“The Whispering Sea” – preparation & reading

[Steve Foster]

Following the arrival of this long awaited novel set within Year 2, I set myself up ready for immersion into that era of the series once again by doing the following:

I put on the Year 2 2 CD Soundtrack released by Fanderson a few years ago (now sold out, as is the Year 1 version – which I would pay A LOT OF MONEY to own by the way!).

I played the late Derrick Wadsworth’s complete score for “The Metamorph” through from start to finish. I then opened a bottle of red wine, and played the Year 2 Opening Titles on my DVD player… and then began reading.

Why didn’t I watch “The Metamorph” on DVD rather than just listening to Wadsworth’s wonderful and unforgettable soundtrack? Good question. The whole point of a Powys Novel written in Year 2 is to evoke ones memories of this era as well as to tell an entirely new story that fits seemlessly between two of that season’s best episodes. I used the music to evoke my memories of the story (which I haven’t watched for a while) and all the emotions that come with it. The Year 2 opening titles on DVD I watched to awaken that sense of utter, UTTER excitement that I had as a kid in the late 70’s/early 80’s when a new episode of [b]SPACE: 1999[/b] came onscreen on Saturday morning’s in London.

And then I started reading the book… and it has so far, proven to be an absolute joy! The characterisations are absolutely spot on, but deepened in a way that only a novel can do. There’s a scene, where Koenig, Helena and Maya step out of the Travel Tube onto Alpha… and both Helena and John place their arms through Maya’s in a protective gesture. I could just… see the scene onscreen, in my mind. I was very moved by Maya’s first few hours on Alpha.

I knew I would love this novel. I didn’t realise just how much though. It is utterly wonderful.

If you can’t see the good in Year 2 or the Maya character after reading this, then you must be a very hard hearted person indeed. I would love to hear Catherine Schell’s thoughts on this novel. Personally? I just wish this story had been filmed. It’s THAT good!

Thank you to everyone at Powys, to Bill, and to the genius that is John Kenneth Muir. I am just so happy to own this book at last. I am savouring every word and paragraph.

[b]SPACE: 1999[/b] does indeed live at Powys Media – John, Helena, Tony, Maya, Bill Fraser, Sandra, Alibe, Professor Bergman, Mentor, Ben Vincent… all these wonderful characters, bought alive again in new, fascinating and extremely well written stories.

MORE PLEASE! :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

[Simon Morris]

For me, Derek Wadsworth’s score was the absolute highpoint of the second series.

Considering how poor some episodes were ([i]The Beta Cloud[/i] springs readily to mind…) I think he single handedly made some of them actually worth sitting through just for the music alone.

Simon

[Anonymous]

So, the other day I watched “The Seance Spectre” to remind myself of the feel of Y2 (I haven’t seen that one as often as some of the other episodes). And then I put on Pye Corner Audio’s Black Mill Tapes Volumes 1-4 (retro atmospheric electronic music) and started reading The Whispering Sea. And it was a darn good time. The Forsaken was probably the best Powysverse novel thus far, and this one came close. Solid characterization, an interesting setting, and a good, well-paced story. How about not waiting 11 years for his next contribution?

[Author]

Posts