X Bomber Goes Forth - Part One
Does what it says on the tin!
Welcome to episode six of Star Fleet! I’m really excited to dive in here, because this is where Star Fleet takes a hard turn. We have already touched on a lot of sophisticated themes you wouldn’t normally see on Saturday morning telly in 1982, but from here on out the intensity starts to build. Let’s get to it!
After our beloved opening credits1 we rejoin the X Bomber crew. They are headed back to Moon Base as they usually do after a mission.
Shiro orders the launch doors opened…
…and X Bomber lands without effort!
“Touch down, engines off!” Shiro announces. Dr. Benn orders the crew to relax after a job well done. At 3:30, Moon Base time, Benn wants to have a meeting in the conference room. Presumably, this is the conference room where our heroes were first introduced to Benn in episode one?
As soon as the Doc leaves the bridge, Lee celebrates the idea of having some down time. His character definitely represents the portion of the audience that would rather stay in the Shire than go off on mad adventures with Orcs, elves, and a ring.
PPA, never one to miss an opportunity for nagging, interrupts the reverie to order them all not to be late for the meeting.
As refueling is announced on the PA, Dr. Benn is off down the corridors of the ship. Where to?
Why, to visit Lamia, of course!
Dr. Benn inquires about her health and Lamia says she’s fine and that “she’s sorry for the trouble she’s caused.” For those of you just joining us, that trouble was stealing a shuttle and investigating an unknown alien transmission without permission or defence.
Benn, now that she’s saved once again, is no longer concerned about her transgressions.
Lamia explains that the notebook is actually the ship’s log and she’s entering it. Funny that in 2999 we won’t be doing this electronically. Perhaps there has been some sort of Dune-like anti-computer war.
Dr. Benn insists that Lamia take a “complete rest.” Darn, there goes the plan for a partial rest.
Lamia brings up the mysterious sailing ship. Benn doesn’t know who they were, only that they called on a secret frequency for a “special person” who may not have been Lamia. The facts are now with the top men of EDF. Which means we will probably get an answer… Never. But at least the boxes have all been ticked.
Lamia’s intuitions won’t let go of this issue. She says that the ship has something to do with her birth. There is a "“kind of nostalgia” surrounding the ship that rings true for her.
Benn ignores this and tries to get Lamia to promise not to do anything reckless without proof. In a surprise move, she agrees.
Down on that blue marble we call Earth, General Kyle and his brain trust are poring over “computer video” of the Skull.
Kyle concludes that the Skull could be key to ending the war with the Imperial Alliance. “If only we knew why they fired on it!” So, a mystery is laid down. The General formulates a plan, even as his sycophants whine that it is impossible to solve this one.
It’s at this unlikely moment that the whole plot shifts.
Kyle wants answers and X Bomber’s crew are the ones to provide them. He intends to send them on an Intergalactic Quest across space to try and find the Skull.
X Bomber is sometimes accused of ripping off the original Star Wars. There are quite a few obvious commonalities, but it’s here that the story diverges from that Western influence. There was no F-01 in Star Wars– the Force remains shapeless throughout that ambitious saga.
Here, X Bomber transforms from an alien invasion story to a quest yarn. This kind of plot is drawn more from fantasy than science fiction. 2
Number Two raises an extremely valid point. If X Bomber is wandering the universe playing Sinbad the Space Sailor, who will be left to defend Earth? Surely, Commander Makara would spot such an opportunity, crash through the EDF fleet like she did before, and destroy X Bomber’s home base.
Kyle is firm in his belief that Makara doesn’t care about Earth. All that matters to her is the F-01.
Number One wonders if the Sailing Ship is connected to F-01 somehow. Kyle is certain that it is, though this is really a huge leap on the order of Dr. Benn intuiting that the alien fleet would build their base on Jupiter.
Kyle surmises that the Alliance attacked the sailing ship to prevent it from contacting X Bomber, perhaps forgetting that there was ample opportunity for communication before the Alliance showed up on the scene. By this erroneous logic, the sailing ship HAS to be connected to F-01.
Number One points out the inescapable conclusion. General Kyle believes Lamia is F-01!
Confronted with this reasoning, Kyle backpedals. “I don’t know,” he confesses. Only Dr. Benn can figure this one out. His focus on Benn makes it seem he believes Lamia has no agency and the other characters do not exist.
Disregarding faulty logic and questionable assessments, Kyle is onto something here. What is needed is more information. Dr. Benn, his crew, and the X Bomber will be the ones to find it.
On moon base, the Doctor is running late to the meeting. This makes the guys antsy. Hercules, in a moment that harkens back to Parker in 1979’s Alien, complains that if it had been one of the crew and not the boss, then they would be in hot water with PPA.
Making his tardy entrance, Benn is followed by Lamia and Kirara. The puppet lets down the mood a bit by not quite managing to walk in a convincing way.
The boys stand at attention and the Doc begins with an apology for being late.
Dr. Benn breaks the news. They have been ordered by Star Fleet Command to “pursue and catch up” with the sailing ship. As he explains General Kyle’s feelings, the camera pans across the faces of the eager young heroes, like a shot from a war movie right before the battle.
Shiro is cheerful and excited about the prospect. But how do you track down a spaceship? Benn admits there is no data.
The expanse of space is infinite, according to Benn, so “trace sensors” are the only chance. Of course, if there is anything to be traced or sensed, that implies there is data of some kind, but never mind.
The filmmakers have decided to repeat the war movie trick but panning across our assembled heroes once again. If it worked once, why not twice?
“This search will take us into the unknown,” Benn continues, “Dangers perhaps unimagined.” This will be X Bomber’s maiden voyage beyond the Solar System and possibly even the first time a ship from Earth has travelled so far.
Benn rouses the troops by asking if the challenge is too great. They answer “no, sir.” in unison. HOO-RAH!
There is no time limit on this mission. Who knows how long it will take? They won’t stop till they find the ship.
Lamia is coming along for unstated reasons. She offers to be of help however she can.
Shiro goes a bit goony at this and “speaking for all” of the pilots, he reckons it’ll be good for morale to have Lamia around.
“We launch at 6, moon time, tomorrow,” Benn says. Since this meeting was intended to be at 3:30pm, it is safe to say it is around 4:30pm now. This means that the X Bomber crew have one final night to get ready before departing on a dangerous and lengthy expedition. “Get plenty of rest,” Benn concludes.
SURPRISE! The bad guys are back in our quadrant and moving past Mars. This time their appearance only warrants a yellow alert. It isn’t until they are in visual range of Earth that the warning gets upgraded to red. Stock footage of Earth’s missile command (that was destroyed last time) is played.
Makara calls up EDF with a proposition. However, she flat out refuses to talk to Numbers One and Two.
The two “subordinates” hem and haw as if the General is unavailable. But then General Kyle walks in and reluctantly says he will talk to Makara.
This is an odd scene to me. Why wouldn’t the General want to speak to Makara? Why should Makara be expected to talk to anyone of inferior rank? Surely, this is standard diplomatic procedure. Why didn’t the two officers have a reply prepared for the General’s absence?
Anyway, the numbers are saved the uncomfortable task of talking to an alien warrior woman when the General emerges from his office.
We hold on the shot of these two watching him walk in for an uncomfortable amount of time and I am starting to feel like something was lost in translation.
Makara demands that the Earthlings hand over Lamia, who she knows was piloting the shuttle that launched from Pluto.
Kyle asks if she believes that Lamia is F-01, and Makara tells him to just hand her over in order to save the Earth.
For an episode that was breaking new ground this is starting to sound very familiar.
Kyle refuses the trade offer and stands firm in his belief that a human life is worth protecting, even at the risk of endangering many others. “Something the Imperial Alliance would not understand.”
She hangs up and Kyle orders X Bomber launched. Changing his tune now that he’s in trouble, Kyle calls off the search for the Skull and orders astrofighters on Mars scrambled to delay Makara till the arrival of X Bomber.
Commander Orion launches a counter task force to battle the EDF forces and it looks like it’s going to be a smack down.
Part Two next week!
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Not composed in any way by Brian May, contrary to what social media punters sometimes claim. Brian covered the end titles theme song and had nothing to do with the original soundtrack.
Writer Keisuke Fujikawa said the plot of X Bomber was inspired by the famous Japanese folktale “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter” which also inspired a slew of manga, anime, and live action films. The most famous adaptation is the 2013 film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya released by Studio Ghibli. We’ll delve deeper into the origins of Star Fleet in future posts.
Great idea to do the photomerge! - Might be possible to extend it even further from other scenes.
The moonbase entrance hall might be another candidate, as well as the bridge of the alien battlecruiser.
Looking forward to finding out more about the roots of the story in the Japanese folk lore ...