One of my guilty pleasures is the 1970s TV show Space: 1999. I’ve been rewatching it lately, and something about it seems to have engaged one of my spare backup Muses.

Space: 1999 was a very odd duck, kind of the epitome of the kind of science-fiction programming you’d find on British TV in the 1970s. Probably due to its creators, the inestimable Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. It’s a mix of hard SF and wild space-operatic fantasy, with FX that were superb at the time but that look very dated today, and writing that veered from interesting to horrible. The cast were very good, and they did the best they could with the material they were handed.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been thinking about building a RPG scenario around a similar premise. It seemed likely that I would need to update the technology a bit, and the timeline, and find a way to make the core premise more palatable. Still, I find the basic notion – a near-future space outpost, on a course it can’t control, its crew trying to survive a series of challenges – quite appealing.

So here’s a side project that I might post freebies for, on an occasional basis. The working title is Space: 2049, and it will probably end up as a collection of notes and RPG material updating the original show for a more modern sensibility. I’ll probably use GURPS for the game-oriented pieces, since this is all going to be fan-derivative work for free anyway.

To begin with, have a timeline!

Timeline of Moonbase Alpha – to Breakaway

1990	Birth of Victor Bergman, in London, United Kingdom.
2007	Birth of John Koenig, in New York City, United States.
2009	Birth of Helena Russell, in Denver, United States.
2011	Birth of David Kano, in St. Andrew, Jamaica.
2013	Birth of Robert Mathias, in New York City, United States.
2016	Birth of Alan Carter, in Sydney, Australia. Birth of Antony Verdeschi, in Florence, Italy. While teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Victor Bergman has an annus mirabilis, publishing no fewer than five papers to revolutionize modern physics. In particular, Bergman’s theories suggest the possibility of direct control of gravitational forces.
2017	Birth of Paul Morrow, in London, United Kingdom.
2018	Birth of Tanya Aleksandr, in Weimar, Germany.
2023	Birth of Sandra Benes, in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
2028	First practical applications of Bergman gravitational technology are developed. The new technology promises to revolutionize transportation, especially in space.
2029	While attending MIT, John Koenig meets Victor Bergman, who becomes his lifelong mentor and advisor.
2033	Victor Bergman is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Construction of Moonbase Alpha begins in the crater Plato, by the American space agency NASA. The new base is intended as an industrial center, and a headquarters to coordinate exploration of the solar system.
2035	Launch of the Sojourner One probe, an unmanned vehicle using the experimental fast-neutron drive invented by Dr. Ernst Queller. The probe appears to be successful, but vanishes without a trace within days of launch. Launch of the Sojourner Two probe ends in disaster when the Queller drive cuts in too early, killing hundreds of people. Dr. Ernst Queller is found not to be at fault, but he goes into seclusion regardless. Outbreak of the Pacific War, a global conflict between democratic and authoritarian power blocs. Construction of Moonbase Alpha, and other space exploration activity, is paused during the conflict.
2038	End of the Pacific War, after Earth narrowly avoids a nuclear exchange. A number of new international institutions are established in the aftermath, to stabilize the global community and deal with several ongoing crises. Among these is the World Space Commission, a unified body coordinating human space-exploration efforts. A new era in manned exploration of the solar system begins. The World Space Commission takes oversight of the Moonbase Alpha project, resuming construction. Bergman gravitational technology is integrated into the base’s design and architecture. World Space Commission awards contracts for the development of a new transport spacecraft applying Bergman gravitational technology – the Eagle.
2042	First Eagle transport spacecraft are deployed.
2044	Manned expedition to Jupiter is lost after a massive engine failure. Lee Russell, medical officer and husband of Dr. Helena Russell, is presumed dead. Discovery of the “ninth planet,” a small ice giant orbiting Sol at distances between 360 and 600 AU. The new planet is named Ultra.
2046	Several Hawk fighter craft are deployed to defend against a putative attack on Earth from space. Manned expedition to Ultra departs, commanded by Tony Cellini.
2047	Expedition to Ultra returns to Earth, with Tony Cellini as its sole survivor. Cellini is grounded after a diagnosis of severe psychological strain and paranoid delusions, but has a partial recovery and is later reassigned to Moonbase Alpha. Working at Moonbase Alpha, Victor Bergman discovers the so-called Meta Signal, a pattern of phased gravitational waves that seems to carry considerable encoded information. World Space Commission announces the first evidence of intelligent life in space.
2048	Victor Bergman hypothesizes that humans could use gravitational waves to respond to the Meta Signal. He begins an effort to decode and translate the signal, but progress is very slow.
2049	A scientific expedition is planned to the apparent source of the Meta Signal. Construction of the spacecraft begins at Moonbase Alpha. 9 September: John Koenig arrives on Moonbase Alpha as its new Commander, replacing Anton Gorski. Koenig has been assigned to get the Meta expedition launched, but he discovers an outbreak of medical and psychological issues among the crew, far worse than he had been led to believe. 12 September: Commissioner Gerald Simmonds arrives on Moonbase Alpha and immediately comes into conflict with Commander Koenig, who remains cautious about pushing forward the Meta project. Simmonds begins to insist that the expedition move into its next phase without further delay, and also presses to have Dr. Bergman issue an immediate response to the Meta Signal. 13 September: “Breakaway.” On the insistence of Commissioner Simmonds, Koenig authorizes a first response to the Meta Signal. The result is catastrophic – intensely focused artificial gravitation, which reaches out from deep space and accelerates the Moon out of Earth’s orbit. Moonbase Alpha finds itself hurtling into deep space, at speeds which make any evacuation back to Earth problematic. 16 September: The runaway Moon disappears entirely from Earth’s view, and all contact with Moonbase Alpha is lost. In fact, the human response to the Meta Signal has engaged a billions-of-years-old Forerunner stargate network. The Moon is now being conveyed through the network to an unknown destination.