Force of Life
A terrifying force from Outer Space brings freezing death to Alpha personnel. One man has been chosen as the instrument of destruction.
- Shooting script 15th May 1974, final shooting script dated 24th May 1974. Filmed 28th May - 7th June 1974
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- After investing lots of effects effort in Guardian Of Piri, this episode uses just Alpha sets and minimal effects (the blue light passing over Alpha, the revolving radar scanner, Moonbase buildings exploding). Note the nice shot of lights going out over the base.
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Library tracks:
- "Cosmic Sounds No. 1 and No. 3" composed by Georges Teperino (Chappell Recorded Music Library)
- "The Latest Fashion" composed by Giampiera Boneschi (Chappell Recorded Music Library)
- "Videotronics No. 3" composed by Cecil Leuter (aka Roger Roger) (Chappell Recorded Music Library)
- The reactor vessel looks more like a conventional coal furnace; nuclear reactors comprise water tanks in which the nuclear rods are inserted. If anything, they would look like swimming pools.
- From the exterior shot of the explosion, the reactor is located centrally, close to the Main Mission Tower. For the replacement, they might consider a more peripheral location.
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| 4 fatalities, Anton Zoref, Hilary Preston, Mark Dominix, guard.
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Alpha Technology:
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None.
None.
Aliens:
The life force. Not humanoid.
Footage:
- Stock footage of Alphans being thrown about is repeated from Breakaway (as is one of the explosions of Alpha buildings).
When Dominix falls to the ground, his head lies near the "AT" of the "Radiation" sign. In the distorted view following Zoref fleeing, Dominix's head is closer to the "DI" letters.
 
Some prints of this episode (such as the US laserdiscs) show an on-screen microphone top left during the opening shot of Koenig and Bergman. On the DVDs (all versions), the frame is zoomed in so the microphone is not seen. Thanks to James Poll. |
When Koenig orders all the power cut on Alpha, we see a long shot of the base.
Building by building the lights wink out, including the Main Mission tower. Then
the camera switches to a close up shot, and we see the lights of the inner buildings
go out, and the Main Mission tower lights turn off again. Thanks to John Day.
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- Impressive stylised visuals from David Tomblin, including weird angles, distorted points of view, slow motion, staggered cuts.
- The story is a cross between the Midas touch and vampire myths; but here Zoref is not malevolent, simply needing sustenance (the script indicated an evil force, twice referred to as "almost Satanic").
- Zoref is named after a friend of Johnny Byrne. This episode focuses on normal characters, showing their home life and giving the series a welcome touch of humanity.
- When filming the ending about the birth of a star, Martin Landau ad libbed "Well, I always knew Anton had star qualities in him."
- The warning light used to detect if Zoref is draining power in Medical is useless. Nobody watches it, and Helena's desk faces the opposite direction. The audible bleeps of medical monitors, as used in real hospitals, would have been better.
- When the Nuclear Generator area starts to blow up, Koenig and company are running
down corridors to escape. During the last few seconds of the explosions, they race into Main Mission and hold onto the desks for dear life. But Main Mission is located several stories above the level of the reactor (judging from the explosion). Did they get into an elevator in the middle of all of this? Or run up four flights of stairs? Thanks to John Day.
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External Links
Episode Guide 
