Space:1999 strip guide - part one

Story One
Written by Angus P. Allan. Drawn by John M. Burns. Pages 8 & 9, colour.

Part 1 - Issue 38, week ending 13 September 1975
Torn bodily from Earth's orbit by nuclear disruption of incredible power, the Moon hurtles across space on an endless journey into the unknown...
Kano warns Commander John Koenig of an intense belt of high radiation into which the Moon is heading. Koenig barely has time to warn the Moonbase personnel before the whole Moon is rocked by violent vibration and a turmoil of noise. Untold moments pass before the phenomenon fades and as the shaken occupants recover, Dr Helena Russell is the first to notice a planet has appeared on the screen of Main Mission. Even Professor Victor Bergman is at a loss to explain what has happened but he does know the planet could mean a hope of survival. Koenig orders Chief Pilot Alan Carter on a survey mission, and with trainee pilot Danny Morris, he takes an Eagle to explore. But Danny, given control of an Eagle for the first time, panics and the craft goes into a dive and starts to burn up...

Part 2 - Issue 39, week ending 20 September 1975
Taking control, Alan Carter manages to finally get the Eagle to respond but not before the craft is damaged and communications broken. Realising their Eagle may still break-up on landing, Koenigs takes Helena Russell in another Eagle for a rescue mission. Meanwhile, Carter's Eagle has managed a safe landing on a shore of the very Earth-like planet. Morris discovers a petrified human skull but before either he or Carter can realise the implications a large sphere skips over the ocean waters towards them. Coming to a rest close by, a hatch opens and a terrifying large insectoid appears hailing them in an alien language...

Part 3 - Issue 40, week ending 27 September 1975

Unable to sense whether the giant intelligent ants are friendly or hostile, Carter and Morris are transfixed as six of the creatures disembark. When the ants try to carry their Eagle away, Morris tries to communicate peacefully only to be struck to the ground dead by one of them. As they advance on Carter, Commander Koenig's Eagle flies in. Having seen the hostility, Koenig opens fire with lasers and with two strikes despatches the creatures. But when Koenig and Helena land, they only find Morris and five ant bodies. One must have escaped taking Alan Carter with it...

Part 4 - Issue 41, week ending 04 October 1975
Koenig is adamant they should follow and rescue Alan, much to the dismay of Helena, and Victor Bergman and Paul Morrow on Moonbase Alpha. The commander orders no-one else is to come down, and takes Helena in pursuit of the ant. The creature, has communicated with their leader Mekket, who is shocked the originals have returned. Still in pursuit, Helena trips over an object which turns out to be a water syphon, made in London, Earth...

Part 5 - Issue 42, week ending 11 October 1975
Realising they must be thousands of years in the future, Koenig and Helena are suddenly confronted by the ant that captured Alan Carter. Mekket orders by telepathy that the originals be captured and used for sport. Despite spirited resistance, Koenig and Helena are no match for the ant. But Alpha, there is concern that the Moon is moving away from the Earth, and is Koenig's party does return soon they may be stranded for good...

Part 6 - Issue 43, week ending 18 October 1975
Victor Bergman argues with Paul Morrow that he may have to disobey the commander's orders and send another Eagle down. Meanwhile, Koenig, Helens and Carter have recovered to find themselves in a kind of arena, surrounded by the ants. Unarmed and without comlocks, Koenig pleads with Mekket for understanding of their situation. The only response is that the 'bulls' be set loose. An Eagle, piloted by Paul Morrow and Victor Bergman, has been launched from Alpha, with the professor taking full responsibility. But they may be too late, for the massive 'bull' aphid is about to be released...

Part 7 - Issue 44, week ending 25 October 1975
The 'bull' charges but Koenig blinds it with dust. The ants are so distracted with the sport that they are totally surprised when Koenig jumps two of the guards and gets a sword each for himself and Alan. Meanwhile, Bergman's rescue mission has homed in on the landing site and is searching. It arrives over the arena as Koenig, Alan and Helena continue to fight the bull, and all three are rescued. Returning to Alpha, they realise their destiny is probably no longer on Earth...

Reprinted:
• TV Junior Number 3, May 1978 (Portugal - complete b/w compilation)
• Look-In Annual ©1979 (abridged b/w compilation)
• FAB - issue 50-51 (Parts 1-2 so far)

Where Eagles Daren't...
• No Eagles are destroyed but presumably Carter's Eagle and Koenig's Eagle are left on Earth. I hope the ants don't start using them...

Notes:
• The plot is similar to A Woman's World, from the first Space:1999 annual, except the antagonists are gladitorial women who make Helena a goddess and put Koenig and Alan in an arena to fight.
• Issue 39 contains a two page competition to win a Dinky Eagle Transporter, by identifying the Gerry Anderson series that photos of six craft came from: Cloudbase, Mac's Car, Supercar, Stingray, Thunderbird 5 and Fireball XL5. There were 100 Eagles to be won, wih the 50 runners-up winning the Dinky Moon Rover.
• The cover of Look-In for the final part of this story (issue 44) features a portrait of John Koenig in a spacesuit, and a small scene from the previous part.
• The original artwork of the first page of this story, and the first page of part 6, are known to exist in private collections.
• The Portugese reprints in TV Junior used this introductory story second, after the fourth one which was the first to feature Mike Noble's artwork.
• The American Charlton Space:1999 magazine would also feature a strip along the same idea, called Class Determination: Alien Insecta!, in its fourth issue.
• A German Space:1999 graphic novel Planet der Riesen Ameisen also has the Alphans encountering giant ants on an alien planet. The translated title, unsurprisingly, is... 'Planet Of The Giant Ants'!
• Some of the artwork in this story would provide the basis for pictures in the Space:1999 range of activity books by World Distributors.
• The Fanderson magazine FAB reference title for this story is Colony Earth.
• John Stewart, at his Look-Out website, refers to this story as Planet of the Ants.
• You can read the entire strip at www.space1999.net.


Story Two
Written by Angus P. Allan.
Drawn by John M. Burns. Pages 8 & 9, colour.

Part 1 - Issue 45, week ending 01 November 1975
Torn free from Eartn's orbit, the Moon speeds on its uncontrollable odyssey through space. A time-warp has taken it back into the Solar System, a thousand years in the future, but Earth is now well beyond its reach...
Paul Morrow informs Commander Koenig that their trajectory will take them close to the planet Mars. Koenig ponders whether the planet may have favourable conditions for colonisation but as the sensors probe a clear radio signal cuts in! Main Mission operative Ma Lai tells Koenig it is Chinese, and a repeated call for help. Believing some colonists may have left Earth and settled on the planet, Koenig takes Helena Russell to investigate. On the surface of Mars, they see a vast dome and land their Eagle nearby. Paul informs them there is no change in the may-day signal but as Koenig and Helena near the door there is an explosion...

Part 2 - Issue 46, week ending 08 November 1975
Shaken, Koenig and Helena stagger inside. They find living quarters intact but obviously abandoned in a hurry. The signal they heard is being repeated automatically, and Koenig decides to investigate further despite the earlier attack. Outside, the cause is two men armed with a grenade launcher. They believe Koenig and Helena must be involved with the yellows. As the two Alphans leave the dome, they prepare to fire again but are gunned down by unseen assailants. But the grenade fires wildly, and hits the Eagle...

Part 3 - Issue 47, week ending 15 November 1975

Koenig returns fire but finds the two men dead. The other group are Chinese, referring to Koenig and Helena as alternatives and stunning them. Recovering in a cave, Koenig is questioned by Nam Lee, who explains his people colonised Mars after the Moon's departure made Earth uninhabitable. But others came and a war has been waged ever since. Nam Lee seems willing to allow Koenig to let the Alphans settle but has his own agenda, believing their weapons may aid their fight. However, the Alternatives attack in armed vehicles that melt rock, and they plan to drown the Yellows in lava...

Part 4 - Issue 48, week ending 22 November 1975
As molten rock floods into the caves, Koenig and Helena flee in the confusion, followed by Nam Lee. Contacting Alpha, Koenig explains the situation but wants to get an area outside of any conflict rather than risk more lives in a rescue. An airlock leads to the surface, but when Koenig returns from a brief recce to check he finds Helena has gone missing...

Part 5 - Issue 49, week ending 29 November 1975
Appearing behind a sealed partition, Nam Lee is holding Helena hostage. The Chinese defences have crumbled, and Nam Lee wants Koenig to use armed Eagles to destroy the Alternatives - or he will kill Helena. Koenig does not want any part in a war, but as Nam Lee is about to carry out his threat he is shot by Alternatives. They know of the Moon too, and offer Koenig the chance to settle if he allies the Alphans to them. After a thousand years, it seems mankind is still waging senseless war, so Koenig decides there is no place for them here and returns to Alpha...

Reprinted:
TV Junior Number 5, July 1978 (Portugal - complete b/w compilation)

Where Eagles Daren't...
• Koenig's Eagle is blown up by the real alternatives.

Notes:
• Issue 47 contained a one page competition to win one of the Space:1999 Omnia Board Games.
• Some of the artwork in this story would also be used as the basis for pictures in the Space:1999 range of activity books by World Distributors. One frame from part 1 also appears on the back of the ©1976 Space:1999 annual, redrawn by cover artist Edgar Hodges.
• The artwork in this story would also be cribbed by an uncredited artist on the third Space:1999 annual by World Distributors, for the story 'Challenge'
• The Fanderson magazine FAB reference title for this story is Red Planet.
• John Stewart, at his Look-Out website, refers to this story as Caught in the Middle.
• You can read the entire strip at www.space1999.net.


Story Three
Written by Angus P. Allan. Drawn by John M. Burns. Pages 8 & 9, colour.

Part 1 - Issue 50, week ending 06 December 1975

Hurled across space after the wrenching explosions that blast it out of Earth's orbit, the Moon - with Moonbase Alpha functioning perfectly - becomes a wayward, self-supporting body whose inhabitants hope for a new home somewhere in the vast universe. In Main Mission, eyes are always watching for anything that crosses their unpredictable fate!
Sensors detect two alien spacecraft closing. Their flight pattern suggests one is in pursuit of the other, and this is confirmed when a burst of fire causes the lead ship to crash on an outer section of Moonbase Alpha. As rescue teams hurry to the area, a faint ball of green light leaves the dead alien pilot. Assessing the situation personally, Koenig and Helena are suddenly buried under falling masonry. Unseen, the ball of light hovers nearby...

Part 2 - Issue 51, week ending 13 December 1975
Back-up rescue teams pull the unconscious bodies from the debris and take them to Medical Section. As Koenig and Russell recover, the other alien ship makes contact. Their leader, Lawmaker Supreme Zar of the Kolbar Alliance, lands and explains that the fugitive was Kalax is the most dangerous criminal know to them. Koenig is puzzled, as surely Kalax is now dead, but Zar explains that the criminal's will may still live on - in one of the Alphans...

Part 3 - Issue 52, week ending 20 December 1975
Zar and his two aides demonstrate by 'emerging' - their humanoid bodies falling inert as three glowing balls appear. This they can only do for a short time, and Zar is aware the rescue party was rendered unconscious which could have allowed Kalax to enter one of them. Koenig arranges for all Alphans who were in the area to be examined, including Helena and himself, but the tests show negative. A deadline of 24 hours is given for Koenig to find the alien, or Zar will have no option but to destroy Moonbase Alpha...

Part 4 - Issue 01, week ending 27 December 1975
Bergman tries to reason that rather than risk destruction, Kalax must show his hand soon. But Koenig is not so sure, and orders all combat Eagles to stand-by just in case a fight with the Kolbar battle fleet is inevitable. But as preparations are complete, there is an emergency call from Launch Area K - Joe Mosby has run amok. But unseen by anyone else it is the caller Donatti who has clubbed Mosby with a wrench, and is possessed by Kalax...

Part 5 - Issue 02, week ending 03 January 1976
Koenig and Bergman arrive to find Donatti standing over the dead body of Mosby. The technician pleads he had to defend himself, and Koenig seals the corpse in the area in the hope that it contains the force. Calling Zar, Koenig finds that Lalax can only exist for an hour in a dead body, but Zar insists on checking for himself. Donatti is being checked in sickbay as the alien ship lands, and believes his deception is complete. However, Zar's deputies detects no latent activity in Mosby, and too late the Alphans realsie they have been tricked. Warned by telepathy, Donatti/Kalax realises he has been discovered, and makes a break for Zar's ship...

Part 6 - Issue 03, week ending 10 January 1976
Donatti/Kalax arrives at the launch area and, overpowering both the Alphan and Kolbar guards, lifts off in Zar's flagship. Arriving in Main Mission with Zar, Koenig gives the order for the Eagles to fire warning shots. Zar states it is his responsibility, and in the delay Kalax opens fire and destroys an Eagle. The Kolbar fleet request orders, but Zar reveals his own brother is in the flagship too. To destroy it would be to kill him too...

Part 7 - Issue 04, week ending 17 January 1976
Kalax heads for the main fleet, but Zar is reluctant to give the order which will also mean the death of the crew. The ships in the fleet raise their shields as Kalax opens fire. Koenig takes action, and flies with Zar in an armed Eagle to home in on the flagship. But the plan to immobilise the engines before Kalax fires them up to escape seems doomed when Koenig misses...

Part 8 - Issue 05, week ending 24 January 1976
Kalax realises he could destroy the Eagle but delays firing the engine, prefering maliciously to use lasers if they move into range. Zar's brother, calling from a sealed room on the flagship with the other crew members, says he must sacrifice them to destroy Kalax. Koenig tries again with the laser, as Kalax decides to destroy them, but theEagle hits the engine first. In the attack, Kalax is confused over the laser controls, and another shot by Koenig at the control area kills him. The other crew are transferred, and the Kolbar fleet departs. Back in Main Mission, Bergman is surprised that Koenig did not negotiate a new home somewhere in the Kolbar Alliance."
"No, Victor. Better to seek on... for some place where crime, punishment and violent death - are not the pattern. I'd guess the Kolbar planets are too much like the Earth we left... "

Where Eagles Daren't...
• Despite the near miss by Kalax, no Eagles are destroyed.

Notes:
• Some of the artwork frames are fully painted, as opposed to line and wash.
• The cover of Look-In magazine for the first part of this story (issue 50) features John Koenig. and Lee Majors as The Six Million Dollar Man.
• Issue 52 contains a single page feature on actor Martin Landau, paired with a full page colour portrait of him as Commander John Koenig.
• The Fanderson magazine FAB reference title for this story is The Spirit of Kalax.
• John Stewart, at his Look-Out website, refers to this story as Take-over.
• You can read the entire strip at www.space1999.net.

Writing the strip was Angus P. Allan, a freelancer who had taken over the mantle as Look-In's chief and almost sole writer. Another stalwart of TV Century 21, on which he had been script-editor and writer, Allan also wrote and produced the first four Space:1999 annuals for World Distributors, of which ex-editor of both TV Century 21 and Look-In Alan Fennell was now a managing director. John Burns would also drew the two strips in the first of these, before undertaking work on the Look-In stories, providing black and line artwork that was coloured in tints by the World Distributors production team.

Like the Space:1999 novels, work started on the first annual quite early on and it can be inferred that the first three Look-In strips were possibly written around the same time, as they were more straight forward science fiction ideas that could be adapted to almost any format.

The first story concerns, as it would several times in future strip and annual stories, a return to Earth. The 'different life in control of future Earth' idea would even be revisited by Allan himself in This Green, Unpleasant Land, with hostile intelligent plants instead of ants, for the ©1977 annual, and later in the strip itself, with android Cyberons. Unlike the series, a very TV21 style of action adventure replaced the more thoughtful and sometimes obscure approach of the television episodes.

The second story follows on directly from the first - a nice touch of strip continuity both Alan Fennell and Angus Allan were fond of - and the idea of humanity relocating to Mars after the Breakaway disaster is nice but spoiled some rather clichéd 'East versus West' racial stereotypes, and a rather rushed conclusion. One has to wonder if Koenig made the right decision, with both Earth and Mars habitable, to continue on. But this would have meant a very short run for the strip if he had! However it does show some thinking similar to the episode 'The Last Enemy', with the Alphans - instead of the Moon - possibly tipping the balance of power between hostile and opposing forces. While the third story again uses the popular SF concept of aliens taking over bodies, it moves along with breath-taking speed and has some nice twists. But the writing, in both the strip and the annuals, would start to develop and include issues that the series itself had missed, giving the later stories a classic status.

And they would also see the return of another old favourite...

On to Part Two of this series.

The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History would like to thank:
Martin Willey
- for his help with this feature.

Version 1.5 - 30.04.07


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