09 The Targeted Captain!

"Commander Makara, that's the entrance to the execution chamber"

Episode 9: The Targeted Captain!
UK Video: -
US Video: Volume 3: Space Lava of Death
DVD: Star Fleet - The Complete Series - Disc 2

Commander Makara & Captain Orion return to the Imperial Master's Fortress Base in the Thalian Zone. There they are put on trial for their failure to capture F-01 with execution their fate if found guilty. As Commander Makara tries to explain the Imperial Master appears before them and projects images of the battles they have fought in. He shows their attack on Pluto and interrogation of Captain Carter followed by their attack on Earth and shooting down of X-Bomber. But X-Bomber shoots down the carriers with it's laser blast. When the Imperial Cruiser goes to SF command and attacks X-Bomber launches and use X-Impulse to damage the battlecruiser. The Imperial Master blames Commander Makara for underestimating X-Bomber. He shows them the asteroid belt ambush, and praises Captain Orion's bold tactic of ambushing X-Bomber at the Methane Sea, but shows them how the base on Jupiter was destroyed by the Dai-X. Commander Makara blames defeat on the Dai-X and says that the Imperial Master's intelligence system should have warned them of it, which enrages the Imperial Master. Commander Makara tell him that she is convinced Lamia is the F-01 and that she has a new plan to capture her. The Imperial Master tells them that they have just six more months to find F-01.

Ladies and Gentlemen: the clip show. Or rather the first Clip Show. Clip shows can serve a function, beyond their cheapness. There's relatively little new footage here but what there is introduces us to the Imperial Master's base for the first time, a structure so huge that the Battlecruiser, which dwarfs X-Bomber, fits into a tiny little bit at the the bottom of the base, which really gives you some idea of the scale of the structure.... the only thing like it I can think of is seeing the Enterprise fly into the Star Base in Star Trek III. Inside the Master's base is a nightmare landscape of desert, bones and a Guillotine (an illusion, like the projected images?) which he appears towering over with the previous stories from episodes 1-4 retold in images in the sky. Here the images follow what happens in pretty much the correct order but now Captain Carter's interrogation now takes place en route from Pluto to Earth rather than after X-Bomber's crash. This is nothing compared to some of the liberties taken during the next clip show in Episode 13. Yes, two clip shows in five episodes!

What's interesting here is that a different dub script is being employed for the English speaking voice actors to that which was used in the original episodes 1-4 so you get some differences in lines being delivered. Similarly the same backing music isn't always used behind the scenes most notably as X-Bomber approaches the Imperial Base while flying over the Methane Sea.

As well as introducing the Imperial Master properly and his home planet this episode places a time limit on Commander Makara's mission adding some urgency to what they're doing. It also reminds us of the existence of Captain Carter and that he's an Alliance Prisoner, something that will become very important shortly. And by spending nearly half the episode concentrating on reviewing the Jupiter battle we get a good look at the Dai-X robot which we haven't seen since.

Like the previous episodes PPA's voice isn't right here and I'm at a loss to say for definite who's voicing it. Likewise Commander Makara's male voice, heard from the moulded face covering her left eye, when she addresses the Imperial Master, is identified in the cast list and I can't work out who it is. The Imperial Master, on his first lengthy appearance after two brief visits to the Battlecruiser Bridge as a hologram, is played by Jacob Witkin, another of the Star Fleet cast to be missing a Wikipedia entry. In a lengthy CV the only thing I've seen him in is The Professionals Season 3 episode Stop Over. Going to have to dig that out to watch now..... There's a few names I recognise in that: Morris Perry, W Morgan Sheppard and Alec Linstead, all with Doctor Who connections.

This is the first episode we've seen not to be included on any UK compilation video, for fairly obvious reasons. (although, obviously, footage from it shows up on other tapes) It can be found on the US video Volume 3: Space Lava of Death. I'm reasonably sure I saw this episode on it's 1984 repeat: I was due to go on a school trip to Wales in the summer and one Sunday morning they took us out on a practice hike through Richmond Park to break our brand new walking boots in. The walk was early and finished c11:30 so I missed church and managed to get home in time to see most of this episode. I'm pretty sure it was the first episode in the repeat run I saw.....

08 An Attack Beyond Tears!

"The entire planet is a live volcano and full of.......ferocious creatures"

Episode 8: An Attack Beyond Tears!
UK Video: The Thalian Space Wars
US Video: Volume 3: Space Lava of Death
DVD: Star Fleet - The Complete Series - Disc 2

X-Bomber lands on the planet Alaria to make repairs, but Captain Orion is pleased at this development as the entire planet is a live volcano inhabited by what he describes as ferocious creatures and mutants. While the pilots undertake repairs Lamia goes onto the planet's surface and befriend furry creatures which she names Monmons. Kirara is agitated by them and fetches Shiro and Hercules. Shiro shoots one of the Monmons approaching Lamia and is severely admonished by her before they return to the ship. As X-Bomber prepares for launch the Monmons gather on the ship. The Imperial Cruiser hides behind the nearby volcano and fires a laser missile starting an eruption. X-Bomber is surrounded by lava but can't take off because of the Monmons on the ship so Doctor Benn orders Hercules to open fire on them but Lamia stops him. He and Shiro argue, with Shiro now siding with Lamia who argues that life should be protected. It's only when the Imperial Cruiser reveals itself and attacks X-Bomber that Shiro himself opens fire on the Monmons. X-Bomber launches and attacks the Imperial Cruiser with laser torpedoes then escapes. Makara berates Orion on the damaged Cruiser before the Imperial Master appears before them and orders them to return to him. Makara makes it clear she intends to blame Orion for her failure as they set course for the Thalian Zone.

This is a science fiction show with cute furry animals. All science fiction shows with cute furry animals are bad up to and including Return of the Jedi, the worst of the original Star Wars films which this predates on the cute teddy bear like creature front by 3 years (on original Japanese broadcast). And it's full of moralising about respect for life too so it's not onto a winner..... But in here are two fab moments of comedy: The first is Captain Orion's line, quoted above, where there's a pause and an almost visible shudder as he considers the inhabitants of the planet to be ferocious creatures. And yet, when we see them, they're a bunch of teddy bears. So why do they agitate Kirara so? Is he jealous? Then as Lamia admonishes Shiro she finishes with "This beautiful creature might have become our first friend in space......" and the picture cuts to the Imperial Battlecruiser, which is definitely not our friend in space! And then we have a Volcanic eruption and you really can't go wrong there. Lava and fire everywhere!

X-Bomber uses it's Turret lasers for the fifth time here and we get to see it's Laser Torpedoes for the first time: four pink laser blasts, similar to the yellow laser torpedo blasts from the Alliance ships, emerge from the tip of each wing and converge into one blast in front of the ship. This weapon will be back in episode 21.

Like the previous episode PPA's voice isn't quite right here....... I suspect another member of the cast is performing it. It's still wrong for the next episode too!

This episode marks the return of the Imperial Master, unseen since the opening minutes of the very first episode. Once again he appears as a hologram on the bridge but we'll see him in person next episode.

Like the previous episode this appears on US Volume 3 video Space Lava of Death (told you the title would makes sense now!) and is also featured on the UK compilation The Thalian Space Wars following directly on from the episode preceding it. There's one more episode on that tape to come, episode 11, and I'll recap the tape's contents in the slightly odd order it appears on the tape there.

07 Mortal Combat In The Gravity Graveyard!

"Try to escape us X-Bomber...... If you can!"

Episode 7: Mortal Combat In The Gravity Graveyard!
UK Video: The Thalian Space Wars
US Video: Volume 3: Space Lava of Death
DVD: Star Fleet - The Complete Series - Disc 2

X-Bomber finds it's power has been drained by the black hole. It picks up an object moving and follows it hoping to find an exit. Captain Orion takes the carriers into the Black Hole to attack X-Bomber. Dr Benn tells the pilots that they cannot return fire because they need to preserve power but eventually gives in to their demands. They attack the fighters with the turret lasers but the fighters retreat having drained X-Bomber's power enough that it cannot escape the Black Hole. Dr Benn decides to use the remaining energy on the ship to attack. When Captain Orion enters the Black Hole with two Carrier Craft they use the main laser blast to destroy one carrier and severely damage the one Orion is on. He retreats and Commander Makara enters the black hole in the Battlecruiser. X-Bomber uses the last of it's power firing the X-Impulse at it damaging Makara's ship which retreats leaving the powerless X-Bomber floating in the black hole. The crew make a record of what happened and Lamia attempts to contact the Skull when suddenly the ship ship starts moving. The Skull tows them out of the black hole with it's tractor beam and leaves them adrift in normal space as X-Bomber's power systems start to recharge. They decide to make for a nearby planet to carry out repairs....

Oh the science in this episode hurts so much. "The Black Hole" behaves like a black hole, a Nebula (see Star Trek II Wrath of Khan) or a maze interchangeably as required. Quite where it's magic energy draining powers come from I don't know.... For someone determined to escape from the Black Hole one moment, Doctor Benn gives in very easily to the pilots request to return fire even though he knows the consequences (see also: defending the Skull in episode 5)

Weapons: we get to see the turret lasers (very Star Wars, Han Solo & Luke Skywalker in the Millennium Falcon) for the fourth time (episodes 1, 2 & 6 previously) the Laser Blast for the third time (episodes 2 & 5) and X-Impulse for the second and I believe final time!

PPA spends most of this episode incoherent under the effects of the black hole but there's something not quite right about his voice here. Was one of the other actors supplying it for this episode only? Normally he's voiced by John Baddeley. The only other place I've encountered him is in the second series of the radio version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where he plays Bird Two & a Foot Warrior. He appears as a voice artist in The Dark Crystal alongside fellow Star Fleet voice artist Sean Barrett who supplies the voice for Captain Orion. Badderley's Character here is called PPA - Perfect Programmed Android - but in the original Japanese version X-Bomber he's called PP Adamski, which at first look makes little sense. However, thanks to having reviewed a great many Transformers toys, I know that the 1985 Mini Autobot Cosmos is called Adams in Japan and thank to his TFU entry I know that this is a reference to George Adamski, a figure prominent in the UFO spotting community as one of the first people to claim to have sighted UFOs and made alien contact.

As well as appearing as the opening episode on the US Volume 3 video Space Lava of Death (join us next episode to find out why it has that fantastic title) this episode is also featured on the UK compilation The Thalian Space Wars

06 X-Bomber Goes Forth!

"They're on course for destruction as I planned!"

Episode 6: X-Bomber Goes Forth!
UK Video: The Thalian Space Wars
US Video: Volume 2: Revenge of the Robot
DVD: Star Fleet - The Complete Series - Disc 2

X-Bomber returns to it's Moonbase home. While the crew relax Star Fleet command take the decision that X-Bomber will try to follow the Skull to gain more information about F-01. However before the ship's designated launch time Commander Makara attacks again and X-Bomber is forced to launch early and help fighters from Mars base defend Earth. When Commander Makara retreats X-Bomber commences it's stated mission bidding Star Fleet command farewell. However they are then attacked again by Commander Makara. While manoeuvring they find themselves driven off course, caught in the grip of a black hole which suck X-Bomber into a graveyard of space where it collides with a meteorite.

For various reasons this has always been a bit of a nothing episode for me. It's..... just there. I've got it on tape somewhere with episodes 2, 4 & 5 and while the others got regular listening to, this one rarely did. OK it was missing it's very end but.... And although I've said it appears on The Thalian Space Wars compilation in reality it's just the last few minutes from (roughly) where X-Bomber gets pulled of course (but possibly slightly earlier during the battle) which is tagged onto the end of episode one replacing the crash sequence that left X-Bomber stranded on the moon.

Remember the PC on the Pluto Base fighter pilots helmets in episode 1? Here we have MC on the Mars base pilot helmets. As X-Bomber moves away from earth this is the last time we see additional Star Fleet vessels for a long, long time. Similarly it's the last time for a while we'll see General Kyle and Star Fleet command. And it is the last time we see Moonbase and X-Bomber's Crater base home, save for brief shots on the end titles.

Because this is the last time we'll see him for a while in his credited role we aught to mention Kevin Brennan who voices General Kyle. When I did my Star Fleet site he was one of the few actors I could find out nothing about. Now it's a little easier in the age of Wikipedia & IMDB (though three of the cast are missing Wikipedia entries still!) I've actually seen at least 3 of his film appearances: Get Carter, Mutiny on the Buses & The Spaceman and King Arthur, but not his first genre appearance in Doomwatch: The Human Time Bomb as Sir Billy Langly. I own his appearance in The Professionals season 2 episode Blind Run as the Minister but don't recall what he looks like.

We *nearly* get to see the Dual Cannon within X-Bomber's neck fired for the third time and the second time in two episodes. Here it gets referred to as the Direct Laser Blast. Unfortunately the Alliance runs away before it can be used.....

Black Holes..... Now most sci fi watching children in 1982 would have known what a Black Hole was courtesy of the 1979 (1980 in the UK?) Disney Film The Black Hole. In particular what we knew about black holes was they sucked things in and you couldn't escape. Star Fleet's version conforms to this but beyond that the physics just goes to pieces. Just check your brain in for the end of this episode and all of the next!

05 The Mysterious Ship Skull!

"To My Compatriot on Earth, This is the Skull!"

Episode 5: The Mysterious Ship Skull!
UK Video: The Thorn/EMI Video
US Video: Volume 2: Revenge of the Robot
DVD: Star Fleet - The Complete Series - Disc 1

X-Bomber and the transport cruisers touch down on Pluto to commence the reconstruction of Pluto Alpha Base. Shiro, Hercules & Lee exhaustively search for Captain Carter but are unable to find him. Lamia receives a transmission from a ship called the Skull, mentioning the pendant she was found with and offering to bring her to them by tractor beam. She steals a shuttle and attempts to find the Skull. When she is found to be missing she is pursued by the Dai-X fighters and X-Bomber. Lamia finds the Skull but the engines on her shuttle fail and she is unable to make contact. She is found by Shiro in Brain Con and soon joined by Lee & Hercules. The Skull is located by the Imperial Alliance battlecruiser, who are seeking it. Commander Makara has Captain Orion assault the Skull with astrofighters. Shiro contacts X-Bomber to ask if they should intervene but is told not to by Doctor Benn. The Skull drives the astrofighters off, and Commander Makara orders a retreat before assaulting and seriously damaging the Skull using her battle cruiser. Dai-X's pilots prepare to intervene but are prevented to by X-Bomber's arrival. The rescue Lamia's shuttle and return to X-Bomber where they persuade Doctor Benn to intervene. They attack the Battlecruiser with the laser blast from the dual cannon in X-Bomber's neck. The Battlecruiser is forced to return fire on X-Bomber while retreating allowing the damaged Skull to escape.

Episode Five really closes the introductory chapter of Star Fleet by introducing the plot element that will power the next part of the story: the mysterious sailing ship the Skull. The search for the ship will be the driving force for the next nine episodes. All we see of it here is literally a sailing ship, in space, with a Skull on the prow. The producers of Doctor Who must have cried when they saw this episode, which I think first aired 20th November 1982, because they had a Sailing Ships in Space story ready to go for their next season (Enlightenment) but Star Fleet can't claim that they came up with the concept. I tried to trace the definitive origin of the idea when I did Enlightenment for the Doctor Who Blog. Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Space Battleship Yamato need to bear some responsibility for the idea of sailing ships in space with Harlock featuring a ship with a skull & crossbones on it's bow. However I'm reasonably sure the idea predates even that.... Here the ship, the voice of it's captain, a probable link to Lamia via the pendant and that they are known to Imperial Alliance are all we know and the ship is set up as a mystery alongside the true identity of the F-01 which the Alliance seek.

And while we're on non original ship ideas: the Transport Cruisers in this and the previous episode, carrying their load amidships, look rather like Eagles from Space 1999 and the much later Transformers character Sky Garry. Here we see them coming into land on Pluto where it's snowing. Ok..... I get that snowing is shorthand for "it is very cold" but for snowing to occur I'm pretty sure their needs to be evaporation to form clouds and at approximately 44 degrees Kelvin that isn't going to be happening. While the landing is taking place we're treated to a comedy scene of PPA wrapped in bandages on X-Bomber following injuries sustained in the previous episode..... This scene ends in laughter but for some reason Kirara has acquired cymbals and is banging away like one of those little wind up monkey toys I can remember as a child.

The Skull offers to lead Lamia to it by tractor beam. But if it were a tractor beam why then does Lamia's ship stop short of the Skull with an apparent engine failure? I think this line is a victim of being translated into English and "Homing Beacon" would be much more appropriate. As we'll see later the Skull does indeed have a more traditional tractor beam aboard....

The other plot thread left hanging from the initial episodes is the pilot's instructor Captain Carter. We know from episode 2 that he's a prisoner of the Imperial Alliance (though the audience isn't reminded of it here) but the pilots don't. Here they spend the first part of the episode searching for him with some flashback's to the academy including one where Shiro is forced to shoot his instructor which will become significant later....

The voice actor for Captain Carter is Garrick Hagon, probably the most recognisable of the Star Fleet voice cast thanks to his appearance inStar Wars as Biggs Darklighter, the last rebel pilot to die at the Death Star battle. However a lot of his role was cut from the original film with only a short segment of him meeting Luke in the hanger bay reinstated. A significant amount of footage exists and can be found on Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray showing with Luke at the start of the film on Tatooine. If you look carefully in the Tosche Station scenes there's actually a second actor from Star Fleet involved...... (find out who in episode 13!) These scenes were included in the comics and book adaptation of the film enlarging the character's public role. He appeared in the 1972 Doctor Who story The Mutants as Ky and will appear in the 2012 series in the episode The Gun Slingers. Finding out the same actor was in Star Wars, Star Fleet & Doctor Who was the thing that developed my obsession with actor's CVs and what else they has appeared in, Garrick Hagon is married to the actress Liza Ross who plays Lamia in Star Fleet and when we get to her (episode 11) we'll look at the large number of productions that they've been in together. Captain Carter isn't in that many episodes and he's only credited as such due to that being the role he played in the first episode so we find Hagon doing several other voices as the series goes on. He makes two other voice appearances in this episode alone: he's the Pluto Alpha Base voice that challenges Lamia when she steals the shuttle and also the the voice of the unseen & unnamed Captain of the Skull. I'm pretty sure he voiced Professor Hagan's one speaking line in episode 3 and, likewise, am reasonably certain he plays the Imperial Alliance Scientist Calliban in the last third of the series.

Spacesuits: recall the yellow X-Bomber Spacesuits seen hanging in it's airlock? Here the pilots are wearing Silver spacesuits with individual coloured trim: Shiro is red (matching the cuffs of his shirt and Dai-X), Hercules is Green (like his jumpsuit) and Lee is Blue (as per his coat). Here Shiro's helmet carries the trim, just like the other do. The next time we see him wearing it (in episode 12) and in it's subsequent appearances it will be plain silver, like his Pilot's helmet. In fact when he's wearing the spacesuit is the only time in the series that Shiro appears without his helmet.

Like the previous episode the music here is superb. We're treated to some snowy music to open the episode as the ships land which cuts into the trecking music as the pilots search for Captain Carter. As Lamia journey's through space we hear the haunting theme for the Skull for the first time which effectively cuts into a version of the main Star Fleet theme as X-Bomber launches and dispatches the Dai-X. All are present on the excellent Star Fleet soundtrack CD but unfortunately the urgent music as Lamia flees Pluto in the stolen shuttle is missing from this episode. I'll sit down and listen to the entire CD to see if I can work out where it is (as the series goes on musical cues are frequently recycled) or if it's missing entirely.

This episode is the middle episode on the US Star Fleet video Volume 2: Revenge of the Robot and as such is missing it's opening & closing credits as well as it's Next Time sequence. As a pivotal episode in the series it's something of a surprise that it appears on neither of the two best known UK compilations The Thalian Space Wars or (perhaps a better home for it) Space Quest for F-01. I recorded it onto audio cassette from it's 1984 repeat showing and was still listening to it after I found the two compilation videos. What I didn't know at the time was that there was a third Star Fleet video with it on. I knew this video tape existed because I had seen it ONCE! On a 1986 holiday to Sandown in the Isle of Wight we passed a video shop and sitting there in a window was the only video cassette I had ever seen with the Star Fleet Logo on it - you can see a picture of the cover here. Many years later after I posted a Star Fleet sight onto the internet and started exchanging copies of episodes with people who emailed me. One of the things I was supplied with was a copy of this video tape and was delighted to find that it was a near complete compilation of episodes 4 & 5 missing just the next time trailers and the title sequences separating them.

04 The Transport Fleet Annihilated!

"What if we lie in wait for it...... under the Methane Sea"

Episode 4: The Transport Fleet Annihilated!
UK Video: The Thalian Space Wars / The Thorn/EMI Video
US Video: Volume 2: Revenge of the Robot
DVD: Star Fleet - The Complete Series - Disc 1

The house is empty, I've got this one on through the hi-fi system :-)

Star Fleet sends transport cruisers to begin the rebuilding of Pluto Alpha base but the cruisers disappear en route. In order to protect the next group of transports X-Bomber is dispatched to guard them, passing by Mars en route where Lamia catches sight of the planet she was found on. They enter the Asteroid Belt where they are ambushed by Imperial Alliance Carrier craft. The transports retreat as X-Bomber raises it's shield and destroys the carriers. Commander Makara is angry that their plan has failed but Captain Orion proposes ambushing X-Bomber at their base on Jupiter and having the cruiser lie in wait under the Methane Sea. Dr Benn deduces that a fleet of that size couldn't have come from a faraway base and that the Alliance must have a base on Jupiter which they decide to attack. Arriving at Jupiter they discover a huge base there which open fire on them, but when they try to escape they are cornered by Alliance Carrier rising from the depths. Realising that they have fallen into a trap, Dr Benn sends Shiro, Hercules & Lee to attack the base in the three Dai-X fighters that X-Bomber carries while he, PPA & Lamia man X-Bomber. The three fighter launch and approach the base with Shiro & Hercules attacking from the air in Braincon & Mainbody while Lee lands Leg-Tacks and uses it's tank mode to attack on the ground. Finding themselves massively outgunned they combine the three fighters into the massive Dai-X robot which goes on a rampage, destroying the base with missiles and it's super cannon. The Imperial Alliance cruiser flees and X-Bomber completes it's mission safely escorting the transport cruisers to Pluto to commence rebuilding the base.

Declaration: Favourite episode of the whole series.

I've probably seen or experienced this episode of Star Fleet more times than any other. To this day I still have a complete audio recording of it. It's all but complete on The Thalian Space Wars video compilation (missing just one of Captain Orion's lines, the very end and the next time on Star Fleet and exists on a second unnamed UK compilation, referred to as the The Thorn/EMI Video missing just the next time sequence. I've seen it sooo many times.

When we first see X-Bomber it's sitting outside being washed by PPA & Kirara. I've always though this shot was a little odd, why isn't it in it's Moonbase hanger seen in the first (and sixth) episodes? But no, it's outside Moonbase (which you can see in the background) on the Moon's surface. So how is Kirara washing X-Bomber without a spacesuit on? Can he breathe in space? When we see X-Bomber launch a little while later it is the standard moon launch sequence seen in the end titles but I'd never noticed before that you don't see the Hanger doors which I'd always thought you had done.

The pilots have an addition to their costumes as of this episode: They've gained a metal X badge on a star background on heir left shoulders, a symbol that they're part of X=-Bomber's crew. You'll see the same symbol on their spacesuits next episode.

What's with Commander Makara's assumption that X-Bomber's sitting on the moon crippled as per episode 2 and most of episode 3? They know it isn't from the attack at the end of episode 3.... unless something has happened in the meantime.

The spacecraft model work in this episode is superb, starting with the sequence as X-Bomber levels off to fly with the transport cruisers and then cuts to the Imperial Alliance cruiser on Jupiter surrounded by mist. We then go into one of the better musical themes used in the series, the haunting music as X-Bomber passes by Mars (where we get to see Lamia's room, complete with photos of Professor Hagan for the first time) which continues into the Asteroid Belt (watch the side window behind Dr Benn and Shiro as an asteroid passes by it as they're talking, the first hint of where they're going). Asteroids would have been very much in young British science fiction fans minds when this episode was shown: they're a feature of a major sequence in The Empire Strikes Back. It's possible Empire Strikes Back could have inspired this sequence but I suspect that the lead time between Empire's release and this episode's first Japanese broadcast is too short.

And then we get a fabulous musical transition into the Imperial Carrier's theme as they're revealed (sadly not quite intact on the soundtrack CD). These Carriers are different to the ones seen in the first few episodes. For a start they're not carrying fighters and also have a new weapon mounted on it's nose firing a pink energy beam as opposed to the yellow that they normally fire. To counteract this attack X-Bomber (for I think the only time in the entire series) raises a green energy shield and then retaliates with a pair of twin beam cannons, firing blue beams, that have suddenly appeared on the top of the ship (they'll be unseen again until episode 22).

In this episode is Captain Orion's moment of true genius: lie in wait for X-Bomber at Jupiter. It's a great plan, albeit reliant on X-Bomber's crew guessing where the Alliance carriers have come from. And it would have worked to, if it wasn't for Commander Makara staying his hand when he wanted to attack as X-Bomber approaches. It's not the first time Makara has countermanded Orion's orders... and it forces you to review the previous occasions she did so. Is Orion the true genius behind the Imperial Alliance (Don't forget it's the carrier and fighter squadrons under his command that destroy Pluto Alpha base and down X-Bomber in the first episode). Around these decisions we're treated to some superb model work of the Carrier diving into the methane sea, submerged under it and then surfacing plus X-Bomber flying over it.....

Which leads us to the question where is the Methane sea? Jupiter itself is a gas giant composed almost entirely of Hydrogen & Helium and definitely wouldn't have the rocky outcroppings seen during this story. The most obvious candidate for a Jovian moon with rock and a sea is Europa but the sea there would be covered by a layer of ice. Oddly the conditions shown here do exist elsewhere in the solar system: Rock with a Methane Sea is a pretty dead on description of Titan, the moon of Saturn. But as we see next episode Star Fleet's grasp of the solar system's environment is a little tenuous.

Doctor Benn's plan in this episode is to attack the base using Laser Torpedoes. We know what these look like as that's the weapon the Imperial Alliance cruiser fires and we've not yet seen X-Bomber fire anything like that. The Laser Torpedo weapon on X-Bomber makes it's debut later in episode 8.

The major feature of this episode though is the debut of the the three Dai-X fighters. The Look In promotional article names them as Brainder, Jumbody & Legstar but the episode refers to them as Brain Com, Main Body & Leg Tacks. There's evidence that these may be the fighters Japanese names - listen to the dialogue in this YouTube clip of the Japanese version of the Dai-X sequence from this episode. The name Les Star for Lee's fighter may explain the large LS seen behind his right shoulder on the wall of the fighter's cockpit. We see the fighters launching in this episode, as we have done on every title sequence, with Shiro's Braincon emerging from under X-Bomber's neck, Barry Hercules's Main Body on the right side of X-Bomber(looking from front) and John Lee's Leg Tacks on the left side.

Here's a question for you: where do Leg Tacks's tracks emerge from when it lands? It looks like the underside of the craft but, as we'll see in later sequences, the underside of the craft appears to be where the upper legs fold out from under the craft onto the back of it. Similarly when the fighters combine where do Dai-X's fists come from? The ends of the arms in fighter mode are it's engines...... And how are Shiro & Hercules sitting upright in the Dai-X robot? Their cockpits face up in the robot configuration. So do the chairs somehow rotate in the cockpit ala Thunderbird 1 shifting from vertical to horizontal flight? These question obsessed me when I was younger and still bother me to this day.

Star Fleet's Japanese creator Go Nagai is credited with creating the idea of a giant robot (mecha) piloted by a user/users in Mazinger-Z in 1972. In 1979 it was first used in the Super Sentai series Battle Fever J and remains a stable of the Super Sentai series and (from 1993) it's English version Power Rangers. I still have a love of the giant robot sequences in Power Rangers (the rest of Power Rangers: meh. I want Giant Robots!) to this day which I suspect is inspired by watching Dai-X at an early age. It's a man in a suit ala the old Godzilla movies but it's a very effective suit (and isn't the only man in a suit in Star Fleet....) Here Dai-X does the majority of it's work with it's fists but it does deploy two of it's weapons: the missiles mounted on the left arm and the Super Cannon, firing green energy bolts, on the left. The same Look In article linked to above credit Dai-X with two more weapons but they, and the others which it doesn't mention, won't turn up until much later in the series. In fact following this we won't see the Dai-X robot again for some time (flashbacks in episode 9, new footage in 11) although it'll be a constant presence thanks to the end titles, sourced from the second Japanese end title sequence (see all the Japanese title sequences here)

We're use to the idea of vehicles combining to form a robot now thanks to Transformers and Power Rangers but this was one of the first times British viewers would have seen that trick pulled. Not the absolute first though: the 1977 Takara Toy Microman toy Giant Acroyear, which was imported into the US by Mego and then the UK by Airfix in the Micronauts toy range, is the earliest example I've found of the concept but I'm sure there are earlier ones..... I had a Giant Acroyear as a child (well my brothers did) and following this episode I'm sure it stood in as a Dai-X fighting the Imperial Alliance in the shape of the Micronauts Hornetroid

I love this episode. Yeah I know I've said it already. But I really think they struck absolute gold here. Mystery in the first half leading to an action packed second half. Fabulous music, for me the best scored episode of the series, rivalled only by the next one. But most importantly the reveal of the Dai-X robot. Superb. If I had just one episode from the series to watch it'd be this one.

03 Find F-01!

"First we must find out what exactly F-01 is"

Episode 3: Find F-01!
UK Video: Space Quest for F-01
US Video: Volume 1: Save The Earth
DVD: Star Fleet - The Complete Series - Disc 1

While Star Fleet searches it's databanks for information on F-01 Doctor Benn tries to send Lamia back to Moonbase, not wanting to risk her life, but she refuses to leave and joins the pilots repairing the engine room. Hercules & Lee speculate that F-01 might be one of X-Bombers weapons but Shiro thinks that F-01 may be a person, with special powers. Lamia overhears this and returns to Doctor Benn questioning her origins. Shiro follows and overhears Doctor Benn telling her how she was found in a spacecraft on Mars, with Kirara and her blue jewelled necklace, by Professor Hagan, Shiro's Father. Professor Hagan raised her as her own until he disappeared from Mars some time ago. Kirara finds Shiro and Doctor Benn swears him to secrecy. When no data on F-01 is found in the computers, General Kyle decides to attack the Alliance Cruiser. He tells Makara they have no information but she doesn't believe them. General Kyle contacts X-Bomber but it is unable to launch in time to save them. The Alliance destroys Earth's missile base sites and gives them five minutes to hand over F-01. Star Fleet command evacuates it's personnel to the shelters. Doctor Benn decides to use X-Bomber's X-Impulse to attack the Imperial Alliance cruiser. Lamia contacts Commander Makara and tells her that she is the F-01. This draws the Cruiser away from Earth. Shiro stops Lamia from leaving X-Bomber to surrender herself. As the Cruiser approaches the Moon X-Bomber launches and uses the X-Impulse against it massively damaging the vessel and forcing it to flee the solar system.

So.... where do we start? Spacesuits. I like spacesuits :-) I do wonder though what Professor Hagan is doing wearing one with no gloves? Mars' surface pressure is 0.636 (0.4–0.87) kPa (compared to Earth's 101.325 kPa so I'd have thought a full suit would be necessary especially if entering a potentially hazardous environment.....

And then there's the spacesuits seen hanging in X-Bomber's airlock. Bright yellow in colour. And hanging there is the only time you'll see these suits: The pilots will wear space suits in several later episodes (and Lamia in one too) but they never use suits of this design and colour.

Then we have to question the Hagan family's domestic arrangements: How has Shiro never met Lamia before if her Father brought her up? If we assume that she & Shiro are a similar age in their early twenties surely they must have come into contact? The only assumption is that Professor Hagan and his wife are long since separated with Shiro & his mother remaining on Earth while Professor Hagan went to Mars & started work on X-Bomber. Note that Professor Hagan is now missing: Absent, Missing & Presumed Dead Fathers are a bit of a trope in Japanese Manga & Anime fiction (see also: Red Impulse / Kentaro Washio in Gatchaman, a plot element eliminated from the western Battle of the Planets version.

So how does Lamia make the jump to think that she may be F-01? She's a bit impulsive as we'll see in later episode so..... but it is quite a big leap to make. Doctor Benn's direction to the crew to take X-Bomber up to avoid colliding with Makara's battlecruiser is a bit odd: the following frames show both ships heading up and narrowly missing, surely down or off to the side would be better?

X-Impulse's debut here is as an X shaped blue ray projecting out from X-Bomber's wings. We're given prior warning of it's destructive power as Star Fleet command evacuates to shelters and when we see it it's jolly impressive becoming the first thing to actually do some damage to the alien cruiser. We learn something about the Alien Cruiser here when Star Fleet command analyses it: it's 1,600 meters long. From that you should be able to produce estimates of the rest of it's dimensions.

At one point I owned a copy of this episode on audio tape. But for some reason the previous episode overran and I missed the end of the episode on recording: it cut out just as X-Bomber started launching so I missed the crucial X-Impulse sequence. These first three episode make a nice little trilogy to open the series so it's only right that they all appear together on the US Star Fleet video Volume 1: Save The Earth. It's the only episode on the tape to retain it's next episode sequence, which excited me no end as a nine year old: Asteroids! Those red fighters from the end titles at last! This episode also appears, almost complete, on the Space Quest for F-01 UK compilation.