Passing close to the icy world of Ultima Thule, the moon receives a signal from a lost Earth expedition claiming to have created a paradise – one in which human beings can live forever. When Koenig, Dr. Russell, Alan Carter and Professor Bergman take an Eagle down to the surface, however, they find the most forbidding icy landscape imaginable – one in which they almost don’t survive. The humans on Ultima Thule find them just in time, except for Carter, who stumbles back to the Eagle and manages to get back inside. Dr. Cabot Rowland and the seemingly insane Colonel Tanner lead two discrete factions of survivors from a failed mission to Uranus, but they’re not exactly locked in a struggle for survival. Beneath the surface of Ultima Thule, coniditions are tolerable – and all indications are that the “Thulians” are indeed impervious to disease or old age. What’s more, Rowland is eager for the Alphans to join them, promising the entire crew immortality of their own. Tanner, himself a former command office despite his disheveled appearance and behavior, takes Koenig into his confidence and reveals that the immortality promised by Rowland has come at a tragic price in wasted lives, and the process is by no means guaranteed to succeed. But even with this information, will Koenig’s crew opt for eternal life on Ultima Thule, or their uncertain existence on Moonbase Alpha?
written by Anthony Terpiloff & Elizabeth Barrows
directed by Charles Crichton
music by Barry Gray
additional music by Vic ElmsGuest Cast: Brian Blessed (Dr. Cabot Rowland), John Shrapnel (Colonel Jack Tanner), Prentis Hancock (Paul Morrow), Clifton Jones (David Kano), Zienia Merton (Sandra Benes), Anton Phillips (Dr. Mathias), Nick Tate (Alan Carter), Mary Miller (Freda)
LogBook entry by Earl Green