Moon Buggy (Space: 1999)

Moon Buggy

First appearance	Breakaway
Affiliation	Earth
General characteristics
Maximum speed	15-20 mph
Chassis	Wheeled

The Moon Buggy is a fictional vehicle in Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's TV series Space: 1999. It is Moonbase Alpha's all purpose land vehicle. Capable of operating in an atmosphere or vacuum, the Alphans use the Moon Buggy for long distance travel, and for areas which are inaccessible to an Eagle spacecraft.

Vehicle Operation

Moon Buggies are driven with two handles, each one controlling one side of the moon buggy; hence, turning is accomplished by putting one stick forward and drawing the other back. This method of control is similar to how tanks have traditionally been steered. The dashboard originally only had an ignition switch but some buggies had additional controls including airlock switches.

The Moon Buggy has a crew of two, although it can be driven by one person. The rear section of the buggy can carry mission specific equipment. One of the tasks it was normally assigned to prior to breakaway was to transport workers to Moonbase Alpha's Nuclear Disposal Area 2 to check radiation levels.

As shown in the episode The Last Enemy, a Moon Buggy can be controlled remotely if needed. This was demonstrated when a Moon Buggy with explosives concealed in an empty spacesuit was steered remotely into a hostile alien gunship.

They may be deployed from special airlocks or Eagles and in the latter case may be used on Earth-type planets.

Filming vehicle

Brian Johnson (L) - SFX Designer, Director and Nick Allder (R) - SFX Director (Year 1), Lighting Cameraman (Year 2) with 3 of the Moon Buggy models

The Moon Buggy is actually an amphibious vehicle called the Amphicat and was also highly recognized for its use in the Saturday morning children show Banana Splits. Although not on display, the original vehicle is currently owned by Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in the English town of Keswick, Cumbria.^[1]

There were several miniature versions of this vehicle used by the special effects team including motorized and remote controlled versions.^[1] They also included miniature astronauts, one or two depending on the live action scene, but these often appeared stiff and non-lifelike during the motion scenes.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Space 1999 Catacombs - Reference guide to moon buggy models

External links

• Space 1999 Catacombs - Moonbuggy In depth review of the moon buggy
• Space 1999: Eagle Transporter — A visual reference guide to Eagle Transporter collectables.
• Eagle Transporter Forum — Discussion board with main emphasis on the Eagle Transporter and other Gerry Anderson hardware.