Although there are some good elements in this comedy story, the script is a mess and needed a major rewrite.
A couple of crooks looking like refugees from a road company of "Guys and Dolls", Al and Caramachi are Space gangsters who arrive at Space City claiming to be Freighter 2x4 (which Lt. Ninety points out is not due for two more days). They land and wait for everyone to go to sleep. Oddly no one at Space City checks them out or confirms they are who they say they are. No ground crew meets them or tries to unload their ship. This seems like pretty slipshod management. But then again, for some reason Commander Zero is written like a foolish raw cadet while Lt. Ninety actually makes good suggestions that are ignored.
Venus has redecorated Steve's apartment much to Steve's pleasure, adding that "woman's touch". Then Professor Matt Matic arrives and tries to install a burglar alarm in what is a lengthy comedy scene.
That night Al and Caramachi break into Steve's apartment and steal his "astronaut papers". The alarm does nothing.
The next morning the two gangsters escape with Steve's papers, a uniform from Commander Zero (why they didn't just take a uniform from Steve Zodiac I have no idea) as well as a huge supply of isotopes. The XL-5 is sent in pursuit with the cover story it has been stolen. Matt takes on the role of "Mugsy" and does a Edward G. Robinson impression to try to convince Al and Caramachi that he's a gangster like them.
When they get to their headquarters we learn the two are really working with Steve's old nemesis, Boris and Grizelda. They tie Steve, Venus and Matt up in a room and slowly fill it with water. This is actually one of the best parts of the episode and I was interested to see how Zodiac was going to get out this "Perils of Pauline" type trap.
In a terrible bit of writing, General Shan, a character we have not seen before and have only heard about in passing once shows up and rescues our heroes! Steve Zodiac is the show's hero and is supposed to rescue people in trouble--he's not supposed to be the one that gets rescued! And certainly not by some character that seems to come out of nowhere. It's a bad resolution to what had been a good tense situation.
Zodiac finally goes after Boris and Grizelda and destroys their ship with a single missile from the XL5. I was hoping at least this was the end of Boris and Griszelda but sadly no.
This may be one of the worst stories in the series.
A couple of crooks looking like refugees from a road company of "Guys and Dolls", Al and Caramachi are Space gangsters who arrive at Space City claiming to be Freighter 2x4 (which Lt. Ninety points out is not due for two more days). They land and wait for everyone to go to sleep. Oddly no one at Space City checks them out or confirms they are who they say they are. No ground crew meets them or tries to unload their ship. This seems like pretty slipshod management. But then again, for some reason Commander Zero is written like a foolish raw cadet while Lt. Ninety actually makes good suggestions that are ignored.
Venus has redecorated Steve's apartment much to Steve's pleasure, adding that "woman's touch". Then Professor Matt Matic arrives and tries to install a burglar alarm in what is a lengthy comedy scene.
That night Al and Caramachi break into Steve's apartment and steal his "astronaut papers". The alarm does nothing.
The next morning the two gangsters escape with Steve's papers, a uniform from Commander Zero (why they didn't just take a uniform from Steve Zodiac I have no idea) as well as a huge supply of isotopes. The XL-5 is sent in pursuit with the cover story it has been stolen. Matt takes on the role of "Mugsy" and does a Edward G. Robinson impression to try to convince Al and Caramachi that he's a gangster like them.
When they get to their headquarters we learn the two are really working with Steve's old nemesis, Boris and Grizelda. They tie Steve, Venus and Matt up in a room and slowly fill it with water. This is actually one of the best parts of the episode and I was interested to see how Zodiac was going to get out this "Perils of Pauline" type trap.
In a terrible bit of writing, General Shan, a character we have not seen before and have only heard about in passing once shows up and rescues our heroes! Steve Zodiac is the show's hero and is supposed to rescue people in trouble--he's not supposed to be the one that gets rescued! And certainly not by some character that seems to come out of nowhere. It's a bad resolution to what had been a good tense situation.
Zodiac finally goes after Boris and Grizelda and destroys their ship with a single missile from the XL5. I was hoping at least this was the end of Boris and Griszelda but sadly no.
This may be one of the worst stories in the series.