Perhaps they got the idea for Stingray from this episode! Fireball XL5 is sent on a rescue mission to a planet where there are only two survivors. They are being attacked by an Aquaphibian (a race that showed up later on Stingray and Thunderbirds) for no particular reason. The Aquaphibian first uses a rifle like device to pierce the glass of the human being's habitat, then sprays a noxious gas into the hole in the glass to kill or incapacitate them.
The creature's aim is so good it even breaks Fireball Junior's cockpit glass and begins to fill the craft with gas before Steve and Matt are able to put on gas masks and get away. Oddly they retreat to space where Matt goes out and repairs the cockpit glass. He of course has no spacesuit on while out in space repairing the hole in the cockpit. But then again the show was always long on adventure and short on science.
Steve returns to the planet and takes Fireball Junior underwater to find and rescue the two human survivors of the planet, all the while fighting off the relentless and yet unexplained attack of the Aquaphibian. There's some really pretty good underwater stuff here which made me wonder if this episode was not the inspiration for "Stingray", the Anderson's next show.
But action aside,I kept feeling like the show was missing a reel explaining more about the planet, about why the 2 humans were there, why the creature was attacking them and how it got such advanced technology. The creature reminded me a bit of the Gorn in Star Trek without being as verbose.
An episode light on explanation but some good action and jeopardy. Fun to watch if you can ignore the weird science.
The creature's aim is so good it even breaks Fireball Junior's cockpit glass and begins to fill the craft with gas before Steve and Matt are able to put on gas masks and get away. Oddly they retreat to space where Matt goes out and repairs the cockpit glass. He of course has no spacesuit on while out in space repairing the hole in the cockpit. But then again the show was always long on adventure and short on science.
Steve returns to the planet and takes Fireball Junior underwater to find and rescue the two human survivors of the planet, all the while fighting off the relentless and yet unexplained attack of the Aquaphibian. There's some really pretty good underwater stuff here which made me wonder if this episode was not the inspiration for "Stingray", the Anderson's next show.
But action aside,I kept feeling like the show was missing a reel explaining more about the planet, about why the 2 humans were there, why the creature was attacking them and how it got such advanced technology. The creature reminded me a bit of the Gorn in Star Trek without being as verbose.
An episode light on explanation but some good action and jeopardy. Fun to watch if you can ignore the weird science.