Maya (Space: 1999)

Maya
Space: 1999 character
Catherine Schell as Maya in Space: 1999's second season.
Portrayed by	Catherine Schell
Date of birth	3rd day of Tayad, 6752 Psychon years
Home planet	Psychon
Affiliation	Moonbase Alpha
Species	Psychon
Gender	Female
Rank	Scientific Officer
Section	Command Centre

Maya is a fictional character created by writer producer Freddie Frieberger, who appeared in the second series of the science fiction television program Space: 1999. Played by actress Catherine Schell (who also made a first season appearance as a different character), Maya was introduced in the second series opener "The Metamorph". Maya is in her early twenties, and is a native of the planet Psychon.

Maya is the daughter of the accomplished Psychon scientist Mentor (Brian Blessed); her mother had died before the events depicted in "The Metamorph". She had one brother, also a scientist, who sat with their father on Psychon's High Scientific Council. Psychon's science and technology was far in advance of Earth's at the time of the Alphans' encounter with this planet; the manipulation and transmutation of matter at the molecular level was commonplace.

Maya recounts her upbringing as essentially idyllic. The planet Psychon had a peaceful and happy culture. Its people were all of one race, one religion and one government; with an over-abundance of natural resources, there was no separation of classes. The world of her youth was soon lost in an environmental disaster; intense volcanic activity laid waste to the entire planet. The escalation of the surface temperature to an average 180 degrees Fahrenheit made life there impossible. The surviving Psychons were forced to retreat to underground compounds to survive.

For some unknown reason, the Psychons were unable to manipulate the environment to save their world; Maya's brother and a thousand others instead opted to build spaceships and leave Psychon. All other Psychons followed their example, and ultimately Mentor and Maya were left alone on the dying planet. Mentor remained, believing he could restore Psychon with the help of his biological computer Psyche. (Maya once told John Koenig that she also knew he would never leave her late mother.)

Psyche, capable of molecular transformation, drew its power from the mental energy of intelligent beings. Unknown to Maya, rapport with Psyche left its victims brain-damaged. Mentor intimated that he may have used not only those space travellers unfortunate enough to approach Psychon as fodder for Psyche, but some of his own people as well.