Your moon just yeeted itself into deep space. Now what?
Earth's Moon is the site of Moonbase Alpha, a scientific research colony nestled in the crater Plato. Staffed by over 300 men and women from Earth, it is the operations center for several space expeditions. It is also a watchdog for vast amounts of atomic waste from Earth stored in silos on the Moon's far side. Magnetic radiation builds up and causes the wastes to explode with such force that the Earth's centripetal pull on the Moon is overcome, and the Moon is broken free of Earth's orbit to drift at incredible speed out of the Solar System off the plane of the ecliptic. The survivors on Moonbase Alpha are unable to return to Earth and must survive in unknown space on their wandering Moon. They encounter a planet whose advanced people project an illusion of a devastating attack on Moonbase. This TV movie was edited from scenes of two episodes ("Breakaway" and "War Games") of "Space: 1999" (1975).
Practical Effects
Glorious miniature moonbase and rocket ships that aged like fine cheese.
Costume
The beige space pajamas. The orange jackets. The 70s hair in zero-G.
Production
Gerry Anderson's puppet-free live action fever dream.
Director
Lee H. Katzin
Martin Landau
Commander John Koenig
Barbara Bain
Doctor Helena Russell
Barry Morse
Professor Victor Bergman
Nick Tate
Captain Alan Carter
Prentis Hancock
Paul Morrow
Zienia Merton
Sandra Benes
Roy Dotrice
Commissioner Gerald Simmons
Anthony Valentine
Male Alien
Isla Blair
Female Alien
Philip Madoc
Commander Anton Gorski
Lon Satton
Benjamin Ouma
Eric Carte
Eddie Collins
Clifton Jones
David Kano
Patrick Allen
Luna Commission Chairman
Christopher Matthews
Main Mission Operator
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This 'movie' barely exists—it's two unrelated Space: 1999 episodes smashed together with new narration to create fake theatrical releases for foreign markets. The original British series was already famously expensive; this was pure cynical recycling.
Space: 1999 arrived in the post-2001, post-Apollo haze when people still believed space stations were imminent. By 1980, that future felt dated already. The 'alien attack' plot accidentally predicted VR warfare anxieties decades early.
US
