Missing Link

Year 1 - Episode 7

Screenplay by	Edward Di Lorenzo
Directed by	Ray Austin
Guest Artist	Joanna Dunham
Special Guest Star	Peter Cushing

Belgium (Flemish)	De Schakel
France/Canada	Le maillon	The Link
Germany	Koenig: 2	Koenig: 2
Italy	Gli amanti dello spazio	The Space Lovers
Japan	Human Experimentation in the Space Zoo
Portugal	O Elo Necessário	The Necessary Link
Spain	Eslabón perdido	Missing Link
South Africa	Die Vermiste Skakel	The Lost Connection

Commander Koenig finds himself in another world and another time. It is a world of light and beauty. He has to choose between life back again among his companions on the moon and the love of a beautiful girl. Love is the only weapon he can use...

Background

Shooting script 5th April 1974. Filmed 22nd April - 7th May 1974
For Alan Carter's fight with Bob Mathias in Medical, Nick Tate choreographed with a stuntman. But when it came to shoot the scene at the end of the day Anton Phillips stood in. Instead of jerking his head back, he jerked forward onto the punch and was knocked out.
The Zenno void is a 90 ft (27m) long tent of parachute nylon, filled with slippery, choking dry ice. Zienia Merton said in an interview: I said, 'Listen Ray, how far is this mist coming up?' and he said 'To Martin's chin' and you know how little I am and so I said, 'well if it's coming up to Martin's chin, I can throw me lines in, I needn't appear... all Martin has to do is hold a black mop for the top of my head' There was this great trestle table suspended six feet off the ground and I said, 'Hey, I'm not that short...!'. But the effect they wanted was to make it look as if we were floating in the air and it was a marvellous effect.

Commander John Koenig	Martin Landau
Doctor Helena Russell	Barbara Bain
Professor Victor Bergman	Barry Morse
Raan	Peter Cushing
Vana	Joanna Dunham
Paul Morrow	Prentis Hancock
Alan Carter	Nick Tate
Sandra Benes	Zienia Merton
David Kano	Clifton Jones
Doctor Bob Mathias	Anton Phillips
Tanya Aleksandr	Suzanne Roquette
Operative June	June Bolton
Main Mission Operative	Robert Phillips
Main Mission Operative	Alan Harris
Main Mission Operative	Andy Dempsey
Security Guard (Tony Allan)	Tony Allyn
2 medics
2 guards
Zennite	Patrick Brock

Sets

Int. Main Mission
Int. Command Office
Int. Diagnostic/ corridor (revamp Command Office)
Int. Koenig's Quarters (Zenno)
Int. Alpha Corridor
Int. Travel Tube
Int. Eagle Pilot Section
Int. Eagle Passenger Section
Int. Airlock West

Ext. Moon Surface
Int. Zenno Void

Kano's desk first appears in Main Mission. It was absent from Breakaway until Another Time, Another Place.

SFX

The Zenno surface is a matte painting, animated with lights. The painting was filmed on 28 July 1974 according to the clapperboard.

On screen the city appears with a yellow halo.

The Zenno matte painting appears in full only in the This Episode clips, with what looks like a small Eagle flying over

For the first time, three Eagles are seen together (the crashed Eagle, the rescue Eagle alongside, and the cargo (winch) Eagle overhead). However, only one 44" Eagle existed (the second was being built and appeared first in Guardian Of Piri. Hence in some shots, one of the other Eagles was substituted with a photographic cutout (the Eagle nose capsule when being carried away is also a cutout).

Vana's theme is an unused Barry Gray track intended to be the Moonbase Alpha theme. The script specifies the love theme from Tristan and Isolde, although this was not used. Otto Solin points out: "It would not be a bad idea to use this music here since they speak of being united as one in a world without fear ("...ewig einig, ...ohn' Erbangen").".
Library track: from Stingray "Ghost Of The Sea" by Barry Gray

Science

A missing link is a transitional stage in evolution for which no fossil evidence exists. Are the Zennites actually descended from Earthmen or were ancient Zennites simply like Earthmen? The episode is not clear.

Continuity

Chronology:

Alpha Personnel:

0 fatalities.

Alpha Technology:

Launch pad 7 is mentioned. There are only 5 pads visible around the base, but according to The Exiles there are outlying stations with their own launch pads as well.
Medical thermographic scans are used. They are also featured in Breakaway, Matter Of Life And Death, Ring Around The Moon, Another Time Another Place, Force Of Life, Space Warp and Dorzak.

Eagles:

Eagle 1 (crashed); 4 (Rescue); 7 ("Cargo", with a winch platform)

The Rescue Eagle appears. A shot of the launch is taken from Earthbound.
The winch pod, called a Cargo Eagle here, also appears in Breakaway and Space Brain
This is the first episode in which the correct Eagle number appears on the cabin doors. For the first six episodes the cockpit door had always read "6".
The passenger module set changes. A computer now occupies one side (the seats reappear in Guardian Of Piri, The Exiles and New Adam New Eve). The bulkhead by the passenger module doors changes from a viewscreen to a computer panel with two small TV screens.

Planets:

Zenno

Aliens:

Zennites. Humanoid and perhaps related to Earth humans.

Errors

In the Zenno/dream Diagnostic Unit, Koenig's nameplate reads "KEONIG". On Alpha his name is spelled correctly so this may be a deliberate error. (Note also Koenig does a 100 mile walk from the crash site to Alpha- in a line cut from the script, Raan asks "You don't seriously think you walked a hundred miles in ten minutes?").

The real Moonbase- spelled correctly.

Long shot in the Zennite Moonbase- also spelled correctly.

Koenig's POV from the last shot- the misspelling.

Observations

The camerawork emphasises the dream/nightmare elements of the story with soft focus and indistinct lines. Note the mirror in Diagnostic Unit.
The concept that fear must be understood and neutralised is also in War Games.
The story emphasises the characters- most get to lose their tempers. The script makes clear that Koenig initially pretends to fall in love with Vana (only when he tells Raan he loves her does he realise he means it). This is too subtle for the screen; in the episode he seems to fall in love with her and be willing to abandon Helena and Alpha immediately.
In the script, the Eagle is scanning for mineral deposits on the Moon with many different coloured planets in the space sky.
In the script, but not the episode, Raan states he is 508 years old, while Vana is 218. Koenig remarks "Neither of you looks a day over 21".

Merchandise:

Novelised in The Space Guardians by Brian Ball published by Orbit (UK paperback), Dobson (UK hardback), Pocket Books (US), Breitschupf (Germany).
Novelised in Verso il Tremila by Gianni Padoan (AMZ).
A comic strip version is in Zack 1977-21 (German) and Il Fumetto A Colori Di Spazio 1999 2 and 3 (Italian).
UK video: ITC volume 9 (1993) (and WH Smith Exclusive Video edition)
US video: Columbia House volume 3 (1997)
US laserdisc: Image Entertainment volume 9 (1991)
France video: Sony Music Video volume 3 (1992)
Japan laserdisc: Emotion volume 4 (1993)
US DVD: A&E set 2 volume 3 (2001)
UK DVD: Carlton volume 2 (2001)
UK DVD: Network (2005)
UK Blu-ray: Network (2010)
US Blu-ray: A&E (2010)
Japan DVD: Pioneer (2001)
France DVD: TF1 (2002)
Germany DVD: EMS (2004)
Germany Bu-ray: Crest (2011)
Italy DVD: Pulp Video (2003)
Italy DVD: Collector's Edition Mondo Home (2007)
Italy DVD: Newspaper promotion La Repubblica (2007)
Portugal DVD: Prisvideo (2003)
Australia DVD: Magna Pacific (2003)
Sweden DVD: Noble Entertainment (2009)
Spanish DVD: Producciones JRB (2003)

Episode Guide