Episode Guide: Year Two
Title: "The Dorcons"
Within this page: Overview | Backplot | Plot Synopsis | Unanswered Questions | Analyses/Observations | Comments | Memorable Lines
Overview
A powerful space-faring race wants Maya for sinister purposes. And where Moonbase Alpha is technologically inferior to stop them, the human will may prove triumphant.
Production Number: 024 (Season Two)
Original U.K. airing week: 12 November 1977 (ATV Midlands)
Original U.S. airing week: 1 May 1978 (syndication)
Written by Johnny Byrne
Directed by Tom Clegg
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.)
The Dorcons - the most powerful race in the galaxy - demand that the Alphans hand Maya over to them. Koenig refuses, until Moonbase Alpha is savagely attacked and invaded! Then, having let them take Maya, he makes a desperate attempt to save her...
Everyone in the Command Centre is astonished when they see a huge alien spaceship materialise on their screens. But Maya is not just astonished - she's terrified! For she recognises it as a Dorcan ship and knows that the Dorcons - the most powerful race in the galaxy - have come for her. She explains that they have hounded the Psychons for centuries, believing that through them they can achieve immortality.
The Dorcons are led by Archon (PATRICK TROUGHTON), Supreme Leader of the Federated Worlds of Dorcon; Consul Varda (ANN FIRBANK) and Archon's nephew and heir, Malic (GERRY SUNDQUIST). Malic, an evil youth who craves his uncles power, is all for invading Moonbase Alpha, but Archon will have none of it. He wants the Psychon, Maya, but without violence if possible. So Varda appears on the Command Centre's screen and demands that Maya be sent to the Dorcon spaceship. When Commander Koenig (MARTIN LANDAU) refuses, Moonbase Alpha is subjected to a devastating barrage of energy bolts. The Alphan laser guns are totally useless against the Dorcon ship and when the Moonbase is obviously being destroyed, Koenig tells Varda to call off the attack or he will kill Maya. Varda agrees and, using a Meson Converter, transforms herself and three soldiers to the Command Centre. Moonbase Alpha has been successfully invaded!
In a desperate attempt to evade capture, Maya transforms herself into a female Alphan, but to no avail. Varda seeks her out and takes her back to the Dorcon spaceship via the Meson Converter, but at the last second Koenig gets himself transformed with them, only to be thrown into a cell immediately. Maya, however, is taken to a surgery where she is prepared for the operation which will remove her brain stem. This will be transplanted into Archon's brain giving him - or so the Dorcons believe - eternal life.
Malic begs Varda to let Archon die, but she knows that if Malic becomes Supreme Leader he will bring war and destruction to their people, and she refuses his request. Furious, Malic helps Koenig to escape from his cell, telling him to rescue Maya before it is too late. Having sent Koenig on his way he then sounds the alarm, but this doesn't prevent Archon from going to the surgery for his life-giving operation. Koenig daren't trust Malic's instructions, so he begins a frantic search for Maya, all the while dodging the Dorcon guards who have instructions to kill him on sight.
He finally reaches the surgery only to find that Malic has got there before him. He has killed Archon, but released Maya from her unconscious state, allowing her to transform into a vicious, spiny creature in time to attack Malic before he can kill Koenig. But the Dorcon is not so badly hurt that he can't tell his guards that Koenig has killed Archon, and when the Commander and Maya reach the transporter beam they find Varda and several guards waiting for them. Believing Malic's claim, Varda tells Koenig that he and Maya will die and that Moonbase Alpha will be wiped out in retaliation for Archon's death.
But when Malic appears and demands that Maya live, so that he may achieve immortality, Koenig tries desperately to convince Varda that it was Malic, not he, who killed her leader. She realises that he is telling the truth and when a hysterical Malic tries to kill her, Koenig and Maya make a dive for the transporter beam...
"SPACE 1999" - SERIES II
CAST LIST
EPISODE NO. 24 - "THE DORCONS"
DIRECTOR: TOM CLEGG
KOENIG - MARTIN LANDAU
HELENA - BARBARA BAIN
MAYA - CATHERINE SCHELL
TONY VERDESCHI - TONY ANHOLT
CARTER - NICK TATE
ARCHON - PATRICK TROUGHTON
CONSUL VARDA - ANN FIRBANK
MALIC - GERRY SUNDQUIST
Unanswered Questions
- What becomes of the Dorcon civilization, now that their leader and heir apparent have both died?
Analyses/Observations
- The last words spoken with the Space: 1999 television series: "Whatever you say, doctor." - Commander John Koenig.
Comments
- Actor Patrick Troughton (Archon) was also known for his work in another U.K. science fiction show: Doctor Who (playing the second incarnation of the Doctor). Troughton was also a well-known television character actor.
Memorable Lines
"Do you want to see me end up like a living husk? Do you? I will if they take me alive." - Maya
"You are bringing death to your people." - Varda.
"That's a highly improper question to ask any lady, Tony." - Maya
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