Well, nuts. Johnny Byrne, writer for Space:1999 and the older Doctor Who, died last week of undisclosed causes.
Johnny was a good guy. I met him in 2000 at a Space:1999 convention, and I liked him immensely. We talked at length about a science fiction program he was thinking over involving an ark, a giant spaceship that travels at slower-than-light speeds through space. For well over an hour we sat and discussed various aspects of such a mission, including what the voyagers would see out their windows if they had any. I thought it would have made a really good show.
He wrote several Doctor Who episodes, including some very good ones. Along with Barry Morse from Space:1999, he’ll be missed.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:35 am
There was a show about a giant space ark flying through the
galaxy made in the Seventies, but it apparently wasn’t very good.
Harlan Ellison wrote for it at first, but he later disowned it, so
you know it must have been bad. Or he was just being cranky
as usual.
And would Lost in Space count?
April 8th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Oh, man… The man who wrote Arc of Infinity, and the Keeper of Trakken (the episode that introduced Nyssa) plus all his work in adapting “All Creatures Great and Small” (one of my parent’s favorite shows) The man was a major talent. You mention him and Barry Morse, I think I’ll cast him in the same light as Terry Nation, another great Dr. Who and science fiction writer in general.
Which 1999 episodes were his?
April 8th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I rented Space 1999 from Netflix a few months ago. I was excited to see the shows I hadn’t seen since I was but a wee lad. The thing that struck me most as I watched them again was how slow they were compared to today’s productions. They were almost boring to me, really. One thing that kept them from being totally boring was watching for the bad astronomy in them (and there is quite the bounty). Things that were unquestioningly plausible as a child seemed glaringly ridiculous as a Bad Astronomy aficianado.
So, in a way, Phil, even though I didn’t suspend my disbelief and appreciate the science fiction like a good consumer of sci fi, I was still entertained by my more recently acquired appreciation for bad astronomy. So, thank you for breathing new life into Space 1999.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Oh, yeah, “The Starlost.” I hear that Ellison and Ed Bryant are still trying to interest a production company it trying to re-do the show… this time doing it right. (The original script for the show was printed in an anthology called “Faster Than Light,” and is a GREAT story… too bad the producers at CBC didn’t have a clue.
The “space ark” idea is almost as old as the idea of spaceflight itself. There have been stories like “Anaria” and Heinlien’s “Orphans of the Sky” or Brian Aldiss’ “Starship” and even Clarke’s “Rama.”
There’s no doubt in my mind that a movie or TV show based on this sort of story would be a great answer to the “Star Trek” view of science fiction. The problem is, can you sell a science fiction series that doesn’t have slinky space babes, or mighty starships blasting at one another?
Tricky.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:48 am
A Space Ark, travelling through space? Umm, you guys hear of a show called “Battlestar Galactica?” The original kind of sucked, but the re-imagined version: awesome.
*Sarcasm: off*
April 8th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Interesting, about the space ark (sorry about his death by the way) I’m writing a book about a civilization that has to leave its homeworld because they are oppressed by invaders and a hyper-advanced noncorporeal alien decides he’s going to help them escape the planet. Of course to get rid of the bad guys he destroys the planet after the native inhabitants leave.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Joe mentions: Clarke’s “Rama.”
They’ve been trying to get that filmed for years… I’ve seen various notes on the SciFi channel’s site that it is (supposedly) in pre-production.
J/P=?
April 8th, 2008 at 10:40 am
As I recall, The Space-1999 crowd actually ran into that space-arc. Any deformity and you were fed into the energy converter. (As in Heinlein’s book)
(As always, I really should do some research before I post. Maybe next time.)
April 8th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Only slightly on the subject, but how would Isaac Azimov’s
Foundation trilogy be as a mini-series?
April 8th, 2008 at 11:07 am
He also wrote a number of episodes of All Creatures Great and Small, in which Peter Davison played Tristan.
April 8th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Man, last S:1999 ep I saw was one of the munged together 2-eps-into-a-tv-movie versions… on MST3k! “Cosmic Princess” is the title and it was riffed on in the pre-cable KTMA season of MST3k.
“Titanium: It’s the feel-good mineral of 1999.”
April 8th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Agreed, the ark idea isn’t exactly new. I remember the series from the 70s.
Related idea, one of the episodes from the original Star Trek had a civilization travelling through space in an ark made out of a hollowed out asteriod.
James Blish also did an interesting story called “Cities in Flight” that had a similar theme.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:40 am
@AstralProjectile
The episode was: Mission of the Darians, classic stuff
May 1st, 2008 at 7:35 am
Thank you for paying tribute to my father.
Nick
June 17th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I’m also his son, so thankyou for remembering him. For those interested, he died after a two-year battle against cancer (a brain tumour.)
Jasper.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Many years ago Johnny Byrne become my writing mentor. I sent him a 16 page sample of my embryonic biography. Through his kindness and guidance he tutored me while I turned this idea into a full biography manuscript. Johnny had a huge heart, was kind, understanding,generous and was supportive of the underdog. At that time of my life I was potless, and many a time reversed the phone charges to Johnny’s and Sandys, both gracious enough to except them. Over the following years I did little with that manuscript due to the plights of life. Even though Johnny had introduced my work to a literary agent in London. Through much misfortune, battles for sanity and desperate circumstances I lost everything over the years. Life through the grace of God took a turn for the better and I became a very successful and respected lady in life. The only things i retained from the past are my children and this exact manuscript of 44 chapers and 100 000 words that the wonderful writer Johnny Byrne had task mastered me through. Today that very manuscript is being expanded into a trilogy. I wanted to track Johnny down and let him know this.
Was so saddened to here of the passing on of such a great man. Blessings to Sandy and the boys