The Mysterious Sailing Ship Skull - Part Two
Episode Five Continues
We’ve just encountered a mysterious sailing ship traveling through space. Lamia is closing in on this unidentified vessel, when the unthinkable happens– a piece of the X Bomber equipment compliment fails.
Shuttlecraft 07 was clearly not designed by Shiro Hagen’s Dad, whose vehicles are seemingly indestructible, but rather by the same rubes who designed the EDF fighters. This simple cruise has overtaxed the engine and it is now smoking like a Texas Bar-B-Q. Maybe Lamia was exceeding the recommended maximum speed? It is certainly possible that Lamia left X Bomber to launch this shuttle from Pluto Base but unlikely given later events place shuttles within X Bomber.
You can really hear the frustration in Liza Ross’ performance as Lamia gets *within sight* of her goal and then is forced to stop. Lamia concludes that there is an external force at work here. But what? It would be strange if it was the spaceship at hand since they called her out here.
While Lamia becomes one with her disappointment, Shiro is still eagerly searching for her and calling on the radio. Hercules and Lee are doing the same, with a similar level of urgency.
Lamia takes the next logical step and hails the “Sailing Ship the Skull” and tells them that she is the one with the aforementioned pendant. All she gets for a reply is stony silence.
As Lamia and the mystery boat face off, Shiro pulls up alongside. Lamia really wants Shiro to leave her alone. It isn’t clear to me exactly why. She doesn’t seem to believe there is any danger here. I guess she knows they won’t believe her or take her seriously.
Shiro, for his part, thinks that the Alliance could be hanging around. He doesn’t understand why Lamia ran off or why she won’t respond to his calls.1 This whole chunk of dialogue is a bit stilted in an effort to get the script to sync up with the puppet mouths.
Although Shiro has parked his spaceship next to Lamia’s, he is just now noticing for the first time that there is another party involved here. Cue the mysterious Skull theme from Paul Bliss!
Lamia insists that Shiro let her “go to it,” and Shiro is concerned about her sanity. Lamia argues (not unreasonably) that this is definitely not an Alliance Battlecruiser. “It is calling me, it has got something to tell me!” Lamia says. Shiro won’t have it. “It could be one of Makara’s tricks.”2
“We don’t know what’s inside it,” he continues, as if it is some sort of Easter egg. He suggests that Lamia use her sensors to try and figure it out.
Shiro fills in Hercules and Lee, who are also flabbergasted to see a sailing ship in outer space. Hercules and Lee follow Shiro’s lead and insist on Lamia coming back also.
Outnumbered and unable to do what she wants thanks to her engine failure, Lamia calls out to the Skull for aid.
Space is very big, but Makara just so happens to be cruising in the area and stumbles upon this rather domestic stand off.
Actually, according to this batch of termoids, the sailing ship Skull “has been found.” Do they mean found by X Bomber? Or was Makara taking a break from the invasion to go hunt down this sailing ship instead?
Orion gleefully announces that he thinks the Skull is looking for F-01 and Makara seems to take it as obvious.
Makara turns– almost to the camera but not quite– and hisses that the presence of the Skull on the fringes of human space is proof positive of Lamia’s true identity as F-01. Potentially Earth shattering, if true, but Makara could be lying or mistaken. On the other hand, Lamia has the pendant and is summoned to space by these unidentified aliens. There is no other possible explanation presented for what F-01 might be.
Eagle eyed as ever, the termoids twig that a small craft is approaching the skull and Makara orders Orion to destroy the Skull and prevent contact. It would be simpler to destroy the unarmed and tiny shuttlecraft, but remember that Makara came looking for the F-01 with other intentions besides merely destroying it. Otherwise, why not just wipe out the Earth as Orion wanted in episode two?
Orion commands this operation, which rolls out quickly. To Lamia’s horror, the Skull is under attack!
The Dai-X fighters and Lamia’s shuttle are on the sidelines, unmolested. Lee is getting agitated, Lamia is a basket case, and Hercules demands Shiro to step in and lead. What will Shiro do to manage this situation? Is this his moment to fulfill his destiny and become the hero?
Nope! At this moment when his leadership skills are put to the test, Shiro takes the easy way out and phones home for instructions.
In an oddly paced scene, (translation problems again?) Dr. Benn orders Shiro to keep out of this fight. That is a resonable order, since the Skull won’t communicate and it is very uncertain what their true purpose is regarding Lamia and Earth’s Solar System in general.
Shiro obeys Benn, but with hesitation. Lamia wants to defend the Skull and it isn’t easy for Shiro to resist her. Meanwhile, Dr. Benn is bringing in the X Bomber to join the investigation but they won’t arrive for “100 parsecs.”
However, the battle is turning in the Skull’s favor. Their blue blasts of energy (from unseen weapons either on deck or from some gun port orifices) are hitting the mark and the Alliance fighters are being destroyed. So much for the defenseless sailing ship. Perhaps the Skull is actually a pirate ship, as its figurehead would suggest to Japanese and English audiences alike.
Makara demands to know if the Skull has finally been sunk and Orion is forced to admit his tactics are not cutting the mustard. Makara relieves him of command. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.
Orion passes on Makara’s anger with an extra dollop of his own rage on top; calling his subordinate an imbecile. The fighters pull out, which Hercules notes with some satisfaction. I guess the pirates can fight, which earns his respect. Lamia is relieved.
Shiro, slightly delusional from wandering in the Plutonian snowfall, is mystified as to why the Alliance would order a retreat from a defenseless ship. Plainly, the Skull fought off the fighters so that comment makes no sense.
However, it soon becomes clear that Makara is not really retreating but actually changing tactics. Although the Skull gets some more shots in, it is plainly no match for this head to head fight with a larger ship.
Lamia, right on cue, is distraught again.
Hercules has seen enough. He reckons it’s time to step in. Lamia’s pitiful entreaties are pretty persuasive too.
After a moment of deliberation, Shiro decides to attack.
At this moment, the Doctor flies in and calls a halt to the proceedings, accompanied by fan fare from composer Paul Bliss.
Shiro, Hercules, and Lee are ordered to tow Lamia’s shuttle back to the relative safety of X Bomber and to avoid the confrontation unfolding in front of them.
In haste, magnetic grabs are lowered from Legstar and Mainbody. Lamia’s shuttle is towed away from the scene of the battle.
In this haunting shot, Lamia is pulled away from where she is clearly being drawn by unknown external forces and by her own heart. As she is taken away like an errant school girl, the Skull is burning behind her. The moral confusion of this scene is somewhat betrayed by the music, which is triumphant and heroic. The Japanese filmmakers plainly wanted this to be a bit more ambiguous.
Is Benn wrong to prevent contact and avoid helping the Skull? Clearly not. They contacted Lamia and shrouded everything in secrecy as if they had something to hide. Yet, Lamia is basically infantilized and granted no agency of her own in matters that concern her most of all.
Makara gloats as the Skull flees. "Stand by to destroy the sailing ship,” she orders. Whatever that means. What do you do when you stand by to destroy something? Have they been holding back the killing blow till now?
The termoids are uneasy about X Bomber’s presence, but Makara has supreme confidence that they will stay neutral.
Shiro reports Lamia is “safely” aboard X Bomber. How can he be so sure she won’t bolt? Is she locked in her quarters? Tied up in restraints? Clearly, Kirara is no use looking after her since he let her go in the first place. Dr. Benn doesn’t ask questions and just asks the boys to take their stations, which they do not.
“Tell us,” Shiro asks politely, “what is that sailing ship out there?” Benn confesses ignorance. Hercules helpfully points out that the Alliance is trying to destroy it. “Take my word for it!” We can all see that the Alliance is trying to destroy it, but I guess we’ll take your word instead.
Shiro stands in for the voice of the audience– he wants to rescue them.3 Benn points out they cannot aid “every space pirate” who has angered the Alliance. This sparks an avalanche of concern from the boys, who are eager to skip to the conflict.
In this one instance, Dr. Benn collapses like a house of cards. “We’ll help.”
Peter Marinker delivers this line in his most avuncular tones.
Hercules opening salvo misses the mark, but the second shot catches the Alliance unawares and causes all the termoids on the bridge to duck.
As usual, Orion is stuck delivering the bad news. Makara curses Dr. Benn. There is already a fire in the engine room, and Orion wants to retreat. Makara opts for the path of revenge.
Rather than retreat, Makara turns the full force of her powerful battleship onto the X Bomber. Her assault is considerable, shaking up the bridge of the good guys’ ship. This is a bold move and feels more in character with Makara than the tail between the legs approach.
It’s a head to head fight and each ship appears to be holding their ground, despite an obvious weight class advantage for the Alliance.
PPA brags the enemy is retreating, despite the fact that they just leveled a full force attack.
Lamia mournfully watches the Skull disappearing. “Why,” she wonders in her thoughts, “didn’t you speak to me when you had the chance?” This is a very good question, especially now that the X Bomber crew have risked life and limb to protect this ship.
Abruptly, the episode is over. PPA was right and the Alliance really were retreating. Perhaps X Bomber was cutting off the escape route and so they had to fight their way out? Space is 3D so this seems improbable but we’ll let it slide.
Overall, this is a fantastic episode of Star Fleet. We get some well intentioned scenes of light hearted fun among the crew at the beginning, followed by an exploration of Pluto and a glimpse into Shiro’s memorable Academy years. We revisit the mysteries of Captain Carter’s disappearance and Lamia’s true identity. We meet the sailing ship the Skull, a taciturn presence that draws Lamia in, but then seems to sabotage her engine when she gets too close– all without communicating true intentions.
I’d tune in again next week. Wouldn’t you?
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Shouldn’t Shiro be updating Hercules and co about now?
Shiro is here referring to Makara’s illusory holographic fleet in Super Powerful Imperial Alliance Fleet- Episode Two.
Not least because we want to see spaceships battling.