"Space: 1999" The Last Enemy (1976)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Bob Kellett

Writers:

Gerry Anderson (creator) &
Sylvia Anderson (creator) ...

TV Series:

"Space: 1999" (1975)

Original Air Date:

2 April 1976 (Season 1, Episode 24)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Alphans find themselves caught up in a long-running war between two rival planets, Betha and Delta...

Plot Keywords:

Moon | Space | Alpha | Explosion | Atomic Waste

Cast

Martin Landau	...	Commander John Koenig
Barbara Bain	...	Dr. Helena Russell
Barry Morse	...	Prof. Victor Bergman
Caroline Mortimer	...	Dione
Prentis Hancock	...	Paul Morrow
Clifton Jones	...	David Kano
Zienia Merton	...	Sandra Benes
Nick Tate	...	Alan Carter
Maxine Audley	...	Theia
Kevin Stoney	...	Talos
Carolyn Courage	...	First Girl

Runtime:

USA:60 min

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Incorporated Television Company (ITC)

Quotes:

[first lines]
Cmdr. John Koenig: Two planets.
David Kano: We'll be in range to survey the left-hand planet in 24 hours.
Sandra Benes: Still too distant for visual analysis, but the spectrographic analysis looks promising.
Dr. Helena Russell: Two planets. Be nice to have a choice, wouldn't it?

It turns out, these two planets have been at war with one another, but neither side can gain an advantage. That is, until the Moon shows up

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

'Space 1999' has been compared to Star Trek Voyager. If you can get past the premise of the show, that astronauts on 'Moon Base Alpha' are stranded on the Moon after a nuclear accident causes the Moon to leave the solar system, it's a great show. There's a hot shape-shifting alien (Maya), and each week, as the Moon travels thru the galaxy those on Moon Base Alpha meet various other aliens. They have small fighter-like spacecraft, and, who knows, maybe they did have some kind of super-reactor powering their base.

In this episode, 'The Last Enemy', as the Moon passes by another star system a ship from one of the planets lands near Moon Base Alpha. The alien ship launches some hellacious looking missiles towards the Moon Base, and, a commercial is cued. After commercial - the missiles roar over Moon Base Alpha - towards another planet in the solar system. The aliens on the ship contact Commander Koenig, saying, 'Not to worry, we have nothing against you, this is a private matter between us and the other planet of the solar system'.

Are these two planets at war?

Commander Koenig takes a Moon-buggy out and visits the alien ship. Their commander isn't just female, they're all females. Their whole planet is populated by females. Of course, Koenig (Martin Landau) has a small affair with the commander of the alien ship.

Meanwhile, Moon Base Alpha receives a transmission from the other planet (and they're all men) - a planet filled with men. Their leader saying, 'if you don't put a stop to what's happening yourselves we're going to destroy this enemy ship and you along with it'.

It turns out, these two planets have been at war with one another, but neither side can gain an advantage. That is, until the Moon shows up.

There are some negotiations in 'The Last Enemy', but in the end, Koenig destroys the alien ship, saving Moon Base Alpha once again.