The secrets of Space: 1999's making are, at long last, about to be revealed! All Sections Alpha: The Making of Space: 1999, your definitive series guidebook to the adventures of Moonbase Alpha, is touching down at Anderson Entertainment HQ to begin dispatching this week.

Written by Fred McNamara and Tim Heald and designed by Rob Hammond, this extensively updated edition of Heald's original 1976 paperback, The Making of Space: 1999, has been fifty years in the making. Tim's original paperback covered the early months of production on Space: 1999's second series. Now, this hugely updated edition tells the complete story of Moonbase Alpha. Now that the hardback book is arriving, let's have a rundown on everything that you need to know about All Sections Alpha!

Celebrating Space: 1999's 50th Anniversary

My primary role with Anderson Entertainment as its blog editor means I'm regularly telling you all about the enthralling worlds of Gerry Anderson; however, on this occasion, I can't really tell you how excited I am that my forthcoming Space: 1999 book, co-authored with Tim Heald and marvellously designed by Rob Hammond, is finally touching down. I of all people know what a prolonged wait it's been.

This is my fourth Gerry Anderson book (not counting the comic anthologies which Rob and I collaborate on) and second official series guidebook, following from 2023's Flaming Thunderbolts: The Definitive Story of Terrahawks. I began editing, researching and writing this extended edition about a year prior to Moonbase Alpha's golden anniversary, with the book being unveiled back in September 2025 as part of Anderson Entertainment's celebrations of Space: 1999's anniversary.

When celebrating these landmark anniversaries for the likes of Stingray and Thunderbirds, we try to cover all bases for all releases across home entertainment, collectables, publishing and more. Our ever-popular Comic Anthologies and Technical Operations Manuals have proved worthy pursuits as book-based releases. But when it came to Space: 1999, we'd already published such ventures - the updated edition of the Moonbase Alpha Technical Operations Manual launched the range back in 2021, while the Space: 1999 Comic Anthology emerged in 2023. We therefore decided to pursue a more unexpected line and bring back the very first book-length text that focuses on the making of one of Gerry and Sylvia's most beloved productions. 

Immediately, we were confronted with the tricky issue of how exactly we should bring The Making of Space: 1999 back to life. This book, long out of print, is exclusively focused on the making of Space: 1999's hard-earned second series. The original book meticulously covers each aspect of television production, from script writing to casting, directing, art direction, make-up, music, special effects, post-production and more. It's a brilliantly detailed account, freed from any overbearing fan enthusiasms as to which of Space: 1999's two series is the superior creation. However, by it's very nature, it only tells half of Space: 1999's story. The book is also written in present tense, reflecting its period of publication (late 1976) when Space: 1999 was still an active concern. The second series had barely begun its debut UK transmission when the paperback was published.

How then should we, or rather, I, update this already hefty tome? Fortunately, the editorial process presented itself quite plainly and swiftly in elevating this book to become even more appealing than its original form. Year 2's production was well and truly covered - the major upgrades which this book would need is equally appealing coverage of the making of Year 1, a detailed episode guide, and expansive coverage of Space: 1999's sprawling spin-off media. Straight forward in theory, rather more complex in practicality. 

Editing the Future

Producing an authoritative account of making of any television series can rely on absorbing as many accounts from as many individuals as possible. Television is a hugely collaborative medium and Tim had the great advantage of being able to speak to the vast majority of Space: 1999's cast and crew while the series was being made. Thanks to the unfortunate passage of time, many of these people are sadly no longer with us to bring renewed perspectives. We only just lost Brian Johnson earlier this year. It fell to trawl through an abundance of archive material to piece together a definitive account of that first series' production, through the ashes of the failed second series of UFO, through demanding television executives and through a rapidly disintegrating marriage between the series' two main creators. 

I wanted to give a voice to as many major players as possible - Gerry, Sylvia, Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Christopher Penfold, Johnny Byrne, Brian Johnson, Keith Wilson. In doing so, I wanted to highlight the trickiness in tracing precise facts when different individuals can present clashing accounts of the same topic. For example, Penfold, who worked as story consultant on Year 1 and closely worked with Gerry, was of the opinion that Space: 1999's philosophically robust cosmic soul was thanks chiefly to Gerry himself. Conversely, Wilson, who worked as art director across both series and collaborated with Sylvia in crafting the series' visual style, was more convinced that she was responsible for the series' creative success. Evidently, one person's account couldn't be relied upon to shine a light on the whole story.

There was also the matter of how exactly I should frame these historical details. Should I simply replicate Tim's approach of analysing each aspect of production with its own chapter, as he had done, but purely from a Year 1 perspective? That approach didn't sit right with me. It felt like unnecessarily bulking out the book, but also, much of what Tim writes about could easily be said for Year 1. We may think of Space: 1999's two series as two very different beasts, but in terms of their production, and when approached objectively, the reality of TV production means that much could be said of the same for both regarding how they were made. My coverage of Year 1 then remains distinct from Heald's own write-up of Year 2, offering up a broad yet detailed account of how Space: 1999 developed out of the ruins of UFO into its own entity.

Despite my earlier pointing out that many of Space: 1999's cast and crew are no longer with us, one person who played a pivotal role has been heavily involved in the editorial process of the book - Barbara Bain! Dr Helena Russell herself has devoted so much of her time and energy to provide an amazingly forensic extra layer of editorial precision for this book. Her feedback has yielded some unique insights into several areas of Space: 1999's production, including the tricky early weeks of Breakaway's notoriously rough making. When experiencing All Sections Alpha, you're experiencing a Space: 1999 history book checked by Barbara Bain herself!

When maintaining Tim's original text, I'd say around 70% to 80% of his original work has been included in this edition. His original book now makes up about 1/3rd of All Sections Alpha. The most significant change to Tim's text is shifting its use of present tense to past tense, ensuring that the tone of this book remains as consistent and evergreen as possible. For those of you who may have grown up reading the original book, much of this new edition then is brand new material.

'This Episode...'

From there, we move into what may be my favourite section of the book: the episode guide. This is the section that required the most amount of reinvention on my part. Heald's episode guide was, in my view, unsubstantial and incomplete. When covering Year 2, His original guide itself only covers the first ten or so episodes, presumably to avoid spoiling future episodes before their broadcast. 50 years on has yielded a slow-moving avalanche of behind-the-scenes details of each and every episode of Space: 1999 (some of which were undoubtedly first revealed with the original edition of this very book); ample opportunity for editorial upgrades.

Heald's episode summaries are just that - summaries; brief descriptions of each episode's basic plot. This is a common tactic for these types of books right up to the early 2000s, before a time when boxsets became commonplace and streaming enabled these cult classic series to be readily available 24/7. This is the fourth official Space: 1999 series guidebook to be published, and they all adopt this same broad approach to their episode guides - where then was the sense for me to unquestioningly copy that same approach?

Playing to my passions in championing the dramatic qualities of Gerry and Sylvia's worlds, I decided to heavily upgrade this book's episode guide so that each chapter on each of Space: 1999's 48 episodes serves as an in-depth critical retrospective. Behind-the-scenes facts blend with upbeat critical explorations of every episode. This is a similar tactic I used in Flaming Thunderbolts. However, your average episode of Space: 1999 gives me a lot more to write about than your average episode of Terrahawks - sorry, Sergeant Major Zero!

Readers will undoubtedly notice that the episode guide for Year 2 is briefer than for Year 1. This is not exactly a reflection of the perceived downgrade in quality between the two series; just a simple case of deadlines and wordcounts rearing their head. Where the production histories offer far-reaching overviews of how both of Space: 1999's series came to life, the episode guide for All Sections Alpha enabled me to savour the far more individual qualities of the episodes themselves. At the same time, highlighting each episode's creative components, unboxing why and how effectively they function as distinct chapters in the Space: 1999 saga, greatly defuses any risk of repeating too much what other series guidebooks have said before.

The book's final sections go into extensive detail regarding Moonbase Alpha's further adventures across extended media, covering comics, novels, audio dramas, annuals and more. While the television series is obviously regarded as the main canon, it only made sense to include, evaluate and celebrate Space: 1999's sprawling spin-off media across the UK, the US and Europe.

All Sections Alpha concludes with some reflective sections examining the series' broadcast history, its reception by critics, audiences and TV executives and why the series struggled to survive beyond Year 2. Events and individuals are carefully placed into as well-researched historical context as possible to explain why Space: 1999's life was cut short despite its drastic reinventions between its two series; an appropriate subject to conclude the book on.

All Sections Alpha is Go

All Sections Alpha is beautifully woven together by Rob Hammond's spectacular design and layout work. His visual approach, all burnt oranges and Futura Black fonts, injects a wonderfully suitable retrofuture aesthetic to the book. His design work also brings welcome sense of cohesion to the hefty degree of material from two authors with quite separate writing styles. Rob has also poured through the archives and excavated a treasure trove of rarely-seen publicity and behind-the-scenes images that gorgeously illustrate the book further. It all just looks like a Space: 1999 book. That summary absolutely does Rob's work a disservice, but at the same time, it's tricky to summarise how this book looks in any more concise fashion.

All Sections Alpha: The Making of Space: 1999 has been a herculean undertaking from all involved and it's such a thrill that the book can now finally be enjoyed by those who've waited so patiently for its release. We certainly weren't content with simply reprinting Tim's original 1976 work and every effort has been taken to carefully update his work as possible. Much of the new material has really been geared around what Tim already provides for us in abundance. The end result is a painstakingly lavish tribute (in both visual style and historical research) to Gerry and Sylvia's last ever co-produced TV series.

Order your edition of All Sections Alpha: The Making of Space: 1999 now from the Gerry Anderson Store and prepare to discover the definitive history of Moonbase Alpha!

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