| Episode | Credits | Transcript |
Plot Summary[]
A saintly, impressive figure claims to be God, the creator of mankind. He offers Koenig and his companions a new Earth, a new Eden, where life can begin again. But who is he really? What are the fantastic powers he possesses?[1]
Synposis[]
Prologue[]
A strange disturbance causes Alpha's sensors to react wildly, and also causes disorientation, headaches, and fainting among the crew. As the disturbance fades, a being appears on the screen, and when asked to identify himself, he claims to be God.
Act One[]
He materializes in Command Center, and tells the Alphans that they need not bow down and adore him. Koenig tells him that it is not their style. After trying to convince Koenig that he is who he claims, he destroys an Eagle when Koenig's flippant remarks push him too far. Koenig asks what he wants, and Magus says he wants to give them a second chance on a new Earth. He picks a reconnaisance team for them to investigate the planet. Koenig balks, but Magus tells him that it his team or none at all. Koenig hesitantly agrees, but insists that they take an Eagle when Magus offers to transport them to the planet. Magus concedes, then transports the entire Eagle to the planet, rather than wait to fly there.
Koenig tries to contact Alpha but cannot. Magus suggests that his method of transporting them may have disrupted their communications and that it will come back later. They disembark to investigate the planet. All their readings suggest that it is perfect for them but Koenig wants to bring more people down to conduct a feasability study. Magus tells him that no one else will be joining them. They are to be his new Adams and Eves. Koenig pulls his stun gun on Magus who transports it away and fires it at himself. It appears to make him more powerful.
Act Two[]
Magus announces that he has decided on the pair bonding of Koenig-Maya, and Helena-Tony. They try to explain that this pairing will not work, as they are not in love with those he has selected as mates. Magus leaves them, as the sun begins to set, with a warning not to leave the glade. They head for the Eagle but it vanishes. They soon learn that Magus has not left his pairing to chance. The four are encased in oppositely charged energy fields, which will shock them when they touch the "mate" not selected for them by Magus.
The Moon rises in the sky and, with Magus' help, seems to have all the romantic powers ascribed to it. Koenig goes to gather wood for the fire, and is joined by Maya. They are drawn to each other, as are Helena and Tony back at the camp. As they kiss, the mood is shattered by the sounds of creatures fighting nearby. They investigate, and find a disfigured humanoid being attacked by a larger ape-like creature. Sensing their presence, it turns and moves to attack them. Koenig stuns it and it falls into the brush.
Helena heads toward the cave the smaller retreated to, and an ape-beast emerges from the brush to grab her. Maya transforms into a creature to rescue her. With Helena safe, they decide to search the cave to see if they can figure out what is going on. Before they can enter, lightning flashes and Magus' face appears in the sky. Angry that they left the glade against his wishes, he forces them back with lasers from his eyes.
Act three[]
The next morning he appears as they wake. They ask why he reacted the way he did. He tells them that was only trying to protect them. He erects a force field, in order to enforce his wishes, which John experiences first hand. While the others ask Magus what he is trying to hide, Maya moves behind him with a medical scanner. When he leaves, she tells the others that Magus has an implant which is the source of his powers, proving he is no super-being. Koenig learns that the force field has a limited height. Maya turns into an owl to look for a way out of the glade.
Meanwhile, Alan tries to lift off from Alpha with a booster enhanced Eagle. Magus strains to keep him from lifting off. This, along with holding New Earth together against the pull of a disproportionately large Moon, generating the force field, and other jobs taxing his powers, almost proves too much. He catches Maya in owl form but lets her go, not realizing it was her. She returns to the others having found footprints that lead to a cave that was recently sealed with rocks. They blast their way into the cave.
Upon entering, they are immediately met by giant lizards. They are easily stunned, and when Koenig moves ahead he is attacked by the mutant they saw fighting the ape-creature. When he throws his attacker off and grabs his stun gun, it pleads for him to shoot. It explains that Magus, in seeking the secret of creation, has only managed to create mutants, and won't even let them die because he feels he can learn from his mistakes. It points the way out of the glade through the caves. When the four exit the caves, Tony is stunned by Magus.
Act Four[]
When confronted about the mutants, Magus explains that he cannot solve the mystery of creation alone, and wants their offspring to help him. He threatens to destroy Alpha if they do not agree. John agrees to think about it. Magus says that they can discuss it in the morning, and leaves. John suspects that Magus doesn't like the dark. Maya suggests that the implant she detected might be a light-decelerator, capable of converting light into an almost unlimited power supply, directed by thought.
Koenig says they have to find a way to keep the light away from Magus. While he is on the far side of the planet, they dig a hole, and make blinds out of the vegetation. When morning comes Magus returns and asks if they agree to his terms. Koenig tells him that they have terms he must meet before they can agree: no more experimentation on the mutants. Magus is outraged at the arrogance of the humans. Koenig replies that they are shocked at the horror of his deeds. Furious, Magus marches forward into their trap. They cover it up, and Magus tells them they will all die without him to hold the planet together.
Epilogue[]
As the planet starts to break up, the Eagle reappears. Koenig sends the others on while he goes back for the mutants. They choose to remain, and Koenig returns to the Eagle, and lifts off as the ground opens beneath it.
Their Eagle barely gets out of range as New Earth explodes. Koenig ponders the possibilities of Magus surviving if a shaft of light had gotten to him as the planet broke up. Tony thinks this is quite the longshot but wouldn't bet against him.
Background[]
Shooting script dated 29th April 1976. Filmed 2 June-18 June 1976
Sets[]
- Int. Command Centre
- Int. Eagle Pilot Section
- Int. Eagle Passenger Section
- Ext. Planet Surface
- Int. Cave
SFX[]
The spinning light effect is the same as Dragon's Domain (which was also accompanied by wind).
New Earth is represented by a blue monochrome version of a photograph of Earth taken by Apollo 11 during its translunar insertion on 16th July 1969, about 98,000 nautical miles from Earth. The same picture is used as Luton in Rules Of Luton. Thanks to Marcus Lindroos.
Originally the SFX crew intended to use stop motion for the cave animals, but time and expense forced them to use the small lizards (they have green and yellow mottling with black stripes on their back).
Music[]
This is the only Year 2 episode with incidental music from a library ( by Robert Farnon, played during the campfire scene, 3 minutes 59 seconds). There are also Beethoven extracts in One Moment Of Humanity and Bringers of Wonder part 2.
Science[]
History[]
Magus is the singular of Magi, the Latinized form of Maogi, an ancient Greek transliteration of the original Iranian word. The word is the root of the English word "magic". The Magi were the priestly caste of Zoroastria in ancient Media and Persia. They were reputed to possess supernatural powers. The New Testament (Matthew) says the wise men who visit the infant Christ were Magi.
"I was Simon Magus, who offered to buy the Nazarene's powers from his Apostles." The story is Acts chapter 8 and 9.
"I was Merlin." The magician in Arthurian legend is derived from several figures in Celtic mythology, especially the Welsh magician Myrddin.
"I was Nostradamus" Michel de Nostrame (1503-1566) was a French doctor who wrote a book called "Centuries" in 1555 predicting the future. Some people have interpreted his highly obscure and vague verses as predicting world war II and catastrophic events in 1999.[N 1]
"I was the magician in Ancient Egypt who contested in magic with Moses." The reference is Exodus chapter 7 to chapter 9. The Pharaoh summons a group of Egyptian magicians and sorcerers to reproduce the miracles of Moses and Aaron. They succeeded in turning their staffs into snakes, the Nile into blood and created a plague of frogs, but they cannot duplicate a plague of gnats and are then themselves afflicted with terrible boils.
Technology[]
The light decelerator sounds like a solar cell, which converts light into electricity. Slowing light down is easy but brings no particular benefits. James Maxwell showed in the 1800s that the speed of light depends on the square root of the ratio of the electric and magnetic permeabilities of a particular medium. Thus it travels about 30% slower through glass. In 1998 Dr. Lene Hau prepared a Bose-Einstein condensate by cooling sodium atoms to less than 1 billionth of a degree above Absolute Zero. The index of refraction was so high inside this new state of matter that the speed of light inside it was about 38 miles/hour.
The magnetic field cocoons would not just repel Koenig from Helena but would attract (not in a romantic sense) Koenig to Maya- and Tony.
The secret of the creation of life is more likely to be found in proto-Earth conditions, not in advanced mammals (unless he is actually interested in reproduction). His powers are strangely limited- he can stop a planet breaking apart but strains to stop Alan's Eagle taking off.
Continuity[]
Chronology: 1095 days after leaving Earth orbit (Thu 12 Sep 2002)
Alpha Personnel: 0 fatalities.
Alpha Technology: Eagles:
Eagle 1 (Alan); 4 (Koenig)
The passenger module has all seating with no computer wall. Note the seats face the back of the ship!
We see more strap-on boosters attached to the Eagle. Only the near side ones are detailed, the far side boosters are only rough EMA shapes.
Maya transformations: Owl, fan-eyed alien. [N 2]
Planets: New Earth
Aliens: Ape creatures and humanoid, created by Magus.
Footage: The shot of Maya transforming into an owl is seen in flashback in Devil's Planet
Errors[]
- When the stun gun magically transports from Koenig to Magus, a bare arm is briefly seen moving out of frame, having placed the gun in Magus's palm. This is cut from the Network 2015 Blu-ray release, but appeared on all previous releases.
- Another change made in the restoration (more minor and less objectionable) is the addition of Tony's laser beam in the caves (see observations)
- After his gun disappears, Koenig looks at his empty hand and lowers his arm. When the gun reappears, he is posed precisely the same as when the gun disappeared. Thanks to Martin Daoust.
Observations[]
The influences are the Eden legend, here as a positive story (mankind asserts his independence), and H G Wells , a man who played god by creating animals.
It also strongly recalls the 1967 episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?", featuring a god-like being who addresses the crew as "beloved children" and insists selected members stay on his planet to worship him. After zapping someone, he retreats to another side of the planet to recover. The crew escape by destroying the energy source that gives him great powers.
Magus calls religion "works of fiction" and the message of the story is anti-religious, but he takes his name from Zoroastrian priests and his previous "incarnations" have tried to find the secrets of the Judeo-Christian god.
Both Martin Landau and Guy Rolfe both played the role of the High Priest Caiaphas. Rolfe played him in the 1961 film and Landau played him in the 1965 film . Thanks to Chris Moore.[2]
Notes[]
Sources[]
| Season 2 |
| The Metamorph I The Exiles I One Moment of Humanity I All That Glisters I The Mark of Archanon I Journey to Where I The Taybor I The Rules of Luton I New Adam New Eve I Brian the Brain I Catacombs of the Moon I The AB Chrysalis I The Beta Cloud I Seed of Destruction I A Matter of Balance I Space Warp I The Bringers of Wonder - Part 1 I The Bringers of Wonder - Part 2 I Dorzak I The Seance Spectre I Devil's Planet I The Lambda Factor I The Immunity Syndrome I The Dorcons |
| Episodes are listed in the order suggested by Andrew Kearley. http://www.eyespider.freeserve.co.uk/space/two/index.html |