Guardian of Piri
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Year 1 - Episode 8
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| Original Title |
Nobody's Perfect |
| Spain |
El guardiàn de Piri |
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| France/Canada |
Le gardien du Piri |
The Guardian Of The Piri |
| Germany |
Das Glück der Träumenden |
The Happiness Of Dreaming |
| Italy |
Il Pianeta Incantato |
The Enchanted Planet |
| Japan |
Temptation of the Space Paradise
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| Portugal |
O Guardião de Piri |
Guardian of Piri |
| Sweden |
Paradiset |
The Paradise |
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A mysterious power from an alien planet takes control of the moon, luring its inhabitants to a paradise of eternal peace but living death. Only one man has the will to resist - Commander Koenig.
- Although Chris Penfold is credited as "Story consultant", there is no writer credit. The original story concept for "Nobody's Perfect" is by David Weir, who wrote Black Sun.
- Final storyline titled "Nobody's Perfect" dated 9th April 1974
- Shooting script 29th April 1974. Shooting schedule dated 8 May 1974. Filmed 8 May - 24 May 1974.
- Martin Landau's copy has notations including "every scene has 2,3 or more bumps, adjustments. why is it necessary - it's now past the experimental stage - let's get some writers of dialogue and drama..." and "Koenig is an ass in scene 94... Is he an idiot!" (in Sc 94 Koenig finds the command conference planning the last phase of Operation Exodus and tells them the Guardian is attacking their minds).
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- Shots of many Eagles rising from Alpha, and many Eagles flying to the planet, are reused in War Games
- One shot is a full view of the base with an Eagle being raised on a launch pad. Note the Eagle's engines are towards the boarding tube. This shot was achieved with a large photo of the Moonbase with a hole cut out, through which the larger scale hydraulic launch pad could be seen.
- The first use of the large Moonbase buildings for ground level close-ups of the base. None of these buildings correspond to the full-sized Moonbase model, except for the Main Mission tower.
- The first use of the Eagle "booster pod", in an obvious continuity error
- Although many Eagles are seen together, there was only one 44inch Eagle at the time of filming. Several different scales of the Eagle are seen in the same shot during the launchings at the end, as well as photo cut-outs. The scene where the two Eagles dock uses only the one Eagle model and some components. The "second" Eagle (bottom left) is made up of:
- a spine constructed with EMA plastic tube. Note there are no "collars" at the frame joints.
- a top section of a transporter pod (only one side- the other side in the extreme bottom left corner is undetailed plastic sheet with no "lip" at the top)
- the rear starboard leg pod stolen from the first Eagle (out of frame, so you cannot see it is missing)
On careful inspection, you can see there is no framework in front of the second Eagle's pod. The docking tube doesn't join to where the pod's door would be, either.
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Library track: "Undersea" composed by Chuck Cassey (Chappell Recorded Music Library)
- Connecting the neurons of the brain to electrodes has enabled blind people to have crude artificial sight, but linking the cognitive processes of the brain to a computer's memory is a vastly more complex task- though probably not impossible.
- The Marie Celeste reference is to the Mary Celeste, a boat transporting crude alcohol which was abandoned 1000km off Gibralter in 1871. The crew was never found. The ship (commonly renamed Marie Celeste, rather than Mary Celeste) quickly became a near mythical symbol of mysterious disappearances. In fact, the reason was obvious: there was evidence of an explosion of alcohol vapour in the hold. This would have made the crew fear the entire cargo would explode.
1 fatality, Sarah Graham.
Alpha Technology:
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Eagle 4 (Koenig's final Eagle); 6 (Irving and Davis); 10 (Medical); 24 (Alan); 26 and 27 (named)
- The first use of the "booster pod", featured prominently in The Metamorph. Unfortunately it is an obvious continuity error
- We see another view of the Eagle hangar (unused footage from Breakaway, very similar to a shot in the pilot episode).
- We see the Eagle docking tube. Unlike in Earthbound it does not have a corrugated docking seal.
- The rescue pod is glimpsed at the side of one shot
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Piri
Aliens:
We do not know if the Pirians were humanoid (the Pirian girl is constructed for the Alphans).
When Eagle 24 lands, 2 other landed Eagles can be seen in the distance. |
Eagle 24 is a normal standard pod- but when it lands on Alpha it has a booster pod |
On the Main Mission big screen we see Koenig on the Piri surface talking into his commlock. What camera can take this view? |
 
Alan enters the cabin of the deserted Eagle. The shot of Alan peering in the door shows the lights are dimmed. The shot of the cabin shows it lit up, and the door is still closed (actually it's a clip from Breakaway) |
The woman carrying the cases will drop one (a film canister, over her shoulder) as Koenig moves in front. |
Stuntman Marc Boyle is seen briefly doubling for Koenig in the fight. Joe Dunne doubled for Nick Tate, but his face is not clearly seen. Thanks to James C.
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- When Koenig's last Eagle rises on the launch pad, the boarding tube is on the port side. When it launches, the tube is on the starboard side.
- Alan wakes up very quickly after being stunned.
- It is stated they have "lost three men" (Irving, Davis, Kano)- there is no mention of Graham's death.
- Catherine Schell would later return as regular character Maya in Year Two.
- Gareth Hunt is briefly seen as an Eagle pilot in the end scenes. He was to have been more prominently featured (as Irving), but after a disagreement with director Charles Crichton he left before the episode was completed. He was replaced by Michael Culver. Subsequently he found fame on The New Avengers.
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- Crichton emphasises bright primary colours (red, blue) on the brilliantly lit surface. While it is a studio set, the weirdness of it gives it a believability. The set design was inspired by a play Chris Penfold wrote for LWT called Spawn, about a character who filled his garden with sculpture resembling giant frog spawn.
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- The anti-hedonist morality is obvious (note how Koenig takes drugs to stay awake). Immortality (here, literally suspended time) signifies stagnation; change and transcience allows for the possibility of progress. Bergman's and Kano's dependence on machines leads them to be the first to be taken.
- The story echoes the Lotus Eaters in Homer's Odyssey book 9; some of Odysseus's crew eat lotus leaves and lose all will to return home.
- Notable performances, especially from Helena, Bergman, Kano, Carter, Mathias. A good portion of humour too.
The original storyline "Nobody's Perfect" contained the following differences:
- When Koenig returns to Alpha after fighting Alan, he goes to Main Mission where he finds Paul alone playing his guitar.
- Bergman and Helena try to take Koenig forceably to Piri, but Koenig takes Mathias and Helena hostage. To stop Bergman shutting down the base, Koenig compromises and releases them.
- Alone on Alpha, Koenig is tempted by a bed that appears in Main Mission, then a drink, then the Pirian girl appears. When he states he will never leave Alpha, she instantly transports him to Piri.
- After the Pirian girl is stunned, the Guardian speaks with the voice of the girl. It realises Piri is more dead than perfect and voluntarily destroys itself. This restores time, transporting all the Alphans except Koenig and Carter back to Alpha, and the two probe pilots, still in their Eagle, which crashes into a pinnacle of spheres. Koenig and Carter return in an Eagle.
- A clip of the Piri surface appears in the Dr Who episode Nightmare Of Eden (1979).
External Links
Episode Guide 
