Barry Morse: ‘The “War Games” episode concerned the fears that lead us to destroy each other in wars, and how we can conquer our fears. It’s like George Bernard Shaw said: mankind’s worst destructiveness comes either through anger or from fear. And in most cases the anger and the fear are without foundation. The human race does get itself into terrible states of anger and fear, and thereby into terrible programmes of destruction.’
Zienia Merton: ‘I thought “War Games” was magnificent. I thought it was stunning, and incredibly well put together. We had a theory that Charles Crichton, who directed “War Games”, and was a brilliant and wonderful man, had shares in the Fuller’s Earth company. Fuller’s Earth was the brand name for the dust they would drop onto the set, and Charlie loved it. They had platforms suspended in various places in the Main Mission set, and when you came to a big disaster shot, like in “War Games”, they would drop the Fuller’s Earth. I remember a funny story. We were preparing to film in Main Mission, and I saw all this Fuller’s Earth coming in and I thought, “Oh, it’s going to be dirty!” I thought, “What do I do?” Charlie said, “Would you all be natural. Do what you would do if a plane was coming to crash into Main Mission. Do whatever you have to do.” When it came to the shot, they called “Action” – and I went under a desk! I thought, “This is a good place.” What was funny was that I found [Barry] down there as well! And he gave me a thumbs up and a wink! I looked up and saw Prentis, standing at his Main Mission station hitting all these little knobs covered, absolutely. He looked as if he’d fallen into a bag of flour. Actually, there were three cowards – [Clifton] was down there, too. We were all down there pointing and laughing at the idiots up there getting covered in Fuller’s Earth. We were the smartest ones on the Moonbase.
‘It was nice that, for example in “War Games”, when the red alert sounded you had people tumbling out of bed and arriving in Main Mission in their pajamas. It would of course have been nice if one of us had come into an episode halfway through and said, “Hi, I’m back on duty.” Say Prentis and Clifton were on duty. Just the two of them could have been used much more fully than when we were all present in Main Mission all the time. And again in “Troubled Spirit”, we could have been in a corner saying, “Do you think so-and-so’s gone off his head and has put us in jeopardy?” And at the beginning of that episode at the concert scene, some of us could have said, “God, I can’t stand that music. Let’s go and do something else.” But they came up with the idea of a concert and threw everybody into it. I mean, who was in Main Mission that day? I think only Prentis was absent. He can’t run the shop on his own. Everybody could have been used much more fully. Gladys, the continuity lady, was marvellous – but of course she doesn’t write the scripts.
‘But I adored the beginning of “War Games”. What I loved about “War Games” was that as a group we were in jeopardy, and we all pulled together. I loved Isla Blair – I’ve worked with her about three times and she’s a gorgeous lady, although I didn’t work with her in “War Games”. She is really one of the nicest women you could work with. But in the first ten minutes of “War Games” I felt there was a great cohesion with the characters. And we had Charlie Crichton directing, who was amazingly imaginative.’
Anton Phillips: [On things that stood out for him in the making of Space: 1999] ‘Getting blown through that window [in “War Games”] stands out [in my mind].’
Julian Glover: ‘My wife, Isla Blair, did one where she had a most extraordinary makeup that was ridiculous. She and Anthony Valentine both had these appliances on. They couldn’t look at themselves without laughing, which is why they did all of their scenes facing away from each other. That’s the glamour of the theatre for you!’
Christopher Penfold: [Regarding the alien perception of the Alphans as a contaminating virus] ‘It was something that I personally was very horrified about: What were we doing? We were at that time just launching out beyond the envelope of the Earth’s atmosphere. We were doing so in the form of rockets, which were themselves pretty heavily polluting machines. In much of the science fiction, and in the way that the possibility of alternative life forms in space was discussed, I think that the overwhelming response to that possibility was really one of fear and ignorance. It engendered fear. So I was really quite anxious to point out, in the context of an adventure story, that as a species exploring into territories we hadn’t been in before, we carried with us the same kind of responsibilities as the Spaniards brought to the New World when they spread German measles and Smallpox. That there are dangers involved; there are dangers in genetic engineering. It was that kind of feeling that I wanted to introduce into the story.
‘Charles would probably not have thought of himself as a science fiction director until Gerry asked him to do the show. His experience and his devotion to detail and determination to get the scripts right put me on a vertical learning curve, and it was a wonderful working relationship that I look back on with a great deal of affection. Charles Crichton had an enormous influence on the success of the episodes he directed.
‘Charles was actually able to demand the kind of respect from the production department that the script demanded. The kind of producer decisions that have to be taken on a multi-episode series like this one are that, when a story comes up that of its very nature is going to make bigger budgetary demands (like “War Games”), then you do rob Peter to pay Paul.
‘One of my favorite guiding quotations in life has been from the philosopher Santayana, ‘Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ And when human beings go to war my heart sinks; I just think it’s so damn stupid … I was very much affected by and reading a lot of the French philosopher Teilhard de Chardin at the time … He had this notion of the noosphere in which all the intelligence of people who have lived on Earth and subsequently died is somehow collected. And it was that philosophical idea that I wanted to try to get into the form of popular drama. And I think the reason why [“War Games”] actually worked as well as it did was very much down to Charlie Crichton and the way in which he chose to direct Anthony Valentine and Isla Blair, and then also the way in which it was so successfully intercut. [“War Games”] probably is my favorite episode, actually … Again, if you don’t remember the past you’re condemned to repeat it. And I just think that as a species we swing back and forth, and I think the pendulum has swung in a fairly disastrous direction in the last few years. I’m hoping that it might actually have reached its nadir and start swinging back again. I think all you can do as writers and creative people and communicators is to try and persuade other people of that.’
[Regarding Bergman’s line, ‘We have learned many things … But most of all, we have learned that we still have much to learn.’] ‘The more we know, the more we realise we don’t know. Prior to the Renaissance it was achievable for a person to know all there was to know. We know a little more now, but there’s a hell of a lot more we don’t know.
‘I think the one episode that gave me the most satisfaction as being something that I conceived from the beginning myself and followed through in the way I wanted to follow through, was probably “War Games”.’
Bloopers: Watch for the cardboard cutout Eagle exploding on the launch pad during the Hawk attack.
Observations: In the initial wave of attacks, Main Mission is hit by severe structural damage. Beams fall from the ceiling and wires drop down. If you watch this in slow motion you will see Bergman, Sandra and Kano all duck for cover underneath desks in Main Mission – as Zienia Merton relates below, in her commentary on this episode.
The alien planet is notable as the only instance in Space: 1999 of a world orbiting a double-star system. It’s a nice, subtle detail that goes unmentioned in the dialogue, but is shown during the effects sequences of the planet.
The shot of the arrival of the massive alien bomber overhead is mirrored in Star Wars, with the underbelly debut of the Star Destroyer.
Review: ‘War Games’ is an immensely c
omplex episode and is considered to be the closest the series ever came to representing literary science fiction on the screen. Some go so far as to say that Christopher Penfold’s script works better on the page than on film. Through astute viewing, the complexities of ‘War Games’ explain themselves. So, here is ‘War Games’, in detail …
Moonbase Alpha is approaching a planet, and the intent of the episode is to show the fears of the Alphans being tested. In a situation like this, what would they fear most? Answer: an unprovoked attack.
‘War Games’ jumps directly into the action with a sudden (apparent) alien attack. However, while the alien ships are approaching in a threatening manner, the Alphans – out of fear of being attacked – actually fire first. The Alphans’ own thoughts and fears lead to each subsequent escalation of the war. After the initial three Hawks are destroyed, Carter expresses his opinion, ‘It was too easy.’ This belief that there must be more to the alien threat leads to the next contact – another wave of Hawks.
The fan-favourite Mark IX Hawks are Earth ships similar in some ways to the Eagle, but designed as fighters. They are sleek and visually dynamic, and it would have been very interesting if Moonbase Alpha had been equipped with a small Hawk fleet for defensive purposes. As it is, they appear within the alien-induced dream that constitutes this episode, drawn from the fears and memories of the Alphans themselves. As the aliens eventually state, ‘Our only defense was to make your fears appear real.’
The shots of Alphans being sucked out into space through heavily damaged corridors by explosive decompression are incredibly effective. The vast destruction of Moonbase Alpha is, certainly by this point in science fiction television history, an unparalleled defeat for the heroes of a show. As a pre-Star Wars example of a production presenting extensive spaceship battles and model work, ‘War Games’ is a visual champion, featuring the most spectacular collection of effects in all 48 episodes of Space: 1999.
The death of series regular Bob Mathias is dramatic and heroic. If this were to have been the end of his character, it certainly would have been noble. However, as fans of sci-fi know, there are very few deaths that can’t be reversed.
At the Command Conference following the Alphans’ defeat, Helena states the grim fact that there are 128 dead. Kano reports that they are running off solar batteries, and that on minimum requirements they’ll be exhausted in eight days. The least badly damaged Nuclear Generating Area will take a minimum of four weeks to repair. Many anti-gravity units are smashed beyond repair. Sandra states that the food production and recycling plants are very badly damaged; the water is heavily contaminated. It will take nine weeks minimum to fix the food production problems, and another two more months before crops can be harvested.
At this point, in short, Alpha is virtually dead, and her people know their situation can get no worse, so the attack stops. Again, this development is tied in with their minds and their perception of the situation. When they think there is no point in the attack continuing, it stops. As they are virtually destroyed, the only course of action they can take is to go down to the planet. John and Helena encounter the Male and Female Aliens in their tactile, translucent surroundings. There are many wonderful science fiction concepts addressed throughout their encounter, one of which arises from Helena’s line, ‘The lights, the colours … maybe they’re part of their language.’ It’s an intriguing idea.
The aliens themselves are cold and emotionless, with domed bald heads. On one view this is a sci-fi cliché, but on another these are among the most purely alien humanoid species Alpha encounters. Their world is deeply enriched by the script. It is made up of a series of ‘brains’, which control and perfect their society. This is along the lines of the macro-brain concept Christopher Penfold also worked at exploring in ‘Space Brain’. These aliens are understandable and three-dimensional, despite their emotionless demeanor, and consider the Alphans to be a ‘plague of fear,’ no more than a virus waiting to contaminate their world. This raises questions worth considering. Do humans belong out in space? Can we comprehend the implications our being out there might have for the life forms we encounter?
Koenig’s use of minor physical violence on the planet (striking out at some fragile-looking equipment) leads to his and Helena’s fear of retaliation – which, of course, causes the aliens to appear with laser guns and kill the Commander. Helena, left alone, fears many things, and the result is her indoctrination into the alien brain, an experience that ends in her coming close to understanding their world. With her fears gone, Helena is able to share in the alien powers, allowing her to bring John back to life. Having conquered her fear, Helena is at peace, takes on alien traits, and achieves greater understanding. Koenig, however, immediately returns to the war-like ways inherent in much of humanity. He plans to take the planet by force. It shows that the Alphans are still Earth people, still flawed and imperfect. And in those flaws, oddly enough, lies a certain kind of beauty; as Helena says, ‘We are what we are.’
Victor Bergman’s goodbye speech to the Alphans’ Moon home provides Barry Morse with the opportunity and material to deliver one of his finest, most emotional and subtle performances in the series. His speech encapsulates the essence of Space: 1999; that, although mankind has learned many things we still have much to learn. As the remaining command crew exit Main Mission for what they believe to be the last time, comforting each other, viewers are shown a society of comrades and friends, not just the co-workers introduced in ‘Breakaway’.
Koenig and Carter head towards the planet, intent on attacking, and are met with an opposite force – a defence field. Of course they encounter defences from the planet – they expect them! By expecting them, and being afraid of them, John and Alan actually bring these defences into being. If they had no fear, there would have been no force field. As they plow through it in their Eagle, Carter is clearly afraid. He says, ‘We can’t do it. She’ll break up.’ And that is exactly what happens. Carter’s death is, like that of Mathias, a clue that there is more to this plot than first meets the eye.
Helena begins to learn the truth of what is happening to them in the following dialogue exchange:
Helena: ‘And you defend them with bombers and Hawks like those of the planet Earth.’
Female Alien: ‘We have no fighting machines of our own. Why should we? We have no fear.’
Helena: ‘You do. You used them to destroy Alpha. Didn’t you?’
Male Alien: ‘Mankind is full of fear.’
But then, as she is beginning to understand fully, Helena thinks of John and becomes aware that he is in danger of dying, adrift in space, with only his limited spacesuit oxygen supply keeping him alive. (Consider Koenig’s freefall through space is a tribute by Christopher Penfold to 2001: A Space Odyssey. In that movie, the character Frank Poole drifts slowly through the void, his breathing symbolic of man in space being a ‘fish out of water’.) Koenig’s plight awakens Helena’s human emotions. Her fear of death wells up and breaks the indoctrinating influences of the aliens, and she returns to her normal self:
Helena: ‘John. Come back.’
Female Alien: ‘He has faced death. He has conquered his fear.’
Helena: ‘I want him back – as he was. I want him here. I am afraid of death. I don’t want your world.’
Male Alien: ‘If you bring him back he will have to face the agony of his own fear.’
Helena: ‘I want him as he was, with all his faults and fears.’
Female Alien: ‘He would destroy us all.’
Helena: ‘We are what we are!’
That segment displays some of Barbara Bain’s finest acting in the series. Her performance is absolutely gripping as she portrays Helena acknowledging her fears and essentially pleading for John Koenig to live. This scene also shows that the Alphans are unable to sustain themselves for long in the alien world without their emotions and fears rising up again. It’s notable that Helena saves Koenig here, as she does in ‘Matter of Life and Death’, by wishi
ng it.
But note what the Male Alien stated: ‘If you bring him back he will have to face the agony of his own fear.’ What does John Koenig fear? He fears losing Helena, and he fears that there could be no future for his people…
Koenig’s arrival on the planet is quickly followed by his use of a Stun Gun. He aims at the Male Alien (who sits with an expression of almost solemn sadness at the act he knows is about to take place), and fires. This kind of intense violence – the firing of a gun with the intent to kill – is the result of fear. Fear for what the aliens may do to Helena. Fear for all their futures. And such an intense unleashing of violence (which has not happened on the planet before – remember, the aliens have no weapons and therefore never actually fired upon or killed Koenig) results in a massive chain reaction, almost destroying the entire world. His grief is the fear of Helena being killed, and she nearly is. As the Male Alien foretold, if Helena brought Koenig back he would have to confront the agony of his own fear. Together they sit out the monstrous destruction they have caused. The final culmination of destruction on the alien planet is portrayed through the use of stock footage of a real nuclear explosion. The use of this stock footage serves to strike at a conscious or unconscious fear instilled in people since the 1950s, essentially restating (even if unintentionally) Christopher Penfold’s dislike of nuclear technology and continues the anti-nuclear undertones present in the series since ‘Breakaway’.
Now, with no hope for life on Alpha or on the planet, Koenig orders the evacuating Eagles back to their base, where his people will all die. It is Koenig’s ultimate fear come true. And this is the point at which the story returns to its beginning moments, in Main Mission, shortly before Koenig orders the destruction of the first flight of Hawks. This time, he orders his Eagles to hold their fire. Koenig and Helena remember portions of the collective dream they have just experienced, and know that they are not threatened by this alien world. They have no fear, and the alien threat vanishes.
Destination: Moonbase Alpha Page 21
