Barry Morse stated: ‘We must always go back to the guys who really engendered all of this, Chris [Penfold] and Johnny [Byrne] and George [Bellak]. They’re the fellows who made it all happen. But they were confronted, as we were, with an almost impossible situation … I must eternally remind you that the real engenderers of any dramatic piece are the fellows who put the words together’
Would Christopher Penfold have done anything differently, if he had the opportunity? ‘Adequate time in which to prepare scripts before going into production would be pretty much top of the list. Adequate time also in which to find and talk to and fully engage writers – I mean, I really don’t like, as a script editor, simply having to reach the point where I have to take somebody else’s material over because I haven’t the time to educate them fully into the ways of the series. I would like writers to be responsible for their own development within a series. And the fact that finding the right writers is actually a very difficult thing to do. Every script editor worth his or her salt has a whole stock of knowledge about who writes well in which genre, and who might be appropriate for each particular story. This is what script editors do … Every writer has, like fingerprints, an individual tone of voice. The role of the script editor is to facilitate the expression of that voice. I would say what I would have liked would be to have continued in the same philosophical direction that we embarked on in series one, but to give us the time and resources to find the right people, because in the end it’s the writers who give you what makes the series. The more they speak in their own voice, the more you get a quality of difference in each episode; so that the audience is almost subconsciously engaging with a different intelligence. Of course, there are overall series rules that have to be obeyed, but the real quality comes from the contributions of individual writers.’
ALPHANS AND OTHERS
What did the actors feel about their characters, or their fellow performers? Nick Tate begins: ‘I was very lucky with [my character] Alan Carter. I think basically what happened with all of us in the series was that we felt rather like all the people that were on the Moon. We were out at Pinewood Studios, which is a long way from anything else – it’s out in a farm district. The rest of the English acting fraternity didn’t really dig what we were doing. They didn’t understand it. They thought it was some strange American implant. And it was, in a way. We were a tight-knit little group … As Alan Carter, I was allowed to do a lot of things that came naturally to me. The writers would meet with me and talk about the ideas I had. I actually wrote the history of my character – my own ideas. That was more important in the second series when the new people came in. When Freddy [Freiberger] came in, I had to let him know who my character really was. I would not have done anything differently [as Alan Carter], other than that I would have liked a little more to do. But when you work in a television series like that, there are a lot of people to serve, and everybody wanted more to do. I was very, very lucky.’
Barry Morse stated: ‘I’ve generally felt that Space: 1999 dealt much too much in hardware and special effects and not enough in thoughts, philosophies and feelings. As to [the frequent criticism of] the characters being one-dimensional and wooden, I understand Martin and Barbara have had some good things to say about the development of the characters, but my recollection is, I’m afraid, rather different. It is my firm opinion that the characters were one-dimensional and wooden. Martin and Barbara should be congratulated just as much as I should be that we managed to squeeze out something approaching an individual character for ourselves, because we had very little to go on in the way of writing.’
Prentis Hancock related: ‘I asked for more definition of character, to know more about his background. I kept being told, “You’ll be told. This will happen.” I would have liked Paul to get out and about more. Go to more planet surfaces. You have to balance things. Carter was a character who went bouncing around in spaceships, and it would have been great fun to go out with him, and to go out with Koenig. But actually I was supposed to be in control of Main Mission. I wasn’t the action man, in that sense … I tried to play Paul terribly English in a sense, because everybody else in the series was kind of playing American, or mid-Atlantic. I was, in a way, the only Brit. I tried to make it the centre of Paul Morrow’s character – [to indicate] that he was the Main Mission Controller [and] the calm at the centre of the storm. The trouble with that is it isn’t terribly dramatic. You can be calm for hours and everybody goes to sleep. So we had to strike a balance. We had a lot of leading characters, and three stars. I sort of led the second eleven, and that’s an awful lot of people to spread the camera around and give them screen time. Plus guest stars … What I’m saying is there wasn’t a lot to work with, because I was sitting in the same place week after week, doing the same sort of things. So I just tried to make him the centre of the storm, really, so when he blew, it was really quite interesting.
‘One week Paul Morrow was taking Sandra out, and then the next week he didn’t speak to her. Then he was taking Tanya out, which is fine, but … There is a skill now that has developed in long-running series called storylining. Take any series, there will be people who decide, “This line of stories on this family will go in this direction for the next couple of years and they’ll end up over here. This other family will go this way and end up over there. Then in two years time we’ll have some reason why this family gets it together with that family and they reconnect.” Through that, writers are commissioned to write different stories. There might be six or seven different threads or storylines going out in different directions. I don’t think we had one line in Space: 1999 – apart from the fact that we keep going away from the Earth. I suspect that’s why you get these sort of inconsistencies. And you just have to do it. Okay, I’m not talking to Sandra this week. Or, we’re going out onto the Moon to have a kiss, or whatever we do. And you just have to accept that and do the best you can with it.
‘But you know when we started I don’t think they had more than one script idea, or one script written. Taking six and a half weeks to do the first episode, “Breakaway”, allowed them time to write episode two. They’ve never denied it. It’s very nice to think of the writers being with you, but they were in a room over there – they used to come in once in a blue moon to see us. I wish there had been more interaction, but I think they were fairly overloaded with what they had to do.’
Anton Phillips reflected on his place in the cast: ‘I suspect the reason Clifton and I were in it, and perhaps to some extent Zienia, was the American audience. I don’t think they could have shown a major television series in America with an all-white cast. So certainly I think it was convenient for them to have Clifton and me in it. And, at the end of the day, I think they satisfied the minimum requirement [for ethnic actors], in as much as neither Clifton nor I really ever featured in any of the major storylines. Prentis did. Zienia did. Nick did. Barry, obviously … But I don’t think I ever featured in the main storyline.’
Regarding character background, Phillips stated: ‘I was given nothing at all, like most everybody else. This was my fourth job after studying acting in drama school and I think my very first, or second, television job. I had certainly no experience in a film studio. So I was really making it up as I went along. I had no idea what was going on. I was a stage actor; I was trained for the stage, and this was all really new to me. As we went along, I learned the profession of being a film actor and at the same time trying to put something together for the character. It sort of came together by accident, I guess … There were some nice moments when you actually got a chance to do something. All the people you see are really quite fine actors and have proven themselves time and time again on all sorts of things on stage, screen and television. So when we actually got an opportunity to do something, the danger was that we would overdo it. “Hey, finally a little bit of acting!” And we’d leap on there and beat it to death, when we really needed a light touch. So those moments were nice when they did come alon
g.’
Zienia Merton recalled: ‘Sandra fainted a lot. It was Ray Austin who said, “Hang on a minute … She can’t keep falling down. If she keeps falling down, what’s she doing on this base? Surely she must have done all these tests, gravity things and whatever, … and this woman’s loopy! Consistently falling down.” And so, luckily, some other poor girl had to fall down on that episode, and I obviously carried on. It would be quite strange that suddenly I would become extremely responsible. When they wanted everybody to be in Medical Centre helping out, Sandra’s at the helm. She’s running Main Mission. That was in “War Games”. And I liked all that. But I had very little contribution toward the scripts. Trying to get those scripts out, we just didn’t have the luxury to have little chats … So Sandra came and went depending on what was needed of her.
‘Back in the ’70s it was all hair and teeth … Girls were little dolls then. The ladies on Space: 1999 did actually work hard for their money. They did go out and do things. I know a lot of people are not very happy with the Andersons – one way or the other – but in UFO, too, they did actually use women not as pretty set pieces but as creative working people.’
Johnny Byrne observed: ‘Martin Landau is a very visceral actor, and [with Koenig] an emotional response was always jumping in ahead of the logical response. It was always a question of which would jump first. What determined it was the nature of the question. It didn’t matter who it was coming from, whether it was one of his own, an alien, an official, a superior – whatever it was, if it hit off any of those buttons that Commander Koenig held sacred … you could almost feel the fear in the man. He defended [his principles] so fiercely. So he was a man who was obviously not secure in that position, but he defended them with tremendous fierceness, even when they were not necessarily under attack. So anything of that nature would be no surprise for Martin to respond in this way as John Koenig. Koenig was a man very, very much aware of his own mortality.
‘Koenig was never put to the test, was he? They asked this question at the end of “Mission of the Darians”. He was never put to the test, and in fact all the evidence points to Koenig being someone who would defend the individual interests rather than the general interests. He would defend one life and hold it more sacred than the overall security and sanctity of the mission. But it never came to the test. In his responses that we witnessed throughout the series, it was always in defence of one or two. The big question was, would he respond in that way when put to the ultimate test? There’s a difference between morality and leadership. I think leadership changes depending on the threat and where the threat is coming from. I don’t think we have a fixed position. We are moral people, but the nature of our morality will change.’
Christopher Penfold continued: ‘Johnny is certainly right when he points out Koenig’s preference for fighting in the individual’s corner. But actually there are instances where collective security is his prime concern, and I think of Koenig as being somebody who is essentially human and who confronts each of those situations on its merits.’
Martin Landau noted of the cast: ‘Overall, I would say it was a happy family. The cast was terrific. Every single one of those people was very volatile, talented, crazy … It was a challenge to get that large a group together and have a harmonious, pleasant existence. Everyone was good and very willing to help each other out. A lot of the people were terrific and everyone was nice. So it was a very pleasant, hard, difficult time. There was nothing easy about the show … While we were there Nick was doing some theatre there, too, and he was wonderful in the play that Barbara and I saw. [He] was the central character and carried that play, and brilliantly. These [supporting cast] actors were underused actually; they had much more to give than they were given. But there were never any temper tantrums or temperament … We treated our guests who came in as fellows. It was a happy set overall. We had actors like Richard Johnson come right into the swing of things, and after we’d worked with him I heard he was difficult. He was not difficult on our set … To work a couple of years together and never really have an altercation. I mean, we had individual problems here and there, but as a bunch of actors tossed together who never knew each other before this experience, it was amazing. There weren’t any flurries of temperament or anger or petulance. We actually got along and respected each other, and we needed each other, and we knew it. It was like a family. And we were in a foreign country – Barbara and I, and so was Nick, actually … Zienia was a delightful girl. She was always there for you, and professional, and delightful. All of the above. She was very sensitive to everybody … She and Prentis were a great pair; they complemented each other in a wonderful way ... I miss Barry. To think what he did with himself, coming from where he came [his Cockney background], it was majestic. Barry was a very special guy … He was just a delight. I thought that Professor Bergman was a terrific sounding board for Koenig; to have that kind of guy who doesn’t necessarily agree with the choices he makes. That could have gone further …’
Also on the theme of camaraderie amongst the cast, Barry Morse said: ‘I recall all of my fellows with great pleasure and happiness. Martin and Barbara are both immensely skilled and experienced in our profession. They certainly were a joy to work with. No hint of any kind of grandeur, such as sometimes comes with such people. Much better fellows, in the real true theatrical sense, than many others I can think of. Martin’s and Barbara’s adaptability, professionalism, and above all their kindly and good-natured attitude towards their fellow artists and the members of our crew, were quite admirable. Then there was Nick Tate, an Australian chap. And dear, lovely Zienia Merton. All of them – Nick, Zienia, Prentis, Clifton and Anton – were relatively inexperienced and were being thrown into the deep end with Martin, Barbara and me. We were all insufficiently prepared, as I shall go on saying till my dying day. They had to hammer their way through it and stay afloat as best they could. And they – to do them all equal credit – dealt with it all with admirable patience and good nature, and good humour. I remember them all fondly. They were all very gifted and keen.’
Zienia Merton said: ‘Considering the amount of time that we spent with each other, which was more than I spent with my own folk, I think it’s incredible that there were no lawsuits, there were no divorces, and I know it’s in retrospect, but I think we all just got on terribly well … Prentis, Nick, Clifton, Anton, Suzanne and I had a table at the restaurant at Pinewood Studios and the staff used to be absolutely amazed. We used to walk in there day after day to have our lunch and they used to say, “God, you’re still together? You’re still eating together? You’re still talking? God!” Fifteen months we did that – I think that’s a pretty good record.
‘You couldn’t afford not to get along. I mean, we’re all adults, so you can’t have great feuds. We also used to have lunches with the Italians brought over for the series – if Nick, Prentis, Clifton or any of the others were free. I’d say, “Come round to lunch,” and get whoever it was to come round. Nick would fetch them if they didn’t have transport and they’d come round to dinner or lunch. I know what it’s like filming in a foreign country, when everybody else has gone off to their wife and kids or friends and you’re left alone. It’s happened to me. And I thought it would be nice, if they had nothing to do.
‘I’m immensely grateful for everything that I learned while I was working on Space: 1999. To spend 15 months or so – and here I’m talking about the first year, because that’s where I learned it all – having that support of real good folk and everybody working together – the focus puller, the cameraman, the lighting cameraman … Learning where to stand and where to move to make it work for them – it was just an amazing university of filmmaking, which you couldn’t pay money for, and I’m eternally grateful for that. So, in terms of my career, it was invaluable. You can’t learn that – no drama school is going to teach you that. It was just incredible.’
Nick Tate recalled: ‘Generally speaking, it was a very happy time on the series. Martin and
I became close friends. I liked Barbara as well; she’s a bright and friendly woman. I had great rapport with the rest of the cast, including Prentis, Clifton and Zienia. We all got on very well and spent quite a bit of social time together away from the set. It was a very fulfilling time for us as young actors. Perhaps a little more so for me as the writers tended to give my character a bit more to do … I had a marvellous time during the first season. The atmosphere on the set was extraordinarily positive. The cast got on terribly well. We all thought we were on a winner and enjoyed working on the show. I don’t think there was ever a harsh word said on the set. Sometimes we were under time constraints and the pressure got on, but we all had a lot of laughs.’
Discussing Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, Tate also said, ‘Barbara is the consummate actress. She and Martin were the royalty of our show; they would arrive every day in a Rolls Royce. I was awestruck. It was just wonderful to have two people at the head of your show who had such dignity and class and really were consummate professionals who knew their job and came from a long history of American production and great shows. It gave us a great goal to strive for, and I think we all eventually hit our marks. It was wonderful. And Barbara was very friendly to us all. She and Martin were gracious. There was none of that “them and us.” It was all very friendly … Barbara was a very strong force. But Barbara was a very quiet person. Barbara’s not demonstrative; she’s very, very bright. I’m sure when she went into [Gerry’s and Sylvia’s] offices and talked with them they toed the line and went with what she wanted, or at least listened to what she had to say. But she never demonstrated that out on the set. She was always immaculate and calm. I would sometimes see something happening in a scene that she didn’t like it, but she wouldn’t say “I don’t want to do it like this,” or raise any negatives. She would just quietly go to the bathroom or something and she’d be gone for a little while, and things would change … Martin is very funny off camera. We used to joke around a lot together. He’s very funny on camera, too, but in that show it didn’t call for him being all that funny.’
Destination: Moonbase Alpha Page 30
