Moonbase 3

Moonbase 3 was an ambitious attempt by the BBC in 1973 to create a technically accurate science fiction program. It also followed the "New Wave" of science fiction writing then popular.

In traditional science fiction, larger-than-life heroes zoom across the galaxy, fight swashbuckling space battles with evil interplanetary despots, and woo beautiful alien women. On Moonbase 3, scientists and administrators attempt to conduct experiments while beset with budget cutbacks, equipment failures, work stress, personal isolation, and a heartless Earth bureaucracy.

The stories are often grim and depressing. The base is small and understaffed, the technology is unreliable, and everyone is under constant pressure to produce breakthroughs. Outer space is deadly and unforgiving; a tiny error in piloting your rocket can kill everyone aboard.

Small teams of researchers on a European moonbase are isolated for weeks at a time, leading to psychological stress and conflict. Many times in the series the researchers can only stand helplessly watching their experiments fail and their friends die. It's easy to see why the program was never an audience-pleaser.

However, the program has some extremely innovative themes which are never explored in other television or movie dramas. It shows how difficult, yet personally rewarding, scientific research is. It shows what a difference having a good manager makes. It shows how following the rules really can work, and how rule-bending seat-of-your-pants rocket jockeys can get everyone killed.

I'd never even heard of this series when I stumbled across a PAL DVD edition in my local video store. I've long liked Ralph Bates' work and figured I'd give it a chance. My time was not wasted.

The series is set in the early twenty-first century. A group of European countries has established Moonbase 3. It is an underfunded science station on the lunar surface, one of five such bases. Others are operated by the United States,

Soviet Union, China, and Brazil. The series' six episodes tell stories of everyday life at the post, mostly from the perspective of the senior staff. The plotlines of most episodes involve the psychological and character weaknesses of those

posted to the base. Events and characters from previous episodes are referred to in later episodes thus displaying continuity superior to many better known and more successful science fiction series. The final episode is downright

riveting and involves the possible extinction of life on Earth.

The series had many strong points. Special effects are acceptable by early

1970s standards and involve a lot of model work. The teleplays are intelligent and there was a genuine effort to portray the environment and space travel in a scientifically plausible manner. "Moonbase 3" is by no means perfect, but given the limitations of budget, it was a solid piece of work. It certainly warranted more than six episodes and is, in my opinion, superior to the better known "Space

1999." Hopefully BBC or some licensee will consider releasing this onto DVD in the U.S. one of these days.

In 2003, the crew of Europe's chronically under-funded Moonbase struggle to stay sane and survive on the inhospitable satellite while demonstrating their relevance and value to the bean-counters back on Earth. This 6-episode BBC program continued the 'realistic' feel of '2001 A Space Odyssey' and Gerry Anderson's 'UFO' (1970) with mixed results. Generally the show looks good but in trying to be 'realistic' the stories are not that interesting: Dr Helen Smith (Fiona Gaunt), the base psychologist, plays a prominent role in several episodes that focus on the 'pressures' of success, isolation, etc - valid concerns but not particularly gripping. There is also a lot of discussion of budgets and financial concerns - again realistic but pretty mundane for a 'space opera'. The best episodes are the final 2: #5 involving a deep-space rescue ('Castor and Pollux') and #6 considering the possibility of an Earthly apocalypse that would leave the base crew to slowly starve to death ('View of a Dead Planet' - good story marred by a weak ending). The 'politics' of space colonisation is an common theme: there is a lot of wingeing about how much better the Soviet and American bases are equipped and funded, especially by Dr David Caulder (Donald Houston), the newly appointed Base Director and head bureaucrat (introduced in episode 1). The cast is generally good (given the fairly simplistic scripts and plots) as are the special effects (although there is a fair amount of reused footage). Moonbase 3 was not a success, possibly due to the limited action and lack of tension in most of the episodes. Like a lot of BBC shows, the tapes were wiped for short-sighted budgetary reasons but fortunately a complete 6-episode set was found in the 1990s - the show wasn't great but it is worth watching for sci-fi fans and it would have been a shame if it had been lost forever. Perhaps the failure of a 'realistic' series set on the moon to catch the public's attention contributed to ITV's decision to launch a completely unrealistic series set on the moon two years later: the preposterous but memorable 'Space 1999'.

moon base 3 breaks one of the first rules of TV SF and at first I didn't spot it. I took me some time to work out what was so peculiar about this show. I knew, from a few minutes into the first episode, there was something profoundly odd going on but couldn't put my finger on it.

At first I thought it might have been the flashing "Artificial Gravity is ON" signs that seem to litter the corridors - They are there more a sop to the nit-pickers in the audience rather than serving any internal logic to the story - surely even the densest of Astronauts would be able to tell the difference between 1/6 and a full 1 G. (though, to be fair to the show, it DOES attempt to simulate 1/6 G whenever anyone stepped outside the base by use of slow motion filming and bouncy, slow motion "I'm in space" acting).

Then I thought it might be the ropey camera work: this show seems to have been performed like a stage show, the actors doing long scenes with 2 or three cameras shooting simultaneously; the editor then cutting between the various angles. Obviously, as in all live performances, people didn't hit their marks exactly and the cameramen have to re-frame constantly to get people's heads in. This looks pretty amateur by today's standards but I'm not a connoisseur of 70s TV so don't have much to compare it with - I guess at the time it must have looked OK.

Then it might have been the downright dodgy accents. The European's moon base is populated by RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) trained actors assuming variable "French", "Spanish" and the standard "All purpose Eastern European" accents. Even Donal Houston's Welsh accent (and the man IS Welsh) sounds weirdly fake - (what is it by the way, that made the BBC at this time think the future would be populated by dynamic Welshmen? Blake of "Blake's Seven" was played by Welshman Gareth Thomas) - the only American on view (in at least the first 2 shows) has an accent that is totally bizarre: sort of constipated West Indian - sort of not.

Then I finally realised what it was that was so unsettling... the Door Handles! The doors on moon base 3 open like regular doors in houses! Hinged Doors in Space? Everyone knows that in the future all doors will slide into the wall as soon as anyone approaches them. Star Trek, Babylon 5, Space 1999, you name it, doors slide... ever since Buster Crabbe played "Buck Rodgers" way back in the 1930s, doors in the future slide... but not in the cash strapped BBC of the 1970s they didn't. Why pay 2 props guys to pull doors open when you've got an actor who will do it on cue for half the price?

All in all, this show is of historical interest but not worth getting excited over.

Very nearly lost forever as a result of the BBC's mass clear out of tapes in the 1970's, this gritty and claustrophobic sci fi series was only recently rediscovered in the vaults of a Canadian TV station.

This is a long forgotten example of how much more interesting sci fi used to be be pre George Lucas. The BBC never had the budget for whiz bang special effects and so concentrated on characters, story lines and heavyweight theatrical actors. Check out Blakes'7 or Star Cops for other more popular examples of this.

Moonbase 3 also contains that other classic BBC sci fi trait, realism, both in characters and settings.

The characters here are not Star Trek goody two shoes types who all get along and can be guaranteed to do whatever is morally right, their team includes a manic depressive, an egotist and many other fascinatingly real characters. Some are manipulative and many are suspicious and distrustful of each others motives.

The base itself is understaffed and under pressure to deliver value for money,as the base commander says "I can't produce the results without the funding but they won't give me the funding because I can't produce the results!"

This sort of bureaucratic nonsense is in stark contrast with the very real dangers and practical hardships faced with living on the moon.

In an enclosed society (of sometimes unstable personalities) living under the constant threats of a hostile environment, moonbase 3 is a powerfully written and tension filled sci fi series. Perhaps the most depressingly accurate glimpse into the future of space exploration