The Catacombs Episode Guide

Space Brain

The Troubled Spirit Year 1 - Episode 20 The Infernal Machine

Screenplay by Christopher Penfold
Directed by Charles Crichton
Guest Artists Shane Rimmer, Carla Romanelli
Denmark Rumhjernen
France/Canada Cerveau spatial Space Brain
Germany Wer programmiest Kelly? Who Programs Kelly?
Italy Il cervello spaziale The Space Brain
Japan Attack of the Huge Space Brain
Netherlands Kosmisch Brein Cosmic Brain
Poland Mozg kosmosu
Portugal O Cérebro do Espaço The Brain Of Space
Spain Cerebro del espacio Space Brain
South AfricaRuimtebrein Space Brain

Alpha encounters an intangible mass as it heads though space...and towards disaster. Whatever the mysterious energy field might be, it possesses a strange and frightening power.

Background

Space Brain

Cast

Commander John Koenig Martin Landau
Doctor Helena Russell Barbara Bain
Professor Victor Bergman Barry Morse
Kelly Shane Rimmer
Melita Carla Romanelli
Paul Morrow Prentis Hancock
Alan Carter Nick Tate
Sandra Benes Zienia Merton
David Kano Clifton Jones
Doctor Bob Mathias Anton Phillips
Wayland Derek Anders
Tanya Aleksandr Suzanne Roquette
Main Mission Operative Lee (Oswald) Loftus Burton
Main Mission Operative Ann Ann Maj-Britt
Main Mission Operative Kate Sarah Bullen
Main Mission Operative Jaqueline Delhaye
Main Mission Operative Laurie Davis
Main Mission Operative Mike Stevens
Alphan Alan Harris
Main Mission Operative Andy Dempsey
Nurse Judith Hepburn
Nurses Diana Reeves
Erica Svenson
Patient Carol Dee
Cousteau James Snell
Security Guard (Tony Allan) Tony Allyn
Security Guard (Pierce Quinton) Quentin Pierre
Technician Michael Sirett
Technician Robert Atiko
Stunts Eddie Stacey
Joe Dunne
Marc Boyle
Dorothy Ford

Sets

Int. Main Mission
Int. Command Office
Int. Alpha Corridor
Int. Kelly's Quarters
Int. Medical/Observation
Int. Technical
Int. Computer Room
Int. Eagle Pilot Section
Int. Eagle Passenger Section
Ext. Space (spacewalk)

The Computer Room originally appeared in Black Sun with some slight differences.

SFX

Space Brain Space Brain Space Brain

Music

Library track: "Mars, Bringer Of War" composed by Gustav Holst, arranged by Malcolm Sargent (published by EMI Music For Pleasure)

Science

Space Brain

Continuity

Chronology:

Alpha Personnel:

3 fatalities, Cousteau, Wayland, Kelly.

In the script cast list and some publicity material, Melita is listed as "Melita Janni" - although the surname is never used in dialogue. They are married (Koenig talks to her about "her husband"), so it is possible that Kelly is a forename; alternatively Melita may use her maiden name.

Alpha Technology:

Space Brain

Eagles:

Eagle 1 (Wayland and Cousteau, destroyed); 4 (Rescue); 7 (Koenig, fastest); remote Eagle (crashed); cargo Eagle

Planets:

None

Aliens:

Space Brain

Space brain

Reuse

Cast:

Errors

Space Brain

Kelly takes his helmet for EVA wearing a normal backpack. Later he has a special backpack (where is his oxygen?)

Space Brain

When the Eagle door opens to the vacuum, how can Kelly get away from the artificial gravity? We could presume the gravity is turned down or off, but there are unsecured boxes and stun guns on the shelves which could float away.

Space Brain Space Brain

During the space-walk, the stripes on the rescue pod are gone.

Space Brain

Completing the wide angle turn, Koenig's Eagle and the robot Eagle are superimposed.

Space Brain

In the boarding tube between Koenig's Eagle and the robot Eagle, one door is the normal Moonbase door.

Observations

Space Brain

Several publicity shots exist of a fight between Kelly and Alan Carter in the Eagle cabin. This makes no sense in the context of the episode (as rewritten) and is not seen in the final print.

  • Christopher Penfold: The microcosm meets the macrocosm. The universe that the single complex cell of Alpha moves as itself only the interior of a brain that was huge beyond comprehension. It's a science fiction idea I find appealing, that within ourselves other universes exist.
  • Melita only calls her husband "Kelly". We never learn his first name.
  • Why can Kelly see more on a spacewalk than in the Eagle with all its sensors? Isn't there a danger of being hit by wreckage from the missing Eagle 1?
  • The human link to the computer, complete with fast typing, is also seen in Ring Around The Moon.
Space Brain

Carla Romanelli and (partially hidden behind Barry Morse) Troubled Spirit star Giancarlo Prete with the Main Mission crew. Picture thanks to Mark Spalding.

Network version Widescreen Widescreen

Two shots on the Carlton DVDs are in widescreen (with black borders top and bottom). They are zoomed in on the Network DVDs, cropping the sides of the shot.

Merchandise:

Links

External Links


Contents copyright Martin Willey