* Please Note:
The author of this site does not own the rights to any of the shows he would love to see remade. The bibles and scripts are all works of fandom, and labours of love.
The first draft of this series bible was put online February 28, 2016.
Updates: January 6, 2018 and December 11, 2018
To kick off this section, it’s probably a good idea to answer the question: “What is a series bible?”
It’s the writers bible, and is a document given to actors, producers, directors and other production personnel to ground them in the ‘reality’ of the ‘world’ the series is set in. For science fiction and fantasy shows in particular, a series bible is usually quite detailed.
Please keep in mind this is not an official bible. This entire site is what’s called a piece of speculative work. It’s a fan concept that is attempting to keep the idea of a new series alive.
ITV own the rights to Space: 1999, and no one has publicly expressed interest in rebooting the series since 2012. That project was titled Space 2099, which was being developed by HDFILMS (V Remake), but it seemed to fade away quietly in 2016, when the website set up to promote the show and communicate with fans went offline.
According to Wikipedia, the series was still in development pending confirmation of a deal in 2018. On IMDb the series is listed as “in development.”
The HDFILMS Space: 2099 production, from what we have been able to work out, based on an interview by the wonderful Charlie Jane Anders from (then) io9 with Jace Hall (HDFILMS), the show would be thematically similar, but possibly not in any other way. Here’s a quote from that interview:
“Space: 2099‘s goal is not to attempt to re-tell the specific story of Space: 1999. We are not trying to make some “dark and gritty” version of Space: 1999. There is no reason to re-tell the Space: 1999 story since we already have Space: 1999! However, through our new story and presentation, Space: 2099 hopes to re-kindle and remind fans of those memories of a show from 35 years ago, but more importantly help bring back to all science fiction fans that sense of awe, fear and incredible spectacle that is the unknown, unexplored universe. It is important that we endeavor to bring something new and exciting to the table.“
The major headline from the period of excitement that surrounded the announcement by HDFILMS, read:
“4533 DAYS SINCE LEAVING EARTH ORBIT (FEBRUARY 9,2012): Massive news in the world of Space: 1999. Today, ITV Studios, owner of the Space: 1999 franchise, announced that it has authorized (American spelling) HD Films, Inc., to develop a reimagining of the series entitled Space: 2099. Jace Hall, president of HDFILMS, INC, will serve as 2099’s Executive Producer and creative lead. Stay tuned for more news.“
There wasn’t any.
But, to make the whole 2099 thing more interesting, there might have been two initiatives in development titled Space: 2099. It looks like there might have been a push to update the original effects, and footage (with subtle editing), to make the show more appealing to a modern audience. For info on that, watch the video below (or click here).
Either way, there hasn’t been a lot released in recent years about either an enhanced Space: 1999 release, or the HDFILMS project.
Our Version of the Show
Space 2059 will be a mostly faithful remake of the original 1975 television series Space: 1999. This remake has no connection to the proposed, possibly still in development Space 2099 reboot by ITV and HD Films.
Space 2059 will continue to evolve and progress the way modern science fiction is produced and how it is perceived by a general viewing audience.
In 1993 the genre experienced a renaissance with the novel for television that was Babylon 5, and was further pushed and even more dramatically changed ten-years later by the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. Despite these developments and the more complex stories that evolved as a result, science fiction remained something of a niche interest for a ‘certain’ audience.
Building on the extraordinary work of J. Michael Straczynski, David Eick and Ronald D. Moore, Space 2059 will further push the genre and work to broaden its appeal without alienating science fiction purists. In many ways, this will be easier for a show of this nature, because (as of this writing) it’s set only 31-years in the future.
Space 2059 is a realistic, action-packed, thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be human and what our origins are as a species, and it aims to be a beautiful and deeply moving story about family, personal choice, surviving tragedy, and how hopes and dreams are affected by circumstance.
The series is not a space opera or dystopian adventure, nor is it an attempt at another Star Trek. It is an intimate look at disaster and resilience, the families we have and the families we choose, and how tragedy impacts a community.
If the series were to be compared with other television shows or movies, it could be described as The Towering Inferno in space meets 2001: A Space Odyssey, with shades of Battlestar Galactica and The Haunting of Hill House mixed in for good measure.
The Stories
Space 2059 is a relatively faithful reboot of the 1970s science fiction drama, Space: 1999, and many of the original characters will remain the same, with two or three secondary characters receiving a modern update.
The show will be treated like a documentary. It will feel like a documentary film crew were trapped in Moonbase Alpha when the Alpha satellite was forced out of orbit, and chose to continue their jobs despite their situation. For the audience, it will feel like the documentary crew is sending their film back to Earth.
In this vein, throughout the series the audience will be treated to (challenged by) the breaking of the fourth wall as our characters now and again sit down and talk to the screen as if the viewers were the documentarians asking them questions.
To reflect this feel, the show will mix hand-held camera work with traditional camera moves that will capture slice of life moments, and, now and again, be interspersed with static interview shots.
The key to the stories and the feel of the overall series will be a persistent level of tension. The inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha have been thrown into space, against their will, on a small asteroid like moon, and cannot get back to Earth. That would challenge most people.
Everyone on Alpha is aware of how dire their situation is, from the military staff to the corporate mining staff, to the civilian scientists, to the families of these individuals who chose to join them on the small moon. They know they will be constantly exposed to deadly interstellar radiation, rogue asteroids and even rogue planets, and any number of other hazards. Everyone is worried about food, power, defence, and the bigger stuff like building a new society.
To keep this foremost in the audiences mind, there will be a series long arc that will be all about learning from Earth’s mistakes and building a new, independent society. Who leads them? The Commander of Moonbase Alpha, or an elected civilian? When resources are so scarce, should they be having children? Do they search for a new planet and evacuate to it, or do they try to make Alpha more hospitable?
These issues will run through the entire series.
As well as one series long arc, there will individual character arcs and mini-arcs that may take two or more episodes to resolve, as well as self-contained episodes that have their own episode-only-arcs.
Our stories will be both character-driven and plot-driven, and as realistic as possible. We will never do a character based story where the character is not in some way changed by their experiences, and we will never do a plot-driven story relies on contrivances and technobabble to achieve a resolution – nor will we do plot-driven stories that are ripped right from the headlines of today’s media (and social media).
Space 2059 will comment on the world as it is today, but if a president gets impeached or another Australian prime minister gets toppled by their own people, we won’t do a story on the civilian leaders or military leaders of Alpha having something equivalent done to them. Our plot-driven stories will focus more on the bigger issues of environmental sustainability and climate change, terrorism, human rights and so on.
The stories should, each season, be a mix. We’ll have stories that highlight our military and scientific characters, stories that focus on the miners drilling for precious metals in the crust of Alpha, and stories that are only about the families on Alpha and how they are travelling. To maintain the sense of an overall arc, any story that does not focus on our military and science characters needs to have them featured as either a B or C plot.
When it comes to character stories, the rule is that our characters are not saints. They have very real fears, flaws and foibles. No writer should be afraid of focusing on these. Our heroes will not always save the day, and they will not always make the right decision. They will fall, they will fail and they will want to run away and hide at times.
Our characters do do heroic things, and they will discover within themselves the very best of who and what they are as human beings throughout their journey.
They will grow, change, love, hate, lose, win, cry, laugh and be entirely relatable to us.
The Science
Space 2059 is science fiction, but the aim is to make the science as realistic or at least as conceivable as possible.
As much as everyone is tired of hearing how something will be like, or was inspired by Ron Moore and David Eick’s Battlestar Galactica, when it comes to filming scenes in space, Space 2049 will treat all external scenes as if it was all happening in real time in deep space.
In space, there are no random camera-crews floating around waiting to capture beauty shots of spacecraft or rogue moons as they fly by. Instead, the only external shots the audience will be able to see are those taken from Alpha’s Eagles (the space craft used by the inhabitants of Alpha), those taken from probes that are launched or in ‘orbit’ about Alpha, and shots taken from fixed cameras dotted around the Alpha asteroid/moon.
Speaking of Alpha, unlike the original Space: 1999, Earth’s moon (Luna) does not get blasted out of orbit. A much smaller, secondary ‘moon’ called Alpha that was an asteroid nudged into orbit to mine for precious metals, will be.
Space 2059’s Tone
The inhabitants, both civilian and military of Moonbase Alpha, are in a desperate situation. Because of a terrorist attack on the base, intended to force the small moon to crash into Earth and wipe out billions, it ended up catapulted into our solar system and through an anomaly that threw it further into deep space.
Their journey is not a pleasure cruise, and it should never feel that way. Where the original series had the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha quickly adjusting to the fact they could never get back to Earth, that won’t be the case for this new series.
The audience should always feel like the people of Alpha are at risk of dying. They’re trapped in a base that was not designed for deep space voyages, with supplies that will eventually run out and no hope of rescue. The show will be tense, emotional, frightening and at times a little depressing. That’s not to say there won’t be light moments, but they will be the exception.
Perhaps the most difficult part of the show will be balancing the disaster with hope. Though all of this horrible stuff is happening, the audience should always feel that there is the possibility of a light at the end of the tunnel.
With a population of 1,500 specialists and civilians, Moonbase Alpha is a microcosm of our world with representatives from every nation, faith and walk-of-life living and working on a ball of rock forced into an orbit about Earth. Stories will focus on the command crew, the scientists, the civilian/business mining crew, and the few families who have chosen to follow their loved ones into space for a tour or two. We will look at the impacts of this journey on each group as they learn about themselves and discover that they are better, stronger, wiser and kinder than they ever thought they could be.
Where Star Trek poses a future where humanity is near perfect and has risen above it’s general pettiness, and where Battlestar Galactica creates a universe where humanity is still very much a slave to its demons, Space 2059 creates an opportunity for its characters to realise that human beings are not victims of their own baser instincts, nor are they angels in waiting, but that our nature as a species is to be the best we can be despite the circumstances we find ourselves in. That lesson comes as a hard learned one, but it will define the series more and more as each season passes.
Like all good science fiction, Space 2049 will question our place in the universe and the very nature of humanity, and it will look at contemporary issues and explore them.
The show needs to be frightening and occasionally depressing and confronting, but above all else it will highlight the courage and compassion that arises in all of us when faced with disaster.
Why Revisit Space: 1999?
Space 2059 is an attempt by one Space: 1999 fan to dream up a relatively faithful, unofficial ‘remake’ of the original 1970s television series.
Why? Because I love the show. It was incredibly important to me as a child, and it has remained important to me as I’ve become an adult. To a modern audience who didn’t grow up with the original, Space: 1999 probably looks a little tacky and absurd, but if people take the time they’ll see that underneath all of that are great characters and a subtle arc (in the first season at least) that asks some pretty big questions about cosmic intelligence, the nature of existence and the human condition.
That story and those characters deserve to live again, and inspire a new generation of viewers.
This idea has been running around inside my head since the late 1980s, after I rediscovered my love for Space: 1999 when I stumbled across the series on old VHS tapes at a video rental store after school one day. It was around the time Star Trek: The Next Generation was kicking off, and I couldn’t understand why someone wasn’t giving Space: 1999 the same treatment. On and off, over the course of two decades, I’ve dreamed about what a new show might look like.
In 2012 someone did attempt a ‘re-imagining’, but now, six (almost seven) years on, nothing has happened and it looks like that particular idea has been abandoned.
I’m still hopeful the rights holders will do a remake, but until then there are worse ways to amuse myself!
Space: 1999 still has a solid fan base, since I launched my blog and started writing up the remake, an incredibly talented fan has released an audio comic via his audio studio (TriAngulum Audio Studios) called Space: 1999 Reborn. If you’d like to check it out, you can view it here on YouTube. It’s brilliant. There’s also a mini-episode available here.
Modern Sensibilities and Taking a Few Liberties
Today, approximately 3.2 billion people have access to the internet. We can look up almost anything, and as such don’t suspend disbelief as easily as we once did.
The original Space: 1999, for it’s time made sense. Few people questioned any part of the series’ design – in fact, many praised it for it’s realistic spaceships and moon base. There was some criticism from the scientific community over the whole moon being ejected from Earth’s orbit thing, but most of the world didn’t care because it was science fiction.
While some of the design elements still stand strong today, there are a lot of the things in the series that don’t – flared pants have made a come-back a couple of times since their fashion hey-day in the 1970s, but the style has not stuck with more than a few hipsters and they certainly wouldn’t pass muster on a moon base. Video screens are not black and white anymore and we can facetime people anywhere anytime. Computer graphics today consist of more than a few wavy oscillator lines. Modern furniture is not static, molded plastic, but ergonomically complex and made of many different materials. I could keep going.
If those things weren’t changed for a new version of the show, audiences would tune out in droves and the series would fail dismally.
Of course, the big problem with the series is not so much the fashion or ergonomically inappropriate furniture, but the fact the moon is still up there… and the reality that if we lost it, it would probably end all life on Earth, or at the very least wipe out billions of lives via multiple natural disasters. That has to be addressed.
Space 2059 will not blast Luna (our moon) out of orbit. After a lot of research I’ve found a work around that is faithful to the original idea and is more scientifically possible (improbable, but not impossible).
Making that decision is definitely taking a liberty, for sure, and in some fans’ minds might be a huge one, but Space: 1999 was about more than the moon being blasted out of Earth orbit.
Here’s a quick list of what will and won’t change:
Artificial gravity? Won’t change. While it’s not scientifically possible at the moment unless we’re spinning up a space station, to save money and stress on the actors, we would make up a device that enabled artificial gravity.
Blasting the moon out of orbit? The series doesn’t take place on Luna, and Luna won’t be blasted out of orbit. The series does take place on a moon, but a much smaller one ‘captured’ by humans and placed in orbit around the Earth.
The characters? Most of them will stay the same, with only four really big changes and three of those changes are to better represent the diverse crew Gerry and Sylvia Anderson wanted. See the character bios below. The last change will be to Maya’s back-story so that we can explore the Psychons as a species. Otherwise, they’ll be the characters you know and love though the positions they hold might be a little different, to better represent the roles people play in space today. There will be a shift in Koenig’s leadership style, but that’s only because the writers on the original series had him make some strangely out of character decisions from time to time.
Is every character in your version of a new series? No. The major ones are, but a couple had to be dropped because for the life of me I couldn’t justify a character who just read out stuff the computer was calculating. As much as I love Galaxy Quest, it was a bit too Galaxy Quest!
Laser Guns? Yes and no. We’ll keep the design with some slight adjustments, and like Star Trek did with it’s phasers, we’ll call the guns something other than lasers!
Commlocks? Yes and no. These will be streamlined and far less bulky, and the screens will be in colour. In the 1970s they looked super cool, but with mobile technology the way it is today a smaller device is warranted.
The Eagles? Nothing about these, except for a few interior design elements, will change. These ships are still the most realistic looking ship ever created for a near-future science fiction series.
Moonbase Alpha? Apart from being on a brand new satellite that’s been inserted into Earth orbit, and apart from some interior cosmetic changes, most of the interior and probably 98% of the exterior will remain exactly the same as in the original series.
Main Mission? Yes. The original design was okay, but it wasn’t great. It has been redesigned to be more like Mission Control, at NASA.
Med Centre? Yes. Lots of updates, with everything being a lot more streamlined and spacious. Med Centre always felt a little too small for me, for a base with a couple of hundred people on it!
Main computer? Yes. It will now be an artificial intelligence with a holographic interface.
The costumes? Yes and no. The Alpha moon base will house military officers and enlisted individuals, civilian personnel and commercial employees. The uniforms they wear will keep some of the elements of the original costumes while bringing them into line with modern military and civilian uniform styles. The actual extravehicular mobility units (aka spacesuits) will be the most familiar looking, though again adjusted to resemble the design direction NASA and other space agencies are taking with their EMUs.
Why Not Just Use the Moon? The moon has a mass that is 7.35 x 1,022 kg, which is approximately 1.2% of Earth’s mass. The moon’s density is 3.34 grams per cubic centimetre (3.34 g/cm3), which is about 60 percent of Earth’s density – despite how physically small it is compared to our little blue planet. It’s going to take a lot more than a bunch of nuclear explosions to knock the moon out of orbit and propel it away from Earth.
For example, in early 2013 a massive boulder like asteroid hit the moon, causing an explosion that was visible with the naked eye here on Earth. Guess what? The moon didn’t budge. Not one bit.
While it is scientifically possible for the moon to be knocked out of orbit, as I mentioned above, the question that remains is just how much of the moon would survive that significant event, and would Earth survive?
No one knows. A lot of very intelligent and informed scientists believe it would be the end of life on Earth, and would ‘break’ our moon, perhaps even shatter it.
Because the moon leaving Earth orbit is such a big part of the original series, it’s not something we can entirely do away with. We can remain true to the idea with just a little adjustment. Or two.
The chance of the Earth capturing a second moon is less improbable than Luna being knocked out or blown out of orbit but that is unlikely. Any new object (an asteroid for example) caught by Earth’s gravity would probably not end up in a stable orbit. It would most likely crash into the Earth, or sling shot around our planet and head back out into the solar system.
So, what if we (humanity) inserted a captured object into orbit?
NASA has been exploring this concept for a few years now, so this isn’t just the whimsical fantasy of a writer. We don’t have the technology to do it on the scale I propose in Space 2059, yet, but come the 2030s or early 2040s, who knows?
Why would we do that?
The most likely reason would be to mine the object in close orbit.
With diminishing resources Earth-side, some world governments and a lot of independent businesses are exploring the idea of asteroid mining. Some are looking at going to the asteroid belt, but the travel time with current technology makes that unworkable. Getting the crews and the equipment there and then establishing a habitat that is sustainable would take years. Nabbing an asteroid, however, and bringing it into orbit takes away a lot of those complications. Travel time is less, rotating crews would be faster and easier, and establishing a sustainable habitat with Earth so close would be simpler.
For this proposed series, that’s what humanity does. They capture a large asteroid, drag it to Earth and then very carefully insert it into orbit. They name that asteroid Alpha, and the Moonbase on it becomes known as Moonbase Alpha.
What about a moonbase on the actual moon? In Space 2049 it’s an entire colony, called simply the Armstrong Luna Colony. There is a base, located in the Sea of Tranquility. It’s called Tranquility Base.
When I started writing this back in 2015, before I had started this blog, I was toying with the idea of the series being based on a space station called Alpha. I was going to fling that out of Earth orbit. My research quickly showed that wouldn’t work. The station would be destroyed. Unless it had Star Trek level shielding!
Then information about Ceres and Pluto kept popping up online along with the idea of asteroid mining, and suddenly everything clicked. The answer was give Earth a second moon. Small enough to be flung into deep space by some catastrophic, but large enough to maintain a sizable Moonbase.
Enough of the orientation, let’s look at it’s most important feature. The characters.
Following is a very brief overview of each character. Where possible, a great deal of the content has been taken from the original Series Bible from the early 1970s. Some changes have been made to modernise the characters and give them a little more depth.
Main Characters
Mission Commander
Name: John Robert Koenig
Date of Birth: March 17, 2001
Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York, United States of America
Alpha Assignment Details: Mission Commander, overall success of the mission
Rank: Colonel
Age at Event Date: 48
Education and Professional Affiliations:
– United States Air Force
– National Aeronautic and Space Administration
– United Nations Office for Space Exploration and Settlement
Major Highlights:
One of the United States’ leading astrophysicists, John Koenig has been responsible for the planning, ground control and execution of numerous successful space launches.
Colonel Koenig provided design support to the Moonbase Alpha project during its inception and construction.
Colonel Koenig has an instinctual leadership ability, and has been called charismatic, diligent, and loyal.
Colonel Koenig expects the best from those who serve under him, and is dedicated to the safety and well-being of his subordinates. This has earned him the respect of every individual who has worked with him.
Colonel Koenig has a highly efficient, logical and dynamic mind and his instructors and superiors have frequently commented on his courage and dedication to duty.
His psychological profile describes an individual who explores every situation and relationship from every angle and who is ‘mission focused’ often to the detriment of his own personal well-being. It has been noted in his file that this has caused emotional strain in the past, resulting in ‘moodiness’ and an occasional short temper.
Colonel Koenig was passed over for promotion to Brigadier General as a result.
Colonel Koenig was divorced in 2044 and has two sons, Jayson and Peter, one of which resides with his ex-wife in New York. Jayson followed in his fathers footsteps and joined the Air Force and was then quickly recruited into NASA. He is currently stationed at Moonbase Alpha. Peter studied Architecture at university and at the time of the first episode, interns at a major design firm in New York.
While Colonel Koenig has grown up in the space age, it has been noted he is something of a romantic who is less than impressed with the current state of human affairs. A close personal friend interviewed at the time of his most security clearance review stated that Koenig was “a man with one foot in the past, and one about to set down in the future.”
Mission Medical and Psychiatric Officer
Name: Helena Susanne Russell
Date of Birth: January 18, 2000
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
Alpha Assignment: Chief Medical Officer and head of Psychiatric services
Rank: Civilian, Doctor (PhDs in Psychiatry and Medicine)
Age at Event Date: 49
Education and Professional Affiliations:
– National Aeronautic and Space Administration
– United Nations Office for Space Exploration and Settlement
– The Johns Hopkins Hospital
– The Royal College of Surgeons (United Kingdom)
A physician’s daughter, Doctor Russell entered medical school shortly after graduating from College. Following in her father’s footsteps, she became one of the world’s leading experts in her chosen fields of surgery, psychiatry and xeno-general medicine (the effects of space on human beings, and the possible nature of diseases that could originate on other worlds).
Doctor Russell joined NASA in 2032 where she met and married Doctor Lee Russell, an expert in exobiology and xeno-general medicine. They divorced in 2036 after Doctor Russell suffered a miscarriage.
Doctor Russell retreated into the routine and security of her job, refuting numerous advances from colleagues and strangers alike.
Doctor Russell is the recipient of multiple awards for her achievements in both general medicine and psychiatry and is highly regarded by many international health institutes.
As part of the team that built Moonbase Alpha, Doctor Russell was one of the first personnel to do a full tour of duty at the facility. During her time there, she found that the sterile atmosphere caused restlessness and tension among staff. As a result, efficiency suffered and many were unable to complete their first tour, citing “cabin fever” as their reason. Under Doctor Russell’s guidance, many of the recreation rooms were transformed into exotic theme gardens with lush plants from various different climates planted to provide a “slice of home” for base personnel.
These small, Earth-like environments helped reduce tensions and boosted morale significantly. Though plants were already present on Alpha for oxygen reclamation, most of those areas had been off limits to the majority of the military, scientific and mining crews.
Doctor Russell was awarded the prestigious Donnelmyer Award for her work and was later assigned to Moonbase Alpha as the Mission Medical and Psychiatric Officer.
Doctor Russell’s psyche evaluation reports that she is a ‘preternaturally’ calm person and someone who you wanted by your side in any crisis, or in a major leadership role during any crisis.
She is a compassionate, intelligent, considered individual with a subtle and sometimes sarcastic sense of humour.
Doctor Russell is also renowned for having an ‘iron fist’ in a silk glove, and has a reputation for speaking her mind especially when it concerns the health and well-being of others.
Mission Science Officer
Name: Victor Warren Bergman
Date of Birth: August 27, 1990
Place of Birth: London, the United Kingdom
Alpha Assignment Specifics: Head of Research, Chief Astrophysicist
Rank: Civilian, Professor (Harvard University, with PhDs in science)
Age at Event Date: 59
Education and Professional Affiliations:
– National Aeronautic and Space Administration
– United Nations Office for Space Exploration and Settlement
– Cambridge University
– CSIRO Australia (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation)
– CERN, The Royal Society, Harvard University
Professor Bergman is, to a great degree, the father of Moonbase Alpha, having contributed to the base’s conceptualisation and construction more than anyone else.
As a young person, Professor Bergman was deeply involved in the space exploration efforts of the United Kingdom, the United States and multiple multi-national businesses with an interest in space.
Professor Bergman has been described by his peers as having a brilliant mind, and many of his discoveries have led to multiple advances in space science. A number of his peers and students have stated he is eccentric, and in some ways a “little bit of a mad scientist”, and were it not for his “warmth and sense of humour he would be quite frightening.”
Professor Bergman has also been described as something of a philosopher. He is a humanist and believes in the potential of humanity to overcome its worst instincts and become something great.
Despite being a literal living legend, Professor Bergman has not lived a life devoid of controversy. He is a staunch believer in intelligent extraterrestrial life, and is a proponent of the ‘ancient astronaut’ theory that life on Earth was seeded by extraterrestrials hundreds of thousands of years ago. He believes in intelligent design, but admits he has no concept of what such a being or entity might be like.
At a young age, Professor Bergman contracted an illness that required he be fitted for an artificial heart. His psyche evaluations do not indicate any lasting emotional impact from the operation, or that debilitating illness that cut his youth short.
Professor Bergman is a close personal friend of Doctor Helena Russell, and has previously worked with Captain John Koenig.
Mission Operations Officer (military)
Name: Sandra Benes
Date of Birth: July 20, 2016
Place of Birth: New Delhi, India
Alpha Assignment: Mission Systems Manager
Rank: 1st Lieutenant
Age at Event Date: 33
Education and Professional Affiliations:
– The Indian Air Force
– The Ministry of Science and Technology, India
– The United Kingdom Space Agency
– United Nations Office for Space Exploration and Settlement
Secondary Characters
Commander, Air Group (military)
Name: Alan Carter
Date of Birth: March 24, 2014
Place of Birth: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Alpha Assignment: Commander of the Air Group (Eagle Transports)
Rank: Captain
Age at Event Date: 33
Education and Professional Affiliations:
– The Australian Air Force (formerly the Royal Australian Air Force)
– National Aeronautics and Space Administration
– United Nations Office for Space Exploration
Mission Head of Security and Defense Systems Officer (military)
Name: Tony Verdeschi
Date of Birth: November 8, 2016
Place of Birth: Florence, Italy
Alpha Assignment: Head of Security and Defense Systems Officer
Rank: Captain
Age at Event Date: 33
Education and Professional Affiliations:
– Esercito Italiano (The Italian Army)
– The European Space Agency
– United Nations Office for Space Exploration
Mission Engineer and Personnel Officer (military)
Name: Paul Marozov
Date of Birth: February 9, 2011
Place of Birth: Novosibirsk, Russia
Alpha Assignment: Mission Engineer, Personnel Officer and Second in Command
Rank: Major
Age at Event Date: 38
Education and Professional Affiliations:
– The Russian Aerospace Forces
– The Russian Academy of Sciences
– The Roscosmos Space Corporation
– United Nations Office for Space Exploration and Settlement
Mining Operations Manager (civilian, commercial)
Name: Jaxon Stanna
Date of Birth: January 19, 2000
Place of Birth: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Alpha Assignment: Commercial Venture, Mining Operations
Rank: Civilian
Age at Event Date: 49
Education and Professional Affiliations:
– The Royal Academy of Engineering
– The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University)
– Global Aerospace Technologies
– United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
Eagle Pilot
Name: Jayson Jonathon Koenig
Date of Birth: September 30, 2027
Place of Birth: Houston, Texas, United States of America
Alpha Assignment: Eagle Pilot
Rank: 2nd Lieutenant
Age at Event Date: 22
Education and Professional Affiliations:
– United States Air Force
– National Aeronautics and Space Administration
– United Nations Office for Space Exploration and Settlement
Recurring Characters
Mission Specialist (civilian)
Name: Bhim (Ben) Chemjong
Date of Birth: January 4, 2021
Place of Birth: Lhasa, Tibet
Alpha Assignment: Mission Medical Officer, Second in Command of Med Lab
Rank: 2nd Lieutenant
Age at Event Date: 28
Education and Professional Affiliations:
– The Chinese Academy of Sciences
– Tsinghua University
– The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
– TAR People’s Hospital
– United Nations Office for Space Exploration
Mission Communications Officer (military)
Name: Alibe Badri
Date of Birth: July 29, 2024
Place of Birth: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Africa
Alpha Assignment: Communications
Rank: 2nd Lieutenant
Age at Event Date: 25
Education and Professional Affiliations:
– Addis Ababa University
– Cambridge University
– United Nations Office for Space Exploration
Main Character to be Introduced (Episode 4)
Mission Specialist
Name: Maya
Date of Birth: 3rd Day of Tayad, in the Psychon year 6,752
Place of Birth: Manos Province, Sela, planet Psychon
Alpha Assignment: Science Specialist
Rank: Civilian
Age at Encounter with Alpha: 41 Psychon years (Appears to be approximately 30 Earth years of age)
Education and Professional Affiliations:
– The Science Council (Psychon)
– Dosara University
– The Institute for Astrological Research and Application
– The Psychon Interstellar Exploration Directorate
On her homeworld, Maya is an accomplished scientist and one of Psychon’s leading scientific ‘lights.’
She was elected to the position of head of the prestigious Science Council (situated in the Alek Province near the world’s capital) at the unprecedented age of 31. The Science Council’s role is to investigate the deeper mysteries of space.
Maya is the daughter of Psychon’s Minister for Science and Interstellar Exploration, Mentor, and one of Psychon’s most acclaimed artists and it’s High Priestess, Anara.
While people might think that being raised by a religious person and a scientist would create something of a contentious home environment, it didn’t. Psychons don’t see any conflict between science and faith, and as a result of her upbringing Maya brings a unique perspective to Alpha.
Maya is a student of advanced mathematics, astrophysics and biology and is a devotee of her world’s religion, called “The One.”
Maya is a Metamorph (see below) and is capable of transforming into any living being of a similar mass.
Maya has been described as inquisitive, compassionate, intelligent and those who know her say her sense of humour is ‘pixie’ like.
Background on Psychon
Psychon is a united world with one government. It’s journey toward that utopic state was not easy, with the planet’s people exposed to a great deal of strife in their early years. As the species matured, they began to build a civilisation based on commonalities, rather than differences.
Psychons consider themselves spiritual, but are a race dedicated to science. They do not have any religious belief systems, but believe in an ‘unknowable’ universal intelligence that appears – to them – to work harmoniously in the universe. They don’t anthropomorphise that intelligence, and simply see it as a natural fact of reality and a logical concept. To Psychons, the fact that animal life has a form of intelligence, as do other life forms like Psychons (and humans), so too must planets and the wider universe itself as the ultimate living organism.
Psychons see their planet as alive, and their species as custodians and protectors of her. As a result, they are akin to galactic environmentalists and respect life in a deep and intrinsic way.
The Psychon people have a very philosophical attitude and as a species are devoted to “the bigger questions”, dedicating great effort to understanding the universe.
Psychons live an average of 180 Earth years, but mature at a rate that is similar to humans. The planet Psychon takes 400 days to orbit it’s star, and like on Earth, each day is an average of 24 hours. Because of the planet’s orbit, it’s seasons are often more harsh than Earth’s, as part of the orbit takes Psychon a little closer to its star and a little further away at the height of what Terrans would call summer and winter.
Geologically and atmospherically, Psychon is Earth Standard and supports a diverse ecosystem. The planet is rich in resources and minerals, and these are carefully safeguarded by every Psychon. Psychons are the dominant life form, and over the course of their evolution have developed a series of what humans would term extraordinary abilities. There is no rhyme or reason to the emergence of those abilities, but every Psychon has one. These are molecular transformation (metamorphs), telepathic communication (telepath), molecular manipulation (manimorphs), and touch healing (biopath).
Metamorph:
The ability to change shape into any biological form the Metamorph has interacted with. The Metamorph must have some sort of knowledge of the biological operation of the being or plant he or she will change into. A Metamorph can hold the shape of the being or plant it has changed into for no more than one hour.
Telepath:
The ability to share thoughts with another Psychon or psi-sensitive. Depending on the Telepath’s ability, this skill ranges from an exchange of general emotion to the ability to conduct a relatively coherant conversation telepathically via visual images.
Manimorph:
The ability to alter inanimate objects at the molecular level. A manimorph can cause a plant to grow faster, shatter certain sized inanimate objects, and, if they so wish, cause significant damange to a biological being. As a peace loving people, Psychons would never engage in such behaviour – though in their distant past manimorphs were the cause of much of the historical conflict on Psychon. The energy required to alter an object does drain a Psychon considerably, and in the distant past when manimorphs acted out of violence, the level of damage done to their victim was experienced by the manimorph conducting the act.
Biopath:
The ability to heal a biological entity through the power of touch. Biopaths cannot bring an individual back from the dead, but they can heal serious wounds. Like with a manimorph, this causes the biopath some discomfort as they temporarily take on the condition of the being they are healing.
In general, Psychons are a peaceful, emotionally stable people.
Their psionic abilities are envied by other space-faring species, and throughout their history they have been victimised by many. As a result, their world has significant defences. Psychons abhore violence so do not have a strong military, but they have dedicated incredible resources to shielding their planet and protecting their citizens in as non-lethal a way as possible.
The Psychons have one remaining enemy, the Dorcons, who have hunted Psychons for over a century in an attempt to acquire their psi-abilities.
Series Premise
Space 2049 takes place in the middle of a space mining boom.
With the ever growing fear of diminishing resources on Earth, multi-national corporations and a number of governments from around the world started to look out into our solar system for answers.
All involved parties begrudgingly turned to the United Nations to coordinate these efforts.
In an attempt to regulate off-world mining efforts and prevent any one nation from dominating the moon, Mars and other space objects the UN stepped in.
At first, the Assembly dragged it’s collective feet. Then, in 2032, the United Nations Security Council elected its first female General Secretary, Serwa Ayensu of Ghana. Secretary General Ayensu, angered by the glacial pace of the bureaucracy of the UN, pushed an agenda of reform that ended with the renaming and re-purposing of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. The UNOOSA became the United Nations Office for Space Exploration and Settlement (UNOSEA, or the OSEA for short).
A charismatic and accomplished individual, Secretary General Ayensu convinced the United States of America and NASA, the Russian Federation and ROSCOSMOS, China and the China National Space Administration, and a number of businesses dedicated to space tourism, mining and lunar real estate, to come together and combine their efforts to colonise the moon and Mars, and take advantage of nearby asteroids for the benefit of humanity.
With the three most powerful nations in the world working together, supported by some of the biggest businesses and space entrepreneurs, a number of other governments came on board to provide assistance. Within two years, an international research facility and tourist destination had been established on the moon – Moonbase Amity. Five years later, “lunar real estate” was for sale, and people were moving to the moon to live, creating Earth’s first space colony called Amity State, an international endeavour governed solely by the United Nations.
Moonbase Amity was designed to allow everyday human beings access to the moon, while giving the governments of the world and big business the opportunity to properly prepare for a settlement on Mars, establish a mining presence on the moon, and build an asteroid early warning and capture system that would enable the vital resources found in those objects to be harnessed for humanity – while ensuring those objects never struck the planet.
In 2037 Secretary General Ayensu won a second term, at pretty much the same moment as a large, slow moving rogue near-Earth asteroid was detected on the former ‘dark side’ of the moon. An ambitious project was started to ‘capture’ and ‘nudge’ the asteroid into Earth orbit, becoming our second moon.
In 2039, the former asteroid was locked into a stable orbit and named Alpha. It was to be the first of a planned series of four asteroids that would circle the Earth and contribute to mining and possible colonisation. They would be named Beta, Gamma and Delta.
Alpha, and the other objects once they were found and positioned, would each be fitted with high explosive charges able to push the objects out of orbit and away from Earth in the event of an unforeseen catastrophe that might put them in danger of falling toward the planet.
In 2041, Moonbase Alpha was completed on the second moon and it was designated a research and mining facility only, with no access by tourists. Amity would remain a hub for business, research and space exploration.
Over the course of eight years, Moonbase Alpha grew to be a vital part of the Mars settlement initiative, and became home for the Titan Initiative, a plan to send a series of manned spacecraft to Titan to establish an international space station in orbit of Saturn’s moon.
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