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Space: 1999 #3
The Space Guardians
A RUNAWAY MOON IS THEIR SPACESHIP, THEIR REFUGE, THEIR PRISON!
Blasting through the cosmos on a collision course with adventure, the 311 inhabitants of Alpha travel to mysterious, uncharted regions of the galaxy. Each day is a game of survival with the merciless universe.
On Alpha, Commander Koenig is still breathing. His soul has been stolen by a dazzling woman in a purple city that exists in the realm of thought only. And blood runs cold when an alien force transforms a crewman into an icy, energy-consuming monster -- who won't stop till Alpha freezes over!
Contains the episodes "Missing Link", "Force of Life", and "Guardian of Piri"
Blasting through the cosmos on a collision course with adventure, the 311 inhabitants of Alpha travel to mysterious, uncharted regions of the galaxy. Each day is a game of survival with the merciless universe.
On Alpha, Commander Koenig is still breathing. His soul has been stolen by a dazzling woman in a purple city that exists in the realm of thought only. And blood runs cold when an alien force transforms a crewman into an icy, energy-consuming monster -- who won't stop till Alpha freezes over!
Contains the episodes "Missing Link", "Force of Life", and "Guardian of Piri"
142 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 18, 2026
Space 1999 was a not-really-very-good television series fifty or so years ago; it was on for two years, and the first season was better than the first. We watched it because there was little other sf on television then, and it often looked cool, even if it was silly at times. The Moon takes off on a cosmic pinball jaunt through the cosmos, hi-ho! A variety of authors of the time did novelizations of the first season in ten volumes, and Michael Butterworth wrote adaptations of the 24 second season episodes in a six-volume series. There's nothing especially noteworthy about most of them; they vary in quality as did the scripts upon which they were based. This third book from the first season was written by Brian Ball. The main thing that sticks out about this one was that he made an effort to tie the three stories he was adapting together in novel format, rather than just having separate short pieces. He also described a couple of the women as being partially unclothed, which seems to have raised some eyebrows. The episodes in this one were Missing Link from a screenplay by Edward di Lorenzo, Guardian of Piri by Christopher Penfold, and Force of Life, the second episode of the series, which was written by Johnny Bryne. (No, not -that- Byrne, the English one.) Anyway, Space 1999... a brief nostalgic visit to near-forgotten television.
January 28, 2024
Why Not Choose the Pirian Way?
Excellent book! The preceding two Space: 1999 novelizations by E.C. Tubb and John Rankine were very good, but... Brian Ball beats them both. Why? He weaves the standalone stories into a continuous tapestry, lending the novel a depth and sense of history unfolding that episodic television does not. Ball is also a strong and engaging writer--as were Tubb and Rankine--which keeps the book compelling all the way through, even when you know the outcome of the episodes adapted.
This book adapts three Year One episodes: "Missing Link," "Force of Life," and "The Guardian of Piri." I wasn't especially enthusiastic about the first couple, remembering "Missing Link" mostly for squandering awesome guest star Peter Cushing. They painted his face gold and then saddled him with a long white wig and faux-Rennaissance-era scholar's tam. His daughter Vana fared even worse, weighed down in gaudy jewelry and appearing little like the alluring ingenue conjured up in the novel.
I went into the book with low expectations and ended up delightfully surprised. I loved Ball's adaptation of "Missing Link." It sparked me to pull down my Blu-ray and rewatch it, and while the episode itself again failed to thrill me, bringing Ball's additions and insights to bear upon it elevated the experience. For example, Ball adds a scene of a Zennite mind game with Bergman trying to coerce Koenig to escape with Kano in a spaceship he found buried in the moon dust. This extra and original vignette added zest to the story. Ball obviously enjoyed and saw tremendous potential in this episode as Vana and all that she imparted to Koenig played a recurring role throughout the novel.
Sorry, but even the talented Ball could not raise my reverence for the dismal "Force of Life" episode, which holds the dishonor of being the first of the series' stereotypical monster-of-the-week-rampaging-through-Alpha episodes to be broadcast. What torpedoed it for me was having recently enjoyed guest star Ian McShane in the lighthearted romantic romp IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE BELGIUM. When I saw McShane played the featured character, I expected that same rakish charisma and joie de vivre... nope!
McShane plays a cog in the wheel of Alpha, a technician with a slightly troubled marriage (that's about to get a lot worse!). McShane had no charisma and once he transformed into the monster no screen presence. Between the miscasting of McShane and my own admittedly unfair expectations, this episode was a dud, and Ball, despite valiant efforts, had little to work with here. "Force of Life" was an all-action and visual episode designed to work better on screen than on the page. I dutifully read it through, however. with unmet hopes it would transcend the TV version.
If and when I reread this book I plan to skip from page 47 to about 87 or 88 when Ball's magnum opus adaptation of "The Guardian of Piri" begins and carries the book through to its strong conclusion on page 142. I have always greatly enjoyed this episode, and Ball made me love it even more! A lot of what Ball includes in the book is not on the screen, so when one reads and watches in tandem it's a rich and rewarding experience.
Something prose couldn't fully capture was the stunning set design of Piri. The tower in the book is a black obelisk that turns white, not the imaginative creation seen on TV. Ball has the cast sitting at an ornate banquet table, but I prefer the onscreen presentation of the lotus-eating Alphans lounging beneath those viney trees topped with glowing white orbs that some suggest symbolize senses-dulling poppies and others comforting and life-sustaining mammary glands.
Oh, speaking of breasts... an earlier reviewer took offense to the "two brief (and unnecessary) instances of minor female nudity." I contend the two scenes of bared breasts were not gratuitously included merely to titillate but to illustrate subtle metaphors difficult to communicate on television.
The first comes when we initially meet the Servant of the Guardian:
Koenig was not surprised to see a girl advancing towards him. She was radiant, a young girl with the delicate skin and slender roundness of later adolescence. 'Welcome to Piri,' she said. Koenig was stunned, not by her freshness and beauty nor by the suddenness of her appearance: it was the tremendous feeling of well-being that left him dazed. She walked towards him, loose robe open so that he saw the rosebud nipples. She kissed him on the lips. It was a rebirth. (p. 113)
In the book, Ball drops the ball, so to speak, by saying the Guardian remembered what the ancient Pirians looked like and the "Pirian girl," as he calls the Servant, was created in that image. But the episode established the Servant assumed a form that would most effectively disarm, disabuse of distrust, and dupe the Alphans. Nubile young women in literature have long been seen to lure men to destruction. I thought of the Sirens and of Gawain and the Green Knight and specifically how Lady Bertilak appears three times to seduce Gawain. I believe Ball was intentionally drawing a parallel in this line: "When the Pirian girl came on the third day of [Koenig's] lonely vigil..." (129). (Another parallel that races to mind was Satan tempting Jesus three times as he fasted in the desert.)
A pre-Maya Catherine Schell unforgettably even iconically played the Servant on television (if Pocket Books put her on the paperback's cover, they would have been snapped up with gusto!). Schell wore an outfit as revealing as standards would then allow, which if it weren't taped to her chest would reveal exactly what the book described. Ball spicing up the description on the page was not contradictory to what was implied onscreen.
The second instance of nudity concerns Helena lolling about topless when Koenig returns to Piri with a plan to shock her out of her Shangri-La stupor:
Her robe was open to the waist. She smiled as [Koenig] looked down at her well-shaped breasts. (p. 133)
Yeah, Koenig gets a couple enviable eyefuls in this story alone, but he's made of tougher stuff and remains undeterred and steadfast in his determination to shock Helena back to reality. And after he does so:
She looked down and saw that her robe was open, and a very human emotion chased across her face. She covered her breasts. Her face was crimson. (p.134-35)
What springs to your mind reading that reaction? For me, the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, when after sinning they beheld their nakedness and hid it in shame. Koenig--casting the Serpent as a good guy?--opened the eyes of "Eve" and set in motion the destruction of and banishment from this ersatz Garden of Eden. The nudity here was not gratuitous or unnecessary, but integral to a carefully plotted and effective allusion and parallel. I applaud Ball for bringing such heft to the often-denigrated genre of "TV tie-in."
A couple noteworthy differences between the television episode and the novel. The entire scene and backstory of Kano's computer linkup and sudden disappearance are not in the novel. On TV, Bergman excitedly tells everybody that the moon is leaving Piri's orbit, and the Alphans scramble for the Eagles. But in the book, Paul Morrow states the moon's orbit around Piri is holding, and that they're now trapped there. But Koenig states it was the Guardian holding the moon in orbit, and with its destruction the moon will soon leave orbit, so "the Alphans moved purposefully towards the waiting Eagles" vs. TV's visually satisfying mad dash and rapidly ascending Eagles as Piri began exploding all around them in earnest!
Perhaps most noteworthy is Ball crediting the Zennites for Koenig's ability to resist the siren call of Piri. [Koenig] knew that the Zennites had given him the ability to see into the nature of reality in a way that was not shared by the Alphans. He could resist the spell of Piri (p. 115). It reads like Koenig was 'red-pilled' decades before The Matrix made it a thing!
But TV missed an opportunity that Ball seized, even if just in passing. Remember Eagle Six that was so memorably suspended in air when the Guardian suspended time? Ball ties up that dangling plot thread: Koenig looked and saw the Eagle complete its interrupted crash-dive. Time had begun again (p. 141). Presumably pilots Barker and Irving escaped that crash as the Eagle was empty and Barker was seen on Piri's surface.
The book does suffer a few shortcomings, among them repeating the word "roared" a million times in the last third of the book. Somebody is roaring on literally every page. What's wrong with a yell, a scream, a bellow? Another is Ball presenting Paul Morrow as a Lou Ferrigno-proportioned Hulklike character with numerous references to his size and strength. Huh? Actor Prentis Hancock's build just doesn't match that of his literary counterpart. Ball, like his predecessors Tubb and Rankine, also repeats characters' full names much too frequently. Cynically, I saw it as padding the word count.
Minor grievances and nitpicks aside, The Space Guardians is a very good book, one that adds immeasurably to the enjoyment of the television episodes, and which taken on its own would read as a seamless and satisfying whole. Eager for more of the same, I was disappointed to learn this was Brian Ball's sole novelization (though 30 years later he published an original novel, Space: 1999 Survival). The remainder of the series novelizations are bounced back and forth between Tubb and Rankine.
For those wanting a Cliff's Notes version of this book, or a try-before-you-buy sample of Ball's writing, I included below a bunch of cherrypicked quotations I liked (and hope you will too). Thank you for reading my review!
PS: When I read this book in January 2024 I was the sole person doing so (among Goodreads members, anyway). I felt old and lonely, like the literary equivalent of the Maytag repairman! I am also currently reading Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy, which was published just four years after Ball's book, and I'm one of a whopping 36,000 readers currently enjoying it. I don't feel so lonely anymore (still feel old, though!).
POTENT QUOTES
Opening lines: Dr. Helena Russell looked out over the bleak pinnacles of volcanic rock. She shivered. The reaches of space were so vast, so empty. A star, brighter than most, flared briefly. She turned away. Then she remembered Koenig's advice: 'When it gets bad, Helena, go out and look at it close. The rock. The ash. And the craters. And then look up to the stars. When you do that ask yourself, Are we really alone out here? Try it, Helena. Try it.' (p. 7)
Since the nuclear cataclysm that had blown the Moon clear of Earth and into its giddying flight through uncharted space, he had become accustomed to the distances and the emptiness. And the danger. (p. 7)
Koenig's first glimpse of Vana: She was quite tall, slim, dressed in a long gown which shimmered with red and gold lights. It covered her body yet revealed its beauties. The form beneath had a graceful elegance, rounded and slender; honey-bronze and exquisite. And she had vanished in the moment he had looked at her. (pp. 14-15)
What is this thing called love?
Koenig felt Vana's slim softness, very close. 'I've read of it in the ancient texts,' she said. 'I don't suppose any of our people have ever experienced it.' Vana smiled. 'John, isn't it called "love"?' (p. 38; last lines of chapter 5; the next opens, Koenig knew what it was like to be young again.) (p. 39)
Hmm, a lot can happen off-page between chapters!
You, Vana, in love with what is to him an ape-man.' Vana threw [herself] around him. 'Ape-man, Earthman, space-man, star-man! You'll stay--I know it!' Koenig held her close. (p. 40)
Hmm. is that a line of Zennite poetry? (Better than any Vogon compositions, right?) Spoiler: John didn't stay.
Zaan speaks: I brought you here as an experiment, John Koenig,' he said. 'I have learned more than I dared hope. You awakened in Vana's heart something I thought dead in the souls of the Zennites--and perhaps more of us might rediscover what we have lost.' He looked past Koenig, and the Alphan saw in the keen stare something like awe. 'I think we could respond to danger,' John Koenig. And I hope we would have your courage when it came.' (p.45)
The purple void began to shadow Koenig's mind. Through it, he saw the slim body of the woman he loved. The last he saw of her was her hand, raised in a hopeless gesture of farewell. (p. 45)
Force of Life
Re: Anton Zoref: Since school he had been awed by the temerity of mankind in taming and harnessing the might of nuclear fission; and Eva shared his feelings. If they hadn't been caught up in the giant nuclear catastrophe that blasted the Moon from his parent body, they would have been doing just the same kind of work. Zoref was one of the few Alphans who didn't much regret their enforced voyage. (p. 54)
Helena crossed to him. 'How long did it take you to get over what happened on Zenno?' ... He was about to tell Helena Russell that his experiences on Zenno were in no way similar to Eva Zoref's loss of a man who had become possessed by an aberrant creature from the void, but he stopped. There was a parallel--loss.' (p. 86)
The Guardian of Piri
She too looked at the oppressive dark. 'If I thought there was a God, I'd say He's lost us.' (p. 88)
Interesting that Helena is an atheist. She may be alone in that stance, as John thanks God on p. 30 and Victor speaks of a "miracle" and a "sign" on p. 104.
Koenig's morale-boosting fail: We're out beyond the range of Earth's furthest-ranging scanners, but that shouldn't worry us. Keep it firmly before your Sections--there's no way back for us! We go where the Moon's flight-path takes us, and we live with it. Make sure that every last man and woman on Moonbase Alpha understands: until we're across the gulf, there can be no more talk of a future anywhere except here, on this planet, on this base, right here! There's nothing, but nothing, out there! (p. 89)
Bergman was frankly babbling: 'It's wonderful, John! I knew it--this is our planet. It's the end of all that space wandering. It's going to be our home. A miracle like that is a sign to us--' He stopped, and seemed to recollect his position as the cool intellectual whose reputation was based on emotionless cerebration. (p. 104)
I love the Seventies! Here are a couple passages that would likely raise eyebrows if not the ire of woke readers in the 2020s:
Morrow was laughing. So was Kano. And Bergman. Others joined in. There was a zany, indulgent good humour in their laughter. A fat technician doubled up over his console, holding his stomach against the pain of his jerking laughter. (p. 106)
We can leave the rocks and the dust,' said Helena, like a housewife contemplating a spring-cleaning. 'John, I can't wait to get to Piri!' (p. 108)
Morrow laughed aloud: 'John, I guess that Zenno experience left you sour--can't you believe we've hit the jackpot?' (p. 109)
Koenig was not surprised to see a girl advancing towards him. She was radiant, a young girl with the delicate skin and slender roundness of later adolescence. 'Welcome to Piri,' she said. Koenig was stunned, not by her freshness and beauty nor by the suddenness of her appearance: it was the tremendous feeling of well-being that left him dazed. She walked towards him, loose robe open so that he saw the rosebud nipples. She kissed him on the lips. It was a rebirth. All the bitterness of loss and regret ebbed away. all doubts vanished. 'Piri the beautiful,' he said. 'Piri, the end of our voyaging.' (p. 113)
'John, I was sent to check your doubts. Believe me, this is your home. It is the place of peace at last.'
Koenig shook his head: 'I want my men.'
'They are at peace, John.'
'The peace of death!' Koenig roared. He knew that the Zennites had given him the ability to see into the nature of reality in a way that was not shared by the Alphans. He could resist the spell of Piri. 'I'm taking my men back!'
'No,' said the girl. 'The Guardian will make you perfect too!' She put a hand to his arm. It was a grip of steel. Her wide-set eyes stared into his and he shivered, for there was no spark of humanity, no exchange of emotion. (p. 115)
He felt panic give way to the peace of resignation. Arguments coasted through his mind. Why struggle against the inevitable? Why not admit that it was the ambition of the human race to do what the ancient Pirians had done--to leave control to an all-powerful machine? (p. 127)
When the Pirian girl came on the third day of his lonely vigil, he found fresh strength from the knowledge of what he had given up on Zenno. (p. 129)
Grotesquely large in the spacesuit, he watched his long shadow approach the last of the Eagles. The girl walked by his side, diaphanous robes swirling. Koenig felt for the butt of his stun-gun. Its comforting bulk nestled in his hand. It wasn't much against the mysterious might of the Guardian of Piri. (p. 131)
Her robe was open to the waist. She smiled as he looked down at her well-shaped breasts. (p. 133) ... She looked down and saw that her robe was open, and a very human emotion chased across her face. She covered her breasts. Her face was crimson. (p.134-35)
'We have found paradise!' Morrow yelled, and his huge face was transfigured. ... Bergman too had a maniacal exultance. 'The Guardian brings gifts, John! Peace and delight, forever!' 'Commander, there will be no more pain!' called a slim girl, and Koenig recognized Eva Zoref. (p. 137)
That one mention of Eva Zoref successfully and meaningfully links the second story with this, especially as both were in pain and grieving losses.
Beneath the skin-like covering, they saw a complex of circuitry. 'That was the last Pirian,' said Koenig quietly. 'The Pirians faded away because they made their wills over to the machines. The last and greatest of the machines remembered what the Pirians had looked like and created this robot to beguile us.' (p. 142)
Excellent book! The preceding two Space: 1999 novelizations by E.C. Tubb and John Rankine were very good, but... Brian Ball beats them both. Why? He weaves the standalone stories into a continuous tapestry, lending the novel a depth and sense of history unfolding that episodic television does not. Ball is also a strong and engaging writer--as were Tubb and Rankine--which keeps the book compelling all the way through, even when you know the outcome of the episodes adapted.
This book adapts three Year One episodes: "Missing Link," "Force of Life," and "The Guardian of Piri." I wasn't especially enthusiastic about the first couple, remembering "Missing Link" mostly for squandering awesome guest star Peter Cushing. They painted his face gold and then saddled him with a long white wig and faux-Rennaissance-era scholar's tam. His daughter Vana fared even worse, weighed down in gaudy jewelry and appearing little like the alluring ingenue conjured up in the novel.
I went into the book with low expectations and ended up delightfully surprised. I loved Ball's adaptation of "Missing Link." It sparked me to pull down my Blu-ray and rewatch it, and while the episode itself again failed to thrill me, bringing Ball's additions and insights to bear upon it elevated the experience. For example, Ball adds a scene of a Zennite mind game with Bergman trying to coerce Koenig to escape with Kano in a spaceship he found buried in the moon dust. This extra and original vignette added zest to the story. Ball obviously enjoyed and saw tremendous potential in this episode as Vana and all that she imparted to Koenig played a recurring role throughout the novel.
Sorry, but even the talented Ball could not raise my reverence for the dismal "Force of Life" episode, which holds the dishonor of being the first of the series' stereotypical monster-of-the-week-rampaging-through-Alpha episodes to be broadcast. What torpedoed it for me was having recently enjoyed guest star Ian McShane in the lighthearted romantic romp IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE BELGIUM. When I saw McShane played the featured character, I expected that same rakish charisma and joie de vivre... nope!
McShane plays a cog in the wheel of Alpha, a technician with a slightly troubled marriage (that's about to get a lot worse!). McShane had no charisma and once he transformed into the monster no screen presence. Between the miscasting of McShane and my own admittedly unfair expectations, this episode was a dud, and Ball, despite valiant efforts, had little to work with here. "Force of Life" was an all-action and visual episode designed to work better on screen than on the page. I dutifully read it through, however. with unmet hopes it would transcend the TV version.
If and when I reread this book I plan to skip from page 47 to about 87 or 88 when Ball's magnum opus adaptation of "The Guardian of Piri" begins and carries the book through to its strong conclusion on page 142. I have always greatly enjoyed this episode, and Ball made me love it even more! A lot of what Ball includes in the book is not on the screen, so when one reads and watches in tandem it's a rich and rewarding experience.
Something prose couldn't fully capture was the stunning set design of Piri. The tower in the book is a black obelisk that turns white, not the imaginative creation seen on TV. Ball has the cast sitting at an ornate banquet table, but I prefer the onscreen presentation of the lotus-eating Alphans lounging beneath those viney trees topped with glowing white orbs that some suggest symbolize senses-dulling poppies and others comforting and life-sustaining mammary glands.
Oh, speaking of breasts... an earlier reviewer took offense to the "two brief (and unnecessary) instances of minor female nudity." I contend the two scenes of bared breasts were not gratuitously included merely to titillate but to illustrate subtle metaphors difficult to communicate on television.
The first comes when we initially meet the Servant of the Guardian:
Koenig was not surprised to see a girl advancing towards him. She was radiant, a young girl with the delicate skin and slender roundness of later adolescence. 'Welcome to Piri,' she said. Koenig was stunned, not by her freshness and beauty nor by the suddenness of her appearance: it was the tremendous feeling of well-being that left him dazed. She walked towards him, loose robe open so that he saw the rosebud nipples. She kissed him on the lips. It was a rebirth. (p. 113)
In the book, Ball drops the ball, so to speak, by saying the Guardian remembered what the ancient Pirians looked like and the "Pirian girl," as he calls the Servant, was created in that image. But the episode established the Servant assumed a form that would most effectively disarm, disabuse of distrust, and dupe the Alphans. Nubile young women in literature have long been seen to lure men to destruction. I thought of the Sirens and of Gawain and the Green Knight and specifically how Lady Bertilak appears three times to seduce Gawain. I believe Ball was intentionally drawing a parallel in this line: "When the Pirian girl came on the third day of [Koenig's] lonely vigil..." (129). (Another parallel that races to mind was Satan tempting Jesus three times as he fasted in the desert.)
A pre-Maya Catherine Schell unforgettably even iconically played the Servant on television (if Pocket Books put her on the paperback's cover, they would have been snapped up with gusto!). Schell wore an outfit as revealing as standards would then allow, which if it weren't taped to her chest would reveal exactly what the book described. Ball spicing up the description on the page was not contradictory to what was implied onscreen.
The second instance of nudity concerns Helena lolling about topless when Koenig returns to Piri with a plan to shock her out of her Shangri-La stupor:
Her robe was open to the waist. She smiled as [Koenig] looked down at her well-shaped breasts. (p. 133)
Yeah, Koenig gets a couple enviable eyefuls in this story alone, but he's made of tougher stuff and remains undeterred and steadfast in his determination to shock Helena back to reality. And after he does so:
She looked down and saw that her robe was open, and a very human emotion chased across her face. She covered her breasts. Her face was crimson. (p.134-35)
What springs to your mind reading that reaction? For me, the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, when after sinning they beheld their nakedness and hid it in shame. Koenig--casting the Serpent as a good guy?--opened the eyes of "Eve" and set in motion the destruction of and banishment from this ersatz Garden of Eden. The nudity here was not gratuitous or unnecessary, but integral to a carefully plotted and effective allusion and parallel. I applaud Ball for bringing such heft to the often-denigrated genre of "TV tie-in."
A couple noteworthy differences between the television episode and the novel. The entire scene and backstory of Kano's computer linkup and sudden disappearance are not in the novel. On TV, Bergman excitedly tells everybody that the moon is leaving Piri's orbit, and the Alphans scramble for the Eagles. But in the book, Paul Morrow states the moon's orbit around Piri is holding, and that they're now trapped there. But Koenig states it was the Guardian holding the moon in orbit, and with its destruction the moon will soon leave orbit, so "the Alphans moved purposefully towards the waiting Eagles" vs. TV's visually satisfying mad dash and rapidly ascending Eagles as Piri began exploding all around them in earnest!
Perhaps most noteworthy is Ball crediting the Zennites for Koenig's ability to resist the siren call of Piri. [Koenig] knew that the Zennites had given him the ability to see into the nature of reality in a way that was not shared by the Alphans. He could resist the spell of Piri (p. 115). It reads like Koenig was 'red-pilled' decades before The Matrix made it a thing!
But TV missed an opportunity that Ball seized, even if just in passing. Remember Eagle Six that was so memorably suspended in air when the Guardian suspended time? Ball ties up that dangling plot thread: Koenig looked and saw the Eagle complete its interrupted crash-dive. Time had begun again (p. 141). Presumably pilots Barker and Irving escaped that crash as the Eagle was empty and Barker was seen on Piri's surface.
The book does suffer a few shortcomings, among them repeating the word "roared" a million times in the last third of the book. Somebody is roaring on literally every page. What's wrong with a yell, a scream, a bellow? Another is Ball presenting Paul Morrow as a Lou Ferrigno-proportioned Hulklike character with numerous references to his size and strength. Huh? Actor Prentis Hancock's build just doesn't match that of his literary counterpart. Ball, like his predecessors Tubb and Rankine, also repeats characters' full names much too frequently. Cynically, I saw it as padding the word count.
Minor grievances and nitpicks aside, The Space Guardians is a very good book, one that adds immeasurably to the enjoyment of the television episodes, and which taken on its own would read as a seamless and satisfying whole. Eager for more of the same, I was disappointed to learn this was Brian Ball's sole novelization (though 30 years later he published an original novel, Space: 1999 Survival). The remainder of the series novelizations are bounced back and forth between Tubb and Rankine.
For those wanting a Cliff's Notes version of this book, or a try-before-you-buy sample of Ball's writing, I included below a bunch of cherrypicked quotations I liked (and hope you will too). Thank you for reading my review!
PS: When I read this book in January 2024 I was the sole person doing so (among Goodreads members, anyway). I felt old and lonely, like the literary equivalent of the Maytag repairman! I am also currently reading Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy, which was published just four years after Ball's book, and I'm one of a whopping 36,000 readers currently enjoying it. I don't feel so lonely anymore (still feel old, though!).
POTENT QUOTES
Opening lines: Dr. Helena Russell looked out over the bleak pinnacles of volcanic rock. She shivered. The reaches of space were so vast, so empty. A star, brighter than most, flared briefly. She turned away. Then she remembered Koenig's advice: 'When it gets bad, Helena, go out and look at it close. The rock. The ash. And the craters. And then look up to the stars. When you do that ask yourself, Are we really alone out here? Try it, Helena. Try it.' (p. 7)
Since the nuclear cataclysm that had blown the Moon clear of Earth and into its giddying flight through uncharted space, he had become accustomed to the distances and the emptiness. And the danger. (p. 7)
Koenig's first glimpse of Vana: She was quite tall, slim, dressed in a long gown which shimmered with red and gold lights. It covered her body yet revealed its beauties. The form beneath had a graceful elegance, rounded and slender; honey-bronze and exquisite. And she had vanished in the moment he had looked at her. (pp. 14-15)
What is this thing called love?
Koenig felt Vana's slim softness, very close. 'I've read of it in the ancient texts,' she said. 'I don't suppose any of our people have ever experienced it.' Vana smiled. 'John, isn't it called "love"?' (p. 38; last lines of chapter 5; the next opens, Koenig knew what it was like to be young again.) (p. 39)
Hmm, a lot can happen off-page between chapters!
You, Vana, in love with what is to him an ape-man.' Vana threw [herself] around him. 'Ape-man, Earthman, space-man, star-man! You'll stay--I know it!' Koenig held her close. (p. 40)
Hmm. is that a line of Zennite poetry? (Better than any Vogon compositions, right?) Spoiler: John didn't stay.
Zaan speaks: I brought you here as an experiment, John Koenig,' he said. 'I have learned more than I dared hope. You awakened in Vana's heart something I thought dead in the souls of the Zennites--and perhaps more of us might rediscover what we have lost.' He looked past Koenig, and the Alphan saw in the keen stare something like awe. 'I think we could respond to danger,' John Koenig. And I hope we would have your courage when it came.' (p.45)
The purple void began to shadow Koenig's mind. Through it, he saw the slim body of the woman he loved. The last he saw of her was her hand, raised in a hopeless gesture of farewell. (p. 45)
Force of Life
Re: Anton Zoref: Since school he had been awed by the temerity of mankind in taming and harnessing the might of nuclear fission; and Eva shared his feelings. If they hadn't been caught up in the giant nuclear catastrophe that blasted the Moon from his parent body, they would have been doing just the same kind of work. Zoref was one of the few Alphans who didn't much regret their enforced voyage. (p. 54)
Helena crossed to him. 'How long did it take you to get over what happened on Zenno?' ... He was about to tell Helena Russell that his experiences on Zenno were in no way similar to Eva Zoref's loss of a man who had become possessed by an aberrant creature from the void, but he stopped. There was a parallel--loss.' (p. 86)
The Guardian of Piri
She too looked at the oppressive dark. 'If I thought there was a God, I'd say He's lost us.' (p. 88)
Interesting that Helena is an atheist. She may be alone in that stance, as John thanks God on p. 30 and Victor speaks of a "miracle" and a "sign" on p. 104.
Koenig's morale-boosting fail: We're out beyond the range of Earth's furthest-ranging scanners, but that shouldn't worry us. Keep it firmly before your Sections--there's no way back for us! We go where the Moon's flight-path takes us, and we live with it. Make sure that every last man and woman on Moonbase Alpha understands: until we're across the gulf, there can be no more talk of a future anywhere except here, on this planet, on this base, right here! There's nothing, but nothing, out there! (p. 89)
Bergman was frankly babbling: 'It's wonderful, John! I knew it--this is our planet. It's the end of all that space wandering. It's going to be our home. A miracle like that is a sign to us--' He stopped, and seemed to recollect his position as the cool intellectual whose reputation was based on emotionless cerebration. (p. 104)
I love the Seventies! Here are a couple passages that would likely raise eyebrows if not the ire of woke readers in the 2020s:
Morrow was laughing. So was Kano. And Bergman. Others joined in. There was a zany, indulgent good humour in their laughter. A fat technician doubled up over his console, holding his stomach against the pain of his jerking laughter. (p. 106)
We can leave the rocks and the dust,' said Helena, like a housewife contemplating a spring-cleaning. 'John, I can't wait to get to Piri!' (p. 108)
Morrow laughed aloud: 'John, I guess that Zenno experience left you sour--can't you believe we've hit the jackpot?' (p. 109)
Koenig was not surprised to see a girl advancing towards him. She was radiant, a young girl with the delicate skin and slender roundness of later adolescence. 'Welcome to Piri,' she said. Koenig was stunned, not by her freshness and beauty nor by the suddenness of her appearance: it was the tremendous feeling of well-being that left him dazed. She walked towards him, loose robe open so that he saw the rosebud nipples. She kissed him on the lips. It was a rebirth. All the bitterness of loss and regret ebbed away. all doubts vanished. 'Piri the beautiful,' he said. 'Piri, the end of our voyaging.' (p. 113)
'John, I was sent to check your doubts. Believe me, this is your home. It is the place of peace at last.'
Koenig shook his head: 'I want my men.'
'They are at peace, John.'
'The peace of death!' Koenig roared. He knew that the Zennites had given him the ability to see into the nature of reality in a way that was not shared by the Alphans. He could resist the spell of Piri. 'I'm taking my men back!'
'No,' said the girl. 'The Guardian will make you perfect too!' She put a hand to his arm. It was a grip of steel. Her wide-set eyes stared into his and he shivered, for there was no spark of humanity, no exchange of emotion. (p. 115)
He felt panic give way to the peace of resignation. Arguments coasted through his mind. Why struggle against the inevitable? Why not admit that it was the ambition of the human race to do what the ancient Pirians had done--to leave control to an all-powerful machine? (p. 127)
When the Pirian girl came on the third day of his lonely vigil, he found fresh strength from the knowledge of what he had given up on Zenno. (p. 129)
Grotesquely large in the spacesuit, he watched his long shadow approach the last of the Eagles. The girl walked by his side, diaphanous robes swirling. Koenig felt for the butt of his stun-gun. Its comforting bulk nestled in his hand. It wasn't much against the mysterious might of the Guardian of Piri. (p. 131)
Her robe was open to the waist. She smiled as he looked down at her well-shaped breasts. (p. 133) ... She looked down and saw that her robe was open, and a very human emotion chased across her face. She covered her breasts. Her face was crimson. (p.134-35)
'We have found paradise!' Morrow yelled, and his huge face was transfigured. ... Bergman too had a maniacal exultance. 'The Guardian brings gifts, John! Peace and delight, forever!' 'Commander, there will be no more pain!' called a slim girl, and Koenig recognized Eva Zoref. (p. 137)
That one mention of Eva Zoref successfully and meaningfully links the second story with this, especially as both were in pain and grieving losses.
Beneath the skin-like covering, they saw a complex of circuitry. 'That was the last Pirian,' said Koenig quietly. 'The Pirians faded away because they made their wills over to the machines. The last and greatest of the machines remembered what the Pirians had looked like and created this robot to beguile us.' (p. 142)
February 22, 2024
This was a great quick read, but i'm starting to see a pattern here.
Most of these stories (of the first season episodes) reek of Original Series Star Trek really bad. I'm not sure if this came before Trek, or the other way round, or if its a homage to one from the other, but it is right there in your face and doesn't even try to hide it.
Also, i get the whole 'Lost in Space/Battlestar Galactic'a vibe of "we're lost in the farthest reaches of an unknown galaxy looking for a place like Earth where we can start over" but EVERY TIME THEY COME ACROSS A PLANET THAT HAS EVEN THE TINIEST HINT IT HAS A ITTY BITTY EARTH LIKE QUALITY THE ENTIRE BASE GOES CRAZY!
Out of the last 3 books this has happened at least 6 times, the planet has an atmosphere like Earth "We should colonize it and it will be our new home! Start the evacuation!" Yikes! Calm down people! Then someone will say 'Don't get everyones hopes up' and the next thing you know everyone on the base is ready to build a house on this planet and start families. That base must really stink of desperation.
Each story has be thinking, thank god they have Koenig because he seems to be the only rational/sane one of the entire group. But even at the same time he is really a downer.
"That planet is beautiful" "It's just going to explode" "The air is breathable" "But how long until we take our last dying breath?"
He's good fun to have at parties I bet.
Most of these stories (of the first season episodes) reek of Original Series Star Trek really bad. I'm not sure if this came before Trek, or the other way round, or if its a homage to one from the other, but it is right there in your face and doesn't even try to hide it.
Also, i get the whole 'Lost in Space/Battlestar Galactic'a vibe of "we're lost in the farthest reaches of an unknown galaxy looking for a place like Earth where we can start over" but EVERY TIME THEY COME ACROSS A PLANET THAT HAS EVEN THE TINIEST HINT IT HAS A ITTY BITTY EARTH LIKE QUALITY THE ENTIRE BASE GOES CRAZY!
Out of the last 3 books this has happened at least 6 times, the planet has an atmosphere like Earth "We should colonize it and it will be our new home! Start the evacuation!" Yikes! Calm down people! Then someone will say 'Don't get everyones hopes up' and the next thing you know everyone on the base is ready to build a house on this planet and start families. That base must really stink of desperation.
Each story has be thinking, thank god they have Koenig because he seems to be the only rational/sane one of the entire group. But even at the same time he is really a downer.
"That planet is beautiful" "It's just going to explode" "The air is breathable" "But how long until we take our last dying breath?"
He's good fun to have at parties I bet.
September 6, 2019
Twenty years ago, on September 13, 1999, Planet Earth lost its only natural satellite when the detonation of stored atomic waste beneath the lunar surface sent it hurtling out of orbit and across the galaxy, taking the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha along with it. This is their continuing story...
This book, like the others in the series, is a novelization of several episodes of the 1970's tv show connected together in good fashion to make it a continuous narrative. This particular story is significant to the chronology in that the moon (and the Alphans) exits our galaxy and enters deep space.
FYI Note: the text contains two brief (and unnecessary) instances of minor female nudity. This has not occured in the other books I've read in this series and, since author Brian Ball hasn't written any others in it, I have hopes such content will not happen again.
This book, like the others in the series, is a novelization of several episodes of the 1970's tv show connected together in good fashion to make it a continuous narrative. This particular story is significant to the chronology in that the moon (and the Alphans) exits our galaxy and enters deep space.
FYI Note: the text contains two brief (and unnecessary) instances of minor female nudity. This has not occured in the other books I've read in this series and, since author Brian Ball hasn't written any others in it, I have hopes such content will not happen again.
February 26, 2014
This is one of the better Space 1999 compilation-adaptations so far. It uses a trio of fairly good episodes, particularly "Force of Life" (which is right out of the Outer Limits). The narrative combines the three rather well, including linking some of the after-effects of the other two episodes ("Missing Link" and "Guardian of Piri") upon Commander Koenig. Well-written and very true to the source material.
July 27, 2025
A novelization covering the episodes "Missing Link", "Force of Life", and "Guardian of Piri".
In the episode "Missing Link" Commander Koenig is injured in an eagle crash. There's barely any sign of life and the Alphians try their best to hold things together. Koenig meanwhile finds that his consciousness has been released from his body and is being held for examination by a superior race. Can he convince them to allow him to return to his body?
Unbeknownst to the rest of moon base Alpha, in "Force of Life" an alien entity comes to inhabit the body of nuclear technician Zoref. The strange merge causes Zoref to crave first heat, and then energy. He is transforming and becoming a threat to all life on Alpha.
The moon encounters the planet Piri. On that planet they are welcomed by the master computer. In fact the master computer compels them to exodus to the planet where they will live in paradise. But all is not as it seems. Only Commander Koenig can see Piri as a dead planet. How can he fight the influence the master computer holds over all the Alphians?
The story is a bit forced as it tries to weave a plot between all 3 episodes. The events pretty much follow the first 2 episodes listed and don't really provide much more in terms of character development or action. However, during the third phase some of what Commander Koenig underwent in "Missing Link" serves to explain how he was able to resist the siren lure of "Guardian of Piri". Also the last third of the book becomes more expressive in description.
In the episode "Missing Link" Commander Koenig is injured in an eagle crash. There's barely any sign of life and the Alphians try their best to hold things together. Koenig meanwhile finds that his consciousness has been released from his body and is being held for examination by a superior race. Can he convince them to allow him to return to his body?
Unbeknownst to the rest of moon base Alpha, in "Force of Life" an alien entity comes to inhabit the body of nuclear technician Zoref. The strange merge causes Zoref to crave first heat, and then energy. He is transforming and becoming a threat to all life on Alpha.
The moon encounters the planet Piri. On that planet they are welcomed by the master computer. In fact the master computer compels them to exodus to the planet where they will live in paradise. But all is not as it seems. Only Commander Koenig can see Piri as a dead planet. How can he fight the influence the master computer holds over all the Alphians?
The story is a bit forced as it tries to weave a plot between all 3 episodes. The events pretty much follow the first 2 episodes listed and don't really provide much more in terms of character development or action. However, during the third phase some of what Commander Koenig underwent in "Missing Link" serves to explain how he was able to resist the siren lure of "Guardian of Piri". Also the last third of the book becomes more expressive in description.
Read
May 27, 2009The last of only three of these I own. Sigh... Oh well, it's revived old memories, anyway.
May 22, 2016
Racing through this series.
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