John and Eugene look at the final episode of Logan’s Run entitled Stargate. When aliens from another world invade Earth, Logan and Jessica are put on ice, figuratively, and Rem is just spare parts, literally.

Episode Synopsis

Driving through the countryside, Rem and his pets come across a seemingly-injured man who appears to be freezing, despite the weather being temperate enough for Jessica to get away with shat she’s wearing.  They take him back to his city, where his comrades invite the travelers back to enjoy their hospitality.  They’re all dressed in thermal-looking clothes.

Inside, Logan and Jessica are drugged and interrogated.  Rem is discovered to be a highly-sophisticated android and taken away for parts.  Rem, being programmed not to resist humans, goes along more-or-less willingly.

Logan and Jessica are left inside a very hot room without water, and Logan realizes that these people aren’t from Earth.

Rem also comes to the conclusion that they’re not human beings, but apparently, that’s not enough to overcome his pre-programmed directive about resisting human beings, and they take him to be disassembled.  Parts is parts, and Rem’s part work just fine in the alien technology.  Rem surmises that the device is a beacon designed to call the aliens’ homeward.

Logan and Jessica are rescued by Timon, the last human survivor of the city, who lives in the basement.  The aliens arrived a few years back when their spaceship crash-landed nearby.  They are strange, horrible creatures, but they soon began to adopt human form – by stealing the forms of the humans who lived in the city.  Everyone else was killed.

Timon explains that the aliens are probably already creating duplicates of Logan and Jessica.  They go to find and destroy them.

Rem’s parts have been used, but they’re not enough to make the alien doohickey go, so they need more parts to make it go.  They take more of Rem’s parts because parts is parts.  (The technobabble runs strong in this episode.)

Logan and Jessica destroy their forming alien bodies, then track down Rem.  He’s in bits, but in the meantime, he’s been building an anti-alien-doohickey thingamajig.  Their conversation is interrupted because the alien return for more parts from Rem.  Parts is parts, and Rem has parts.

With a gun that Timon was saving to kill himself, Logan takes command of the doohickey room, but, as always, he fails to take the weapons from the fallen aliens and give them to Jessica and Timon.  More aliens come, and they are taken prisoner and left in a swamp to die.

I’ve lost track, but I’m pretty sure they needed more parts, so Rem is further disassembled.  We learn that the doohickey is not just a transmitter, it’s also a matter transporter, and if they get it going, an invasion army will arrive.

In the swamp, which is full of horrible mutants that kill everything, Logan leads Jessica and Timon out of the swamp, which gives them the upper hand because the aliens most certainly think they are dead, but they are not.

In a final assault, Jessica and Timon pump the doohickey room full of liquid oxygen, freezing the aliens to the point of hibernation.  Rem and Logan use Rem’s anti-alien-doohickey thingamajig to destroy the doohickey.

With the aliens incapacitated and stranded from their homeward forever, Timon plans to lock up the creatures that killed everyone in this city, including his son and daughter.  Logan, however, has another suggestion.  “Why don’t you offer them the chance to live in peace with you?”  Yeah.  That’s going to happen.

Rem’s got his parts back, and it’s off they go on their way for more adventures!

Simon and Eugene discuss whether the Uk government has a time machine, we talk about referencing the TARDIS and the Doctor Who theme, and we discuss the technical implications of “…if they’d had mobile phones in this show to time travel with.”

Episode Synopsis

A dangerous gang known as the Apostles is meticulously planning a bank heist, unbeknownst to them, Slade and Turner are watching them from above.  They return to the present in time for Grissom, Slade, and the team to thwart the crime like clockwork – mostly.

Back in the office, Grissom ponders Slade’s incredible police record lately.  So much so that she details Morris to spy on Slade to find out how he’s doing it.

Meanwhile, it looks like Slade won’t be doing it anytime soon.  Another piece of the time machine has broken, and Turner puts her foot down.  This machine wasn’t built for doing something productive like maintaining law and order, this machine was built for secret, dusty academic pursuits so that she could someday prove that her father was right about time travel being possible.

Slade agrees to solve the next crime using good old-fashioned detective work.

That next crime comes very soon when retired minister Sir Iain Hawkins is murdered in his home.  The case has all those weird hallmarks of a time Tavel intervention, too, like extra blood spots, strange calls to emergency services about a madman on the premises, and a mysterious, unidentified person running away.

Even though retired, Hawkins was a Big Deal, and Grissom wants this solved posthaste.  Slade, under the watchful, if incompetent, eye of Morris, follows his leads.  First, he questions Kirby, Hawkins former driver, who has recently gone into business with Hawkins selling telephone boxes as art.  They reportedly had a fight the morning of the murder.  Kirby denies being the killer.

While visiting Kirby’s Phone Box emporium, he spies a battered old Police Box amongst the collection, and he gets an idea.  He goes to Turner and tries to get her to let him use The Machine, but she steadfastly refuses, and when he tries to schmooze her with dinner, she turns him down because she’s attending a lecture this evening.  Slade also catches Morris acting suspiciously, perhaps listening in, outside Turner’s door.

Slade uses Turner’s lecture appointment to break into her flat and use the machine himself.  He cannot possibly expect that to end well, can he?  Outside, Morris is distracted from observing Turner’s flat.

Back in time, before the murder, Slade visits Hawkins, pretending to be the window cleaner who had mysteriously turned up 30 minutes early to the job that day.  Listening in, he overhears what Kirby and Hawkins argued about – it was just basically incompetence in business matters, and Kirby leaves, with Hawkins very much alive.

Slade finally gets the chance to try something he’s really wanting to do.  He confronts Hawkins and tells him the truth: that he has traveled back in time via a Turner Time Machine to warn him that he is about to be killed.  Hawkins knows about Turner’s work with Einstein-Rosen Bridges from his days at the Ministry, and he seems to take Slade seriously until he clubs him unconscious and calls emergency services to report a madman, just as someone else shoots him dead.

Slade awakens, gets the license number of a window cleaning truck leaving the premises, and as the police arrive, he hightails it on foot, chased by the police.  Unbeknownst to him, he loses the critical watch component of the time machine as he leaps over the wall.

Slade heads to the station to run the license plate, where he bumps into Turner moments after she turned him down.  He uses the opportunity to warn her that Morris is spying on them.  He gets the name and address of Robert Mather owner of the truck and goes to investigate him.  As he’s leaving the station, Morris is witness to multiple instances of Slade being in the building at once.

Nicky comes to Turner with a strange item he found in the grounds at the scene of the crime, and wants her opinion on what it might be.  It is the watch component of the time machine, and Turner knows exactly what that means.  She has to find Slade now before his time runs out.

Slade meets Robert Mather, who basically confesses to killing Hawkins, his illegitimate father, for failing to save his mother’s life.  Slade tries to talk him into turning himself in, but when Slade finally notices the watch component of the time machine is missing, he gets too urgently insistent and Mather shoots him in the leg and ties him up.

Turner and Nicky use good, old-fashion, TV-detective-style police work to chase and force Kirby to reveal that he was blackmailing Hawkins with knowledge of the affair Hawkins had, and his illegitimate adult son, who also happened to be the window cleaner.  Turner dumps Nicky and goes to find Mather.

Mather is planning a huge gas explosion to kill Slade, but Turner rescues him, returning the the time machine with moments to spare – Turner distracting Morris so that Slade can enter undetected.

Alls well that ends well, right?  But Turner doesn’t think so and is furious, kicking Slade out and swearing he will never use the time machine again.  Honestly, Slade, what did you think was going to happen when Turner found out?

Back at the station, Morris gives his report to Grissom.  He has concluded that Slade and Turner are hooked up with a secret cabal of informers called The Machine, which is out of town, so that when Slade goes to get information from them, he uses a stand-in double at the station to conceal his absence.

John and Eugene look at George Pal’s 1951 end-of-the-world film When Worlds Collide and ask, “They really wouldn’t blow up the Earth, would they?”

Synopsis

Dr. Bronson, an astronomer at the Mount Kenna, South Africa Observatory, has made an unsettling discovery.  He calls in reliable freelance pilot and courier, Dave Randall, to delivery photographic observations and calculations to his colleague, Dr. Hendron, in the USA.  It’s all very top secret, and newspapers are trying very hard to get Randall to reveal what is in the courier case he carries halfway around the world.

Randall doesn’t know what’s in the case, but when he arrives in New York, Dr. Hendron’s attractive daughter, Joyce, lets a bit slip. She’s frightened about the world coming to an end.  At her father’s office, Randall meets Dr. Tony Drake, Joyce’s fiancé, and Dr. Hendron.  When Joyce tells her father that Randall knows all about the contents of the case, he lets Randall stay for the briefing.  Dr. Bronson has discovered a star, Bellus, and Zyra, a planet orbiting it, that is approaching the Earth at a rapid speed.  In July of the next year, some eight months away, Zyra will pass close enough to the Earth to cause massive earthquakes and tsunamis.  Countless people will die, but a few may survive.

But only for 19 more days because that’s when Bellus will collide with the Earth, destroying it completely.

Dr, Bronson’s figures are checked and double-checked.  There is no mistake.  The Earth is doomed.

Hendron takes the findings to the UN and proposes building spaceships.  The hope is that Zyra might support life, and if so, a few humans could start a new world.  When other prominent astronomers poo-poo Bronson and Hendron’s findings, the UN laughs them out of the building.  The US government doesn’t laugh him out the door, but they also won’t fund his work.

A couple of humanitarian millionaires step up to fund Hendron’s plan to save some of humanity.

Tony has asked Joyce to marry him right away, but she is hesitant.  She’s developed a thing for Randall and never was really on board with the idea of marrying Tony anyway.  She asks her father for advice, and, when it becomes clear she loves Randall, he father contrives a way for Randall to be on the project to build the spacecraft – the keep him close at hand.

Millionaire Stanton arrives.  He’s an unpleasant man in a wheelchair.  He’ll fund the project, but the condition is that he gets to pick who goes to the new world.  Hendron will accept his money for a ticket for Stanton, but he will not allow Stanton to pick the other people who go.  It’s a take-it-or-leave-it offer, and there’s no other game in town, so Stanton takes it.  There is word that other countries are also trying to build spacecraft.

A camp is built, staffed, and construction begins on the rocket.  Provisions, animals, microfilm of books, and any number of other things are prepared for the rocket.  There are over 600 people working on the project, but only 40 will be able to go.

Less than four months out from the destruction of the Earth, the other astronomers come around to Hendron’s observations, and Stanton now predicts that the world will soon turn ugly as people will try to fight and kill their way onto the rocket.  Hendron disagrees and refuses to issue the rifles Stanton has bought.  The next day, the UN announces the end of the world, although it seems they may only be preparing for the flyby of Zyra.

Martial law is declared, and coastal cities are evacuated when Zyra arrives, causing massive damage and flooding and nearly destroying the ship.

In the aftermath, Randall and Tony, who aren’t getting along very well because of the simmering tension between them, go out to aid some survivors in need of medical equipment.  They drop some supplies off for some doomed survivors stranded on a small islet, then rescue a small boy floating on the roof of a house.  It looks for a moment that Tony thinks about leaving Randall behind to die, but he doesn’t.  After that, they’re the best of pals.

Hendron has devised a secret lottery system to select the passengers, minus the six people he’s selected – Himself, Joyce, Tony, the rescued boy, Dr. Frye, the designer and pilot of the rocket, and Randall.

Randall is outraged.  He doesn’t deserve a place on the ship, but Hendron says he’s doing it because he loves Joyce, and she wants it, and why not?  Randall refuses to go but tells Hendron not to tell Joyce.

Time is running out, and they are behind schedule. Then, Tony drops a bombshell on Randall: Dr. Frye has a medical condition, he may not survive the launch, and if he doesn’t, or is incapacitated, there is no one else, apart from Randall, who can fly the rocket.  Randall is overjoyed.  At last, he has a legitimate reason to be on the rocket.

The results of the lottery are announced, and two young lovers hoping for a place in the new world find out that only one of them can go.  Eddie, the one who got selected, gives up his place.

This is just what Stanton wanted to hear.  He’s been lobbying to leave a few more people behind to decrease the weight and increase his chances of survival.  Stanton’s wheelchair-pusher, Ferris, uses this opportunity to pull a gun and demand that he go on the rocket.  Stanton kills him with a concealed pistol.  Hendron makes up his mind and decides that the two lovers can both go on the ship.

Hendron continues to insist that people will not panic and that Stanton is wrong about his assessment of people – but Stanton is not wrong.  The 560 people who weren’t selected take Stanton’s rifles and storm the ship.  Hendron and Stanton are the last to board, but Hendron has one last trick up his sleeve.  They’re not going.  The new world is for the young, and he disengages the rocket’s moorings and starts the launch.  Hendron and Stanton will be the weight savings that will help the rocket make it to Zyra.

The launch goes according to plan, and when Randall awakens from the blackout, Frye is already on the job.  Randall realizes he’s been conned.  There was nothing wrong with Frye.  Tony lied to him so he’d make the flight.

The approach Zyra and things are OK, but they’re using too much fuel.  They run out on landing approach, and Randall brings the ship in for a rough but survivable landing.  Outside, a strange new world awaits them and their goats.

Kenneth and Eugene discuss two more episodes of Starhunter Reduc. In Negative Energy, they’ll follow the convoluted quest to get the Trans-Utopian’s engines up to speed, and in License to Fill, they’ll try to figure out how you review a clip show.

Negative Energy Synopsis

The Trans-Utopian fails to catch a bounty because they are not fast enough. Also, their bounty is one of the 5 or 6 ships in the system with an anti-matter drive.  The Trans-Utopian also happens to be one of the 5 or 6 ships with an anti-matter drive, but theirs doesn’t exactly work.

Marcus pitches the plan of getting some Duranium-237 to use Negative Energy as a fuel source for the anti-matter drive.  If they can get the element, he’ll do the math, and if it’s certain that it will work, and only if he’s certain, they’ll give it a try.

“Why has nobody done this before?” They ask.

“I dunno” is the most coherent answer Marcus can muster.

Rudolfo has a contact of a contact that might be able to help, and they pursue that avenue, meeting up with Karina, who is an old “friend” of Rudolfo’s.  She gets her in touch with Jay Becker, a dealer in questionable materials.

Rudolfo sells out Marcus, who Jay has taken a shine to, in exchange for his life and the element.  Then he rescues Marcus.

Meanwhile, in a lawless solar system full of violent crime, graft, and corruption, there is one thing you must do, and that is fill out paperwork to convert your anti-matter engine into… an alternate fuel source.  It’s not one you can skip, so Caravaggio fills out the paperwork.

This draws the attention of a corrupt permit inspector who tells them if the ship isn’t 100% up to standard, will be impounded and scrapped.  Guess what?  It’s not up to standard, and the inspector is actually a crook who uses his position to obtain anti-matter drives for his friends at the Orchard.

That fails when Travis learns that the permit request never reached the database.  With a battle raging aboard the ship and and Orchard vessel in hot pursuit, shooting holes in the Trans-Utopian, Marcus plugs the Negative Energy in, and away they go. Really fast.  But not as fast as Marcus expected.

All’s well that ends well.

License to Fill Synopsis

Mars loves its red tape.  The good crew of the Trans-Utopian are 2 days late for renewing their bounty hunting license, and even though they’re not actually doing any work at the moment, they have people they call “clients,” and because of that, they’re practicing bounty hunting without a license, and that’s a serious crime.

At least it is in the eyes of Senator Calder, recently appointed head of the people that stamp the documents and collect the fees.  He impounds the ship, and in collision with Senator Skaylon – a judge – they set the Trans-Utopian crew for a hard fall that will cost them their ship.

They can’t afford council, but help arrives in the form of Senator Rendall, an old family friend of Callie.  He suspects Calder is up to something.  Rendall will defend them in court.  But remember, “Martian law is weird.”

The “trial” consists mostly of asking Caravaggio questions.  He “testifies” to many things – including things he did not witness – but remember, Martian law is weird.

The “evidence” against the crew of the Trans-Utopian is that Travis was once a Raider.

The defense is that “he got better.”

More “evidence” is that Rudolfo is a duplicitous jerk.

The defense is that “he eventually comes through in the end”

More “evidence” is that Marcus is a bit headstrong, inexperienced, and tries to do more than he’s qualified to do.

The defense is that “he comes through in the end”

Finally, the prosecution brings forth a surprise witness, Percy Montana, who testifies… um… that she owns the ship and that she makes bad decisions.

The defense to that is, “What’s your point.”

This final piece does seem to be the most damning – which I’ve said about Percy all along.

Luckily the crew has discovered that Calder is actually buddies with the guy that shot Callie back in episode 4.  The case is dismissed, and Rendall promises to go after Senator Skaylon, too.

It’s not all’s well that ends well with this episode, though, because Percy is back.

John and Eugene look at two more episodes of Logan’s Run. In Night Visitors, they contemplate the role of Satan in science fiction, and in Turnabout, they ask if the writer had an axe to grind about Saudi Arabia.

Night Visitors Synopsis

In an homage to Bulwer-Lytton, it was a dark and stormy night.  The solar car is running low, and Rem and his pets may have to spend the night in the car.  In the flashes of lightning, they think they see two people standing in the rain, but they disappear.

Creeped out, they continue on until they find a beautiful old house.  They’re sure they see a light inside, but no one appears to be home.  Until the two people from the road show up.  They are Barton and Marianna.

They’re creepy but accommodating.  Marianna is expecting Gavin to return this very night, but Barton thinks he will never be seen again.

But he appears, not at the persistently knocking front door, but in the living room.  He, too, is Mr. Creepsville.

Gavin asks them all if they believe in what is or what might be.  Logan and Rem come down solidly on the side of pragmatism.  Jessica, not so much.  Gavin likes her answer.

They retire for the night and creepy things happen.  Rem postulates to Logan that these people are actually ghosts trapped in this haunted house.

Jessica is spirited away by Gavin.  Logan is given a vision in a mirror and finds a key.  They use this information to track down Jessica.

Gavin, Barton, and Marianna, plus a second woman, made a deal with the Prince of Darkness for power hundreds of years ago, but he holds the second woman – Gavin’s woman in a death-like state in a coffin, waiting for someone to willingly take her place.

Gavin plans to convince Jessica to take her place – perhaps not entirely willing, either.  As the dead woman begins to arise, Logan and Rem arrive, Logan shoots the coffin, and the ghosts are all gone.

Next morning, it’s a bright and beautiful day, and they leave.  Unbeknownst to them, the curtains in the upper window draw back as if someone is looking out at them.

Turnabout Synopsis

Crossing the same desert we’ve seen so many times before, Rem and his pets come across a woman lying on the ground.  She was collecting herbs and was overcome by the sun.  They save her, and she warns them to leave immediately

Too late, Gera and his patrol show up and arrest them.  It is forbidden by law to cross the completely unmarked borders of Zidor.  Although it looks as if they might get away with leaving, when they reveal they are Runners they are taken for judgment.

Francis, hot in pursuit, tries to intervene and take them, but to no avail.  They are condemned to death.

Mia, the woman they rescued, contrives to recuse them, as does Francis.  The escape plans happen and cross wires a bit.  Rem and Mia escape, but Francis captures Logan and Jessica.  They make a run for the border sans Taco Bell.

Gera pursues them and recaptures Francis.  Francis is condemned to death.

Logan and Jessica return for Rem, but when Logan discovers Francis will be killed, he rescues him.

Meanwhile, a quiet revolution has happened, and they’re all free to go – with a suitable head start for Rem and his pets.

Simon and Eugene discuss massively violating the chain of evidence, the well-known Stockholm Guidelines on hostage situations, and getting to the point where a show can’t be bothered with an in-show explanation for obvious plot contrivances.

Episode Synopsis

There’s a big deal on down at the station.  Det. Gareth Oldroyd has come to Chief Grissom with a potentially very high-profile arrest.  Lenny Gebler, a major fence from “up north,” is coming to London to purchase a £2,000,000 haul of stolen diamonds.  There’s just one problem, Slade is uncomfortable when he hears Oldroyd’s name, just as Oldroyd is similarly unsettled by Slade’s name.

Oldroyd goes to Grissom and asks for Slade to be taken off the case, you know, because of what happened with his father. Grissom refuses because the sins of the father are NOT transferrable to the son.

Oldroyd’s planned raid relies on Turner, a physicist, to validate the diamonds on the spot, which is… odd, but that’s apparently what police science officers are for.

The raid goes a bit poorly, with Oldroyd being taken hostage, but Slade drives through the wall, saves the day, and recovers the diamonds.  Turner validates them, then Oldroyd tags them and puts them in an evidence bag.  No, strike that, wraps ‘em up in their pretty little velvet pouch and puts ‘em in his coat pocket.

Later he hands a pretty little velvet pouch over to Grissom, who inspects them, tags them, and puts them in an evidence bag.  No, strike that; she just hangs on to the unopened pouch until she puts them in the evidence lockup back at the station.  No, strike that; she just puts them in her safe in her office.

That night, having a couple of drinks with Turner, Slade cracks just a little.  Oldroyd was his father’s partner on the police force before his dad “retired,” but he’ll give no more information.  Turner also wonders why Lenny the fence didn’t bother to bring the money if he was planning on buying the diamonds.  Well, I guess that doesn’t matter; they caught him.  They part ways, and Slade is attacked when he gets home and drugged.  He is left on a park bench all night.

The next morning, the diamonds are gone, and for some reason that’s not entirely clear, Slade is the number one suspect, but it must be a good reason because they get a magistrate to sign off on a warrant to search Slade’s house.  I mean, I assume they got a search warrant.  And rightfully so, too, because they find a token amount of the diamonds hidden inside an ice cube tray.

When confronted with this “evidence,” Slade points out he couldn’t get into the safe because he doesn’t know the combination, but Grissom tries to prompt his memory by saying the combination out loud, which would only be useful at this point if he had a time machine!

Just as he’s about to be arrested, the fire alarm conveniently goes off, Slade makes a break for it, and a convenient office trolley shoots out in front of Morris and Oldroyd, giving Slade some distance.  The officer in the evidence lockup is actually locked in, giving Slade an additional edge in his escape.

Someone must be really watching over him because Morris’ car is sitting in the garage, doors unlocked and the motor already running.  What a lucky break, as Slade makes a clean getaway.

He heads straight for Turner’s time machine, of course, as does Turner.  This is not lost on Morris, who has noticed those two spend a lot of time together.  He and Oldroyd follow Turner back to her place.

In the nick of time, they go back in time, about a day.  They witness the raid, follow the diamonds, and spend the night in Grissom’s office waiting to see who really steals them, but when they get bored of that, Slade opens the safe – with the combination that Grissom tells him in the future – and finds they’re already gone.  They were never in the safe!  WTF?!  But how can that be? The chain of evidence is so solid and unbroken?

Knowing that Slade has already been knocked unconscious and left in a park, they go to his flat and remove the incriminating diamonds from his ice cube tray.  No, strike that; they have a drink and talk about Slade’s father.

He’s not exactly “retired” from the police force in the traditional sense; he’s actually in prison.  He was arrested for taking money from a bank robbery investigation and has intentionally estranged himself from Slade.

The next morning, early, they visit Old Man Slade in prison and learn that not only are the circumstances of his arrest almost identical, but the players are also the same, too.  What an amazing coincidence.  Slade realizes that Gebler must be behind it.  He goes to the station and questions Gebler about the missing diamonds – before they’re actually discovered to be missing.  Time travel, remember?  The questioning fails to produce any results, but while there, Slade helps himself escape by activating the fire alarm and pushing the office trolley infant of Morris.

Turner does her part by getting Morris’ car ready for Slade’s escape.

Next, Turner anonymously calls Grissom and asks her to release Gebler, which she does.

Turner and Slade follow Gebler, overhear a conversation that the real exchange happens that night at 7, and then hoof it back to the time machine just in the nick of time.

While this is going on, Old Man Slade has an idea and wants to call his son.  The warden won’t let him, though, so he escapes from prison, as you do when they won’t let you make a phone call.

As time is re-synchronized, Slade gives himself up, and in interrogation, he admits he did it and that he’ll turn over the diamonds at the appointed time and place of Gebler’s meeting.  Oldroyd thinks this is BS and refuses, but Grissom overrules him.  They go and watch, and when Gebler arrives, they send Oldroyd over to arrest him.

The meeting goes like this: Oldroyd walks… oh god, I can’t even… no, I can do this.  I can do this.

Right.  One more try.

Oldroyd walks towards Gebler under the watchful eyes of Grissom, Morris, Turner, and Slade.  As he approaches Gebler he pulls a gun and shouts loudly at Gebler, “Freeze! Don’t move.  Police!  You’re under arrest!”

No, one last time, strike that.  He walks quietly and slowly towards Gebler.  Gebler shouts at the top of his lungs, “we did it; we got away with the diamonds; I can’t believe they’re so stupid to fall for that again, yippy-doo-dah-day!  It’s the Bahamas for both of us, my faithful partner in crime, Detective Oldroyd!”

Or something very much like that, and so they go to arrest them, but Oldroyd turns out to be a partner-double-crosser and escapes in Gebler’s car, only to have Old Man Slade, still on the run from prison, run him off the road.

Everyone’s exonerated, and Turner and Slade have newly-released Old Man Slade over for dinner at Holly’s flat.  A good detective at all times, Old Man Slade can’t work out how they came to visit him about the crime while he was unconscious in a park before the robbery was discovered. And, Holly Turner… you’re the daughter of Fredrick Turner?  The guy who wrote a book in the prison library about Time Travel?  He might have to read that book someday.

Many people say Marcus is just a spare part, and this week that’s proven, and then it’s political hijinks on the High Seas – or the outer space equivalent thereof.

Kenneth and Eugene discuss The Heir and the Spare & Just Politics.

As we wind down our coverage of Starhunter Redux this week and for subsequent episodes, we’re covering two episodes at once. Of the remaining four episodes, one is a clip show, which we’ll cover with a companion episode, and the series finale is a two-parter.

The Heir and the Spare Episode Synopsis

Marcus is talking to Percy about getting the hyperspace drive working.  She doesn’t want to because… reasons.  Then she screws up a repair job to get out of the conversation, then fixes it somewhat.  She retreats to privacy mode in her cabin.

They’re after a fugitive named Alex Aroyan, a con man who fleeces rich women.  Eva Halperin, a Martian police official, has commixed the crew of the Trans-Utopian to track him down and bring him to justice… and she’s really keen to see this happen sooner rather than later.

Callie, in a dress, brings Aroyan to the yard and subsequently to capture.  Aboard the ship, Aroyan seems to recognize Marcus.

Privately, Caravaggio informs Marcus that he is an identical genetic match for Aroyan.  They don’t look alike because Aroyan has had extensive plastic surgery.  Aroyan doesn’t really explain, but he says Marcus is in trouble and he should let him go.

Two armed ships show up controlled by Jaten Sarat, the baddie, arrive and demand Aroyan.  Aroyan says that’s even worse news for you, Marcus, and he convinces him to take him to escape on a shuttle.

Meanwhile, Percy is doing Percy things.

Travis backs his friend and keeps the baddies off their backs, at least for a while, as they escape to Sin City.  There, the story is told to Marcus.  He’s the “son” of the former leader of Europa.  Twin sons were fashioned, one to be the heir and the other to be spare parts for the heir.  Marcus is, of course, the spare parts model.  When a violent man, the same one chasing them now, overthrew the government, the twins were spirited off in the hopes that one might survive.

Sarat captures them, and when they fail to agree to be his figurehead, he gets ready to kill Aroyan, clone him, and grow a new heir while cutting Marcus’ brain out and keeping his body around for reasons that don’t hold up to much scrutiny.

Travis arrives and threatens to kill them all if they don’t turn over Marcus and Aroyan, and they give them up.  Travis and the gang don’t bother to turn over Aroyan to the Martian authorities because “he’s family.”

…and in the meantime, Percy has taken a shuttle and left the Trans-Utopian to do some thinking.

Should they go after here?  Nah.

Just Politics Episode Synopsis

The Trans-Utopian has got troubling cargo, and Travis doesn’t like it.  They’re transporting Martian Trade Minister Kolzig on a secret mission.  It’s all very hush-hush and very high-paying.  Upon seeing him, Rudolfo is immediately disturbed.

Gaynor Schon immediately establishes herself as a baddie by uploading a program to Caravaggio that causes him to see and identify her as the absent Percy Montana.  Schon now, effectively, has full control of the ship without anyone knowing it.

Rudolfo struggles with identifying where he’s seen the Trade minister before, unaware that he’s being hampered by the tampering down to Caravaggio. At the same time, Marcus takes a shine to Jophie Henrik, the Minister’s aide.  Her dad was an engineer, and she flirts her way into Marcus’ heart and engines.  He keeps detecting problems with Caravaggio, but diagnostic after diagnostic shows him everything is operating normally.

Dircott, the second member of the Minister’s security squad, breaks into someone’s quarters, and Caravaggio apologetically murders him.  His body is later found in his own quarters, dead of an apparent heart attack.  Caravaggio, of course, can find no other cause of death.

Marcus and Jophie, who is sticking to him like suspicious glue, have discovered an anomaly in Caravaggio. When they go to the core of Caravaggio to investigate, they are zapped by Caravaggio’s defense systems, killing Jophie.  Travis is unhappy about all the deaths on his ship.

They arrive at the destination, the Mannheim Asteroid Belt, where Kolzig conducts some not-at-all suspicious 30-second-long trade negotiations with Reasoner, a miner on one of the asteroids.  According to Kolzig, the negotiations failed.  So sad, but that’s the way it is in politics.  That was a long trip for nothing.

Gaynor, however, bugged that conversation and has confirmed that Kolzig is actually conspiring against the Martian President in an effort to take over.  Reasoner is his confederate, and this was just the opportunity to transfer funds to Reasoner.

Rudolfo remembers who Kolzig is…. He’s a bad guy, and he will take him to justice.  When Gaynor, with the tactic approval of the Martian president, destroys the asteroid and puts the Trans-Utopian on self-destruct. Locking the others out of the computer systems.

As the clock winds down, Callie disables the shuttle that Gaynor is leaving on in the hopes she’ll stop the auto-destruct countdown.  She can’t, so she kills her in a fistfight.

Marcus cannot override the damage done to Caravaggio so, finally, Travis talks Caravaggio out of destroying them.

It’s alls-well-that-ends-well as the crew contemplates blackmailing the Martian president for their fee.

John and Eugene look at the 1955 George Pal classic movie Conquest of Space and its attempt at a realistic look at space exploration. We ask the questions, “is space for mankind or the exclusive domain of God?” and “will religion screw up space, too?”

John and Eugene look at two more episodes of Logan’s. First, it’s Futurepast, a story about androids in love, and then Carousel, the episode where Logan returns to the City of Domes to die.

Futurepast Synopsis

Two of Francis’ minions are hot on the tail of Rem and his pets, but through a bit of subterfuge, Logan stuns his pursuers, and Rem disables their vehicle.

They proceed on until they find a fabulous Art Deco building and a beautiful caretaker, Ariana.  Rem sparks every time he’s near her.

She leads Logan and Jessica to comfy beds, where they soon fall asleep and are connected to a dream analysis machine.

Rem demands to know why and learns that, like himself, Arianna is an android, and her job is to put people into the dream analysis lab.  They cannot be awoken, or they will die.  They must let the dreams continue.

Meanwhile, Francis camps impatiently for the night.

Through a series of clips from previous episodes and newly shot footage played through prisms and repeats over and over, we are privy to Logan and Jessica’s dreams, but honestly, I don’t care.  They might die, blah blah blah.

Rem and Arianna are falling in love, which is, of course, impossible

Then they get into a lover’s tiff.  He shoots her, she threatens to shoot him back, he sweet talks his way out of it, and together they come up with a plan to save the sleepers

Francis arrives and kills Arianna, and captures the newly-awakened Logan and Jessica.  Logan tries to convince Francis that the sleep analysis machine is actually the way to Sanctuary, and he falls for it!

Rem and his pets escape once more, but not before repairing Arianna and making a tearful farewell.

Carousel Synopsis

Francis is hot on Rem and his pet’s tails when the solar vehicle stops operating.  Getting out to defend themselves, Logan is shot by locals with a dart, and Rem and Jessica are teleported into a very cost-effective holding area.

They are told that the people who live in this area protect themselves by forcing erasing the memory of the last year from visitors’ minds and then sending them on their way.  Logan was carrying a weapon; therefore, they erased his memory immediately.  Rem and Jessica have been brought in to be told that their memory will be erased, and then they will be released.  Jessica pleads that erasing their memories will result in serious harm to them.  They deliberate.

Meanwhile, Logan has recovered and cannot figure out where he is.  Francis comes along, and Logan is completely compliant and disbelieving that he could possibly be a Runner.  He agrees to return to the City of Domes for a truth scan.

Rem and Jessica’s captures agree to release them unmolested, and they follow Logan back to the City of Domes.

Breaking back in, Jessica meets up with the Underground Runner Railroad and explains what’s happening.  They agree to help because Logan, testifying at Carousel that Sanctuary doesn’t exist, would be a significant blow against their movement.

Francis is happy that his old pal is back in the Sandman game, and they can continue to kill Runners together.  When they hunt their first Runner, Logan hesitates, and Francis must make the kill.  Logan reminds Francis that it was his turn to take the kill.  Francis buys this, but what does Logan actually think?

The Runners must know what Logan knows, so Rem suggests Jessica seduce Logan, which she tries, but ultimately cannot because Logan is her friend.  Instead, she spills the beans that she is the Runner Jessica 6 and that they’ve been together outside.  Did I mention that Logan is in full-on Sandman mode right now? 

It wasn’t Jessica’s best idea because Logan raises his gun to kill the Runner… but he cannot quite bring himself to do it and tells our hero to get out.  Heartbroken, Jessica returns to the Runners’ base and tells them the news.

Here’s where it gets tricky.  Francis is happy to have his best friend back, but when the elders tell him that Logan must testify at assembly before Carousel, Francis worries that Logan will die in Carousel.  “Relax,” say the elders, we just need Logan to denounce Sanctuary, and then he can return to his former life.  Relieved, Francis believes them, but when he leaves the room, suddenly, it’s all, “oh, yeah, he’s going to die at Carousel.”

The Runners know that Logan must be stopped, so they hatch a plan to capture him and hold him until the memory wipe fades.

As Logan heads to Carousel, he leaves a message behind for Jessica.  His memory has returned, and he plans to announce that Carousel and Renewal are lies before the Assembly – knowing that this will get him killed.

Jessica and her friends rescue Logan.  Francis cries, “curses, foiled again,” and Rem and his pets escape the City of Domes once more.

Simon and Eugene discuss whether and when the show needs to break its own temporal formula, what the advantage might be of having supper in Holly’s time machine, and the effect of temporal physics on the doctrine of act and omission.

Episode Synopsis

Holly Turner is giving a speech at the Institute of Time where she is discussing The Chronology Protection Hypothesis first put forward by Stephen Hawking.  Holly maintains that the hypothesis is correct: You can’t rewrite history.  Not one line!

Her speech is well-received, but of course, it’s all nonsense because time travel isn’t possible, despite the amazing work her father did in the past.

And then she sees the news.  Jeff Slade has been shot by a man named Crowley and is in critical condition awaiting emergency surgery.  She finds out when he was shot and uses the time machine to go back and, presumably, prevent Slade from being shot.  It’s her day off to be at the Institute of Time, so it doesn’t raise too many eyebrows when she arrives looking for Slade.

Slade has been assigned to a high-profile murder of a famous artist.  The only two immediate suspects are the artist’s ex-wife, currently embroiled in an acrimonious legal battle for money, and his art dealer, Levenson.

Holly shows up and wants to tag along, but when she refuses to let Slade use the time machine, he grows suspicious, but he allows her to accompany him anyway.

They visit the ex-wife, and she claims not to have killed him, pointing a finger at Levenson.  Holly questions her about Crowley, a name unassociated with this case and unknown to Slade, his suspicions are aroused even further. 

Slade spots the time watch on Holly’s wrist and calls the Institute of Time, learning that she’s still there.  He confronts her, and eventually, she tells him he’ll be shot at 6:00 PM today by Crowley.

They visit Levenson, who claims to have no further stake in the artist, and he, too, has never heard of Crowley.   Outside the store, Holly spots Crowley from the mug shot shown on TV.  Slade gives chase, but he escapes.

Now, Slade is going after Crowley.  First, he breaks into his apartment but finds nothing connecting him to the murdered artist.  Crowley returns, so Slade arrests him.  He can have him held for 24 hours without charging him, that will keep Slade safe, and time will be changed.

Morris and the Chief Inspector have had a break in the case.  They found threatening letters from the ex-wife, and a search of her place finds blood-stained clothing and a painting stolen from the crime scene.  They arrest her, but when they find Slade has arrested someone else with no apparent cause, they let him loose.

Crowley, a career criminal and not the brightest firefly in the swarm, immediately proceeds with his completely unrelated plan to rob a jeweler that just happens to be next door to Levenson’s art dealership.  Slade and Holly, also nearby, hear gunshots and rush to the scene just as Crowley tries to escape into Levenson’s shop, taking him and a family hostage.

Seeing Slade outside, he demands that Slade be the officer that comes in to negotiate… as the clock ticks inexorably toward 6:00 PM.  Slade cannot refuse, and he sends Holly back to the time machine.

Inside, Slade gets the jump on Crowley, killing him, only to have Levenson shoot Slade because it’s been exposed that he’s hiding the artist’s painting, which have vastly increased in value now that Levenson murdered him.

Holly synchronizes with the present and rushes to the hospital just in time to see Levenson trying to finish off Slade.  Slade, however, isn’t actually hurt and jumps Levenson, subduing him.

It was all a ruse to get hard evidence on Levenson… I mean, apart from the hard evidence of actually telling Slade, a police officer, that he did the murder and had the paintings, and then shot said police officer to cover it up, thinking him dead, but he was wrong, then lying about what happened to a police investigation.

The Chronology Protection Hypothesis has been proven once again.