Moonbase Alpha

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Science fiction buffs may remember a British television series, SPACE: 1999 from the mid-1970s. It was a show from the stable of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90, UFO...), that was, in some ways, the UK Star Trek of its day, albeit one that used the Moon as the vehicle to carry off its adventures. Starring many well-known faces throughout the 48 episodes that spanned two series, I remember watching these in black-and-white and occasionally having the wits scared out of me by some of the ideas used in particular episodes. The premise for the series is set in the first episode, Breakaway, which shows how Man's incessant quest for energy, and the proliferation of nuclear power, has resulted in a need to dispose of the spent nuclear waste products somewhere out of sight. Where better than the far side of the Moon? Needless to say, something goes wrong. Moonbase Alpha was set up on the Moon to house the 300+ personnel needed to operate and monitor the nuclear waste dumps. Weird things start to happen, and the resulting explosion blasts the Moon out of its orbit around planet Earth... What follows is a series of encounters and adventures as the Moon, freed from its gravitational prison of Earth orbit, heads off out into the deep unknown of Outer Space. I've found some of the 50-minute episodes, complete, on YouTube recently, and have realised just how easily-impressed I must have been as a teen!