Super Powerful Imperial Alliance Fleet
Star Fleet - Episode Two
Woohoo! It’s another Saturday and we’re back for more X Bomber! HOWEVER, last we checked, the ol’ X Bomber had taken a few lumps and our heroes looked down for the count. So by all rights there shouldn’t be an episode two, right? Wrong. To badly misquote Wesley Snipes, always bet on Star Fleet.
After the main titles and a quick recap, we return to Captain Orion. This prolongs the suspense of the cliffhanger for a minute or two. Orion, understandably, is riding high on his victory and wants to press his advantage and destroy the Star Fleet Command. His hubris is cut down to size by Makara, who calls to tell him to chill out. This is the first time that Orion has a tactical plan that is actually pretty sound but Makara cuts him short– something that later becomes a pattern.
Reminding him of their royal master’s wish to find the hidden “F-01,” Makara forces Orion to hold back. F-01 is a central plot point throughout the series, and that this point it’s still a big mystery.
Orion, dominated by Makara’s brashness, is insulted for a bit and then told to wait for the results of an interrogation. A prisoner was taken on Pluto Base. Who could that be? Why did the ruthless Alliance spare a prisoner?
As the enemy warships halt their advance, Star Fleet tries to reach X Bomber. There’s no reply. General Kyle insists they are not dead, despite his dismal proclamation at the end of the last episode. He refers to the red headed operative as “Radio” though this is probably a position and not a name.
When called on to give an update on happenings at Pluto Base, Radio speaks in a different voice to the one he was using moments before to call X Bomber. Maybe he needs some lemsip?
Ocean Patrol Fleet, who couldn’t assemble in time beforehand, have got their act together and arrived at Pluto Base. Because why fight the aliens or defend Earth when you could just go check on the ruins? I understand the need to check for survivors, but the home planet is totally defenceless.
They’ve started rebuilding, but there is one person missing. Captain Carter. Where could he be?
Cut to: The baddies! With regal purple regalia draped over her shoulders, Makara glares down at Carter, caught in a macabre brass and plastic restraint system securing his limbs and screening his vision. Things do not look good for him. I wonder if Star Fleet officers are given cyanide capsules like spies? But why would they if the alien threat is unknown? In any case, Carter has survived and looks potentially worse off for it.
Termoids inform Makara that Carter can withstand interrogation for “a short while.” She begins by playing nice and asking for cooperation. Carter remains silent.
Makara asks about F-01 and assumes that Carter knows about this. Carter remains silent and is either ignorant or combative.
This scene starts to go flat for me because of what I assume is a translation quirk but could be plain old fashioned bad pacing. Makara asks long worded questions and the editors don’t leave enough time for Carter to reply. It comes across as Makara just being a jerk and very ineffective at her job.
Something called a Laser Memory Dissimulator is quickly brought to bear. This thing has three talon shaped keys like the footpedals of a piano, a screen that emits nothing but red light which may be something only termoids can see, and a practical laser shooting implement that gradually moves closer to the subject’s head. How lovely.
Makara watches for results on a swirly green orb. Presumably this functions like the Wicked Witch’s crystal ball in the Wizard of Oz, but we never get a chance to find out because Carter has either figured out a way to resist or is totally blank.
The “voltage’ is increased but due to what Makara calls “stupid Earth arrogance” there is no result. There is a staggering lack of attention to continuity with respect to the aformentioned talons/piano pedals/switches. Sometimes they’re down, sometimes they’re up, no one seems to care. It’s odd to me that the crew would put so much effort into designing highly detailed props and sets like this and then make such an obvious oversight in the staging of a simple scene. It really undercuts the reality of what should be frightening and intense.
Despite warnings, Makara overloads her prisoner with voltage. With a few grunts and a puppety jerk, Carter passes out. Is he dead? Makara says no and orders him to be “treated” to prevent that from happening. Just what the terrible result of this treatment might be we will find out all too soon.
Meanwhile, things are still stuck in a static holding pattern for X Bomber and Orion’s ships. You’ve got to hand it to Orion here. He’s really committed to just following orders and ignoring the juicy targets that are Earth and Moon Base.
Lamia and Kirara are calling X Bomber just like Star Fleet HQ. However, unlike those rubes, Lamia takes action. This is the first demonstration of Lamia’s strength of character and determination. 1
Undeterred by the potential dangers, Lamia hops in a moon buggy/jeep and tears across the lunar surface towards Dr. Benn like a bat out of hell. Radio calls from base order her to turn back but she’s not having it.
As Paul Bliss’ fabulous score gears us up for action, Captain Orion decides to take a crack at Lamia who is obviously on course for the crashed X Bomber. Fighters are launched and immediately begin strafing Lamia’s buggy.
It’s quite a fun action sequence, with huge clouds of lunar dust and the buggy bouncing along like a demented Matchbox car as explosions go off all around it. Lamia opts to phone X Bomber for assistance.
Lamia’s voice is able to do what not even Star Fleet Command could do… She wakes Shiro up from his nap. Seeing the danger Lamia is in, Shiro rouses his team who are fortunately not dead. Hooray!
Oddly enough, Shiro, a new arrival at Moon Base, recognizes the buggy and that it belongs to Lamia. His strategy is to provide cover fire from the the turret gun while Lee wakes up everyone else. Despite being groggy when he wakes (he thinks they scared off the enemy) Lee is so excited by this news that he shoots out of his seat like a T-shirt out of a canon at a football game.
Shiro’s strategy seems like a good one. He downs several fighters but they can’t seem to hit Lamia.2 We get a few terrifying shots of downed termoid pilots struggling to breathe and engulfed in flames– possibly why this scene was cut from certain releases (see footnote 1).
Lee revives Hercules successfully. There’s a lovely bit of camaraderie between him and Shiro as they take their respective positions. Lamia, meanwhile, manages to avoid not only the enemy fire but the crashing Imperial Fighters all around her.
Lee opens an unseen “gate” allowing Lamia to come aboard. What’s interesting here from a filmmaking standpoint is that though this gate was never seen nor designed, we believe in it’s existence thanks to the skillful placement of sound effects.
Lee wakes Benn and tells him no one has any serious injuries. How he could know this without any medical training (they were all knocked out and presumably concussed) is glossed over due to his unflagging devotion to saving Lamia. His concern is proved to be over zealous when Lamia calmly strides onto the bridge.
Rather than being grateful, Benn’s first instinct is to question Lamia for putting herself in danger. This could seem callous, but we will later see that Benn has his reasons. Unlike Lee, Lamia must have medical training because once he decides she’s safe, the Doctor orders her “to attend to any injuries on the ship.” I’m choosing to believe that’s the case and not just a casual assignment of nursing duties to the only woman aboard.
The last member of the crew to revive is the one that logically should have awakened first. PPA has no brain to be traumatized but he never the less has been rendered dysfunctional without any lasting effects. He soon buzzes back to life thanks to a kick (literal and verbal) from Shiro. 3
Meanwhile, the termoids are back and determined to fight for their fallen brethren. Their battle cries have an added viciousness. Despite it’s turret defences, X Bomber is in a really bad position. Awkwardly straddling on the rocks, it soon begins to take damage. A fire in the engine room leads to a command from Dr. Benn for PPA to “fix it.” I will henceforth adopt this terminology and refer to all firefighting efforts as ‘fixing it.’ Fire extinguishers? Try ‘fix a fire.’ Much better branding.
We’re treated to our first sight of the X Bomber engine room. It’s filled with hardware and endless tubing running from everywhere to everwhere else. It’s a great set and it’s already on fire. 4 An additional treat is PPA using the firefighting appliance. Are firefighting drones a thing yet? If not, they definitely should be. 5 PPA seems worried his circuits might melt while performing this task.
The attack doesn’t stop for the crew to repair the damage. The Imperial Alliance troops may not be very accurate, but what they lack in quality they make up for in quantity. Shiro is overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of their opponents. However, the strategic part of his brain is in high gear and he reckons the only solution is to destroy the source– Orion’s fleet of carriers.
Hercules, perhaps a bit more addled by the injury, says he’ll take the top turret. This is odd for a few reasons. One, he’s already seated at a turret. Two, there is no “top” turret seen in the series, as from the crew’s perspective the twin weapons are on the sides of the bridge. Maybe he’s referring to a different weapon system that never appears on screen?
Dr. Benn pulls the handbrake. In a calming speech that is only stilted by the lip sync timing/translation issues, he points out the third flaw in Hercules thinking– there’s no way the turret lasers (sic) can have the range or firepower to hit or destroy the other ships.
Shiro instinctively senses that X Bomber has another weapon that would work and he is right. “All power to the main shield in a concetrated laser beam,” Dr. Benn says. What? This gobbledygook doesn’t make much sense. Why would rerouting power to a shield system provide power for a laser beam? Perhaps they’re on the same circuit?
Hercules, fully awake now, reckons the ship is pointing in the wrong direction but Benn has an idea. He wants to use descent engines to move them into position. Apparently takeoff is out of the question. He orders Shiro back to his usual seat and Hercules to operate the laser beam. Again, Hercules seems to know where to go, despite Shiro’s lack of knowledge about X Bomber’s full arsenal of weaponry.
As Lamia prays, Shiro and Benn are ready to execute their maneuver. Hercules reports “laser rockets” in place. You’re just saying words that sound cool now, aren’t you?
An impossibly high number of Alliance fighters are swarming but Orion makes a huge blunder and orders them all to return to base. I’m not quite sure why this is, but again, later events will exonerate him.
X Bomber’s first new weapons reveal! Apparently the whole forward section of the ship can raise up in gooseneck fashion to reveal a double barreled cannon underneath. Cool!
Dr. Benn orders the beam to “blast off.” Perhaps he needs medical attention after all.
Using the traditional tokusatsu method of combining cell animated lasers with model shots, the filmmakers create a super cool laser effect. X Bomber looks like a wounded dragon, spraying fire at it’s enemies. Orion tries to order evasive action but it’s too late.
Two Imperial carriers are destroyed, fully loaded with fighters. Orion panics and orders a full retreat.
PPA rejoices, but Doctor Benn tempers his enthusiasm. Is there enough power to keep firing? Shiro engages in some, frankly, made up sounding jargon. You’ll make yourself crazy trying to figure out plausible in universe explanations for this stuff.
Shiro restores “full” power. Hercules fires again and destroys two more of the retreating carriers. Fortuitously for him, Orion escapes.
Hercules wants to finish the job, but Shiro opts to conserve power. Dr. Benn agrees with this judgement and orders repairs. The new plan is to return to base. No mention is made of returning the various missed calls on the X Bomber voicemail.
Speaking of calls, Makara chews out Orion for his flaccid performance. An Alliance commander never retreats, we are told. Hah.
General Kyle and Benn finally get ahold of each other. Benn praises the courage of his inexperienced crew. Kyle hasn’t missed the fact the Ocean Patrol Fleet has been assembled now, and reckons he can use it to buy time for the X Bomber crew to repair the ship and get back on their feet.
Meanwhile, in the engine room, PPA admonishes the crew for moving too slowly. This is one of the calmer, slower moments of the series that I really enjoy. It’s nice to see these characters in their environment just talking and thinking in between the action. What happens in Star Fleet has tremendous personal implications for each of the characters involved. When we get a chance to see and hear them reflecting on it, the results are really quite fascinating.
Shiro tells off PPA, claiming he’s a pilot, not a repairman. Hercules confrontationally argues it’s Shiro’s lack of skill as a marksman that got them in their current predicament, a line that feels a bit forced. Lee jumps in to calm things down. He stumbles over his words in a way I find charming. It adds a bit of realism to the puppet.
PPA resumes yammering and Hercules suggests they turn him off. Dr. Benn chooses this moment to appear and puts a stop to it. Although Shiro correctly points out that they are not mechanics, Benn insists on respect for PPA and urges them to hurry before the Alliance can organize another attack.
The baddies decide to make their move against Earth. Orion wants to turn back and fight the ocean fleet assembled at Pluto, but Makara reasons it’s time to launch an “FG Operation.”
A holographic projector is launched from Makara’s Battlecruiser and is used to generate a decoy fleet of Alliance Fighters. This illusion is so convincing it fools the radar and sensors of Star Fleet HQ.
The Ocean Patrol fleet features different ship designs than the flying saucer fighters of the previous episode. These are a bit sleeker. Their angularities form into an overall fast-looking appearance.
Despite the heroism of this group of fighters, they can’t destroy holograms because they aren’t really there.
This French guy groks that all is not as it seems and reports back to the Flight Commander who then figures out that it’s all a mirage. Again, not a stellar showing for Earth’s forces but at least they didn’t get blown to pieces.
Makara derisively mocks the Earth people for falling for it, but then proceeds to avoid using similar tactics for the rest of the series.
At Star Fleet High Command, they spot Makara’s battlecruiser heading for them by way of the “upper quadrant” or what on the map appears to be near Jupiter.
Number One and Number Two get their first visuals of what they’re up against and are overawed by it’s size and apparent power. General Kyle demands data. His staff conclude it’s the same ship that destroyed Pluto Alpha Base and inform him it is “1000 militons” away and “approaching hyperspeed.”
Kyle demands a report on Ocean Fleet but when he’s infomed of the diversion, he’s hardly surprised. He needs X Bomber and he needs it now.
Forcing the viewers to delay the gratification of watching X Bomber in action, the writers keep our heroes stuck on the moon. Lamia has pitched in by running tests from the bridge. Despite their honest efforts, they don’t have enough power for take off. Meanwhile, the enemy is already past Mars. General Kyle is getting very anxious.
Benn says he needs 30 more hours before casually saying “sorry” as if he is a McDonalds manager who has just run out of Big Macs instead of a starship captain with the only shot at saving planet Earth. Kyle gets frustrated and rings off.
As they stroll past the moon, Orion points out that X Bomber is still crippled. Presumably, he wants a shot at winning back his lost honour but Makara ignores this to reflect on how Earth is a “planet of trust” since they were fooled by holograms and plans her conquest of Star Fleet Command.6
If you’ve been sitting around asking yourself, “Why does Earth need to depend on outer space starfighters and battleships? Don’t they have any defences of their own?” These three are here to address your concerns. They order up missiles and a group of their own fighters. So, Earth is not totally defenseless after all. Maybe X Bomber isn’t so urgently needed?
If you’ve been sitting around asking yourself, “Why doesn’t anybody get on the phone and try to hail these aliens? Shouldn’t communication be employed before weapons to try and prevent interstellar war before it starts?” Then this scene is for you.
Diplomatic relations are off to a rocky start as General Kyle demands the identity of the weird face on his viewscreen.
Makara cooly explains she is part of the Imperial Alliance Taskforce that dominates the whole galaxy minus the sol system. How these baddies managed to overlook Earth for so long is a mystery. Perhaps the alliance has only recently arrived at their position of domination or Makara is merely exaggerating?
Anyway, she claims the Alliance doesn’t want war but they have a purpose to be completed at all costs. Number One butts in to ask what it is.
Makara ignores this underling and continues by making threats. She claims cooperation will lead to their leaving Earth in peace. Kyle, already weary of talking and posturing, demands she clarify exactly what she’s after.
“F-01.”
Mentioned in the previous episode and in Carter’s interrogation, we still aren’t familiar with what this is. Kyle seems as baffled as we are. Just look at his face!
As with Carter, Makara assumes that Star Fleet is familiar with F-01 and it’s whereabouts. She calls their request for information a bargaining tactic and Kyle gets riled, defensively ordering her not to dictate orders to him.
“Arrogant and pathetic,” is Makara’s response. While, of course, she is in the wrong, it’s easy to see that the General was not the sort of guy to be sent into a negotiation. A skilled diplomat could have bought more time without losing her cool. Makara concludes the meeting by giving one Earth hour for Star Fleet to turn over F-01 before blowing them to smithereens.
The return of the narrator reveals that the episode is coming to a close. Star Fleet are in trouble and X Bomber is in no position to help. We end with the terrifying image of Makara’s ship over an Earth city.
This episode sows the seeds for greater conflict and depicts the Alliance as a formidable foe. It gives us clues that X Bomber has greater firepower than previously seen, but there’s no explanation of the starfighters/robot seen in the end credits yet. It’s a bit frustrating to have X Bomber crippled so early since we don’t really have enough of a chance to get to like our heroes before they are put in jeopardy. Fortunately, there is plenty of action and fun to go around.
Next week: Episode Three!
This scene and the subsequent fight was cut from the only official American VHS release of the series. The producers of that set opted to put three episodes on each tape and cut them into rather shapeless minimovies. For many years this and a couple of UK compilation tapes were the only way for fans to get copies of Star Fleet.
This is a lucky break for all parties concerned.
Shiro here refers to possible memory circuit damage before joking that PPA fainted on the job. PPA then claims that fainting is a human “emotion” of which he is capable. Let’s keep an eye out for future emotions and seemingly physical responses PPA is able to experience throughout the show.
Ordinarily during film and TV production you would shoot scenes involving fire last but as this is the first appearance of this set in a whole series, I suspect quite a few of the subsequent scenes were actually shot after this very real and explosive fire.
https://www.flytnow.com/blog/drone-fire-fighting
The use of the term “Star Fleet Command” would seem to add credence to the notion that Star Fleet ripped off Star Trek. In that earlier series, Star Fleet Command was the term of choice for Captain Kirk’s boss. They were seldom, if ever, referred to as Star Fleet HQ. However, Star Fleet is so wildly inconsistent with it’s terminology it seems a moot point.