Earthbound (Space: 1999)
Kaldorians offer stasis passage; Simmonds seizes it fatally.
"Earthbound" is the twenty-second episode of Space: 1999's first series. Anthony Terpiloff wrote the screenplay, and Charles Crichton directed. Live-action filming ran from Friday, 15 March 1974, to Monday, 1 April 1974. The episode first aired in Australia on 25 August 1975, and in the UK on 4 December 1975.
A spacecraft approaches Moonbase Alpha, ignoring all hails. Commander Koenig orders Eagles to intercept, but the craft dives and makes a soft crash-landing near Alpha. Koenig and Dr. Russell lead a team inside, finding six immobile humanoids in transparent pods. The aliens show no metabolic signs, so the Alphans assume they are dead. When Russell breaks a pod seal, an energy discharge incinerates its occupant. The aliens—actually in stasis—then emerge and surround the Alphans. Koenig and Russell apologize; the aliens accept the death as an accident and guide the Alphans through a funerary ritual.
Monitoring from Alpha is Simmonds, the World Space Commissioner stranded when the Moon left Earth orbit. Refusing to accept his new life, he insists the Alphans use every means to return to Earth. The aliens are Kaldorians, an ancient, pacifistic race. When their planet died, they sent survival ships to habitable worlds. This group was bound for Earth, traveling for 350 years. Their ship was programmed to orbit the Moon so they could wake before landing on Earth, but the Moon's departure caused the crash. If welcomed on Earth, they will settle; if not, they will kill themselves.
As the Kaldorians repair their ship, their leader Zantor has its computer plot a new 75-year course to Earth. He offers a free stasis chamber to one Alphan, for whom the computer must compile a physiological matrix. Koenig programs Alpha's computer to select one person to go home. Simmonds declares himself the obvious choice, having no function on Alpha. Koenig insists the decision will be impartial, but Simmonds refuses a lottery. Taking a laser gun, he stuns the power plant crew and disconnects an energy converter, causing system failures. Unless given passage, he will let Alpha freeze. Zantor agrees to be Simmonds' hostage in exchange for the converter. Power is restored, and Simmonds escorts Zantor onto the ship at gunpoint. He has the Kaldorians enter stasis first, unaware his matrix is still required. The ship blasts off.
Three hours later, Alpha receives a signal from Simmond
- episode_number
- 22 (first series)
- writer
- Anthony Terpiloff
- director
- Charles Crichton
- first_aired_Australia
- 25 August 1975
- first_aired_UK
- 4 December 1975
- filming_dates
- 15 March 1974 – 1 April 1974
Lore & Background
The plot involves a Kaldorian spacecraft crashing on the Moon. The aliens, in stasis, are initially thought dead; when a pod is opened, the occupant is incinerated. The Kaldorians accept the accident and guide the Alphans in a funerary ritual. Commissioner Simmonds, stranded on Alpha, demands passage to Earth. He takes Zantor hostage and forces the ship to launch, but his stasis matrix was never programmed, leaving him trapped awake as the ship travels for decades.
Reader's Guide
The episode is notable for its twist ending, in which Simmonds, who forced his way aboard, wakes prematurely and realizes Earth is still decades away. The computer's selection for the journey had been Simmonds all along. Reception was generally positive: John Kenneth Muir called it a standout; TV Zone praised it as one of the series' most enjoyable episodes; SFX gave it an A rating and called the ending one of the best moments in TV science fiction. The episode also features Christopher Lee as Zantor, who objected to the uncomfortable nose makeup. Production designer Keith Wilson modified the Main Mission set to improve camera access.
Did You Know?
- Christopher Lee, who played Zantor, had recently completed his role as Francisco Scaramanga in The Man With the Golden Gun.
- The Kaldorian makeup required building up the bridge of the nose; removal removed a layer of skin, which Lee objected to.
- The episode's score was re-edited from previous Space: 1999 music by Barry Gray, primarily from 'Breakaway' and 'Black Sun'.
- The story was novelised by E. C. Tubb in 2003 as Space: 1999 – Earthbound, adding that Simmonds was resuscitated after being left for dead.
More in Space: 1999 episodes 1-24
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