JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN was Gerry Anderson's first
live-action theatrical movie, though it retains much of the same crew
who made Anderson's beloved television series. As result, the film has
much the same aesthetic as UFO or Thunderbirds, and comes complete with
the marvelous music of Barry Gray and the amazing miniature effects of
Derek Meddings. Even so, the film's tone is quite a bit darker than the
family puppet shows audiences were familiar with and connected
to Anderson's name. Some time in the future, the EUROSEC space agency
discovers a new planet in Earth's orbit, but directly on the other side
of the sun. EUROSEC balks at the idea of sending a rocket there when the
cost is calculated at a billion US dollars. When a spy is caught
transmitting information about the new planet to unfriendly powers,
however, EUROSEC joins forces with N.A.S.A. to send a pair of
astronauts to investigate the new world in our system. Roy Thinnes
stars, and finds that this other planet is... Adult-themed science
fiction epic plays politics as much as it does adventure. It is, at
times, shockingly cynical, in fact. Thinnes is having troubles with his
wife (while the film doesn't come straight out and say it, we get the
distinct impression that she's been stepping out on him), and the
relationship is rather more shaded than one might expect. (Also
interesting is that she's played by Lynn Loring, Mrs. Roy Thinnes
herself.) Herbert Lom has a brief turn as a spy with a false eye, and
Edward Bishop is on hand for an all-too-short segment. Intriguing film
is thought-provoking and colorful, but wasn't what audiences expected.
Reportedly, the film did only fair at the box office and Gerry Anderson
returned to the safety of television. Many of the props and costumes
were recycled for UFO.
The late Martin Landau was noted for a number of works, though I'm sure
many kids came to him through his Gerry Anderson science fiction
adventure series SPACE: 1999. Originally conceived as a follow-up to the
futuristic espionage series UFO, SPACE:1999 instead became the saga of
the men and women of Moonbase Alpha and their adventures
after an explosion in a lunar nuclear waste disposal area pushes the
moon out of orbit and into deep space. As the moon hurtles through
unexplored systems, the Alphans must contend with strange and often
hostile forces and mysterious phenomenon. The show lasted two seasons,
and the two seasons are night and day. Season one strained for grandeur
and often couldn't decide if it was trying to be cerebral or just
surreal. It was a somber affair, to say the least. The second season,
aided by some doctoring by Star Trek veterans, was much more exciting.
Based more in adventure and character-based drama, the show took on a
feel very similar to Star Trek. Though this was a vast improvement with
viewers, the show was cancelled and syndicated for the remainder of the
70's (State-side, it was probably Anderson's most visible series). As
was so often the case during this period, Landau was supported by his
bride Barbara Bain. Landau played Alpha's CO, John Koenig, while Bain
was chief medical officer Dr. Helena Russell. In the first season,
pseudo-scientific musing was offered by Barry Morse as the enigmatic
Professor Bergman. The second season brought in the lovely Catherine
Schell as Maya, a shape-shifting alien woman who joined the Alphans
after becoming the last of her kind. The differences between the two
seasons can best be summed up by their openings. Season one shows it's
cast looking stoically upon blank backgrounds as 'important' music
plays, while the second season shows them running down hallways and
spinning around to fire ray guns while aggressively action-oriented
music blares away. The second season was certainly a better show, but
the first is favored by "intellectuals" because it was so much more
'British' and the second season just too 'American' in flavor. While not
the best space adventure show on television, SPACE: 1999 delivered the
goods. Special effects fans will also notice some of the greatest
in-camera effects in all of television history. And of course, the show
had a dynamic leading man. Rest In Peace, Martin, and thanks for all the
great memories.
The Secret Service is one of the most obscure teleseries ever produced
by a major company. The show was barely seen in it's native England
(only regionally broadcast there) and never aired in the States. It has
only lately been discovered in large part by the DVD release. The Secret
Service was Gerry Anderson's final Supermationation series, and combined
live action sequences with it's puppetry -which itself was about as
advanced as you could get without just
doing it with actors anyway. Charming, quirky, and relatively small
scale compared to the earlier shows, The Secret Service was built around
comic actor Stanley Unwin. Unwin voiced (and in long shots doubled)
Father Stanley Unwin, an unassuming Catholic priest with a beloved 1917
Model T Ford. What most weren't aware of was the fact that Father Unwin
had been recruited by the spy organization B.I.S.H.O.P. as a field
agent. Unwin had in his possession the last work of a great scientist
who was a member of his flock, a miniaturizer ray camouflaged as a book.
Assigned to Unwin was special agent Matthew Harding (pictured), who
would routinely be miniaturized to a foot high to engage in espionage
activities -carried about in a special case by Father Unwin. A priest
makes for an unusual spy, chiefly in that he can't lie. To aid in
misdirection, Unwin uses a peculiar sort of gibberish which was actually
a bit of the real Stanley Unwin's act. Unwinese, it was called, and it
defies written description. The distributor didn't think the show would
make it in the all-important American market, and cancelled the show
half-way through the broadcast of the pilot! The show lasted but 13
episodes, which is a shame, because it was really quite lovely.
