The combination of Shakespearean-styled scripting with the futuristic atmosphere of Space: 1999 is a marvel, but unfortunately, due mostly to the weakness in characterisation, ‘Death’s other Dominion’ falls short of being a masterpiece.
Rating: 8.5/10
1.15
THE FULL CIRCLE
Screenplay by Jesse Lasky Jnr and Pat Silver
Directed by Bob Kellett
Selected Broadcast Dates:
UK LWT:
Date: 13 December 1975. Time: 6.25 pm
Granada:
Date: 12 March 1976. Time: 6.35 pm
US KRON (San Francisco):
Date: 6 December 1975. Time: 7.00 pm
Credited Cast: Martin Landau (John Koenig), Barbara Bain (Helena Russell), Barry Morse (Victor Bergman), Prentis Hancock (Paul Morrow), Clifton Jones (David Kano), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Anton Phillips (Bob Mathias), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Oliver Cotton (Spearman)
Uncredited Cast: Sarah Bullen (Operative Kate / Cavewoman), Suzanne Roquette (Tanya Alexander), Annie Lambert (Operative Julie), Andrew Dempsey (Main Mission Operative / Caveman), Lynda Westover (Main Mission Operative / Cavewoman), Robert Phillips (Main Mission Operative), Michael Stevens (Main Mission Operative), Tony Allyn (Security Guard Tony Allan / Caveman), Christopher Williams (Orderly / Caveman), Alan Meacham (Sandos), Colin Rix (Co-Pilot / Caveman), Chai Lee (Alphan Nurse), Glenda Allen (Nurse / Cavewoman), Kathy Mallory (Nurse / Cavewoman)
Plot: An Eagle sent to the planet Retha is brought back to Alpha with a dead caveman aboard. Koenig and Russell’s rescue team follows the first reconnaissance party and disappears into a strange mist. Carter is attacked by cavemen and Sandra is taken captive, which leads her to make the shocking discovery that there are no native Rethans – the only people are the Alphans themselves, transformed into their Cro Magnon counterparts by the mists of Retha.
Quotes:
Alan: ‘It looks like the jungle in Brazil.’
Paul: ‘Where the nuts come from?’
Victor [To Koenig]: ‘Lucky for you, you have a thick skull.’
Victor: ‘No sign of them at all. Just markers going into the mist.’
Sandra: ‘Oh God, what has happened?’
Sandra: ‘We got frightened, angry, jealous … vengeful.’
Filming Dates: Tuesday 24 September – Tuesday 8 October 1974
Commentary:
Barbara Bain: ‘Dirt on the face; blackened teeth. That was fun, actually. I, as an actress, knew that was not a usual role. I didn’t have a lot of experience playing such a creature. So, it was fun to think about, to do. I had a moment in there when I discover Koenig dead, when I scream. I thought a nice, polite scream wasn’t going to do. I have screamed on occasion in a role. I thought, “What am I going to do?” It’s got to be more than that. It has to be something very primitive and guttural. We broke for lunch, and the scream was coming up after lunch. I went upstairs into my dressing room and I wondered if I could just march out there and hope some great scream would come out, or what. Am I going to try it up here? And I did! I made this ungodly noise at Pinewood. I don’t know if people were worried about what was going on in there! That was good. At least I heard it, and I thought, “Okay, that’ll do it.”
‘[In this episode] Zienia was carried on a [pole]! Zienia’s terrific! A very special person. She was game … among other things. I wouldn’t have liked that part; headed toward the fire. It was fun to do that, actually. It was interesting, too. The movement of it was interesting to me. I always had a big interest in dance, and movement, and the physicality of it.
‘The funny part of it was that my oldest daughter, Susan, was coming home from school with her first boyfriend, and I came home not quite rid of the (cavewoman) makeup. When you’re in high school and your mom shows up like that, it can’t be too terrific. So we tried to make peace over it, but I know I embarrassed her. It’s interesting, because when you [think of favourite filming memories] … there’s always some moment that’s kind of part of your life, and part of the actual shooting, that stays interwoven, so it has a double level.’
Barry Morse: ‘“The Full Circle” was looked forward to with great glee among a lot of us, for the opportunity of shooting outside. But unfortunately, at the time we shot that episode, we had a succession of the most appallingly bad weather days England had seen for many months. So the only chance we got to be out of doors was in swamping rain and perishing cold. Some of our colleagues were a bit upset about the prospect of working in this weather. The general feeling was – here we were, hoping and praying to get an episode we could film outside, and when we finally get one, it’s drenching down with rain all the time! I can’t say the episode was particularly impressive or successful, or even one of the happiest times we spent filming, but I for one certainly did enjoy the change. It was funny to me because I always get a certain amount of amusement from how members of the human race respond to given situations, and in or out of favourable conditions.’
Zienia Merton: ‘It was filmed at what we call Black Park, which is behind Pinewood Studios. It was the end of November, so the weather was not all that pleasant. My bits [of the filming] were outside. All I had [to wear] was this little leopard skin. The director said to me, “I’m not going to have you like Raquel Welch,” – which I’m not – “in a fur-lined maiden form bra.” He said, “This has got to look real. This is your leopard skin. Go to wardrobe and make a costume out of it. That’s all you’re getting; nothing else.” So I went to wardrobe and we put the bits and pieces all around and pinned them, so it looked as if it was a costume made on the spot. And we went out to film. I had to be running through the forest – running, running, running – and finally I would collapse by a tree, exhausted. And it started to rain; but just a drizzle, not much. So they said, “Well, we’ll wait a bit. The caravan is too far away. It’s too long to take you there. So we’ll stay here.” But, they gave me a huge plastic bag, which I got in to wait for the rain to stop … They didn’t want the fur to get wet! Fur harder to dry than actress!
‘I was lying there in my plastic bag and I suddenly thought, “God, my leg!” About 60 insects had bitten me; they’d all homed in on my leg. I was shivering because I had nothing else on – just the leopard skin and a small pair of trousers, and that was it. So our production manager – who’s usually very strict, because he is responsible for making the budget work – came to me and said, “Zienia, darling, I think you need this.” And it was a little teacup. I thought, “Ah, tea!” But it was brandy. It was neat brandy. I thought, “Oh, this is nice.” So I started [taking sips] in my little plastic tent, and before lunch I must have had half a bottle of brandy; I was completely blotto. But I didn’t mind, because I had no words, so all I had to do was run in a fairly straight line, and maybe no-one would notice.
‘So, while I was filming by the tree, I was lying down and I got up … Always while you’re filming, the continuity lady is right by the camera making sure that every word you say is the same, or if you use your right hand one time, that the next time you don’t use your left – continuity. So she was sitting there. She’s a wonderful woman, Gladys; a very nice, comfy mother figure. So I’m lying there and I’m getting up and she goes [making faces as if to subtly point out something wrong], and I looked, and I had fallen out of my costume! The rest of the crew said, “Aw, Gladys, you spoil sport!”
‘I know that a lot of the criticisms of Year One of Space: 1999 were [to the effect] that we were wooden or one-dimensional, or whatever people wanted to say. But looking at “The Full Circle”, there were a lot of good funny bits there that I think were really valid, and should have been promoted. That was the kind of joking that I would have liked – you know, the inter-relationship between people and how they reacted. I mean, Kano had a wonderful line. He had never said anything funny before, but he actually said, “God, I hate back seat drivers,” and I just think it’s great. It’s something we can all identify with. And also he said te
rribly chauvinist things like, “I hope she’s getting lunch ready.” There were silly things in it, and that is the key to humanising a show – it doesn’t always have to be traumatic. There was an awful lot of that in “The Full Circle”.
‘I thought it was a super episode. It was lovely, we had a kind of flirtatious little thing, and Nick built this up. When we went down together in the Eagle, Prentis called to say, “Give my love to Sandra,” and Nick said, “Not if I can help it,” and then we built it up. I started panicking and worrying, and … before [Nick] fell in [the pit] he said something like, “Going on like this, you’ll get Paul jealous.” It was smashing. It was human emotion and [was] natural. But because we were sweet on each other, they thought we should be hugging each other every time we were alone together, and I said, “Don’t be silly. We’d be hugging when we weren’t in Main Mission.” Away from prying eyes, so to speak. People don’t suddenly clinch because the moment is right … But it was nice to get out. It was the first time we’d been out on location, and I know the crew thought it was [a novelty], because it was the first time they saw my legs! They said, “Oh, she’s actually got legs.” You know, I used to sit behind my desk, and I could have been crippled for all you saw of my movements.’
Nick Tate: ‘I liked “The Full Circle”, where we had to get out and fight the cavemen. That was the first time we went outside. They dug a great big pit outside Pinewood Studios and I went down in the pit and I fought this guy down there…’
Bloopers: When the third Eagle lands on Retha, the far one is an obvious cardboard cut-out.
Observations: The cave set is re-used from ‘Death’s other Dominion’, where it was the Ice Palace. Here, re-painted and re-decorated, it’s virtually unrecognisable to the casual viewer.
This is the first time the Stun/Kill sliding setting is seen on the Stun Guns.
Review: ‘The Full Circle’ takes the old saying about ‘the mists of time’ to its ultimate extent. And what a contrast this lush green world of Retha is after the frozen wasteland of Ultima Thule in the previous episode. This is a fascinating script, with Retha as a Bermuda Triangle of planets – resulting in repeated unaccountable disappearances of both reconnaissance teams and individual Alphans.
Bob Kellett’s direction is at its best in his depiction of Sandra’s run through the woods and her near death at the hands of the cave-woman Russell, and overall is his finest of the three episodes he helmed. Kellett has stated that he re-wrote much of the script himself.
Art direction is of special note within the caves, with the walls adorned by primitive Stone Age paintings. Note as well the massive mammoth tusk in the cavern. The special effects throughout are generally excellent, and the planet looks marvellously authentic in the views from outer space. The procedure of reconnaissance landings is somewhat different than normal, as this is one of the few times that the initial excursion team is not made up of series regulars. The use of markers to show the path the scouting party took into the forest is welcome and logical. It would have been worthwhile to utilise this system again in future episodes. It’s also interesting to note the tracking device used to follow the previous teams into the forest – a piece of Alphan technology used only in this episode.
The effectively primitive drum music (Barry Gray’s final recording for the series) heightens suspense and the prehistoric slant of the story, while providing another level of contrast to the futuristic science fiction trappings and outer space effects. There are well-incorporated signs of animal life on Retha, notably the giant dinosaur footprint and the rustling trees. And, compellingly, ‘Retha’ is an anagram of ‘Earth’.
Director Bob Kellett reportedly encouraged the production to move outdoors, and ‘The Full Circle’ was the result. The episode was filmed near Pinewood Studios in Black Park, and is the only segment of Year One to feature extensive outdoor filming. The location shoot for this episode provides an absolutely beautiful setting to represent Retha, complete with authentic atmospheric mists.
Zienia Merton’s performance is very strong and demonstrates that she can excel in a large leading role. If only she had received the opportunity more frequently. The flirtatious interplay between Sandra and Paul is greatly enjoyable, and especially so when contrasted against Paul’s obvious jealousy. Along with Merton, Prentis Hancock, Nick Tate and Clifton Jones are all given an opportunity to shine, and all exude a likeable warmth of characterisation. Barbara Bain’s performance as the howling cave-woman is outstanding, while Martin Landau impresses as a primitive version of himself. The primitive counterparts of Russell and Koenig still retain their strongest traits – he is the leader of his tribe and is quick to temper, while she is a compassionate and caring healer.
In a truly unusual example of an Eagle crew, Professor Bergman and David Kano serve as co-pilot and pilot on a launch down to Retha. The scene presenting the genial Bergman, Kano and Carter camping during the night on Retha, gathered around a blazing campfire and eating a hot meal, is appealing not only for the visual incongruity of these futuristic space travellers camping in the woods, but also for the simple fact that is shows them eating – something rarely done in Space: 1999. Although the sequence does have the stated appeal, logic is absent: enjoying the fresh air is one thing, but what possesses otherwise reasonable-minded people like Bergman and Kano to camp outside when they have no fewer than three perfectly safe Eagles to sleep in? Especially when other exploratory teams have gone missing, and strange cave-people and the occasional dinosaur-like creature are roaming about.
But lapses in logic aren’t confined to the campers – Carter goes wandering off on his own to explore, without so much as leaving a note to tell Sandra what he is doing. Once he finds himself stuck in the pit, Carter should try using his Commlock to call Sandra, but instead he ignores it and actually leaves it behind. Sandra Benes suffers here, also. Having previously stated, ‘Wild horses wouldn’t drag me out of here,’ she nonetheless proceeds to open the Eagle door without so much as a Stun Gun in her hand. A more natural action for her character would be to wait until Bergman and Kano arrive – it is only going to take them ten minutes to reach her. Once the door is opening and she can see the caveman standing outside, she should shut the door instead of remaining frozen. But the script did have to contrive some way of her getting captured, and at least she puts up a brave fight. With all these complaints about lack of character sensibility, it should be mentioned that there are many genuinely appealing interactions and warm moments in this episode, including smiles, laughter, jokes, flirtations, fears and hugs.
An arguable dialogue disaster occurs with Bergman’s line about Carter being down on the planet with ‘a ray gun’. The ‘ray gun’ term was long outdated even when this episode was made; but then again, Professor Bergman is a bit of an old-fashioned guy in some senses, so the reference might be said to be simply in character, rather than a script flaw.
One more complaint: why should the search radius that Koenig establishes be 100 miles? The missing party couldn’t possibly have covered that much territory on foot, and there is no indication of any other method of transport. Given the time period and the densely forested terrain, a search radius of 10 or even 20 miles would have been far more than enough. It’s a plot mistake that shouldn’t have happened.
The enjoyable contrast at the heart of the entire episode is between the clean, futuristic and artificial environment of Alpha, and the primitive caverns, cave-people and natural forests of Retha. This does contain echoes, however faint, of Johnny Byrne’s theme of the Technological Man versus Biological Man at the heart of ‘Another Time, Another Place’.
Questions are raised. How does the mist regress people to their primitive counterparts? More pointedly, how are their uniforms transformed into primitive fur garments, and then back again? These are leaps of faith that some viewers can’t manage, but then the series couldn’t very well have had Barbara Bain and her comrades walk out of the mist stark naked. Of course, viewers have seen clothing
transformations previously in ‘Alpha Child’, and they will become a regular occurrence with Maya in Year Two.
Rather like the opening ‘Dawn of Man’ sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey, ‘The Full Circle’ is commenting on mankind being closer to our ancient ancestors than we would like to believe. The core premise behind both productions, 2001: A Space Odyssey and ‘The Full Circle’, is the evolution of man. The moral that mankind continues to battle its (possibly inherent) violent tendencies is evident in the dialogue:
Helena: ‘Under the skin, do you think we’ve changed all that much in forty thousand years?’
Victor: ‘Do you think we ever will?’
Whether Victor’s line implies a cynicism that mankind is unable to progress beyond its primitive instincts, or whether it alludes to a more hopeful belief that mankind is able to change, is open to debate. Beyond that, there aren’t very many thought-provoking issues arising from this rather lightweight episode. At least viewers are provided a change of pace from the frequently philosophical tone of Year One, and while ‘The Full Circle’ isn’t among the best episodes of the series, it is certainly unique and amusing to watch.
Rating: 6.5/10
1.16
END OF ETERNITY
Screenplay by Johnny Byrne
Directed by Ray Austin
Selected Broadcast Dates:
UK LWT:
Date: 22 November 1975. Time: 5.50 pm
Granada:
Date: 12 December 1975. Time: 6.35 pm
Destination: Moonbase Alpha Page 19
