Some photos I’ve taken of Sixteen 12’s, ‘The Exiles’ Episode set which features a
fully posable manipulator arm, a cryogenic pod, Eagle fuel cells, a top mounted
laser gun, Moon buggy and launch platform display plinth.
The posable manipulator arm aka grab arm has a lot of
delicate detail. It fits into a small hole on the forward port side leg pod. It is hinged in the middle and can fold left
or right.
The pincers look quite fragile but the plastic they’re made
of is fairly malleable, and both the cryogenic pod or the fuel cell fit nicely,
although it goes without saying I fitted them in place with extreme care.
The cryogenic pods as seen in the episode, The Exiles
carried an exiled group of rebel leaders from the planet Golos, who have been
cryogenically frozen and sent into space for their crimes against their own
people. There are just over fifty of
them which go into orbit around the Moon.
One cylinder is collected and brought to Alpha, containing
the alien, Cantor who, once he’s brought back to life appears benevolent, and
persuades Comr. Koenig to bring down another pod, which contains his wife,
Zova.
Of course, all is not what it seems, and Cantor and Zova
plan to use the Alphans to get their revenge on the rulers of their home
planet, unaware that 300 years have passed and their original punishers are
long dead.
Apart from the full size prop, the original
capsule/cylinders/ pod miniatures were 41/2” long to appear in scale to the 44”
Eagle prop, and the smaller ones for the 22” Eagle were 21/4”. The Sixteen 12
ones look to be around 11/8”
The manipulator or grab arm prop also appears in the
episodes, The Rules of Luton and The Space Warp when it’s used as a refuelling arm, with the red cylindrical nuclear
fuel cell at the end.
The set also has a small top mounted laser turret that
attaches to one of the bottom cross rails on the superstructure girders.
It can swivel up and down, but I don’t think I recommend doing that too often
as it’s very small a delicate.
Although it’s only a small piece of additional Eagle
equipment it does add to the look of the Eagle.
The turret appears in the episodes, Devil’s Planet, A B Chrysalis and The Séance Spectre.
For my photos I decided to add a couple of things resembling
nuclear domes (made from an old garden ornament) purely as some surface
decoration and hopefully give a little added interest.
The Exiles set is now sold out on Sixteen 12’sown website,
although they are currently still available for a time from other dealers.
Sounds like a remake of the plot of Star Trek's "Space Seed" which was sequeled by the movie 'Wrath of Khan'. The 'wooden' acting in Space 1999 was at least offset by some interesting hardware, now models. Nice photography Mike.
ReplyDeleteThanks Terranova, it is really about the photography. I must admit I'd not seen the similarities between Space Seed and The Exiles but I can see parallels. I suppose TV sci fi is full of similar ideas. Space 1999's Bringers of Wonder story was exactly the same as the later Buck Rogers story, The Mark of the Saurian. I 'wooden' like to comment on acting as not being one I'm not in a position to judge.;)
Delete'Wooden' as regards live people moving as if puppets. If you compare the performances of husband and wife team of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain in Mission Impossible to their later acting in Space 1999 they appear to have lost any animation. At the time that Space 1999 first aired I was living in the US and that was the feeling of other viewers who tuned in because they were the draw?
DeleteI remember Martin and Barbara in Mission Impossible but they weren't really the leads. I can't really comment on Barbara, but I've never considered Martin as a lead actor, he's much more effective in a supporting role, although I can't imagine any one else as Comr Koenig thesedays. Sylvia Anderson who was the first season producer didn't want Martin as the lead, but the American arm of ITC considered both Barbara and Martin bankable and insisted. Martin had a lot of input into the series some good and some not so good. (The script changes to Dragon's Domain which should have had Alan Carter as the hero was changed on Martin's say so so he, himself would end up the hero. In spite of that he does put in some good performances. Collision Course is a case in point were he visibly is brought to tears. Some of the scripts and alien costumes need a little to be desired, but by and large I don't have a problem with the acting, good or bad.
DeleteI actually think this is the best of the releases so far as the weathering on the pod is a bit more subtle than on previous issues. A nice stand alone model if you want to display the Eagle without attachments.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is a lovely release. I think it was only really the weathering on the Immunity Syndrome pod that was a bit over done. The New Adam New Eve' one is reasonable to my mind, but like you say this one is about right.
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