Wipe Out the Transport Fleet! - Part Two
Star Fleet goes to Jupiter
The Imperial Alliance has built an impressive fortification on the “surface” of Jupiter1 and Makara is on the sea bed beneath waves of dry ice smoke. Although scientifically implausible in the extreme, this fantasy world is an appealing one.
X Bomber approaches. “You know what to do,” Makara hisses to Orion. Somehow, the plan to lure X Bomber to Jupiter has worked even though there was no bait and not even a note to say “you should come to Jupiter, Dr. Benn.” Good thing for the baddies Benn had that intuition.
“This time,” Dr. Benn chants, “we will destroy that alien ship.” Instead of asking “how do you know the alien ship is here?” the crew answer “yes, Doctor,” in chorus. Clearly, they think he’s lost his marbles and they’re just going along with it.
The approach of X Bomber is the cue for Makara’s Battlecruiser to take off from the methane sea bed. The troops are ready to open fire and Orion raises his hand to give the order but Makara stops him– with the tip of her sword.
She wants to hold fire. “There’s no hurry.” This actually feels very much in character for her. Cunning and calculating and a bit cruel. Tactically, it’s a good move as it enables them to complete their pincer movement. Striking this early would give the game away.
X Bomber swoops in over the billowing oceans, presumably in a search pattern. PPA is the first to spot the enemy base. Hercules leaps to his feet.
While Shiro marvels at the accuracy of the Doctor’s prognostications, Hercules is ready for a fight. For once, the Doctor is in agreement. The time for battle stations has come.
Benn favors a direct approach for this battle. He flies a straight ahead course and walks straight into a barrage of enemy fire.
PPA calls frantically for evasive maneuvers and again the Doctor agrees, calling for a turn to port. Apparently the straight ahead approach isn’t always best when dealing with fortifications. What happened to those fabulous shields from earlier in this very episode?
Our gang gets pummeled by Alliance fire. They didn’t turn hard enough to port to avoid the island but Benn is ready to retaliate with the usual “laser torpedos.” Continuing along the grandiose theme he started earlier, Benn reckons they can do it in “one attack.” This time only Hercules joins in with a somewhat patronizing, “yes Doctor.”
X Bomber pulls up and comes around for that one attack, only to get hit with a lot more firepower. Hercules is ready to shoot, but he gets tossed aside by the turbulence. Although Dr. Benn’s had an accurate premonition about the enemy’s location, he clearly didn’t know they would be so well armed.
Dr. Benn’s troubles are not over. He warns Lee that they are taking fire from behind and Lee confirms– an alien ship is approaching from the rear.
Makara’s ship rises out of the depths of Jupiter like Ahab’s whale breeching from the oceans of Earth. “THIS IS A TRAP!” Benn exclaims. No one feels the need to join in.
Paul Bliss action music winds up as Makara cackles and gloats. There is a lovely bit of banter between the termoids. “Stand by to fire.” “Fire.” “NOW!”
Reckoning that a more three dimensional approach is called for, Benn orders Shiro to take the ship up and Shiro executes– but their starboard engine takes a bad hit. The fix for that is to divert power to the main shield, but these apparently aren’t the glowing green shields we saw before.
PPA is certain they are about to be destroyed. Purely Pessismistic Android, it seems.
Shiro does some expert piloting, but Makara comes about. There doesn’t seem to be a way to escape as she’s blocking any exit into space.
Termoids report that X Bomber has been hit. Makara taunts their evasions. She attempts to herd them toward the base.
X Bomber seems doomed. But Dr. Benn has regained control. In an authoritative voice, he calls out to Shiro, Hercules, and Lee. The time has come to launch.
The promise of the premise is about to be unveiled.
Although he’s ready for a rock ‘em sock ‘em, Hercules is reluctant to leave the Doctor behind without a crew. PPA calls this concern a waste of time. Benn can’t be bothered with their sniping. In an impressive pan, we see him tell the cadets to hurry, then the three young men exit, and then we follow PPA back to the Doctor. The Android indignantly reports the latest insult Hercules threw at him. It’s a clever bit of camera work closely followed by this:
Although they exited the bridge gracefully enough, this trio is definitely struggling to do the puppet walk now, with Lee in particular swinging his hips at a rate that seems out of sync with his actual speed of advancement. No back projection or other trickery is employed here, it’s all down to the puppeteers to accomplish this tricky and ambitious movement.
Lamia, perhaps sensing the urgency of their mission, has stopped them in the hall to ask if they’ll be alright and generally delay the proceedings. At the moment, it still isn’t clear why she’s aboard X Bomber or what her function in the story of this week’s episode is.
Shiro brags that they’ll make “these things wish they’d stayed in the Thalian Zone,” while Hercules, er, appears to admire Lamia’s figure. Eyes up here, buddy.
Herucles nods in agreement with Shiro’s aggressive assessment (perhaps the real reason the puppet’s eye line was tilted down) and Lamia wishes them good luck– in particular she wishes SHIRO good luck– before heading to the control room to assist Dr. Benn and justify her presence on the battlefield.
At that moment, the ship shudders with the impact of enemy weapons and Hercules, perhaps feeling jealous of the moment Shiro is sharing with Lamia, grabs his helmeted companion by the arm and drags him towards the launch area.
As Herucles drags Shiro away, he turns back to Lamia and announces that he hates to “break up the party” with a jaunty attitude. Older or more savvy viewers would pick up on the beginnings of sexual tension here. Clearly, Lamia feels a stronger connection with Shiro than the other two pilots (if only because they basically share a father) and this has triggered some sort of jealousy in Hercules. 2 There is a fascinating triangle forming quite unlike anything usually seen in kids TV.
Putting the feelings of our young people to one side, they are still under attack by a relentless enemy. Fortunately the time has come to launch X Bomber’s secret weapon. If you’ve been paying attention to the opening and closing titles3 you probably have a good idea of what's coming.
All Gerry Anderson and Tokusatsu fans will love a good launch sequence! While X Bomber continues to take fire, back projection is employed to make these puppets look like they are each flying down a corridor of some sort at high speed while riding on moving chairs. Paul Bliss offers an exciting, grooving, launch theme that serves to underscore several action sequences throughout Star Fleet.
The shots of the puppets are intercut with scaled down stunt dummies, I guess to avoid building a full puppet scale version of the launch corridor.
Even though they were all together at the beginning, somehow our three heroes have switched tracks and individually find their way to their craft in one of the more obvious Thunderbirds references. Hercules even flips in as if he had just gone through a Virgil Tracy style theme park ride rather than just a fast moving chair.
There is some very effective sound design as the chairs lock into place, with hydraulics hissing and clamps slamming in a style reminiscent of Stingray, another Anderson gem.
Dr. Benn gives the final launch order as PPA snaps off his perch in what was intended to be a fall. Lamia follows his movement so quickly and at so alarming an angle, it looks as if her neck was broken.
Shiro launches “Braincom,” a head shaped red star fighter from below where X Bomber’s neck meets the bulk of the ship.
In a dynamic low angle shot, Hercules proclaims the launch of “mainbody" which is housed on the port side of X Bomber. Are you detecting an anatomical theme?
Lee is the last to launch. His “Legtrack” (usually referred to as LegTrax) is opposite of Mainbody, launching from the other side of X Bomber.
These three fighters effectively make X Bomber more than a single warship– it can unfurl into a whole mini fleet of Star Fleet firepower.
Shiro, housed in the brain, is the strategist. All three pilots huddle together in a tight formation while Shiro explains the battle plan and they break off on individual courses to divide Imperial fire.
This is a very tricky shot, combing a LegTrax miniature in the background and the puppet scale Braincom and Mainbody cockpits in the fore, apparently rigged in such a way that the whole assembly can be moved in and out of frame at will. This scene must have taken a great deal of preparation and careful planning to achieve and the results, while not totally seamless, are very effective and preserve the handheld, rough and tumble X Bomber energy.
Dr. Benn wishes the pilots good luck, with PPA restored to his position– apparently no worse for the wear.
Shiro and Hercules fearlessly begin their attack, plotting a straight ahead approach identical to the one that Dr. Benn had employed earlier with X Bomber.
John Lee’s vehicle has some special capabilities which will now be demonstrated for the toy obsessed audience.
The “trax” turn out to be tank treads that drop from the hull of Lee’s craft, enabling him to function on the ground like a tank with no main artillery. Although a great idea, both for merchandising and storytelling, the LegTrax actually ends up looking more like a child’s toy wagon than a credible threat to the Alliance, who mercilessly flog Lee with laser fire.
If you weren’t distracted by the three new craft and were wondering about X Bomber, she’s still pinned down between Makara and the Jupiter base. PPA’s personal instability has escalated to full scale freak out. The Doctor snaps at him to pull himself together.
Makara has decided the time to press home her advantage has come. As she moves in for the kill, Benn warns Lamia to hold on tight and orders PPA to get on his feet– an odd remark since PPA mostly flies around anyway but it’s the heat of a battle so we’ll let that one slide.
Benn turns the nose of X Bomber sharply in a bit of fancy flying that fails to impress Makara. Meanwhile, Orion reports that X Bomber’s fighters aren’t doing any damage at the base at all.
Shiro doggedly continues the attack despite the fact that the enemy has dug in too well and is apparently adequately armored against Star Fleet weapons. His barrel rolls and carefully targeted firing don’t do any damage at all.
Hercules claims he can’t shoot due to the rocky terrain. Shiro calmly agrees– they are at a major tactical disadvantage.
Lee, meanwhile, is holding his own a bit better than he was before, but he admits he’s “being used for target practice.”
To his credit, Shiro decides to change tack rather than stubbornly hold out as Captain Carter did earlier in the series. He orders “Dai X together.”
And the crowd goes wild!
“LegTrack” takes off and hovers in midair. Despite the fact that he is still right in the middle of a war zone, Lee is ready to standby for docking.
In a move that pre-figures the Western Transformers franchise,4 the starfighter then begins to transform. The ship literally uncurls itself into something that looks like a pair of legs.
As in Thunderbirds, several models of each craft were produced to do different things in different scenes and while they are obviously designed to be similar, there was very little attempt to closely match details between variants. Plainly, the model that took off from the surface of Jupiter could never unfold in the way the model in the stock shot above could do.
As Hercules comes in for docking, it must be obvious to nearly every member of the pre-pubescent audience that these ships are about to form a giant robot. Although we all know it’s coming, the foregone conclusion only serves to heighten the excitement, compounded by crash zooms and clever camera work, not to mention Paul Bliss’ exciting music.
The insert: Mainbody and LegTrax dock! These sorts of connections are very satisfying, like constructing something out of Lego or Meccano.
Last but certainly not least, Shiro arrives with the head.
These sequences might have seemed dull or repetitious to parents or babysitters, but they were like catnip to the young audience. The televised obsession with the mechanical is the foundation of many a career in technology and engineering.
Astonishingly, not only has the Dai X somehow gained fists through this docking sequence, it has also gained the ability to growl menacingly. Fantastic!
For me as a child, the transformation of those comparatively puny fighters into this tremendous and seemingly live robot never fooled me for a second. I definitely came and stayed for the X Bomber, which seemed to me a more plausible vehicular concept.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t help grinning at the sheer brashness of it all. Not only was it a triad of spaceships that could combine into a giant robot, the whole thing was bright red and seemingly capable of conducting the delicate “junction” procedure in the middle of a battle. Lasers glanced off the Dai X armor, leaving it ready for a rampage.
As battle music thumps away, Dai X begins literally punching the bad guys. “The ol’ one-two,” Hercules remarks, obviously pleased with how it’s going.
At the risk of taking it all too seriously, there are two forces at play in the Dai X scenes I’d like to acknowledge. The first is the most obvious– the primal power of fisticuffs. Dai X takes the complex idea of a war fought in space with advanced technology and reduces it down to it’s barest elements– effectively rendering it as a fight scene as basic (and as nuanced) as a barroom tussle.
As such, it is emblematic of such classic genres as the Western and Action/Adventure where a hero has to rely on his physical prowess to save the day. Dai X as a sort of futuristic Clint Eastwood– a rugged symbol of individualism amongst the insectoid Imperial Alliance. Might doesn’t necessarily make right, but it sure can help if might is on the side of the protagonists.
The other side of the Dai X coin is the underlying concept of teamwork. In Christian tradition, members of the church are symbolically described as different body parts with Christ as the head of the body as a whole.
It’s hard to picture a more literal symbol of the necessity of working together in society than a mecha where the pilots have to coordinate in order to make the unit move as one– much more powerful than any of the three parts would be individually.
All that to say, despite the obvious intent to use Dai X to sell toys, there are definitely deeper meanings that can be found in this and the other giant robot franchises of the era if you’re interested in digging them up. I’m sure a Freudian analyst would have a field day.
There are doubtless symbolic roots in the Japanese culture that X Bomber emerged from as well. In a land decimated by war technology, giant mecha offer both a throwback to simpler times (you can just punch your way through any assault) and a brighter future where the tech is more personal than an atomic weapon killing from a distance.
On the bridge of Makara’s battlecruiser, chaos reigns. The termoids are freaking out over the presence of the Dai X, suggesting to me a “hive mind” connection with their fellows down on the ground.
“Our base is totally destoryed,” Orion is forced to admit. Makara goes ballistic.
Orion (and any Imperial Alliance spies) have no knowledge of Dai X apparently, infuriating Makara still further. Despite her obvious frustration, Makara shrieks for a retreat.
Orion once again moves to object, probably to suggest that they still have a chance to take out X Bomber while Dai X is busy finishing off the base. However, Makara bitterly cuts him off before he has a chance to speak. She has commanded and retreat is the order.
Orion has no choice but to acknowledge Makara’s “divine guidance” and pull out of the battle in despair. “Full power; main engine.”
Lamia helpfully points out that the battleship is retreating as Kirara cradles an unhinged PPA. Dr. Benn cheerfully admits that the Dai X has proven itself before calling to congratulate the crew on the ground. The voice that replies doesn’t sound quite like any of the three lads.
“We’re saved,” Lamia tells PPA, who complains that it took too long, much to Benn’s amusement.
In a defining shot of the whole series, Dai X stands victorious amongst the smoke and rubble. This hellscape it has rendered is the price of war, but the music reminds us that the heroes have bought themselves another day of freedom.
Unexpectedly, the narrative returns to the transport ships that kicked off the episode. The Narrator informs us they all arrived safely, presumably with the exception of the ones destroyed by Makara before X Bomber was assigned escort duty. Those people are either vaporized or being tortured somewhere in the hold of Makara’s ship, but never mind.
It’s snowing on Pluto as the transports land. It’s quite a lovely, lonely, and romantic image. The Narrator reminds us that the Alliance is not going to give up, promising more thrills next week.
This episode packs enough action and story to feel like a three-part story arc in and of itself. The introduction of fan favorite Dai X is a memorable one and the film contains at least three iconic locales– the asteroid belt, the methane seas of Jupiter with it’s rocky island battleground, and the snowy landscape of Pluto. 5
The drawback of all this excitement is that not much is explained and the overarching narrative advances very little. The mystery of F-01 was on hold for this week, with Makara focused on destroying X Bomber instead. But after the comparatively ponderous first three episodes the action is a welcome respite and the F-01 narrative will return with a vengeance next week.
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According to NASA, Jupiter has no rocky surfaces such as this. In fact, the planet is pretty much all swirling gases so highly pressurized that any spaceships attempting to land could easily be crushed. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/in-depth/
Normally I would just be speculating on something like this, but in this case there is a lot of evidence that the triangle, and in particular Hercules role in it, was very much intended by the series’ writers and creators. Several, including Go Nagai, would call Hercules the most interesting character because of this subplot.
Although the Transformers had yet to be imported to the English speaking world or branded as such, the toy line started in 1980 in Japan as “Diaclone” and took influence from X Bomber creator Go Nagai’s own Mazinger Z.
Unlike the representation of Jupiter, the depiction of Pluto as a snowy place is actually quite plausible https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/is-it-snowing-on-pluto/
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