Space 1999: Review: The Beta Cloud
The whole setup is pure chaos from the jump. A mysterious, sentient space cloud drifts over Moonbase Alpha and unleashes a weird wave of illness that completely knocks out almost the entire crew, including Commander Koenig. This leaves just a handful of personnel, mainly Tony Verdeschi and the resident alien shape-shifter Maya, to defend the entire base from whatever the cloud is planning next.
What makes this episode so memorable is the creature the cloud sends down to do its dirty work. It’s this massive, brute of a monster whose sole mission is to break into the base and steal the life-support core. To be fair, the creature costume is definitely a product of its time—essentially a guy in a bulky, heavily padded suit, but it actually works because the monster is just an unstoppable force. It does not talk or try to negotiate; it just shrugs off laser blasts, smashes through heavy doors, and throws the security team around like ragdolls.
Since most of the heavy hitters are stuck in the medical bay, it is up to Maya to carry the action, and she absolutely steals the show. This episode really utilizes her Psychon shape-shifting abilities in a creative way. Instead of just trying to match the monster’s strength, she alternates between different animal forms to outsmart it. The absolute highlight of the whole thing has to be the climax, where she turns into a bumblebee, flies straight into the monster’s ear, and starts messing up its internal circuitry because it turns out the beast is actually a robot. It is campy as anything, but you cannot help but respect how clever it is.
Overall, this one might not be the deepest or most philosophical episode Space: 1999 ever produced, but it is easily one of the most entertaining hours of the second season. It leans heavily into the more action-oriented, monster-of-the-week style that the show adopted later in its run, trading the slow, eerie tension of the first season for pure sci-fi fun. If you can appreciate the vintage special effects and the over-the-top 70s vibe, it is a great watch that showcases exactly why Maya was such a game-changer for the series.