Episode Guide

Year 2 - Episode 22

• Shooting script dated 9th September 1976 titled "Devil's Moon" (and filmed under that title)
• A "Double Up Koenig" script, filmed simultaneously with Dorzak. Shooting schedule dated 28th October 1976. Filmed 1st November - 18 November 1976
• Barbara Bain recorded a status report but is not seen in this episode, apart from in flashback. Catherine Schell and Tony Anholt are credited but do not film any scenes for this episode (they are briefly seen in flashback scenes from previous episodes). Alibe appears in the first of her three episodes.

Cast

Sets

Int. Command Centre
Int. Eagle Pilot Section
Int. Eagle Passenger Section

Ext. Planet Surface: Ellna transbeam station
Ext. Planet Surface: Area Of Sanctuary Column
Ext. Planet Surface: Outside Prison
Ext. Planet Surface
Int. Entra Reception Chamber
Int. Entra Security Ward
Int. Entra Cell
Int. Entra Cell Block B
Int. Entra Corridor

• The buildings on Ellna uses clusters of Airfix Eagle leg pods. One tower uses a slide projector carousel, another is a plastic swing-top bin. They were built by Martin Bower.
• The first image of Ellna is a reversed version of a photograph taken by Apollo 17. A monochrome blue copy of the same picture is seen as Entra when Koenig is teleported. Other shots of Entra are actually Tora from The Seance Spectre. Thanks to Marcus Lindroos.

Ellna, looking like Earth. This is a reversed NASA photograph (original below left, with image right reversed and rotated 90 degrees). The original is used for the Space News titles in Dragon's Domain.

• The atmosphere is said to be nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen. There is not much hydrogen in Earth's atmosphere and it tends to react explosively with oxygen (it is found in the form of water, however).
• Koenig's thoughts are projected on screen. This is very advanced technology. Note in some of them Koenig watches himself.
• The forcefield destroys bodies completely, but leaves clothes intact. Clothes are generally more flammable than tissue and bone. Why is there an atmospheric forcefield if they don't have spaceships?
• The deadly virus has evidently destroyed all Ellna life down to the microflora, whose enzymes are mainly responsible for decomposition. The virus did not strike long enough ago for inorganic processes such as leaching to have caused any obvious decomposition; perhaps months. As Beron's wife has had a baby (and presuming he is the father...) we presume it is within the last year. Even if the Alphans are immune to the virus, they may carry it from then on, causing other aliens the same fate.

Eagles:

• We learn the Eagle carries missiles.
• The forward view screen is seen. It is also seen in The A B Chrysalis, Seed Of Destruction, Space Warp, Bringers Of Wonder part 2 and The Seance Spectre.
• The top mounted laser gun is seen. It is also seen in The A B Chrysalis

• In this episode Koenig shows pictures by pointing the barrel of the commlock. Normally they look at the screen while communicating.
• Roy Marsden also appeared as Alien Invisible in Rules Of Luton
• Shot of Maya transforming into a panther is from The Exiles
• Shot of Maya transforming into an owl is from New Adam, New Eve
• Shot of Koenig and Helena kissing is from Bringers Of Wonder part 1
• Prison corridors are revamped from The Metamorph, One Moment Of Humanity and The Dorcons
• The obelisks on the planet surface were seen in A Matter Of Balance and in the throne room in The Dorcons
• Footage from the crash sequence (of the Eagle, and Koenig) are seen in The Immunity Syndrome
• Garth is played by stunt arranger Peter Brayham. He also appears as a security guard in The Dorcons

• The Entran guards in their scarlet leotards and whips have led to several television companies shifting this episode to late night slots.
• Sanctuary is a medieval concept by which criminals could seek protection from the law in churches or other consecrated buildings. In England it also allowed safe passage to a port in order to leave the country. Sanctuary was disallowed for treason and second offences in 1486, abolished for criminal offences in 1624, and abolished for civil offences in 1697 and 1723.
• Transportation to penal colonies began in 1614 when British convicts were sent to Virginia as an alternative to the death sentence. By 1790 the range of crimes had expanded and Australia replaced the newly independent Americas as the primary destination. Convicts worked as labourers for the government or private citizens. By 1850, penal philosophy favoured prisons, and transportation was seen as an incitement to crime due to the booming economies of the colonies. In the 20th century, the Soviet government in Russia sent millions of ordinary criminals, members of ethnic groups and political dissidents to brutal Siberian gulags (forced labour camps).
• The title of the episode explicitly references Devil's Island (Île du Diable, off French Guiana), the infamous French prison which housed political prisoners as well as the other criminals from 1852 to 1946. The harsh conditions and disease ensured that few prisoners lived out their full sentence, and very few escaped. The harsh conditions became notorious after the Dreyfus affair in 1895, and again in 1970 when the book Papillon was published, followed in 1973 by the film. The prison was only formally closed in 1952.
• Thomas points out the episode title could easily be swapped with the next episode: The Immunity Syndrome which features an apparently cursed planet, while this episode features Koenig with immunity to a plague.
• Although Elizia calls the prisoners "political troublemakers", they seem to be common violent criminals. Crael appeals for freedom of speech, so Ellnan society is presumably democratic.
• It is odd to site the beaming station receiving released prisoners in a wood some distance from a main town. They obviously don't believe in helping prisoners be reintroduced and rehabilitated into the community.
• Elizia is not surprised to encounter aliens, or to learn about metamorphs. Perhaps they have had extensive contact with aliens.
• As in The Metamorph Koenig has gas jets on his face during the crash.