BotP Close-up 001

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Bobkat
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BotP Close-up 001

Post: # 195Post Bobkat »

Let us know what you think! A play-by-play for Episode 1. First in a series of (hopefully) 85! :D

Here's The Other Jason's review: https://www.battleoftheplanets.info/ep1.html

E01: Attack of the Space Terrapin

Act One

A little robot minds the store at Center Neptune "somewhere off the West Coast of the United States" and 900 fathoms under water. As well as being a defense base, Vitalumous is mined and refined at the center. It's used to renew the soils of Earth and other planets and without it, many inhabitants face starvation. The front line of defense is five specially trained young people making up G-Force. The robot is 7-Zark-7 who keeps 24/7 watch over the team members. Suddenly, an alarm goes off!

Through the pouring rain, a lighthouse shines its beacon through the night. As the Cosmic Space Patrol informs Zark that a UFO has been sighted. A giant pointy nosed mechanical monster, a.k.a. mecha, emerges from the sea. Zark identifies it as a "radio controlled attack monster from Spectra". Spectra is an advanced planet from a hostile alien galaxy. Zark notes the mecha is headed toward one of the "fortified" vaults where Vitalumous is stored! Zark broadcasts an alert just prior to attack that includes laser drilling into the vaults.

Defense forces arrive firing at the mecha to no avail as the mecha digs in to find what it is looking for. The mecha drills into a secret underground vault sending a robotic probe to retrieve a found case. Once it has what it wants, the mecha lifts off with rocket engines in its feet. The defense forces continue their pummeling to no effect. The mecha wipes out the defense forces with its laser weapons.

Back at Center Neptune, Zark is perplexed as to why anyone would want to steal the Vitalumous as they give it freely to any planet that needs it. Zark decides to call G-Force. The first one he contacts is Mark, who is flying his airplane over the desert. "Assemble your team Commander" as Zark explains an alien invader from Spectra has been picked up on sensors. Zark wants them at point "Thirteen X on grid forty".

Mark transmutes into full G-Force gear including his airplane turning into a jet fighter. Princess is the next one seen in her uniform and riding her motorcycle as the lone female member of the team. Tiny Harper shows up with the command ship out of the ocean. She has a dual rocket engine system in the rear as well as a vertical take-off and landing system in her belly. Tiny maneuvers the ship above Princess so she can enter the left wing pod. Once in, she slides down the wing. The next pick up is an orange tracked buggy with rockets piloted by Keyop and put into the right wing pod. Zark points out that Keyop "was manufactured from a single embryonic cell in the laboratory". The third pick up is a Formula One style car driven by Jason who Zark calls "eager and a bit hot-headed sometimes". The car is placed with two arms into the nose of the command ship. The final rendezvous is mid-air as Mark brings his jet into the ship's rear to complete the tail section. As the assemblage is completed, Zark mentions each member of the team has micro-cerebonic implants giving them abilities beyond other humans. All five are orphans who have been training since almost birth to hone their abilities.

The team closes in with Keyop wanting to take the mecha all alone and Jason wanting a "laser bead on it" to make this Spectra's third, and last, attack. Zark has lost the invader so the team has to improvise on their own.

After seeing something peculiar in the ocean below them, Tiny dives the command ship into the water so they can investigate. There is some strange gunk leaking from an underwater base and they drive in. Princess has nothing on her scanners as Jason adds there is no sign of it.

The mecha then crashes through a mountain at a rocket launch facility where the staff and pilots run for their lives. The mecha wreaks havoc destroying multiple rockets and other vehicles as well as damaging the facility. Defense forces are on hand firing rockets at it but again, to no avail. Meanwhile, Mark orders Tiny to surface as they keep looking for the mecha. They find it as it destroys their launch facility. Jason wants to take it out now but Mark wants to follow it to its base to ensure there aren't more vehicles to destroy. Jason cracks, "We're gonna play tag, isn't that fun Tiny?"

Act Two

Zark has lost the mecha with the screen being no help. Suddenly it reappears leaving the launch facility in ruin. On board the command ship, Princess acknowledges Zark's message of the reappearance. Tiny says it's going for Storage Vault Number 7 with Keyop saying they should "wipeout" and Jason quickly agreeing. Jason lunges for the red button on the dash but Mark stops him saying he knows the answer. "What's the question?" Mark figures the ship itself is the base and can prove it if they can get inside. Jason is ready to try Mark's "kooky" idea but Princess says it's her turn to go. Keyop teases her about being in love with Mark causing Princess to blush for a few seconds.

Tiny flies the ship so Mark and Princess can launch from the bubble. They fly to the mecha, landing on an outside arm. Mark sends her to the upper levels as Mark checks below. She wants to find the laser control and flies upward. Mark tells her to sing out if she needs help but she tells him to watch his own back too!

As Princess finds the laser control, Mark finds the main power unit. Meanwhile on the mecha's bridge, the captain tells his men the "Earth ship" will regret ever finding them as the command ship flies across the view screen. As the men aim their disintegrator on the command ship, Princess continues her rigging of the laser control. Once finished, she slams the door shut and leaps into a lower level in the nick of time as the control explodes! The captain is not amused and sends some men to check it out.

Mark opens the "landing bay" to allow the 'Phoenix' to go aboard the mecha. Tiny flies her in as Zark nears "electrode failure". Jason, Keyop and Tiny emerge at the bubble taking flight to reunite the team. However, they find themselves surrounded by the captain and his men!

The captain taunts the team about being "children" sent against the most ominous mecha from the Crab Nebula. Mark yells back that they're tired of Spectra's invasions. Jason suggests they use "the rotor force" with Mark telling them they'll "jet spiral on minus two". The captain tells the team to prepare to surrender and how "amused" their supreme leader will be when they bring back the team to "their galaxy". Mark strikes back again sending a message to their ruler as the team creates a three person high pyramid with Jason and Tiny on the bottom, Mark and Princess in the middle and Keyop on the top. "Bug off!" The team spreads their wings and beginning a procedure with tornado-strength winds!

The team keeps it up knocking the men off their feet eventually splitting up the pyramid. They fight the crew as they fly in formation. Keyop uses his bolos, Princess her yo-yo and Mark fires his sonic boomerang. They have won the fight but the captain escapes into a room where he video calls his leader who calls him "an incompetent fool". Because of the failure, the leader consults "The Great One," that is a disembodied head of blue flame with two beady little eyes and a sharp blue beak. The Luminous One says the "Space Terrapin" has "outlived its usefulness". It warns they must build deadlier weapons and create more cunning strategy to overcome Earth and its "G-Force defenders". It orders Commander Gorak to return with what he has in the escape vessel with the leader saying he will order the Space Terrapin to be destroyed immediately.

When Mark realizes the captain is escaping in the nose cone, the team returns to the Phoenix. Meantime in the nose cone, Commander Gorak tells G-Force and its "whirlwind pyramid' goodbye as he presses a button to start a timer on board the terrapin. It's for a bomb! The team high tails to the Phoenix to get out before the ship self-destructs. They make it on board but just a Tiny is about to clear the landing bay, the terrapin's engines shut down! The Phoenix is thrown about in the bay, shaking her passengers in the process. Time is running out for them to escape but Tiny manages to clear the Phoenix except for the left pod! They will have to resort to using the "Fiery Phoenix," which will require every bit of their cerebonic powers!

As the terrapin tumbles out of the sky with Phoenix stuck in her landing bay door, Mark gives the order to go to "transmute to the Fiery Phoenix". The terrapin crashes in a mighty fireball as the Phoenix makes its transformation.

Various pieces of the terrapin fall into the ocean as the nose cone continues its escape. Commander Gorak is quite pleased with himself feeling he's defeated G-Force but they have one last surprise for him! The Fiery Phoenix shoots out of the clouds! According to Zark, they will now be able to recover the Vitalumous from the ocean and will be back to themselves in 24 hours. In the meantime, there's another alarm!

This plot summary Copyright Bobbi Baker ©2020. No reproduction of any kind without permission
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The Other Jason
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Re: BotP Close-up 001

Post: # 198Post The Other Jason »

Hi Bobkat,

Great idea, great write-up. Thanks and keep them coming!
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Bobkat
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Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2020 5:30 pm

Re: BotP Close-up 001

Post: # 200Post Bobkat »

Thanks!!

They're a true labor of love. Sometimes, there's a teaser and most times, nope. I'll just do the best I can. A good rule of thumb, if we're seeing Zark for an extended point, it's most likely a break between the acts. :D
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The Other Jason
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Posts: 358
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Re: BotP Close-up 001

Post: # 201Post The Other Jason »

Hi Bobkat,

I don't know if it will matter, or help, but I have a list of the episodes with previews here.
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