"Mission of the Darians" is the ninth episode of the first series of Space: 1999. The screenplay was written by Johnny Byrne; the director was Ray Austin. The original title was "Mission of the Darya". The final shooting script is dated 7 January 1975. Live-action filming took place Friday 10 January 1975 through Friday 24 January 1975.
Story
Emergency...emergency...this is the commander of the spaceship Daria. A major catastrophe has occurred... Having detected an alien distress signal, the Main Mission staff listens to the sombre appeal. The voice of the alien commander tells how large areas of his ship are devastated, with thousands dead and hundreds sick and dying. The signal ends with a plea for immediate aid—then is revealed to be an automated transmission when it loops back to the beginning. The vessel, drifting close to the Moon's trajectory, measures twenty miles long by five miles wide. While John Koenig marvels that each deck measures one hundred square miles, the instruments register life signs.
The Commander opts to mount a humanitarian mission, selecting personnel to assess the medical, scientific and material needs of the aliens. Eagle One is loaded with relief supplies and lifts off from Moonbase Alpha. They circle the immense vessel, unable to perceive any recognisable docking structures—until they are snared by a force-beam. All systems are smothered as the beam pulls the ship in and docks it at an airlock. Efforts to restart the motors fail, as do attempts to contact Alpha or the aliens. The rescue party is effectively trapped.
On-board instruments show the Darian ship contains a breathable atmosphere and a functioning power source. Communications are inhibited by weak levels of atomic radiation saturating the ship's structure. The life signs are confirmed, and Koenig and company disembark. However, no one is there to greet them. They enter a dilapidated reception area accessed by two opposing corridors. Hoping to encounter the ship's inhabitants, Koenig sets off with Victor Bergman down one corridor, sending Paul Morrow and Alan Carter into the other.
Helena Russell and Security guard Bill Lowry remain behind. An examination of the area reveals a hatch blocked by rubble; when opened, it reveals a third corridor. Their investigation is interrupted when two tattered dwarves emerge from the hidden passage. Male and female, they are mute and panicked. The male hides in the Eagle while the female attempts to communicate using frantic gestures. The nature of the mutes' fear becomes apparent when a brutish man springs from around the corner and viciously clubs Lowry unconscious.
Koenig and Bergman have hiked miles down their corridor without seeing a soul. They are suddenly blinded by the light of hand-torches, held by two Darians fully encased in silver radiation suits. As Koenig and Bergman lower their weapons, the Darians raise their own and gun down the two Alphans. During this, Morrow and Carter encounter increasing damage as they proceed. Eventually, the corridor is completely obstructed, forcing them to turn back. Returning to the airlock, they find the area deserted...until discovering the terrified male mute hiding in the Eagle.
Finding the open hatch of the third corridor, the Alphan men convince the dwarf to show them where the others went. Up ahead, a tribe of savages drag Helena, Lowry and the female mute to their camp, a settlement on the edge of a vast, overgrown arboretum. These Darians resemble futuristic cave-people—filthy, with unkempt hair and rotten teeth, wearing garments of homespun mixed with synthetic fabrics and adorned with accessories fashioned from technological items. There are no elderly or infirm members in the group. The brutish man is their chief, Hadin, who orders the prisoners secured in what was once a laboratory module.
In another area of the ship, Koenig awakens in a tastefully appointed rest chamber to find himself under the scrutiny of a strikingly beautiful woman. She apologises for the assault, but Koenig and Bergman were intruding. Introducing herself as Kara, the vessel's Director of Reconstruction, she tells him the plight of her people. The distress signal was triggered 900 years ago, when all but one of their nuclear reactors exploded. Most of the vessel was heavily damaged. Thousands survived the explosions, but fell victim to the radiation. Out of 50,000 Darians, only the fourteen in the command area were shielded from the catastrophe. As Koenig boggles over the magnitude of the disaster, Kara states this chance encounter could be vital to their survival.