Episode Guide

Year 1 - Episode 13

• Shooting script 13th August 1974
• Filmed 27th August- 6 September 1974
• Edited into the 1982 compilation movie Journey Through The Black Sun
• This was Margaret Leighton's final screen performance. Keith Wilson: She was wonderful, but she didn't understand a word she was saying. She had a lot of nonsense to say and hadn't a clue what it meant. She was really quite worried about it.. Ray Austin: Margaret's a friend of mine. She knew she was dying. I shot, I think, 15 pages in two days with her, which was unheard of. 'You'd better get this shot, because I'm not going to last long...' she said near the end of shooting. She couldn't move, we had to put her in a wheelchair.

Cast

Sets

Int. Main Mission
Int. Corridor outside Main Mission
Int. Command Office
Int. Medical
Int. Koenig's Quarters
Int. Launch Pad Airlock
Int. Alpha Corridor
Int. Eagle Pilot Section
Int. Eagle Passenger Section

Int. Alien Spaceship Antechamber & Chamber

• The third episode Martin Bower worked on. He contributed the massive Arra shuttle (designed by Brian Johnson) and the Alphan mines in two scales, and a tiny 14cm Eagle. The shuttle is 1.8m long and was carved from solid wood in ten days. The wings are plywood. The mines were made from plastic picnic dishes bought from Woolworths. In the script the shuttle is described as a wingless vulture, like a Concorde with giant jet intakes.
• The shuttle appears in the spaceship graveyard in Dragon's Domain. Both shuttle and mines reappear in the spaceship graveyard in The Metamorph.

• If the planet is 34 times lunar mass, it is less than half the mass of Earth (about the size of Mars); by diameter it would be a little less than Saturn. In the latter case much of the bulk would be gaseous and the air would not be breathable.
• Shockwaves cannot travel through the vacuum of space. Debris and radiation can travel through a vacuum; the former could in turn alter the moon's course with sufficient energy and mass. But then it would make more sense to explode the mines on the Moon (or on the planet). The Moon's course is also altered in Seance Spectre.
• The mines hang below from the Eagles, although the cables are not rigid. They are taut even in the zero gravity of space. Thanks to John Day.

Eagles:

• Although the Eagles dock, we do not see a docking tube as in Earthbound and Guardian Of Piri. When they land, there seems to be no physical connection between the two ships.
• We see the Rescue pod. Unlike previous appearances, the 44 inch Eagle has stripes that don't reach the base of the pod (they do in shots of the 22 inch Eagle).
• Eagle 1 is badly damaged.
• It is not clear how the mine cable is connected to the Eagle. We see it attached to both a podless Eagle and a normal transporter pod.

Aliens:

Props:

• Arra's throne reappears as Companion's bed in The Infernal Machine and as the Archon's throne in The Dorcons

• The fires in Main Mission are actually beyond the edge of the desks.

• A suspenseful story; the themes of faith and destiny are strongly made. Like Black Sun a "mysterious unknown force" saves the Alphans.
• The early scenes of Koenig's loyalty to Alan are heavy-handed and overacted. In no other episode is Koenig so committed to Alan.
• Helena does not appear until 15 minutes into the episode. The story features the supporting cast (Alan, Paul, Sandra, Kano) more than usual.
• In 1979 the TV series Tomorrow People used footage of the shuttle eating the Eagle (episode War Of The Empires).
• The A&E Bonus Disc contains an alternate edited version of one scene, the final section of Arra and Koenig in the Spaceship Chamber. The sequence is almost identical apart from the omission of one line of dialogue. Koenig asks what she is going to do. In this version, she disappears without the line "I go to shape the future of eternity. And I need your help." (it is heard in voice over after Koenig walks away).
• In the last section of the story, a duplicate sound effects track can be heard, about 2 seconds before the actual sound effects and action. This is particularly noticeable when Koenig wakes from sedation and attacks the guards. As the close-up shows him looking at the Communications Post, the sound of the the button is heard being pressed before he presses it. Then, as Koenig turns his head to the door after seeing the guards on the screen, the sound of the Commlock can be heard and a shuffle as he hits the guards, again, before he actually does so. Thanks to Elliot.