In
Jason
of Star Command (1978-1980), Chapter 7, “Marooned in Time,” Jason
(Craig Littler), Nicole (Susan Pratt), and Professor Parsafoot (Charlie Dell)
find themselves trapped in Dragos’ (Sid Haig) pocket dimension, a “strange, out
of time place” called “The Limbo of the Lost.”
There,
on a strange planetoid, they see strange figures from different time periods,
and encounter Captain Kidd (Brendan Dillon), who promptly puts them in
stockades. Jason offers a trade, Wiki
for freedom, but Kidd takes Wiki and flees, hoping to use the robot to open
Dragos’ treasure chest.
When
a beam freezes Kidd, Jason and the others, having escaped, come to his rescue,
and use the resources in the treasure (gold, platinum and so forth), to
power-up the Star Fire and escape the planet.
They
get away just in time, as the planet explodes.
Then, in space, Dragos attacks, and traps the star fire in an electron
storm.
Jason
of Star Command
veers towards Lost in Space (1965-1968) camp storytelling in “Marooned in
Time,” an episode which finds the dramatis personae encountering the colorful
pirate, Captain Kidd.
A
larger-than-life character, who seems to accept reality of life in our far
future, Kidd walks the line between villain and ally, and tags along with Jason
in the gang in the upcoming episode “Attack of the Dragons.”
Still,
one gets the feeling that not all the story details have been well-ironed out,
or thought-through. As the episode
begins, Jason and the others see other denizens of the Limbo of the Lost,
including an Old West cowboy and a cave-man.
Additionally, some of Captain Kidd’s men capture Jason, Nicole and
Parsafoot by tossing a net over them.
Later,
however, Kidd reveals he is the only denizen of the Limbo and the Lost. The others are illusions crated by
Dragos.
Even
the ones who threw the net? Who trapped
Jason? How exactly does that work? Was the net illusion? Or did illusions find
themselves able to move and manipulate matter (the net…)?
On
the other hand, I like how the episode depicts Jason, and his
resourcefulness. While in stockades, he
notes “when you can’t use your hands, use your head,” and pulls a splinter out
of the stockade wood with his mouth. He
then uses it to pick the lock of the stockade.
This is a nice old-fashioned solution to a problem, especially in this
high-tech world.
Next
week: “Attack of the Dragons.”
Nice review. As a kid, loved the pirate story. Look at that awesome Starfire model [without the bow docked Mini Cat Escape Pod] they used which is as impressive as any model work on the prime-time Battlestar Galactica '78 or Buck Rogers '79.
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