Wednesday, June 18, 2014

SPACE: 1999 EAGLE INTERIOR COCKPIT SET

"There is no such thing as a 'flimsy set'", I tell my students. A set may look flimsy, a highly subjective view, but generally there is no such thing, certainly not on professional productions. The actors' unions, for instance, would not allow such a structure to exist. The term "flimsy set" tends to be hurled as a simple pejorative. Fine. (I understand that actor Harrison Ford was injured last week on the set of the new Star Wars movie when a door on the Millennium Falcon set whacked him; or came down on him, if it's that personnel door I'm thinking of. That accident was probably caused by a miss-cue rather than shoddy set construction or engineering. Star Wars fans?.... help?)

Now, having said that, check out this picture taken of the "Eagle" cockpit interior from the British science-fiction television series Space: 1999 (1975 - 1977)...


While the interior is fine, the external support framing is certainly not "code". There is no serious reinforcement bracing. "Rickety" is probably a good word in this case. (The normally hot-headed Eagle pilot Alan Carter, played by Nick Tate, would not want to get into a physical tussle with a stock Space: 1999 freaked-out-crewmember in there. "Cut! Cut!")

Not lost on me is the fact that it very well might be a work-in-progress photograph. This geek likes pics like the above.

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