DIDJA NOTICE?

 

Chapter I: Past is Prologue

 

On page 1 of the story, U.S. President John F. Kennedy is seen giving his famous speech from Rice University on September 12, 1962 about landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

 

In panel 3 of page 1 of the story, a Saturn V rocket is seen lifting off. The Saturn V was the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) rocket that took U.S. astronauts to the moon and the Skylab space station from 1967-1973.

 

Panel 1 of page 2 of the story depicts the Apollo 1 mission patch. The Apollo program was NASA's mission to land men on the moon. Apollo 1 was to be the first crewed mission, with the objective of testing the Apollo command and service module in Earth orbit. During a launch rehearsal at Cape Kennedy, Florida on January 27, 1967, a fire in the command module killed all three crew,  Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger B. Chaffee.

 

Panels 2 and 3 of page 2 of the story depict the Eagle landing module of Apollo 11 approaching the moon's surface and astronaut Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) making his first step on the moon.

 

Page 2 of the story indicates that regular missions to the moon and beyond occurred during the 1970s. This is our first indication in the story of it taking place in a universe divergent from our own, i.e. the more technologically advanced Space: 1999 universe (though page 3 then shows John F. Kennedy still alive and well in 1984, while, in our own timeline, he was assassinated in 1963, so the divergeance from our own universe took place at least as early as November 22, 1963, the day of Kennedy's assassination).

 

Page 3 of the story indicates that other nations soon also landed on the moon. Panel 1 depicts a cosmonaut planting the flag of the Soviet Union on the moon.

 

An international space station was built much earlier than in our universe, seemingly in the late '70s or early '80s. Our own International Space Station has only orbited Earth, in various configurations, since 1998.

 

What appears to be a primitive version of an Eagle is seen on page 3 of the story.

 

Page 3 of the story also indicates construction of a large-scale moonbase was begun in 1984, with the ceremonial first shovelful of dirt performed by former president Kennedy himself.

 

The last panel of page 3 of the story states that a nuclear conflict took place in the mid-80s, costing millions of lives.

 

Page 4 of the story remarks on Earth missions launched to Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, and Ultra. The first four are, of course, actual worlds in our solar system. In the Space: 1999 universe, Ultra is a world discovered to have an irregular orbit of the sun that had kept it hidden and made it accessible by human flights for only a limited window. As revealed in "Dragon's Domain", it was discovered by Victor Bergman in 1994 and the Ultra Probe was sent to investigate it with dire results. 

 

At the bottom of page 4 of the story, a probe command module is seen, similar to the one seen in "Dragon's Domain".
Probe command module.	Ultra probe module (refurbished model by Phil Rae from Catacombs website by Martin Willey).

 

Page 5 of the story states that astronaut Alan Carter was placed in command of the Ultra Probe project. We see this is the case in "Breakaway".

 

Chapter II: The Players

 

Page 9 of the story depicts the International Space Station with the Meta Probe docked to it on September 12, 1999. The probe docked there on September 9, as seen in "Breakaway". Also, a couple of Mark IX Hawks are seen flying by. Hawks are later seen in "War Games".

 

The last panel of page 9 of the story shows the space station's end of the conversation with Sandra Benes at Moonbase Alpha that was depicted on page 27 of the "Awe" adaptation of "Breakaway".

 

    Page 12 of the story remarks on Koenig's ex-fiancé, wealthy socialite Marcia Gilcrest, purchasing a one-way Condor ticket to the South Pacific on September 12. The Condor is an atmospheric transport that appears in an unlicensed fan-produced packet of blueprints that can be found on the internet. Despite the mention of the Condor here, Eagle transporters are seen flying over New York on page 14.

    Page 12 also refers to the night of September 13, 1999 as "Last Moonrise", suggesting that it has become the popular term for referencing the events of that fateful day. Charlton Publications' 1975 black-and-white comic magazine adaptation of "Breakaway" is titled "The Last Moonrise".

 

Page 13 of the story reveals that the Williams family lives at Escher Apartments in London. This appears to be a fictitious apartment building. From the art in panel 1, the building appears to be across the River Thames from the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben; from the views here and on page 29, the apartment building's location seems to be approximately where the Sea Life London Aquarium is found in the real world (click photo for Google Maps location).

 

Art Williams indicates that a Mr. Freiberger was walking the Williams' dog, Dropper, while Art was away. "Mr. Freiberger" may be a nod to Fred Freiberger, the producer of Space: 1999's second season.

 

Page 14, panel 1 of the story depicts the New York skyline with the famed Chrysler Building and Empire State Building apparent.

 

Commissioner Simmonds' skiing weekend in the Alps is interrupted to have him attend an emergency meeting of the Lunar Commission. The Alps are a European mountain range stretching from France to Slovenia. The range is known for its winter ski resorts.

 

The Commission meeting room and characters are based on those seen in the additional scenes shot for the Alien Attack 1979 TV movie that combined the Space: 1999 episodes "Breakaway" and "War Games", which stated in its opening narration that it takes place in the year 2100 (the movie never refers to itself as Space: 1999). Some additional footage of meetings of the International Lunar Commission on Earth were shot just for this film. These additional scenes still make sense within Space: 1999 continuity for the most part, and writer Gaska seems to have accepted that here.

 

On page 16 of the story, Marcia is staying at the Lako Mai resort on the Fijian island of Waya. Waya is an actual Fijian island, but Lako Mai resort appears to be fictitious, though lako mai is Fijian for "come here".

 

    Admiral Walker and Commander Gorski have a drink at the Eclipse bar across the street from the Lunar Commission building in New York. This appears to be a fictitious bar.

    Although the label is not legible here, the bottle on the table they drink at appears to be Jack Daniel's whiskey. 

 

Chapter III: Drama

 

    On page 19 of the story, the research station in Venus orbit is said to have been abandoned to prevent a plague (that made captains go insane and murder their own crews) from spreading to Earth. It sounds like the Venus station was somehow having the same problems with magnetic radiation that were occurring at the nuclear waste sites on the moon seen in "Breakaway".

    Astronauts are said to have died in antimatter storms over Saturn.

    Rumors allege that monsters lurk in space. The "monster" pictured here is one of the aliens encountered by the Ultra Probe and then again by the Alphans in "Dragon's Domain". The "rumors" were likely sparked by Ultra Probe astronaut Tony Cellini's description of what happened to his crew when he escaped during the initial probe mission.

 

On page 20 of the story, Marcia and her new boyfriend are at Octopus Cove on the Fijian island of Malolo Lailai. Malolo Lailai is an actual island, but I have not been able to identify an Octopus Cove there.

 

Page 21 of the story reveals that Alan Carter has a 16-year old daughter named Haylee he knows nothing about. Her mother kept her pregnancy secret after the one time she and Carter were together. Mother and daughter live in Gold Coast, Australia.

 

Alan Carter was raised on a cattle ranch on the eastern seaboard of Australia (presumably near Gold Coast). He joined the Australian Air Force when he was young and eventually entered the space program, training with NASA in Houston (probably the Johnson Space Center) where he also won the base boxing championship in 1986. He was the third man to go to Mars and was a crewmember on a Venus mission.

 

In September 2009, Haylee has just graduated from the space academy and is assigned to the Janus Probe for the Jovian Mission (Jovian refers to Jupiter). Page 77 of the story explains that the Jovian mission is intended to tow Jupiter's moon Europa using new gravity tractor technology into a far Earth orbit to help stabilize Earth's wobbling axis.

 

By 2009, there is a proposal for a Mission Alpha...a mothership called Alpha Probe would be built and sent with a contingent of Eagles and Hawks out of the solar system to search for Earth's errant moon and rescue any survivors at Moonbase Alpha. Haylee thinks the proposal is just a fantasy.

 

On page 24 of the story, Admiral Walker's Eagle sets down at the Mojave Desert Military Recycling Annex in California. This appears to be a fictitious compound.

 

Admiral Walker is credited with ending WWIII in 1986. After the war, presidents Reagan (of the United Forces) and Kim (of the Eastern Alliance) were impeached. Walker was promoted to the first Admiral of the Navy since George Dewey in 1899. In our world, Ronald Reagan was the president of the United States from 1980-1988. "Kim" may be a reference to Kim Il-sung, the president of North Korea in our world from 1948-1994, though he was not so powerful as to be the leader of an entire "Eastern Alliance". George Dewey is the only person to have held the rank of Admiral of the Navy in the U.S., the highest possible rank at the time (five-star), created for him after his victory at Manila Bay, Philippines in 1898 which ended the Spanish-American War; the Congressional act that created the rank for him also stipulated that the rank would cease to exist after Dewey's death. In 1944, the five-star rank of Fleet Admiral was created.

 

In 1999, Walker is in charge of dismantling Earth's nuclear arsenal.

 

The ship seen behind Walker in the last panel of page 25 of the story appears to be a Swift, a type of Earth support ship glimpsed in "Brian the Brain".

 

On page 26 of the story, Walker and Vega discuss Commander Gorski, who was apparently working secretly as an agent of Walker's, whose plans are now endangered by Commander Koenig's appointment as commander of Moonbase Alpha. Walker reveals to Vega that he still has some inactive agents in place at Alpha. On page 27, Walker comments on a secret cache of weapons, tanks, Swifts, Eagles, Hawks, and Falcon bombers on the far side of the moon.

 

Chapter III: Endgame

 

This chapter is mistakenly labeled Chapter III, when the previous chapter held that number already.

 

Chapters III-VII feature intermittent quotes from the Bible's Book of Revelation relating to the cataclysm at hand.

 

    On page 29 of the story, Vega seems to say that the Mark IX Hawks are capable of a speed of 14.2 of light, which I take to mean 14.2% of the speed of light. The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second, so a Hawk can go at a velocity of up to 26,412 miles per hour.

    Vega mentions a ship called the Nimitz II. The U.S. Navy has a supercarrier named USS Nimitz after Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (1885-1966).

 

    On page 40 of the story, the absence of the moon's gravitational pull causes tectonic plates in the Pacific Ring of Fire to pull apart and raise up volcanoes from the sea bed. The Ring of Fire is an actual horseshoe-shaped belt of subduction zones of lithospheric plates under and around the rim of the Pacific Ocean, causing volcanoes and earthquakes at points along the belt.

    A global tsunami wave occurs, caused by the earthquakes, volcanic upheavals, and the effect on ocean tides caused by the loss of the moon's gravitational pull.

 

Chapter IV: Cataclysm

 

No notes.

 

Chapter V: Revelations

 

Admiral Walker was planning a military coup against the world government.

 

Chapter VI: Atonement

 

In the last panel of page 74 of the story, New York's Central Park is seen just as it is being struck by debris from the moon.

 

    The news telecast on page 77 of the story is an expanded version of the one seen on Moonbase Alpha at the end of "Breakaway". The broadcaster informs viewers that the Fiji Islands are gone, replaced by a mega volcano (part of the aforementioned Ring of Fire) that has spewn enough ash to lower temperatures across the globe, changing the climate.

    The eastern seaboard of Australia is underwater.

    Most of Southern California has fallen into the sea.

    The broadcaster also corrects the statement he made as seen in "Breakaway" that the International Space Station had been blown out of orbit, but had, in fact, been destroyed. But something large was detected spiraling out of orbit and scientists are baffled as to what it could have been. Undoubtedly, it was Admiral Walker's secret battle station that had been in orbit on the far side of the moon.

 

Page 77 of the story features a slightly altered version of the Lunar Commission meeting seen at the end of the telefilm Alien Attack.

 

Chapter VII: Expectations

 

By 2009, the rising seas have flooded all former coastal areas. Many Earth species have gone extinct to due to climate change. The Planetary Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) was established in 2003 and built environmental domes over major cities and farmland areas. Examples of these domes are later seen in "Journey to Where".

 

    Page 79 of the story states that the planet Meta has been seen again, along with the Meta signal, after 10 years. Scientists theorize that Meta's trajectory was somehow altered by the Last Moonrise and has been pulled into a new orbit where it will be close to Earth every 10 to 12 years instead of every 15 millennia. This is the first we've heard of Meta initially being believed to have a 15 millennia orbit around our sun. In the novelization of "Breakaway", Commissioner Simmonds explains on a newscast only that the planet seems to be a rogue one that has somehow broken away from some distant star and now finds itself on the edge of Earth's solar system. The 15 millennia orbiting planet idea is somewhat similar to the "planet Nibiru" hypothesis of ancient astronaut researcher Zechariah Sitchin (1920-2010), whose translations of ancient Babylonian and Sumerian texts suggest that Nibiru is a planet of our solar system that has a 3600-year orbit.

    Also on page 79, it is stated that the Meta Probe was severely damaged during the destruction of the International Space Station, but not itself destroyed and is being refurbished for use in the Jovian mission.

 

    Page 80 of the story reveals that Washington, D.C. is no longer the capital of the United States and the city is abandoned. Though not stated here, the abandonment is probably due to its proximity to the eastern seaboard, which would have been flooded by the rising seas after the cataclysm.

 

The group "photo" seen on page 82 is of the primary crewmembers of Moonbase Alpha at the time of Last Moonrise. On the top catwalk are more minor members, most of whom are difficult to identify by name; the woman fourth from the left appears to be Tanya Aleksandr. Below the catwalk, in Main Mission proper, from left to right: Professor Victor Bergman, Captain Alan Carter, Security Officer Tony Verdeschi, Dr. Helena Russell, Commander John Koenig, Controller Paul Morrow, Data Analyst Sandra Benes, and Computer Engineer David Kano.

 

Epilogue

 

The epilogue takes place on October 11, 2012, the last date we see of events on Earth until the Alphans make contact with Texas City of the year 2120 in "Journey to Where".

 

Giovi is now Deputy Chief of Security for the Juno Probe which is to launch the following week.

 

    On page 86 of the story, Dexter remarks that the current space program is as vital and exciting as it was in '69. This would be a reference mostly to the 1969 landing of the first man on the moon.

    Dexter also mentions a past space disaster of the Snark station orbit and the failure and losses of Ultra and Astro 7. The Snark station is referenced again in "The Mind of the Snark". The Ultra and Astro 7 probes are prominent elements of "Dragon's Domain" and "Matter of Life and Death", respectively.

    Dexter also remarks on inmates having been allowed to act as the Janus work force as a second chance for people on the post-apocalyptic Earth.

 

The end of the story reveals that Dexter and Giovi are having their discussion on top of a snow-covered pyramid at the location of Egypt City, Africa. The pyramids seen are part of the Giza complex, along with the Sphinx in what was formerly Cairo, Egypt.

 

Back to Space: 1999 Episode Studies