Space: 1999 (TV Series) The Testament of Arkadia (1975) User Reviews

Improbable...but kinda cool.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 17 May 2010]

The rogue moon has now come within range of Planet Arkadia and something odd is happening--Moonbase is rapidly being drained of all its power. The situation is so critical that it appears that they will all die unless something happens to stop this odd loss. Naturally, they explore Arkadia in the hopes that they'd somehow be able to colonize it. However, the place appears barren--devoid of all life. But, then something totally bizarre happens--they enter a cave and find writing...in Sanskrit--an ancient Earth language! How could this be?! Well, apparently life on Earth actually originated here--and the humans left Arkadia following some disaster that wiped out all life.

Suddenly, the power loss to Moonbase stops for no discernible reason. But, what happens next would seem to prove that some intelligent force is at work. Two of the landing party members, a man and woman, suddenly begin behaving strangely--insisting that they MUST remain behind on Arkadia. When Koenig refuses, as they cannot spare the supplies for two colonists, the two take matters into their own hands--forcing the Alphans to give in to their demands.

Overall, the episode is pretty good due to an interesting story. I liked the idea of a planet that seeded the Earth as well as the idea of a planet who has an intelligence about it that insists on a rebirth! The only negative, and it's in all the "Space: 1999" shows, is the very, very quiet moments in the show (they are too many)--resulting in a somewhat sterile mood. Despite the amazing discovery and the two commandeering supplies, there is practically no life to the proceedings--and this is hard to imagine, but it's true. Like the planet Arkadia, things just seemed barren.

Adam and Eve, Take Two

[GaryPeterson67 · 6/10 · 26 March 2023]

And so the curtain comes down on the first season, which ends not with a bang but..., well, you know the rest. Disappointing on many levels, from the wannabe, gonna-be Adam and Eve of Arkadia you want to cheer on and see succeed turn into selfish, stun-ray-zapping, hostage-taking zealots by the time they hijack Alpha's food rations and welsh on the deal to free Helena. I wasn't especially sad that we "lost Luke and Anna," as Alan somberly reported to Koenig. I don't think he was especially sorry either, after calling them rats abandoning the sinking ship.

Forehead-smacking moment was when suddenly the soundtrack is blaring a very Seventies' symphonic piece that was so obviously intended to lend gravitas and weight and instead evoked cringey memories of overblown musicals like GODSPELL and JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. And what's with anything religious requiring hooded robes?

I smiled smugly thinking of all the "hard science-fiction" fans watching this series fuming at how deftly it debunked Darwin, Dawkins, Dennett, and their dogmatic ilk in the evolution industry. So much for Sagan's "billions and billions" and daft declaration that "we are all star dust." But biblical creationists didn't come out any better, as the Genesis account is also unceremoniously upended. Yeesh, can the only vindicated winners in Johnny Byrne's fanciful plot be Erich Von Daniken, Graham Hancock, and the cast of ANCIENT ALIENS?

Someone has to say it: What's with this episode and the previously produced, "Dragon's Domain," featuring heavily accented Italian actors and the gimmick of Helena and Koenig narrating the events as they write them in the annals of Alpha? It was too odd a casting decision and narrative technique not to have happened by editorial decree. If it flops, blame ITC New York, which seems to be the default setting for those conducting critical autopsies on the series. But I actually enjoyed the narration and the casting and thought Gianni Garko and Orso Guarrini brought something special to their roles, even if just their unfamiliarity to the audience. I mean, it does help me lose myself in the story when I'm not like, oh, that's Alexis, Number Two, and that guy who played the assassin on THE ADVENTURER a week ago (or was it THE PROTECTORS? PERSUADERS? The same 42 British actors show up everywhere!).

On the topic of acting, never did I realize until this episode just how wooden Barbara Bain's acting truly was. Or should I say petrified? When like a fool Helena rushes into Main Mission and Luke puts her in a chokehold she was like a department store mannequin. I knew she was stiff, a quality that served her well on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE where the I. M. Force was supposed to be cool, aloof, and indifferent, but here her charisma deficit was a definite liability. Bain's face is perpetually frozen in the same expression, usually one of concern. She could have put a photo on her Commlock screen like people do on Zoom when they want to walk the dog instead of attending another staff meeting that could have been an e-mail.

And to pile a little more hate on Helena, why is Dr. Bob Matthias always stuck doing the heavy lifting in Medical while Helena is malingering in Main Mission or joyriding with the away team to explore a strange new world? No wonder Bob blew a circuit and started screaming his head off at Paul, who looked more hangdog than usual (poor guy was probably just handed his pink slip and an empty box (No rush, mate, but Tony Anholt is outside waiting to move in)). Then Sandra screamed at Paul just as he was on the cusp of his momentous announcement to commence Operation Exodus. Oh, wait, energy levels stabilized, never mind. And am I the only one who jumped when Koenig screamed DO IT at Paul and Alan? Yikes, where's Dr. Welby to suggest Koenig switch to a decaffeinated brand?

I liked that neither Victor nor Anna was able to read the Sanskrit inscription immediately, as often happens in these situations. Bergman knew only enough to know it was Sanskrit, and Anna struggled through her impromptu translation and needed the Reference Library to decode that pivotal passage.

The ending got a little muddled, with Anna's apology and Helena's reproof, passing Helena back to Alan's Eagle, the anticlimactic reveal about the tracker, and another round of the oh, wait, power's coming back on, never mind. Nice touch, however, having Koenig handwriting this story into his journal and setting his pen atop the closed book. That was a fitting almost/shoulda-been final moment to the show.

As has been noted, the much better and stronger season finale "The Last Enemy" was the last Year One episode broadcast way back in '76, but that's an academic point now. I was a lad of nine at the time and remember dimly in the Tri-State area SPACE: 1999 aired on WPIX/11 in the late afternoons on Sundays. But after its initial run, the station didn't observe any order, so the production order is the standard going forward (and as it should be).

Watching this episode today I couldn't help appreciating above and beyond the quality of the script that these were the final scenes for Prentis Hancock, Clifton Jones, and, the most painful cut of them all, Barry Morse. Thanks for the memories.

Exactly the reason this show makes you want to bang your head into the ground

[bgaiv · 7/10 · 2 August 2020]

It is pretty good, but it illustrates so many weaknesses of this series.

Basically, we want to see heroes. Anna and Luke come to believe they are delivered from Alpha to settle this world.... ok, fine, then they they steal from Alpha what they need to survive on this planet... quite echoing what Commissioner Simmons did, episodes ago.

Then, on their mission with Helena hostage, Luke literally tells Helena that Alpha is expendable, because it's purpose was to deliver Anna and Luke to Arkadia.

Ok, seems kind of inhuman of Luke and Anna. But not to their knowledge, Alpha's power is restored, so Alpha can get by without the resources Luke and Anna stole.

So, ok, it's all fine then... except the Moon starts to leave this system, and Luke sees this in the sky and, in shock, drops what he's carrying. He's so surprised, he calls Anna....

Meaning, he's freaking cold blooded and was ok with the Alphans dying, and is shocked they survive.

Incredibly dumb, if well acted

[bbshockwave · 4/10 · 6 July 2021]

So, after the show having at least tried to be as scientific as possible, now they throw that all out the window, and have it be revealed that humankind migrated from Arkadia - thousands of lightyears away - to Earth, where a culture who already knew the sanscrit alphabet and nuclear fission existed... Oh and they brought present day plants too.

So I guess evolution created everything from single cell organism to primitive men like Australopithecus existed on Earth, but that never went anywhere and instead humans arrived from space? And apparently promptly forgot their origins, technology and all that and went on to start the ancient empires of old?

That's bad enough but they have to add magic to the mix. The force keeping the moon in orbit is never explained and mysteriously lets them go at the end, and the Arkadians magically come alive and I guess communicate telepathically with the two newbies?

The two new characters than basically go on a Die Hard hostage taking spree, taking an Eagle, Helena as a hostage and 3 years of rations and tools because they stupidly believe they can restart life on the planet (how? Will their kids marry each other?) They are clearly the villains because they have no care about how stealing so many supplies will make people on Alpha starve... Koenig cooperates with them and... his grand plan was just a tracker? I kept thinking Picard or even Kirk would have likely hidden some security teams on that Eagle, or a knockout gas bomb on a timer.

Overall this felt like a complete waste of time, sad to say, and there is no satisfying conclusion about even why these two believed they have to abandon their friends and sabotage them to live on this barren planet.

Creepy (yet good) music help make this episode a divergence from the rest

[keeferoo · 5/10 · 23 July 2022]

The best part of this episode was the music. Paul Bonneau and Serge Lancen's composition Suite Appassionata-Andante and Jack Arel and Pierre Dutour's 'Picture of Autumn'

Great acting by all, but story has plot holes. (Oak trees have been on Earth longer than 25,000 years)

Another credit is the sets. The episode is foreboding and eerie. The planet does have a "your not alone" feeling.

ECHOES OF STAR TREK'S SECOND PILOT EPISODE

[duncanbrown-76733 · 3/10 · 5 November 2021]

This episode of Space 1999, has a resemblance to the second Star Trek pilot Where No Man Has Gone Before.

The two guest characters, remind me of the two guest characters from that second Star Trek pilot.

This was the last episode of season one. Unfortunately it was not the best episode, because it is slow in some places.

They could have ended season one, with a much more exciting story.

What a disappointment.