If they can reimagine Battlestar Galactica, I can reimagine Space: 1999.
Space: 1999 was the only big science fiction whoop between Star Trek reruns and the first Star Wars movie. It had a great cast, wonderful special effects, but the stories were lousy. Out of all the episodes, I can only think of three that were worth watching (Dragon's Domain, The Infernal Machine, and Mission of the Darians).
If the series could be brought back again, you would first have to consider this: How do you blow the Moon out of Earth orbit and send it on an interstellar journey that makes sense even to a science illiterate audience.
Yeah, I'm talking to you, Kansas.
Space: 1999 is an indirect sequel to another series by the same producers, UFO. That series concerned itself with a secret James Bondian type agency that defended Earth against alien invaders from a dying world who were coming here to harvest humans for spare parts. As the series went on, it was revealed that the aliens were immaterial beings living inside stolen material bodies. The aliens were defeated by the series' end.
I would use that bit of background story for the reimagined pilot episode. So here we go:
Commander Koenig returns to Moonbase Alpha to investigate the mysterious deaths of some astronauts who were training for a top secret interstellar mission to investigate the source of a mysterious signal being beamed directly at Earth. The astronauts died after having the iron component of their hemoglobin being ripped out of their bodies by a magnetic force. Koenig isn't exactly welcomed back at Moonbase Alpha because he was a judge overseeing the controversial court martial of another space explorer (this would dovetail into a remake of the Dragon's Domain episode).
The deaths happened while the astronauts were passing over the Lunar nuclear waste depository where Earth stores all of it's nuclear waste. Koenig and a few others investigate the site. Everything appears to be what it's supposed to be until one of the nuclear waste depository workers tried to drop a pallet of lead containers on Koenig's head. Koenig and friends capture the worker, only to be shocked when the worker seems to explode inside his spacesuit.
After they return to Moonbase Alpha with the body, do they discover that all the iron in the worker's hemoglobin had been ripped out of his body apparently by a magnetic force.
(Just kidding, Kansas.)
Koenig and friends retrace the worker's steps. The nuclear waste depository workers live in an underground habitat that was part of another moonbase that had been used 40 years before as the Lunar headquarters for the alien defense agency. The habitat has a magnetic signature that's identical to one found in the training shuttle the dead astronauts used, and in the spacesuit the dead worker was wearing.
Koenig discovers that that habitat had been used by the defunct alien defense agency as a prison to house and "interrogate" alien prisoners until it was discovered that the real aliens were immaterial energy beings that could transfer into other bodies if they had to.
The magnetic signature is traced, and in the center of the nuclear waste depository, one of the original storage bunkers gives off a very strong reading. After Koenig and friends enter the bunker, they discover that the bunker isn't being used to store nuclear waste. It's being used to store the wreckage of alien invader ships. And someone has been building something out of all the spare parts.
It's an interstellar jump drive that was built with the intention of "jumping" the Earth to the alien's home system where it would be overwhelmed by waiting alien forces. The fuel for the jump is all the nuclear waste surrounding this bunker and the clock is ticking.
Koenig orders that the nuclear waste bunkers be emptied, and the nuclear waste scattered over the Moon's surface. It becomes a race against time.
The alien entity isn't done yet. It takes over another human and it then trashes the main launch pad and hanger by rigging an Eagle to explode on takeoff. It is by this time that it is realised that the alien is only able to possess humans who have the same blood type. One the secondary characters has that blood type and is used as bait to lure out the alien entity. The alien is then destroyed after the secondary character is "deguassed" by using an expedient electromagnet made by running current through a section of floor.
Ever see Howard Hawk's version of The Thing? Or the scene from Forbidden Planet where the Creature from the Id is trying to bust through the forcefield to slaughter everybody? Combine the two images in your head and this is what you'll see.
But just as they kill the alien, the interstellar drive begins to power up and the Moon begins to shake. Then there's a boom, and the Lunar horizon lights up, and the Moon begins to move out of orbit!
We see scenes of huge orbital habitats being torn apart by by gravitic forces, mile high tsunamis devastating Earth, and Moonbase Alpha personnel being squashed down by G-forces.
Then as soon as the Moon leaves Earth orbit and leaves Earth's gravity well, it winks out.
The Moon has become it's own starship. Whenever the Moon is inside the gravitation influence of another celestrial body, the interstellar drive turns itself off. But as soon as the Moon is out of that influence, the interstellar drive comes back online and the Moon randomly jumps to somewhere else. And the Moonbase personnel can't even get close to thing because it's ten times hotter than Chernobyl.
The 3,111 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha then find themselves on the most fantastic journey in the history of the human race.
updates a squad to the new edition of the rules.
