A Sound of Thunder: The Rise of the Soviet Superbooster

[TheKutKu]

Very good update

This is a Hermes that will be a lot more likely to result in flying hardware; Europeanising it 2 years earlier is huge, considering the potential deadline of German reunification restricting budget (and while this may be uncertain what's more certain is that Gorbachev means lower soviet military spending and lower western spending meaning peace dividends and huge change in the aerospace industry), a lot more can be done on higher budgets.
"Merging" our MTFF and Colombus is also huge, since servicing the MTFF was Hermes' primary mission and its cancellation was one of the main event leading to its end, here cancelling it means cancelling the bulk of the German and Italian contribution to ESA's inhabited programs.

About Hermes, I'd expect some possible changes
1) Different Challenger will change the imperative of launch escape systems (which was an unsolved issue by the cancellation of the program), I doubt anything more than ejector seats get studied there. The main scenario will probably be an emergency landing, and so maybe not even stratospheric abort capabilities.

2) Without a main mission to our "Freedom", or there Skylab B, the docking system will be sized for Columbus and possibly Zarya, and so be smaller; this was a main issue IRL, since sizing Hermes's docking port for Freedom caused the move of the docking port to the Hermes Ressorce Module, and a tricky docking arrangement. Here it'll probably be integrated with the Spaceplane.

3) IRL, CNES, Aerospatiale contacted NPO Molniya in 1992 to share information and study potential cooperations over Hermes and MAKS. Following this, and taking advantage of Molniya's vast experience with BOR and Buran, they came to a few interesting conclusions, most notably that the wing area of Hermes was overestimated and the spaceplane could be flown with a smaller one, this is important since wing area was a direct limitation of Hermes' inline position atop the Ariane 5, and by itself directly limited the landing mass, which was one of the main causes for the creation of the expendable ressource module and the progressive shifting of more and more systems to it. CNES also was particularly interested in MAKS' nose shape, the presence of cameras for landing, and especially MAKS' variable geometry wings (something that TTL Molniya has more experience of) for potential application on Hermes. While these conclusions may not be shared ITTL by ESA and Dassault (the later being usually... protective of its airframe designs), they may lead to some changes to Hermes' high level design. To the extreme, a return to variable geometry wings (which were first considered by Dassault, as part of the company's experience with the Mirage G, and its Transporteur Aerospatial studies of the 60s, but quickly dismissed early during the spaceplane's development) may be possible.

Earlier ESA Cooperation with Japan is a very good idea and a huge missed opportunity IRL

 

[Bahamut-255]

IIRC the OTL Hermes reached 23,000 Kg, which combined with soaring costs, and the need to reduce the ESA budget due to Germany absorbing the cost of reunification and the economic downturn in the early 1990's, made the programme financially - and politically IMHO - untenable. Even with a seemingly earlier start, and Japan's NASDA adding their support to Columbus/Hermes plus a Cargo Ship to help support it, I can't help but feel the chances of this panning out are not great.

Would still be great if they could secure Independent Manned Access to Space, it would - in combination with Columbus - at the very least, force them to be treated as a more senior partner than ITOL from where I stand.

 

[Nell_Lucifer]

What if there's no reunification TTL? From what I remember reading the topic or well, wish for reunification by the East Germans was not their foremost thought, and the protesters who really wanted it were in the minority. Though they started rolling sixes, the wish spread to other groups and the rest is history.

 

[Garrison]

What if there's no reunification TTL? From what I remember reading the topic or well, wish for reunification by the East Germans was not their foremost thought, and the protesters who really wanted it were in the minority. Though they started rolling sixes, the wish spread to other groups and the rest.

If I remember what happened in 1989 correctly a very poorly worded public statement on opening up the border led people in East Germany to think the borders were being thrown open with immediate effect, triggering a snowball effect that they couldn't stop short of gunning down the people climbing on the Berlin Wall. A more cautious line from Moscow that made the Warsaw Pact countries more resistant to the protest movements, or just a clearer statement of intent by the DDR could delay reunification for quite some time. As you say the West Germans were in favour of reunification in theory, the last thing they wanted was to take on the burden of doing it in practice.

 

[Nell_Lucifer]

If I remember what happened in 1989 correctly a very poorly worded public statement on opening up the border led people in East Germany to think the borders were being thrown open with immediate effect, triggering a snowball effect that they couldn't stop short of gunning down the people climbing on the Berlin Wall. A more cautious line from Moscow that made the Warsaw Pact countries more resistant to the protest movements, or just a clearer statement of intent by the DDR could delay reunification for quite some time. As you say the West Germans were in favour of reunification in theory, the last thing they wanted was to take on the burden of doing it in practice.

It also doesn't help that the West Germans, and I think a sizeable portion of them still do, viewed the East Germans as poor cousins at best and uneducated/uncultured workers at worst. It is possible that the reunification is pushed to the 2000s or later, giving East Germany time to get up on their feet, economically speaking, avoiding the mass unemployment and closure of various industries when the Western companies came in.

 

[Garrison]

Other possibility for a longer lived USSR/Warsaw Pact is no coup attempt by the hardliners in the USSR.

 

[RanulfC]

IIRC the OTL Hermes reached 23,000 Kg, which combined with soaring costs, and the need to reduce the ESA budget due to Germany absorbing the cost of reunification and the economic downturn in the early 1990's, made the programme financially - and politically IMHO - untenable. Even with a seemingly earlier start, and Japan's NASDA adding their support to Columbus/Hermes plus a Cargo Ship to help support it, I can't help but feel the chances of this panning out are not great.

Would still be great if they could secure Independent Manned Access to Space, it would - in combination with Columbus - at the very least, force them to be treated as a more senior partner than ITOL from where I stand.

That weight itself was a major issue because all "small" spaceplanes are very dependent on lower weight to allow a plausible heat shield to be installed. Unlike capsules (which is essentially the point) your heating pulse is going to be longer and a heavier spacecraft therefore needs a heavier TPS which in turn means more weight.

There are ways around this but those preclude the terms "cheap" or "easy" when applied to a spacecraft which is of course another problem.
For example you can get away with an 'active' heat dissipation system such as transpiration cooling but that adds a requirement for keeping the cooling fluid a fluid on-orbit and during operations and adding 'dead-weight' that has to be launched with the rest of the vehicle. As per usual it's very much a trade off and it's very easy as the complication (and costs) grow you may head down a dead-end path and have to start all over. (The inevitable weight creep is especially unforgiving in this regard)

Randy

 

[Ry01tank]

If I remember what happened in 1989 correctly a very poorly worded public statement on opening up the border led people in East Germany to think the borders were being thrown open with immediate effect, triggering a snowball effect that they couldn't stop short of gunning down the people climbing on the Berlin Wall. A more cautious line from Moscow that made the Warsaw Pact countries more resistant to the protest movements, or just a clearer statement of intent by the DDR could delay reunification for quite some time. As you say the West Germans were in favour of reunification in theory, the last thing they wanted was to take on the burden of doing it in practice.

The news anchor said he misread the statement about negotiations starting to allow people to cross the border (or something government-wordy along this line). He said "Border crossing is allowed" when asked when, he said immediately

Reunification was not supported by the UK and French governments, West Germany was already an economic superpower in the European Continent, and adding the other part would just make the economy bigger (my dad jokes that Germany won in the end), to the people's reunification was popular, that's why it happened immediately, especially since East Germany WANTED it (the people and some in the government(
Keeping both separate would be nigh impossible

It also doesn't help that the West Germans, and I think a sizeable portion of them still do, viewed the East Germans as poor cousins at best and uneducated/uncultured workers at worst. It is possible that the reunification is pushed to the 2000s or later, giving East Germany time to get up on their feet, economically speaking, avoiding the mass unemployment and closure of various industries when the Western companies came in.

A lot of countries have weird groups or states, Canada has Quebec, which tries hard to be different but stay (to the point where independence isn't actually independent and wants Canadian funds),
The US is entirely split into urban and Rural states, Democrats hold cities, and Republicans hold rural and industrial states and districts, one is people who primarily are educated, the others barely finish high school

I know a few Germans who don't have issues with the East, the issue is more due to how the Soviet system ingrained different things into the culture, like how the Nazi's weren't the people's fault (West Germany and today Germany teach the collective guilt), the West is more westernized, with more service and office jobs then industrial, while the East Germany parts are still lagging due to 40 years of Communism, as a result, it has more industry and uneducated workers
after all, you don't need a degree to make steel, farm, or work in a blue-collar job, (this is the same in the US)

A later reunification would be better in terms of the total economy, the issue is that popular support for reunification beat out separatism, in a case where the GDR is independent and turned capitalist and successful (this only happens if reunification is that unpopular, which in this case means the split sticks), or the Soviet Union would have to be different, Gorbachev reforming but having an iron grip on media and satellite countries

German reunification was like a boulder rolling down a hill, it will go over a few bumps but nothing will stop it

 

[WotanArgead]

while the East Germany parts are still lagging due to 40 years of Communism, as a result, it has more industry and uneducated workers
after all,

Much of East Germany's economic problems are the result of the "restoration of capitalism" - the collapse of industry as a result of privatization and "optimization", the degradation of education, and rising unemployment. There are reasons why "populist" (anti-mainstream) parties are so popular.

like how the Nazi's weren't the people's fault (West Germany and today Germany teach the collective guilt)

Here is the trick - the GDR authorities built their identity on the glorification of anti-fascist resistance and identifying themselves with it. At the same time, it cannot be said that there was no reflection on this topic - in the film Ich war neunzehn, Soviet and German characters often ask the question - how did this happen and what to do next? Let us also not forget that "collective repentance" became official policy decades after Germany's liberation from Nazism.

turned capitalist and successful

Why so specific?

 

[JamesHunter]

Much of East Germany's economic problems are the result of the "restoration of capitalism" - the collapse of industry as a result of privatization and "optimization", the degradation of education, and rising unemployment. There are reasons why "populist" (anti-mainstream) parties are so popular.

Here is the trick - the GDR authorities built their identity on the glorification of anti-fascist resistance and identifying themselves with it. At the same time, it cannot be said that there was no reflection on this topic - in the film Ich war neunzehn, Soviet and German characters often ask the question - how did this happen and what to do next? Let us also not forget that "collective repentance" became official policy decades after Germany's liberation from Nazism.

Why so specific?

TBF the only post Society country that almost immediately did well at capitalism was the Czech Republic and that was probably down to the normalisation era emphasis on consumer goods meaning they had something to sell. Fixing the other economies was a long hard slog and I doubt an independent GDR would have any easier time of things, although with out the west German's dictating things they might be able to transition without the complete collapse of the old industries that happened OTL.

 

[Ry01tank]

Much of East Germany's economic problems are the result of the "restoration of capitalism" - the collapse of industry as a result of privatization and "optimization", the degradation of education, and rising unemployment. There are reasons why "populist" (anti-mainstream) parties are so popular.

Populist parties are becoming more mainstream now, Republicans and Democrats in the US fit that bill

A lot of those issues couldn't be helped, privatization will always fuck things up early on going from a state-owned business to a privately owned company, education is the government's issue, and funding has become hard across the world as the workers who fill the jobs have expensive costs (60-100k CDN here, including full benefits for worker and family). The unemployment and factories shutting down is primarily due to globalization, Germany makes a lot of higher-tech stuff, but when it comes to basic things like steel or other low-cost items the manufacturing usually goes overseas

This manufacturing exodus from Western countries is a huge reason why some people hate Globalization

Here is the trick - the GDR authorities built their identity on the glorification of anti-fascist resistance and identifying themselves with it. At the same time, it cannot be said that there was no reflection on this topic - in the film Ich war neunzehn, Soviet and German characters often ask the question - how did this happen and what to do next? Let us also not forget that "collective repentance" became official policy decades after Germany's liberation from Nazism.

Collective repentance was mostly in the West and then in United Germany, the GDR didn't teach the repentance to the same effect, its why most German Neo Nazi groups are in the east

Why so specific?

Communism has all kinds of inefficiencies when it comes to the whole economy, the growth comes from artificial means, not normal capitalist growth
The Soviets had the issue that their outputs were wasting inputs, factories were run inefficiently due to labor managers being smartly lazy, make enough to fill the quota but not enough that the next one is bigger than this one.

The Nazis had this issue as well, as the arms industry was state-owned there were all kinds of committees and beurocrats making quick decisions slow as heck, Albert Speer streamlined it by making it capitalist over planned, as a result, production skyrocketed, even during the strategic bombing the production improved (until the bombings got better), sadly slave labor was used after a while due to the men being conscripted and Hilter refusing to let woman work in factories
(Speer basically incentivized the businesses to do better)

When there is an incentive to improve production, production improves, when there is none, production stagnates, its why the US manufacturing industry was so good from the 40s to the 80s, the factories only shut down due to China's cheap labor, and cars being built in Mexico as labor is cheap and you don't have to have worker benefits (NAFTA was dumb in that regard)
The Soviet Union was also effective in WW2 due to incentivizing production, the factory managers had to do it or they would be shot, thats why the T-34 had no rubber on its wheels, lights, door seals, a shitty optic except the gunner, and engines that were replaced before every major offensive. Stalin personally called the manager of a IL-2 Sturmovik factory that wasn't meeting quotas how important the planes were to the war effort, as a result the factory drastically improved production

TBF the only post Society country that almost immediately did well at capitalism was the Czech Republic and that was probably down to the normalisation era emphasis on consumer goods meaning they had something to sell. Fixing the other economies was a long hard slog and I doubt an independent GDR would have any easier time of things, although with out the west German's dictating things they might be able to transition without the complete collapse of the old industries that happened OTL.

I knew three people who lived in Czech, compared to the Soviet Union they had more freedoms, and western stuff was easier to get ahold of, but still, the consumer goods were basic at best, the three said that going to the store for food was basically "bread and milk", with "meat" being picked clean by the people who were first. From what they said basically the privatization was done slowly over time, instead of all at once, that was why it didn't suffer that much (not to mention its a small country)

No matter what the GDR economy would have had issues, it comes from privatization and all that fun economic shit, but the main issue is the government cannot order people to that extent, the collapse was due to the lack of capital and new foreign competition, overnight the GDR wasn't competitive and did not have the business people with experience who could navigate the change
As i said before, if the GDR somehow remained independent, it would outright require both sides to NOT WANT REUNIFICATION, if the GDR remained independent it likely would never rejoin the FGR

To answer both finally
The privatization of the communist bloc was unprecedented in history, the collapse and quick independence made nearly all the countries suffer for a while, alot of the socio-economic issues that pop up today are a result of the people in the past not knowing what would happen with 20/20 hindsight. The GDR would have had issues regardless.

The biggest issue was that the Soviet bloc acted like its own closed economy compared to the rest of the world, exports usually didn't go overseas except to communist-aligned countries and groups. Basically internally competitive while externally on life support. When the Union and bloc collapsed ALL these countries were now on the global market, and as a result weren't competitive, as a result, the businesses collapsed and industry vanished. Russia today is oligarchical due to the collapse resulting in high crime and an economic disaster, its why Putin is so popular, under his leadership Russia kinda fixed itself (not the oligarchy part). to Russia democracy was a disaster as the time from 91-Putin was basically armageddon compared to the rest of its history, its why authoritarianism is still a thing there

 

[Nell_Lucifer]

A lot of those issues couldn't be helped, privatization will always fuck things up early on going from a state-owned business to a privately owned company, education is the government's issue, and funding has become hard across the world as the workers who fill the jobs have expensive costs (60-100k CDN here, including full benefits for worker and family). The unemployment and factories shutting down is primarily due to globalization, Germany makes a lot of higher-tech stuff, but when it comes to basic things like steel or other low-cost items the manufacturing usually goes overseas

I believe you are missing what he meant. The problem wasn't that they went from a communist economy to a capitalist one, but that the West Germans actively made the privatization efforts worse than in any other former Warsaw Pact country, killing any form of competition and forcing the East Germans to depend on Western products and services. From what I remember, the East Germans were doing better economically than the other Warsaw pact countries and had more social services (which ended after the reunification and created another plethora of problems)

 

[Ry01tank]

I believe you are missing what he meant. The problem wasn't that they went from a communist economy to a capitalist one, but that the West Germans actively made the privatization efforts worse than in any other former Warsaw Pact country, killing any form of competition and forcing the East Germans to depend on Western products and services. From what I remember, the East Germans were doing better economically than the other Warsaw pact countries and had more social services (which ended after the reunification and created another plethora of problems)

It has a lot to do with the fact it went from communist to capitalist
West Germany had 40 years' worth of innovation and change, basically becoming an economic superpower in the European continent, highly industrialized, good economic and social status. East Germany was under communism, no luxury items were produced as the leaders wanted a classless society. As a result the social programs the government gave (plus subsidies) were fucking massive, houses were cheap compared to the West, and everybody had good benefits.
But as people wanted more, it became apparent how advanced the West was compared to the East, as a result, people left for jobs in the West after reunification

East Germany had the best conditions in the bloc, but the issue is we are comparing shitty situations together, ask a person who lived under communism and the majority would say it sucked, the opportunities simply wern't there, and even the simplest luxuries were nonexistent. People left for the West in droves as there was better jobs, more luxuries, and had better opportunities and education (stuff that communism didn't teach)

The main issue is nowadays we have revisonist history which tells us situations weren't really "that bad" when they were (i have seen people argue that the Dark Ages weren't horrible to live in, when compared to today would be horrifying). While the communist system did work for a while, the issues of inefficiency, lack of innovation, and incentive basically left it falling behind compared to the West. Anyone who isn't a committed communist will say how great capitalist society was after communism in terms of the luxuries and opportunities
Oddly enough modern day Russians have nostalgia for the days of the Soviet Union, mostly due to life being more stable and Russia being a superpower and having power projected over half of Europe

Imagine it this way, living in east Germany wasn't that bad, but when you saw how much stuff people in West Germany had and the luxuries they could get cheaply, why wouldn't you want to live there. East Germany famously loved Jeans and imported tons of jeans

Communist Countries under the Soviet Union had a lot of social services and other stuff for the average worker, as the whole point of the ideology was for the worker to be happy at what he or she does (The Soviets modified it for more authoritarian leadership). West Germans had the wealth while the East didn't, as a result, western German people bought everything as they could afford to. I agree the government should have handled it better. But with the level of subsidies that the East had compared to the West meant that the Western government would essentially have a welfare state on the East, and be prohibitively expensive to operate. The subsidies would have evaporated regardless

East Germany got shitloads of investment by the government and the public, its why taxes were 5% higher in the east, people moved westwards for multitudes of reasons after unification.

This issue does not have one distict cause that can be changed to fix it. The only way for unification to not have been a huge issue was for both to remain seperate for 5-10 years while East Germany privatized and rebuilt its system and have a stable CAPITALIST economy in place (not a shattered communist one

 

[WotanArgead]

German reunification was like a boulder rolling down a hill, it will go over a few bumps but nothing will stop it

If we put aside our ideological disputes, I will note that, firstly, the very existence of Germany after the Second World War is absolutely not determined. Secondly, you did not take into account the USA and the USSR. In fact, it would have been possible to agree on the unification of Germany back in the 1940s. But here’s the point - the USSR does not want Germany to be militarized, because a militarized Germany can be taken into NATO, and then their troops will be on the Oder. And the United States wants Germany to have a strong army in any case - because if Germany is demoralized, then when the Third World War begins, the Soviet Union will be able to simply roll it out, and then it’s not far from France and it is quite possible that Europe will have to be left urgently. Until the USA and the USSR find a compromise, the GDR may exist until the present century (even if it turns into a subsidized state).

 

[Sasza]

The GDR was a political and economic corpse. Its agony can be extended for about a decade in order, for example, to harmonize the regulations with the West.

Many also forget that the GDR was richer than Poland or the Czech Republic only because it was supposed to be a showcase

 

[nixonshead]

Is the Shuttle really a complete loss? Accidents like that happen from time to time in the military and they eventually manage to repair the aircraft given enough time. Usually, prototypes and one-offs are easier to build than a whole batch and don't require a production line for it, plus, it might be cheaper given that it would be replacement parts and not a whole Shuttle from scratch. They might even sell it as a Shuttle II or autonomous rebuilt as a test bed and whatnot as a response to the Soviet autonomous Shuttle.

I've assumed damage to the structure is enough that re-certifying it for crewed spaceflight is not an option. Especially after a major incident like this, NASA is not in a mood to cut corners on crew safety.

What is the reason for the difference here from OTL? OTL the Shuttle WAS capable of remote de-orbit and landing with the needed equipment built in. OTL it only took a single cable to install this capability and it was in fact installed for the first two flights of the Orbiter. (In case something happened to the test crew so NASA could get the vehicle back and figure out what went wrong) The cable was carried uninstalled for a few more flights before the Astronaut Corps had it removed and stored.
(The ability to fly remotely was not mentioned to the public due to the AC having a requirement for the Shuttle to be manned on every flight)

Is it because the AC was even more adamant against "remote operations" due to Shuttle-C existing in TTL?

Randy

As eofpi mentioned, my information was that Shuttle never had an automated landing capability, but I'd be interested to hear if this is not the case.

Is Britain taking much of a role in the development of the new Eurospace program or has Thatcher's gutting of heavy industry basically precluded any of that in the short term?

I've assumed Thatcher is still in place with her position of not wanting to pay to fly Frenchmen. As IOTL, Britain retains a significant space industry in terms of satellite manufacturing, and is active in science programmes, but is not putting money into launchers (where Uncle Sam has them covered) or crewed spaceflight.

I would like to see Hermes fly. At the same time, however, I would prefer a TKS-type project.

I very nearly went for a TKS style approach, on the basis that it's much more acheivable, but in the end the OTL reasons for wanting a shuttle (principally technology development for French industry) seemed like they'd still hold up ITTL, especially as there is no realistic chance of ESA going to the moon anytime soon.

On East German reunification, no comment for now, other than to note that any timeline keeping two Germanies will have to overcome the problem that the Berlin Wall 'solved' in 1961, i.e. that, given the option, people tended to leave the DDR at the first opportunity.

 

[nixonshead]

Interlude: It Won‘t Be Easy​

“Couch Potato” feature, SFX Magazine issue #74, February 2001

This month the Couch Potato team are bound for The High Frontier[1], with a selection of episodes from the US cops-in-space series that ran for three seasons between 1989 and 1991. Editor Dave is joined on the couch by Jayne, Paul, and office intern Ben to see if this sci-fi twist on the ‘80s police show stands up as Miami Vice redux, or a Bergerac repeat.

Ben: So would I have seen this before?

Paul: Unlikely. No-one really watched it at the time.

Dave: It was first shown in the UK on ITV in the early-90s, basically filling time in various overnight slots. UK Gold put it on Sunday mornings around ‘98.

Ben: Oh God, it’s not another planet-of-the-quarry-pits show, is it?

Paul: Nah, this one had an American budget. So more planet-of-the-plaster-cast-caves.

Dave puts on the DVD, and starts things rolling with the pilot episode, “An Instinct for Murder”. There’s no pre-credits scene, so we’re straight into the opening titles.

Paul: It sounds like the theme from Bonanza done on a theremin.

Jayne: Trust me, it’s still a hundred times better than the theme from the original British show.

Paul: Wait, this was a remake?

Jayne: Yeah, Star Cops. It ran on BBC2 for ten episodes in 1987, before the Beeb pulled the plug[2]. Part of their general purge of sci-fi back then.

Dave: It was created by Chris Bucher, who’d worked on Blake’s Seven and Doctor Who. After it was cancelled, he sold the idea to Fox in the US. They were looking to cash in on the hype around the new moon missions. I think they were hoping for something to rival The Next Phase.

With the theremins silenced, we’re introduced to Nathaniel Spring, Chief of Police at the San Francisco Police Department, played by Eric Pierpoint. A body has just been pulled from the bay, and the police computer says it was an accident, but Spring doesn’t trust the machine. While his officers investigate, Spring gets a call from the State Department asking him to take a job as head of the new International Space Police Force. The ISPF, nick-named “Star Cops”, are tasked with solving crime in space, outside of national jurisdictions. Spring reluctantly agrees to take the job, and starts training to be a spaceman.

Ben: Did they film this bit at NASA?

Dave: Yeah. They made an effort to keep the science pretty realistic, at least in the first season. I think they had an astronaut advising them for the space scenes.

With his training montage complete, Spring heads to orbit in a sleek-looking spaceplane, which carries him onwards to the Moon.

Ben: What year is this set in?

Dave: They were never very precise. I think it was supposed to be sometime in the 2020s.

Jayne: The original show was based on a space station for the first few episodes, but the zero-gravity wire work was never convincing, so they moved it to the moon.

Ben: The models still look pretty good.

Dave: They scavenged a lot from around Hollywood. Most of the exterior of Armstrong City is built from leftovers of Lunagrad from the movie Red Moon.

Spring is met on landing by the Armstrong City Coordinator, a Brit called James Marsh, who introduces Spring to his new team.

Jayne: That’s David Caulder playing Marsh. He was Spring in Star Cops. He was by far the best actor in the original cast, so Boucher persuaded the new producers to give him a recurring role in The High Frontier.

Spring’s team is a veritable United Nations of space bobbies. Alongside fellow Yank David Sykes (played by Gary Graham), there’s a burly Russian officer, Yuri Krivenko (Elya Baskin), a young Japanese police-woman, Anna Shoun (Tamlyn Tomita), and a feisty Cuban copper, Camila Martinez (Lycia Naff).

Paul: Blimey, they went full-on PC for this one, didn’t they?

Jayne: The original also had an international team, but they used a lot of lazy stereotypes. The Americans were bombastic cowboys, the Italians were all in the mafia, the Japanese were corporate worker-drones, that sort of thing. The High Frontier wasn’t quite as bad.

Ben: None of the main cast are black, though.

Paul: Still better than New York in Friends.

As Spring settles in, it soon turns out that people are dying pretty regularly around Armstrong City, but, just like in his San Francisco case, the computers are putting it down to natural causes, in this case random space suit malfunctions.

Paul: Does no-one else think to double-check when the computers tell them it’s natural causes? “Bloke with a bullet hole in the head? Bleep! Probably a heart attack.”

Spring and the team go to work on the case, but not without some serious friction. Sykes in particular resents Spring having be brought in from the outside, and Spring confronts Martinez over some shady underworld deals she’s been involved in.

Ben: Oh yes, no racial stereotyping going on here…

Eventually, the star cops overcome their differences and discover the deaths are part of some elaborate scheme to make it look like space suits are failing so that the contract to provide them to Armstrong City can be cancelled and given to a rival. Or something.

Paul: So, what? It was all an insurance scam?

Dave: Something like that. It was never very clear to me.

Jayne: It’s pretty much a direct translation of the first episode of Star Cops. Basic 1980s techno-fear plot, with a seasoning of Corporations Are Evil.

As the theremins serenade us out, Dave reaches for the next DVD, and we jump ahead to Season 2, and the episode “Secrets in the Sand”. The opening titles have been revamped, with a number of changes to the main cast, and a more jaunty take on the theme tune. But still with theremins.

Paul: Damn, no Martinez in this season? She was hot!

Jayne: No Sykes, either. Nor Chris Boucher. He fell out with the producers and left the show. They did a major re-vamp for season 2, moving the base of the show to Mars and going for much more action-oriented stories.

Dave: Yeah, the science gets a lot more shaky from this point forward.

Along with the departures, there’s a new addition to the regular line-up: the hulking “Neo-Martian” character Dak, played by ex-wrestler Kevin Nash. His elaborate patchwork skin tone make-up is causing some confusion.

Ben: So, is this guy an alien?

Jayne: No, he’s a genetically engineered human, created to be able to survive on the surface of Mars for hours at a time.

Dave: But he’s basically the stock outsider character, exploring what it means to be human. Sort of like Spock, but without the brains.

Jayne: That, and comic relief.

The star cops are called in to a mining site where a worker has died under mysterious circumstances. The foreman accuses the gang of Neo-Martian workers of killing their Terran supervisor, but when questioned the Neo’s let slip that the mining machines have been acting strangely. The Site Director tries to deflect, claiming the death was an accident after all, but Shoun and Dak decide to investigate further.

Paul: Ah, here we are in the caves again! It’s amazing how many planets are riddled with caves, isn’t it?

As Shoun and Dak walk deeper into the network of identical plaster-cast tunnels, they are suddenly attacked by a rogue mining machine. The spinning drills and blades damage Shoun’s spacesuit, before Dak breaks the machine open with his super-strength, and stops the robot machine.

Ben: Again, that’s pretty good model work. Is that the Mole from Thunderbirds?

Dave: Definitely inspired by it, I’d say.

Quickly patching Shoun’s torn suit, the pair decide to press on deeper into the mine. Turning a final corner, they are confronted by the Site Director and a pair of Neos, standing in front of a mysterious machine. It has a metallic sheen, but a strange organic shape, and very clearly alien.

Paul: Looks like Optimus Prime took a dump.

Ben: Hold on, how did they get ahead of Shoun and Dak?

Paul: Probably just knocked a hole in the plaster to make a short-cut.

The Director is now monologuing about how his company will exploit the secrets of alien technology to make a fortune.

Paul: They’re never nice corporations, are they? Or neutral corporations?

Dave: I’m pretty sure these guys are a subsidiary of Weyland-Yutani.

Evil Corporate Guy orders the Neo workers to kill Shoun and Dak, and an extended - and pretty unconvincing - fight breaks out.

Paul: Pow! Zap! Blam!

Then a stray rock, thrown by one of the Neos, hits the alien machine, and it starts to hum and glow. The mining machinery in the cave suddenly comes to life and starts menacing the humans. Everyone runs for the tunnels, as bits of polystyrene start falling from the ceiling. Evil Corporate Guy is crushed, of course, but the rest escape, just in time to see an alien spaceship break out from the top of the mountain and fly away.

Paul: Damn, I was hoping for a tripod!

As we finish the episode, the supply of beers is starting to run low, so there’s a pause while Dave makes a quick supply run to the off-license. Not long after his return, we discover how vital it was to keep the alcohol flowing, as we jump into the final episode of season 3, and indeed the whole series, “Ad Astra”.

Ben: Hang on, this is only episode 10.

Dave: Yeah, the show got cancelled halfway through the season. The network were forcing more and more changes on the format, and the whole thing was just running out of steam.

The intro sequence has been re-vamped again, with a completely new theme tune, and lots of explosions and spaceship chases.

Paul: What happened to the theremins?!

Jayne: Not hip enough for the early-90s yoof, apparently.

Ben: We’ve lost some more of the cast, I see.

Jayne: Yes, by this point Tamlyn Tomita was the only one left from the season 1 cast.

Dave: Everyone else had seen the writing on the wall by this point.

As the episode opens, Tomita’s Shoun, now the head of the ISPF on Mars, is having a fiery confrontation with Colonel Travis (Ron Canada) of the Solar Defence Command, a new military force that has been established to defend humanity against the alien threat revealed in season 2. Apparently, the Star Cops have captured an alien in human form in the last episode, and Travis is insisting that he be handed over to the military for interrogation.

Paul: So the aliens can look just like us? That’s convenient for the make-up department.

Jayne: It was actually a pretty smart idea from a story point of view, too. It let them do a bunch of conspiracy-type stories, where you couldn’t be sure who was an alien.

Dave: Yeah, it could have become a Dark Skies type show, five years earlier, if it hadn’t been canned. Or if the writing had been any good.

While Shoun and Travis have a fascinating discussion on interplanetary jurisprudence, Dak and new character Dr. Sarah Torqueman (Carolyn Seymour) are down in the cells with the prisoner, a played by the rather handsome David Duchovny. Torqueman is trying to make telepathic contact with the prisoner, but is not having much luck reading his alien thoughts.

Ben: Wait a minute, there are telepaths now?

Dave: Don’t ask.

Meanwhile, Shoun and Travis have apparently reached a compromise. The prisoner will remain under the responsibility of the ISPF, but they will transfer with the prisoner to a secure military facility on Phobos, a moon of Mars. Shoun, Dak and Torqueman all go with Travis and the prisoner to Phobos, where it is revealed the SDC has been building a starship using alien technology recovered from Mars.

Ben: How long is this supposed to be since they discovered the aliens?

Dave: About a year.

Paul: Is there another beer? I definitely think I’m going to need another beer.

Once the suspected alien spy has been taken aboard the top-secret warship, he suddenly - to the surprise of everyone - overpowers his guards, locks himself in the bridge, and blasts off from Phobos with our heroes aboard, heading for deep space.

Paul: I just… No words…

As Shoun and Travis try to sabotage the hyperdrive before the ship can jump away from the solar system, and Dak tries to break into the bridge, Torqueman finally manages to make mental contact with the alien. She immediately knocks out Dak with her telepathic powers, then heads to engineering. After similarly disabling Travis, Torqueman is caught in a choke hold by Shoun, who demands that the alien releases Torqueman from his influence. But Torqueman reveals she is not being controlled by the alien, who now joins them in engineering and starts to explain himself. He is from the last free city of his people, who have been enslaved or killed by another species. He was sent to the solar system (which apparently is where they were from originally) to get help to liberate his people. Swayed by this powerful argument, Shoun and a revived Travis agree to go voluntarily with the alien to fight for their freedom. And the episode ends.

Paul: And it was cancelled after this, you say? Philistines!

Jayne: It‘s a real shame how the studios interfered. Season 1 was actually pretty solid, but as time went on they just kept adding more fantastical elements until the whole thing collapsed in a mess.

Dave: The biggest problem they were never able to address is whether it was a cop show that happened to be in space, or a space show that happened to have cops. Fans of police dramas were put off by the sci-fi trappings, while the sort of people who were watching Star Trek: The Next Phase found the cops-and-robbers stuff dull.

So that ends our re-watch of The High Frontier. Next month, the Couch Potato team tackle Paul Verhoevan’s controversial movie adaptation of Asimov’s classic I, Robot.

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[1] Not to be confused with The Far Frontier, which is a completely different show. The High Frontier was a name originally considered for Star Cops, alluding to the title and libertarian ideals of Gerard O’Neill’s book on space colonisation. No-one involved in the production much liked either title, but it was Star Cops that stuck.

[2] IOTL Star Cops only got 9 episodes, as one was cancelled due to an electrician’s strike.

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General note: Much like Part 1’s Yes, Comrade, this post was done just for fun, and can be happily accepted as part of the canon or ignored, depending on taste. My loose justification for it is that the Zvezda missions and upcoming Freedom lunar landings generated a wider interest in lunar exploration in TTL’s late ‘80s/early ‘90s, so US studios were looking around for suitable concepts they could get on the screen quickly, and the BBC’s Star Cops got caught in the net. But honestly, that’s just a flimsy excuse for me to indulge my love of the show!

For those interested, all 9 episodes of OTL’s Star Cops can currently be found on YouTube. It’s flawed… very flawed… but has some strong performances, excellent model work, and an intriguing concept. In case you want to find out more without committing to nine hours of 1980s TV, the 30 minute noughties documentary The Cult of Star Cops can also be found on YouTube.

Although the version I’ve shown in this post goes awry pretty quickly, IOTL I think this would be a show worth rebooting, in that it’s good enough in concept to be worthwhile, but poor enough in execution to benefit from a modern re-imagining. This has in fact happened to a degree, as Big Finish have produced a number of audio dramas extending the show, including some of the original cast.

Finally, as an exercise for the reader, let me know if you can spot all the OTL shows I stole elements from to build this alt-Star Cops (especially the more ridiculous aspects)!

 

[TimothyC]

The High Frontier feels a lot like an OTL Sea Quest cover in development arc, if not the setting.

 

[nixonshead]

The High Frontier feels a lot like an OTL Sea Quest cover in development arc, if not the setting.

It does, doesn't it

 

[Ry01tank]

If we put aside our ideological disputes, I will note that, firstly, the very existence of Germany after the Second World War is absolutely not determined. Secondly, you did not take into account the USA and the USSR. In fact, it would have been possible to agree on the unification of Germany back in the 1940s. But here’s the point - the USSR does not want Germany to be militarized, because a militarized Germany can be taken into NATO, and then their troops will be on the Oder. And the United States wants Germany to have a strong army in any case - because if Germany is demoralized, then when the Third World War begins, the Soviet Union will be able to simply roll it out, and then it’s not far from France and it is quite possible that Europe will have to be left urgently. Until the USA and the USSR find a compromise, the GDR may exist until the present century (even if it turns into a subsidized state).

USSR wanted a communist Germany, USA wanted a democratic one, The USSR would of course want a demilitarized Germany, it would make NATO defense nigh impossible,
The US also had an idea to de-industrialize Germany back to an agrarian society, doing so would kill millions due to starvation, this plan wasn't used, Churchill said that it would essentially tie a corpse to Europe and a humanitarian crisis for a century

Unification in the 40s was a slim to none chance, Stalin wanted reparations for the Great Patriotic War, 60 percent of German products were shipped to the soviet union for ten years. Both sides wanted to have their ideology in the country. North Korea and South Korea were divided for the same reason, as both sides wanted different things, the Americans a fair election, and the Soviets wanted a communist regime (China wanted it to)
France even tried to keep their occupation Zone separate from the West German government (US, Britain, and France divided the country), France did the same with the Saar in the 20s


Nixonhead already said the Soviet Union Collapse, in this circumstance the Reunification will still happen, as the Soviets will not be paying to prop up communist countries like before (they did this from Europe to north korea), and the GDR WILL NOT be able to afford the huge social spending in the change to a privatized country

The Subsidies and social spending were ludicrous, as it was supposed to be a showcase of communism, the issue is it wasn't sustainable and under capitalism would mean huge taxes, IRL East Germany today still has higher taxes due to social programs staying in place, which is a reason why people leave

The GDR was a political and economic corpse. Its agony can be extended for about a decade in order, for example, to harmonize the regulations with the West.

Many also forget that the GDR was richer than Poland or the Czech Republic only because it was supposed to be a showcase

That last part was the point why it had a higher life quality than the rest of the bloc, and ALL the bloc countries had economic issues after (how this isn't from the change from communism to capitalism is not true), East Germany was a unique situation, it was the only split country that united after the collapse, as a result it would experience the most issues as it was less of a country change and basically two combining.
If North Korea and South Korea united (somehow) it would be worse for them

Unification was always going to be messy