While I love sci-fi and watched this series faithfully when I was a kid, I have to admit that the episodes are hit or miss--some very good ones and some horrible one as well as a lot in between. This particular show clearly belongs in the category of horrible! There is very little to recommend it and it's simply too painful to watch. How I got all the way through it is a testament to my masochism.
The show begins with LOTS of sitar music playing--loudly and frantically. While I love Indian food and movies, I have never developed much of a taste for this type of music--at least when it is played very, very fast and intensely. It is certainly not soothing or enjoyable--and I assume this is the same reaction most will have--especially since the music seems to go on and on and on throughout the episode! This certainly sure didn't help in my enjoyment of this particular show.
As the music is droning, you see a small circle of Moonbase personnel having some sort of a séance-like gathering. And, as they are channeling the spirits of plants in an effort to communicate with them (I am NOT kidding--this really is the plot), one of them starts writhing as if he's having a seizure! Oddly, at the same time there is a rush of freezing cold air that whooshes through the base. Yet, when he's taken for medical help, he is crazed and insists he'd okay--even though he clearly isn't.
A bit later, more weird things start happening--such as the deaths of anyone who opposes the Italian guy in his experiments. You see, even though he nearly died the last time the knucklehead insisted on continuing with his work. The results are pretty bad- I'm talking bad 1960s sci-fi film bad! There's a double for this guy who looks like half his face was melted and you aren't sure if he's a giant killer veggie that looks human or some sort of killer alter-ego. All I know is that this melty face started killing people and the only thing that could stop him was an exorcism---yes, an exorcism!t! Talk about bad! This type of episode is exactly the reason "Space: 1999" was not a successful series. When it was good, it could be very good--but when it was bad it was phenomenally bad!