17 Asleep In The Ice Prison

"Can you already feel the changes in your body? When your powers are fully grown they will be harnessed by the Alliance!"

Episode 17: Asleep In The Ice Prison
UK Video:
US Video: Volume 6: Lost in Space
DVD: Star Fleet - The Complete Series - Disc 3

The X-Bomber crew start to repair their damaged ship. The Alliance Battlecruiser arrives at the Allurian Ice Planet Prison where Commander Makara confirms to Lamia she is the F-01, tells her of her origins and how they will use hers powers to control the universe. X-Bomber launches from Malphane. The Imperial Alliance Battlecruiser lands on the Ice Planet and Lamia is taken by Captain Orion onto the surface. Captain Halley attempts to contact Lamia telepathically but she is taken to a chamber bellow ground. Kirara goes berserk on the X-Bomber bridge disrupting operations and is tranquillised by Hercules. Lamia is subjected to a candlelit ceremony in the prison as a gift from the Imperial Alliance. Commander Makara arrives and watches Lamia be sealed in a glass electro magnetic capsule preventing her from using her powers. As they leave the prison chamber snow begins to fall burying the entrance to the chamber. Commander Makara contacts the Imperial Master and confirms Lamia is imprisoned. The Imperial Master summons them to his base to celebrate their success. X-Bomber looses their trace on Makara's ship and is forced to rely on Captain Halley to trace Lamia. Lamia, trapped beneath the surface in the dungeon, fears she is going to die.

Hmmm, after the action in the last episode this is a much slower episode. There's some nice stuff in it though especially the Ice Planet Dungeon and the reappearance, for the first tie since episode 9, of The Imperial Master. I think this is the first time we've got see a clear shot of the underside of X-Bomber and it's certainly the first time we've seen inside the Skull.

None of this episode was used on a UK compilation tape but it appears on US Video Volume 6: Lost in Space.

The next time trailer for episode 18 promises much including Dai-X on the Ice Planet, but this isn't the next time trailer Japanese viewers saw. Theirs was very different and you can see that here on YouTube. Why so different? Because the next episode in Japan wasn't the next episode in the UK. Japanese episode 18 was a third clip show, the third in 10 episodes after eps 9 & 13, with a minimum of new footage involved. Called "Bloody Mary's Promotion!" (so what would have been Commander Makara's promotion in the UK) it features 3 brief new sequences: the pilots in their quarters wondering where Lamia is (note the pictures of Thunderbird 2 and the Fireflash from Thunderbirds on Hercules' wall), followed by a condensed version of episode 14 where Lamia meets Captain Halley, cutting back to the pilots before cutting to the Imperial Master congratulating Makara & Orion before reviewing their operation to capture Lamia in episodes 15 & 16, returning to the Imperial Master and then to X-Bomber as the pilots continue the quest for their missing comrade. You can see the entire episode on YouTube: Part One and Part Two. This is the first Japanese episode I've seen: I've watched Transformers Masterforce and Victory in the original Japanese so I'm used to Japanese soundtracks but it's odd watching this with different music and voices. There's bits where I think "NO, this should be that noise...." and it isn't. And yet in the middle of this the main X-Bomber door noise sounds exactly the same.

Right next episode, finally, it's Dai-X time!