Wipe Out the Transport Fleet! - Part One
Reviewing Episode Four of Star Fleet
It’s a universal rule. All Star Fleet episode titles (as translated from the Japanese originals) must contain exclamation points.
When last we left the crew of X Bomber, they had just successfully repelled the most dangerous invasion in human history. Now, our narrator informs us, Star Fleet Command is making their next move the reconstruction of Pluto Alpha Base. Perhaps someone from the X Bomber crew should be involved, but I guess they were busy because these unarmed spaceships went on their own.
These lovely transports, accompanied by a great march from Paul Bliss, disappear. Er, in a glow of red laser light. Gee, I wonder what happened to them and who could be responsible?
Back at EDF, Numbers One and Two are about to be asking the same question only they seem to be slightly more uncertain about the answer.
The Star Fleet flunkies are wondering why their Pluto transports (named 1, 2, and 3 despite the existence of a lot more of them than that) failed to arrive at their destination with their compliment of supplies and staff. There were no emergency calls.
Numbers One and Two may not be the brightest bulbs in the tool shed, but they reach the same conclusion I did– the Imperial Alliance is back. As with the mystery of F-01, the storytellers have really only given us one option to choose from.
In the shade of Moon Base, under the glow of the planet Earth, and surrounded by a bunch of junk and shipping containers, sits the mighty X Bomber. Salvation of the planet Earth and later to be the only hope of the free peoples of the galaxy. The music is suitably heroic. I wonder what the gang is up to?
Kirara, who can apparently breathe in little or minimal atmosphere, has been strapped into a brassiere-like rig and dangled in front of one of X Bomber’s engine intakes. What exactly he’s hanging from isn’t clear as he’s not in the wide shot at all. Did I mention he is wielding a mop?
PPA, never one to miss the chance for a pep talk, cheerfully rambles. He’s spraying things down with a hose, which must be high pressure to work on the low grav environment of the moon. In a monologue worthy of Nurse Ratchet, he chants about cleanliness and efficiency and polishing. Any semblance of his sanity departs as he accidentally sprays Kirara with the hose, much to the beast’s annoyance.
Dr. Benn informs the boys about the disappearance of three transport ships. Since we saw more than three earlier, perhaps we can assume those others escaped unharmed?
These four are unanimous in their belief that it was the Imperial Alliance at work. They’ve been ordered by Star Fleet to escort a new batch of transports. As Dr. Benn orders the cadets to prepare for take off, the camera zooms in on his face. Does he know what sort of quest they’re ultimately setting out on? Where it all will lead? Who can tell from those impeccably sculpted features?
Lamia and Kirara are now enjoying a leisurely stroll through the corridors, indicating some time has passed. I kind of love the vibe of this part of the episode. In the wake of their triumph in the previous story, our heroes seem to be taking it a little easier and genuinely getting recharged before the next mission.
Lamia ignores Kirara’s grunting complaints (presumably about PPA) and expresses her regret that the momentary peace and quiet has been all too brief. In fact, she wonders when there will ever be peace again. One can only assume she means on a more cosmic scale and not just on a personal level.
As Lamia disappears into her contemplations, Shiro is checking on quantum power. Lasers, electrics, communications, and pressure systems are OK. The launch checklist is interrupted by General Kyle.
Kyle reminds them of their mission and announces that the transports are already underway. Dr. Benn cheerfully announces they are about to join them. Kyle offers a sort of divine benediction as he signs off. “God be with you and good luck to you all.”
The X Bomber is off on it’s way, with heroic fanfare. I won’t reproduce the footage that’s drawn from previous episodes, but it is always enjoyable to see it again.
X Bomber soon makes contact with the Star Fleet transport vessels. Surely, they’re now in safe hands. We cut to a whip pan across the heavens and find ourselves in the vicinity of Jupiter.
Somehow, Makara has made it back into the Solar System without being detected and she has camped out right in the middle of Jupiter’s big spot.
Inside the behemoth, Makara is pacing back and forth. The termoids are giving regular reports on space traffic near Moon Base. It’s X Bomber she’s after.
Orion feels, for some reason, that X Bomber is crippled and he is anxious to take credit for it while gloating about the weakness of Earth’s defense forces. He seems to be forgetting that X Bomber just defeated them in their last encounter.
Makara, quite wisely, ignores his bravado. Instead, she mutters her plans aloud. Their new secret base on Jupiter is under construction– the perfect means of launching regular assaults on Earth! As for the transports, their destruction was apparently merely bait for X Bomber–
At this point the termoids jump in with a report of X Bomber’s launch. Makara sneers at Orion for underestimating their enemy, but Orion is dying to have another go. Makara holds him back and orders the fleet at the asteroid belt to be notified.
Her obsession with X Bomber is coming to the fore. With all the evil a supervillain can possess, she taunts X Bomber under her breath. It’s a chilling performance from Denise Bryer and some lovely puppetry as well.
With the next round of transports, John Lee starts something called a “time scan sensor.”
Dr. Benn explains for the benefit of those of us at home, that this tech will be able to track the disappearance of the transports. It also enables them to track the transports that are alongside X Bomber now.
Shiro, who I guess has never been this far from the farm, geeks out as they pass by Mars. In what are presumably her quarters, Lamia watches the place she grew up pass by out the window and she wonders again about her origins. Why Mars? Why not Earth? Or why send her to the human solar system at all?1
The convoy soon passes by, leaving the expertly rendered red planet in it’s wake. I assume these paintings were painted spheres of wood or poster board.
John Lee is enjoying a breadstick or a biscotti, when the screen begins to flicker. PPA picks up on this before his ginger friend, and Lee apologizes for “napping” when he should have been paying attention.
Benn warns Shiro to be alert too. After all, this is the “quadrant” where transports 1, 2, and 3 disappeared. Shiro agrees to keep his eyes peeled.
Accompanied by one of Paul Bliss’ finest tracks, our heroes travel through the asteroid belt. Why they couldn’t simply go around it on the way to Pluto isn’t explained.
Lee has not given up on his biscotti. Meanwhile, he informs us that this is where the trail of the lost transports goes cold.
Undeterred by the spooky atmosphere, Benn orders the ship stopped. Shiro leaps up with a very puppety movement. Both of these events are confusing. Why stop the ship to investigate while you have a group of unarmed transports in tow? Why does Shiro need to get up to stop the ship, when he is clearly seated at his pilot station?
Although no communication has been sent, the transports get the message and the whole convoy stops on a dime. Dr. Benn orders a yellow alert across all ships. What’s out there? There’s a ghostly ambience building as we head away from the happy-go-lucky tone that dominated that first act of the story.
The creepy aspect of the story doesn’t really have a chance to fully take hold because after a few beats we are thrust back into action.
Hercules was right, it is indeed a great spot for an ambush. Imperial Alliance carriers, this time without a compliment of fighters and sporting an additional canon above the cockpit, reveal themselves.
With considerably more dexterity than Shiro in the previous scene, Hercules leaps from his chair. He’s ready for battle! Dr. Benn orders the transports to retreat.
As the baddie ships fly in like a mini swarm of locusts, the transports have mysteriously scarpered leaving no trace. In fact, one shot is a re-creation of a previous shot we saw a few seconds ago, but this time there is no transports, giving the impression that they left so fast, they went back in time. Flaming thunderbolts!
Dr. Benn calls Hercules to attention, as if he wasn’t already. This time, the X Bomber crew have had some time to prepare and familiarize themselves with the ship’s systems. When Benn orders shields, Hercules is already back in his seat and ready to execute.
The shield appears as a rotoscoped green glow. It simply appears, rather than emerges, and it’s unclear where such a defense system could be generated from. Evidently, the range would not have been enough to protect a nearby ship such as a transport.
Always a day late and a dollar short, the Imperial Alliance open fire only after the shield has been deployed. Their head canons make for a fascinating bit of alien tech, and appear to function very differently from each other. In one example, the weapon emits a red, circular glow. In the other (right) it emits something more like the traditional Imperial Alliance “laser torpedo"– effectively an electrical discharge like a red bolt of lightning.
These differences, though probably just a quirk devised by the animators to save time, suggest to me that these modified machines were part of a special elite squadron of Makara’s forces. Perhaps they were given the freedom to experiment and tinker with their ships to make them even more dangerous with Mad Max-style modifications. We’ll never know for sure, but there are some specialist characters who turn up later on, giving credence to the idea of special forces within the Alliance ranks.
In any case, their assault was all for naught. The X Bomber is impervious to their weapons thanks to it’s shield technology.
“Doctor, it works! It works!” Lee cries out excitedly, revealing that the shield is very new, perhaps even newer than the last episode. Maybe the shield generator was part of that final 10 percent that needed completing in episode one.
Benn is feeling aggressive and demands to know if Hercules is prepared to attack. Hercules, on the other hand, has simmered down into a subdued battlefield zen mode.
“Fire!” Hercules pulls the trigger and a pair of twin barreled lasers (which definitely were not there before) fire blue bolts at their assailants. They seem to function from behind the shield, which implies they operate on a different type of energy than conventional weaponry. This theory is supported by the blue color. Other than X Impulse, no other X Bomber weapon fires blue projectiles.
The Alliance ships, for all their modified looks, are not equipped with shields of their own. The first vessel is up in smoke in no time at all.
Shiro cheers, “we made it!” A bit prematurely, it seems. Dr. Benn calmly gives Hercules more firing coordinates.
Hercules is using a very rudimentary targeting device to try and hit the third ship. PPA butts in with obnoxious comments/orders, causing Hercules to hurl insults at the “pile of circuits.”
Hercules is successful in destroying the final ship. Meanwhile, Captain Orion and Commander Makara are watching events unfold via unknown means from a safe distance aboard their battlecruiser.
Makara, uncharitable towards her staff at the best of times, launches into name calling and blames Orion for the failure. Never mind the crews of these ships who heroically surrendered their lives for the glory of the Alliance.
Chastised, Orion stammers and hastily concocts a strategy to put himself back on top. This is essentially a continuation of the same plan. Having already lured X Bomber into a trap in the asteroid belt, Orion wants to lure our heroes into an even BIGGER trap on Jupiter.
Makara, no longer selling Dr. Benn short, reckons that X Bomber isn’t going to fall for the same ruse twice. Orion, without really answering this objection, suggests that they hide below “the methane sea” out of sight. Although it isn’t fully explained here, what is effectively being planned is a pincer movement with X Bomber caught between the new Jupiter base and Makara’s Battlecruiser.
Not having any better ideas, Makara agrees to go along with Orion’s plan, but she seems a little halfhearted about it.
As the Alliance load their traps for a second attempt, X Bomber has deactivated it’s successful shield weapon (it’s hardly ever seen again) and Dr. Benn has lit himself a smoke.
“Shiro, head for Jupiter,” Dr. Benn declares. The tobacco has given him clairvoyance. Shiro is as mystified by this order as one might expect. After all, their job was to escort a group of transports to Pluto. But this isn’t Shiro’s stated objection. He just can’t seem to believe his ears.
Dr. Benn’s reasoning is that a “task force” the size of the one they just faced must have had a base nearby for support. Never mind that the only base required in previous episodes was Makara’s enormous battleship. Never mind that Saturn and other planets are also in between the asteroid belt and Pluto. Jupiter’s obviously the one. “There’s no other explanation.” Hard to argue with the man when he’s right.
PPA thinks it “sounds right” too and the engines are fired up!
What will X Bomber find when it reaches Jupiter? More action? Excitement? Methane? Stay tuned to this blog to find out!
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It’s a bit weird, given the fuss that he put up in previous episodes, that Dr. Benn has allowed Lamia to tag along on this dangerous mission. One would think that her possible F-01 status should either merit telling her story to the authorities (who must’ve been curious about why the Alliance abruptly turned tail when Earth was at their mercy) or by sending her into hiding in a safe place. Dr. Benn and Lamia have chosen to ignore the whole issue and instead assign Lamia a spot aboard X Bomber.