Weird episode has Matt invent a time machine and sends Robert back to an old west town in 1875. Satisfied with the results, Matt decides to unveil his invention the next day but for some reason leaves the key to his lab with Lt. Ninety and goes to sleep. However Commmander Zero wants to see what the Professor has been working on and orders Ninety to give him the key. Zero, Steve Zodiac and Venus investigate and are accidentally sent back through time thanks to Zoony.
The three find themselves in a western town with no memory of the past, now dressed for 1875. Steve takes a job as Sheriff of this "one horse town" (an in-joke in that the puppeteers seem to have built only one horse puppet!) while Venus assumes the role of "Frenchy Lil" and she and Zero plan to rob the bank.
This has all the makings of a fantasy episode, especially when everything starts happening right after Matt goes to sleep, but I was surprised to find it was not. The problem with Matt's time machine is it appears to erase anyone's memory when they go back in time (in retrospect even Robert was not acting quite himself in his brief time in the past) while giving people entirely new wardrobes, suitable to the time they go to.
All in all this is a lighthearted, "fun" episode where everybody gets to try something a little different. It is fun to see Venus as "Frenchy Lil" robbing the bank, to hear the Fireball XL5 theme song played western style on a concertina, to see Zero ride a horse and watch the bank explode. I also thought the character of Doc looked suspiciously like Buddy Ebsen of "Beverly Hillbillies" and "Davy Crockett" fame.
Hopefully if our intrepid band of space travelers learned one thing from this adventure, it's this: next time, leave the lazoon at home!
The three find themselves in a western town with no memory of the past, now dressed for 1875. Steve takes a job as Sheriff of this "one horse town" (an in-joke in that the puppeteers seem to have built only one horse puppet!) while Venus assumes the role of "Frenchy Lil" and she and Zero plan to rob the bank.
This has all the makings of a fantasy episode, especially when everything starts happening right after Matt goes to sleep, but I was surprised to find it was not. The problem with Matt's time machine is it appears to erase anyone's memory when they go back in time (in retrospect even Robert was not acting quite himself in his brief time in the past) while giving people entirely new wardrobes, suitable to the time they go to.
All in all this is a lighthearted, "fun" episode where everybody gets to try something a little different. It is fun to see Venus as "Frenchy Lil" robbing the bank, to hear the Fireball XL5 theme song played western style on a concertina, to see Zero ride a horse and watch the bank explode. I also thought the character of Doc looked suspiciously like Buddy Ebsen of "Beverly Hillbillies" and "Davy Crockett" fame.
Hopefully if our intrepid band of space travelers learned one thing from this adventure, it's this: next time, leave the lazoon at home!