Mortal Combat in the Gravity Graveyard - Part One
Episode Seven of Star Fleet
A full decade before the video game franchise, X Bomber faces some Mortal Combat! The early Solar system-tethered adventures are behind us now. X Bomber has left behind the blue marble of Earth and sailed off for the desolate and dark vistas of deep space where a graveyard is waiting to swallow them up.
Setting the bleaker tone, this episode follows the opening credits and recap with this shot: syringe, scalpel, tweezers, and scissors all lovingly reproduced at puppet scale. No Thunderbirds-style inserts of human hands here! Just puppet scale stuff. The medical instruments have a bit of a grimness both in their implications (someone is hurt and possibly in need of surgery) and in the harsh lighting that could be cut from a puppet horror film. 1
Not to worry! Dr. Benn assures us that he is fine. No scalpel required. Apparently he has injured his arm in some meaningless way. His concern now? The damage to the ship.
Shiro’s report is good. Shields are giving them protection and the overall damage is minimal, “BUT–”
The crew of X Bomber have been pulled into a “black hole” and cannot escape. As noted in last week’s blog post, this should not be considered a scientifically accurate black hole, even by the standards of 1980.
This gives Dr. Benn some pause. He’s feeling pessimistic about the potential outcomes of being stuck in a black hole. His concern suggests to Lee that he knows about “this place.”
In fact, he does! 2 It’s known as Sargasso, the Graveyard of Space®™
Hercules, perhaps trying to make light of a dark situation, quips that it looks more like a junk yard than a graveyard. 3This idea is a popular trope in sci-fi previously seen in the Space:1999 episode “Dragon’s Domain” and before that in Star Trek: TAS “The Time Trap.”
Cut to Makara saying all she has to do to finally defeat X Bomber is wait for their power to run out.
Excuse me? If they’re trapped in a black hole, why do you have to wait around? This should be curtains for our heroes. And what will you do once their power runs out? The answers will soon become apparent.
The model making team must have had a whale of a time making all these crashed spaceships. It certainly is a lot of fun looking at them and trying to guess where they came from and what model kits went into them.
The music is suitably gothic and yet claustrophobic. It almost refers back to the likes of Alien (1979) and forward to Event Horizon (1997; featuring Peter Marinker in a small but significant role).
Dr. Benn explains that the gravitational pull of a black hole is incredibly strong so they have to escape from it quick. Not having any ideas of his own yet, he opens it up to the floor for anyone to chip in.
Hercules is also drawing a blank. Black hole training is not part of the curriculum at Star Fleet Academy.
Lee doesn’t have anything constructive to offer either, but he’s a bit cheesed off by Hercules’ attitude and replies with a snarky comment.
Shiro, heroically but also non-constructively, declares that he has no intention of dying in this Sargasso Sea of Space.
As if to illustrate the futility of all the commentary, the lights begin flashing on and off. Speaking in fragments, Hercules cries “energy scanners low on power. Force field failing.”
John Lee wants to know why they’re standing around. “Let’s GO!” he says before exiting the frame slower than any puppet has ever moved in the whole history of ever. His fellow pilots follow suit.
The gravitational pull of the black hole, which has failed to crush them, is nevertheless draining reserve power. As Shiro walks away to check the level of their reserves, the Lee puppet wobbles.
Hercules tosses the ball into Benn’s court and asks if he has any idea. Benn suggests switching auxiliary power to the main engines. In the first indication of a dramatic quandary, he calculates that they will have power to escape if they drain their weapons.
Shiro reports the power has gone down– below quantum level! Benn is surprised. Things are even worse than he feared. This isn’t even enough to fire a laser blast, according to Hercules.
They have to try and break free with what little they have remaining. Lee goes off to his station to make it so. “We’ll have to gamble on it, boys!” Dr. Benn says.
Although an exciting concept, this episode is showing very little promise of action. If they are trapped in the void, what more is there to say?
Kirara and Lamia are wondering what they can do to be of help to the rest of the crew. It seems Lamia also has no good ideas at this stage.
PPA, resting on a pillow in some sort of trolley, is loopy thanks to the black hole. Unaware of his situation, he is demanding to leave sickbay and return to the bridge. Lamia, playing nurse, informs him he’s very sick but PPA attempts to prove his wellness by reciting some mathematical formulas. It does not go well.
A beeping from the bridge lets us know something is up.
Our heroes are unaware of what the beeping signifies. John Lee reports that something moved in the lower quadrant. Hercules counters that no ship smaller than X Bomber could possibly “pass through that gravitational force field.” A bit of technobabble that makes no sense to me at all– wouldn’t gravity have less of an effect on a smaller vessel? And what force field?
Shiro argues that a ship with “massed central energy” could do it and Dr. Benn reckons it's an Imperial Alliance trace.
“The [long pause to match the puppets lips] alliance?” Shiro asks.
“Don’t you see?” Dr. Benn asks. Apparently, this Alliance trace proves that there is a way out of the black hole.
In case you don’t see, this trace is of the same variety as the one left behind by the Skull previously. In the X Bomber universe, all ships leave behind a trail of breadcrumbs in space. An alliance trace would mean that an Alliance ship was here recently and found their way out, conveniently leaving behind a path for X Bomber to follow to safety.
Makara sips from her chalice as Orion begs to be allowed to attack the X Bomber. She is amused by his gung-ho attitude but not so amused that she forgets to put him in his place. She’s the Alliance emissary, not him, after all! Suitably humbled, Orion continues to push for the chance to attack since X Bomber is helpless. With the ship out of the way, F-01 can finally belong to the Alliance. Makara allows Orion to go ahead and he exits via his personal lift.
There’s lots of problems with this scene. If this was a real black hole, there would be no way to attack X Bomber without also becoming trapped. This is a fictional Sargasso Sea phenomenon not a black hole, but there is still the issue that an attack would definitely clue the X Bomber crew into the idea of an exit. Even the bloodthirsty Makara would be unlikely to send her pilots on a suicide mission when X Bomber was doomed anyway.
Finally, and crucially, if Lamia is the F-01 as Makara believes, then destroying the X Bomber would put an end to F-01 too.
Never mind! It means we’re going to get some action at last.
Aboard the X Bomber, quantum power has finally been shunted to main engines. Hercules announces that burners are normal and ready to fire. Lee says the electrics are ready, despite the fact that they went haywire at the end of the last episode.
The Doctor wishes his crew good luck. They have one chance and this is it! Shiro pulls the lever.
As X Bomber advances, the Alliance carriers have moved into position outside the Sargasso Sea. Termoids report that X Bomber has found the Alliance trace and are headed for the exit. Orion, horrified that they might escape, orders fighters to fly into the void and stop them.
John Lee detects the approaching enemy, but since the system is running so weak it can’t identify the ships.
Hercules hopes it’s Makara, because he’s in the mood for a fight. The injured Doctor attempts to calm his bloodlust by reminding him that the weapons system has no power. Hercules is stricken.
Lee resolves his issues with the radar. It is the Alliance. “Are we just going to sit here and not fight?!” Hercules demands. Of course, if he pulls the trigger, they will lose propulsion and be trapped once again.
Dr. Benn sternly gives Hercules a reality check. “You can’t fire the lasers without power!”
“I know,” Hercules replies softly. Perhaps I am making too much of this, but I find this to be a top character moment of the series. Here is Hercules, the brash warrior, put to the test and unable to even brandish his weapons. He is forced to retreat, despite his strength of will. It’s a lovely, dignified moment.
As the attack begins the music shifts in intensity and the contemplative moment is over. Hercules is actually in his chair, ready to open fire. Forced to twiddle his thumbs, he can’t be encouraged to hear Lee report that the cruisers are moving in behind the fighters.
Shiro is frustrated too. Dr. Benn insists that the only option is to attempt evasive maneuvers.
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Orion, after giving a rather cheeky evil laugh, taunts the X Bomber. Er, not that he is communicating with them. He’s more pacing on the bridge of his spaceship muttering to himself in front of his crew. You gotta love this guy.
Anyway, his strategy is to force them to burn through their power reserves and leave them trapped.
Shiro allies himself with Hercules. “They’re making fools of us,” he remarks, "we’ve gotta make a stand!” Benn says the risk is too great, but soon gives way.
The engines are stopped. Power is shifted to the main shield. Shiro and Hercules are given the go ahead to counter attack. If they’re going down, they’re going down swinging!
The Alliance carriers are indeed moving in as X Bomber battles the smaller fighters. Orion is still cackling away to himself in what may be his best day ever.
With an arrogant, mustache-twirling tone, Orion recalls his Imperial fighters. Having forced X Bomber into a defensive stance, he has achieved his objective and forced them to stop moving to the back door exit and waste their power. All this for the low cost of the sacrifice of a few fighters and pilots. Heartless, but not a bad strategy.
Benn is crushed at having been so easily manipulated. Hercules is determined to finish what they’ve started and fire a laser blast at the mothership.
Benn actually agrees with this approach now that the tables have turned slightly. A laser blast or two would be just what this Doctor ordered. Further more, they may need X Impulse to get out of this mess.
But Lee thinks it’s going to be a tall order. The targeting systems are not really working and they could easily miss and waste all their precious energy.
Dr. Benn, battle hungry now that he’s given into Hercules and Shiro, reckons the way will be to wait until the enemy opens fire and then use their own laser torpedos to track their position. Very clever!
His enthusiasm bubbling over, Dr. Benn orders a red alert despite the fact that they must have been at red alert already.
Where will this gambit lead? How can the crew of X Bomber defeat the Alliance and still have enough power left to escape the terrible Sargasso Sea? Tune in next week to find out!
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How does he know? Is this common knowledge among EDF higher ups? The young cadets have certainly never heard of it. The Doctor’s explanations give credence to the speculation that the black hole is actually not that far from Jupiter.
If this is indeed close to home, one disturbing implication is that all these stranded ships could be alien visitors drawn by friendly messages of peace like those of SETI and Voyager One. Earthlings could be unknowingly inviting friendly beings into a trap.
Still one of my favorite episodes of the series, such a wonderfully moody and action-packed part of the show.