The Continuity GuideEagle Guide
by Martin Willey
The Continuity Guide    |
 Behind the scenes: note the microphone and studio light.
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The Eagle could be flown by a single pilot (seated port in the command module) or by a pilot with copilot. If the flight involved atmospheric operations, the pilots wore normal uniforms, but in space they wear spacesuits. Remote control from Main Mission was used in certain circumstances: when pilots were incapacitated (Matter Of Life And Death, Ring Around The Moon, The Full Circle), in dangerous situations (The Last Sunset), during systems failure (The Seance Spectre, The Last Enemy) or when operations precluded a pilot (Breakaway, Space Brain, The Metamorph). The Eagle must be switched from "manual" to "automatic" to allow this to happen (Ring Around The Moon, Space Brain, Dragon's Domain, The Bringers Of Wonder part 1). |
 Close up of the MANUAL/ AUTO switch. |
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The command module changed slightly during the series. The door was numbered 6, whatever the Eagle number, in the first 6 episodes (Breakaway, Matter Of Life And Death, Black Sun, Ring Around The Moon, Earthbound, Another Time, Another Place: the pod door was numbered 5 and the rear door 3). From Missing Link onwards the correct number appeared (War Games had a 9 in Eagle 1). Text might also be added to the number: "Reconnaissance Eagle 4" in Collision Course, "Rescue 4" in The Metamorph, The Exiles and All That Glisters. |
 Behind the scenes: the Eagle cockpit during the initial episodes. |
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Two control levels were sited by the pilots, but their functions changed regularly. The forward one (with two handles) operated the grab release in Collision Course, the manual/auto setting in Space Brain, the thrust in The Metamorph and the retro-rockets in Devil's Planet. The smaller one (with single handle) generally controlled the "main motors" (eg All That Glisters, The Immunity Syndrome), although in The Metamorph it controlled the boosters. |
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The flight console screens were in colour in Breakaway only (although red text appears in Death's Other Dominion). An extension panel between the pilots appeared in The Metamorph and its screens were used in preference from then on.
The flight console in front of the pilots changed slightly after Earthbound to include the vacuum chamber controls, and were revised again for Year 2. The laser was usually controlled from one of several buttons behind a hatch, although this varied.
In Another Time, Another Place, two red clipboards can be seen resting against the black cockpit front wall, one of the few times it can be "seen" (see image thanks to Martin Daoust).
In Space Brain and The Immunity Syndrome, a nuclear detonation control unit was placed on top of the console. Other items placed on the console include the space warp detector, discovered and used in the Eagle in Space Warp, and also seen in Devil's Planet and The Immunity Syndrome, and an Eagle remote control unit in Eagle 4 in Space Warp.
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The flight console shifts forwards and backwards, as do the chairs. Sometimes the pilot chairs are against the back of the cockpit, at other times they have a gap behind them. |
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The console is only 2 feet/ 60 cm wide, and some camera views show beyond the edge. The sides of the set are extended with dark grey backing, usually in shadow to disguise the length of the set. Year Two shots are less consistent; in Rules Of Luton, even the edge of this extension is seen. |
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In Space Warp, the extension is covered in odd pieces. In The Immunity Syndrome the yellow wall lights continue indefinitely (the pilot side wall has been moved to extend the set). |
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In The Beta Cloud, two shots show normal computer panels beyond the creature. Otherwise, we only see insert shots of either a window or a screen. The window (only the port window is ever seen) features in Breakaway, Ring Around The Moon, Alpha Child, Collision Course, The Full Circle, Space Warp, The Seance Spectre, Devil's Planet and The Immunity Syndrome. The screen is used in Space Warp, Seed Of Destruction, The A B Chrysalis, The Bringers Of Wonder part 2, The Seance Spectre & Devil's Planet. |
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A firing-sights design was seen in War Games (also used in The Last Sunset in Alpha, and in The Dorcons by the Dorcons). |
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The side computer panels were unchanged until The Mark Of Archanon when new panels included "Oxygen" and "Manual/Remote" on the port (pilot) side and "Engine Ignition" (or "Auxiliary- Engines On/Off") on the starboard (copilot) side. The panels were then shuffled as required through the series. In Devil's Planet, a "Laser Control" panel appeared on the starboard. In The Immunity Syndrome "Backup System" and "Standby System" panels were used on the starboard side. Some of the side panels seem to have Cyrillic text.
 An unusual view from Seance Spectre. |
 The escape hatch in Devil's Planet. |
 The escape hatch control panel is seen by the door on the pilot's side. It only appears in Devil's Planet. |
The access corridor between the command module and the passenger module was shortened in Year 2 by cutting out one section. Some Year 1 episodes also got it wrong. In Missing Link, when the command module is separated from the rest, Koenig's stretcher extends through the open door of pilot section into the corridor. In Dragon's Domain, when the separated command module docks with the Ultra Probe, the corridor section goes with it. The access corridor was the location of Sandra's abduction in The Full Circle, but was otherwise little seen.
Copyright Martin Willey. Thanks to Martin Daoust
