Hanna
Barbera’s Space Stars (1981) episode #9 commences with the story called “Devilship.”
Here,
Space Ghost’s young friend Jace discovers a space-dragster and starts to fly
it. Unfortunately, some force on the
ship makes him turn evil, and he immediately sets out to steal the gold ore
harvested on the twin moons of Bellerophon.
Space
Ghost attempts to stop him, but when he boards the space dragster, he also
grows avaricious and greedy…at least until Blip splashes him with cold water.
Space
Ghost soon realizes that the criminal known as the Wizard is behind this plan
to steal gold, described in the episode as the most valuable ore in the
universe.
The
Teen Force story in this episode is “The Space Slime,” and it sees Uglor again
attempting to conquer the Free Worlds, this time with a deadly space slime that
ages anyone it comes in contact with “50 years in a few seconds.”
Electra
is super-aged in this fashion, but Uglor owns a rejuvenator ray to help reverse
its effects. Unfortunately, the space
slime soon evolves, and grows out of control, leaving the Teen Force no choice
but to set the ship’s course for a nearby star.
This
story is riddled with risible dialogue, including the line “Call off your
slime!” And once more, it’s a veritable
rerun, with the narrative concerning Uglor’s (thwarted) attempt to take over
the Free Worlds.
The
Herculoids story of the week is “Return of the Ancients.” It is an update of
the Tarzan “lost city” formula in some ways. Here, aliens who lived on Quasar
five hundred years ago return to the planet only to find their former
metropolis in ruins, abandoned.
They kidnap Doro to learn what has happened, while
his parents attempt a rescue. The aliens
learn that their ancestors were killed by a poisonous flower, and Tara uses
that very flower to send them scurrying back to the stars.
The
second half of the hour commences with “The Deadly Comet,” wherein a comet,
under remote control, is destroying space vessels in a shipping lane. Space Ghost
and his friends come to the rescue and find that the comet is controlled by a
villain called the Commander.
The
worst story of the week -- again -- belongs to Space Ace and the Space
Mutts.
In “Jewlie Newstar” (Julie Newmar?) a jewel
thief, Jewlie, steals the Jupiter diamond from her diamond ship.
The story is typically lame, and Space Ace is such an irritating, whiny character. He’s always complaining with some variation of “why
me?” In this episode alone, he asks “when will I ever learn” “and what else can
go wrong?”
The
final story in episode nine, “The Outworlders” features Space Ghost and the
Teen Force, and probably qualifies as the most interesting story, though that
is slight praise considering the other offerings.
Here, an “Outworlder” -- an insectoid -- gets
aboard a starship and begins converting the solid matter into energy so as to
feed itself.
An “energy vampire,” the
Outworlder is just one villain here. The
other is the ship’s captain, Delos, who is wired directly into the spaceship -- which he
considers his body -- and is concerned only with his vessel, not his human
crew.
One
corridor on the ship looks exactly like the interior of the Millennium Falcon. That may or may not be a coincidence.
The
“Space Magic” this week is also incredibly stupid. Doro teaches Tundro about
magnetism, but in fact is just blowing air from his mouth on a stick.
Yep, that’s magic, all right.
“Space
Fact,” meanwhile, finds Space Ace and Astro discussing the sun’s incredible heat, a concept which recurs in the “Space Mystery.” Here, Space Ace and his
canine budz battle the Automan, who steals the fastest space car in the galaxy,
but stops at the sun…because it’s too hot.
Finally,
“Space Code” involves Space Ghost and the deciphering of the phrase “Trouble in
the Martian Empire.”
Two episodes left!
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