Space: 1999 "Alpha Child" TV episode Screenplay by Christopher Penfold Directed by Ray Austin Original air date: October 16, 1975

Alpha welcomes its first baby born on the Moon. But nothing is ever simple on Moonbase Alpha.

 

Read the episode summary at the Moonbase Alpha wiki

 

NOTES FROM THE SPACE: 1999 CHRONOLOGY

 

According to The Powysverse Compendium, this story takes place five to seven months after "Breakaway". This allows some time for Sue Crawford's pregnancy to develop after the death of her husband which is said to have occurred at some point after that episode. In the televised episode, it is said that Jack Crawford, Sue's husband, died seven months ago. Regardless of whether it is five or seven months later, it should now be the year 2000 in Alpha-time. So, it's not really Space: 1999 anymore!

 

The Powys Books timeline suggests that the episode "The Last Sunset" takes place just 2-3 days after this one.

 

DIDJA KNOW?

 

Sue Crawford and her child, Jackie, appear later in several of the Powys stories.

 

CHARACTERS APPEARING OR MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

 

David Kano

Sandra Benes

Alan Carter

Lee Oswald

June

Tanya Aleksandr

Paul Morrow

Commander Koenig

Dr. Russell

Jackie Crawford

Sue Crawford

Dr. Mathias

Paula

Joan Conway

Jack Crawford (mentioned only, deceased)

Professor Bergman

Eagle co-pilot

Jarak

Rena

security personnel

Tony Allan

Pierce Quinton

nurse

 

DIDJA NOTICE?

After Dr. Russell announces the birth of Jackie Crawford, everyone in Command Center cheers and hugs and claps each other on the back. Sandra seems pleased with the announcement, too, at first. But then she steps away with a troubled look on her face. Commander Koenig places comforting hands on her shoulders and asks her what is the matter and she responds, "I'm...I'm happy," then she marches away from him, seemingly to be alone. It's not brought up again. Possibly, she is upset and having lost her fiancé back on Earth and then losing a new romance with Mike Ryan when he was killed in "Black Sun". She may have had a wish to parent a child with those men of her recent past. After "Black Sun", there are hints of a relationship developing with Paul Morrow, but he may have expressed a lack of interest in having a child, though in the alternate timeline of "Another Time, Another Place", Sandra and Paul are married with children.

Jackie's mother is called Sue Crawford in the episode. In an early draft of the script, she was Cynthia Crawford and that name ends up being used in her Powys Books appearances as well. The Powysverse Compendium explains this in-universe as her full name being Cynthia Susan Crawford, known as Sue to most of her associates.

The novelization reveals the nurse attending to baby Jackie at the beginning of the episode is named Paula. This name is also used in the Zack comic strip adaptation.

The incubator baby Jackie is placed in is a Vickers "Five-Nine". This was a real world incubator model intended for incubating premature babies.

The closing credits reveal the technician who once worked with Jack Crawford is named Joan Conway. Conway was mentioned in the short story "Breaking Ground" and the novelizations of "Force of Life" and "Guardian of Piri".

At 11:21 on the Blu-ray, the array of white buttons on Koenig's desk monitor are placed rather crookedly!

At 12:55 on the Blu-ray, a violin is seen on a chair in the background in Professor Bergman's quarters. Does he play? The Powys novels present him as an aficionado of classical music.

Jackie rapidly grows into a middle-aged man in his bed in Medical Center...complete with alien clothing! In the novelization, Dr. Russell hands him some patient pajamas instead.

Little Jackie appears to have blue eyes, but as the adult Jarak, he looks to have green eyes.

At 34:07 on the Blu-ray, the shadow of the boom mic can be seen at the top of the screen on the wall behind Dr. Russell.

The model of the alien ship that arrives to claim Jarak and his followers appears to have been inspired by the Discovery spaceship of the 1968 sci-fi classic film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The same model is used again in "War Games" and "Dragon's Domain".
Alien ship	Discovery from 2001: A Space Odyssey

When the alien enforcer ship destroys the last of Jarak's ships at 45:36 on the Blu-ray, for a split-second the dark, cloth background against which the exploding model was shot can be seen.

Jarak apparently does not know how to properly use a commlock, as, when he uses it to speak to Computer or to Commander Koenig near the end of the episode, he holds it vertically like a microphone instead of horizontally, looking at the small video display. Luckily for him some other camera in Medical Center picks up his face for broadcast!

Notes from the novelization of "Alpha Child" by John Rankine as it appears in the Space: 1999 Year One omnibus published by Powys Media. The page numbers presented here come from the full Space: 1999 Year One omnibus. "Alpha Child" begins on page 291 of the book. There will also be notes (as appropriate) from the original adaptation of "Alpha Child" by Rankine as it appeared in Space: 1999 - Moon Odyssey, a merged novelization of the episodes "Alpha Child", "The Last Sunset", "Voyager's Return", and "Another Time, Another Place", first published by Pocket Books in 1975. (Chapters 1-2 cover the events of "Alpha Child").

CHARACTERS APPEARING OR MENTIONED IN THIS NOVELIZATION, NOT IN THE EPISODE

Avril (nurse)

DIDJA NOTICE?

On page 296, the flower that Bergman shows Jackie in a horticulture book is said to be a buttercup. In the televised episode, the flower is not identified, but appears to be some other variety.

In the original Pocket Books novelization from 1975, alien enforcers send six spaceships similar to Jarak's force of four instead of one "Discovery-style" ship.

Notes from the "Alpha Child" comic strip adaptation "The Moonbaby" German comic strip Zack #3 Koralle-Verlag GmbH Text: Farinas Art: Cardona 1978

 

Zack was a German comic magazine, 17 issues of which featured a Space: 1999 strip. Many of the strips were original stories, others adaptations of the televised episodes. All were written by Farinas and drawn by Cardona (Spanish artist José Maria Cardona Blasi).

 

DIDJA NOTICE?

 

This comic strip is a fairly close adaptation of the episode as televised.

 

On page 9 of the strip, Jarak goes into further explanation than in the televised episode of why he and his comrades are fleeing their own civilization, saying, "We came from a planet where a group of fanatical scientists wanted to create a new human race. We should all think, feel, and look identical. A society of remotely controlled, living robots! I and my friends managed to leave the planet with some spaceships. Unfortunately, due to genetic mutations, we were already programmed in such a way that we could no longer reproduce. But we want to continue to exist - in freedom!"

 

The televised episode ends with the impression that Jarak and Rena have been either killed or taken aboard the enforcer ship, leaving the original baby Jackie and his mother behind to live normally at Alpha. But the comic strip seems to hint that Jarak and Rena may in some sense still be part of the baby and his mother as Dr. Russell asks them who they really are and Commander Koenig responds for them, "They saved us, and for that they should be able to live with us in peace...as long as they want..."

 

MEMORABLE DIALOG

 

this crazy life we lead.mp3

let's put ourselves in their shoes.mp3

ignorance is no reason to start shooting.mp3

I like the differences between you people.mp3

we can't sustain more people.mp3 

 

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