John Koenig

Space:1999 character|if=
bgcolor = black
fgcolor = white
Title = Commander John Koenig


Caption = John Koenig
Species = Human
Gender = Male
Appearance =
Height = 6' 3"
Hair color = Black
Eye color =
Birth = 1958
Death =
Planet = Earth
Affiliation = Moonbase Alpha
Posting = September 9, 1999 second tour of duty on Moonbase Alpha
Rank = Commander, Base Commander
Section = Command
Portrayed = Martin Landau|

John Koenig is a fictional character from the television series "". He was played by Martin Landau.

Commander John Koenig is the 9th, and as far as is known, the last Commander of Moonbase Alpha. He had previously served a tour of duty on Alpha as part of the 1996 Ultra Probe Mission commanded by Captain Tony Cellini. Both Koenig and Cellini were candidates to be the command pilot of the probe and when they tossed a data chip for it Cellini won, and assumed command of the mission. Koenig stayed behind on Moonbase Alpha to co-ordinate with the base computers, analysing navigational data and flight telemetry.

Reassignment

The Ultra Probe mission was a disaster, the vessel having disappeared off sensors for a time. Some months later, the probe's lifeboat was found drifting towards Earth with the command pilot, Tony Cellini, inside. The three other crewmembers had disappeared and Cellini's explanation - that his crew had been eaten by a deadly monster - was disbelieved.

The internal black box aboard the lifeboat failed to provide any evidence of Cellini's "monster", and when both Koenig and Professor Victor Bergman made an impassioned plea to Commissioner Dixon, a highly placed official in the international space program, to follow up with another probe, they were rebuked. Both men were grounded for a time, and Cellini was sent for counselling and psychiatric evaluation. Although Cellini's story of a bizarre monster devouring his crew was widely disbelieved, Koenig trusted Cellini and believed his story. After he became the Commander of Moonbase Alpha in 1999, Koenig would take steps to protect his friend.

Metaprobe crisis: Koenig assumes command

In 1998 the Planet Meta was discovered, [cite web | url=http://www.fanderson.org.uk/epguides/spaceyr1eg.html#Episode%20One | publisher=The Official Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society | work=Space: 1999 Year One Episode Guide | title=Breakaway | accessdate=2007-04-25] and signals were received from the planet which indicated that life might exist there. A deep-space probe was prepared at the orbital space dock, and the command pilots, astronauts Frank Warren and Eric Sparkman, trained for the mission by flying over Area Two, a massive nuclear waste dump on the moon's surface. When their crashed in September 1999 and both men slipped into a coma under mysterious circumstances, Koenig was assigned command of Moonbase Alpha by Lunar Commissioner Gerald Simmonds to get the Metaprobe launched at all costs. After arriving at Moonbase Alpha, Koenig learned that the crisis was much worse than he had been told - a total of eleven astronauts had all slipped into a coma and died after a brief, sudden bout of violent and irrational behavior. Dr. Helena Russell, Alpha's chief medical officer, believed that the sickness was a form of radiation poisoning, but all tests of the two nuclear waste dumps were negative. However, when Nuclear Disposal Area One - the smaller and older of the two dumps - suddenly exploded due to magnetic radiation, Koenig realized that a new, previously unknown form of radiation had killed the astronauts. Furthermore, not only was everyone on Moonbase Alpha at risk from the radiation, but if Area Two was also affected, the vast amount of nuclear waste stored there would cause the greatest explosion in human history - perhaps enough to push the Moon out of Earth's orbit or even destroy it completely. Koenig alerted Lunar Commissioner Simmonds, who flew to Alpha in an Eagle, and the moonbase's fleet of Eagles were equipped with winches to pull apart the nuclear waste containers and spread them across the moon's surface, thus reducing the risk of a catastrophic explosion. Unfortunately, these measures were too late, and in a violent eruption the nuclear waste exploded, blasting the Moon out of the Earth's orbit and hurling it into deep space. Given the Moon's speed and rapidly increasing distance from Earth, Koenig made the hard decision to not attempt an evacuation and instead remain on Alpha, where the base's personnel could sustain themselves and search for another planet on which to settle; the search for a "new Earth" would become a dominant theme in the series' two seasons.

eason One

After the explosion, the Moon moved through a series of black suns (the show was filmed before the term "black holes" was coined), space warps, and other natural phenomena which greatly increased its speed and also allowed it to travel through many other solar systems. In many of these systems the Alphans encountered planets with intelligent alien life, but in many cases the life proved to be hostile or indifferent to the Alphans' plight. As the base commander, Koenig often found himself confronted by baffling and frightening situations which no human had ever faced, and the strain took its toll. During the first season Koenig was often depicted as short-tempered, irritable, and prone to angry outbursts at even his closest friends, such as Professor Victor Bergman. One of the running jokes among many "Space: 1999" fans is that Paul Morrow, Koenig's second-in-command, was often his "whipping boy" in the first season; as Koenig often yells at him or simply beats him up in a number of episodes (Morrow remained unflappably loyal to Koenig, however). Koenig did display a lighter side to his personality in some episodes - in one episode he was seen enjoying a musical concert by moonbase personnel, and in another episode he was depicted as finishing a jigsaw puzzle in record time. He occasionally made clear mistakes of judgement - in the episode "War Games", for example, he ordered a preemptive attack on a squadron of alien ships, an attack which had devastating consequences for the moonbase - but in the end he always seemed to find ways to help the base survive to another day. Over the course of the first season he slowly developed a romantic relationship with Dr. Russell, although they often displayed little public affection, perhaps due to the constant crises and strain everyone faced. In private, however, their relationship did reveal that a genuine bond had developed. In the episode "Dragon's Domain", Koenig's friend Tony Cellini was able to prove that his story about a deadly monster eating his crew on the Ultra Probe was true; the armada of deserted alien spaceships floated near the Moon and an examination showed the Ultra Probe docked with an alien ship, just as Cellini had said. Unfortunately, Cellini was so desperate to prove his story and redeem himself that he stole an Eagle and flew to the Ultraprobe, where he tried fighting the monster with an axe (the monster was immune to laser fire). Koenig was able to arrive and kill the monster, but not before his close friend was eaten alive.

eason Two

In an effort to make the characters more lively and entertaining, the show's producers deliberately altered Koenig's character in the second season. Although still a forceful, no-nonsense leader, Koenig also displayed a lighter, more humorous side to his personality, and his relationship with Dr. Russell became more open and affectionate, even flirtatious. As the second season was more action-oriented, Koenig also had more chances to display his fighting and combat skills in the second season.

References