The Secret Empire
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The Secret Empire |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | |
| Date(s): | February 27 and May 1, 1979 |
| Medium: | Television |
| Country of Origin: | USA |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Secret Empire was a very short-lived television series that aired between February 27 and May 1, 1979.
It was one of three serialized stories in a show called "Cliffhangers." The other two serials were "Stop Susan Williams" and "The Curse of Dracula."
Each serial was twenty-minutes long, and ended upon a cliffhanger. "Secret Empire" was filmed for nine days and then was aired over three weeks in twenty-minute segments. [1]
"The Secret Empire" was a close remake of a 1935 movie serial called "The Phantom Empire," which included Gene Autry, the singing cowboy. "The Secret Empire," however, has no singing.
It is a science fiction show that takes place in the 1880s in Wyoming. In it, a US Marshal investigates the theft of gold, and he stumbles upon the futuristic underground city of Chimera. This city is run by aliens, including Emperor Thorval. Thorvald was portrayed by Mark Lenard.
The scenes on the surface were sepia-toned, while the scenes in Chimera were shown in color.
Another storytelling choice: "The Secret Empire" begins with chapter three, which means that taking into account this numbering, fanworks appear to begin at chapter fifteen.
Many fans were interested in this show due to Mark Lenard's previous roles as The Romulan Commander and Sarek from Star Trek: TOS, Urko from Planet of the Apes, and Aaron Stempel from Here Come the Brides made his fans eager to create stories, poems, and art, almost all of which appeared in the zine series, Despatch.
The show was canceled, and the last two installments of "The Secret Empire" were never shown in the United States. They were later, however, shown overseas, but these last two bits were likely not widely available to most fans. Around September 1979, the editor of Lenard's fan club publication, Despatch, reported what he had told her about the final episodes:
NOW, about the end to Cliffhangers that never aired, Mark had been told that it would. And it didn't. And we're all miffed. He tried to find the script for the last episode, but it got shuffled around at [his] home. He did say that Thorval does NOT die, and that his brother, Demeter, is crowned as leader of the underground village. Thorval and cronies make an escape to space.
Anyone in Europe may eventually get to see the entire sequence of "Secret Empire” shows uninterrupted, since Universal, which owns the property, is releasing it as a full length feature abroad. Sigh. But domestically, the situation looks grim. We can suggest that anyone who did follow the show and who would like to see the end aired write NBC and Fred Silverman at NBC... Two episodes of "Secret Empire” went unaired. [2]
Mark Lenard: Some Anecdotes
Lenard described working on the set in a Q&A in Despatch #41:
WHAT WAS IT LIKE, WORKING WITH THE LITTLE BOY? [Billy]:
The boy was OK. He meant well. He, he tried. Well, he was all right. Everything, the fellow...there were a lot of very nice people on it. Everybody was very kind of encouraging. There were never any, big competitions, or ill feeling on that show. We were all kind of struggling together. It was sort of interesting, because there were so many people on it, you know? They had the western thing, and then, this other thing.
DID THEY HAVE DIFFERENT AREAS OF THE STUDIO FOR IT?
Of course, they had it on a different stage with the west,...and then the western people went out different places, and they went to this, this garbage treatment plant...And when they walked, you know, knee-deep in that stuff, they went to some, water treatment plant; and then they went to the Long Beach Convention Center. And they’d go out to the rocks, or something.
... I had this beautiful stuff that you never saw, this -— pantsuit -— whatever it was, and then that beautiful cape...and you hardly ever saw it either. Only thing I had to do was remember... I had four rings, and...on different fingers, and I had to remember which ...Well, the continuity girl was supposed to keep track of that, too... And which way they were turned, and all that. One was kind of like the Hope Diamond. They're...somewhere... in costume jewelry at Universal.
[...]
I have this beautiful velvet robe — with gold — and my velvet cape that I had on but the robe went over my lap, so there was nothing you could see.... The shoes were terrible tight, when I first got them, I tried to get them to get some new ones, and they never did. But they kept stretching these. And finally, one was so, so, (chuckling heartily at the memory) so big, I couldn't even keep it on! But they were made of gold and everything, and you couldn't even see them....
There was one scene where my, where, my erstwhile brother....See, I was supposed to have taken his throne away from him...he returns... What happens is he returns to fight with the guerrillas and they defeat me, at some point or other, and, they have a coronation. And so, the script called for him to be in his coronation robes. And they made another one of these capes, like mine, only, in a kind of dark, red velvet. Beautiful! Beautiful thing. Cost twelve hundred dollars. It was 30 seconds on the screen. That's all they ever used it. Then they didn't even show it!
Sample Fanworks
- A Pleasant Journey to Chimera, Or How to Emotionally Charge a Despicable Torture Scene ("Dedicated to the noble Emperor Thorval by an ex-torturee") poem, not credited (Despatch #37, January/April 1979)
- The REAL Secret of the the Secret Empire, poem by Susan Wyllie (Despatch #37, January/April 1979)
- A Little Advice for the Emperor, poem by Elaine Norwood (Despatch #38, May 1979)
- Nursery Rhymes from the Secret Empire, fiction by Slugger aka Gail Saville (Despatch #39, August 1979)
- Secret Empire, Chapter 15: Plan of Justice, fiction by Slugger aka Gail Saville (Despatch #39, August 1979)
- The Network Man, poem by Susan Wyllie (Despatch #39, August 1979)
- You Missed the Last Episode, So..., poem by Craig Nelms (Despatch #39, August 1979)
- Secret Empire, Chapter 16: Dance of Death, fiction by Slugger aka Gail Saville (Despatch #40, Oct/Nov/Dec 1979)
- The Secret Empire — Seeds Of Betrayal Chapter 17, fiction by Slugger aka Gail Saville (Despatch #41, May 1980)
- The Secret Empire: Chapter 18: Web of Intrigue, fiction by Slugger aka Gail Saville (Despatch #42, April 1980)
- The Secret Empire: chapter 19: Dawn of Truth, fiction by Slugger aka Gail Savill (Despatch #43, August 1980)
- The Secret Empire: chapter 20 (conclusion): Sunrise on an Empire by Slugger aka Gail Saville (Despatch #44, December 1980)
from Despatch #37
from Despatch #37
from Despatch #40, artist is Mary Stacy-MacDonald, portrays Thorval and Tara
Fan Comments
I hope some of the members can come up with fiction on "The Secret Empire. " It was a good show and had a lot of promise.[3]
Further Reading
- Cliffhangers: The Secret Empire (Television Obscurities. Keeping Obscure TV From Fading Away Forever) (February 15th, 2005)