From: South Central (Tamazunchale@web44tv.net)
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 10:48:18 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Space1999: Episode by Episode
This week's episode for discussion is THE TAYBOR. As you know,
discussion goes from Monday through Sunday (July 20-26).
Mateo
From: South Central (Tamazunchale@web44tv.net)
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 10:50:12 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Space1999: The Taybor
Has anyone noticed how well this story line would work as an episode of
the cartoon Jumanji?
The Taybor "I'm selling clues! But I want the girl!"
:-) Mateo
From: South Central (Tamazunchale@web44tv.net)
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 10:51:12 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Space1999: The Taybor
Taybor the Trader==Harcourt Fenton Mudd?
From: Ariana (ariana@n40direct.co.uk)
Subject: Re: Space1999: The Taybor
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 11:11:31 +0100
>Taybor the Trader==Harcourt Fenton Mudd?
ROFL! I was also thinking there were some interesting parallels with
Kivas Fajo, who wanted to collect the Enterprise-D's "computer brain",
Data.
Actually, there was a thread about the parallels between Space:1999 and
Trek episodes on the hactar.space-1999 newsgroup (isn't it time there was
a S1999 newsgroup under alt. or rec.? But I digress...). I've had a think
about that, and came up with the following ones:
Alpha Child -- TNG:The Child
Woman gets pregnant, child turns out to be an alien and grows at an
accelerated rate. OK, so some aliens are friendlier than others...
Another Time, Another Place -- DS9:Children of Time
In an alternate timeline, Our Heroes have set up a rural colony, complete
with cute children running around. But the arrival of Our Heroes from the
"real" timeline causes the other one to collapse -- did the others really
exist? The DS9 crew take the words right out of Koenig's mouth.
The Taybor - TNG:The Most Toys
Lighting fast intelligence and the undeniable uniqueness of being the
only sane members of their respective races would make Data and Maya a
feather in the cap of any proud collector, don't you think?
The Beta Cloud - TNG:The Attached
All right, so the connection is tenuous and I wouldn't for one minute
compare Picard and Crusher to our Saturday Morning friends Tony and Maya.
Still... "I don't have those feelings anymore"... "A guy says a lot of
strange things when he's under pressure"... Aaargh! ;D
Well, those are the ones that spring to mind -- I'm sure everyone else
can chip in with parallels (those of you who watch Trek at all, of
course).
Emma
From: Atomic Possum (atomicpossum@toast4tag.net)
Subject: Re: Space1999: The Taybor
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 07:35:18 -0500
Actually, I am convinced that someone saw ALPHA CHILD and rewrote it
with a more TREK-ish ending. THE CHILD was originally written for the
aborted STAR TREK II series, which turned into Star Trek: The Motion
Picture, which would have put it in the late seventies. I want to attribute
it to Alan Dean Foster, but I'm not sure....
I can easily see how Roddenbooby could have seen the episode and not
liked the fact that the alien was malevolent, and rewrote the ending for his
happy Trek universe of Looooove....
Jon "Mr. Wonderful" Stadter
[EDITOR'S NOTE: This next note is from another thread which now gets merged
with this when Petter redirects that other thread's discussion towards the
current episode.]
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi4tag.no)
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 09:39:16 +0000
Subject: Re: Space1999: Just another point of view... / The Taybor
[....]
Now, Andre, as THE TAYBOR is the episode of the week, do you think you
would like to comment on some of the antropological aspects of economic
society in regard of this episode?
As Jon Stadter pointed out, even if the intent may have been ironic, THE
TAYBOR could read as a statement about materialism, and personally I
find the subject of trade, materialism, alienation and loneliness quite
fascinating as a sujet for this episode.
Thom Keyes' notion of hyberspace could easily translate to our notion of
cyberspace, I believe, and Taybor's lack of technical insight and understanding
of "inner space" are interesting in themselves. This is meat for a
psychological interpretation of the episode, I suppose, but at the moment
it would be interesting to explore the anthropological or sociological
aspects perhaps.
My impression of the story from this angle is a slight DEATH OF A SALESMAN
type of scenario, that is Taybor being more or less a symbol of alienation
due to trying to become something because of what he surrounds himself
with, rather than what he does.
I believe sociology is more concerned with the Marxist notion of materialism
than anthropology, and while materialism may be an interesting point of
view in natural science, the present leading paradigma no less, and applicable
for scientific study of whatever in quantative terms, a notion of meaning seem
to be less and less applicable to such a world view.
In the late 18th century, the mechnistic view of the world seem to favour
deistic theology. I suppose Marquis de Sade, that Brian often quotes in
relation to THE END OF ETERNITY, was very much a child of his times, a fact
that seem to make him a subject of much current discussion among
leading continental philosophers and intellectuals, I believe.
Zygmond Bauman raised some controversy when he said that the tragic fate of the
Jews in Europe during WWII was not as much relating to psychological or
ideological conflicts as to be a natural development of the industrial and
technological revolution at the time. I believe he used the allegory of
scientific farming and weeding a garden in order to rationalise a part of our
recent history.
Quite interesting, isn't it? The issue of action and consequences was
also the theme in Johnny Byrne's wonderful VOYAGER'S RETURN which
perhaps examplifies this very well, I think, as the brilliant scientist
with the best intentions "paves his way to hell" as Helena puts it.
I feel Thom Keyes' THE TAYBOR touches the same territory in his study
of how trade and economics, our strongest card and most efficient way
of survival, has a more shallow back side igniting loss of meaning.
While baring little visual or production resemblance to the Year One
masterpiece VOYAGER'S RETURN, I find the intellectual content of
this episode, nevertheless, to be quite edible.
Petter
From: Costopoulos Andre (costopoa@ere.u44montreal.ca)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Just another point of view... / The Taybor
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 09:17:04 -0400 (EDT)
Of course, there is a sort of primary study of negotiation
in the Taybor. Negotiation is after all at the very core of
the human economic adaptation. BUT, I prefer to see The Taybor
in terms of the anthropological concept of "The Trickster". In
many belief systems (in fact, all those of which I am aware) there
is one or a class of beings who are wandering souls, often in the
guise of traders or magicians, and who attempt to trick humans
out of whatever is most important to them. Think of our own
western Lucifer, appearing out of nowhere and offering to trade
your soul for the one thing you want and cannot have. The Taybor
offers the Alphans a ride home in exchange for a friend. In
almost any narrative about Tricksters, there is a human hero who
tries or succeeds in tricking the trickster. This episode is
unusual in SPACE 1999 for showing Koenig actually doing the
dirty work himself (placing the device on the ship) without
consutling anyone. Koenig is in mythical hero mode here. First,
he tries to trick Taybor by a nice speech about the qualities of
the artificial Maya, then, using Taybor's own weapon (hyperspace).
The interest of this particular trickster narrative, and what
sets it apart from many others, is that it discusses the
motivations and difficulties of the Trickster. Those are usually
left aside in favour of human ones. The Trickster is usually
a one dimensional character, with little or no background who
just appears and disapears. Here, we learn something about him
and even understand him to some extent.
If you are interested in Tricksters, you can find them in almost
any native american cycle of legends. The Finnish Kalevala and
the Homer's Odyssey also show some striking examples.
Andre Costopoulos
Departement d'anthropologie
Universite de Montreal
P.S. Petter: I don't know if I can keep up this rate of
contribution. After all, I have work to do around here!
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi2tag.no)
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 17:10:48 +0000
Subject: Space1999: Re: The Taybor
> Of course, there is a sort of primary study of negotiation
> in the Taybor. Negotiation is after all at the very core of
> the human economic adaptation.
Excellent!
Then again negotiations was a rather central factor in Year One. I believe
THE TAYBOR was the only Year Two episode where the round table was put
to use.
In Year One the round table negotiations was the key to decision making,
and in certain episodes, like COLLISION COURSE, commander Koenig's
authority is put in question. It is rather interesting to see how fragile
Alpha has become in Year Two, episodes like THE SEANCE SPECTRE and SEED
OF DESTRUCTION examplifying how the rigid structure is almost cause to
its own destruction.
> BUT, I prefer to see The Taybor
> in terms of the anthropological concept of "The Trickster" [....]
The Taybor as Mephisto? I've never though about it in this manner,
but you have a fascinating point, nevertheless. And John Koenig's part
in the story is that of Faust?
This is a rather original point of view, I feel. My impression would
be that perhaps something like NEW ADAM, NEW EVE would be an easier
choice in order to talk about tricksters.
The trickster in NEW ADAM, NEW EVEN even bares the name of the well
known trickster from the New Testament, Simon Magus, who wanted to
trade with the apostels in order to be empowered by their magic.
I believe NEW ADAM, NEW EVE is the central trickster episode of the series
with images and references to people like Merlin, Nostradamus, Simon Magus
and Keith Wilson apparently using the trickster of the world of the arts,
Salvador Dali, as inspiration.
In that episode the promise of a new world is how the trickster tries
to lure the Alphans into his devious schemes, Terence Feely, who also
used a similar trickster plot in THE BRINGERS OF WONDER, perhaps wanted to
focus on bogus prophets and false hopes of the 1970s. THE BRINGERS OF WONDER
is certainly a witty comment on lifestyle using images of golf and hi-fi in a
double contexture to show mankind on the edge of disaster.
Anyway, although I feel THE TAYBOR is less of a villain and more of a
symbol of fatigue and emptiness due to a too materialistic world view,
there certainly seem to be trickster elements to his behaviour as well.
> The Taybor
> offers the Alphans a ride home in exchange for a friend. In
> almost any narrative about Tricksters, there is a human hero who
> tries or succeeds in tricking the trickster. This episode is
> unusual in SPACE 1999 for showing Koenig actually doing the
> dirty work himself (placing the device on the ship) without
> consutling anyone. Koenig is in mythical hero mode here.
Mythical, yes. Although Year One sometimes used mythology in a
subdued manner, take DRAGON'S DOMAIN for instance, Year Two often jumps
all believability and goes pure mythology.
I wonder to which extent Freiberger was an enzyme in this process. Quite
interestingly, the most mythological episodes of Year One, such as
MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (first draft), COLLISION COURSE, DEATH'S OTHER
DOMINION, THE INFERNAL MACHINE and DRAGON'S DOMAIN where all written by
Americans, the final version of DRAGON'S DOMAIN apparently being Penfold's
polish of somebody uncredited who, according to Martin Willey, did not
contribute beyond this episode.
Europe having a much longer history than Northern America seem to make this
phenomenon rather surprising, but a continent short of history would
perhaps be in even greater urge in finding suitable mythologies. DRAGON'S
DOMAIN certainly seem to be about the process of finding and adapting
mythologies of the past, St. George and the Dragon in this case, for the
modern world.
I agree, however, that Koenig seems to be in a mythical mode in THE TAYBOR
episode. Speaking as a Norwegian, perhaps how the gods of Valhalla and Viking
mythology seemed constantly to be tricking each other would be a suiting
mythology to look for further connections. Well.
> The Trickster is usually
> a one dimensional character, with little or no background who
> just appears and disapears. Here, we learn something about him
> and even understand him to some extent.
This is perhaps why I feel NEW ADAM, NEW EVE and THE BRINGERS OF WONDER
may be better examples of the tricksters in action. I feel Taybor is
to complex to represent pure chaos. Although he may seem malevolent in
the prologue, pointing a gun at Alpha, he is far from the Balors or
Dionnes. In fact, when Mike mentioned Sir John Falstaff in his analysis
of THE METAMORPH, my first thought was THE TAYBOR.
Even when Taybor tricks the Alphans in the end by switching the robot
Maya for the real thing, his actions seem more to be driven by frustration
than by evilness.
Nevertheless, I agree with your argument, Andre.
Now. Perhaps the anthropological concept of negotiations could give more
insight to the phenomena at display here?
Petter
From: Costopoulos Andre (costopoa@ere.u44montreal.ca)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Re: The Taybor
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 15:34:33 -0400 (EDT)
Petter,
I will tell you why I feel that the Taybor may be a better
example of the Trickster than New Adam/New Eve or even
the bringers of wonder. In New Adam/New Eve, there is
a VERY strong element of coercion. The Alphans are not
really tricked by the magician at any time. They would
have eventually travelled to the planet for a survey.
All he had to do was wait for them. It merely suited
his purpose to have them travel there under a certain
impression. In any case, he was badly mistaken about
several things. Force is absent from the classical
trickster narrative, and so is actual physical
danger. In my estimation, this last factor rules
out the Bringers of Wonder. Furthermore, Trickster
merely go away, regardless of the outcome of the story.
They are free to reappear should they choose to. IN
New Adam/New Eve, the vilain is destroyed. He is not
a wanderer. He is more like a spider whose web the
hunting pit destroys.
Well, I ramble on.
OT: Petter, you are from Norway. Southern or Northern?
I spend quite a large chunk of my time in Northern Finland
(Oulu-Kemi-Tornio area). I also know a few people at the
University in Tromso and in Bergen. Know anyone there?
Andre Costopoulos
Departement d'anthropologie
Universite de Montreal
From: South Central (Tamazunchale@web44tv.net)
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 15:08:36 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Re: The Taybor
Petter wrote:
"Europe having a much longer history than Northern America"
and "a continent short of history"
! Petter how do back up this statement? Or are you only referring to
"white European descended history" and if so, say so. Chicanos and
other indigenous peoples have inhabited the "Americas" for thousands of
years. "History" did NOT begin when white men set foot on this
continent.
BTW I am enjoying your lively discussions with Andre--you guys must
have been separated at birth! :-)
Mateo
From: David Acheson (dkach@hot44mail.com)
Subject: Space1999: The Taybor
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 21:43:21 EDT
Our weekly discussion brings us to THE TAYBOR which begins, for me, a
somewhat downward, yet thankfully temporary, slide towards silliness for
SPACE: 1999. Several episodes that follow tend to take the comedic "LOST
IN SPACE" approach to this episode and apply it to episodes that were
seen to be dramatic. This upcoming portion of year two tends to be more
representative of the negative criticisms layed towards the second year
as a whole. Cartoonish adventure replacing the psychological approach or
even straightfoward honest adventure. It wasn't until the middle of year
two when I found the episodes began to move away from this "silliness"
towards the more dramatic adventure stories like we seen earlier with
THE METAMORPH, THE EXILES, ONE MOMENT OF HUMANITY and JOURNEY TO WHERE.
This I saw as a good move. Most likely too late though as the series
failed to regain viewers and was subsequently cancelled.
I digress. Actually I do not totally dislike THE TAYBOR. I see it as
being created to be a rather comedic entry in the series so I take it at
that level. Its okay to have one oddball in a collection. Whether the
credited screenwriter, Thom Keyes, was intending a light "LOST IN SPACE"
approach I am not sure. If Fred Freiberger did not have a hand in it he
certainly had no problem applying it to following episodes.
Unfortunately Mr. Keyes is no longer with us (died in a car crash
according to Robert Ruiz' Cybrary) but if anyone has anything on his
motivation for this episode I would be interested in hearing it.
The director here is Bob Brooks which this is his first entry for SPACE:
1999. I believe, if memory serves me correctly, he stayed on with the
series but I have no info on his background prior to this episode. He
does an okay job but nothing special here.
The real talent of the story working at all is probably due to
Willoughby Goddard. His approach to Taybor was a light hearted Leo
McKern. There are many similarities between Taybor and Companion of THE
INFERNAL MACHINE. Two lonely and intelligent space travellers in need of
companionship. Taybor's fate is less tragic but his life is just as
pathetic in many ways. But as this is a comical episode we won't get
into too much of the psychology of it all. Needless to say he finally
found something he wants to build his life around - Maya. Under normal
circumstances Taybor would have been arrested as a stalker or put away
for analysis but his life is far from what we consider normal. Thus we
are able to feel pity for him.
Many instances made this episode so un-1999 like and more of something
that would be at home in the universe of DOCTOR WHO, STAR TREK or even
LOST IN SPACE. Included are:
1) Taybor has a trading licence that we clearly see giving him
permission to sell his wares. We never saw an economy-based universe in
the series up until now.
2) Perfumes for sale. Helena wearing Essence of Hermosia collected by
robot drones in the upper atmosphere of the planet. Real different.
3) Helena having the ability to create an android. The Earth technology
of the series never looked as if creating an android was feasible. Yet
Helena comes up with a duplicate Maya. I will just have to put that odd
piece of the show to Taybor helping her with alien technology.
4) Taybor's flaming red and orange spacecraft. Unusual in the usually
dark universe of 1999.
5) The dinner for Taybor. Yes I know he requested it but we never seen
the principles wine and dine a guest, let alone an alien, before. Taybor
burping and falling dead drunk was funny but odd.
As usual Maya saves the day by outwitting Taybor but overall I felt it
was Martin Landau who stood out in the episode as a nemisis. His Koenig
here is not unlike his ruse in THE LAST ENEMY (only not as deadly).
I always wondered about the title for the episode. Why THE TAYBOR? Why
wasn't the second season opener called THE MAYA? On COSMOS: 1999 (the
French version of the series) the episode title is directly translated
to read as TAYBOR, THE TRADER. I think I like this better.
Overall an unusual entry. I would put it somewhere in the middle. Its
the more serious episodes that have silly elements that make me cringe
more.
David Acheson
From: Atomic Possum (atomicpossum@toast4tag.net)
Subject: Re: Space1999: The Taybor
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 21:27:59 -0500
>1) Taybor has a trading licence that we clearly see giving him
>permission to sell his wares. We never saw an economy-based universe in
>the series up until now.
Actually, I think this is the one major element of this epsiode that
gives it any value whatsoever (other than that fantastic ship design). This
is the first time any sort of galactic civilization is implied. Granted,
the Taybor is a trader and would his travels would range quite widely
(especially given Emporium's travel facility), but this is the fir
indication we have of exchanges between star systems on a regular basis. It
implies only a hint of something like Star Trek's universe, where exchanges
between the stars are as common as long-distance phone calls are today, but
it does hint that something is going on around the Alphans which they have
no part in....It's an interesting perspective on the Alphans' plight, for a
change.
>3) Helena having the ability to create an android. The Earth technology
>of the series never looked as if creating an android was feasible. Yet
>Helena comes up with a duplicate Maya. I will just have to put that odd
>piece of the show to Taybor helping her with alien technology.
Yeah, this always bothered me....of course, it was little more than an
animatronic puppet....
One of the disappointing moments of this episode was the notion that
this would satisfy the Taybor...I mean, he wants Maya, but the Alphans think
that an inflatable love doll would be enough to make him happy? He would
have had to been quite simple minded, wouldn't he? This part of the story
made me think this epsiode was being geared to five-year-olds.
>4) Taybor's flaming red and orange spacecraft. Unusual in the usually
>dark universe of 1999.
Groovy! I've always loved the British approach to the aesthetics of
sci-fi, and this is one of the better moments on film.
Artists like Chris Foss have revolutionized the images of technology,
where spaceships can be flowing teardrop shapes with outlandish color
schemes, and it's nice to see something along that line onscreen. Americans
seem unable to visualise space hardware as being anything other than white,
spaceships have to be either extremely detailed with microscopic little
fiddly bits, or must look like airplanes.....yick.
Of course, Babylon Five is changing those attitudes over here, now....
Jon "Mr. Indigenous" Stadter
From: Mark Meskin (plastic.gravity@new44rock.com)
Subject: Re: Space1999: The Taybor
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 21:52:50 -0500
> Many instances made this episode so un-1999 like and more of something
> that would be at home in the universe of DOCTOR WHO, STAR TREK or even
> LOST IN SPACE. Included are:
You hit it right on the head, brother.
> 1) Taybor has a trading licence that we clearly see giving him
> permission to sell his wares. We never saw an economy-based universe in
> the series up until now.
Or anything beyond a local star system. All of a sudden we are in the
ferengi empire...ick!
> 2) Perfumes for sale. Helena wearing Essence of Hermosia collected by
> robot drones in the upper atmosphere of the planet. Real different.
Yeah...umm..ok
> 3) Helena having the ability to create an android.
This is such a pan to trek, and totally out of character with the show up
till now.
> The Earth technology
> of the series never looked as if creating an android was feasible.
No it wasn't. This is crap-fantasy.
> Yet
> Helena comes up with a duplicate Maya. I will just have to put that odd
> piece of the show to Taybor helping her with alien technology.
If they had this technology, it would have had other uses that would have
been seen to us before. Can anyone say"Send the damn android to check the
nuclear waste..."???
> 4) Taybor's flaming red and orange spacecraft. Unusual in the usually
> dark universe of 1999.
It looked like a cheap model, with decals from a 57 chevy hot rod kit.
> 5) The dinner for Taybor. Yes I know he requested it but we never seen
> the principles wine
Was there wine available?
> Overall an unusual entry. I would put it somewhere in the middle. Its
> the more serious episodes that have silly elements that make me cringe
> more.
I'm with you on this one david, its stupid, and hurts the shows
credibility, but I don'y hate it like say "Rules of Luton".
Mark
From: jcg@vh4tag.net
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 22:46:36 -0400
Subject: Space1999: The Taybor
Very, very little to say about this episode. I like the fact that there
were no explosions, no Alpha buildings being blown up, no deaths. The
episode worked off the strength of the characters, and the guest character.
I see Freddie didn't jettison everything from year one...the solarium is
front and cleavage...er..center in this episode. (And we learn watching in
production order, or at least as close as we might get to it, that part of
the sweep through the solarium shot for this episode was used in The
Exiles...which is interesting, because that means how many weeks went by
since shooting Exiles, and it wasn't finished yet if they were borrowing
footage from Taybor.)
I thought Catherine Schell did an excellent job of playing mannequin.
There were two closeups of Taybor on the big screen that made me wonder if
they were actually rear screen projections, rather then matte inserts.
And of course when we see Tony on Taybor's screen, that's Anholt standing
behind the wall, so they didn't have to do an additional costly optical.
The ugly Maya (who is called "Slatternly Woman" in the credits) had her
voice dubbed. I wonder if that was for effect, or they didn't like the
actress' reading.
That's all I wrote down. I think this episode works for the same reason
others have said Journey To Where does...the interaction of the
Alphans...which is an improvement on Freddie's part when it works.
From: " Tom Miller" (tmiller@north44net.org)
Subject: Space1999: taybor...
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 22:58:21 -0400
IT STUNK! My oh, how cute we are, speaking about hyperdrive and mapping
star charts for the Taybor. My, how he loved the beer and passes out. My,
how rubber-like the robot is, and how Taybor speaks of a group of tradesman
that he is kin to.
This did show the sillyness of what can happen when you take a high budget
production and make it into a cartoon. How cute. But as cartoons go, bring
me Scooby anytime, he makes more sense than this episode.
PS: the swimsuits the women were wearing....how dated and seventyish...I
can't believe I was a teenager then....
Tom..
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 23:49:57 -0500
From: Mike Lynch (Mike-Lynch@big44foot.com)
Subject: Space1999: The Taybor
I have been rather quite the past few weeks (I've been helping a friend with a
web site by creating graphics for him, and making further updates to my
portfolio for the ever important "job hunt" *groan*)
Anyway. It's been quite some time since I've seen this episode, so I'm going
to make this rather brief since I don't want to start wandering into areas
that I don't have a clear memory of. It wasn't until I was in college that I
began to appreciate this episode, and by then it had been nearly ten years
since I had seen it (...which would mean that I haven't seen this episode in
almost 16 years!). I was in Shakespeare and we were discussing HENRY THE
FOURTH, and the character Sir John Falstaff was striking a very familiar
chord. ...Admittedly I had not read HENRY THE FOURTH prior to my second year
of college. It hit me during one such discussion that Falstaff reminded me of
the Taybor (or more correctly: the Taybor reminded me of Falstaff). Just as
Falstaff was consumed with "sucking the marrow out of life" the Taybor had a
similar view. Aside from the most obvious common trait (both characters are
fat and wear their decadence proudly) they both tend towards surrounding
themselves with the "riches" of life: beauty, material wealth, food, women,
wine, sex, and so on. The Taybor making a pass at Maya by stroking her thigh
and then passing out after drinking is is so reminiscent of Falstaff that it
is difficult to tell the two characters apart (or at least see that one was
modeled after the other). The trickery that the Taybor reveals also doesn't
fall far from the same tree as Falstaff.
Depending on who directs a production of HENRY THE FOURTH Falstaff can be
portrayed as a gluttonous sloth who is unkempt and repulsive, or he can be
portrayed as a rather a flamboyant, colorful, robust, yet personable
gentleman. The latter seems to fit The Taybor to a "T"... even down to his
space craft. As David Acheson stated, the Taybor's ship is one of the
brightest images we see in in the dark universe of Space: 1999. Aside from
being designed to be different and strikingly alien the ship seems to capture
and personify the Taybor's excessive and materialistic nature. ...even when
the ship goes into "hyper-drive" the light show is spectacular and colorful
unlike the monochromatic presence of the probe in RING AROUND THE MOON, or the
simple blue modular design if the Kaldorian ship in EARTHBOUND. The only
thing that seems to be missing the the Taybor's ship is a decidedly phallic
design... but perhaps that would have been going to far.
I wish I could add more to this, but I don't clearly remember every aspect of
this episode.
Mike
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi4tag.no)
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 10:18:11 +0000
Subject: Space1999: Re: The Taybor
> ! Petter how do back up this statement? Or are you only referring to
> "white European descended history" and if so, say so. Chicanos and
> other indigenous peoples have inhabited the "Americas" for thousands of
> years. "History" did NOT begin when white men set foot on this
> continent.
Ooops, sorry about that!
I believe what I wanted to focus on was the history of modern thought and
society. Books about the history of philosophy has a tendency of
starting with Thales, about 600 B.C., and show how our present understanding
of ourselves, in the mind of the most established philosophers of today
that is, is a result of 2500 years of continuous philosophical debate.
This is perhaps a somewhat limited point of view perhaps, and obviously
more a history of the philosophy in terms of the culture of the Western
world of scientific achievements and Christian thought, than being a
contribution to an understanding of the world from a more global perspective.
As the world gets more and more connected, this etno-centric perspect is
perhaps to diminish somewhat, and I believe that it has, in fact, more
or less continuously done so, in Europe at least, after Austrian
philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein symbolically put more or less an end to
logical empirism in the early 1950s, the main philosophical paradigm of
its day. Arne Naess, for instance, the well known Norwegian representative
of that group, turned 180 degrees and started eco-philosophy, perhaps one
of the main influences on SPACE:1999.
Believing people like Terpiloff, Wallace, Bellak and Freiberger being
of European or Jewish decent, I assume much of the focus on mythology in
their episodes may be based on European intellectual history. The American
philosophical tradition did not make such a significant break with pre-war
philosophical thought as for example the Frankfurther school in Europe,
and thinkers like Quine and Davidson has contributed to assimilating
logical empirism with pragmatism, I believe the philosphers would say.
This context also could perhaps put more perspective on Freiberger's
and Wallace's contributions.
Nevertheless, both from a visual and an intellectual point of view, SPACE
1999 seem to have borrowed from other cultures as well. Zantor and his
crew in EARTHBOUND seem quite reminisent of native Americans (Indians)
while the aliens in WAR GAMES seem both visually and intellectually to
have been modeled on elements of Buddist culture. David Weir of BLACK
SUN and GUARDIAN OF PIRI is known to have been deeply influenced by
Japanese thought, and Fageolle speculates about the representatives of
Sidon in VOYAGER'S RETURN being a references to Sionists.
In Year Two there are abundance of cultural references to ancient cultures
like the Sumerians, the Egyptions, the Greeks and so on. Maya herself
is perhaps derived from a hindu concept of "maya" having to do with
transformations and metamorphosis.
In fact, in startling contrast to the original STAR TREK, which seemed to be
about US world hegemony, SPACE:1999 tried to keep an open mind, I think,
focusing mostly on global issues such as ecology, global economy, the
different sides to science and technology and so on, asking more questions
than being able to answer during its run.
For me this open approach is perhaps one of the reasons I still find it
so immensly enjoyable. As the ancient Greeks told each other stories
of Apollon and Athene, or the Vikings had their mythology of Thor, Odin,
Brage and so on, film and perhaps TV in particular must be the most
important medium of modern mythology.
In his marvellous book Fageolle quotes Michel Butor as of saying something
like Sci-fi being the closest one gets the mythology of modern times.
Discussing SPACE:1999 on this list certainly makes me confront my own
opinions of a diverse list of issues in life from time to time.
> BTW I am enjoying your lively discussions with Andre--you guys must
> have been separated at birth! :-)
Heh heh. I think his anthropological angle to reading the episodes is
totally fascinating and an excellent way of putting a finger on parts
of the episodes that trancends beyond the camp entertainment value of
the shows. Absolutley magnificent, yes!
Petter
From: Costopoulos Andre (costopoa@ere.umontreal.ca)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Re: The Taybor
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 08:09:51 -0400 (EDT)
Yes, and the Taybor is an excellent example. I agree with others
on the list who have said that this episode is quite bad. Many of
the problems pointed out are very serious. But it nonetheless
conforms to a certain category of human narrative, and as such
it is interesting. I am usually not much of a structuralist,
but examining this "cycle of Alpha" in detail as we have been doing,
I cannot help but see a certain grammar of basic elements being
used to tell stories and establish contexts. And they turn out
to be the same that humans seem to have always used.
And Petter, don't even try. You won't get me involved in a
discussion of the Vienna circle on this list!
Andre Costopoulos
Departement d'anthropologie
Universite de Montreal
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi4tag.no)
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 13:34:49 +0000
Subject: Re: Space1999: The Taybor
> Yes, and the Taybor is an excellent example. I agree with others
> on the list who have said that this episode is quite bad. Many of
> the problems pointed out are very serious.
Jon Stadter indicates that the main target for this episode must have
been five-year-olds, Tom thinks it as awful and David Acheson suggests
the episodes signifies a change of direction with the mid-season episodes
of Year Two making them even more silly than the earlier ones.
> But it nonetheless conforms to a certain category of human narrative, and
> as such it is interesting.
My point of view is that while the acting, design and much of the surface
elements of plot and subplots go haywire, much of the original writing
for the series was not all that bad. The global economy aspects of THE
TAYBOR, for instance, is quite interesting from my point of view, along
with interpretations of Taybor reading him as a "trickster" or a space
age Falstaff.
Mike's parallells between Taybor and Falstaff are extremely perceptive,
I think, and a wonderful contribution both in understanding HENRY THE
FOURTH and SPACE:1999. In terms of thinking about human narratives I
believe the line between Shakespeare, the head of Western literary canon
according to people like Harold Bloom, and phenomena like THE TAYBOR
may very well give similar insights into the human experience.
> I am usually not much of a structuralist,
> but examining this "cycle of Alpha" in detail as we have been doing,
> I cannot help but see a certain grammar of basic elements being
> used to tell stories and establish contexts. And they turn out
> to be the same that humans seem to have always used.
This is what I find the most interesting with you perspective, Andre,
the focus on structure forming the Alpha characters in certain types
and patterns of behaviour.
Even in the silliest of episodes such as ALL THAT GLISTERS or RULES OF
LUTON there are contexts forming that suite the episodes in some manner.
In fact, I think the logic of dreams and pattern of behaviour that seem
to have been inspired by Ed Wood in ALL THAT GLISTERS actually suits
the episodes focus on ecology and the Earth's limited resources very
well. Perhaps contrary to Ed Woods ridicuous efforts at anti-war messages
and the like in PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE, the central theme in ALL THAT
GLISTERS seems utterly coherent and understandable, and Ray Austin using
the language of Bunuel just makes it all more inspired and synergetic.
We haven't discussed THE RULES OF LUTON yet, an episode I presently consider
close to totally hopeless, there may be interesting bits there too. My
curiosity is insaturated in terms of what can be said about this episode from
an anthropological point of view.
> And Petter, don't even try. You won't get me involved in a
> discussion of the Vienna circle on this list!
Heh heh. From where I'm standing SPACE:1999 seems actually to be very much
based on a cultural response or at least parallell to the emergence of
rivals to the Popper philosophy of science. Remember, Thomas Kuhn
publishes his work on the structure of scientific endevour in 1970,
and James Lovelock's first significant publication in 1972. Gregory
Bateson also published some of his major works in the early seventies,
didn't he? I have the first one he wrote in 1972, I think.
By the end of the 1970s we have the beginning of an alternative scientific
movement based more on the paradigmas of biology than the ones inherit
of logical positivism, mainly based on Laplacian physics of the late 18th
century I suppose.
Anyway, I feel that SPACE:1999 must be in some way symptomatic of the
change in man's understanding of himself during this rather interesting
decade.
Petter
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 19:13:11 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Stefano Alpa (reste@mbox.ulisse4tag.it)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Re: The Taybor
>In Year Two there are abundance of cultural references to ancient cultures
>like the Sumerians, the Egyptions, the Greeks and so on. Maya herself
>is perhaps derived from a hindu concept of "maya" having to do with
>transformations and metamorphosis.
This is a good comment, Petter.
Already previously has been written that in Egypt Maya means "water" but
also exists another meaning as much interesting.
In the mythology of ancient Rome "Maia" (the "y" was a letter added to the
Latin alphabet and therefore had often replaced from the "i"), Atlas'
daughter, was Jupiter's wife , the father of Gods; from their union Mercury,
the messenger of Gods, was born.
Besides that, the same name had an ancient italic divinity too (indicated
even as Maiestas), to which had consecrated the month of May.
Stefano
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi4tag.no)
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 16:08:48 +0000
Subject: Re: Space1999: Re: The Taybor
There seem to be many connections between the name Maya and the metamorph
ability. Freiberger does not seem to have picked the name just out of
the blue.
I look forward to the discussion of THE RULES OF LUTON in a couple of weeks
where we get the opportunity to really dig into Freibergers conception of
this character and what it may have represented to him.
Petter
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi4tag.no)
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 15:59:58 +0000
Subject: Re: Space1999: Re: The Taybor
> I will tell you why I feel that the Taybor may be a better
> example of the Trickster than New Adam/New Eve or even
> the bringers of wonder. In New Adam/New Eve, there is
> a VERY strong element of coercion. The Alphans are not
> really tricked by the magician at any time. They would
> have eventually travelled to the planet for a survey.
> All he had to do was wait for them. It merely suited
> his purpose to have them travel there under a certain
> impression. In any case, he was badly mistaken about
> several things. Force is absent from the classical
> trickster narrative, and so is actual physical danger.
Well, Magus of NEW ADAM/NEW EVE is not much of a Mephisto character,
you may have a point there, and the episodes does not seem to focus much
on him tricking the Alphans into getting motivated in the wrong
direction. Not sucessfully, anyway, although there is an interesting
romantic build-up that perhaps could fit into the trickster narrative.
> In my estimation, this last factor [physical danger] rules
> out the Bringers of Wonder. Furthermore, Trickster
> merely go away, regardless of the outcome of the story.
> They are free to reappear should they choose to. IN
> New Adam/New Eve, the vilain is destroyed. He is not
> a wanderer. He is more like a spider whose web the
> hunting pit destroys.
Yes. It is certainly looks like the end, doesn't it, and as he goes, so
does his world. I believe the dominating disbelief in magicians,
whiches and the mythology of the ancient cultures also narrows our
world in a way, although hopefully for the better in most cases.
I agree with your point that NEW ADAM/NEW EVE is not a trickster story
per se. False prophets, mad scientists, Frankenstein and Golem is perhaps
a more fitting category. I suspect there must be anthropological concepts
pin-pointing this type of narrative as well, a type of story that at
least seem incredibly popular with the Western culture with the arrival
of the industrial revolution and ever since, I suppose.
I'm not convinced that THE TAYBOR is more of a trickster episode than
the Feely episodes, however.
From my point of view at least THE BRINGERS OF WONDER seem to be a better
illustration of the trickster characteristics you defined. While the
psychological motivation of Taybor is revealed more and more as we go along,
the creatures in BRINGERS OF WONDER are clearly one-dimentional and seem to be
used in the story for no other reason than to motivate the actions of the
Alphans.
You have a point about the Alphans being put into a situation of
physical danger, but, on the other hand, most of what is happening in
THE BRINGERS OF WONDER is on the mental level, and in most cases, the
most interesting cases at least, the Alphans put themselves into danger
living in a dream world, much like Faust I suppose, not seeing that
they are ruining their very own existence, or perhaps loosing their
soul if one prefers to look at it from that perspective.
In fact, I feel the trickster aspect is very central in this episode. The
Alphans are being promised the world. Although not malicious, the
things the three astronauts set out to do, as they return, indulging in
an orgy of sports, girls and technology, seem nevertheless to be some kind of
statement from Feely about how the careless attitude may be an instrument of
destroying ourselves. Looking at it from this perspective I think it may even
compare with the trickster episode in the Bible where Jesus is tempted by the
devil to use his gift in a non-concert manner.
> OT: Petter, you are from Norway. Southern or Northern?
> I spend quite a large chunk of my time in Northern Finland
> (Oulu-Kemi-Tornio area). I also know a few people at the
> University in Tromso and in Bergen. Know anyone there?
I'm afraid not. At least I can't remember knowing anyone in the anthropologist
circles in Tromso or Bergen. I am a computer scientist working at the
Norwegian Meteorological Institute (dnmi) which is situated in Oslo on the
Univerisity Campus.
By the way, Andre, are you working on a project in concert with the
Nordic countries, or is your interest in the northern part of Ultima
Thule motivated by other reasons?
Petter
From: Costopoulos Andre (costopoa@ere.u44montreal.ca)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Re: The Taybor
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 14:09:14 -0400 (EDT)
> I agree with your point that NEW ADAM/NEW EVE is not a trickster story
> per se. False prophets, mad scientists, Frankenstein and Golem is perhaps
> a more fitting category. I suspect there must be anthropological concepts
> pin-pointing this type of narrative as well, a type of story that at
> least seem incredibly popular with the Western culture with the arrival
> of the industrial revolution and ever since, I suppose.
Absolutely. Stories of man-made beings, or beings made by
other unauthorized entities (i.e. not allowed to create) are
widespread and fascinating. I hope we get to discuss one at some
point.
> In fact, I feel the trickster aspect is very central in this episode. The
> Alphans are being promised the world. Although not malicious, the
> things the three astronauts set out to do, as they return, indulging in
> an orgy of sports, girls and technology, seem nevertheless to be some kind of
> statement from Feely about how the careless attitude may be an instrument of
> destroying ourselves. Looking at it from this perspective I think it may even
> compare with the trickster episode in the Bible where Jesus is tempted by the
> devil to use his gift in a non-concert manner.
You very well may be right. I have not seen bringers of wonder in
a long time. It is not one of my favourites. Of course, most episodes
of Space 1999 can be interpreted in terms of several conceptual frameworks.
> Norwegian Meteorological Institute (dnmi) which is situated in Oslo on the
> Univerisity Campus.
Wow! That's amazing! I work on simulation of prehistoric human
behaviour, mainly exchange behaviour so far. I can't even imagine
dealing with atmospheric phenomena. Besides, my computer is too small.
> By the way, Andre, are you working on a project in concert with the
> Nordic countries, or is your interest in the northern part of Ultima
> Thule motivated by other reasons?
You know how these things happen. I ended up in Finland as the result
of a series of academic accidents. As I am fond of telling the Finns:
"What do you mean I am in Finland, I thought this was Sweden!"
That really gets them going...
Andre Costopoulos
Departement d'anthropologie
Universite de Montreal
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 15:48:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Perry
Subject: Space1999: FS??: Koenig Halloween Costume....
No jokes, please...
This is a Collegeville Deluxe Costume: Space 1999 Koenig 2118
Med(ium) (8-10) 47" to 52" tall. 1975 ATV Licensed Limited.
The Mask is C9.5 with one little wrinkle in the chin area.
The Bodysuit is C9. A bit of logo is rubbed off but overall it looks
very nice.
The box is C6-C7, bent and folded in several spots, but overall very
nice as far as print goes.
Let me know what you think.
Michael Perry
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 23:54:39 -0500
From: Chris Hlady (chlady@escape4tag.ca)
Subject: Space1999: Hey Taybor: Ever been to Piri?
Sheesh, go away for a while, catch up with quickskim, and what?
NOBODY mentions that the model for Maya in The Taybor looks strikingly like
the model for the guardian of Piri. Both used Catherine Schell as the model
(great bod), and both get their faces blown off (misogyny, anyone? anyone?)
Well, what can one expect.
I guess you're all gasping for what I have to say about The Taybor,
sooooooo, I'm not going to tell you.
Toodeeladoo
but to review: i liked the comment about the round table. nobody mentioned
the return of Maya's spiffy Psychon outfit. Nobody heckled "The Limpett
Transmitter." LIMPETT!!! anyone? anyone?
"Well, looks as if Taybor's a sore loser afterall."
"Beware of trader's bearing gifts." <------lame-o
martin landau halloween costume: ooooooooooooooo how much?
"if you can't tell me the quadrant, you can not give me the rooting angle,
the sub-clusters or the spindrift."
"for all i know, this could be a penal colony."
andre & petter: love the trickster talk. you nailed it.
loki, what have you done now?
nothing thor, nothing.
Well enough, I'm off to the races, sheep to count, and all that.
Chris Hlady
From: djlerda@juno4tag.com
Subject: Re: Space1999: Hey Taybor: Ever been to Piri?
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 01:19:08 EDT
>"if you can't tell me the quadrant, you can not give me the rooting
>angle, the sub-clusters or the spindrift."
Spindrift? Has Taybor been to the Land of the Giants? :-)
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi4tag.no)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 09:59:43 +0000
Subject: Re: Space1999: Off Topic Messages / The Exiles
[Re: an argument (not reproduced here) about what constitutes "indigenous."]
It is interesting that the debate was initiated by a discussion on THE
TAYBOR. I think both David, Mateo and others have said many interesting
things, many things that would be quite relevant in an interpretation of
THE EXILES or even ALPHA CHILD, I suppose.
In THE EXILES, for example, Cantar and his people had been the rulers of
Golos until being forced into exile. This may be perhaps mirror the
situation of the native Americans in some way, originally ruling the
territory, but due to uncompatible behaviour for symbiosis with the
modern technological world that was diffusing to all corners of the
world more or less according to the second law of thermodynamics, they
apparently found themselves exiled into reservoirs or in other ways
taken care of in order to to reduce friction in the megamachine that was
building.
The plot in THE EXILES develops by Tony asking what kind of people the
Alphans are, not willing to give the others a helping hand. When Alphans
finally bargain with Cantar and Zova, it's difficult to say whether
the aliens are motivated by frustration or just see themselves as a
different biological species from the Alphans and hence do not care very
much for the fate of Alpha at all.
The expansion of the Roman empire was mostly based on rational thought, I
believe, the Romans being if not scientists then at least more modern
than the people they where fighting as the had superior technical skills,
engineering skills, a monetary system, perhaps a more sophisticated
culture and so on.
Interesting enough, the Roman empire did not last, at least not in the
form of how it was instanciated in 200 or 300 a.d., it was and one of
the main reasons for it breaking down, I suppose, was that it did not have
a unified belief system. I think the story of Jesus being asked whether
one should pay taxes or not indicates this. The Romans were apparently
more concerned with pragmatical issues of maintaining and expanding the
empire on technical terms than really caring about individual moral.
With the breakdown of the Roman empire, I believe it became quite
apparent that it was not an easy task to do business or even living
together with people of another belief. If they did not have more or
less the same moral or belief in what life, the universe and everything
was all about how could one be certain that contracts were followed?
In the beginning Christianity spread quite rapidly and quite frustratingly
to the Romans as this represented a different system of belief from what
the empire was built upon and hence people subscribing to this new
theology would perhaps be impossible to trust. Later, of course, they saw no
other possiblilty than to make Christianity the religion of the state in
order to eliminate all friction, although this was perhaps realised too late
and did not include the foreign labour that was also becoming a threat.
Even if the Roman empire crumbled, the Christian belief seemed to be
a sustainable one. My ancestors, the Vikings, who were also realising
more and more that they were living in exile putting faith in a religion
and mythology that did not make them to be trusted in the rest of Europe
, made it impossible for them to collaborate with others, apparently must
have bwecome increaingsly frustrated. As the situation became suffocating
enough, Norway was already made into one kingdom in the 800s in order to
function more efficiently and increase the probablily of survival for the
lesser communities and individuals, in the first half of the 11th century it
was apparent that it had to adopt the Christian religion as well in order to
prosper and survive.
I think THE EXILES seem to be dealing with the same type of problems as
this, the friction between people of different culture. In more recent
history we have of course the internal wars in the former Yugoslavia
that has been discussed to some extent on this list in relation to
Johnny Byrne's interest in this and his episode THE MISSION OF THE
DARIANS.
THE MISSION OF THE DARIANS, then again, seem to have been motivated, according
to Byrne by the Viking legacy, the conflict in Ireland and aspects of
race ideology of the pre-WWII world. THE EXILES may also have been inspired
by this difficult problems of the Jews living in exile in Europe and Russia,
using their own moral codex and by not assimilating into the general culture
becoming a threat. In fact, I believe THE EXILES illustrates this quite
clearly.
Petter
From: LKJ1999@aol4tag.com
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 06:36:10 EDT
Subject: Re: Space1999: Off topic posts
In a message dated 7/24/98 12:32:09 AM Eastern Standard Time, djlerda@juno.com
writes:
>And now back to our regularly scheduled review of "The Taybor":
>
>IT STUNK! Grade: D-
It stunk, You gotta be joking! I really like the Taybor!!!
Chas P. LKJ1999
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi4tag.no)
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 18:16:22 +0000
Subject: Space1999: tricksters, man-made beings and prehistoric behaviour
> Absolutely. Stories of man-made beings, or beings made by
> other unauthorized entities (i.e. not allowed to create) are
> widespread and fascinating. I hope we get to discuss one at some
> point.
I believe Joe Gammon's original script for VOYAGER'S RETURN was
concerned with this, although Johnny Byrne gives it a somewhat different
angle. And then we have BRIAN THE BRAIN which I suppose could be read as
something perhaps having to do with artificial life going Oidipus.
Another interesting episode that I look very much forward to discussing is
A B CHRYSALIS which also seem to be about life, death and new life in an
interesting manner. Well, we'll get to that in due time. What I'm looking
most forward to at the moment, however, is Chris Hlady's penetrating analysis
of social comments in THE BETA CLOUD! His "coming attraction" teaser got me
completely!
Keith Wilson was very happy with THE BRINGERS OF WONDER, I think.
> > In fact, I feel the trickster aspect is very central in this episode. The
> > Alphans are being promised the world. [....] some kind of
> > statement from Feely about how the careless attitude may be an instrument of
> > destroying ourselves. Looking at it from this perspective I think it may even
> > compare with the trickster episode in the Bible where Jesus is tempted by the
> > devil to use his gift in a non-concert manner.
>
> You very well may be right. I have not seen bringers of wonder in
> a long time. It is not one of my favourites. Of course, most episodes
> of Space 1999 can be interpreted in terms of several conceptual frameworks.
There are some quite good dialogue bits, I think, in this one, and some of
the cross editing of pleasure and disaster is quite witty. I suppose it
could have benefitted by being edited down to 50 minutes.
> > Norwegian Meteorological Institute (dnmi) which is situated in Oslo on the
> > Univerisity Campus.
>
> Wow! That's amazing! I work on simulation of prehistoric human
> behaviour, mainly exchange behaviour so far. I can't even imagine
> dealing with atmospheric phenomena. Besides, my computer is too
> small.
Prehistoric human behaviour? Perhaps you could add something to FULL
CIRCLE then. I feel that episode is a bit tedious by too much running,
fighting, grunting and screaming. Until now I have found this one of
the least enjoyable of Year One, although it has its moments too.
> You know how these things happen. I ended up in Finland as the result
> of a series of academic accidents. As I am fond of telling the Finns:
> "What do you mean I am in Finland, I thought this was Sweden!"
> That really gets them going...
Heh heh.
By the way, the Fins have a wonderful sense of humour too. I remember
Pertti made some rather had the rare ability of both being thought
provoking in a very witty sort of manner. Some of his best contributions
are still being quoted regularily I've noticed.
Petter
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 21:12:42
From: David Welle (dwelle@online.dct4tag.com)
Subject: Space1999: The Taybor
Hello all.
I've scarcely been online this week, have been swamped busy for weeks
(trips, the incredibly awful turnover at work, etc.). Wow, tons of Taybor
posts, I see. This ought to be interesting reading; but before I catch up
on the reading, I figure I ought to put in my own two cents before the end
of this episode period, or I'll miss this one like the last several.
This is one of S19's few (almost) purely comedic pieces, and works out
pretty well into an enjoyable, if very light, story. A couple of this
thread's titles have included the word "trickster," which seems very
appropriate for the Taybor.
He's a trader who comes bearing gifts *before* he even arrives. These
"gifts" materialize (why does one of the women in the Solarium call it a
"box", though?), then proceed to apparently injure a couple of Alphans.
A worried Koenig becomes flustered when some presence announces himself on
the screen, refuses to identify himself, then "lands" by making his ship --
which looks more art than machine -- appear out of vacuum, in a burst of
light. Taybor himself appears in Command Center, and has a tank
materialize outside Alpha as well, before reassuring the crew that he means
no ill intent, by his appearance or his gifts. "Sudden appearances make us
nervous," Koenig declares.
Taybor has been listening in, and knows the names of Alpha's command staff,
and tries charming the crowd, as it were (calling Tony's security
"splendid" is a weak attempt, though). He casts a lustful eye on Maya and
lays it on thick with her. She looks puzzled, as if never complimented in
such poetic phrasing, and Tony merely looks baleful or annoyed.
Taybor reveals his credentials, which looked entirely silly to me for
years. Why? Simply because it shows information in English, and an
easily-read signature. This really made no sense, even *with* Alphans and
aliens almost always understanding each other, because for some reason, it
seemed more a matter of auditory understanding (babel-fish, anyone? -- or
maybe a gift from some generally benign force, like Arra maybe) than
understanding writing. Of course, the whole language issue is, as most SF
TV does, ignored, so the writing really shouldn't be any different.
Whatever the case, Taybor seems to think like a sailor, with references to
"skipper of this trusty moon," "hard tack" (sp?), and almost starts
sounding like a jolly pirate at times, which seems more apt, to some
degree, as the episode progresses. He does and says everything with
flourish, and with a flourish on his flourish.
He denies his gifts were of ill-intent, instead talking as if the Alphans
were babies, then explains the Alphans were not being harmed, but were
enjoying a kind of odd R&R in the form of good memories brought out by the
devices.
Anyway, enough about that. Taybor alternately tries to ingratiate himself
with the Alphans, then mock threatens them, which the edgy Alphans don't
appreciate. Finally, though, Taybor convinces, at least to some degree,
the Alphans that he is of no real threat. Indeed, he does strike one as a
jolly, humorous person, and it is hard for the Alphans to take him too
seriously. He is loud, almost obnoxiously so, but seems more bluster than
bark, much less actual bite.
He keeps looking at Maya every time he refers to his looking to trade for
things of beauty.
Taybor and the command staff sit down for a meal. The women come dressed
more formally, and Maya looks absolutely stunningly sexy in her Psychon
dress. The Alphan men don't seem to bother changing.
Taybor seems content to eat and drink his fill, making small talk -- and a
pass at Maya by grasping her thigh (!), stating its "a sign of friendship
on my planet" (who does he think he's kidding?), which Maya fends off with
a partial, out-of-sight, transformation. "Now we're friends," she says
with an impish smile.
Taybor starts talking about hyperspace and a jump drive, already slurring
his words more than usual, getting quite drunk on Tony's beer ("Traybor the
Tader"). Not unlike most people with their cars or computers, Taybor
doesn't know how these things work. Taybor wierds out before burping and
collapsing, much to the others' amusement.
Koenig wants to trade to get plans for the jump drive, and they offer them
the Moon -- or at least to get a ride to a habitable planet. Taybor's
evasive at first, then admits he could probably take them home to Earth.
Maya immediately looks less than joyed. Taybor notices, and queries after
that, apparently not realizing Maya's alien to the Earth people (and for
all Taybor knows, she may just be another race of human). Taybor claims he
passed by Psychon once, and now prattles on about taking her back there
after they drop the others. The protective looking Tony is less than
amused that Taybor reminds Maya of the loss of her people, which she
informs the Taybor of in a sad, resigned voice.
Taybor pauses speculatively, then blasts on, trying to find out where this
"Earth" is.
Koenig: Galaxy M104?
Huh? Our galaxy does not have a Messier reference?
Taybor: First intergalactic moon I've come across.
....
Koenig: There have been space warps.
Taybor: The little doors into hyperspace.
So you too jump!
(Wish something like this had been said a few times in the first season, in
addition to what happened with the "Black Sun.")
Koenig, who I have been informed started out as an astrophysicist, starts
listing PKS (pulsar) and NGC (New Galactic Catalogue) referents. Even more
than Taybor's trader's identification, this exercise strikes me as futile,
and definitely is, in this case, for Taybor does not understand the names
and designations Koenig uses. Taybor speaks in very different navigational
terms, perhaps what the hyperspace system prefers. I wondered why Maya
didn't understand the Taybor's references, but maybe Psychons didn't use
the same reference system as Taybor's people either.
In the end, they simply do not have enough of a common frame of reference
to figure out Earth's position.
Taybor invites Koenig aboard, and promptly, without warning, zaps him
aboard. Taybor gives a short tour, and an introduction to the jump drive.
Then Taybor heads into hyperspace, his ship disappearing from Alpha's
sight, startling and angering them to the point that Tony yells at Maya
that she knows about hyperspace (yeah, like she's got the technology needed
to scan hyperspace...).
Taybor makes ill-timed jokes about taking Koenig to the zoo or the slave
market. He's nothing but fun and games, to borrow the phrase Koenig once
used in regard to Psychons (Mentor seemed to like playing with his prey).
Finally, Koenig gets tricky Taybor to revert back to normal space, which
nearly kills a couple Alphans in doing so.
Taybor has already refused the offer of Moonbase Alpha for the jump drive,
because he's lonely, and wants Maya! He goes on and on about all the
beautiful things on his ship, and mutters about his loneliness. He wants
to trade for a mate.
Koenig refuses, of course ("she's not mine to give away"), and that
basically dashes any hope for a deal. Taybor seems to take it well, and
even accepts the offer of a mechanical replicant in the lovely form of
Maya, with her voice.
It's well-played, except for the kind of silly-looking scene in the lab
where the robot is being made. This scene stuck in my memory as cringingly
awful even when I saw it as a kid, and I was actually grateful (!) to the
Sci-Fi Channel (!) for mercifully cutting it. Funny thing is, seeing that
scene for the first time in twenty years with an uncut tape, it doesn't
seem any less out of tune with the more than slightly off his rocker
Taybor, who wants "Maya" adjusted to look more wide-eyed and happy.
Tony: A waxwork dummy with a computer voice.
He's not right in the head."
The Maya dummy doesn't even move its mouth when it talks! This whole
business strikes several Alphans as odd, to say the least. but they do it.
This wierd deal complete, Taybor sends down the "diagrams." Forget two
dimensional diagrams, it's in a three-dimensional, pyramidal form. Koenig
invites Taybor down for a little extra trading on the side. Taybor is
prattling on to his robotic "Maya," saying "she" will love some planet he's
going to.
Koenig has two of his command staff, Maya and Tony, watch over the trading,
still not entirely trusting Taybor. This seems like a bad command decision
on Koenig's part, for why put Maya next to the very person who's been after
her already. Of course, she's already managed to handle Taybor's earlier
advance without difficulty, and maybe John thinks her presence will keep
things going smoothly.
This viewing, though, I realized the connection between this and Koenig's
going out to attach a transmitter to Taybor's ship. Maya's a distraction.
At the end of the trading (and after Koenig's finished his bit), Taybor
gives a gift to Maya, manages to override Tony's objection before it's
spoken. He gives way because Maya obviously wants the jewelry, which is
very Psychon looking. When Tony leaves, Taybor waves his hands in front of
her, and she becomes essentially hypnotised -- like the glowing device is
some sort of mental damping field -- walks with her hand on Taybor's as
they walk and then vanish back to his ship.
It does indeed seem like a mental damper, because she is almost mindless,
speaking with little recognition of anything (even her own image), and
slowly. Taybor obviously wanted the real, living and vivacious Maya, yet
has reduced her to a robotic manner. Taybor seems to like his women a bit
dumb.
Since Maya said she wanted to show the pendant to Helena, when Tony was
present, that's where Tony tells John that Maya is, so John goes to
Helena's quarters, only to run into her and a cloud of "Infidelity" (I
liked Taybor's earlier explanation of the name), the perfume Taybor has
given her. Taybor's not easily tricked, and though Taybor stole Maya, John
manages to think through the pheromonic haze and realize, in anger, what's
happened.
Visual communication is re-established, and the commander's fear is
verified. Taybor once again calls the Alphans children, pretends to be
concerned about having his "license" revoked, then sends back Maya -- who
blows up! It's the robotic copy of Maya. (Like I said when I reviewed
"Guardian of Piri," someone seems to like turning Catherine Schell into a
robot, and then blowing her up at some point. Hmm....)
Taybor: Did you think I'd settle for a copy, Skipper?
I only collect ORIGINALS!
Maya, apparently strong of mind, overcomes the pendants power over her,
throws it off, and angrily orders him to send her back to Alpha. Maya's
less than seduced by Taybor's plans to tour the galaxy and offer of
marriage. She gets even more angry, which only seems to be make him want
her more.
Taybor: Not only is your beauty breathtaking,
but you have the spirit of a wild, untamed beast!"
Gee, there's a heck of a line... :-)
Maya: You don't know how wild, Taybor.
Taybor: A transmorph!
His smile grows even wider at this, and as he drops a cage over her. She
breaks out of that, only to be imprisoned in glass.
Her plea for him to return her to Alpha falls on essentially deaf ears, for
he is not hearing her as a person, but as an object, a possession: "What?
Lose my most beautiful possession?" That's about all she is to him.
Koenig's planted transmitter picks up signals from Alpha (now how the heck
does that happen? -- time to suspend disbelief), and transmits the sound
through the hull of Taybor's ship:
Koenig: Remember, Taybor surrounds himself with things of beauty;
that's why you're there. Please try to understand....
Funny how Taybor hears one thing, but Maya hears better, and understands,
transforming into a "slatternly woman" (as the end credits list her). The
glass, evidently designed to hold beautiful things , instantly shattered.
Taybor: Foolish metamorph.
I'm giving you the opportunity to be surrounded by
beauty forever.
He's totally objectifying her at this point, as nothing but one of all his
other objects of beautiful -- maybe the most beautiful, as he says, but
still an object.
Taybor is a trickster of skill, but in the end, cannot stand the thought of
having to stare at a "female reflection" of himself, and relents, sending
Maya back to Alpha.
Maya teases Tony a bit at the end, and Yasko actually says her lines in a
professional sounding manner. Taybor's a "sore loser," and takes away
everything that had been traded, including the jump drive diagrams, and
returning the Alphan's materials.
This time, among others, it's the Alphan(s) helping Maya escape a
situation, in this case by Koenig giving Maya the "key" to escape Taybor.
Losing jump drive information that could get them to Earth or another world
is a high price for the honor of the Alphans in saving Maya's honor, so to
speak, but it's Taybor who's the sore loser.
Alphans come away with nothing more or less than they had or really looked
like they were destined to get, while Taybor crawls away more lonely and
with less honor than he might have had before.
There isn't a huge statement in this episode, but I've always seen it as a
comedy, and as such, it's a very enjoyable episode. The characterizations,
including Taybor's, hum right along, and the plot works (again, in a
comedic, trickster-centered way).
It's definitely not one to be taken seriously, IMO.
Well, gotta run. Have a good weekend on Alpha and elsewhere. :-)
----
David Welle
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 18:58:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Ellen C. Lindow" (sfdxb@scfn.thpl.lib4tag.fl.us)
Subject: Space1999: Gypsies, Medicine Shows and Travelling salesman
The trickster discussion was intriguing, but I think you're way off base
comparing Taybor to the mythological trickster. I believe his origins are
to be found closer to home in folk tales, and urban legends than
mythology. Taybor was the quintessential travelling salesman who peddles
his wares on the fringes of civilization and who's attention to the
farmer's daughter is both the subject of jokes and unwelcome. the Alphans
were the rubes, hicks or shills that the medicine show man performs his
show for, and cons out of the family belongings.
Charles, I like this episode too, but find it unsatisfying, as
others obviously do. The basic idea has a lot of promise, but was
executed in such a way that we are cheated out of what had the potential
to be a good story. The trader brings a glimpse of a civilization beyond
the reach of the Alphans and the only thing they have of interest to the
trader is not for sale. The trader attempts to con the Alphans out of
their prize, and they respond with some rather inept chicanery themselves.
Neither party is satisfied at the end.
This could have been an incredible story if the writers had decided to
stretch themselves a bit. What if the trader had been played by someone
attractive (say, perhaps Ricardo Mantalban, with his incredible voice?)
What if Maya had been tempted by his advances. What if they had been
advances instead of a bargain like he was buying a piece of meat? Taybor
was portrayed as a pathetic grubby figure of a man, but Alpha seemed to
have as many buxom babes as any given Baywatch episode. Were all of them
so complacent on Alpha that there were no gold diggers among them willing
to throw themselves at the trader in hopes he would take her away? That
could have been an interesting controversy to explore. Would the
commander forbid one of the Alphans-- either Maya or some expendible
nobody-- to go with Tabyor if whe were willing, or would he see it as an
opportunity to get someone off the base, perhaps able to send for the
others at some time in the future, or send help from some do-gooding
social service agency that's part of the civilization Taybor hails from.
How about Taybor romancing several Alpha babes, promising all of them
lifts in exchange for romantic favors. (Even as unattractive as they made
him this could have been an intriguing plot.)
Now, as for Koenig's trading ability, it was _embarassing_. One of the
reasons we feel uncomfortable is that our hero really comes off as a loser
in this episode. And a loser against a pretty inept foe. This trader had
some dazzling technology, but was both a drunkard and a lame con man.
Koenig's only legitimate offer was unfulfillable and the only things
Koenig asked to trade for was unattainable, and Koenig _never_ clued in to
this. Traders to remote areas traditionally carry gossip, news and small
easily tranportable items of small value (which helps to make them
unattractive, if still vulnerable to piracy), items that the purchasers
would not make the effort to procure themselves from far away.
Unfortunately the Alphans had a product they could have used to make a
modest trade for and everyone would have felt more satisfied-- including
the audience. Think of the irony when Taybor exclaims over Tony's beer.
It might be a joke on Alpha, but they had a potential buyer who liked it.
Would passage off Alpha, perhaps for a small team of people, be worth a
few barrells of beer? Instead of trying to trade they deprecated what
could have been a valuable product. And if resources aren't available to
make large quantities, that should only make the product more valuable!
Raw materials-- such as water could be a negotiating point, and if Koenig
could get a small group to a civilized planet, (even some podunk
backwater) they might have worked their way into a position to be able to
purchase, lease, or charter a space ship and come back for the other
Alphans. (Whew! I feel a severe case of fan fiction coming on!)
Anyway, I think the episode had great potential that was unfulfilled.
(Even I can't find anything redeeming to say about Luton.) I did like
Helena's blue dress and found the perfume amusing. (Terry Bowers has
recently written a hot little piece of fan ficc involving that perfume
that will knock your socks off.) And being a hot rod fan, I loved the
flames on the ship. If I ever have a spaceship, I want flames on mine
too.
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 00:13:29 -0500
From: Chris Hlady (chlady@escape4tag.ca)
Subject: Re: Space1999: The Taybor
>Maya looks absolutely stunningly sexy in her Psychon dress.
Amen brother.
The round table dinner was a welcome respite from the rest of season two.
It's too bad the Alphans never had a french cook. Dinner is always a
fascinating setting for character development.
Of course, with the ongoing threat of limited life support as a series 2
prerequisite, it would be difficult to justify the time and effort of a
really good meal.
Ellen's comment about Taybor as the "travelling salesman" as opposed to
"the trickster" is merited. The link between trickster and travelling
salesman would be an interesting project. However, ever since Greece, we've
been made aware of Trojans bearing gifts. I don't know if there is a link
between Loki, of Norse mythology and the Trojan Horse.
The legend of Taybor amused me more in memory then in review of the
episode. I found him poorly cast, ill-designed, and significantly less
amusing than Harcourt Fenton Mudd of Star Trek. To me, he resembled some of
the less savory comic shop owners I've had the misfortune to come across.
Yuck.
The theory of the jump drive was interesting however, and David addressed
the problem nicely. Criticism of Koenig's negotiation technique are
well-founded. Here, more than anywhere, the absense of Victor Bergman is
painful. Koenig had no one to discuss concepts by thoughtful verbal means.
Chris Hlady grades "The Taybor" B- on the basis of David's accurate
observation.;-)
Chris Hlady
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 22:38:21 -0300
From: mcevoyc (mcevoyc@rcsn4tag.nb.ca)
Subject: Space1999: The Taybor
I have actually had the time to watch this particular ep and despite my
initial, and seemingly incontrovertible, impression that this was a real
dog of a story and a waste of time.....well, I actually enjoyed it and
found it to be very well written (language) though still somewhat weak in
plot.
Taybor did not provide enough mystery to the story an edge that it could
have used; a little bit of the darkness of Balor would have served the
story well. Infinitely better than The Beta Cloud!
There was, however, something odd about this episode.....they actually
used their comlocks to open doors!! If you watch many of the Y2 eps, they
do not use their comlocks very often, the doors just open (ala Trek). But,
many times the actors are using their comlocks to open doors. Of course I
will probably be proved wrong on this, but could it be due to the fact that
Bob Brooks was new to the series?
From: "Simon Morris" (simes01@global44net.co.uk)
Subject: Space1999: The Taybor
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 18:04:47 +0100
Just a quick word about this episode since I'm right out of time this
week........
Basically I think its the weakest of Y2(though better than Y1's RING AROUND THE
MOON and MISSING LINK tosh) and actually worse than some of the oft-quoted
"crap" episodes such as the 3 Freiberger ones -which I actually like!
I suppose within the episode is a decent story--somewhere--trying to get out.
Its a brave try at writing a lighter-hearted episode but its bungled at
virtually every turn. A lot of the dialogue is simply silly and Willoughby
Goddard is so over the top he's in orbit. I also find the episode a touch
boring......
In the interests of fairness I should point out that there is some appealing
characterisation of the regular cast(you just wish it would feature in a better
standard of episode)and the musical score is a refreshingly lighthearted one.
Once again,Derek Wadsworth gives a Y2 episode better music than perhaps the
episode itself deserves.(Mind you I didn't like the sleazy saxophone solo that
plays while the Alphans are entertaining Taybor to dinner....)
To be honest though,in every other way this episode is my personal low point in
Year 2
Simon
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 14:09:06 -0600
From: Robert Gilbert (bcpgd@shaw.wave4tag.ca)
Subject: Re: Space1999: The Taybor
> Just a quick word about this episode since I'm right out of time this
> week........
Yes, but if we look at it from a broader sense in the sceme of things --- it's not
a bad attempt at the whole "morals-unfounded" person comes to a new place and
interacts with the beings there!
> Basically I think its the weakest of Y2(though better than Y1's RING AROUND THE
> MOON and MISSING LINK tosh)
Never having seen RING AROUND THE MOON --- I can't speak about its weaknesses!
Personally --- TESTAMENT OF ARCADIA came across (to me) as _the_ weak episode from
both Seasons!
> and actually worse than some of the oft-quoted
> "crap" episodes such as the 3 Freiberger ones -which I actually like!
Do tell!
> Its a brave try at writing a lighter-hearted episode but its bungled at
> virtually every turn. A lot of the dialogue is simply silly and Willoughby
> Goddard is so over the top he's in orbit. I also find the episode a touch
> boring......
Agreed!
(Mind you I didn't like the sleazy saxophone solo that
> plays while the Alphans are entertaining Taybor to dinner....)
There was a Sax-Solo there? Didn't notice!
> To be honest though,in every other way this episode is my personal low point in
> Year 2
Well, this is one P.O.V. --- one I'm sure I would not share if I had the chance to
view all Episodes in their entireity!
--
Robert C. Gilbert
From: Mark Meskin (plastic.gravity@new44rock.com)
Subject: Re: Space1999: The Taybor
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 15:19:30 -0500
> Never having seen RING AROUND THE MOON --- I can't speak about its weaknesses!
Trust us, its real real real bad.
> Personally --- TESTAMENT OF ARCADIA came across (to me) as _the_ weak
> episode from both Seasons!
TOA requires you to have knowledge of the whole first season, it sort of
the grail, and fits in nicely with the theme of season 1
> There was a Sax-Solo there? Didn't notice!
I actually liked that music. Its on the S2 CD, quite good if you ask me.
Mark
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 01:31:05
From: David Welle (dwelle@online.dct4tag.com)
Subject: Space1999: The Taybor; plus, Bad Stretch?
>The real talent of the story working at all is probably due to
>Willoughby Goddard. His approach to Taybor was a light hearted Leo
>McKern. There are many similarities between Taybor and Companion of THE
>INFERNAL MACHINE. Two lonely and intelligent space travellers in need of
>companionship. Taybor's fate is less tragic but his life is just as
>pathetic in many ways.
An apt comparison.
>Needless to say he finally
>found something he wants to build his life around - Maya. Under normal
>circumstances Taybor would have been arrested as a stalker or put away
>for analysis but his life is far from what we consider normal. Thus we
>are able to feel pity for him.
Pathetic and pitiable, and the Alphans seemed to do just that, humoring
him, while trying to get something of use out of him, failing to fully
recognize the shrewdness lurking under all the bluster and hyperbole.
>Many instances made this episode so un-1999 like and more of something
>that would be at home in the universe of DOCTOR WHO, STAR TREK or even
>LOST IN SPACE.
Well, it does seem un-1999 like in many ways, but I always shrugged and
figured there's all types in the universe, including nutty traders, that
the Alphans were just about bound to meet one like him.
>1) Taybor has a trading licence that we clearly see giving him
>permission to sell his wares. We never saw an economy-based
>universe in the series up until now.
Same comment applies: the Moon's been traveling a lot, and there are a lot
of different aliens.
>2) Perfumes for sale. Helena wearing Essence of Hermosia collected by
>robot drones in the upper atmosphere of the planet. Real different.
<LOL>
>3) Helena having the ability to create an android. The Earth technology
>of the series never looked as if creating an android was feasible. Yet
>Helena comes up with a duplicate Maya. I will just have to put that odd
>piece of the show to Taybor helping her with alien technology.
Tony said "waxwork dummy with a computer voice." That seemed an exact
description. I accidentally called it a robot in my main review, but was
thinking more of the voice, which was robotic -- probably nothing more than
a computer chip with some AI (artificial intelligence was all the buzz for
a couple decades, until people began realizing how truly difficult this
is), which seemed to fit Alpha's fictional capacities. Beyond the voice, I
don't think "she" was a robot or android, so I think that improves the
feasibility.
>4) Taybor's flaming red and orange spacecraft.
>Unusual in the usually dark universe of 1999.
Certainly can't say the modelmakers ever restrained their creativity in the
whole of Space: 1999, except for the homage-paying designs (such as Y1's
Discovery(2001)-like model), which were still very well executed. This is
one of S19's flat out positives. It's very hard to find a bad looking
spaceship effect or model. Taybor's "Emporium" may have been the most
cheerful, but it's still looks impressively well done.
>As usual Maya saves the day by outwitting Taybor
Er, Maya saved herself, no one else; and even then, it was more Koenig's
planting a transmitter and giving her a well-worded clue that suggested a
course of action to Maya, than anything else. She put his words to good
use, but it was more Koenig that saved Maya, IMO, and definitely not Maya
saving the day.
>but overall I felt it
>was Martin Landau who stood out in the episode as a nemisis. His Koenig
>here is not unlike his ruse in THE LAST ENEMY (only not as deadly).
Yes, he seemed to be the one thinking ahead the most, especially with
planting the transmitter and planting the idea in Maya's head, though Ellen
puts out a good argument for the missed opportunities Koenig had, even
positing the same Taybor.
>I always wondered about the title for the episode. Why THE TAYBOR? Why
>wasn't the second season opener called THE MAYA? On COSMOS: 1999 (the
>French version of the series) the episode title is directly translated
>to read as TAYBOR, THE TRADER. I think I like this better.
Agreed. Or how about just TAYBOR? There's a DORZAK, and that seems fine
to me.
>Overall an unusual entry. I would put it somewhere in the middle. Its
>the more serious episodes that have silly elements that make me cringe
>more.
That's why I find this episode so easy to accept and enjoy: it's comedy
with a few serious bits, and I never tried to make much more out of it.
Oh, I never did list a final rating for "The Taybor." 3.0 (out of 4), B.
Great comedy, good characterizations, okay plot, and even some themes to
explore.
To change direction somewhat, here's the beginning of David's note:
>This upcoming portion of year two tends to be more
>representative of the negative criticisms layed towards the second year
>as a whole. Cartoonish adventure replacing the psychological approach or
>even straightfoward honest adventure. It wasn't until the middle of year
>two when I found the episodes began to move away from this "silliness"
>towards the more dramatic adventure stories like we seen earlier with
>THE METAMORPH, THE EXILES, ONE MOMENT OF HUMANITY and JOURNEY TO WHERE.
>This I saw as a good move. Most likely too late though as the series
>failed to regain viewers and was subsequently cancelled.
Though if taken as an almost purely comedic interlude, which quite a few
series do, it's fine by me; yet let's take a closer look at David's point,
by looking at the production order. The first five episodes of Y2 are:
1. The Metamorph
2. The Exiles
3. One Moment of Humanity
4. All That Glisters
5. Journey to Where
I didn't get a chance to review #2-5, but in capsule, I'd say these were
serious-toned episodes with a few light-hearted interludes in a couple. I
thought "The Metamorph" was stellar, and reviewed it as such. "The Exiles"
was pretty good. "One Moment of Humanity" was a good story that suffered
from an excruciatingly executed, very un-convincing "erotic" dance. "All
That Glisters" suffered from some horrible lines ("Red is Death! Red is
Death!") and a poor set, and wasn't as good a "living rock" episode as the
Horta episode ("Devil in the Dark") of the original Star Trek, though I
enjoyed the banter between Dave Reilly and the still-naive Maya. "Journey
to Where" was good, though I never could quite get over how those medical
monitors could signal across time (some filament of the time warp must have
still threaded its way between Alpha and Old Earth, a sort of wormhole, I
suppose). #1 gets a 4.0 rating, while the rest are good, if not great,
episodes -- and all are dramatic rather than comedic.
Then, to continue analyzing David's point, the next four are:
6. The Taybor
7. The Rules of Luton
8. The Mark of Archanon
9. Brian the Brain
The two "outer" ones are the almost purely comedic episodes ("The Taybor"
being the better of the two, I think), while "The Rules of Luton" was
somewhat more serious in tone but generally considered one of the worst
episodes (I don't care for it much either), while "Archanon" mixes lighter
and darker elements (but which I thought was one of the weaker entries,
myself).
This is followed by the balance of the episodes:
10. New Adam New Eve
11. The AB Chrysalis
12. Catacombs of the Moon
13. Seed of Destruction
14. The Beta Cloud
15. A Matter of Balance
16. Space Warp
17. The Bringers of Wonder (part 1)
18. The Bringers of Wonder (part 2)
19. The Lambda Factor
20. The Seance Spectre
21. Dorzak
22. Devil's Planet
23. The Immunity Syndrome
24. The Dorcons
These are all back to a basically dramatic tone and better quality. If for
perhaps slightly different reasons than David, I can see the stretch of
four episodes I listed, a month's worth of time, as being a different
stretch that would be difficult for some to take: a pair of comedic
episodes with a pair of weak entries between. There is something of a
difference, in that they are either comedic, or the weaker entries. Of
course, this is all arguable: some would replace the "or" with "and/or" or
just "and"; others would argue the "weaker."
So the point may vary in people's minds; but I do have to agree that a
month's stretch of rather different (either for style or for quality)
episodes would have likely been hard for many to take, and caused a number
of people to give up on the series. A pity considering the stronger
episodes that followed, but I see that it could have had that effect.
On the other hand, there IS the fact of syndication, which leaves me to
wonder how many people saw this order, and its arguable effect, in the
first place. My main reference list of episodes for years was the order as
shown by the Sci-Fi Channel, which shuffled things around a little as
compared to the heavily-researched production order. The SFC order doesn't
have this four-week stretch of comedic or poor episodes.
Still, even the Sci-Fi order suggests inconsistency for a little while
after "The Metamorph."
Ironically, though, Y1 gets off on a much worse foot, IMO. "Breakaway" was
a strong episode that was followed by six entries that, with one exception,
I consider weak or even outright poor episodes. The SFC effect is even
more marked, scattering these about so much that I never perceived a
lengthy stretch of weak episodes until I looked at the actual production
order we now have. I do not know the order I originally saw as a child (it
was in syndication then, of course), though I do remember that I missed
"Breakaway" (!). Given that, had it been the production order shown, I
have real doubts that I would have stuck out that six-week stretch as a
child. That would have been too bad. A movie claims "size does matter,"
but around here, the saying could be "order does matter." :-)
It strikes me that with David Acheson's argument about Y2's current stretch
of several episodes, and my argument about Y1's stretch of episodes (as
perceived in production order), that it could be argued that each season
started strong, then struggled to keep it going, until the elements finally
started coming together again and clicking. This isn't a new argument (and
I don't know that my wording is the best), but I'm being struck by how much
more applicable this is than it seemed before, now that I am staring at
everything in production order for a change.
Plus, there's still the Titanic -- as in "Raise the Titanic" -- to deal
with: Sir Lew Grade wanted so badly to get into movies, and there had been
such high expectations for S19's ratings that NEITHER season was able to
fulfill, that it is unclear exactly how much Space: 1999 -- as a whole or
either season separately -- would have had to do to keep itself from the
block.
The clock strikes past one at night,
but what does that mean in endless space?
Alpha sleeps and wakes by its own light --
pleading its very own special place.
Good night,
----
David Welle
From: Tamazunchale@web44tv.net (South Central)
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 23:50:33 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Space1999: The Taybor; plus, Bad Stretch?
Why THE TAYBOR as an episode title. It occurs to me that this is an apt
title (though I don't know if it spoken so in the episode).
For example: If you were to go to a friends house and they were on the
phone with someone, you ask them, "Who are you talking to?" They say,
"David Bowie".
You say, "What do you mean, David Bowie? Do you mean David Bowie, as in
THE DAVID BOWIE??"
They say, "Yes, THE David Bowie!"
Now tell me that Taybor was so modest that when introducing himself and
trying to impress that he might not say, "I am Taybor, the trader. THE
Taybor of galactic fame and notoriety!"
This may have been the original idea when the script was given a title.
Dialogue rewrites may have obscured this point.
THIS IS ALL SPECULATION!
Mateo
From: jcg@vh4tag.net
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 22:55:39 -0400
Subject: Space1999: The Taybor
Before we leave this episode behind, I want to again say one of the things
I like about this episode is that buildings are not being blown up, eagles
are not crashing, and people are not being killed. I have yet to stay
awake through 2001, and if every episode of year one was 2001-like, as some
of them were, I might not have stayed with the series. Over the years, the
criticism of year two was it was just saturday morning mindless action.
Not so. While yes there is a thing called format, there is also room to
wiggle around within the format. We don't have to blow up the little
buildings on the tabletop every week. And I like seeing an everyday
atmosphere on Alpha, when there isn't a crisis and people aren't shooting
door control panels. I like ST Voyager, but I get tired of the ship
getting shot at every week (and while I like watching Klingons kill Nazis,
how many more "the ship gets captured" stories are they going to do?) I
think The Taybor is a nice break, and yet there is a threat to at least one
member of the base, which seems to be required in the genre.
It will be interesting to see if the discussion goes along the lines of:
"Yes I want them to be all like Ring Around The Moon", or "I want them to
all be constant action like "Rules of Luton", or "Yes I want them all to
have bad actresses in them who marry Peter Sellers!"
From: Mark Meskin (plastic.gravity@new44rock.com)
Subject: Re: Space1999: The Taybor
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 22:26:26 -0500
>I have yet to stay
>awake through 2001, and if every episode of year one was 2001-like, as
>some of them were, I might not have stayed with the series.
No way! 2001 is so VISUALLY engrossing, I always sit glued to the screen,
its beautiful. Although, I confess that the first 10minutes and last 1/2
hour is pretty dull.
> Over the years, the
> criticism of year two was it was just saturday morning mindless action.
> Not so. While yes there is a thing called format, there is also room to
> wiggle around within the format.
Season 2 didn't wiggle, it squirmed! Trying desprately to be intelligent
in a Frieburger induced format that made Trek look intellectual.
> aren't shooting door control panels.
Didn't you ever wonder what kind of cheap ass design the door control
panels have? Need security? Don't bother locking the elelctrical door
switch, I'll just laser the face off.
> I like ST Voyager,
Bleck!
> but I get tired of the ship
> getting shot at every week (and while I like watching Klingons kill Nazis,
> how many more "the ship gets captured" stories are they going to do?
Its Kayzon Brain Hayzing......
> It will be interesting to see if the discussion goes along the lines of:
> "Yes I want them to be all like Ring Around The Moon",
I know of only one person who thinks like that.
> or "I want them to all be constant action like "Rules of Luton"
Action? Its more like torture....for us that is...watching the cast look
like fools running from the wizard of Oz rejects.
> or "Yes I want them all to
> have bad actresses in them who marry Peter Sellers!"
Whom are you refering to?
Mark
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 23:09:25 -0500
From: Chris Hlady (chlady@escape4tag.ca)
Subject: Space1999: The Taybor & OT Sliders/Darians connection
Perhaps, I best like this episode for:
a) the round-table maya-big budget dress scene
b) providing the source photo for my digitally enhanced picture at
http://www.escape.ca/~chlady (suggestion for surfers: ignore the stuff at
the top)
When I was doing this, I thought that the other psychon wasn't Maya, but
her little sister. What a maroon I am I am...
P.S. Off-Topic: Sliders was very cool tonight. Part Romeo and Juliet, Part
Mission of the Darians w/o the cannibalism (or so it appeared, ha ha ha).
Actually loved the online/offline jargon, etc. in this episode.
MUSTSEETV!!!!
Chris Hlady
From: MCK067@aol4tag.com
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 13:28:57 EDT
Subject: Space1999: Episode Review: The Taybor
Not a total waste, but not one of my favorites either. A featherweight space
romp with not much to redeem it except for a few cute moments: that funky
flaming spaceship (which, on second viewing, looks like a cross between a
SuperJuicer and a lava lamp), and the Horny-mosia...errr, HERMOSIA perfume ;).
Willoughby Goddard does a convincing job as a flatulent intergalatic Santa
Claus, but sometimes he chews up his dialogue until it's unintelligible. The
dinner party scene was nice -- I liked the idea that occasionally the hyper-
stressed Alphans sit down to some conversation and a good meal. In Y2 one
would think all they do is shoot their big guns at the Monster of the Week.
Campy Scenes/Lines: The opening scene in the solarium. Those bathing suits
-- Eeeek! I've seen outfits on my fat Aunt Eunice that look more appealing.
(However, I thought seeing Maya in her Psychon Ice Capades dress was a nice
touch, and Barbara Bain was stunning in that blue gown. One of the Y2
episodes where hair/make-up/lighting-wise she looks lovely. Best of her
scenes in this episode: In Command Center, when she's staring intently at
Taybor when he says he thinks he can take the Alphans home. I don't know why
they couldn't light and make her up like that all the time; she looked drop-
dead gorgeous).
Yasko at the auction, giggling about her bonzai tree. Who let this bubble-
brain on base? Was she shagging Commissioner Simmons? Somebody SLAP her!
Helena to Koenig: "Talk to me, make me laugh, love me" Yeah, babe, and find
me a decent script while you're at it.
Taybor to Helena: "Can you make her look more wide-eyed?" What was the point
of this line? It's a dummy, you kinky drunken horn-dog. I would think after
wandering through the interstellar wilderness the last thing he'd be
interested in is her eyes ("Dr. Russell, can you give my life-size blow-up
doll a pair of hooters that would put Dolly Parton to shame?")
Helena to Koenig: "We don't need Taybor's perfume." No, but a bottle of
Mango Love Lotion, a feather duster and a pair of handcuffs might make it more
interesting ;)
All in all, a mindless little scifi comedy. I'd give a C+