Space: 1999 "Ring Around the Moon" TV episode Screenplay by Edward di Lorenzo Directed by Ray Austin Original air date: February 20, 1976

An alien probe takes possession of Dr. Russell to gain knowledge about humans from Alpha's computer.

 

Read the episode summary at the Moonbase Alpha wiki

 

NOTES FROM THE SPACE: 1999 CHRONOLOGY

 

According to the novelization, this story opens two weeks after the Kaldorians left in "Earthbound". According to the Gaska/BLAM! Ventures timeline, "Earthbound" takes place 42 days after the Moon left Earth orbit, placing "Ring Around the Moon" 56 days after leaving Earth orbit.

 

DIDJA KNOW?

 

The voice of the eye of Triton was provided by Prentis Hancock, the same actor who portrays Paul Morrow.

 

CHARACTERS APPEARING OR MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

 

Paul Morrow

Ted Clifford (dies in this episode)

Tanya Aleksandr

Sandra Benes

David Kano

Commander Koenig

Dr. Russell

Triton voice

Lee Oswald

Dr. Mathias

Professor Bergman

Alan Carter

Jim Donovan (dies in this episode)

Parks (mentioned only)

Pierce Quinton

Tony Allan

Alan Harris

 

DIDJA NOTICE?

It seems there might have been some kind of friendship or flirtation between Ted Clifford and Tanya Aleksandr. He speaks to her briefly when he enters Main Mission and she gives him kind of a funny look as he walks away to do his work. When he becomes possessed by the Triton force and fights with other personnel when they try to stop him accessing Computer, she seems more emotional about it and his death after the attacks than the other members in Main Mission.

After the Moon is struck by the beam from the guardian of Triton, Moonbase Alpha finds that all but four of the Eagles have been damaged, leaving them flightless for the time being.

After receiving the warning from the guardian of the planet Triton, Koenig meets with Bergman and asks what he knows about the planet. Bergman says that Central Computer's memory cells have no record of any such planet. If Central Computer is just the same Earth computer it always was, it isn't surprising that it would know nothing about an alien planet. It could certainly be argued retroactively that the computer now has the same database of information that the Kaldorian ship had in "Earthbound", when Captain Zantor allowed information to be exchanged in gratitude for the help Alpha provided in fixing their ship. So, that may be why Koenig and Bergman thought there might be information about Triton to be found in Central Computer. However, in the novelization, Bergman remarks that he has not yet checked the data left by the Kaldorians, implying that the data is not actually in the Central Computer.

Carter and Donovan lift off in Eagle 3 to investigate the guardian sphere. In the PopApostle Space: 1999 chronology, Eagle 3 was destroyed in "Live Warhead". Does Alpha rename Eagles when one is destroyed in order to keep a standard numbering scheme without breaks?

The scene of Eagle 3 crashing on the Moon is cut from scenes of Koenig's Eagle crashing in "Breakaway".

At 14:29 on the Blu-ray, Koenig and his team on the Moon's surface are seen trekking to the crashed Eagle past one of the gravity towers that maintain Earth-normal gravity within Moonbase Alpha.

When Carter hears from Koenig that he managed to bring Eagle 3 into a crash landing, Carter says it wasn't him, "I was in Never Never Land." Never Never Land is the island where Peter Pan and other mythical beings live in the Peter Pan works of J. M. Barrie.

Koenig assigns Parks to the next Eagle mission to the sphere, but Carter rather impudently takes the spot instead. Parks will finally appear in the later episode "Matter of Life and Death".

At 25:55 on the Blu-ray, a ring can be seen on the little finger of Bergman's right hand. And, at 27:56 on the Blu-ray, a ring can be seen on the little finger of Dr. Russell's right hand (though at 33:30, the ring is momentarily on her left hand!).

Dr. Mathias says that Dr. Russell's blood pressure is normal at 80 over 120. But the correct normal blood pressure for a human is the opposite, 120 over 80.

When Dr. Russell gives herself a vision test with a set of pens at 28:40 on the Blu-ray, the pens she uses appear to be Flair felt-tip pens in a style made throughout the 1970s. The company is now known as Paper Mate.

When we see Bergman's quarters at 29:41 on the Blu-ray, it is strewn with papers and objects on every surface. It also appears he likes to snack while working!

Bergman finds references in the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom to the "eyes of heaven", which he seems to interpret as visitations from the eyes of Triton. The Pyramid Texts of the Egyptian Old Kingdom are ancient funerary rites, the oldest dating back to 2400-2300 BC. From what my research has been able to determine, the term "eyes of heaven" in the funerary rites usually refer to the Sun and the Moon.

    At 31:25 on the Blu-ray, a stack of books that appear to be volumes of Encyclopædia Britannica are seen on the floor of Bergman's quarters.

    A mandala painting is also seen hanging on the wall.

At 31:48 on the Blu-ray, some light can be seen escaping from the corners of the comm screen as RED ALERT flashes on the screen. A close look reveals that this is not an actual video display of the words, but a stencil cutout of the words with a translucent red backing and a flashing light behind it. This was probably necessary because the actual screens on the comm posts were black-and-white because it was found that the color screens first used when shooting the pilot ("Breakaway") did not show brightly enough on film.

When Koenig and Carter lift off in Eagle 1 to return to the sphere, why are they not wearing spacesuits this time? They're just wearing their standard Alpha uniforms. If anything, the crash Carter and Donovan went through should show the need for such precaution!

At 42:33 on the Blu-ray, an "SM" logo and the words "SPACE MODELS DATAFIX 2" can be seen in print on a Computer bank in Main Mission. Space Models was the name of the company that made the computer bank props for the show.

Koenig says that Triton is (was) two million light years away from Earth.

Notes from the novelization of "Ring Around the Moon" by E.C. Tubb as it appears in the Space: 1999 Year One omnibus published by Powys Media. The page numbers presented here come from the full Space: 1999 Year One omnibus. "Ring Around the Moon" begins on page 107 of the book. There will also be notes (as appropriate) from the original adaptation of "Ring Around the Moon" by Tubb as it appeared in Space: 1999 - Breakaway, a merged novelization of the episodes "Breakaway", "Matter of Life and Death", "Ring Around The Moon" and "Black Sun", first published by Pocket Books in 1975. (Roughly speaking, chapters 9-12 cover the events of "Ring Around the Moon").

CHARACTERS APPEARING OR MENTIONED IN THIS NOVELIZATION, NOT IN THE EPISODE

Alan Harris

Anderson (mentioned only)

Commander Preston (mentioned only, deceased)

Anton Gorski (mentioned only)

Harry Kirwan

Tony Verdeshi

Ogland (mentioned only)

Jack Crawford (mentioned only)

Sue Crawford (mentioned only)

Patrick Osgood (mentioned only)

Dr. James Warren (mentioned only)

DIDJA NOTICE?

The opening paragraph of the story explains that it has been two weeks since the Kaldorians had left. It also states the base has been put on near-military footing, with backup installations reinforcing the original sensors. A few bugs remain to be ironed out, so that is why we see technician Ted Clifford carrying his toolbox and messing around with a panel in Main Mission as the episode opens.

On page 108, Sandra reports an unknown object in space moving on collision course with the Moon at .05 C. In Einstein's equation of mass–energy equivalence, E=mc², c=the speed of light.

Someone named Anderson is mentioned a couple of times in the novelization but is not seen or heard from. Possibly it is Claudia Anderson who appears later as a technician of some sort in Born for Adversity. However, in the original Pocket Books novelization from 1975, Anderson is a man and he fills the role that Kirwan performs in the new version. In the novelization of "Black Sun", a woman called Anderson activates the Alphan anti-gravity shield for the test with Koenig and Bergman on the Moon's surface within the perimeter of the base.

On page 109, Commander Koenig reflects on past tragedies in space he'd been involved in, specifically, Aphrodite Space Station and the Ultra Probe. Aphrodite Space Station must be a reference to his time at a space station in orbit around Venus (revealed in "The Lambda Factor"), as Aphrodite is the Greek goddess upon which the later Romans based their goddess Venus. The Ultra Probe mission history will be revealed in "Dragon's Domain".

In describing the cause of death of Ted Clifford, Dr. Russell mentions the extreme physical strength the man had exhibited while he was possessed and that this kind of strength can come with the onset of panic or some other highly emotional conditions or through the effect of drugs such as strychnine. Strychnine is not normally considered a drug in modern medicine, but is a toxic alkaloid that can cause muscular convulsions and was once used as a (dangerous) performance-enhancing drug.

    On page 111, Alan Carter reflects on the damage Preston's men had done to the Eagle holding bays in their attempt to take control of Alpha. This occurred in "Operation Deliverance".

    Carter also reflects on the difference in command style between Koenig and the base's previous commander, Anton Gorski. Gorski was relieved of command of Moonbase Alpha in "Breakaway" when Koenig was given the post.

On page 112, Eagle 3 experiences ion build-up as it nears the sphere and Bergman becomes concerned that it could begin to affect the pilots' mental stability. It is true that prolonged exposure to negative or positive ions can affect mood and emotional stability.

After being abducted by the eyes of Triton and told she will be their servant, Dr. Russell's mind falls into an illusion of herself floating on calm Mediterranean waters on a warm afternoon.

The aerospace engineer Harry Kirwan appears in the novelization. He returns in Born for Adversity.

Page 116 reveals that Donovan's first name was Jim. Carter reveals that Donovan had been close to one of the women in the base and they had talked of getting married.

Pages 116-118 feature a couple new scenes not found in the televised episode. Kirwan and Bergman modify an Eagle (including Mark IV signal probes fitted with nuclear warheads for defense) for the next attempt to approach the sphere, and Koenig discusses Alpha's options with Bergman and Morrow. But where did Alpha get nuclear warheads? Was Alpha storing them for some reason when the Moon was still in Earth orbit? Could the warheads have come with the Eagles and supplies brought over from the fallen Moonbase Beta in "Operation Deliverance"?

On page 117, Bergman remarks that the anti-gravity shield he and Kirwan have whipped up for the Eagle could have protected the Eagles and pilots that had been destroyed in the nuclear blast that had blown the Moon out of Earth orbit in "Breakaway".

In the novelization, the leader of the security team that discovers Dr. Russell outside of Airlock 12 is Tony Verdeshi. Verdeshi will become prominent in Season Two episodes.

    On page 123, Bergman dismisses the idea that the Triton mentioned by the voice could be the Neptunian moon. Triton is the name of the largest of Neptune's many moons in Earth's solar system.

    In the original Pocket Books novelization from 1975, Bergman actually speculates that the voice could be referring to the Neptunian moon. He says that moon mysteriously disappeared a little over a year ago! They don't know what happened to it, possibly it fell too close to its planet and broke up, but it just vanished. He also says if the alien force they're facing now is from the same Triton, that might explain UFO sightings on Earth, etc. It seems odd that Koenig was not aware of this vanished moon. What is more, the Triton voice confirms that's where it originally came from, now returning! Regardless, this speculation does not seem to be valid for the mainstream Space: 1999 story being covered now. However, on page 126 of the revised Powys novelization, Bergman has been able to glean information from the Kaldorian data and discovered the Kaldorians were aware of a pulsar planet that vanished and Bergman's description of this is the same that was given in the Pocket Books novelization about the disappearance of Neptune's moon. So, this expanded scene from the original novelization is incorporated in the new chronology, in a way.

In the original Pocket Books novelization from 1975, Koenig uses a hypogun of curare to knock out Dr. Russell while she is transmitting data from Computer to the Triton sphere. In the televised episode, Dr. Russell just comes out of the possession on her own, temporarily.

In the novelization, Koenig and Carter take Eagle 5 for their final journey to the sphere instead of Eagle 1 as in the televised episode.

Koenig tells the voice that Triton is light years away, but does not specify any certain distance. In the televised episode, he says it is two million light years away.

On page 130, after Koenig has provided the evidence that Triton no longer exists, the voice says it has sent a "Plus C emergency signal" and received no response, so it acknowledges that Triton is gone. "Plus C" must mean "faster-than-light". Still, it seems odd that the "eyes of Triton" would not have been making semi-regular communications with its home planet and discovered this fact long ago.

On page 132, Koenig reveals to Bergman that Dr. Russell had told him earlier that Jack and Sue Crawford are expecting a baby. This storyline will come to the fore in "Alpha Child".

Also on page 132, Bergman remarks that the burial and memorial area for deceased Alphans being created by Osgood and Warren has informally come to be known as Boot Hill. "Boot Hill" was a common name for cemeteries in the American Old West referring to gunfighters or others who "died with their boots on", i.e. violently. Koenig seems disapproving of the name and when Bergman tells him only that one of the geologists working on the project gave it that name, Koenig retorts he can guess who it was, but he doesn't name the person.

In the original Pocket Books novelization from 1975, the voice warns Koenig that his Moon will encounter a black sun soon. This occurs in the next episode in the Powys chronology, "Black Sun" (although "The Carrier" takes place first in the PopApostle chronology). The warning leads to Koenig and Bergman beginning early planning for designing an electrogravitic shield for Alpha in the original novelization.