The Immunity Syndrome
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Year 2 - Episode 23
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| Original Title |
The Face Of Eden |
| Belgium (Flemish) |
Gifplaneet |
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| Denmark |
Zorans skæbne |
The Fate of Zoran |
| France/Canada |
Le syndrome de l'immunité |
The syndrome of immunity |
| Germany |
Zoran's Schicksal |
Zoran's Fate |
| Italy |
Il Lampo che Uccide
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The Lightning Bolt That Kills |
| Japan |
Mysterious Space Intelligence
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| Poland |
Syndrom odpornosci |
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| Portugal |
O Sindroma da Imunidade |
The Immunity Syndrome |
| Portugal |
O Planeta sem Esperança |
Planet Without Hope |
| Spain |
El sindrome de inmunidad |
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Commander Koenig and company find what appears to be a habitable planet; but it is ruled by a single being who, in its efforts to make contact with the Alphans, unwittingly puts them in peril of their lives!
- Draft script titled The Face Of Eden dated 24th October 1975. Featured Year One cast and a mostly different plot.
- First draft script titled The Immunity Syndrome dated 4th March 1976. Featured significant changes and different ending to completed episode.
- Shooting script dated 11th October 1976. Filmed 19th November- 6th December 1976.
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- The glider was built by Martin Bower in two scales; the smaller model was mounted on top of the 44" Eagle, the larger model crashed onto the planet surface. Actually the larger model was built in scale with the 44 inch Eagle.
- The crushed fake commlocks have obviously flat buttons.
- The planet is the same Apollo 17 photograph of Earth used as Ellna in Devil's Planet.
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- Plastic fibres that conduct electricity were invented in the 1980s.
- The design of the re-entry glider is closely based on a real NASA design tested in 1969. Plastic composites began to replace metal in aircraft in the 1990s, as they withstand temperature changes and corrosion, are lighter and equally strong.
2310 days after leaving Earth orbit (Mon 9 Jan 2006)
4 fatalities, Lustig, Les Johnson, 2 others. One of the Survey Alphans who dies (played by Harry Fielder, whose character was named George in Seance Spectre) reappears as a medic in The Dorcons.
Alpha Technology:
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Eagle 1 (disintegrated on ground); 4 ("Survey", crashed); 3 (Fraser)
- The booster pod is featured, and crashed for the first time.
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None.
Unnamed planet
Aliens:
Zoran, a humanoid. Alien force.
Props:
- The timing device for the nuclear bombs from Space Brain and the space warp detector from Space Warp are seen in the Eagle cockpit

The glider-Eagle is docked to starboard, but they enter the portside.
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One distant shot of Eagle 4 shows it without the lab pod.
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This shot also shows a transporter pod, although it is not recognisable from this angle. It's actually a shot taken from Devil's Planet. The previous shot of the Eagle showed it just above the trees, but the Eagle is much higher here.
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The ladder is shown "forward" of the passenger pod's port and starboard
access doors. The access "tube" is clearly "aft" of the pod's access doors. Thanks to Martin Daoust.
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The alien may actually be humanoid... The flashing light effect seems to be created by a studio technician moving a round mirror, standing behind a plant. At normal speed, the flashing light and violently moving camera make him hard to see, but he can just be seen in individual frames.
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- The sound effect of the alien (a screeching sound) is from Another Time, Another Place. The barren wind noise on the planet is from Mission Of The Darians.
- The script has Helena checking Tony's background from the computer profile:
Anthony Dean Verdeschi. Born 2-13am Florence Italy. BA Hons University Of Rome 1990. PHD MIT 1993. Space science commission 1994. Rank Science specialist GI
Note the not very Italian name, the birth time but no date, and the very fast PHD, in just 3 years.
- Jerry Travis was named Yuri Salkov in the script.
- Maya's transformations were removed. In the first draft she is seen as a pacing panther and she changes into a hollow sphere to re-enter the atmosphere; in the shooting script she changes into a bird to find the camp. None of these transformations survive to screen.
- Helena gives the date as 2310 days after leaving Earth orbit (Monday 9th January 2006); the planet was encountered two days previously. This overlaps with The Lambda Factor, which starts at 2308 days, and lasts about 2 days.
- During the cabin fire Koenig says "I'll take over." So presumably Koenig was at the helm during the crash. Yet afterwards when Koenig says "Some landing.", Alan says "Yeah. I have to admit it wasn't one of my best." Thanks to Martin Daoust.
- During the ITV4 showing on 31 December 2006, the flashing light sequences were either slowed down or removed, presumably to protect people with photosensitive epilepsy. Tony's scream in the begining was also cut.

Landau, Tate and Schell laughing on set. Photo thanks to Mark Shaw. |
- Novelised in The Edge Of The Infinite by Michael Butterworth published by Warner (US), Bastei (Germany). Butterworth has the Alphans settling on the alien planet, bringing their journey to an end.
- UK video: ITC volume 20 (1995)
- US laserdisc: Image Entertainment volume 19 (1991)
- Japan DVD: Pioneer (2001)
- UK DVD: Carlton (2001)
- France DVD: TF1 (2002)
- Italy DVD: Pulp Video (2005)
- Italy DVD: Collector's Edition Mondo Home (2007)
- Australia DVD: Magna Pacific (2003)
- US DVD: A&E set 8 (2002)
External Links