New Adam, New Eve
"New Adam, New Eve" | |
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Space: 1999 episode | |
Episode no. | Series 2 Episode 6 |
Directed by | Charles Crichton |
Written by | Terence Feely |
Editing by | Mike Campbell |
Production code | 34 |
Original air date | 9 October 1976[1] |
Guest appearances | |
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"New Adam, New Eve" is the sixth episode of the second series of Space: 1999 (and the 30th episode overall of the programme). The screenplay was written by Terence Feely; the director was Charles Crichton. The final shooting script is dated 29 April 1976. Live action filming took place Wednesday, 2 June 1976 through Friday 18 June 1976.[2]
Plot
It is 1095 days after leaving Earth orbit, and
The turbulence suddenly subsides, replaced on the big screen with a psychedelic light-show. Accompanied by a soothing, ethereal chorus, the display is mesmerising. It soon ends, fading to reveal a robed figure striding across space toward them. The Being announces He is their Lord and Creator, come to pay them a visit. With a rush of wind, this self-proclaimed Supreme Being materialises in
Claiming that Earth's conflicting religions have 'distorted their beliefs' with the worship of 'false gods,' he declares himself to be the genuine article. A sceptical
Having gotten their attention, Magus (as the Being calls Himself), tells Koenig and company He is here to help. After humanity's mistreatment of Earth, He has come to give them a second chance—by guiding them to a new Eden, where Mankind can begin anew. Magus manipulates the big screen, bringing up a visual of an exquisitely beautiful planet—New Earth, the body which was hidden by the turbulence. Computer reveals the planet to be one-quarter Earth's size and with a compatible environment. Magus suggests a team visit the surface, choosing Koenig, Helena,
Annoyed by the divine posturing, Koenig tries to protest, but Magus is adamant—these four or no one. The Commander gives in, but insists they travel by Eagle. However, after the team boards Eagle Four, it is instantaneously transported to New Earth. Koenig tries to check-in with Alpha, but cannot make contact; Magus suggests His power of transport may have temporarily affected communications. They disembark into a lush, fertile meadow. The air is clean, the soil rich, the water pure, and fruit trees and the
When Koenig proposes bringing down a task force to study the entire planet, Magus drops a bombshell: no one else will be coming down. The four of them are to be His new
After blessing them on this first day of Creation, Magus gets down to practical matters. The four are stunned when informed of their new pair-bonding arrangements. Maya will be Koenig's mate, hoping this interplanetary mix will interbreed her iron intellect with his iron will. Helena will be paired with Verdeschi, blending her natural aristocratic traits with his Italian earthiness. Though aware of their preexisting relationships, He wants to explore a different mix of genetic traits. When the Alphans argue these arbitrary pairings could be both psychologically and biologically harmful, Magus blithely dismisses their protests.
It is late afternoon and, with a sidelong glance at the setting sun, Magus makes one final decree: they are not to leave the glade. Its boundary is clearly marked by boulders. Before dematerialising, He slyly remarks the Moon's light should have all the romantic qualities it did on old Earth. Koenig leads his people toward the Eagle, which promptly vanishes. Maya realises it is the victim of atomic dispersal—the ship is still there, but non-cohesive (like powder dissolved in liquid). Verdeschi asks the big question: is Magus really God? While powerful, His motivations seem less than divine...
With no word from Koenig,
The mood is suddenly shattered by an unearthly howling. Leaving the glade, they find a malformed, semi-humanoid being taking a horrible beating from an alien anthropoid. Koenig shoots the ape, only to have its mate leap from the bushes and attack Helena. The men cannot get a clear shot at it, and Maya
The next morning, they wake to find Magus standing over them, chastising them for their disobedience. Koenig demands to be told the truth about the life-forms seen last night. Magus evades the question, citing their acts of defiance as ingratitude. When Koenig rebuts He has taken away their free will, Magus scoffs that 'free-will' is a
After Magus leaves, Maya announces that, despite appearances, His abilities are not psychic. She surreptitiously scanned Him and detected a potent power source in His body, mechanical in nature. Recalling His comment about being able to 'ill-afford' energy, they reckon Magus has His hands full. He is maintaining the force-field, preventing a rescue mission from Alpha—and, Maya interjects, holding the planet together. Magus must be countering the gravitational force of the Moon (which is much closer and larger in relation to this planet than it was to Earth); otherwise, the planet would break apart under the strain. They test the force-field and discover it does not extend above the treetops. As an owl, Maya flies out of the glade to gather information.
Carter has his Eagle equipped with booster rockets to increase the force of take-off. As the astronaut overloads his engines, Magus is seen on New Earth sweating with the effort of preventing the lift-off. When Carter gives up, Magus basks in the sunlight, seemingly rejuvenated. Maya returns and reports that, as the owl, she encountered Magus—who did not detect her true identity. She also saw tracks inside the boundary of their glade that could belong to the humanoid. They explore and find a second, deliberately blocked cave opening. They blast it open, hoping it joins up with the other cave.
Once inside, they are attacked by giant reptiles, which are fortunately susceptible to laser fire. Immediately after, Koenig is jumped by the humanoid mutant. The pitiful being was hoping to be shot...to end its miserable existence. It informs them Magus is the last of a race of cosmic magicians, who performed 'miracles' through physics. He wants to learn the secret of creation. The mutants are descendants of other species brought here for experimental breeding and genetic engineering. They intentionally fight the apes, hoping to be killed. Magus, however, will not let them die; the would-be god feels there may be something to learn from their mutilated DNA. These caves are a sanctuary, as he never comes here.
The mutant directs them to the exit. Outside, they encounter a vengeful Magus, who smites Verdeschi with a bolt of energy. As Helena tends to the security chief, the others berate this false god—for his deception and his intention of using them like laboratory animals. He denies their accusations—he admires humanity and has walked among them as Simon Magus, Merlin and Nostradamus among others. After breeding a superior strain of Mankind, he will endow them with his powers, then together solve the mystery of creation as a team. Koenig refuses, and Magus begins taking pot-shots at Moonbase to coerce him. To stop the attack, Koenig agrees to discuss his proposal.
It is sunset and Magus, rather than press home his advantage, hastily departs; the discussion will resume tomorrow. Koenig comes to the realisation Magus is afraid of the dark. He refuses to enter the caves, and always leaves before nightfall; the one time they saw him at night was a projection in the sky. When he shot himself with the laser, he drew strength from it. Maya concludes the mechanical implant she detected in Magus must be a light decelerator, a device that slows light from 186,000 miles per second down to zero. The energy differential provides unlimited power and can be directed simply by thought. As his power is derived from light, to defeat him they must isolate him from the sun.
Finding a deep narrow fissure, they attack the sides with makeshift tools to widen it into a proper tiger pit. Then, they weave mats out of branches and leaves to camouflage the hole. By dawn, they have finished. Koenig climbs down to test its effectiveness and finds himself in pitch-black darkness. After sunrise, Magus materialises. Koenig positions himself on the opposite side of the pit and deliberately provokes an argument. Magus stalks toward him and, as planned, falls through the flimsy covering. As the Alphans cover the resulting hole, Magus cries out for light...or else they are all doomed.
As predicted, the Moon's gravity begins pulling the planet apart. Gale-force winds rip through the glade as the ground heaves. Koenig is calling Alpha when the Eagle reappears in solid form. He sends the others to the ship and makes his way to the caves and offers to transport the humanoid mutant. With dignity, the mutant declines, preferring to end his life. Koenig boards the Eagle and lifts-off as the terrain crumbles away beneath it. Flying back to the Moon, they watch 'New Earth' break apart. They figure the chances of Magus escaping are not nil—if exposed to even the smallest ray of light as the ground broke up, he could have gotten away...
Regular cast
- John Koenig
- Helena Russell
- Maya
- Tony Verdeschi
- Alan Carter
- Yasuko Nagazumi — Yasko
Music
The score was re-edited from previous Space: 1999 incidental music tracks composed for the second series by
Production
The shooting script for "New Adam, New Eve" contains several sequences removed from the episode's final cut: (1) The fact that the Moon was 150,000 miles distant from New Earth; (2) A sequence of friendly banter where, after Verdeschi comments on the richness of New Earth's soil, Koenig would declare the planet to be as fertile as California was 150 years before. Verdeschi then compared it to Italy's Calabria of the present. Maya would joke about the bandits of the Calabrian hills, and Koenig would quip that all the Italian bandits went into politics in the 1980s. Verdeschi would then remind them all that Italian politics may not have been perfect, but it was an American who spoiled the United World movement in 1985; (3) When Carter made his first attempt to rescue Koenig in Eagle One, he would be accompanied by another pilot in Eagle Two; (4) The mutant reveals to Koenig that Magus was the last of his kind because his race had challenged a mysterious being more powerful than all of them combined. Magus was off travelling and survived. The real purpose of Magus's quest for a superior race was to do battle with this super-being.[4]
The mutant cave animals were scripted to be an enormous
This episode debuted a revised version of
This episode also introduced Helena's hi-tech medical scanner—two small
Novelisation
The episode was adapted in the first Year Two Space: 1999 novel Planets of Peril by Michael Butterworth published in 1977. The only difference from the finished episode was a reference that Maya was new to the position of scientific officer, as it was written to have taken place soon after "The Metamorph".[7]
References
- ^ Fanderson - The Official Gerry Anderson Website. Original ATV Midlands broadcast date.
- ^ Destination: Moonbase Alpha, Telos Publications, 2010
- ^ The Complete Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Episode Guide, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2005
- ^ "New Adam, New Eve" final shooting script dated 29 April 1976
- ^ "New Adam, New Eve" episode guide; Space: 1999 website 'The Catacombs', Martin Willey
- ^ Exploring Space: 1999, McFarland & Company, Inc., 1997
- ^ Space: 1999 - Planets of Peril, Star Publications, 1977