‘It’s always been a mystery to me why they made the kind of changes they made. I can see how some of them were founded in good principles, but I think they made big mistakes. And we paid for it, because the series wasn’t a success. At the time, I didn’t think that Space: 1999 had failed, and there was a tremendous amount of buzz and hope that it would go on. With all the fan mail and fan clubs, I can’t deny that. If people want to stick with it and perpetuate it, I’m honoured.’
PRODUCTION
Fred Freiberger said: ‘The writers, I thought, were horribly underpaid. I told the writers to go on strike! I didn’t want it to come to that, but … I couldn’t understand the pay on Space: 1999. It just astounded me what we were paying our writers.’
Keith Wilson recalled: ‘I would be working three scripts ahead. I would be planning sets and have people building them well ahead. I would have just ten days to strike what had been shot the day before or week before, and then to build those new sets. It was very highly organised. It was a small team of people – I think my whole department consisted of only about five people. Nowadays if you do something science fiction, you have hundreds of people. Then when it came to do monsters in the second series, I had to do monsters as well as the sets; there was just a make-up artist and me. If you do monsters now, you have hundreds of people doing wires and doing all that stuff. It was just me and one man, and he was doing other people’s make-up as well, so it wasn’t like he was there just to do monsters. I always felt the monsters were not very good, simply because we did it in ten days and there were only two people doing it. I’d design it; the make-up man would make it … Wardrobe would help. That’s all it was.’
Nick Tate said: ‘Obviously I did not agree with the construction of the second series. I thought some of the premises, including trying to make the whole thing more integrated and not just a one-man show, were good. Fred Freiberger wanted to bring monsters into the show. But you can’t say, “I want to bring monsters into the show,” and then say, “But we’re going to do it twice as fast and with half the budget.” Monsters are hard to do … It’s easier today.’
Of the double-up episodes, Keith Wilson noted: ‘It really threw me when we actually filmed two episodes together. The scripts would be written to accommodate my problems, and most of those second episodes we shot outside. That was the only time we started to use locations regularly. Up until that point, virtually all the exteriors were built on the stage. But to accommodate my problems, we started to shoot outside. You would get some of them set in a wood, or whatever. So that was a problem. But we got over it that way, by adjusting the scripts. It was all very carefully worked out weeks ahead. They were all locations very close to the studio: either on the studio grounds or in a forest, which we had right next to the studio. We never went anywhere extraordinary.’
Nick Tate has also been critical of the double-up procedure: ‘The double-up episodes were a very unsatisfactory way to work. A lot of the time we had to sit and wait, because we would need Barbara or Martin and they were shooting on the other episode and we couldn’t get them. It got very, very awkward. Eight episodes were [done in this way], with two being shot simultaneously [at any given time]. Martin was running from one soundstage to the other. Basically what they tried to do was separate the cast and put some of the minor cast solidly in four episodes and the others in the remaining four. Martin would be the main lead in one and they gave more to Barbara in the other. They would try to write the episodes in that way, so that Martin wasn’t too taxed. Martin was singularly important in all the episodes and got all the action, and his character largely drove the shows. It was hard to do those eight episodes, because whilst he dominated four of them, he had to have less to do in the other four … So they gave more to me, or to Tony Anholt, or to Catherine Schell, or to Barbara. And so it went …’
John Hug also commented on the double-up episodes: ‘I would have liked to be in more, with much more to do, of course. At one point, I can’t remember which episodes they were, but we were shooting two episodes in different studios at the same time. And what tended to happen with the double ones was that someone who had a lot to do in one episode would have little to do in the other one, which was [a consequence of] the practicalities of using the two studios at the same time.’
Reflecting on his part as a spaceship pilot, Hug said: ‘The Eagle’s seats were there, it was a mock-up of the front. It was pretty much [as seen on screen]: there was a console, things to hold on to. It was pretty easy to feel that you were in an Eagle. It was quite nice to sit there. There were the usual things that didn’t really work; you know, sticky numbers on a board. If they wanted close-ups of things they had to be functional, but usually you’d just press … down there. You got used to your favourite buttons. You know, seven’s a lucky number, so I’ll have seven. It’s like getting out of a car door – if it’s your car and you’ve been driving it for five years, you suddenly don’t fumble around and go, “Where the bloody hell’s the handle?” You’re on automatic pilot when you get in and out of your own car. So you need to know, if you’re supposed to be an efficient Eagle pilot. You don’t go, “Where’s that button gone?” You just go for it. You’ve got to look as if you know what you’re doing.’
Praising the special effects, Barbara Bain stated: ‘What was really exciting was going over to Bray Studios … It was very exciting over there. They were like a whole other genius group of people. I only wish they’d been closer, so we could have felt it more. But that was stunning stuff – really stunning stuff.’
ALPHANS AND OTHERS
Of his approach to playing John Koenig, Martin Landau said: ‘I’m a lot of things – I think every person is. People are complicated, and you see a lot of sides of me that are in Koenig, obviously. But basically, I don’t think I can play anything I’m not! I think it’s a question of extending certain parts of yourself and subordinating other parts.’
Nick Tate recalled his time filming Space: 1999: ‘I’ve done quite a few nice films since I did the Space: 1999 series, but I don’t think that I’ve done anything that was as constantly enjoyable, or that kept me as fully employed – I was there every day of my life for three years, basically. We built an extraordinary relationship between all of us; we were very good friends and didn’t have time for anybody else. You have to be on film sets very, very early in the morning. I’d get up about 5.30 in the morning, get ready at home, drive to the studio and get there by 6.30, go straight into makeup, hair and wardrobe, then be on the set at 7.00. You work until 5.20, with an hour break for lunch. Sometimes you might go through until 5.45. Then you go home, exhausted. Or, more often than not, many of us would go to the pub. It’s a big tradition in England for actors to go to the pub. But we didn’t drink during the working hours; we just drank at night-time. There was a lot of partying that went on.’
John Hug agreed: ‘The bar at Pinewood was a pretty lively place when we got out of Moonbase Alpha, after shooting. People shouldn’t have driven home. It was always trying to find someone who was sober enough to drive. That seemed to be the main criterion for Friday nights.’
Of his co-stars, Tate commented: ‘Martin and Barbara were very private. Obviously, they were married and they had their kids. It was a working job to them; they did their work and then they’d go home. From time to time Martin would come out. He came over to my place a couple of times. Every Friday night there was a party at my house, and Martin and Barbara would come and they would sit there very politely while some people were falling all over themselves with beer. Barbara was very ladylike, incredibly well mannered and polite. She comes from a very good family, and is extraordinarily well read. We used to play and make up word games on the set – little crosswords – and we’d give each other clues and we’d have to guess the answers. Barbara was extraordinary at this – her knowledge of the English language is quite extraordinary. Martin was very clever, too. People don’t get to be stars in this business and not be bright. It doesn’t happ
en by accident. You might get one break – you might get one show – but most stars, I think, are very bright people.
‘It was great. I loved working on the show. I loved Prentis and Zienia and Clifton and Anton. We were all great friends. It was lovely. I learned a great deal on that series. I’d done a lot of work before, but not on that kind of international level. I think I really learnt my craft, in terms of film, from working particularly with Martin. He is a superb technician, a very clever actor. I was lucky to have been in that series. I didn’t think at the time how important it would be in my life; I didn’t think it would mean so much to people after so many years.
‘I loved all the people that I worked with. I genuinely liked Martin, and Martin genuinely liked me. It’s like having a big brother, or an uncle or a father, or somebody you know who has got a particular thing that they just can’t let go of. I knew Martin had this problem with me doing too much. But apart from that, he liked me and he loved working with me. He was just a little jealous, that’s all. And I just had to cope with that. We had a lot of really good times together. He came to my house – I never went to his house. We did lunches and stuff together and he was a real pal. Some people are very generous with what they have – Martin is very giving of himself, constantly. He’s a wonderful, wonderful raconteur; a very funny man, full of invention, and I think he’s a fine actor. He deserves the Oscar that he finally got [for Ed Wood in 1995] – [two] years in a row being nominated [and not winning, in 1989 and 1990]; that’s tough.’
Tony Anholt also spoke of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain: ‘I think Martin and Barbara were very involved. They were the stars of the show, and if it was a disaster it would be that much more difficult for them to work as actor and actress subsequently. Whereas if the show became a big success and was acclaimed, then they’d go up in the ratings, and so their livelihoods and their careers would develop further. So it was very much in their personal self-interest to make the show work. Plus, they’re very professional. They were always there, turned up on time, knew the lines and didn’t muck about. One has worked with other people who, because they’re the stars, think that nothing moves without them. But there was nothing of that with Martin and Barbara.’
Zienia Merton remembered: ‘We were working with amazingly top-notch English directors. We had an extremely good crew. I would like everybody to remember one name – Frank Watts, our lighting man. He was terrific. It’s thanks to Frank Watts that we had the quality on that show. Frank was on it both series; he was a delightful man. There was nothing he didn’t know, and it was his meticulousness that made sure that all the sets and shots were set up … My God, the pressure on that! We were doing a television series like it was a movie. That shows – all these years later, the quality is terrific. It stands up. As well as the [model effects] boys at Bray, everyone should remember Frank Watts, because he did an awful lot and he’s kind of been overlooked a bit.’
On the subject of the show’s costumes, Merton said: ‘We would break for lunch at 1.00. Because we were in our costumes, they were terrified that we would pour soup or ketchup or brown sauce over them. So, we had these hairdresser’s little nylon slips. The boys had blue and the girls had pink. And we used to put them all on and then go off and have lunch, so we wouldn’t make nasty messes on our frocks.
‘All I can say is that I found the costumes ghastly. My tummy is not made for costumes like that. We always used to know the shots that were before or after lunch, because there were very pained expressions after lunch, while we were trying to look svelte. The poor wardrobe department had a terrible job trying to keep the uniforms clean and in shape, and with the top coming down over the hips, well, you just ended up “hippy”. I always maintained that I didn’t think that we should have been in uniform anyway, because it wasn’t a military base. We used to make up little stories – like Sandra Benes volunteered for duty on Alpha to get away from all the kids in her terribly large family … things like that. At Cape Canaveral they don’t dress in actual uniforms. They dress smartly, but casually. I mean, Main Mission and Alpha were still a job – it wasn’t an army base. I felt they should have done what is practiced in some schools: you could wear what you liked, within reason, as long as it was navy blue and white, or something along those lines. The sleeves were useful, to identify the various sections, but I didn’t like the skirts. Again, this was thrown in as a sort of “Let’s see a bit of leg” sort of thing. I’m not a women’s libber, but I resent it as being there just to titillate an audience.
‘We had another problem, because the costumes were so fitting. There were lots of embarrassing shots of the guys. Not good in profile. I think that by the second day all guys had to wear jock straps. The women – no nipples – no protuberances: no protuberances on Alpha of any sort.’
Of her group of supporting characters, Merton states: ‘I [christened them] in Year One “The Second Eleven”, which is a cricketing term that means they are the inferior side – but if all else fails, bring them out! You know – Nick, Prentis, Clifton, Anton Phillips and me. Even Gerry Anderson – who’s not actually known for his humour – called it the Second Eleven, and we used to post notices saying, “The Second Eleven invites the crew to drinks tonight.” Things like that … But so much for the Second Eleven in Year Two – it was missing.’
Catherine Schell said: ‘I don’t go to see rushes. I go into a terrible depression and it’s awful. When we started doing Space: 1999, Martin and Barbara went to rushes every night and they forced me – well, they didn’t force me, [but they said] “Come on, Catherine, you’ve got to go. You’ve got to go.” So I thought, “If this is really being professional, then I have to go and watch myself,” and I walked out totally depressed. So I said, “Why do you do this? What are you learning from it?” Of course, Barbara was learning the best camera angles … Hands always above the elbows, which makes you look a bit like a puppet. And never move your neck, because you might get a wrinkle … I’m sorry, Barbara, but that’s not what you should go to rushes for. You should try to be as natural as you can … It’s a torture for me to watch myself; it’s a waste of time. I think it actually harms. It isn’t part of my job to watch myself. My job is to present myself and what has been written for me.
‘Martin and I were great mates and we laughed a great deal together. It was a pleasure to work with him, and when we finished, we kept in contact. He used to come to London quite often and he always rang us, and we’d meet. And when I went to Los Angeles we’d meet up with him. So that contact remained. I haven’t seen him now for about 12 years [as of 2000].’
Schell also recalled: ‘Tony and I just had jokes together. There was almost never a scene where we actually embraced. The lovely thing about doing that series was that we all had a lot of laughs. Everybody laughed a lot … I don’t remember any moments of conflict. Things might have been happening off the set, but certainly on the set we all greeted each other happily in the morning at make-up. I thought some of the fellows were far more vain than the women were. My make-up took less time than Tony’s! And Tony and Nick made many comparisons with each other. You know, hair … “Should I put a bit of brown pencil on this balding spot here?” It is interesting to watch the vanity of men.’
John Hug noted: ‘I never saw Freddy argue with Martin at all. It’s a long time ago, but I didn’t see any bickering. All I noticed were little slightly disgruntled vibrations from Zienia and Nick – just because people didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know what was going on, either, but I didn’t care. I was just very happy to have a job. I got on very well with everybody … Where are we going and what’s on next? Nobody really understood what was happening. Was the third series being done? Are we going to be in it? There were always worries. Actors always wish about something.
‘The screen test I originally did was actually for the part that Tony Anholt played. I was fiddling around with all sorts of strange beer-making equipment, which was one of the things Tony’s character did – m
ake his own beer. I just remember thinking what a strange thing it was to be doing: making beer on Moonbase Alpha. Obviously I did it well enough to get cast as somebody, but not well enough to get cast for Tony Anholt’s role.
‘First or second day, I was introduced to Martin, and he was explaining about the Commlock. There’s this man with a bit of wood with numbers stuck on it, and I thought, “What sort of lunatic asylum have I walked into?” Martin was saying, “You press this when you want to go into the … and this operates those doors … and you press it and the doors open.” Well, it was just a bit of wood with sticky numbers on it. No doors were opening – that was all happening later. I thought, “I’ve entered a lunatic asylum.”’
Tony Anholt stated: ‘One thing I think Freddy was right about is that he was trying to make the people more human, in the sense that everybody in the cast thought that if you’re going to have a bunch of people stuck up on the Moon for God knows how long, whatever else they are, they are human beings. They would have relationships, recreation, be seen doing human things, and not just staring at a screen and launching into space and fighting the baddies, and coming back wondering whether or not they are ever going to return to Earth. I think that elements like Tony Verdeschi’s beer-making were to try to give it a human face. I gather from what I’m told that fans fall into at least two camps – those who think that was rubbish, and those who think that it was right. As an actor, I think that the premise was right. I don’t think it was ever realised anything like to the extent it could have been.’
Destination: Moonbase Alpha Page 54
