Episode Guide: Year One
Title: "The Troubled Spirit"
Within this page: Overview | Backplot | Plot Synopsis | Unanswered Questions | Analyses/Observations | Comments | Memorable Lines
Overview
A murderous ghost terrifies the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha. And more perplexing: The ghost is one of Alpha's botanists, who is very much alive!
Production Number: 019 (Season One)
- filmed Wednesday, November 20 - Wednesday, December 4, 1974
Original U.K. airing week: 5 January 1976 (ATV Midlands)
Original U.S. airing week: 19 March 1976 (syndication)
Written by Johnny Byrne
Directed by Ray Austin
Backplot
- In the year 1999, lunar nuclear waste storage dumps have exploded, due to magnetic radiation, sending Earth's moon into interstellar space. The inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha, unable to escape, are seeking a new home.
Plot Synopsis
(From the original ITC Press Release.)
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A ghost stalks the moon - the ghost of a living man -- bringing horror and death in its wake.
An eerie wind, increasing in intensity, sweeps through Moonbase Alpha, when Dan Mateo (GIANCARLO PRETTE) is conducting experiments in the Hydroponic Unit in which he works as a botanist. With him at the time is his assistant Laura Adams (HILARY DWYER).
Lights dim. A sudden drop in temperature is recorded. Plants, grown in the unit for the studies carried out there, droop and die. And Mateo collapses.
Dr. Helena Russell (BARBARA BAIN) diagnoses severe shock, but what has caused it? Commander Koenig (MARTIN LANDAU) and Professor Bergman (BARRY MORSE) are aware of the background of Mateo's experiments. He believes mankind has some affinity with plants. Both have nervous systems. Certain wave patterns in the human brain correspond precisely to the wave patterns plants send out. Mateo has been attempting to tap those wave patterns at source, hoping to achieve communications between plants and humans.
Mateo is still in the Medical Unit under Helena's care when he becomes conscious of the shadowy shape of a man. It then disappears, but a little later Helena sees the same strange shape which seems to her to bear a resemblance to Mateo. It is uttering sighing noises, and as it turns it's head, one side of his face is seen to be horribly scarred.
Dr. James Warren (ANTHONY NICHOLLS), the head of the Hydroponic unit, has already forbidden Mateo to continue with his experiments. Koenig confirms the ban. Mateo resists and has a row with Warren, then once again sees the misty figure. So does Warren -- and a few moments later, he is dead.
Koenig and Bergman are worried, now convinced that Alpha is being terrorized by some psychic being. Their fears are confirmed when Mateo secretly continues his experiments, quarrelling with Laura Adams because he does so. Again the mysterious figure appears - and Laura dies.
It is Bergman who suggests that the only way to fight this thing is to allow Mateo to carry out his experiments under supervision so that they can see what happens. The outcome is terrifying. Mateo's body is gripped in agonizing pain, the wind noise is heard and increases, plants vibrate madly then wither and die -- and the ghostly, mutilated figure again emerges. This time, there is no doubt. It is a spirit Mateo (VAL MUSETTI).
Whatever thing it is that Mateo has summoned up, it has come back to avenge some terrible death... it's own death, which has not yet happened! There is only one hope now: some form of exorcism through a scientific approach, to remove the spectre of a man haunted by his own ghost while still alive...
SCREENPLAY BY JOHNNY BYRNE
DIRECTED BY RAY AUSTIN
Guest Artists
GIANCARLO PRETE
HILARY DWYER
and
ANTHONY NICHOLLS
with
ZIENIA MERTON as SANDRA BENES
ANTON PHILLIPS as DR. MATHIAS
NICK TATE as ALAN CARTER
Unanswered Questions
- Why wasn't Dan Mateo's assistant, Laura Adams, affected by the experiments? With her death, would she (could she) have returned to seek vengeance as well?
- A time paradox exists where Dan Mateo's ghostly spirit was able to manifest in the physical world, despite Dan Mateo being alive/present during the manifestations. (Metaphysically speaking, it's said that time truly doesn't exist -- it's what we, as humans, perceive.)
- The late Marcel Vogel (whom Space1999.org's webmaster knew), among many other scientists and researchers, conducted experiments with the psychic properties of plant life. The book "The Secret Life of Plants" by Peter Tompkins is highly recommended for those wishing to learn more.
Analyses/Observations
Comments
- Why actor Giancarlo Prete didn't portray both the living Dan Mateo character and his spirit form isn't known. Actor Val Musetti played the ghostly Dan Mateo. (If anyone does, please let Space1999.org know!)
- In an interview with John K. Muir, writer/script editor Johnny Byrne discussed some insights into "Force of Life":
Muir: "Can we talk about 'The Troubled Spirit'?"
Byrne: "You had troubled with this episode, didn't you, John? When I read the comments in your book [Exploring Space:1999], I was tempted to ring you up. I'm sure I can explain it, but that's not the point. It shouldn't need to be explained. Maybe I was given too much latitude. There are elements that seem a little hubristic."
Muir: "I don't think that's it. I just think that some of the process isn't clear. I liked the self-fulfilling prophecy and the ghost, and all that material very much, but I guess I felt you didn't even need the plants. The story would have worked just as well with a regular seance, wouldn't it?"
Byrne: "There were things written about plant intelligence in that period, and I thought about an experiment with equipment that could tap into those plant signals. There are basic components, biological constants, shared by plant and man. And what if those plant waves tapped into the uncharted portions of the brain? I wanted the Alphans to delve into that part of the brain, to have the paranormal experience. I was combining horror and science fiction, and that stimulated me. I loved the opening gliding shots, and the scenes in the travel tube. And I thought the make-up was wonderful."
Memorable Lines
"It's here now. In this place. It's waiting to kill again... to kill us all!" - Dan Mateo
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