Forgotten Heroes: Space 1999’s Maya

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Copyright Gerry Anderson

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

Apart from Deep Space 9’s Odo, there has always been a much more exciting and enticing shapeshifter for me. No disrespect to the late René Auberjonois but she is also much more pretty to look at.

In the second season of Space 1999, the revamp included the introduction of a resident alien to ramp up the sci fi factor. Maya was to be a regular on the show ala Spock on Star Trek. Played by Catherine Schell, Maya was introduced in the first episode the Metamorph. Her father, Mentor (Brian Blessed) was ruler of their dying world Psychon, who had a secret he kept from everyone. He would lure travellers down to the surface or kidnap them and feed their minds to the biological machine, Psyche. This kept Psychon stable but the unwilling victims were left husks, zombies that toiled in the mines digging out the metals necessary to maintain the machine below the city far away from prying eyes.

When Moonbase Alpha is in dire need of Titanium, they locate it on Psychon, a seemingly lifeless planet but the survey Eagle is captured. Commander John Koenig (Martin Landau) finds himself facing Mentor who seems so inviting and welcoming. To get his people back they agree to meet in space. But it’s a trap and they find themselves in line to be fed to Pysche.

Maya was taught the power of molecular transformation by Mentor and the first creature we see her as is a lion. In the space of the first episode we see change into a dog, a dove and gorilla. When her father’s evil deeds are exposed and Psychon is destroyed, Maya is forced to leave the exploding Psychon to make a new life with the Alphans.

Her advanced knowledge and skills make her a vital part of the crew and she assumes the role of base science officer. Maya also quickly becomes romantically involved with Koenig’s right hand man and security chief Tony Verdeschi (Tony Anholt). As the last of her kind, Maya is delighted when they discover there is another from her species alive and well, Dorzak. Maya remembers him as a poet and philosopher but he is now being held as prisoner by an alien race. They offered Dorzak sanctuary but he used his mental powers to turn a peaceful people into murderous savages under his control. Dorzak is a psychopath the defeat of whom leaves Maya feeling more isolated than ever before.

This is an aspect of the character that is barely touched upon in the second season. What does it mean to be the last of one’s species? What are the implications if she breeds with Tony? Would her half human offspring be able to learn the power of transformation? In the classic Bringers Of Wonder, an expedition party from Earth arrives consisting of friends and family ready to take them all back to Earth. Maya feels uncomfortable meeting them as it is suddenly real that she will have to live her life on Earth. At least on Alpha she has the chance of finding other of her species and maybe a home that closely resembles Psychon. She loves Tony and she is equally loved by the rest of the Moonbase personnel. But her feline features are a constant reminder that she is different. However there may be another reason for that. In the Rules of Luton, she reveals to Koenig that she has a brother and that when they learned Psychon was dying, he and a thousand others headed off into space to find a new home.

While on Alpha there is the chance she could find them but not if she were to go back to Earth. As the Dorcons believe Maya is the last one, the other Psychons may well be hidden or far enough away to escape the Dorcon threat. If the Alphans did find them, would Maya stay with them or Tony? So much untapped potential for future stories.

While Maya can turn into any creature she can see, her shape shifting ability was always a highlight of an episode to see what she becomes in that particular story. While we see her as Earth animals or other people, she becomes a variety of aliens that can hurt and maim. In the episode Space Warp. she has a dangerous fever which leaves her powers running wild. She becomes her father and is driven to go home to Psychon. This shows the dangerous side to her ability as she becomes bigger and more powerful creatures to get home. One looks like a cross between a bull and a gorilla and it takes a lot to bring her down. She is a liability to herself in this shape as she can kill herself quite easily.

Indeed not all changes are pleasant as she discovers in Bringers of Wonder when she changes into one of protoplasmic aliens trying to kill them all. In All That Glisters, Maya assumes the rock life form and is almost absorbed by it when it locks her into its form as she tried to change back to escape its grip. We also get to see the playful side of Maya when Tony, who is desperately trying to brew great tasting beer gets her to taste his latest sample. She turns into Doctor Jekyll to show what she thinks of it.

As the last Psychon, Maya has a target on her back. The Taybor wants her for his collection while the biggest danger comes from the Dorcons. Mentor may have had good reason to hide below the surface of Psychon. When the Dorcons locate Maya aboard Alpha they cripple the base demanding they hand Maya over to them. She is terrified of them knowing what is coming and despite their assurances she tells them they cannot stand against them. She begs her friends to kill her to spare her the fate the Dorcons intend for her. The Dorcons are the most powerful of species with shape shifting spaceships who have hunted Psychons for centuries. The only force they cannot control is death and by surgically removing a Psychon’s brain stem, they can. The Dorcon’s brain stems stop functioning at a certain age but by replacing it with a Psychon’s they will live forever. In this case it is for their leader played by the second Doctor Who Patrick Troughton. Of course, John Koenig finds a way to save her helped in no small part by the Dorcon’s internal squabbling ,meaning they will die naturally with no more Psychons to feed on. They are also the only species that can prevent Maya changing form.

While we know she and Tony love each other, in New Adam and New Eve, God or an alien scientist claiming to be God kidnaps Maya, Tony, John and Helena Russell in order to repopulate a new world. There he decrees that John and Maya mate to create the perfect beings encompassing the best of both of them while Helena and Tony will equally comply. But his petri dish is smashed freeing them all.

Now it would appear, unlike Odo whose every component is made from his liquid goo, Maya is able to affect her clothes and any object she is touching too. When Tony is attacked by a mind controlled Alphan, Maya changes into a Kendo warrior and her pen becomes a stick to defend herself with. Like the 70s Bruce Banner whose eyes turn white when he is about to Hulk out, similarly we see the creature Maya is about to change into reflected in her eyes. Together with a sound effect it was an effective tool to signify shit was about to go down.

Maya will forever be a sci fi character that lives on in the minds of fans. Indeed I still have my Space 1999 annual which features her in comic strip adventures. Why does it seem to be that shortsighted television executives cut down so many good shows just as they are taking off? Now the likes of Maya are in the land of ‘what could have been’ and can only be enjoyed on Blu-ray and streaming.