Revisit and Enjoy the Series All Over Again in Prose
This first in a series of Space: 1999 novelizations exceeded expectations. Veteran science-fiction writer E.C. Tubb brought some extra oomph to his adaptations that elevated them above mere story synopses. The book read fast and was engaging all the way through, never lagging, speeding along to a satisfying finish.
Other reviewers noted "Black Sun" was only given two chapters, 15 pages total. But did it need more? I read it and found nothing lacking. The toast with Victor's 60-year-old brandy is here, and the disruptions in time are captured masterfully in prose by Tubb, from the garbled language to the glimpses of and reaching for something beyond them that exceeded their grasp.
The television episodes are 50 minutes long by necessity, and are often padded out with establishing shots, special effects visuals, closeups of the casts' facial expressions, none of which Tubb could or necessarily needed to include. I appreciated the leanness of Tubb's writing that sacrificed nothing and redeemed much.
Another reviewer dismissed these novelizations as superfluous now. I mean, we have the shows on bluray and can watch an episode at any time we wish, right? Oh, what an impossible dream that was, however, back in 1975 when this book was published (and before it, the James Blish Star Trek adaptations). I remember being a kid in the '70s when there were no VCRs and when you caught an episode you had to commit it to memory best one could. Or, for the ambitious, tape the audio on a cassette recorder, as I did with some Trek episodes. These novelizations captured in print those stories for when our memories proved elusive.
But more than that, reading Breakaway now I appreciated it as a complementary work that stands alongside the episodes. Tubb didn't just dutifully summarize the plots; he added flourishes and details that are unique to the book. Random examples from later chapters include:
Victor has the testimonial for his Nobel Prize for physics framed in his laboratory. He's prone to being pedantic, correcting Koenig's term "black hole" with "black sun." Victor speaks "as if addressing a class of students" (p. 123).
After the breakaway, did everyone just accept their fate and press on? No, "There had been failures; one woman had gone mad, another had slashed her wrists and died before aid could save her. A man had gone berserk, beating his hands and head against a wall...(p. 130).
Implication of a baby born on Alpha before Jackie in "Alpha Child": "Two women who looked like squaws and a bundle I didn't know was alive until it moved." Victor identified Elgar from security as the father (p. 136).
Koenig observes people occupying themselves as they approach the black hole, "Mathias and Kano locked in an endless game of chess,"and "the woman he has seen quietly praying. Of them all she was probably helping the most" (p. 136).
A perfect description of Barbara Bain as Helena: "the golden helmet of her hair ... composure like an iron mask" (p. 140).
One major deviation from the Year One episodes concerns Commissioner Simmonds. [possible spoiler ahead] This novelization was obviously written before the script for the episode "Earthbound" (with Christopher Lee) because in the wake of the cataclysmic explosion that results in the moon's breakaway, Tubb bluntly declares, "Simmonds was dead. He lay where he had fallen, his head at an ugly angle, a patch of blood bright beneath his temple. The fall had broken his skull and the acceleration pressure had done the rest. His face, beneath the beard, looked oddly peaceful" (p. 46).
It was fascinating to read the original intent for Simmonds as a throwaway character killed off and forgotten. But actor Roy Dotrice's portrayal of Simmonds was so provocative that the writers must have realized they had to kill off this loathsome power-mad functionary in a more fitting and fantastic fashion--and they sure did!
Tubb also takes care to capture the "little things," like Victor's invariably saying the name "John" when speaking to Koenig, Kano's personifying Computer and thinking of it as a friend, and the unspoken affection between Koenig and Helena and Paul and Sandra. It's all here.
In closing, I will admit I recently rewatched Year One on bluray, which was like seeing it again for the first time, light years from my snowy, rolling, bunny-eared reception and commercially punctuated experiences of decades ago. Having the episodes fresh in my mind undoubtedly enhanced my enjoyment of this book because I could "see" in my mind's eye so much of what was being described. Reading Breakaway cold, never having seen the episodes, would surely have diminished the experience. But how many people would read a TV tie-in novel without already knowing and enjoying the show?
For fans who love the show and who love reading, Breakaway is highly recommended for revisiting afresh the opening chapters of the saga.