From: South Central (Tamazunchale@web44tv.net) Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 21:45:02 -0700 (PDT) Subj: Space1999: Episode by Episode
This week's episode is The Mark of Archanon. Monday, August 3 through Sunday, August 9.
Mateo
From: jcg@vh4tag.net Date: Sun, 02 Aug 1998 23:21:02 -0400 Subj: Space1999: Mark Of Archanon
Except for the fact that he is the lead, why is Alan leading the scientific hunt for crystals? He's a pilot, not a scientist or geologist.
Even though they are referring to a planet visit we never saw (Crom II), it's nice at least to have some reason that the Alphans recognize an alien warning symbol.
For whatever reason, all of Etrec's lines have been dubbed in by an adult doing a kid's voice. In fact, there is a lot of dubbing in this episode.
Because of plot, the aliens are left alone in Medical Center, so they then can just stroll into Command Center.
There is a lot of dialog for a year two episode, and it doesn't make me cringe. I think the more "natural" kind of talking as in this episode was an improvement.
And at least it's Maya who's heard of Archanon, and not the Alphans.
I don't think metors flying by would disrupt radio signals. And of course some of the hits the eagle was taking would have destroyed it.
One of my chief complaints about year one was the discussions about the unknown were sometimes badly and very simplisticly written. The two doctors talking about the speutm samples sound very natural and not at all stupid.
And why is the head of security doing the scientific analysis of the alien equipment?
The aliens are summoned to Medical Center, and again they go off on their own...ah the needs of plot.
There are many times here where Tony is very cold and calculating...like when he bluffs about killing the boy...I like it...he does have the practical side of the armed protector.
I like the "last privilege of the killing sickness." Not a happy ending, but to me a logical one.
I think the episode tag should have been that final scene of Etrec bent over his dead father with the "Humanity" music fading into the freeze frame and production credit...much more dramatic.
Despite my petty and unwelcome nits above, I like this episode. There were a lot of places where it could have been really stupid...but it wasn't. And again it wasn't some strange unexplainable force, or the little buildings blowing up, or automatically hostile aliens (at least not a race of aliens...and the evil was a sickness...not just a plain badness.)
For me, this is a strong year two episode.
(And of course the funny thing to me will be if it doesn't generate as much philosophical discussion as run and jump Rules of Luton.)
From: South Central (Tamazunchale@web44tv.net) Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 21:47:56 -0700 (PDT) Subj: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon
Why in the HELL didn't the Alphans ask the Archanons to transport them to a habitable planet or give them a spacecraft so that they could use it in case they came near (but not too near) a system with possibly habitable planets.
This loss of focus of the Alphans main goal--finding a place to live--is totally unforgiveable!!
Mateo
From: David Acheson (dkach@hot44mail.com) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 1998 08:03:28 EDT Subj: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon
Another week and another episode to discuss. First I would like to say I really wish I could like THE MARK OF ARCHANON greatly but must state that I remain disappointed with the end results. To me its the same situation as THE EXILES - good storyline but suffers badly from poor execution. The rushed production of this episode and some others in year two do often show through giving these episodes a somewhat cheapened look compared to the extravagance of many year one (and some year two) episodes.
There are many concepts that I liked in this episode. First, the mining of the moon. Such a reasonable solution yet why was it NEVER introduced during the first year? Big faux pas on the Andersons' part. I often wondered though just when the catacombs began? Did mining begin as a commercial venture before BREAKAWAY and the Alphans simply continued for practical purposes? Or did the Alphans start it up after Sept. 13, 1999 as a means to secure some vital mineral resources after supplies from Earth were cut off? The novel ALIEN SEED, which I read several eons ago but no longer have, was the only year one story that had a similar concept. I believe they used some of the underground chambers for food production which I would assume would be the case in the series (even though it was never mentioned).
The idea of aliens visiting Earth during our earliest civilizations was all the rage during the 60s and 70s after THE CHARIOTS OF THE GODS so the Archanon storyline was bound to happen. Nevertheless it is still an interesting hypothesis. The Archanons as missionaries of peace who stumble across the violent backwater known as Earth. The moon would be a perfect place for a base. It is no coincidence that the Archanon fashions look Babylonian as I believe the intention was that some of the aliens' presence on Earth affected ealier civilizations ala THE CHARIOTS OF THE GODS. Personally, I tend to believe mankind progressed on its own but the above does make great sci-fi. Hypothesizing is what sci-fi does best.
I even liked the idea of the killing sickness (hereditary in males only) and Pasc and Etrec being left behind. Sure, the mission to Earth had to be abandoned but the peaceful Archanons couldn't do in Pasc and Etrec. Father and son were caught and frozen rather than be killed - a NO NO on Archanon. Thus violence is a disease on this alien world rather than a part of their nature. One wonders whether this was natural selection or the Archanons played with genetics to try to remove violence from their gene pool and the killing sickness happens to be a mutation from that attempt? Of course I am only speculating but its interesting food for thought? Psychon was rather peaceful but had its own horrors so can Archanon be a true Utopia?
So as one can see there is a lot of material in this episode to think about rather than Fred Freiberger's straightforward running around. Lew Schwartz was the scriptwriter who gave us the story but I admit I have never heard of him and this was his only contribution to the series. Thus it is hard to base an opinion on his writings but I do like the concepts presented, as hidden and undeveloped as many of them were.
In the end it is the shoddy production and bad acting that did this story in for me. Not since THE EXILES have I seen an episode so overwhelmingly dubbed. I don't know anything about the actors who played Pasc and his son Etrec but they were horrible here. Maybe our British listmembers can help us out on this one! Its unfortunate because I rather liked the idea of Alan Carter and the boy bonding. Carter walks out of the shadows as a major player in this episode and shows his soft side for the first time since ALPHA CHILD. Unfortunately, it all comes out rather poorly. Etrec is no Jackie Crawford.
Again the conflict between Pasc and Helena should have been the highlight of the episode considering Pasc had his inner duel and his love of his son to deal with and Helena was edging him on. Yet instead of feeling for the character I came away as rather unattached. Another "could-have-been-powerful" moment wasted.
And talk about horrible special effects? That meteor storm that Koenig and Maya's eagle went through was absolutely the worst thing I have ever seen on the series. Considering Brian Johnson can do asteroid shots faily well (END OF ETERNITY) I am shocked over the poor execution of this sequence. Did Ed Wood step in for the day? If this sequence was not feasible considering the timing or budget then they should have went with something else.
Irony? Best line in the episode was uttered by the worst actress in the series. Yasko: "How could a mother do that to her own son?" - refering to Pasc's lie about Lyra leading a coup against Pasc and Etrec and abandoning them on the moon. Its the first indication that Pasc's story might have holes in it. The line, of course, was delivered badly but I liked it nonetheless. Too bad Sandra wasn't around to utter it.
So sum it all up. Charles Chrichton, a year one and two veteran, did much better directing work in the past and not even his talent could saved this rushed production. A lower than middle episode that, like THE EXILES, could have been a lot better given decent time and better acting. Still, nowhere as silly as THE TAYBOR or just plain terrible.
David Acheson
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi4tag.no) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 14:37:34 +0000 Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon
Lew Schwartz was the scriptwriter who gave us the story but I admit I have never heard of him and this was his only contribution to the series.
According to Pierre Fageolle Lew Schwartz was a pseudonym used by Lew Grade! If this is really so, Freiberger must have invited Lord Grade to write something just for fun or relaxation I suppose, I suspect the killing sickness in this episode could be a symbol of the killer instinct in the business world and Lord Grade writing about consequences of agressive business behaviour related to the domestic scene of home and family.
Best line in the episode was uttered by the worst actress in the series. Yasko: "How could a mother do that to her own son?" - refering to Pasc's lie about Lyra leading a coup against Pasc and Etrec and abandoning them on the moon. Its the first indication that Pasc's story might have holes in it.
I do not dare start speculating about what this might imply if we assume that Pasc is the alter ego of Lord Grade! Goodness gracious! However, I do, in fact, believe we have another episode here that makes little sense unless we are willing do another round of psycho-analysis speculations.
Petter
From: MCK067@aol4tag.com Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 12:04:32 EDT Subj: Space1999: Mark of Archanon
IMHO, one of the better Year 2 offerings. At least they weren't running around shooting at bug-eyed monsters. I thought the interplay between Carter and the boy was what made this episode -- we get to see our intrepid pilot in a fatherly mode. Very effective. I didn't find the boy to be as spooky as Jackie Crawford (that kid gave me the heebie-jeebies, partly because he bore a striking resemblance to an old schoolmate who used to eat paste), and I think the penultimate scene where Etrec stabs himself while Alan watches lacked tension. Perhaps the angle from which it was shot -- I for one expected something more dramatic, not the kid tumbling over with tomato paste all over his hands. I find Pasc to be particularly benign, even while he's holding Helena hostage. I just never quite bought him as a homocidal maniac...He was much more believable in Command Center detailing the history of the Archanons, even though he was lying through his teeth. The actor (whose name escapes me) was convincing as the leader of his expedition, but as a laser toting, forehead-blazing loony-toon bent on killing everyone in sight -- nah, I don't think so....
One thing that (MAJORLY) bothered me, that has been mentioned in this episode discussion before: Why didn't the Archanon's offer the Alphans a ride to a habitable planet? Apparently they have the technology for deep-space travel, and for once they're a race of people with no interest in Maya's brain stem or that nifty little life support system everybody else wanted to get their hands on. Yet not a soul on Alpha thinks to ask, "Hey, can you get us off this wandering cinder?" That was the main concern in Year 1, even to the point that the Alphans considered colonizing a big ball of ice in DOD, and yet in Year 2, that mission seems to have been all but abandoned.
And also something which someone else mentioned, that has bugged me -- what is Alan Carter doing in the catacombs? Maybe he had a double major in college -- space reconnaisance AND geology...who knows...But it makes no sense. Of course, in the EXILES, neither does bringing down and cutting open a cylinder that everyone assumes to be a missile, but that's another discussion...(Koenig: "Moving parts..." Well, DUH, Dick Tracy! You supposedly think it's a MISSILE, what do you expect to find inside, whipped cream? Then they act shocked when it blows up. Arrrrgghh...o.k., I won't get started...) ;)
Still, those are nitpicks. All in all I think MOA is an enjoyable episode, although Koenig is missed in this one. Would have made for some greater tension if he was on-base while Pasc had Helena in that Eagle.
Cute blooper, that really should have been re-shot: The last scene, when Koenig and Helena kiss, the actors can't seem to decide who's head goes which way. You'd think after how many years of marriage, Landau and Bain could manage an on-screen smooch without twisting their heads this way n' that ;)
And lastly, something off-topic: If you haven't had a chance to read Ellen Lindow's "New Lives Beyond the Black Sun, Revisited" please do! One of the best pieces of fan fiction I've read in a long, long time. Unfortunately, I found it one late night while my eyes were blurry and my brain unfocused, and I've forgotten how I got to the website. Ellen, HELP! Where is this story located? I'd like to print it off...
Anyhoo, thanks for the chance to add my $.02
MCK
=====================
"Loyalty is better than logic...
creation is better than destruction...
hope is better than despair..."
From: "Tom Miller" (tmiller@north44net.org) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 15:46:17 -0400 Subj: Space1999: The Mark....
I liked this episode. Alan would be bored between long spells of no flights. He would volenteer to do these things...
Also, Tony would be involved with the research, the same as any good security person would...
The idea of no hope and our medicine can't cure all should be best taken to heart. The arogance of Dr. Russell to say, we can fix him with a little blood.....
Overall, a good sobering episode. Alan continues to show charecter, and so does Tony. Too bad, the "future is fantastic!" or was ......
tom
[EDITOR'S NOTE: The beginning of this next note originates from within the ExE: "Rules of Luton" thread.] From: Chris Hlady (chlady@escape4tag.ca) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 17:12:50 -0500 Subj: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon or Saving Etrec
David J Lerda wrote me:
>DJL: ethnic warfare is the (unfortunately) wave of the future.Utterly wrong.
Chris,
In what way did you think that I was utterly wrong? Just curious.
All right, and to save time, I'll multitask that with a compare and contrast of The Mark of Archanon to Saving Private Ryan and jcg's comment regarding Tony and security:
Greg Martinez recommended seeing "Saving Private Ryan" (n.b. Not that I need much prompting to see a new Stephen Spielberg movie). Saw it last night: very complictated movie; disturbing, but fascinating.
There are interesting comparisons to be drawn, but I should consider spoiler space:
[EDITOR: instead of space, click here if you wish to skip the spoilers.]
War is nasty business. Lots of death, destruction, and chaos. It's function is to provide security against chaotic elements.
War results when forces decide that it is necessary to "kill" their enemy. In the case of World War II, the Nazis sought to conquer the world, and they were willing to kill anyone who didn't like it. To fight the Nazis, it was necessary to kill them, until they no longer had the power to be an enemy.
War is the most difficult decision that forces make. It usually results when one side decides to be unreasonable (hence the constant fight between fundamentalists and moderates, as exampled by internal Sikh conflicts ongoing in Vancouver). Wherever fundamentalists and moderates clash, there is "high risk" of warfare (eg. abortion battles; race riots; strikes; fiscal policy; oil).
Fortunately, cooler heads prevail in most situations: strikes are resolved; economic compromises are made; people go about their business under the rule of law; people refrain from putting fuel on the fire of controversial issues.
Security is vital for separating undesireable conflicting forces. Hence, borders establish security zones, carefully guarded to prevent incursion of chaotic elements into relatively predictable situations. Within the borders, laws, rules and customs are generally understood enough to prevent unacceptable demonstrations of chaos.
So, security exists to prevent chaos. Hence, Tony's excellent line in the Mark of Archanon: "Until we do, they're an x-factor. Treat them as an X-Factor."
In Saving Private Ryan, there were many moral dilemmas about killing the enemy. Captain Miller's final demand, "earn this" raised the same type of stake for Private Ryan as Pasc's sacrifice for Etrec.
The parallels between the two also extends to the question of friendship. Alan's "cobber" is Etrec. The soldier's in Cpt. Miller's squad are "cobbers" although they hide it really well. That is, except when one is oozing blood, or about to be blown to bits in a bell tower or near a tank.
Okay, those are the basic comparisons. I won't go into how Cpt. Miller's relationship with Pvt. Ryan parallels Pasc's and Etrec's. Just trust me.
Now to contrast the two: one's about war (sort of) and the other's about peace (sort of). Okay, now I know this isn't much of a comparison, but I've just been reading a Dave Berry book.
So there you have it, the answer to everything is 42.
See ya,
Chris
From: Mike Lynch (Mike-Lynch@big44foot.com) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 1998 20:58:28 -0500 Subj: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon ...Yes!
THE MARK OF ARCHANON... where do I begin? (read as: this will be long!)
This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite episodes. It ranks up there with DRAGON'S DOMAIN, FORCE OF LIFE, and EARTHBOUND. The story is very well written, the acting is convincing and believable, and Charles Crichton once again proves his merit as a director. In my opinion THE MARK OF ARCHANON is the best episode of the second season (and I know Chas P. is going to disagree with me on this one :) ).
One reason I enjoy this episode so much is that we get our first real look into alien biology that I can think of in the series. And the way this information is presented is brilliant in its vagueness. Unlike Star Trek: TNG where a new alien biology would be accompanied by a really cool computer generated image of alien DNA and Dr. Crusher explaining that the specific structure of the DNA in the third sequence, codes for Gluteus Maximosa, along with other anterior redundancies - thereby creating a secondary ass for added comfort when in the alien is in the seated position. In THE MARK OF ARCHANON we learn of Archanon biology through observance. All of the necessary information is presented, but we are not insulted or spoon fed - we are forced to deduce the information.
The Archanons' desire for peace was not entirely a moral or ethical choice, but rather a choice of necessity based on their own biology - a biology I find to be intriguing. As human females are born with a specific number of eggs Archanons are born with all the blood the will ever use. Their bodies do not produce blood cells or plasma to replenish lost fluid, but instead the existing blood is recycled through the system, being cleansed and re-supplied with oxygen as it flows through the circulatory system.
There is one small hurtle regarding the circulatory system of Archanons: is it closed or open? Archanon physiology is based around the use of a limited supply of blood - and by that I mean: less than that which would be found in the average adult circulatory system. Archanons, if they cannot replenish their blood supply, are born with all of the blood their bodies' will ever need... which would apparently be equal to that of a child. If Archanon babies were born with adult blood capacities they would be huge bloated bodies (rather like a gorged tick) until their bodies developed around their blood supply. This is obviously not the case since Etrec was quite scrawny - hence the presumption that adult Archanons' circulatory systems are based on an extremely small amount of blood (which would add to the grave situation if blood is lost in an adult Archanon). So, if the Archanon circulatory systems are closed then their lungs would have to be considerably larger than our own, and their hearts would have to be equally greater in strength and beat faster than our own in order to maintain the required levels of oxygen in the blood since the circulatory system of an adult would be quite longer than that of a child. This is perhaps the most logical assumption since the needs to support a closed circulatory system would make the Archanons much less human-like (a chitinous exoskeleton like that of an insect)... not to mention biologically problematic (the thickness and shear weight of an exoskeletal structure on a two meter tall creature would be so heavy that the creature most likely would be bipedal... as well as so thick so as to support the weight as to leave no room for internal organs or fluids). Raul also mentioned that Pasc had lungs... another point for a closed system. Yet with a limited blood supply and open circulatory system would allow for easier and much more efficient oxygenating of the blood.
Of course there are problems with these ideas such as: how would an adult be able to maintain a high level of activity with the same amount of blood as a child (however, the increased lung and heart capacity could help explain this problem)? And cells do die, so how does the body dispose of them if it doesn't re-generate its blood supply? Among others. But problems aside - this is a wonderful addition to the SPACE: 1999 universe, just like chlorine atmospheres, and killer octopii that can materialize.
Along with the blood we also learn about Archanon genetics and that the "Killing Sickness" is limited to only the male line. I've toyed with some theories on this as well... but being that genetics is not my area of expertise how a virus would be passed on to the next generation of males is not something I've figured out yet. Any suggestions?
I do have a slight problem with Etrec offering his own blood: If Archanons will die if they loose too much blood (which wouldn't have to be very much) then it would only make sense that it would clot extremely fast so as to avoid excessive loss. So where did Raul get his blood sample? The blood on Etrec's hands would have been drying and "contaminated" by organisms on his hands and in the air, and any blood on the wound would most likely have been well into clotting when Etrec arrived in Medical. Thinking about this further it would seem almost impossible for an Archanon to loose blood unless the were slit from gut to chin. Evolution would require such a species to have extremely quick clotting blood so as to limit blood loss to its barest minimum.
The "biological tattoo" on the forehead was also a nice touch. It could be applied at birth. The "ink" would be a harmless biological chemical that reacts to the virus by becoming phosphorescent when virus contaminated blood flows through it, or under it.
Stepping away from the biological aspects...
This is Alan Carter's episode - he is not only fleshed out more than in any other episode, but he gets more screen time than any other member of Moonbase Alpha in this episode. We see Alan's gentle side, his playful side is brought out more than ever before, and we find that he has a very strong paternal instinct - which I thoroughly enjoy. And through all of Alan's interactions with his fellow Alphans and the Archanon "visitors" we never miss Koenig or Maya. If it weren't for the casual reminders that they weren't there I would often times forget that they were missing. If Alan wasn't already one of my favorite characters he would be after this episode. I especially like the football sequence: both he and Etrec are completely at ease and everything seems to follow naturally - rather like the "ham-bur-ger" scene.
We also learn that the Alphans are having experiences outside of what we see. Both Tony and Helena recognize the symbol of the stasis chamber from Krom II... a planet and society that we never saw... nor would we ever. This is an excellent touch, and it lends a degree of credibility to the episode (and the series as a whole) making it more believable. We need to understand that we are only getting glimpses of what life is like on Moonbase Alpha... and judging by Alan's song at the opening of the episode I would say it's generally pretty uneventful.
Watching the humans fumble and stare blankly at the alien power converter is also a pleasure to watch. With the absence of a Chief Science Officer who has had more experience with alien technology than the human members of Alpha Tony, Johnson, and Carter are left to guess their way through it. Hell, Tony couldn't even get it open without Pasc, and Johnson (a member of the Technical section) flat out admitted to having no idea where to begin! Carter seemed to make a game of it only figuring things out by accident. (and if you look closely you can see the ghost of Victor Bergman in the background of Tech Lab 3: arms folded, fist clenched, thumb pressed against forefinger, saying "If only we could figure out how it works..." ;) ).
Is it me... or is there a striking lack of men in bad gorilla suits in this episode? I often enjoy Maya's transformations, even when they are thrown in for the sake of "showing off" as in THE EXILES as she helps to lift a beam off of Petrov, but it was nice to have a story without any transformations.
I also like the character of Johnson ("Bluey"), and rather wish that he was featured in following episodes (or even previous episodes). He was likable, personable, believable, and a little oafish. He played off of Carter very well and offered an interesting side-kick scenario to the story that had never before been offered when dealing with Carter. This is not to say that I feel Carter needed a side-kick, but rather his personality seems to require a springboard - and Johnson fit into that role extremely well. There was the odd aspect of Johnson being constantly treated as if he were the "new guy," which I found to be a little strange at times. He and Alan seemed to be pretty good friends, yet he didn't know about the football, and Carter tended to use a very gentle tone with him, as if her were training him, or working with a cadet. Hmm ...Perhaps Johnson was a cadet stationed on Alpha during Breakaway. (but that still doesn't explain the football...)
I also enjoy the fact that 95% of the episode takes place on Alpha (with only a few moments here and there in space with Koenig and Maya's Eagle). I've always been drawn to stories that take place on Alpha over others for two reasons: 1.) I love the sets, and there is a familiar quality to Alpha... almost like home. Which, I think, says a lot for the series as a whole if audience members are able to identify the base as a home-like setting - one that is safe, controlled, and familiar. It is this aspect that adds a degree of terror to episodes like FORCE OF LIFE because what we identify as "home" is no longer safe, and suddenly breached by forces that cannot be controlled or explained. 2.) for purely nostalgic reasons :) - I tend to have a better memory of episodes that take place on Alpha when I look back at my childhood, and I used to love to pretend that I was there and existing and working along side Tony, Maya, and Koenig. There are, of course, exceptions to this, and I do have favorite episodes that don't take place primarily on Alpha, such as DRAGON'S DOMAIN where there is a pretty even mixture of Alpha, and Ultra Probe, with just a little Earth action thrown in for flavor.
The relationship between Pasc and Etrec is one of the best in season two (and perhaps the series as a whole) when looking at paired, or grouped, aliens. I find their interaction and familial bond to be stronger and much more believable than the almost fairy tale/Shakespearean relationship of Mentor and Maya. Mentor and Maya had a playfulness between them that was missing between Pasc and Etrec, but Mentor and Maya didn't find themselves waking up among strangers facing a potentially deadly situation. Mentor and Maya were on their own planet, and among familiar surroundings... the ball was in their court. Pasc and Etrec, even given their situation, remain believable as a father and son - even in Pasc's irrational moment of telling Tony to "kill the boy." We never loose sight of the relationship, and feel the tie even early in the episode when Pasc is waking Etrec in Medical.
OK, so this is one of my favorite episodes, but it's not without flaw. What didn't I like?
You can see the strings pulling the rocks away from the wall as Carter and Johnson reveal the stasis chamber.
Etrec's wielding the knife before Alan was really awkward. Etrec wasn't believable in his threat, and Alan's reaction was equally fake.
Uh... what's that R in the dark gray circle on the communications post outside Tech Lab 3? "Research?"
The tin foil meteorite shower... Actually - if I may nit pick for a second - isn't it only a meteorite if it passes through an atmosphere and hits the surface of a planet? If it's in space wouldn't it be an asteroid? which would mean that Koenig and Maya were traveling through an asteroid field... correct? And since we're on the topic: that "shower" seemed awfully narrow - why not just fly around it? Or shoot through it? Not to mention that fact that something the size of the alleged shower would most likely show up on scanners... so why did Koenig and Maya fly into it?
Go Yasko!!
Who is Raul? And where did he go? Moonbase Alpha's Medical Assistants seem to fall to the same curse as drummers for Spinal Tap!
What happened to Helena's deductive skills when she was in the Eagle with Pasc? Just moments before he was explaining that he had the Killing Sickness (hence the glowing mark on his head), yet in the Eagle Helena is telling him that she found a virus in his system and that if it isn't treated it he could be putting himself and Etrec in danger, and that it could ultimately be lethal. I guess she wasn't listening while they were all in the hallway and Pasc had the stun gun to her head.
Why weren't Koenig and Maya wearing space suits? This is a particularly a minor concern, and I really don't care either way, but it just seems odd - especially when the pilot that Pasc knocks out is wearing one.
These things aside, however, I still hold this episode in high regard, and feel it is the best Season 2 has to offer.
Mike
...whew... that's the most I've written since joing the group back in May!
From: David Acheson (dkach@hot44mail.com) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 1998 21:54:42 EDT Subj: Space1999: Archanon Again
Just read Mike Lynch's rather lengthy review of THE MARK OF ARCHANON. I agree with many of his points and can see why he (and some other fans) actually like this episode. Many more interesting points were brought up than what I wrote in my earlier analysis. The storyline is one of the better and more original ones of the series as a whole.
BUT Mike, good acting? PULEASE. (smile) I saw the episode when it aired here a few years ago and cringed to death over the poor execution of the episode. The actor who played Etrec made me want to gag. That rushed, shoddy, overdubbed look did it in for me. Charles Chrichton is a good director but he did much better in many other episodes of both years.But that is my opinion and each has their own.
At least we all can agree here its better than THE RULES OF LUTON.
From: Mark Meskin (plastic.gravity@new44rock.com) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 21:24:29 -0500 Subj: Space1999: The Mark of Boredamnon
Taken in the context of Season 2 as a whole, I'd give this a C/C-
THE GOOD:
We see Alan get some good moments in, showing that he's more than just an Eagle Jockey. And Tony is IN character, totally paranoid :-) The scenes of the Eagle in the Asteroid field were some of the best FX of the series. A "pulverizing" last minute blast from the laser was great! As for what someone said about the 'roids probably destroying the Eagle, I'd have to agree. At the speeds these things are moving, and the mass of one them easily equalling or exceeding the larger eagle, it wouldn't take long before a catastrophic hull breach was created. Even the small stuff (smaller than your hand) would do in the eagle. The use of the Caves of the Moon concept is very prevalent in Series 2, and although I like the concept I hate the execution.
THE BAD
BUT Mike, good acting? PULEASE.
Yeah, I agree, a lot of chewing of the dialogue goes on in this expisode. Very weak guest actors. The make up looks like reject tests from the Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian". Corny plot, even cornier behavior on the part of the Bad guy. We see more of Series 2's fascination with "plastic technology". The alien log recorder is so silly looking with the colored plastic panels, I think they recycled the Taybors "Jump Drive" to build this thing.
THE UGLY
What's truly sad about this story is that its ultimately done in by its sheer tackiness. . I was just waiting for someone to ask Etrec if the "draft" was starting to bother him. I'm with whomever said Children ruin SciFi...that's about it for comments on this one, I can't get worked up about it enough to do a complete write up, so I'll end here. And yes it was better than Freddy's Rules of Muton.
-Mark
From: LKJ1999@aol4tag.com Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 22:51:04 EDT Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Boredamnon
Well Mark, i can't wait to hear Your comments on SPACEWARP!!!
Chas P.
From: "Mark Meskin" (plastic.gravity@new44rock.com) Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 16:35:19 -0500 Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Boredamnon
Trust me Chas, I'm already loading the cannon for that episode......
Actually, its not that bad an episode..if you take out the parts with Maya running and running and running around whilst morphed into some of the dumbest monsters of the whole show, if you remove the dumb dialogue(the highligh of which has to be Helena shouting to a comatose monster Maya to "transform"..oh yeah)if you ingore the implausibly bad security and paper thin locks, if you can take the cliche "sick character goes bad" plot line, if you can believe that Tony and John can dock and go aboard a totally alien spaceship and figure how to work in only a few hours, if, well a lot of if's. But, after the you are left with..................nothing. No, I'm kidding, after all those ifs, you are left with one KICK_ASS eagle crash in the hanger!!!!!!!!!
Mark
From: LKJ1999@aol4tag.com Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 17:57:23 EDT Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Boredamnon
Well Mark, that's one thing i can agree with You about! THAT'S ONE KICK ASS Eagle crash in the hanger!!!
This episode is the " MOST ACTION PACKED " episode of all the 48 episodes! I LOVE the all the music in this episode! When i say LOVE i mean LOVE!
The eagle crash is also the best, with all those sound effects.
THIS IS MY ALL TIME FAVORITE EPISODE OF ANY TV SHOW!!!
Chas P.
From: "Rene'" (langly@home4tag.com) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 22:30:48 -0400 Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon...Yes!
Hi,
I'm new to this list, but not to the show.
Generally, I don't like this episode and definitely would never torture anyone else into watching it! The best of Year 2? Someone's been watching way too much ST:V.
Good things about Archanon:
Bad things:
Note that Lyra's dress got re-used by Dione, I think, in Devil's Planet and Thea in "Dorzak".
Question: if the Archanon's can't kill, does that mean they are vegetarians? :-) "The taking of any form of life is abhorent". And funnily enough, Carter offers Etrec some hydroponic "hamburgers"!
How did Pasc get the disease in the first place in order to "pass it" to Etrec? From his father? And if it was previously dormant all that time in Pasc, could not the "advanced" Archanons tell who had it from a blood test? The whole premise seems to have been thought up by someone who never took basic biology and the only defense to that is that alien humanoid biology is REALLY, REALLY different, in which case they might as well not breath our air, eat our food, or anything else (I leave that last up to the imagination).
Which brings us to basically the whole problem with some of the Space episodes and also those from Star Trek -- we're led to believe the universe is populated by humanoids who all speak English and act just like humans would act. Which is why the better episodes like "Collision Course", "The Black Sun", "Death's Other Dominion", "Force of Life", "Testament of Arkadia", "Guardian of Piri", "The Beta Cloud", "New Adam, New Eve", "Journey to Where", ""Rules of Luton", "Seed of Destruction", "Bringers of Wonder", "Lamda Factor", "Immunity Syndrome", etc. end up being favourites for most of us because we are not forced to totally suspend belief. Such episodes showed some original thought and an attempt to portray the universe as alien. Episodes like Mark of Archanon either insult our intelligence or display the ignorance and lack of imagination of the writers.
And I question, really, whether there is even much entertainment value in such episodes. I clearly remember cringing in embarassment while first watching Mark of Archanon because I couldn't believe how bad it was. Only the fact that I haven't watched it in years allowed me to tolerate viewing it again, and strictly for review purposes, I assure you.
On the other hand, "Brian the Brain" did not rely on alien humanoids and I can't stand that one, whereas "The Dorcons" shows yet another humanoid race and I thought Malic was just a total scream with his witty sarcasm! But I can justify that one because if you buy off on Maya and the Psychons being semi-humanoid and the Dorcons being a race that preys on Psychons, then they fit into that universe, as do the Crotons in "Dorzak".
Rene'
From: "Rene'" (langly@home4tag.com) Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 23:10:37 -0400 Subj: More re: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon...Yes!
I like the Private Ryan analogy, though I haven't seen the movie and not sure I want to, but I almost mentioned that in my first item about the violence of the human race and Private Ryan being a good example!
However, it's just occurred to me that part of my analysis of MOA was in error since I recall now that Maya had heard of the Archanons and therefore [sigh] they are also part of the Psychon universe. And I suppose if the Archanons studied Earth, then they knew some of the languages. However, it would have been a nice touch if Pasc and Etrec had talked to each other in their native tongue, and I fail to see why they would leave logs on their recording device in English.
Also, don't take my little jests about Helena and Koenig the wrong way. I was very pleased that Martin Landau made it into the X-Files movie and I went to see/meet Martin when he toured D.C. as "Dracula" a number of years ago. Even though I love S:1999 dearly, I can't help making fun of it once in a while.
My dog is even named Reilly after the "Irish Cowboy" in "All That Glisters" because he's quite a little character just like Dave Reilly.
Rene'
From: Robert Gilbert (bcpgd@shaw.wave4tag.ca) Date: Mon, 03 Aug 1998 21:00:50 -0600 Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon ...Yes!
We also learn that the Alphans are having experiences outside of what we see. Both Tony and Helena recognize the symbol of the stasis chamber from Krom II... a planet and society that we never saw... nor would we ever.
We learned of this in other Episodes (remember the 'Universal Plague Signal') from another Episode (Possibly 'THE EXILES?').
Is it me... or is there a striking lack of men in bad gorilla suits in this episode? I often enjoy Maya’s transformations, even when they are thrown in for the sake of “showing off” as in THE EXILES as she helps to lift a beam off of Petrov, but it was nice to have a story without any transformations.
Only because the producers learned their lesson after having a 'Less than favorable response' from the ROOLZ UV LOOOTONN! Besides --- not every Alien can be a humanoid-shape-kinda-thingy!
I also like the character of Johnson ("Bluey"), and rather wish that he was
I've forgotten --- was he Tony Verdeshi's 'Irish Cowboy'?
I love the sets, and there is a familiar quality to Alpha... almost like home. Which, I think, says a lot for the series as a whole if audience members are able to identify the base as a home-like setting - one that is safe, controlled, and familiar. It is this aspect that adds a degree of terror to episodes like FORCE OF LIFE because what we identify as "home" is no longer safe, and suddenly breached by forces that cannot be controlled or explained.
One of the points I'm sure Petter will not hesitate to bring up is that a Moon floating through Space is *NOT* "safe, controlled, and familiar."
Uh... what's that R in the dark gray circle on the communications post outside Tech Lab 3? "Research?"
Probably "Refuse" --- as in TRASH!
that something the size of the alleged shower would most likely show up on scanners... so why did Koenig and Maya fly into it?
They were bored and wanted some excitement (my best guess --- weak that it is)!
Who is Raul? And where did he go? Moonbase Alpha’s Medical Assistants seem to fall to the same curse as drummers for Spinal Tap!
Right on Mike!
These things aside, however, I still hold this episode in high regard, and feel it is the best Season 2 has to offer.
It is in my top 5 Faves For the entire show!
...whew... that's the most I've written since joing the group back in May!
I noticed that --- which was why I was prompted to reply
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi4tag.no) Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 08:59:41 +0000 Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon ...Yes!
Only because the producers learned their lesson after having a 'Less than favorable response' from the ROOLZ UV LOOOTONN! Besides --- not every Alien can be a humanoid-shape-kinda-thingy!
I got the impression that Abe Mandell visited the set, looked at some reels and said "But there are no monsters? You got to have monsters! It's all the rage in America, you know!"
Anderson then instructed to have monsters written into the stories, Freiberger's THE RULES OF LUTON being the first one I believe. Wasn't THE MARK OF ARCHANON shot back to back with THE RULES OF LUTON?
In other lists of episodes in production order such as Pierre Fageolle and John Kenneth Muir, THE MARK OF ARCHANON is listed before THE RULES OF LUTON, and as such it could perhaps indicate that this episode was the last to have been produced before the monster frenzy set up.
A few months later Abe Mandell returned, looked at more reels and said "You got monsters?? Monsters is all out in America. For heavens sake, you got to get rid of those!"
One of the points I'm sure Petter will not hesitate to bring up is that a Moon floating through Space is *NOT* "
The "safe, controlled, and familiar" seem more like the ranch in BONANZA to me, which is perhaps not all that far fetched in respect of the Space Cowboys concept of Year Two.
The original SPACE:1999 sets seem, on the other hand, to be modelled on 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, and contrary to making things "safe, controlled, and familiar" the idea here seems to be to make it clinical, unpersonal, technical and make the people working there seem like ants or bees.
This is a central aspect in making episodes like FORCE OF LIFE and THE TROUBLED SPIRIT work, I think. In FORCE OF LIFE we really get the feeling of mice being trapped in a maze, wonderfully claustrophobically made by director David Tomblin, I think, while director Ray Austin manages to make Alpha look like a haunted house in MISSING LINK and THE TROUBLED SPIRIT.
In MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH the sterile appartment of Helena with shades or red and green matches perfectly the mood of the episode, I feel. It appears totally barren.
The use of Alpha environment in BREAKAWAY where Koenig contemplates the situation is also magnificent, I think. Not much around there to make things seem "safe, controlled, and familiar".
Victor having a civilian status on Alpha one would perhaps suspect that he was living more comfortable? Well, not in RING AROUND THE MOON and ALPHA CHILD it seems. It looks more like he is living in a lab.
Nevertheless, after the Alphans in the end of BLACK SUN refer to Alpha as home for the first time, Alpha becomes less and less hostile perhaps, episodes introducing facilities such as a solarium, gyms and recreation areas. Not a very good idea in my opinon, feeling that this softening up of the series only leading to its decline. DRAGON'S DOMAIN is one of the worst episodes, I feel, when it comes to capturing Alpha. By now the series had almost sunk to Year Two level in the way Landau and Bain were handeling their roles vomiting gastly dialogue apparently written by some uncredited writer strangely not left out by Penfold when he reworked the script.
Petter
From: Petter Ogland Date: [unknown] Subj: [unknown]
It figures that Freiberger hit his target audience. One could perhaps argue that Landau and Bain were headhunted for Year One and were basically wrongly casted for the season anyway, so perhaps the series would have survived for more seasons if they left them out. In order to increase the surviability of the series, the title SPACE:1999 was perhaps neither all that well chosen, obviously a nod to 2001 and would in any case make assosiations with Year One. Perhaps "MAYA - THE COSMIC PRINCESS" would perhaps be more suitable. ;-)
[...] Which is why the better episodes like "Collision Course", "The Black Sun", "Death's Other Dominion", "Force of Life", "Testament of Arkadia", "Guardian of Piri", "The Beta Cloud", "New Adam, New Eve", "Journey to Where", ""Rules of Luton", "Seed of Destruction", "Bringers of Wonder", "Lamda Factor", "Immunity Syndrome", etc. end up being favourites for most of us because we are not forced to totally suspend belief.
Better episodes like RULES OF LUTON and BETA COULD end up being favourites for most of us? One learns something new every day. :-)
There are apparently different opinions about THE MARK OF ARCHANON as well. Like in most Year Two episodes I feel the interesting part resides in the writing more than in production.
Assuming, as Pierre Fageolle states, that Lew Schwartz really is Lew Grade, here is something interesting I found on the net:
The story of a wonderful man who became first Lew Grade, then Sir Lew and finally Lord Grade is well documented. Coming from Russia, his family settled in the East End of London when Lew was 6 years old and could not speak a word of English. Lord Grade is a legitimate show-business legend, one of the last living links to the generation of immigrant entrepreneurs who shaped television and the movies in Britain and the United States.Lew Grade has always been an innovator -- he was responsible for the first TV soap opera, "Emergency Ward Ten". In an interview with the British magazine Boardroom Lew Grade explains how every aspect of his career has given him satisfaction "The dancing wasn't all that exciting, because it was very tough and my talents were limited" ( Lord Grade still holds the title of World Champion for the Charleston), but apart from that, each successive thing has been even more exciting than the last. I thought being an agent, bringing all the stars of the world to this country, persuading Bob Dole -- a particular friend -- over here when he never wanted to play in England, was the greatest achievement of my working life. But then I went into television, and I found that really exciting and stimulating: then I made movies, and we bought theatres.
Lord Grade now has a production company based in London which holds the TV rights to 450 novels by Barbara Cartland with titles like THE FLAME IS LOVE, starring Linda Purl, Timothy Dalton; A HAZARD OF HEARTS, with Diana Rigg, Helena Bonham-Carter and Edward Fox; THE LADY AND THE HIGHWAYMAN, featuring Emma Sams and Oliver Reed; and DUEL OF HEARTS, with Alison Doody and Geraldine Chaplin. "To make films successfully, they have to be for world markets", explains Lord Grade. „You have to have people and stories that will appeal throughout the world, because it is so costly to make important movies. I wouldn't go in to make an important film unless I was sure that the casting was right. The two most important things about a film are the writing and the casting.."
(http://sharon.kirchgruppe.de/Kirch/WhatsNew/Old/Nov96/Grade.htm)
To me Pasc modled slightly as an alter ego of Lew Grade seem to make some sort of sense. Being an entrepeneur in entertainment circles and his "bringing all the stars of the world to this country" is certainly not in conflict with the Pasc character.
What Etrec represents is although a bit more unclear. It could be him noticing less pleasant sides to his personality being inherited in his son, the killer instinct in business, but it could perhaps also mean something else.
I hope the episodes will make more sense by the end of the week.
Petter
From: "Mark Meskin" (plastic.gravity@new44rock.com) Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 17:07:45 -0500 Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon ...Yes!
Anderson then instructed to have monsters written into the stories, Freiberger's THE RULES OF LUTON being the first one I believe.
No, Fast Freddie thought them up all himself.
Wasn't THE MARK OF ARCHANON shot back to back with THE RULES OF LUTON?
The Rules of Luton/The Mark of Archanon
The AB Chrysalis/Catacombs of the Moon
A Matter of Balance/Space Warp
Dorzak/Devil's Planet
These epsiodes were filmed using second unit production on the episodes with limited cast and sets.
do have favorite episodes that don't take place primarily on Alpha, such as DRAGON'S DOMAIN
The BEST episode of the entire series.
The "safe, controlled, and familiar" seem more like the ranch in BONANZA to me, which is perhaps not all that far fetched in respect of the Space Cowboys concept of Year Two.
Remember, what was the original concept of Star Trek?
"A wagon train to the stars...think Bonanza in space!" Yup, that's exactly how it was put.
DRAGON'S DOMAIN is one of the worst episodes, I feel,
NO way! DD is the best at this! Not only do you get to see the base in post Breakaway mode, you also get a pciture of what it was like before the moon left orbit....I think it works rather well!
-Mark
From: Mike Lynch (Mike-Lynch@big44foot.com) Date: Tue, 04 Aug 1998 23:57:49 -0500 Subj: Space1999: Well... It looks as if I'm alone
With perhaps the exception of Robert Gilbert it would see that I'm pretty much alone in my opinions of THE MARK OF ARCHANON. Not that this bothers me - I'm just surprised.
Bad acting? Granted, I'm not the foremost critic on acting skills (but Yasko... well she kinda sticks out), but I found the acting in this episode to be well done. Certainly it was much better than what we saw in RING AROUND THE MOON (and I know Petter is going to jump on me for that remark :-) ), or what we see in THE DORCONS, which is better than RATM, but still rather plastic. I didn't find this episode to be campy (no one has used that phrase yet, but I can see it coming), cardboard, or forced. And Tacky? The astral phenomenon in THE LAMBDA FACTOR was tacky, but aside from the Burger King-esque head gear in TMOA I didn't really find anything that was overwhelmingly deserving of the title "Tacky."
Granted, the story line isn't anything new, and is very obviously formula... Hell, BUCK ROGERS (among others) had been around for decades when THE MARK OF ARCHANON was written, but just because a story is formula doesn't mean it can't work. And for me, this episode works. We see character development that we hadn't yet been privy too (i.e. - Carter), and we are introduced to some of the most interesting humanoid aliens since the Kaldorians.
Robert was curious about my feelings regarding the one scene that I did find to be particularly poor as far as acting goes: Etrec "giving" his blood for Alan. Well, for starters Etrec's raising the knife and claiming that Archanon's kill was just a little too cliché for me, added to that was the unconvincing implication of a threat on the part of Etrec. Cater's expression was just as devoid of feeling, and seemed to be rehearsed... and then it fades into a look of re-assurance a little too quickly which adds to the phoniness of the scene. This entire exchange just didn't ring as true as the football scene where Alan and Etrec nearly plow over Johnson, or watching Tony, Alan, and Johnson in Tech Lab 3 pondering over their electronic alien find.
Yes, Rene has a point: why would Archanon's speak English when alone and in their records? Who knows. Probably to save time in the episode... And to be perfectly honest: I never gave the subject a thought. Especially when the Zennites, Psychons, Dorcons, Darians, Golossians, and so on all spoke English. Yes, when looking at this idea of a universal language that is shared by beings that have never met is unrealistic, but just as I'm able to over look the obvious flaws in evolutionary logic regarding the Arkadians I am also able to overlook the fact that nearly every humanoid race encountered by Alpha spoke English - and as a fan I can look past these little things and enjoy the various other aspects of the episodes. ...But as far as eating a hamburger: Well, it would seem to reason that hamburgers didn't exist when the Archanon's first visited Earth, and Etrec and Pasc would have no knowledge of what a hamburger is, or is made of (hence Etrec's "ham-ber-gur?"). So if Carter says that Alphan hamburgers are made of soy, then why wouldn't Etrec and Pasc just assume that all hamburgers are made of soy? Besides - you'd have to be a vegetarian to live on Alpha after Breakaway since there was no meat to be shipped from Earth - only what could be grown and processed in Hydroponics.
Overall, I still hold this episode to be the best of Season 2... but I guess that's just me... :-)
Mike
From: Mike Lynch (Mike-Lynch@big44foot.com) Org.: LSRO Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 00:37:05 -0500 Subj: Space1999: Home Sweet Alpha
Robert Gilbert wrote:
One of the points I'm sure Petter will not hesitate to bring up is that a Moon floating through Space is *NOT* "safe, controlled, and familiar."
True, a Moon drifting through space is not safe, controlled, or familiar, but the Alphans do have control over their environment, the status and condition of their base, and the personnel would be very familiar with the base, and its workings. I wasn't referring so much to the Moon, as as I was the base itself. Granted, the base is on the Moon, and it would not exist if it weren't for the Moon, and when discussing the situation and condition of Alpha the state of the Moon has to be taken into consideration.
And as Petter mentioned Moonbase Alpha was not designed to be any more personal and inviting than it had to be in order to sustain life, and offer a working environment for it's personnel - the base is a very utilitarian structure. But we cannot deny that from the moment that Koenig made his statement to Alpha that they would not be returning to Earth the base became their home. Whether we hear them mention it as being home or not we, as an audience suddenly begin to equate the base with home.
And I would have to disagree with Petter on his "rats in a maze" analogy. FORCE OF LIFE strikes me as being much more of a "dark house" type of story in which a relatively familiar and controlled environment becomes disrupted by the presence of an uninvited, mysterious, and potentially malicious intruder - rather like ALIEN. Yes, both have the "rats in a maze" quality, but the crew of the Nostromo regarded that ship as home for their time in space, and knew it intimately. So when the presence of the Alien was added a familiar environment was turned into an unstable, hostile, and inhospitable environment. The fact that they knew the ship so well, but were still helpless against its presence made the movie all the more horrific - if it were simply "rats in a maze" it would lack the necessary depth to move and effect the audience. The same applies to FORCE OF LIFE, and what further adds to the sense of a home becoming an insecure environment is the fact that the presence of the alien entity not only effects Anton Zoref, but his wife as well: a family is torn apart, and in the process the base that so many others consider home is also put at risk. There is an intense feeling of an almost complete loss of control as the Alien entity in Zoref grows stronger, and Koenig eventually resorts to cutting the power in the base in an attempt to kill the alien.
Mike
From: Simon Morris (simes01@global44net.co.uk) Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 19:36:45 +0100 Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon
In answer to a pont made by David Acheson,Petter said:
According to Pierre Fageolle Lew Schwartz was a pseudonym used by Lew Grade! If this is really so, Freiberger must have invited Lord Grade to write something just for fun or relaxation I suppose, I suspect the killing sickness in this episode could be a symbol of the killer instinct in the business world and Lord Grade writing about consequences of agressive business behaviour related to the domestic scene of home and family.
The comment made by "Pierre Fageolle" is absolute rubbish. Lew Schwarz was an experienced tv scripter in England at that time(I'm not sure whether he is still around now though). Interestingly,Schwarz wrote a lot of situation comedy scripts for various series,including the tv series of "Carry On" (using the cast of the Carry On feature films) which was made by ATV Midlands in the early seventies. He also authored a book on how to write comedy for television not so many years ago. He was *not*,for Godsakes,Lew Grade!
I can understand how people outside the UK may well not have heard of a number of SPACE 1999 personnel,both behind and in front of the camera. But people who make up crap such as that quoted above are beyond the pale. I have no interest in reading Fageolle's book on SPACE 1999(for one thing it sounds ridiculously over the top as an intellectual examination of the show,and secondly I don't understand the language). But for one fleeting moment I almost wished I could read it to see what other rubbish was in there. If he can come up with the hypothesis that Lew Schwarz = Lew Grade,then I wonder what other guff he is making up to support some ridiculous intellectualist view of the series.
There is a certain amount in Petter's speculations that I enjoy reading(for many reasons). I may not see what he sees in the episodes,but I admire his determination in trying to see behind the episodes and the people who wrote them. In all honesty,I don't think any Y2 writer had any thought in mind other than the pay check at the end of the episode.
As for the sort of rot peddled by Fageolle,the less said the better!
Simon
From: Petter Ogland (petter.ogland@dnmi4tag.no) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 09:44:04 +0000 Subj: Space1999: Lew Schwarz and Pierre Fageolle
Well, it appears Fageolle was wrong then, unless, of course, Lew Schwarz was Lew Grade in diguise writing "Carry On" episodes and other situation comedy entries in his spare time. :-)
This new insight seems to put a new light over things. Instead of looking for the deeper meaning of the episode in the world of business and entertainment entrepeneurmanship, the scenaro now seems to be the theory writing situation comedies.
Sadly I've not managed to find anything on Lew Schwarz on the internet so far, but perhaps there may be something on his book on comedy writing which will give more meaning to THE MARK OF ARCHANON.
read it to see what other rubbish was in there. If he can come up with the hypothesis that Lew Schwarz = Lew Grade,then I wonder what other guff he is making up to support some ridiculous intellectualist view of the series.
I thought Fageolle's "COSMOS 1999. L'epopee dans le blancheur" was quite excellent actually. Far the best book written on SPACE:1999 that I've read on SPACE:1999 anyway, a highly perceptive look into both on-screen and off-screen elements of the series, using authorities such as Wassily Kandinsky, Michel Butor, Bruno Bettelheim and others to give fascinating insight and wonderful speculations about the more deep level aspects of the show.
As one might expect, Fageolle's main concern is Year One, Year Two being shortly commented on as something tailored for US and Canadian taste, more or less uncomprehensible for the rest of the world with the Woodgrove episodes being commented on in a chapter called NUL as of being absolutely beyond help.
It is a very positive book, though, much less blunt in the treatment of each episode than, say, John Kenneth Muir. Even the Year Two episodes are given a decent description with suitable anecdotes where needed. Sadly the book is farily short, approx. 150 pages if I remember correctly, and could have easily have been expanded on to at least twice the size as Fageolle seem only to draw from the surface of his apparent insight.
Martin Willey has given the book a nice review on his site. While I managed to find it while visiting Paris earlier this year I believe it is available by FNAC.
Petter
From: Ariana (ariana@n44direct.co.uk) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 11:32:49 +0100 Subj: Re: Space1999: Lew Schwarz and Pierre Fageolle
Martin Willey has given the book a nice review on his site. While I managed to find it while visiting Paris earlier this year I believe it is available by FNAC.
Which is precisely where I'll be going tomorrow. Never mind about Paris, just give me my local FNAC! (Something I really miss over here :)
I remember seeing a couple of books on Space:1999 when I was there last, but I wasn't quite as hooked then, so I ignored them. I'll have another look this time.
Emma
From: djlerda@juno4tag.com Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 10:57:40 EDT Subj: Re: Space1999: Lew Schwarz and Pierre Fageolle
What is FNAC?
From: "Ariana" (ariana@ndirect4tag.co.uk) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 16:30:27 +0100 Subj: Re: Space1999: Lew Schwarz and Pierre Fageolle
Fédération Nationale des Achats de Cadres... aka a chain of book/computer/hifi/music/video stores in France. IOW, somewhere that sells *everything* I'm interested in. The only time my boyfriend wandered off on his own in Paris, that's where he went.
Sorry for the OT posts <g>
And now, I'm off for ten days of a well deserved holiday in beautiful Tunisia...
Emma
From: jcg@vh4tag.net Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 16:47:40 -0400 Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Boredamnon
As for what someone said about the 'roids probably destroying the Eagle, I'd have to agree. At the speeds these things are moving, and the mass of one them easily equalling or exceeding the larger eagle, it wouldn't take long before a catastrophic hull breach was created. Even the small stuff (smaller than your hand) would do in the eagle.
In fact, just a particle of dust if you hit it hard enough can cause damage...anything in fact if you hit it hard enough. Although they didn't mention it in any episodes of the original Trek, that was one of the computer operated functions of the deflectors, to sweep any and all matter out of the ship's path.
From: jcg@vh4tag.net Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 16:47:55 -0400 Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon ...Yes!
I also like the character of Johnson ("Bluey"), and rather wish that he was featured in following episodes (or even previous episodes). He was likable, personable, believable, and a little oafish.
He was a little too goofy for me. At some points I was yelling at the screen for him to shut up. He reminds me of the brain washed citizen in the street in classic Trek's Return of the Archons, who says "he can stay at your daddy's house, can't he?"
Why weren't Koenig and Maya wearing space suits? This is a particularly a minor concern, and I really don't care either way, but it just seems odd - especially when the pilot that Pasc knocks out is wearing one.
It's not at all odd. I think I mentioned it at the beginning of the ExE...the show was never consistent with when people in eagles wore spacesuits. In year two they sometimes had the same problem with Koenig's parka...there were times he wore it in the eagle when he wasn't landing on a planet and thus going outside.
From: jcg@vh4tag.net Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 18:08:11 -0400 Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon ...Yes!
This is just great...I'm starting to respond to my own posts. Is there a 12-step for this sort of thing?
Anyway, I misread Mike's note. It IS odd. I meant it wasn't odd that Mike found it odd (damn that makes my head hurt.)
From: jcg@vh4tag.net Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 17:05:18 -0400 Subj: Re: Space1999: Well... It looks as if I'm alone
Yes, Rene has a point: why would Archanon's speak English when alone and in their records? Who knows. Probably to save time in the episode... And to be perfectly honest: I never gave the subject a thought. Especially when the Zennites, Psychons, Dorcons, Darians, Golossians, and so on all spoke English.
The "they all speak english" thing is something we all had to deal with a long time ago. Not just space shows (think about how many different cultures/countries/time periods Tony and Doug visited in The Time Tunnel, Jeffrey and Bog in Voyagers, etc. Even a show like Hogan's Heroes, where they only had Germans speaking German in the pilot.) Otherwise you would have to stick with Baywatch where they all only speak one language (add your own joke here.)
From: South Central (Tamazunchale@web44tv.net) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 14:59:34 -0700 (PDT) Subj: Re: Space1999: Well... It looks as if I'm alone
It is called a "translation convention".
From: "Brian Dowling" (brian@hellion.prestel4tag.co.uk) Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 22:34:18 +0100 Subj: Space1999: Mark Of Archanon
Hi folks,
Been a bit quiet recently - work is getting very busy again...
The Mark Of Archanon is one of the better episodes from season 2. Certainly less of the turkey factor here, at any rate. It's nice to see Carter doing something else than crashing eagles and wasting co-pilots... I would envisage that most Alphans would have a secondary duty to fulfil as well as their primary role - it helps keep Alpha going and relieve boredom, as well as being part of the story I'm writing... :-)
So you've got Alphans who help out in the technical section, do a stint as a nursing auxiliary or help out with the geological teams. Sounds perfectly feasible to me.
Shades of Quatermass and the Pit here, finding this vessel buried deep in the moon, and shades of Tomb Of The Cybermen when Carter gets a shock from touching the stasis chamber. Difference here is that Alan survived, the guy in ToC didn't.
So why are they there? Who would bury a guy and a kid deep in the lunar rock? We seem to be seeing a sort of universal rule here - if something in your race or species turns unpleasantly nasty - send it away. An out of sight, out of mind thing. We've seen it with Balor, Cantor and Zova and now these guys with the funny hairdos and facial hair. Something lacking here in alien races' decision making ability when dealing with unpleasant problems? Could this be an allegory to certain aspects of society? Or have I been on the root beer too much? :-)
Nice that Tony recognises the symbol on the stasis chamber. Adds weight to the idea that there are more untold stories about the Alphans. So they recognise the symbol, take them to the medical unit and leave no security staff anywhere around the place. Wake up, Tony. You don't ignore a symbol of deadly danger like that!
I didn't know until I saw this episode that bubble wrap had a medical use. You live and learn. And it's coincidence that Pasc and Etrec manage to get all the way to Command Center without any alarms or security alerts...
And Alan shouts "Cobber!" to the kid. I've had the pleasure of meeting several Australians, and not one of them has ever used the word "cobber" at all. Stereotyping again, as if we didn't have enough of that with the Dave O'Reilly character. I'm quite surprised that Alan didn't end up a la Paul Hogan, wearing an Aussie Rules kit and a lifeguard bonnet, carrying a wobbleboard and a tube of lager. Maybe that was suggested, but turned down... one never knows about these things... :-)
Despite this, it is one of Alan's strongest episodes since Another Time Another Place, and we see just how well Alan gets on with Etrec. Who decided to dub Etrec? It sounds just like the dubbing used for Peter Duncan in The Exiles, and once again it fails. Jasper Carrott's "Funky Moped" on Top Of The Pops was better than that! (This may need explanations for non-UK Alphans - let me know if it does)
So Pasc has a virus which drives him to kill. Maybe he used to work in IT and got p'd off with his user base... :-) Once again Patricia has provided an interesting post on this medical topic. There could be the makings of a book here - The Medicine of Space:1999... and we see another medic - Dr Raoul. How many medics did Alpha have? How does this relate to the number of staff on the base in terms of proportion?
Seeing Carter with the football, I half expected him to hand pass it to Etrec a la AFL. Does anyone know if Alan's historical reference is correct? I take it from the way he talks, he is talking about Rugby League football rather than Rugby Union.
The bit where Pasc and Etrec try to escape from Alpha doesn't work that well in terms of where are they going to go? It adds conflict to the plot between Pasc and Etrec, and leads up to the point where Etrec tries to cut the symbol from his head.
A transfusion of treated Archanon blood cures Etrec, but sadly Pasc is beyond help as his body cannot replace lost blood. Makes me wonder how they deal with cuts and gashes on Archanon. Here Pasc gets his best line - "It is the final privilege of the killing sickness - to kill oneself". It is somehow profound and sad - for some reason I am reminded of Seven Samurai by this line.
This story deals a little more fully with the death of a father. The Metamorph didn't address this as it perhaps should have, but here we do see some grief and the lad wanting to spend time with his father's body in a final goodbye.
Some good points and some bad points about the story, but in the overall standing of season 2 I think it fares quite well, despite the dubbing. Methinks Brian The Brain is coming soon, I'd better get my knives out ready...
Incidentally, there is a rumour doing the rounds at the moment that Brian Blessed could be the next actor to take the role of The Doctor, if a new production gets anywhere near take off.
Now I'm waiting for The Avengers movie to hit screens over here - I've seen a couple of the publicity shots and they look great, and the Official Poster Mag makes for some good reading. And of course there's Uma Thurman playing two roles as well....
Brian Dowling
From: Atomic Possum (atomicpossum@toast4tag.net) [OT] Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 20:21:28 -0500 Subj: Re: Space1999: Mark Of Archanon
Incidentally, there is a rumour doing the rounds at the moment that Brian Blessed could be the next actor to take the role of The Doctor, if a new production gets anywhere near take off.
This rumor surfaces regularly. I believe he was under consideration as far back as the Troughton/Pertwee transition, and I KNOW I heard him speculated about before Paul McGann was given the part.
Now I'm waiting for The Avengers movie to hit screens over here - I've seen a couple of the publicity shots and they look great, and the Official Poster Mag makes for some good reading. And of course there's Uma Thurman playing two roles as well....
Another remake that fills me with inertia....At best they can try to copy MacNee doing Steed, and no matter how tight they make Uma's shoes they'll always be a bit too big for her fill......
From: "Simon Morris" (simes01@global44net.co.uk) Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 18:20:00 +0100 Subj: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon
G'day all
Interesting episode this,being written(as I pointed out a day or so ago)by a writer who previously had produced scripts for quite a few British sitcoms. It doesn't have the hallmarks of a script which has been re-written by Fred Freiberger (ie ludicrous humour and over the top action sequences)so I would suggest it is basically as Schwarz wrote it. I think its a good story (as usual not especially original)with some appealing and well-written character moments especially between Carter and Etrec,and there is a certain amount of humour but not the ridiculous comedy that Freiberger passed off as being funny.
Considering Nick Tate has been quoted as saying he didn't like Freiberger, I think its fair to say that he had more to do in certain Y2 episodes than he did in most Y1 episodes. This is one of them and IMHO gives the lie to the oft quoted statement that Tate did badly by Freiberger. The episode opens with an excruciatingly bad little ditty sung by Tate/Carter. As I've said before,he doesn't sound too bad but he shouldn't give up the day job...
Another nice touch in the script which pleased me was Verdeschi's sardonic comment in reply to Pacs's mission to bring peace to the universe:
"From most of the races we've come across,you don't seem to have had too much success!"
I suppose you could take this as a comment on the Y2 scripts in general considering the various "bad"guys the Alphans come across. At least the above line addresses this little Y2 problem...
I'd agree with Dave Acheson that-as usual-it tends to be the*execution*that lets the episode down,though not too much. The special effects are unusually ropey and some of the acting is a little shaky. I''d never heard of Michael Gallagher(Etrec)and haven't seen him in anything since. The biggest problem with him is the usual crappy dubbing of his voice into a whiny pseudo-american intonation which to me sounds neither like a child or like an adult. In fact it sounds like someones got hold of his testicles...:-) Which reminds me, there does seem to be a preponderous of dodgy dubbing in this episode. John Alkin as Johnson does not speak in his normal English voice and has another juvenile(and probably faked)american accent which merely makes his character intensely irritating. Alkin,by the way,was a fairly well known supporting actor in the UK(regularly seen in THE SWEENEY for example). Don't see him at all now. He's still alive....wonder what he's doing now? Also the security guard Carson sounds suspiciously dubbed with a fake accent. I wonder if one voice-over artiste did them all? And on a similar subject,I think the actor who played the medic "Raoul" was fairly crap in a role that was largely a waste of time anyway..
John Standing was generally good as Pasc and elicits a certain amount of sympathy from the viewer. Standing was and still is a very well known leading actor in the UK and he certainly was NOT dubbed in the episode. Its the ludicrous costume and makeup that let him down....
Its basically Nick Tate's episode and the scenes between him and Etrec highlight nicely a sort of surrogate father/son relationship that's all the more touching bearing in mind that Etrec's real father isn't going to be around by the end of the episode. As Brian Dowling pointed out, the episode deals quite effectively and emotively with the death of a father.
The episode might have played better if they had ended on a freeze-frame of Etrec hugging his dead father,so forcing the viewer to dwell on the tragedy of it.(Incidentally,a tip of the hat to Derek Wadsworth's music here which effectively underlines that scene...) As it is we then go into the epilogue with Koenig and Helena which to my mind serves no other purpose than to notch up a little more screen time for Landau in the episode. To be fair,it is a fairly thoughtful and sombre end to the story(apart from the yucky kiss at the end)and by no means the insensitive "humorous" epilogue that is tagged on to a lot of the episodes in Y2. I just feel that it might have been a bit more powerful if it had ended on Pasc's death...
Overall,not a bad episode at all.
Simon Morris
From: "Petter Ogland" (petter.ogland@dnmi4tag.no) Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 13:03:47 +0000 Subj: Re: Space1999: The Mark of Archanon
Interesting episode this,being written(as I pointed out a day or so ago)by a writer who previously had produced scripts for quite a few British sitcoms. It doesn't have the hallmarks of a script which has been re-written by Fred Freiberger (ie ludicrous humour and over the top action sequences)so I would suggest it is basically as Schwarz wrote it. I think its a good story (as usual not especially original)with some appealing and well-written character moments especially between Carter and Etrec,and there is a certain amount of humour but not the ridiculous comedy that Freiberger passed off as being funny.
Well said. The focus on family life in the episode should perhaps be much to the fortune of Schwartz's previous work with sit-coms then, although there is not all that focus on humour or comedy in this one, I feel, as one perhaps would expect from a man who writes a book about the art of writing comedy.
Perhaps Schwartz was tired of comedy at the moment and the killing sickness had something to do with him wanting to kill of characters he no longer found interesting in TV-adaptions of CARRY ON etc.
From my point of view THE MARK OF ARCHANON seem more like the "every man kills the things he loves" refrain of Oscar Wilde that was so brilliantly used in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's QUERELLE (1982) than anything having to do with comedy and humour.
The tragic ending of the episode also makes one wonder if this is an attempt by Lew Schwartz, the clown, to use the opportunity to write more seriously. A main thread of the story seem to be about the strained relationship between father and son, and how easily Carter invades the relationship and is excepted by Etrec as a sort of step-father makes one wonder.
As the episode does not seem to have any ideological content, perhaps the content is psychological. If one found out that the marriage of Lew Schwartz was rather strained at the moment, or that he had divorced and there were so difficulties concerning his relationship with his children I would not be surprised.
This is mere speculation, however, just to see if it makes any sense out of the episode. As I see it, however, any psychological content of this type does not help me making the episode more interesting, so until we find more background to THE MARK ARCHANON this appears to be one of the weaker episodes as far as I'm concerned.
Another nice touch in the script which pleased me was Verdeschi's sardonic comment in reply to Pacs's mission to bring peace to the universe:"From most of the races we've come across,you don't seem to have had too much success!"
Hm. Bringing peace to the universe could perhaps mean trying to hold a marriage or relationship together here. The more I think of it, the more sad the episode seem to be. Not one of my favourites.
I'd agree with Dave Acheson that-as usual-it tends to be the*execution*that lets the episode down,though not too much.
This is the basic problem with Year Two, I feel. The question is if there is something interesting to the episodes if we forget the execution. Sometimes there is and sometimes there isn't. I believe THE MARK OF ARCHANON would need more reseach and deeper analysis if one were to find something of general interest here.
Petter
[EDITOR'S NOTE: A fragment of a note from the next ExE.] From: Paul Apprich (psapp@terra.cnct4tag.com) Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 23:57:21 -0400 (EDT) Subj: Re: Space1999: Brian the Brain
[....]
P.S. What gave Lew Schwartz the idea for the name Pasc anyway? Anything like Passover? as in Pasch(al)?
From: Ina Litera (ilitera@idt4tag.net) Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 15:13:26 +0000 Subj: Re: Space1999: Pascal
I forget who suggested that Pasch could also refer to the Pascal Lamb which is symbolically represented at the Passover seder. The pascal lamb represents the sacrifice which was offered and the lambs blood was then used to mark the doorpost of jewish homes so the Angel of Death would skip ("pass over") those houses. It's possible that the writers might have had that in mind when naming the character.
By the way, Maine was great. It's taken me many days to get through all this mail (wow, you've all been busy)
For anyone in the Beautiful Adirondack region of NY state, my quartet will be doing our 3 rd annual tour next week. We'll be playing an all Space 1999 program (ok that's not true but I though it migh get someones attention) Anyway if your up there and want to hear some late Beethoven, Ginistera, Webern and Piazzolla email me and i'll send you more info.
Later,
Ina
From: djlerda@juno4tag.com Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 14:05:29 EDT Subj: Space1999: Pascal
Blaise Pascal was a French philosopher and mathematician whwo developed a rotating wheel calculator. Pascal's calculator had one wheel corresponding to each power of 10; each wheel had 10 positions, one for each of the digits 0 through 9. His calculator could only add and subtract. It could multiply by succive additions and divide by successive subtractions.
David J Lerda
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