronic equipment?

Do you think it would be possible to list a biographic summary of Lancen and
his work to the mailing list, if it is not to vast?



From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi44.no)
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 09:55:09 +0000
Subject: Re: Space1999: Dragon's Domain

I don't think gore is the best way of creating fright.  Some of the most
frightning films I've ever seen, like INVATION OF THE BODYSNATCHERS (1957),
THE HAUNTING (1964), THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974) and HALLOWEEN (1977)
hardly uses gore at all, by rely almost entirely on storytelling.

However, I don't see any point in frightening ourselves to death.  As I see it,
DRAGON'S DOMAIN is essentially a psychological drama about a man who has
to come to terms with himself.  Although the story is coherent enough, I
feel in order to make the storytelling more fluent, the dragon bit could
have been more camera & sound and less FX.

Something from space that was not just another actor with something wired
around his head, as Barry Morse reflects upon in on the Barry More site, is
welcommed, at least by me.  On the distance shots, I think the monster
looks terrific, but the close-ups hurts more than it helps, I think.

> Overall the episode still ranks as one of the series classics for me.

I agree, likewise.

Best wishes,

Petter



Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 10:06:04 -0700
From: Robert Ruiz (RA1RUIZ@legal.pactel44.com)
Subject: Space1999: Dragon's Domain Discrepancies and Images

David Acheson mentioned one of the legendary inconsistencies of
Dragon's Domain, but having seen the original ITC synopsis, as well as a
script, I think there's another.  Barbara Bain seems to mention Monique
Fouchere, but the synopsis (and maybe the credit, can't remember)
mentions Bouchere.  I thought maybe I was just hearing it wrong until
John Boomershine wrote Fouchere the other day too.

I know many of the "final" versions of the script are sometimes markedly
different than what ended up on screen -- like that Ed Malcolm
character who doesn't appear to be in the episode he's credited in, and
that Sandra Benes is written in for the part that was actually played by
Alibe Parsons in The Immunity Syndrome.  I assume this is due to last
minute rewrites in the age of typewriters and being under the production
of pressure so not catching the discrepancy between various drafts.

If you want to see some great pictures of the Ultra Probe
miniatures from Dragon's Domain provided by Jim Small and Chris Trice, I
created a page for them in the Cybrary last night.

Enjoy, and FYI, the Cybrary fast growth period is about to come to a
screeching halt with the completion of a couple more projects because I
need to get back into other things.  I'll probably be "going digest" at that
time too, and monitoring the list rather than contributing.

Robert



From: relax@videotron44.ca
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 14:49:01 -0400
Subject: Re: Space1999: Dragon's Domain Discrepancies and Images

Hi Robert, All !

The french version of Space 1999, Cosmos 1999 was translated in 
Quebec back then in 1975. In this episode (Dragon's Domain) you 
can hear MONIQUE FAUCHER.
FAUCHER, FOUCHER and BOUCHER are very common familly names here
in Quebec.
Now about FOUCHERE and BOUCHERE they don't exist in the phone book
here, in the great Montreal area (about 3 million persons).

Andre Beauchamp



From: bluelarkspur@webtv44.net
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 18:01:47 -0500
Subject: Space1999: Dragon's Domain

     I was approx. 14-15 years old the first time I saw Dragon's Domain.
The monster absolutely chilled me to the bone-and the image of the
bodies emerging from underneath the monster after it had "digested" them
haunted me.
     I think the episode really did a good job of exploring one man's
psychological battering as the obviously physically strong male who
somehow survived an attack that killed all other members of the crew. 
     I saw DD again this year, and agree the "monster" does not hold up
as well in close-up shots. 
     I find the episode has weathered well in 20 years, because the
emphasis of the episode was a psychological  one rather than
action-oriented throughout.  Everyone has had times happen when they are
telling the truth and no one will believe them...and Celleni's doomed
character was easy to feel empathy with.



From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi44.no)
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 06:44:14 +0000
Subject: Re: Space1999: Dragon's Domain

Hello Robert and all,

> If you want to see some great pictures of the Ultra Probe
> miniatures from Dragon's Domain provided by Jim Small and Chris Trice, I
> created a page for them in the Cybrary last night.

Very good pictures and interesting text!  I can't remeber seeing anything
cruddy about the models.  In fact, I think DRAGON'S DOMAIN included
some of most spectacular and convincing models of the whole series.

It is interesting that the docking sequence was made by larger scale
models, because I think the sequence, allthough realistic enough, looks
less realistic than the rest.

Petter