SHADO Technical Operations Manual by Chris Thompson

Great detail is provided on the individual departments and the equipment they contain. There are detailed layouts of the base itself, the travel tubes that will help you get around, the locations of the lifts (And stairways), communication nodules, and where you can get a bite to eat. Ostensibly a manual that is handed out to new personal arriving at Moonbase Alpha, with an introduction by the 9th commander, John Koenig, the book takes the new arrival through all the information they would need to know to adapt to life on the moon. Yes, there was more than a little disappointment, but it is books like this that help fill that gap. Growing up on UFO, 2001 A Space Odyssey, and Space 1999 I had high expectations of just what was in store as the 20th century drew to a close. It turns out the authors did not let a little thing like this stand in there way and have produced a through analysis of all the technical aspects of this fictional moon base that had long been in operation by the year 1999. Where writers' bibles have evolved over the years, it is unclear just how much technical detail would have been put into such a document back in the mid-70s when this show was produced. It would appear to be a bit of a daunting task to write a technical manual for a fictional show. This is my first book written by Chris Thompson and Andrew Clements which was promoted on the Gerry Anderson website (Little plug there) as the final word on all things Space: 1999. I hope the publisher might consider doing similar “in-world” volumes for other Gerry Anderson productions, like UFO or Thunderbirds. While it is vastly superior to the original Alpha Moonbase Technical Notebook produced decades ago, it is still an homage and tribute to the work done for that edition.įinal assessment: After finishing this book, I am enormously pleased with the purchase. This book is a gorgeous love letter to Space: 1999 fans all over the world.

Update: I’m now about 90% finished and my inner 12-13 year old fanboy is totally geeking out. Looking forward to finishing this book very soon. This is an indispensable books for any and all fans of Space: 1999. The layout, the accompanying text, the art and design of the book is spectacular and clearly a labor of love from everyone involved. This is set up as an in-universe manual that provides an overview of everything a person coming from Earth would need to be comfortably oriented to live on the Alpha Moonbase. But to be honest, that’s enough to know that this is one gorgeous book. At the time I’m writing this, I’m only about 40% finished.

SHADO Technical Operations Manual by Chris Thompson