The Troubled Spirit
Encyclopedia
"The Troubled Spirit" is the nineteenth episode of the first series of Space: 1999
. The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Ray Austin. The final shooting script is dated 11 November 1974. Live-action filming took place Wednesday, 20 November 1974 through Wednesday, 4 December 1974.
drifts through empty space, the off-duty personnel of Moonbase Alpha gather in the Recreation Section for an evening of music. Playing to a full house, the solo artist performs a haunting piece on a sitar
. The concert is simulcast throughout the base, the eerie melody providing the appropriate atmosphere to an unusual gathering in Hydroponic Unit Two. There, Doctor Dan Mateo and three colleagues are in the midst of an unorthodox experiment. Linked to a transmitting apparatus by electrodes, the four botanists sit holding hands around a table...giving the proceedings the appearance of a scientific séance
.
Working from the premise that humans have an innate affinity with plants, Mateo has discovered that botanical life emits electrical waves analogous to those produced by the human brain. In tonight's experiment, the Italian botanist hopes to isolate these brain-wave
patterns in his own mind, amplify them using the combined mental powers of the group, transmit them at plants sitting on the table and measure the response. The ultimate goal is to establish communication between humans and plants.
As the group concentrates, Mateo slips into a trance-state. He is soon moaning and writhing like a trapped animal. While the others trade anxious glances, Doctor James Warren, head of Hydroponics
, enters the unit and witnesses their activity. Incensed, the elderly scientist begins tearing the electrodes from their wrists. When the circle is broken, Mateo spasms in agony and crumples to the floor. Suddenly, the lights dim and a freezing wind blows across the workroom, through the beds of cultivated plants and out the hatch...continuing until it has penetrated every section of Alpha.
John Koenig
arrives at Hydroponics with a medical team. Mateo, still unconscious and in shock, is conveyed to Medical straight away. While the Commander questions the other participants, an argument breaks out between Warren and Laura Adams, Mateo's girlfriend and willing accomplice. Having advised Mateo to abandon this dangerous avenue of research, the priggish old man is indignant at having caught him proceeding without authorisation; the girl is furious that Warren's interference could have cost Mateo his life.
Their dispute is interrupted by a report that all Alpha sections experienced a momentary drop in temperature—emanating outward from Hydroponics. Koenig presses Victor Bergman
for an explanation, but the professor is stumped. Mateo's work is based on sound scientific principles; nothing about the experiment could have caused this disturbance. In the Medical Centre, Mateo regains consciousness. After describing his experience to Helena Russell
, she advises caution as he seems extremely sensitive to psychic
phenomena. When Laura comes to check on him, they end up quarrelling when she, too, voices her concerns over the danger.
Helena ends the spat by administering a sedative to help the now-angry Mateo sleep. As he drifts off, he spies a shadowy form lurking in a dark corner. Seeing Laura out, Helena settles down to some paperwork. The doctor looks up when a chilling breeze wafts over her. She is filled with dread when she, too sees the figure of a man standing in the shadows. It steps into the light, revealing one side of its face to be scarred and mutilated. Helena recoils in horror.
Minutes later, Koenig arrives with a Security team. A thorough search uncovers no sign of Helena's horrific intruder. Mateo, resting in a drugged sleep, is the only other person present. When she relates the details of her bizarre encounter, Koenig is hard-pressed to accept the conclusion that this was some sort of psychic event. However, the recorded temperature drop in this compartment convinces him it is somehow connected to Mateo's work. He calls Hydroponics to declare the project officially terminated. Delighted with Koenig's decision, Warren immediately begins disassembling Mateo's equipment.
The following morning, Helena discharges Mateo, who is seething over the order to end his research. Upon leaving the care unit, the botanist is party to a series of eerie occurrences: hatches opening before he can use his commlock...the distinct feeling of being followed...the sound of footsteps behind him in empty corridors. After he boards a travel tube, the hatch briefly pauses while closing—as if held open by an invisible person wishing to gain access. During the ride, Mateo watches a sourceless shadow roam the capsule interior; when it falls over him, he breaks into a cold sweat. Terrified, he bolts from the capsule when it reaches his destination.
Arriving at Hydroponics, the incident is forgotten when Mateo sees his transmitter dismantled and tossed in a bin. With murderous rage, he charges over to confront the culprit: Warren. While threatening the older man's life, Mateo is horrified to see that the hand with which he is gripping the lapels of Warren's lab coat has transformed into a scarred and withered claw. Panicked, Mateo releases the cowering Warren and runs from the unit, concealing his shrivelled hand in his armpit. When alone, he slowly pulls it out—and is baffled when the hand is completely normal.
After the assault, Warren returns to work, determined to discharge Mateo from his department. Soon, he is distracted by a cold draught. He hears a guttural voice whispering his name...then the sound of someone moving through the foliage. Warren screams when his nightmarish stalker emerges, its disfigured hand clamping around his throat. Laura and the staff respond to find the old man sprawled on the floor in a tangle of vegetation. It is obvious that Warren is dead—his back twisted at an unnatural angle, face a mask of terror.
As a stretcher team collects the corpse, Koenig interrogates a flustered Mateo. While it is common knowledge he was not fond of Warren, Mateo insists he did not kill him—and was definitely not present when the man died. Koenig cites the fact that all the strange events of the past few days seem connected to Mateo and his experiment. Bergman reveals that during each incident, in addition to the drops in temperature, the instruments have detected Mateo's electrical-wave pattern. The professor concludes the wave pattern represents a rare and powerful form of psychic energy.
The post mortem reveals Warren died from a shattered spinal column. Helena realises the damage was not caused by a blow, but by fear amplified to an unimaginable intensity. At a command conference, sceptic Alan Carter balks at the notion the base is being terrorised by a ‘spook
’. Bergman and Helena propose that Mateo, while experimenting with the most primitive, least understood segment of the brain, has tapped a latent paranormal
power. Some unknown aspect of his work has stimulated this area to a never-before-seen level of activity—resulting in a destructive force capable of killing.
During this, Laura finds Mateo in the Hydroponic Unit, reassembling his device. With Bergman's announcement that his wave pattern is detectable by conventional means, the botanist is convinced he is on the verge of a breakthrough. Laura pleads with him to stop, frightened by the force he has awakened. To sabotage his progress, she secretly steals a component from the transmitter. After catching her, Mateo furiously ejects her from the workroom. Threatening to tell Koenig everything, a sobbing Laura runs for the main hatch—and into the arms of the obscene spectre
waiting for her on the other side.
With his girlfriend now murdered (in the same manner as Warren), the grief-stricken Mateo suffers a breakdown. He admits to threatening both Warren and Laura before their deaths. Mateo feels this force is connected with himself, carrying out his subconscious destructive urges. To bring it out into the open, he asks to recreate his experiment. Koenig agrees and the senior staff assembles in Hydroponics. With the mental power of eight participants, Mateo conjures up a chilling apparition—a being who is the image of himself, its right side grotesquely mutilated.
The doppelgänger circles the table, blaming Koenig and company for ending its life. It denies its presence here is accidental—it is a force of vengeance, seeking out those who collaborated in its destruction. During this, Mateo emerges from his trance. The overwhelming horror of confronting his own spirit drives him into a catatonic state; after Mateo's mental collapse, the wraith fades away. The botanist, in deep shock, is placed in isolation and heavily sedated.
Koenig and Bergman discuss the situation. The professor is fascinated by the concept of a spirit returning to avenge its death...before that death has occurred. Koenig's concern is that this force will continue to grow and begin operating independently. As Helena's encounter occurred while Mateo was drugged, sedation is not a solution. Bridging the gap between science and mysticism, Bergman proposes a scientific exorcism
: summon the being at a time and place of their choice, isolate it from Mateo, contain it technologically...then somehow destroy it.
Koenig and his team proceed to the now-evacuated Medical building. To bring forth the spirit, Mateo is given mezadrine, a psychotropic drug which induces violent emotion. Bergman then encloses the botanist's bed behind a lethal energy barrier. Mateo awakens, furious to find himself locked in an isolation room and in restraints
. His rage builds to the point where he threatens to kill Koenig. With that, the wraith springs from Mateo's body, hurling itself at the Commander—to be repelled by the force-field. Trying to reach Koenig, the spirit repeatedly flings itself against the barrier in a murderous frenzy.
Insane, Mateo tears off the restraints and grabs his nemesis by the throat. As they grapple, the spirit gains the upper hand and sadistically holds Mateo's face in contact with the sizzling energy field. The macabre death match ends when both collapse to the floor in a sudden explosion of blinding energy. The spirit vanishes, and Koenig moves to check Mateo's motionless form. The man is dead. When turned face-up, the Alphans are horrified—but not entirely surprised—to see the face and body burned in the precise manner as the spirit his death has exorcised...
score (drawn primarily from 'Another Time, Another Place
'), English musician ‘Big Jim’ Sullivan
would compose an eerie, atmospheric composition for the sitar
to serve as the primary music track. Sullivan, a prolific session guitarist
of the time, also appeared on camera—dressed in an Alpha uniform, he was the performer seen playing the piece in the story's opening scenes.
, published in 1975.
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
. The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Ray Austin. The final shooting script is dated 11 November 1974. Live-action filming took place Wednesday, 20 November 1974 through Wednesday, 4 December 1974.
Story
As the MoonMoon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
drifts through empty space, the off-duty personnel of Moonbase Alpha gather in the Recreation Section for an evening of music. Playing to a full house, the solo artist performs a haunting piece on a sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
. The concert is simulcast throughout the base, the eerie melody providing the appropriate atmosphere to an unusual gathering in Hydroponic Unit Two. There, Doctor Dan Mateo and three colleagues are in the midst of an unorthodox experiment. Linked to a transmitting apparatus by electrodes, the four botanists sit holding hands around a table...giving the proceedings the appearance of a scientific séance
Séance
A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...
.
Working from the premise that humans have an innate affinity with plants, Mateo has discovered that botanical life emits electrical waves analogous to those produced by the human brain. In tonight's experiment, the Italian botanist hopes to isolate these brain-wave
Electroencephalography
Electroencephalography is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain...
patterns in his own mind, amplify them using the combined mental powers of the group, transmit them at plants sitting on the table and measure the response. The ultimate goal is to establish communication between humans and plants.
As the group concentrates, Mateo slips into a trance-state. He is soon moaning and writhing like a trapped animal. While the others trade anxious glances, Doctor James Warren, head of Hydroponics
Hydroponics
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, mineral wool, or coconut husk.Researchers discovered in the 18th...
, enters the unit and witnesses their activity. Incensed, the elderly scientist begins tearing the electrodes from their wrists. When the circle is broken, Mateo spasms in agony and crumples to the floor. Suddenly, the lights dim and a freezing wind blows across the workroom, through the beds of cultivated plants and out the hatch...continuing until it has penetrated every section of Alpha.
John Koenig
John Koenig
John Koenig is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. He was played by Martin Landau. He is American, apparently in his early forties.-Character Biography:...
arrives at Hydroponics with a medical team. Mateo, still unconscious and in shock, is conveyed to Medical straight away. While the Commander questions the other participants, an argument breaks out between Warren and Laura Adams, Mateo's girlfriend and willing accomplice. Having advised Mateo to abandon this dangerous avenue of research, the priggish old man is indignant at having caught him proceeding without authorisation; the girl is furious that Warren's interference could have cost Mateo his life.
Their dispute is interrupted by a report that all Alpha sections experienced a momentary drop in temperature—emanating outward from Hydroponics. Koenig presses Victor Bergman
Victor Bergman
Professor Victor Bergman is the name of a recurring character on the UK science fiction television series Space: 1999. The role was portrayed by actor Barry Morse.-Character Biography:...
for an explanation, but the professor is stumped. Mateo's work is based on sound scientific principles; nothing about the experiment could have caused this disturbance. In the Medical Centre, Mateo regains consciousness. After describing his experience to Helena Russell
Helena Russell
Helena Russell is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. She was played by Barbara Bain. She is American and apparently in her mid-thirties....
, she advises caution as he seems extremely sensitive to psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
phenomena. When Laura comes to check on him, they end up quarrelling when she, too, voices her concerns over the danger.
Helena ends the spat by administering a sedative to help the now-angry Mateo sleep. As he drifts off, he spies a shadowy form lurking in a dark corner. Seeing Laura out, Helena settles down to some paperwork. The doctor looks up when a chilling breeze wafts over her. She is filled with dread when she, too sees the figure of a man standing in the shadows. It steps into the light, revealing one side of its face to be scarred and mutilated. Helena recoils in horror.
Minutes later, Koenig arrives with a Security team. A thorough search uncovers no sign of Helena's horrific intruder. Mateo, resting in a drugged sleep, is the only other person present. When she relates the details of her bizarre encounter, Koenig is hard-pressed to accept the conclusion that this was some sort of psychic event. However, the recorded temperature drop in this compartment convinces him it is somehow connected to Mateo's work. He calls Hydroponics to declare the project officially terminated. Delighted with Koenig's decision, Warren immediately begins disassembling Mateo's equipment.
The following morning, Helena discharges Mateo, who is seething over the order to end his research. Upon leaving the care unit, the botanist is party to a series of eerie occurrences: hatches opening before he can use his commlock...the distinct feeling of being followed...the sound of footsteps behind him in empty corridors. After he boards a travel tube, the hatch briefly pauses while closing—as if held open by an invisible person wishing to gain access. During the ride, Mateo watches a sourceless shadow roam the capsule interior; when it falls over him, he breaks into a cold sweat. Terrified, he bolts from the capsule when it reaches his destination.
Arriving at Hydroponics, the incident is forgotten when Mateo sees his transmitter dismantled and tossed in a bin. With murderous rage, he charges over to confront the culprit: Warren. While threatening the older man's life, Mateo is horrified to see that the hand with which he is gripping the lapels of Warren's lab coat has transformed into a scarred and withered claw. Panicked, Mateo releases the cowering Warren and runs from the unit, concealing his shrivelled hand in his armpit. When alone, he slowly pulls it out—and is baffled when the hand is completely normal.
After the assault, Warren returns to work, determined to discharge Mateo from his department. Soon, he is distracted by a cold draught. He hears a guttural voice whispering his name...then the sound of someone moving through the foliage. Warren screams when his nightmarish stalker emerges, its disfigured hand clamping around his throat. Laura and the staff respond to find the old man sprawled on the floor in a tangle of vegetation. It is obvious that Warren is dead—his back twisted at an unnatural angle, face a mask of terror.
As a stretcher team collects the corpse, Koenig interrogates a flustered Mateo. While it is common knowledge he was not fond of Warren, Mateo insists he did not kill him—and was definitely not present when the man died. Koenig cites the fact that all the strange events of the past few days seem connected to Mateo and his experiment. Bergman reveals that during each incident, in addition to the drops in temperature, the instruments have detected Mateo's electrical-wave pattern. The professor concludes the wave pattern represents a rare and powerful form of psychic energy.
The post mortem reveals Warren died from a shattered spinal column. Helena realises the damage was not caused by a blow, but by fear amplified to an unimaginable intensity. At a command conference, sceptic Alan Carter balks at the notion the base is being terrorised by a ‘spook
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
’. Bergman and Helena propose that Mateo, while experimenting with the most primitive, least understood segment of the brain, has tapped a latent paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
power. Some unknown aspect of his work has stimulated this area to a never-before-seen level of activity—resulting in a destructive force capable of killing.
During this, Laura finds Mateo in the Hydroponic Unit, reassembling his device. With Bergman's announcement that his wave pattern is detectable by conventional means, the botanist is convinced he is on the verge of a breakthrough. Laura pleads with him to stop, frightened by the force he has awakened. To sabotage his progress, she secretly steals a component from the transmitter. After catching her, Mateo furiously ejects her from the workroom. Threatening to tell Koenig everything, a sobbing Laura runs for the main hatch—and into the arms of the obscene spectre
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
waiting for her on the other side.
With his girlfriend now murdered (in the same manner as Warren), the grief-stricken Mateo suffers a breakdown. He admits to threatening both Warren and Laura before their deaths. Mateo feels this force is connected with himself, carrying out his subconscious destructive urges. To bring it out into the open, he asks to recreate his experiment. Koenig agrees and the senior staff assembles in Hydroponics. With the mental power of eight participants, Mateo conjures up a chilling apparition—a being who is the image of himself, its right side grotesquely mutilated.
The doppelgänger circles the table, blaming Koenig and company for ending its life. It denies its presence here is accidental—it is a force of vengeance, seeking out those who collaborated in its destruction. During this, Mateo emerges from his trance. The overwhelming horror of confronting his own spirit drives him into a catatonic state; after Mateo's mental collapse, the wraith fades away. The botanist, in deep shock, is placed in isolation and heavily sedated.
Koenig and Bergman discuss the situation. The professor is fascinated by the concept of a spirit returning to avenge its death...before that death has occurred. Koenig's concern is that this force will continue to grow and begin operating independently. As Helena's encounter occurred while Mateo was drugged, sedation is not a solution. Bridging the gap between science and mysticism, Bergman proposes a scientific exorcism
Exorcism
Exorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...
: summon the being at a time and place of their choice, isolate it from Mateo, contain it technologically...then somehow destroy it.
Koenig and his team proceed to the now-evacuated Medical building. To bring forth the spirit, Mateo is given mezadrine, a psychotropic drug which induces violent emotion. Bergman then encloses the botanist's bed behind a lethal energy barrier. Mateo awakens, furious to find himself locked in an isolation room and in restraints
Medical restraints
Medical restraints are physical restraints used during certain medical procedures. Medical restraints are designed to restrain patients with the minimum of discomfort and pain and to prevent patients injuring themselves or others....
. His rage builds to the point where he threatens to kill Koenig. With that, the wraith springs from Mateo's body, hurling itself at the Commander—to be repelled by the force-field. Trying to reach Koenig, the spirit repeatedly flings itself against the barrier in a murderous frenzy.
Insane, Mateo tears off the restraints and grabs his nemesis by the throat. As they grapple, the spirit gains the upper hand and sadistically holds Mateo's face in contact with the sizzling energy field. The macabre death match ends when both collapse to the floor in a sudden explosion of blinding energy. The spirit vanishes, and Koenig moves to check Mateo's motionless form. The man is dead. When turned face-up, the Alphans are horrified—but not entirely surprised—to see the face and body burned in the precise manner as the spirit his death has exorcised...
Starring
- Martin LandauMartin LandauMartin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
— Commander John KoenigJohn KoenigJohn Koenig is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. He was played by Martin Landau. He is American, apparently in his early forties.-Character Biography:... - Barbara BainBarbara BainMillicent Fogel , known professionally as Barbara Bain, is an American actress.-Early life:Bain was born in Chicago. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor's degree in sociology. She moved to New York City, where she was a dancer and high fashion model. Bain studied with...
— Doctor Helena RussellHelena RussellHelena Russell is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. She was played by Barbara Bain. She is American and apparently in her mid-thirties....
Guest Artists
- Giancarlo PreteGiancarlo PreteGiancarlo Prete was an Italian actor.After he worked in the cinema as stuntman, Prete went to Alessandro Fersen's acting school and begun to act in many films and in TV serials.In the following years Prete worked as dubbing director and acted only in TV...
— Doctor Dan Mateo - Hilary DwyerHilary DwyerHilary Dwyer is a former actress, businessperson and film producer.-Early life:Dwyer is the daughter of an Orthopaedic Surgeon. As a youth, she practiced ballet and became a talented pianist...
— Laura Adams - Anthony NichollsAnthony Nicholls (actor)Anthony Nicholls was an English film, television, and stage actor.-Life and career:Nicholls was born Sydney Horace Nicholls on 16 October 1902 in Windsor, Berkshire, England, the son of Florence and photojournalist Horace Nicholls. He served in the Royal Artillery...
— Doctor James Warren
Featuring
- Prentis HancockPrentis HancockPrentis Hancock is a British actor, best known for his television roles.He was a regular cast member of the first season of science fiction series Space: 1999 as Paul Morrow, and also appeared in a number of Doctor Who stories throughout the 1970s - Spearhead from Space and Planet of the Daleks...
— Controller Paul MorrowPaul MorrowPaul Morrow is a fictional character who first appeared in 'Breakaway', the premiere episode of the science fiction television show Space: 1999, and was portrayed by Prentis Hancock. He is a British national who appears to be in his early thirties.... - Clifton JonesClifton JonesClifton Jones is an actor, mostly known for his roles on British television.His most prominent role is probably that of David Kano during the first season of the science fiction series Space: 1999....
— David KanoDavid Kano (Space 1999)David Kano is a fictional character who regularly appeared during the first season of the science fiction television series Space: 1999. He is of Jamaican origin and in his mid-thirties. He was played by actor Clifton Jones.-Character biography:... - Zienia MertonZienia MertonZienia Merton is a British actress born in Burma. Her mother was Burmese, and her father half English, half French. She was raised in Singapore, Borneo, Portugal, and England....
— Sandra BenesSandra BenesSandra Benes is a recurring character in the British science-fiction television series Space: 1999. She is of Western European/Burmese origin and is in her late twenties. Her role was played by actress Zienia Merton.-Character Biography:... - Anton PhillipsAnton PhillipsAnton Phillips is an actor who found success appearing in British television. He remains best known for his role as Dr. Bob Mathias in the science fiction series Space 1999.-Early life and education:...
— Doctor Bob MathiasBob Mathias (Space: 1999)Bob Mathias is a fictional character from the British science-fiction television series Space: 1999. He is played by actor Anton Phillips.-Character Biography:... - Nick TateNick TateNicholas John "Nick" Tate is an Australian actor best known for his role as Eagle pilot Alan Carter in both seasons of the 1970s science fiction television series Space: 1999, as well as for playing the role of Gordon Hamilton's errant brother James in the 1980's soap opera "Sons and...
— Captain Alan CarterAlan Carter (Space 1999)Alan Carter is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. He was played by Nick Tate. He is of Australian origin and is in his early thirties.-Character biography:...
Uncredited Artists
- Suzanne RoquetteSuzanne RoquetteSuzanne Roquette is an actress, who remains best known for her role as Tanya Alexander in the science fiction television series Space 1999....
— TanyaTanya AlexanderTanya Alexander is the name of a semi-recurring character on the UK science fiction television series Space: 1999. The role was portrayed by German actress Suzanne Roquette.-Character Biography:... - Jim SullivanBig Jim SullivanBig Jim Sullivan is an English musician, whose career started in 1959. He is best known as a session guitarist. In the 1960s and 1970s, Sullivan was one of the most "in-demand" studio musicians in the UK, and performed in more than one thousand charting singles over his career...
— Alphan Musician - Tony Allyn — Security Guard
- Vernon Morris — Male Botanist
- Xanthi Gardner — Female Botanist
- Valentino MusettiValentino MusettiValentino Musetti , often known as just Val Musetti, is an English film and TV stuntman and retired auto racing driver. Highlights of his career include finishing third in the Shellsport International Series in 1977. In 1978 he finished fifth in the Aurora F1 Series. In the late 1980s he drove in...
— ‘Spirit’ Mateo
Music
Supplemented by the regular Barry GrayBarry Gray
Barry Gray was a British musician and composer who is best known for his work for Gerry Anderson.-Life:...
score (drawn primarily from 'Another Time, Another Place
Another Time, Another Place (Space: 1999)
"Another Time, Another Place" is the sixth episode of the first series of Space: 1999. The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was David Tomblin. The final shooting script is dated 20 January 1974, with blue-page amendments dated 25 January and 1 April 1974. Live-action filming...
'), English musician ‘Big Jim’ Sullivan
Big Jim Sullivan
Big Jim Sullivan is an English musician, whose career started in 1959. He is best known as a session guitarist. In the 1960s and 1970s, Sullivan was one of the most "in-demand" studio musicians in the UK, and performed in more than one thousand charting singles over his career...
would compose an eerie, atmospheric composition for the sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
to serve as the primary music track. Sullivan, a prolific session guitarist
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
of the time, also appeared on camera—dressed in an Alpha uniform, he was the performer seen playing the piece in the story's opening scenes.
Production Notes
- Script editor Johnny Byrne's idea for ‘The Troubled Spirit’ arose from his desire to write a science-fiction ghost story. He was especially pleased with the symmetry that organically evolved—the spirit coming to avenge a death that had not yet occurred, and the Alphans, in their attempts to counter the dangerous presence in their midst, actually causing the death they are trying to avert. In the early 70s, the idea of human-plant communication was a popular concept, as was the notion that the human brain contained many underutilised areas which contained paranormal super-powers.
- Both Byrne and production designer Keith WilsonKeith Wilson (production designer)Keith George Wilson was an award-winning production designer who began work at AP Films, working as art assistant on Fireball XL5 and many other Gerry Anderson productions to follow. As a production designer he created all the futuristic sets for Space: 1999 and Star Maidens...
recall that producer Sylvia AndersonSylvia AndersonSylvia Anderson , born 25 March 1937, is a British voice artist and film producer, most notable for collaborations with Gerry Anderson, to whom she was married from 1962 to 1975....
was greatly involved in the creative development of this episode. Mrs Anderson's usual concerns were production design and the supervision of the actors; executive producer Gerry AndersonGerry AndersonGerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
normally oversaw the writing staff. Her interest in Byrne's tale had her running the story meetings for this instalment, rather than her husband.
- In 1973, when RAIRAIRAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
had agreed to co-finance the series, they had one stipulation: the programme would feature Italian talent. The recurring characters that became Sandra BenesSandra BenesSandra Benes is a recurring character in the British science-fiction television series Space: 1999. She is of Western European/Burmese origin and is in her late twenties. Her role was played by actress Zienia Merton.-Character Biography:...
and Alan Carter were originally written as Italian nationals. Giancarlo PreteGiancarlo PreteGiancarlo Prete was an Italian actor.After he worked in the cinema as stuntman, Prete went to Alessandro Fersen's acting school and begun to act in many films and in TV serials.In the following years Prete worked as dubbing director and acted only in TV...
had been selected to play ‘Captain Alfonso Catani’, head of Reconnaissance. However, shortly before production began, the Italian actor resigned, unwilling to commit to the twelve-month stay in England the role would require. (The part was quickly rewritten and awarded to Australian actor Nick TateNick TateNicholas John "Nick" Tate is an Australian actor best known for his role as Eagle pilot Alan Carter in both seasons of the 1970s science fiction television series Space: 1999, as well as for playing the role of Gordon Hamilton's errant brother James in the 1980's soap opera "Sons and...
, who was already engaged to play a minor, one-off character—the doomed Eagle shuttle pilot Collins—in the premiere episode ‘BreakawayBreakaway (Space: 1999)"Breakaway" is the first episode of the first series of Space: 1999. The screenplay was written by George Bellak ; the director was Lee H. Katzin. Previous titles include 'Zero-G', 'The Void Ahead' and 'Turning Point'. The final shooting script is dated 22 November 1973...
’.) Prete would be the first of four Italian guest artists chosen to fulfill the agreement. Sylvia Anderson selected him because he was not intimidated by series′ star Martin LandauMartin LandauMartin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
; Landau's ego, she recounts, was threatened by the Italian actors visiting for screen testScreen testA screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film and/or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a camera to see if they are suitable...
ing.
- The script contained several slight differences from the finished episode: (1) The music programme was written as a string quintetString quintetA string quintet is a musical composition for a standard string quartet supplemented by a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola or a second cello , but occasionally a double bass. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who favoured addition of a viola, is considered a pioneer of the form...
, of which Victor BergmanVictor BergmanProfessor Victor Bergman is the name of a recurring character on the UK science fiction television series Space: 1999. The role was portrayed by actor Barry Morse.-Character Biography:...
was a member—this was suggested by the presence of a violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
in his quarters in the earlier episode ‘Alpha Child’; (2) Characters were to have spoken Mateo′s given name ‘Dan’ throughout the segment; in the televised version, everyone only used his surname—including his girlfriend; (3) In a scene cut for time (but glimpsed in the ‘This Episode’ sequence), Bergman demonstrated his method to destroy the spirit: energy matching the spirit's wave pattern, but with reversed polarity. When in contact, the two opposing forces would cancel each other out.
- The animated energy shimmer seen when the spirit finally vanishes and is absorbed into Mateo's body was the only new visual effect seen in this instalment; the shots of Moonbase were library footage. The superimposed images of the spirit were practical effects, done ‘in camera’ with a half-silvered mirror.
Novelisation
The episode was adapted in the fifth Year One Space: 1999 novel Lunar Attack by John RankineJohn Rankine
John Rankine is a British science fiction author, who has written books as John Rankine and Douglas R. Mason...
, published in 1975.
External links
- Space: 1999 - 'The Troubled Spirit' - The Catacombs episode guide
- Space: 1999 - 'The Troubled Spirit' - Moonbase Alpha's Space: 1999 page
| Last produced: "The Last Enemy" |
List of Space: 1999 episodes | Next produced: "Space Brain" |
| Last transmitted: "Space Brain" |
Next transmitted: "The Testament of Arkadia The Testament of Arkadia "The Testament of Arkadia" is the twenty-fourth and final episode of the first series of Space: 1999. The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was David Tomblin. The final shooting script is dated 5 February 1975, with a revised final shooting script dated 25 February 1975... " |