In addition to the television series, I also am relying on the official Alpha Moonbase Technical Notebook, compiled and written by David Hirsch and published in 1977 by Starlog Magazine (well, O'Quinn Studios). If you don't think this source is canonical, then add 3 to the final number I arrived at. The timeline below I use what is based on the production order of episodes, rather than air dates.
I've given up on the number of Eagles destroyed for now. The Moonbase is supposed to house a complement of 20 Eagles. From the number of Eagles destroyed, it was clear that they were manufacturing replacements. The worst career for life expectancy was probably an Eagle pilot.
John Cordone provided some useful information, reminding me of the dead caveman in episode 7, and providing names for episodes 8 (Sarah Graham) and 20 (Cousteau). Michael Taylor observed a previously unaccounted death in episode 9, a man in medical center.
Episode | Incident | Branch | Cause | Population |
1. Breakaway | 7+ deaths | various | Breakaway of moon from earth orbit. | 311 |
Implied by Alpha Child? | Jack Crawford dies. | Technical? | Reactor malfunction. | 310 |
2. Matter of Life and Death | Everyone dies except Helena Russell, but all this is reversed. | all | Terra Nova backlash. | |
3. Black Sun | Mike Ryan dies. | Reconnaisance | Piloting an Eagle crushed by the black sun. | 309 |
4. Ring Around the Moon | Ted Clifford dies. | Technical | Alien brain implant burns out his brain. | 307 |
(?) Donovan dies. | Reconnaissance | Piloting an Eagle which crashes after being attacked by Triton sphere. | ||
5. Earthbound | Gerald Simmonds leaves, but is doomed to die. | Visitor | Distrust of aliens while hijacking their ship. | 306 |
6. Another Time, Another Place | Regina Kesslann dies. | Main Mission | Spacetime paradox. | 305 |
7. Missing link | No fatalities. | |||
8. The Guardian of Piri | Sarah Graham dies. | unknown | Blood transfusion halted by computer malfunction caused by Guardian of Piri. | 304 |
9. Force of Life | Mark Dominix dies. | Technical | Frozen by Anton Zoref. | 299 |
Hilary Preston dies | Medical | |||
Unknown man dies | Security | |||
Unknown man dies | unknown | Killed by power outage in Medical Center. | ||
Anton Zoref dies | Technical | Killed by stun gun wielded by Alan Carter. | ||
10. Alpha Child | Jackie Ryan born. | TBD | What do you think? | 299 |
Cynthia Crawford dies, but is later restored. | unknown | Killed by Jarak? | ||
Unknown man dies. | Security | Killed indirectly by Jarak, who telekinetically controls Koenig's weapon hand. Interestingly, the man is not then replaced by an alien. This may have been due to the effects of the weapon on the body. | ||
11. The Last Sunset | No fatalities. | |||
12. Voyager's Return | Jim Abrams dies. | Reconnaissance? | Piloting an Eagle which is caught in Voyager One's Queller drive and killed. | 297 |
Ernst Linden (Ernst Queller) | Technical | Piloting Voyager One in a sacrificial defense of Moonbase Alpha. | ||
13. Collision Course | No fatalities(?). | |||
14. Death's Other Dominion | No fatalities. | |||
15. Full Circle | (?) Santos dies. | Reconnaissance | Fear. | 296 |
16. End of Eternity | Mike Baxter dies. | Reconnaissance | Driven insane and killed by Balor. | 294 |
Unknown woman dies. | Medical | Killed by Balor. | ||
17. War Games | Scores die, but again everything is undone. | Various. | Virtual alien strike force. | |
18. The Last Enemy | No fatalities. | |||
19. The Troubled Spirit | James Warren dies. | Service? | Killed by Dan Mateo's ghost. | 291 |
Laura Adams dies. | Service | |||
Dan Mateo dies. | Service | Killed by his own ghost during an exorcism. | ||
20. Space Brain | (?) Wayland dies. | Reconnaissance | Piloting an Eagle crushed by space brain antibodies. | 288 |
(?) Cousteau dies. | Reconnaissance | |||
(?) Kelly dies. | Reconnaissance | Crushed by space brain antibodies. | ||
21. The Infernal Machine | 3(?) die. | Reconnaissance? | 3 Eagles shot down by Gwent. | 283(?) |
2(?) die. | Security? | 2 ground vehicles (mining lasers?) shot by Gwent. | ||
22. Mission of the Darians | Maurice Lowry dies. | Security | Disintegrated by a Darian food converter. | 282 |
23. Dragon's Domain | Tony Cellini dies. | Reconnaissance | Killed by alien(?) aboard Ultra Probe. | 281 |
24. The Testament of Arkadia | Anna Davis leaves. | Technical | Emigrated to Arkadia. | 279 |
Luke Ferro leaves. | Command |
Episode 14 is problematic. I don't remember the number of the the lost crew of Eagle 6, and don't believe they were recovered. However, a certain 96DALEC (Chris Dale) provided clarifying details. It's remotely possible the pilot was on board the Eagle that returned to Alpha as a captive, but we are not shown this.
Thanks again to 96DALEC for providing me with quotes for Episode 24 giving a casualty count. Calculations below assume that unconfirmed deaths and reports of injuries and missing persons did not result in further fatalities.
Episode | Incident | Branch | Cause | Population |
Stated in Moonbase Alpha Technical Manual | David Kano dies. | Data | Eagle crash. | 276 |
Paul Morrow dies. | Main Mission | |||
Victor Bergman dies. | Visitor | Space suit malfunction. | ||
1. The Metamorph | Lew Picard dies. | Medical? | Disintegrated by reflected laser attack. | 275 |
Ray Torens dies. | Reconnaissance? | Brain-drained by Mentor, then killed in rockfall. | ||
Maya joins. | Main Mission | Psychon destroyed. | ||
2. The Exiles | No fatalities? | |||
3. One Moment of Humanity | No fatalities. | |||
4. Journey to Where | No fatalities. | |||
5. All That Glisters | No fatalities. | |||
6. The Taybor | No fatalities. | |||
7. Mark of Archanon | No fatalities. | |||
8. Rules of Luton | No fatalities. | |||
9. New Adam, New Eve | No fatalities. | |||
10. Brian the Brain | No fatalities. | |||
11. A B Chrysalis | No fatalities. | |||
12. The Catacombs of the Moon | No fatalities. | |||
13. Seed of Destruction | No fatalities. | |||
14. Beta Cloud | Tom Graham(?) | Reconnaissance(?) | Piloted Eagle and lost in cloud(?) | 274(?) |
15. A Matter of Balance | No fatalities. | |||
16. Space Warp | No fatalities. | |||
17. Bringers of Wonder, Part 1 | Clive Kander dies. | Technical? | Driven mad by aliens, then asphyxiated in a fire. | 273 |
18. Bringers of Wonder, Part 2 | No fatalities. | |||
19. Dorzak | No fatalities. | |||
20. The Lambda Factor | Sally Martin dies. | Medical | Killed telekinetically by Carolyn Powell. | 271 |
Mark Sanders dies. | Main Mission | |||
21. Devil's Planet | Blake Maine dies. | Medical | Killed by alien dominatrices; forced into disintegration fence. | 270 |
22. Seance Spectre | Greg Sanderson dies. | Technical? | Delusional, killed in combat against John Koenig. | 269 |
23. Immunity Syndrome | Joe Lustig dies. | Technical | Victim of flawed alien communication attempt; driven mad. | 265 |
2 unknown men die. | Service | Victim of flawed alien communication attempt; drank poisonous water. | ||
Unknown man dies. | Technical | Victim of flawed alien communication attempt; ate poisonous fruit. | ||
24. The Dorcons | (?) Thompson dies. | Reconnaissance? | Piloted Eagle 4, which was destroyed. | 263 |
One other confirmed fatality. | Security? | Killed during destruction of perimeter station? |
Now, 96DALEC also stated that the Moonbase's population was stated as 297 at the beginning of The Metamorph, and as 298 some time during Devil's Planet. Assuming no further unexplained resurrections, miracles, or alien immigrants, this would imply that the Moonbase must have a nursery, as approximately 30 children have been born. This leaves open the possibility of a Space 1999: The Next Generation series.
Thanks also to Ken Scott for that cute NO ALPHANS image.
On a side note, I've got some partial notes on how many Eagles were destroyed, lost, and/or abandoned in the series. Anyone care to contribute to an Eagle countdown?
The above was compiled mostly during a misbegotten youth.
This page has received thousands of meteroite impacts since September 21, 1998.
Population last revised: May 30, 2006