Space: 1999 Season 1, Episode 18: The Infernal Machine

1

Breakaway

In September 1999, John Koenig reports to Earth's Space Research Centre at Moonbase Alpha as its new commander. A strange sickness is killing some of the Moonbase Alpha crew. Commander Koenig's investigation reveals that the source lies at Nuclear Waste Disposal Area 1 caused by excessive magnetic energy fields. The continuous build up of energy shortly causes massive explosion clusters that knocks the moon off orbit into deep space.

52 min

2

Force of Life

The body of Anton Zoref is invaded by an unknown life force. The man soon manifests an uncontrollable ability to absorb energy. As the Alphans struggle to understand this mysterious force, Zoref's need becomes insatiable. Driven by instinct, he makes his way to the greatest source of energy on Alpha: the Nuclear Generating Plant.

52 min

3

Collision Course

The Moon is on a collision course with an enormous planet. On a scouting mission, Koenig encounters Arra, the Queen of Atheria. The aged monarch proclaims the collision is a preordained event and must occur for her people to evolve to a higher plane of existence. Now Koenig must convince his staff to have faith and do nothing in the face of apparent destruction.

52 min

4

War Games

Approaching an inhabited planet, the Alphans are suddenly pounced upon by warships. In an unprovoked attack, Moonbase Alpha is devastated by Earth-style Hawk fighters. With 128 dead and Alpha unable to sustain life, Koenig and Helena appeal to the aliens for mercy. The aliens proclaim the Earthmen to be an invading virus, with no right to exist.

52 min

5

Death's Other Dominion

On a frozen planet, the Alphans encounter shipwrecked humans from a lost expedition. The expatriates from Earth enjoy an idyllic existence: they have been made immortal and have lived there for over 880 years. They invite the Alphans to join them in paradise, but dissidents reveal all is not at it seems, teaching Koenig that immortality comes with a price.

52 min

6

Voyager's Return

The automated Earth space probe Voyager One is approaching the Moon. With the radioactive exhaust from its engine certain to extinguish all life on Moonbase, the Alphans try to gain control and shut down the drive. Help comes when the probe's designer is found living on Alpha under an assumed name. However, Voyager is being followed by alien ships seeking revenge.

52 min

7

Alpha Child

The Alphans celebrate the arrival of the first child born on the Moon. The blessed event sours when the infant grows into a five-year-old child in minutes. Trying to accept him, the Alphans do not notice that little Jackie Crawford is much more than he seems. When hostile spaceships approach the base, Koenig realises, too late, that the aliens have an agent on Alpha.

52 min

8

Dragon's Domain

In 1996, Tony Cellini commanded a high-profile space mission which ended in disaster. The sole survivor, he told an outrageous tale of a spaceship graveyard and an alien 'dragon' which devoured his crew. Believed by no one, he was left a broken man. Five years later, the truth is revealed when the runaway Moon approaches the same deadly Sargasso in space.

52 min

9

Mission of the Darians

Encountering a derelict spaceship, the Alphans respond to an automated distress signal. On board, they discover what remains of the once-great civilisation of Daria: an elite group which maintains control of the ship and a tribe which has descended into savagery. The Alphans are appalled when they discover what measures the Darians have taken to survive.

52 min

10

Black Sun

The travelling Moon drifts within range of a black sun. Pulled toward certain destruction by its inescapable gravitational force, the Alphans employ desperate measures to stay alive. As a lifeboat Eagle carries six persons to safety, the Moon plunges into the black sun, with only an experimental forcefield protecting Alpha.

52 min

11

Guardian of Piri

Strange events befuddle the Alphans as they approach the planet Piri. When exploring its lifeless surface, Koenig encounters the seductive servant of the mysterious Guardian of Piri. She offers the wayward Alphans a life of peace and perfection. Realising the deadly truth behind the peace of Piri, Koenig struggles to free his people from the Guardian's influence.

52 min

12

End of Eternity

While exploring an asteroid, the Alphans injure an alien trapped within. Bringing him to Alpha, they discover his wounds have completely healed. The indestructible Balor is a scientist whose people had discovered the secret of immortality. Balor is a psychopath, offering a drastic solution to his people's apathy; now freed of the eternal prison, he plans to spend eternity practicing the art of pain and torture, with the Alphans as his subjects.

52 min

13

Matter of Life and Death

A lush Earth-type planet holds the promise of a new home for the people of Moonbase Alpha. When the reconnaissance Eagle returns, it carries an unexpected passenger: Helena's husband, who died five years ago. The mysterious Lee Russell tells the Alphans that death awaits them on the new planet. The Alphans ignore his warning and unknowingly descend into a world of antimatter.

52 min

14

Earthbound

An alien spacecraft crashlands on the Moon, its passengers refugees from a dying world. As their destination is Earth, they generously offer to take one person with them when they depart. The scheming Commissioner Simmonds takes steps to ensure that he is the lucky individual chosen, even if it means destroying Alpha.

52 min

15

The Full Circle

When exploring a habitable planet, members of the Alphan survey party vanish without a trace. Are they the victims of an indigenous tribe of Stone Age humanoids? The mystery deepens when a dead caveman is found to have capped teeth. Others soon notice the primitive cave chief and his mate bear an uncanny resemblance to the missing John Koenig and Helena Russell.

52 min

16

Another Time, Another Place

After an encounter with a space-time anomaly, the Alphans find their Moon back in the Solar System on a course to re-enter Earth orbit. The celebration ends when it becomes apparent Earth is an inhospitable wasteland. The mystery deepens when they discover a duplicate Moon already in orbit and a duplicate Moonbase Alpha lying empty and deserted.

52 min

17

The Last Sunset

Anonymous alien benfactors provide the wandering Moon with a breathable atmosphere. The Alphans rejoice as they realise they have a wonderful new home in their own backyard. Preparations are made to settle and begin building a new civilisation on the Moon's surface. Koenig is suspicious of the aliens' motives, wondering how long this generous gift will last.

52 min

18

The Infernal Machine

The Alphans are visited by a bizarre spacecraft, whose request for supplies hides a deeper purpose. The ship, Gwent, is found to be sentient, the attempt of a vain alien genius to live forever. Powerful, unstable and craving companionship, Gwent intends for Koenig, Helena and Bergman to replace its aged, dying creator.

52 min

19

Ring Around the Moon

A technician falls under an alien influence, accessing classified information before mysteriously dying. Soon after, the Moon is stopped in space by the powerful rays of an alien spacecraft. The aliens' only interest in Alpha is the data held in its computers, information they now plan to obtain through the possessed eyes of their next agent: Helena Russell.

52 min

20

Missing Link

John Koenig finds himself trapped on the planet Zenno, in the home of an alien scientist and his daughter. Advanced two million years beyond Earthmen, the aliens consider Koenig their missing link. Faced with the threat of being treated like an experimental animal for the rest of his life, Koenig uses an unexpected weapon to confound his captor: love.

52 min

21

Space Brain

An Eagle and its crew are crushed to death by an enormous energy field in space. When one of Alpha's astronauts is possessed by the anomaly, he tells them the energy field is a living space brain, which responded to the 'threat' with antibodies Finding the Moon on a collision course with the Brain, the Alphans make plans to avoid the same fate as the Eagle.

52 min

22

The Troubled Spirit

Dan Mateo, hoping to unlock the secret of communication with plants, unleashes a killing force from the depths of his own mind. This macabre spectre seeks vengeance for Mateo's horrible death—which has not yet occurred. Bridging the span between science and the supernatural, the Alphans hope to break the cycle and exorcise the ghost without killing the man.

52 min

23

The Testament of Arkadia

The wandering Moon suddenly changes course and comes to a halt in the vicinity of a dead world. As Alpha's power fails, the only hope for survival is to evacuate to the planet, which was ravaged by a nuclear war in the distant past. Searching for answers, a team is sent to the surface, where they discover the shocking truth of the origin of Mankind.

52 min

24

The Last Enemy

The Moon approaches a solar system with two planets on opposites sides of its sun. The Alphans are trapped in an interplanetary conflict when warships from both worlds trespass on the Moon to fire missiles at their opponents' planets. After taking in a refugee from a destroyed gunship, the Alphans discover they have drifted into the middle of a literal war of the sexes.

52 min