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BotP Close-up 073

Posted: Thu May 19, 2022 5:54 pm
by Bobkat
This week is one of my favorite eps - The Space Safari!

We see everyone in the team doing something. Poor Tiny is paired with Jason who can't believe how much babysitting he's doing of the pilot! :lol: Keyop apparently has a talent of literally putting his ear to the ground and hears where people are running. :) We also see our favorite commander and gunner nearly get into a fight for shooting at Zoltar's ship. :)

All this because the team was diverted from heir vacation! It's a jam-packed ep with lots to offer! Enjoy! :)

The Other Jason's write-up is here: https://www.battleoftheplanets.info/ep73.html

E73: The Space Safari

Act One

7-Zark-7 works in Center Neptune, the silent citadel, keeps a watchful eye out for alien intruders from outer space. Zark is in his helmet saying he's the brains behind it all while G-Force gets all the action. He can decently throw a sonic boomerang – he throws his and it sails around the room returning to him in short order. He also says he can fly like G-Force but when he tries, something is stuck. Once it's fixed, he flies to his monitors admitting he's rusty on flying and believes there's a kink in his Selson-Servo.

Zark tunes in to the planet Leucadia where a Leucadian space ship by one of Spectra's craft. This means G-Force's well-earned time off on Eden, the vacation spot in the Milky Way, will be cut short. Zark is glad that Chief Anderson gets to break the news to the team that their vacation is cancelled!

On board the Phoenix, Tiny asks his teammates if they know what he plans to do on Eden. Mark answers, "Everybody knows. … Eat!" Keyop says he plans to disco dance and hang-glide while Princess wants to water-ski. Chief Anderson interrupts their daydreaming and breaks the bad news. But their vacation will actually be delayed due to a Red Alert – Spectra has established a beachhead on Leucadia and plans to take the whole planet. If Spectra succeeds, their anti-matter missiles will have the ability to reach Earth. Chief Anderson orders them to go to Leucadia at once and they will have to scout the planet on their own because Zark has been unable to find where Spectra's base is. The chief tells them he doesn't have to warn them about being careful and cautious and wishes them good luck before ending communications.

Mark tells Tiny to do a 180 and they take off for Leucadia. They travel at Time Warp, where distance is meaningless, and leave the Milky Way behind. At this speed, thousands of light-years are traveled in the wink of an eye. The Phoenix arrives and flies over Leucadia where Princess sees "a telecomm contact" on the radar screen. "Bogey at 12 o'clock." They should have a visual at any second. Mark recognizes Zoltar's craft and he sees the Phoenix closing in. Frustrated, he radios his units for assistance in Quadrant 7.

On the Phoenix, Jason runs to the missile launch wondering why Mark is waiting. Just before Jason hits the button, Mark stops him because he wants Zoltar alive. Mark knows Zoltar has information they can use. Jason wants to forget about the information. "Finish Zoltar and this whole war is stopped cold!" Mark has to jump up to restrain Jason and the commander orders him back to his seat. As the pair argue, Tiny yells, "Too late!" as Zoltar's craft explodes in front of them. The team is shocked and Princess is actually grateful. Jason stands resolute saying it's done and Tiny plays peacemaker. He tells Mark that Jason was wrong but there's nothing any of them can do about it now so he needs to let it go. Mark turns away from them, "That's right, Tiny, finished." Mark is fit to be tied wanting to know how are they supposed to figure where Spectra's base is before Zoltar's men wipe out the inhabitants. He snarks, "Do you suppose Jason can tell us that!?" Mark rips them all and says they are a team but they can't afford any more mistakes.

As Mark settles into his seat, Princess points to something strange in the smoke of Zoltar's blown up ship. It's Zoltar in a "rocking-chair chopper!" Mark tells Tiny to stay with him and the Phoenix follows Zoltar into a forest. They lose him close to the ground and after landing the team disembarks the Phoenix to begin a ground search. But Mark wonders which way Zoltar went.

The Luminous One contacts the guards on Leucadia telling General Gorak and the others that their enemies have landed on Leucadia. It orders the guards to eliminate their enemies The Luminous One watches Zoltar run through the forest saying the leader has made a grave error in judgment. It also tells General Gorak to not give any assistance to Zoltar. If the leader should escape, the Luminous One will forgive Zoltar. If not, General Gorak will be in charge of Spectra because the Luminous One does not tolerate mistakes.

The team finds the crashed rocking chair helicopter up in a tree. Tiny wonders where Zoltar went while Jason adds he could be anywhere by now. Mark turns to Keyop who was listening to the ground. Keyop sits up and points in a direction, "That way." Mark orders them to split up: Jason and Tiny on the ground while he and Princess "take the high road" with Keyop in tow. Meanwhile, Zoltar keeps running stopping at a tree stump. He wants to know where his men are because he should have seen them by now. His sensitive ears pick G-Force running toward him and he likens them to "bloodhounds."

Zoltar opens the tree stump revealing a control panel. He presses a button and guns appear out of the trees. Mark and Princess fly from tree branch to tree branch when the guns start firing. Mark throws his sonic boomerang while Princess uses her yo-yo to take out the guns. After all the guns are destroyed, Mark contacts Keyop in his buggy. Mark wants Keyop to back them up "with the heavy artillery" because they've "bought trouble."

In another part of the forest, Jason and Tiny keep searching for Zoltar but stop when Tiny spots some bananas much to Jason's annoyance. Tiny picks a batch and sniffs one of them. Jason knocks them out of Tiny's hands, causing Tiny to call Jason, "a goof." Jason tells him they could be bombs! The gunner wishes Tiny would stop thinking with his stomach especially when Tiny picks one up and peels it. It is a bomb that Jason knocks of Tiny's hands with his cablegun! After an explosion, Jason asks, "Tiny, are really for real?" The bananas then turn on them becoming self-propelled bombs aiming for the duo! Jason runs and fires his cablegun in to a cliff and as Tiny hangs on, they reach safety.

Later, as they sit at the top of the cliff, Tiny laments about Zoltar's plans, even though Jason doesn't want to hear it. "He's gonna drive us bananas by making us look at bananas we're too scared to eat." As Tiny sulks, he then hears a cry and goes to investigate. Tiny jumps down and find a deer but Jason warns him it could be another booby trap. Tiny doesn't think so and runs to the deer while Jason keeps a hand on his cablegun. Tiny picks up the deer and carries it to the forest trying to find something to help its injured leg. Large flowers with metallic innards begin to attack shocking Tiny and the deer!

Tiny runs for it but the flowers capture him with various lines. They attempt to pull him in but Jason throws a pair of feather darts and his cablegun freeing Tiny. When he reaches Tiny, Jason cracks, "You need a keeper!" The flowers throw more lines to them but what they get this time is a large boulder and an explosive thanks to Jason. One flower, prior to exploding, crushes the boulder into thousands of pebbles. Afterward, Tiny fixes up the deer's leg and it quickly rejoins its mother. Tiny waves goodbye while Jason becomes impatient – he wants to get on with the business of finding Zoltar. As the deer run out of sight, Tiny joins his teammate.

Act Two

Zark wears his helmet at the monitors saying nothing in the jungle on Leucadia can be trusted – no animal, plant or fruit! Zark becomes a bit smug as he watches Zoltar alone on the ground and "running for his life."

On the planet, Zoltar runs through a field. Keyop, in his widget, catches up to the disowned leader. Zoltar looks back as he keeps running but Keyop is determined to capture Zoltar who spits a capsule out of his mouth. Keyop deploys a net but at the last second Zoltar leaps out of the way and throws the capsule causing an explosion. Keyop is too close, "Fooled me!" As the widget is off-kilter, a pack of saber-toothed cheetahs jump on board and attack with a gas. Keyop crash lands being overcome by the creatures. Mark and Princess witness Keyop going down but aren't close enough to help. At the crash site, green goons wearing saber-toothed cheetah skins surround the widget and the lead goon orders them to take Keyop along.

Later, Mark and Princess inspect the crash site only to find Keyop isn't there. What they do find are a lot of tracks made by men – Spectran men. Mark assumes the worst: that Spectra has captured Keyop. Mark calls Jason and Tiny on the wrist communicator telling them that he and Princess will be searching for Keyop. Jason answers back that he and Tiny have stumbled upon some weird ceremony. Mark tells them to "stay with it" but to keep their eyes open for Zoltar. When he's done there, Mark turns to Princess, "We better start making like Boy Scouts" and they run to find Keyop.

As Jason and Tiny overlook the ceremony, Tiny wonders if it's not some strange fraternity initiation. On the ground below them, one hooded and masked man begins a drumbeat. The others chant, "Great Spirit!" and bow while a leader walks onto a stage before them carrying a sickle. The leader demands the group to "pray" as a mechanism lifts out of the ground with a sacrifice tied to a log. As they watch from above, Jason cracks, "Some fraternity!" Tiny shooshes him so they won't be spotted.

The sacrifice moves toward the fire pit and a bird-like mask falls away to reveal Keyop as the sacrifice! Tiny is about to jump down to rescue Keyop but Jason holds him back. "Don't be crazy, we can't go down there yet!" Tiny smacks Jason aside, "one of us has to go down there while there's still a chance to save him." Jason crosses his arms watching Tiny and wishes the pilot luck.

Tiny lands on his butt at the bottom of the cliff and tries to sneak in behind the worshippers. He grabs one from behind and puts on the outfit telling the unconscious goon, "Sorry, but I need this more than you do." Tiny then enters among the others working his way up front. Meanwhile, Jason watches from the perch above, saying to himself, "Tell me why I even bother?" Tiny keeps moving to the front, but he's revealed when a goon grabs the bottom of the hooded robe. The leader spots him and tells the others that Tiny is "another enemy of the Great Spirit. They try to surround him, but Tiny isn't playing. He forces his way through to get to Keyop and untie the smallest G-Forcer.

While Keyop and Tiny are ready to take on the goons, the cable flies in from above. It wraps around the sickle and Jason makes a landing toward the leader. He tells the other two they need to leave while it's still a good time to do so. Meanwhile, Zoltar is revealed to be the leader and makes a last minute break for it. "So long, G-Force!" He runs to a hidden elevator inside the rock face and ice. The ice crumbles exposing Spectra's latest mech – a mastodon.

Jason, Keyop and Tiny run from the area, dodging chunks of ice including one large piece that falls on the exact spot they were just standing! The mastodon walks toward the temple area and the goons rejoice. Meanwhile, the Phoenix flies in to pick up the three fleeing G-Forcers. Zoltar anticipated this and uses the mech's high wind generator to disrupt the rescue causing Mark difficulty in holding the Phoenix in place. Zoltar only delays the inevitable as Jason, Keyop and Tiny make it on board despite the high winds. But Keyop has to be caught by Jason to prevent the smallest member to be literally blown away. The platform is brought in to the bridge where Jason says, "Not a bad pickup, Mark." Tiny adds, "A little bumpy, though." Keyop snarks, "A breeze." Mark answers, "Flattery later." He tells them they have the mastodon to deal with as the mech starts marching.

Jason says he knows exactly how to handle the mastodon as the missiles are lowered from the Phoenix's belly. Mark tells Tiny not to screw around because they're dealing with "a dangerous toy down there." Tiny retorts, "Relax, Commander. You'll see I how handle that overgrown elephant!" Princess hopes he's planning on taking action today with Keyop adding, "Hurry up!" Tiny is about to take action but stops when he sees a herd of deer migrating through the line of fire. Tiny decides there's another way to take down the mastodon.

Zoltar calls G-Force "fools" because he believes they have a second chance. Tiny lures the mech away as he lowers the Phoenix into a valley of snow-covered mountains. The mastodon marches to the area where the Phoenix lowered itself but as it marches, the mech compromises the rock base beneath its feet. On the Phoenix, Jason wants a crack at the thing, waiting for it to "take one more step." The mastodon stops at a cliff readying its rocket for the Phoenix but the rocks crumble beneath it. Jason aims and fires the pair of missiles and they explode just as the mastodon fires at the Phoenix. The rocket misses the ship but hits a mountainside with a major snow load and causes a massive avalanche!

Mark orders Tiny to "move it" and Tiny gets the Phoenix a safe distance away. On the mech, Zoltar is thrown about and orders everyone to abandon "this worthless machine!" The mastodon slides into a huge crevasse while rock and snow pile on top of it. The team watches on the view screen the snow roil at the surface of the rocks. Mark says Leucadia is safe once again.

The team focuses on their vacation plans on Eden, which they're now behind on. Keyop is looking forward to hang-gliding while Jason says Chief Anderson better not stop them this time or else. Princess needles him, "Exactly what the rest of us would do: complain a lot and then follow orders, right Jason?" Jason sits backs, knowing she's right. Mark is anxious to get to Eden too because he's got some serious plans. Tiny takes the Phoenix up, "Double space burger, here I come!" Zark is determined to allow G-Force their vacation, if Chief Anderson asks where the team is, Zark will have a short circuit in his Auditory System.

Zark tries to flies again but fails saying he would have never have escaped from the mastodon. He is content to let those "young people" have all the action and he'll stay the brains behind G-Force. He gives the G-Force salute.

This plot summary Copyright Bobbi Baker ©2021. No reproduction of any kind without permission.