New Adam, New Eve
Encyclopedia
"New Adam, New Eve" is the tenth episode of the second series of Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...

(and the thirty-fourth episode overall of the programme). The screenplay was written by Terence Feely
Terence Feely
Terence Feely was a British screenwriter, playwright and author. Though his work has spanned five decades, he is perhaps best remembered as the creator of the groundbreaking ITV drama series The Gentle Touch ....

; the director was Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton was an English film director and film editor. He became best known for directing comedies produced at Ealing Studios...

. The final shooting script is dated 29 April 1976. Live action filming took place Wednesday, 2 June 1976 through Friday 18 June 1976.

Story

It is 1095 days after leaving Earth orbit, and Moonbase Alpha
Moonbase Alpha
Moonbase Alpha is a fictional moon base and the main setting in the science fiction television series Space: 1999.-Moonbase Alpha:Located in the Moon crater Plato and constructed out of quarried rock and ores, Moonbase Alpha is four kilometres in diameter and extends up to one kilometre in areas...

 is in turmoil. Hours ago, all sensor equipment suddenly began behaving erratically, indicating an intense magnetic turbulence lying directly ahead. As the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

 approaches, this turbulence is visualised as a frenetic blur of churning lights (through which one can catch almost subliminal glimpses of an unidentifiable celestial body). The staff experience attacks of vertigo
Vertigo
Vertigo is a form of dizziness.Vertigo may also refer to:* Vertigo , a 1958 film by Alfred Hitchcock**Vertigo , its soundtrack** Vertigo effect, or Dolly zoom, a special effect in film, named after the movie...

, and one woman passes out. Helena Russell
Helena Russell
Helena Russell is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. She was played by Barbara Bain. She is American and apparently in her mid-thirties....

's examination shows her vital signs are weak; a quick check of the others reveals similar results.

The turbulence suddenly subsides, replaced on the big screen with a psychedelic light-show. Accompanied by a soothing, ethereal chorus, the display is mesmerising. It soon ends, fading to reveal a robed figure striding across space toward them. The Being announces He is their Lord and Creator, come to pay them a visit. With a rush of wind, this self-proclaimed Supreme Being materialises in Command Centre. Smiling benevolently, he absolves them of having to prostrate themselves in His presence.

Knowing that Earth's conflicting religions have distorted their beliefs with the worship of false gods, He declares Himself to be the genuine article. A sceptical John Koenig
John Koenig
John Koenig is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. He was played by Martin Landau. He is American, apparently in his early forties.-Character Biography:...

 treads cautiously, conceding He resembles an artist's rendition of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

. Confronted with the 'divine' manifestation of banquet tables and comely serving girls, Koenig acts unimpressed. But the Commander's tone becomes flippant, and the Being wrathfully responds with a less-benign demonstration of His power—the stand-by Eagle being instantly reduced to slag.

Having gotten their attention, Magus (as the Being calls Himself), tells Koenig and company He is here to help. After humanity's mistreatment of Earth, He has come to give them a second chance—by guiding them to a new Eden, where Mankind can begin anew. Magus manipulates the big screen, bringing up a visual of an exquisitely beautiful planet—New Earth, the body which was hidden by the turbulence. Computer reveals the planet to be one-quarter Earth's size and with a compatible environment. Magus suggests a team visit the surface, choosing Koenig, Helena, Maya
Maya (Space: 1999)
Maya is a fictional character who appeared in the second series of the science fiction television program Space: 1999. Played by actress Catherine Schell , Maya was introduced in the second series opener 'The Metamorph'...

 and Tony Verdeschi
Tony Verdeschi
Tony Verdeschi is a fictional character who first appeared in the second series of the science fiction television series Space: 1999. He is in his early thirties....

.

Annoyed by the divine posturing, Koenig tries to protest, but Magus is adamant—these four or no one. The Commander gives in, but insists they travel by Eagle. However, after the team boards Eagle Four, it is instantaneously transported to New Earth. Koenig tries to check-in with Alpha, but cannot make contact; Magus suggests His power of transport may have temporarily affected communications. They disembark into a lush, fertile meadow. The air is clean, the soil rich, the water pure, and fruit trees and the soya bean grow wild. Magus declares it the Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...

, Mark II.

When Koenig proposes bringing down a task force to study the entire planet, Magus drops a bombshell: no one else will be coming down. The four of them are to be His new Adams and Eves
Eve (Bible)
Eve was, according to the creation of Abrahamic religions, the first woman created by God...

. Magus tells them they will live here in Paradise under his beneficence, bringing forth a new and improved species of Mankind. The Moon will orbit the planet for a time, then be sent on its way. Koenig draws his stun-gun, only to have it materialise in Magus's hand. Turning it on Himself, Magus fires and absorbs the full force of the laser discharge. Unharmed, He returns the weapon to Koenig.

After blessing them on this first day of Creation, Magus gets down to practical matters. The four are stunned when informed of their new pair-bonding arrangements. Maya will be Koenig's mate, hoping this interplanetary mix will interbreed her iron intellect with his iron will. Helena will be paired with Verdeschi, blending her natural aristocratic traits with his Italian earthiness. Though aware of their preexisting relationships, He wants to explore a different mix of genetic traits. When the Alphans argue these arbitrary pairings could be both psychologically and biologically harmful, Magus blithely dismisses their protests.

It is late afternoon and, with a sidelong glance at the setting sun, Magus makes one final decree: they are not to leave the glade. Its boundary is clearly marked by boulders. Before dematerialising, He slyly remarks the Moon's light should have all the romantic qualities it did on old Earth. Koenig leads his people toward the Eagle, which promptly vanishes. Maya realises it is the victim of atomic dispersal—the ship is still there, but non-cohesive (like powder dissolved in liquid). Verdeschi asks the big question: is Magus really God...Jehovah
Jehovah
Jehovah is an anglicized representation of Hebrew , a vocalization of the Tetragrammaton , the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible....

? While powerful, His motivations seem less than divine...

With no word from Koenig, Alan Carter
Alan Carter (Space 1999)
Alan Carter is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. He was played by Nick Tate. He is of Australian origin and is in his early thirties.-Character biography:...

 decides to take an Eagle down to New Earth. The engines ignite, but the ship cannot achieve lift-off—as though some great force is holding it down. On the planet, the four discover Magus has effectively paired them off by encasing the couples in magnetic-field cocoons of opposing charges. Verdeschi can only touch Helena, and Koenig only Maya. As the night progresses, so do Magus's plans. Moonlight and romantic music—in conjunction with a powerful aphrodisiac
Aphrodisiac
An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire. The name comes from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sexuality and love. Throughout history, many foods, drinks, and behaviors have had a reputation for making sex more attainable and/or pleasurable...

-like influence—have the Alphans on the verge of consummating their new relationships.

The mood is suddenly shattered by an unearthly howling. Leaving the glade, they find a malformed, semi-humanoid being taking a horrible beating from an alien anthropoid. Koenig shoots the ape, only to have its mate leap from the bushes and attack Helena. The men cannot get a clear shot at it, and Maya transforms into an agile alien creature to rescue her. Moving to follow the humanoid as it shambles into a cave, they are stopped by a lightning strike mere metres away. Magus's face looms in the heavens, driving them back to the glade with a fusillade of lightning bolts fired from His eyes.

The next morning, they wake to find Magus standing over them, chastising them for their disobedience. Koenig demands to be told the truth about the life-forms seen last night. Magus evades the question, citing their acts of defiance as ingratitude. When Koenig rebuts He has taken away their free will, Magus scoffs that 'free-will' is a narcissistic illusion. Rebelling, Koenig walks toward the boundary—but is repelled by a powerful force-field. This is for their protection, Magus proclaims; though He can ill-afford the energy, it will remain up as long as they continue to act like children.

After Magus leaves, Maya announces that, despite appearances, His abilities are not psychic. She surreptitiously scanned Him and detected a potent power source in His body, mechanical in nature. Recalling His comment about being able to 'ill-afford' energy, they reckon Magus has His hands full. He is maintaining the force-field, preventing a rescue mission from Alpha—and, Maya interjects, holding the planet together. Magus must be countering the gravitational force of the Moon (which is much closer and larger in relation to this planet than it was to Earth); otherwise, the planet would break apart under the strain. They test the force-field and discover it does not extend above the treetops. As an owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...

, Maya flies out of the glade to gather information.

Carter has his Eagle equipped with booster rockets to increase the force of take-off. As the astronaut overloads his engines, Magus is seen on New Earth sweating with the effort of preventing the lift-off. When Carter gives up, Magus basks in the sunlight, seemingly rejuvenated. Maya returns and reports that, as the owl, she encountered Magus—who did not detect her true identity. She also saw tracks inside the boundary of their glade that could belong to the humanoid. They explore and find a second, deliberately-blocked cave opening. They blast it open, hoping it joins up with the other cave.

Once inside, they are attacked by giant reptiles, which are fortunately susceptible to laser fire. Immediately after, Koenig is jumped by the humanoid mutant. The pitiful being was hoping to be shot...to end its miserable existence. It informs them Magus is the last of a race of cosmic magicians, who performed 'miracles' through physics. He wants to learn the secret of creation. The mutants are descendants of other species brought here for experimental breeding and genetic engineering
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...

. They intentionally fight the apes, hoping to be killed. Magus, however, will not let them die; the would-be god feels there may be something to learn from their mutilated DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

. These caves are a sanctuary, as he never comes here.

The mutant directs them to the exit. Outiside, they encounter a vengeful Magus, who smites Verdeschi with a bolt of energy. As Helena tends to the security chief, the others berate this false god—for his deception and his intention of using them like laboratory animals. He denies their accusations—he admires humanity and has walked among them as Simon Magus
Simon Magus
Simon the Sorcerer or Simon the Magician, in Latin Simon Magus, was a Samaritan magus or religious figure and a convert to Christianity, baptised by Philip the Apostle, whose later confrontation with Peter is recorded in . The sin of simony, or paying for position and influence in the church, is...

, Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...

 and Nostradamus
Nostradamus
Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...

 among others. After breeding a superior strain of Mankind, he will endow them with his powers, then together solve the mystery of creation as a team. Koenig refuses, and Magus begins taking pot-shots at Moonbase to coerce him. To stop the attack, Koenig agrees to discuss his proposal.

It is sunset and Magus, rather than press home his advantage, hastily departs; the discussion will resume tomorrow. Koenig comes to the realisation Magus is afraid of the dark. He refuses to enter the caves, and always leaves before nightfall; the one time they saw him at night was a projection in the sky. When he shot himself with the laser, he drew strength from it. Maya concludes the mechanical implant she detected in Magus must be a light decelerator, a device that slows light from 186,000 miles per second
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...

 down to zero. The energy differential provides unlimited power and can be directed simply by thought. As his power is derived from light, to defeat him they must isolate him from the sun.

Finding a deep narrow fissure, they attack the sides with makeshift tools to widen it into a proper tiger pit. Then, they weave mats out of branches and leaves to camouflage the hole. By dawn, they have finished. Koenig climbs down to test its effectiveness and finds himself in pitch-black darkness. After sunrise, Magus materialises. Koenig positions himself on the opposite side of the pit and deliberatly provokes an argument. Magus stalks toward him and, as planned, falls through the flimsy covering. As the Alphans cover the resulting hole, Magus cries out for light...or else they are all doomed.

As predicted, the Moon's gravity begins pulling the planet apart. Gale-force winds rip through the glade as the ground heaves. Koenig is calling Alpha when the Eagle reappears in solid form. He sends the others to the ship and makes his way to the caves and offers to transport the humanoid mutant. With dignity, the mutant declines, preferring to end his life. Koenig boards the Eagle and lifts-off as the terrain crumbles away beneath it. Flying back to the Moon, they watch 'New Earth' break apart. They figure the chances of Magus escaping are not nil—if exposed to even the smallest ray of light as the ground broke up, he could have gotten away...

Starring

  • Martin Landau
    Martin Landau
    Martin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...

     — Commander John Koenig
    John Koenig
    John Koenig is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. He was played by Martin Landau. He is American, apparently in his early forties.-Character Biography:...

  • Barbara Bain
    Barbara Bain
    Millicent Fogel , known professionally as Barbara Bain, is an American actress.-Early life:Bain was born in Chicago. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor's degree in sociology. She moved to New York City, where she was a dancer and high fashion model. Bain studied with...

     — Doctor Helena Russell
    Helena Russell
    Helena Russell is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. She was played by Barbara Bain. She is American and apparently in her mid-thirties....


Featuring

  • Tony Anholt
    Tony Anholt
    Anthony "Tony" Anholt was a British actor best known for his roles as Security Chief Tony Verdeschi in the second season of Gerry Anderson's television series Space: 1999 , Paul Buchet in The Protectors and as Charles Frere in the highly-successful BBC drama series Howards' Way .Anholt was...

     — Tony Verdeschi
    Tony Verdeschi
    Tony Verdeschi is a fictional character who first appeared in the second series of the science fiction television series Space: 1999. He is in his early thirties....

  • Nick Tate
    Nick Tate
    Nicholas John "Nick" Tate is an Australian actor best known for his role as Eagle pilot Alan Carter in both seasons of the 1970s science fiction television series Space: 1999, as well as for playing the role of Gordon Hamilton's errant brother James in the 1980's soap opera "Sons and...

     — Captain Alan Carter
    Alan Carter (Space 1999)
    Alan Carter is a fictional character from the television series Space: 1999. He was played by Nick Tate. He is of Australian origin and is in his early thirties.-Character biography:...


Also Featuring

  • Bernard Kay
    Bernard Kay
    Bernard Kay is a British actor with an extensive theatre, television and film repertoire.Kay began his working life as a reporter on Bolton Evening News, and a stringer for The Manchester Guardian. He was conscripted in 1946 and started acting in the army...

     — Humanoid Mutant
  • Albin Pahernik — Maya/Creature
  • Annie Lambert
    Annie Lambert
    Annie Lambert is a British actress, best known to fans of the science fiction television series Doctor Who for her role as Enlightenment in the 1982 serial Four to Doomsday....

     — Command Centre Operative
  • Barbara Wise — Beautiful Girl
  • Yasuko Nagazumi
    Yasuko Nagazumi
    is a producer and manager in Hollywood responsible for print advertising campaigns for clients such as Armani, Donna Karan, Guess?, Pirelli, Vogue Magazine and working with photographers Peter Lindbergh, Herb Ritts, Helmut Newton and others....

     — Yasko

Music

The score was re-edited from previous Space: 1999 incidental music tracks composed for the second series by Derek Wadsworth
Derek Wadsworth
Derek Wadsworth was a British jazz trombonist, session musician, composer and arranger....

 and draws primarily from the scores of 'The Metamorph
The Metamorph
"The Metamorph" is the first episode of the second series of Space: 1999 . The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Charles Crichton. Previous titles were 'The Biological Soul' and 'The Biological Computer'. The final shooting script is dated 19 January 1976...

' and 'The Taybor'. During the 'night of romance' on New Earth, an arrangement of 'How Beautiful Is Night' composed by Robert Farnon
Robert Farnon
Robert Joseph Farnon was a Canadian-born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. As well as being a famous composer of original works , he was recognised as one of the finest arrangers of his generation...

 in 1947 is used as Magus's mood music.

Production notes

  • The shooting script for 'New Adam, New Eve' contains several sequences removed from the episode's final cut: (1) The fact that the Moon was 150,000 miles distant from New Earth; (2) A sequence of friendly banter where, after Verdeschi comments on the richness of New Earth's soil, Koenig would declare the planet to be as fertile as California
    California
    California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

     was 150 years before. Verdeschi then compared it to Italy
    Italy
    Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

    's Calabria
    Calabria
    Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

     of the present. Maya would joke about the bandits of the Calabrian hills, and Koenig would quip that all the Italian bandits went into politics in the 1980s. Verdeschi would then remind them all that Italian politics may not have been perfect, but it was an American who spoiled the United World movement in 1985; (3) When Carter made his first attempt to rescue Koenig in Eagle One, he would be accompanied by another pilot in Eagle Two; (4) The mutant reveals to Koenig that Magus was the last of his kind because his race had challenged a mysterious being more powerful than all of them combined. Magus was off travelling and survived. The real purpose of Magus's quest for a superior race was to do battle with this super-being.

  • The mutant cave animals were scripted to be an enormous crustacean
    Crustacean
    Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

    , a gigantic tarantula
    Tarantula
    Tarantulas comprise a group of often hairy and often very large arachnids belonging to the family Theraphosidae, of which approximately 900 species have been identified. Some members of the same Suborder may also be called "tarantulas" in the common parlance. This article will restrict itself to...

     and a huge reptile
    Reptile
    Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

    . Visual effects supervisor Brian Johnson
    Brian Johnson (special effects)
    -Biography:Johnson's work on Space: 1999 set the tone for the Star Wars films to follow. George Lucas visited Johnson during the series production because he was so impressed with his work. Lucas asked Johnson to supervise the special effects for the first film but his prior commitment to Year 2 of...

     and the Bray Studios
    Bray Studios (UK)
    Bray Studios is a film and television facility at Bray, near Windsor, Berkshire, England. The films Alien and The Rocky Horror Picture Show were shot there...

     team hoped to achieve this vision using stop-motion animation, but this would have proved to be too costly and time-consuming. This resulted in a re-write where the creatures all became reptiles and realised with Komodo dragon
    Komodo dragon
    The Komodo dragon , also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large species of lizard found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang and Gili Dasami. A member of the monitor lizard family , it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of in rare cases...

    s.

  • This episode debuted a revised version of Catherine Schell
    Catherine Schell
    Katherina Freiin Schell von Bauschlott is an Hungarian-born actress best known for her work on British televison.Schell rose to fame in various British film and television productions in the 1960s and 1970s...

    's Pyschon make-up. ITC
    ITC Entertainment
    The Incorporated Television Company was a British television company largely involved in production and distribution. It was founded by Lew Grade.-History:...

     executives felt the brown-pigmented ears read on screen as 'dirty'. With her ears now left natural, the 'sideburn' cheekbone pigment would be made less prominent as well. Hairdresser Jeannette Freeman would experiment with a new hairstyle for Schell, which was seen in this segment and early scenes of 'The AB Chrysalis' before returning to her previous style.

  • This episode also introduced Helena's hi-tech medical scanner—two small Perspex magnifying lenses which retracted into a small casing—with which she could scan or diagnose anything future scripts required (à la Doctor McCoy's whistling medical Feinberger on Star Trek
    Star Trek
    Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

    ). This would be the last time that the Eagle passenger module set would be seen with its eight-seat configuration.

Novelisation

The episode was adapted in the first Year Two Space: 1999 novel Planets of Peril by Michael Butterworth
Michael Butterworth
Michael Butterworth is a British author and publisher who has written many novels and short stories, particularly in the genre of science fiction...

 published in 1977. The only difference from the finished episode was a reference that Maya was new to the position of scientific officer, as it was written to have taken place soon after 'The Metamorph
The Metamorph
"The Metamorph" is the first episode of the second series of Space: 1999 . The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Charles Crichton. Previous titles were 'The Biological Soul' and 'The Biological Computer'. The final shooting script is dated 19 January 1976...

'.

External links


Last produced:
"Brian the Brain
Brian the Brain
"Brian the Brain" is the ninth episode of the second series of Space: 1999 . The screenplay was written by Jack Ronder; the director was Kevin Connor. The final shooting script is dated 5 May 1976, with amendments dated 11 May 1976...

"
List of Space: 1999 episodes Next produced:
"Catacombs of the Moon
Catacombs of the Moon
"Catacombs of the Moon" is the eleventh episode of the second series of Space: 1999 . The screenplay was written by Anthony Terpiloff; the director was Robert Lynn. The original title was 'The Catacombs of the Moon'. The final shooting script is dated 18 May 1976, with amendments dated 26 May, 9...

"
Last transmitted:
"Brian the Brain
Brian the Brain
"Brian the Brain" is the ninth episode of the second series of Space: 1999 . The screenplay was written by Jack Ronder; the director was Kevin Connor. The final shooting script is dated 5 May 1976, with amendments dated 11 May 1976...

"
Next transmitted:
"The Mark of Archanon
The Mark of Archanon
"The Mark of Archanon" is the eighth episode of the second series of Space: 1999 . The screenplay was written by Lew Schwarz; the director was Charles Crichton. The final shooting script is dated 12 April 1976, with amendments dated 21 April, 26 April, 27 April and 28 April 1976...

"
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