This week we start looking at a new series: The 2006 ITV science-speculation series, Eleventh Hour starring Patrick Stewart and Ashley Jensen.  In the first episode, Resurrection, the ethics of human cloning is explored.

Simon and Eugene discuss.

Episode Synopsis:

A car chase lead police to discovering what appears to be dozens of human remains, and a suspect, in the form of a highly-religious caretaker.  The caretaker confesses that he was paid to burn the remains, but he felt they needed proper burial and so had created his own little graveyard in a field.

Dr. Ian Hood, and his bodyguard, Rachel, show up to spoil the coppers’ day:  These aren’t murders.  These are non-viable fetuses.  The latest in a string of similar incidents that Hood is trying to put an end to.  The fetuses are all genetically identical, indicating that they are unsanctioned attempts to clone a human being.

Hood is on the trail of the clone master, known only as Gepetto.

Since it’s not murder, the cops don’t care and bugger off, except for the cop named Doug, who wants in Rachel’s pants something fierce.

Hood uses unorthodox tactics to get information.  He abducts the caretaker and forces him to confess to his god, which leads Hood to a makeshift implantation clinic in an abandoned building.

Meanwhile, a young girl who’s made some seriously questionable choices in life, including getting knocked up by a human ratbag named Roly, who abuses her, and renting her womb out for illegal experimental cloning experiments, if having a rough time of it.  Roly is making trouble, and her pregnancy isn’t going well.

In fact, Dr. Hayward, the disgraced and struck-off doctor who is treating her, has real concerns that she’s going to die due to the pregnancy.  Which is a shame, because she’s got the best clone baby yet and it would be a pity if something happened to that.

With some extra-judicial sleuthing, and Rachel putting out for Doug, they identify Hayward as the Doctor involved (but not Gepetto) and Hood deduces that Mr. Gifford is the rich, bereaved father who is financing the cloning experiments.

As cages are rattled, and Kelly’s physical condition becomes critical, Hood stands face to face with his arch-nemesis, Gepetto.  Face to face that is across the (mostly) dead body of Kelly.  Hood must continue the CPR in an effort to save Kelly and he must stand by and watch as Gepetto walks away.

Travis Montana is lost back in time and hyperspace (yay!)  Lucretia is missing without a mention (meh.) Percy has emerged from hyperspace 15 years later, still alive (boo!) and Travis Montana has been been genetically resequenced and is now a “successful” bounty hunter.  Yes, it’s time for a rebirth to the Starhunter saga.  Kenneth and Eugene discuss the series two Starhunter Redux  premiere, Rebirth.

Episode Synopsis

Year is 2300 and bounty hunter Travis Montana is hanging out with his cohort, Marcus when gets a headache and he has a vision of the Trans-Utopian coming out of a wormhole.

Meanwhile, Percy and the Trans-Utopian are coming out of a hyperspace wormhole.  Carravagio gets a brief facelift, but finally settles on some clothes instead.  Looking at the clock, Percy realizes that it is the future and heads for a space dock.

Flashback time as we meet Zavras, the mustache-twirling villain of the piece, he’s a raider, and when fellow Raider, Travis Montana betrayed their clan, he thought he’d killed him, but since he didn’t, it’s his life’s mission to do so – because he’s got nothing better to do.  And if he can’t track him down, he’ll make Travis come to him.

Travis has had another headache and, although done offscreen, he explains to his cohort that he time travels, it’s a thing he never bothered to mention.  No biggie, though, back to the job at hand: Arresting a perp because they’re bounty hunters.  It’s what they do.  They also snatch the bounty right out from under Callie, another bounty hunter.  She’s not happy with that.

Rudolfo shows up tray to claim the Trans-Utopian, he’s fallen upon hard times and wants to get back into the highly-lucrative bounty hunter game.  His efforts to convince Percy that the Trans-Utopian are his fail.  Rudolfo was paid off by the insurance company and Percy claims it by right of legitimate salvage.  He offers her a deal to lease the ship from her.  She agrees.

Zavras destroys a research lab because Travis had a friend on it, then sits back to wait.

Callie, a bounty hunter, applies for and gets employment with Rudolfo.

Travis learns of the Trans-Utopian and visits Percy, claiming the ship as his by right of being Dante’s son.  Percy, who met Travis Montana very recently in her timeline, doesn’t seem to remember that, but since Travis cannot provide documentation, she doesn’t accept his claim at face value.  He also wants to lease the ship, so she arranges for him and Rudolfo to be in a surprise bidding war at the Trans-Utopian’s airlock.

When an immediately bidding war doesn’t materialize, Percy locks them out and decides to leave.  They break in before she can take off.

Travis proposes a deal: they all work together on a provisional basis tracking down the perpetrators of the research lab destruction because… that’s what bounty hunters do?  Investigate crimes, identify suspects and bring them to justice?  Apparently bounty hunting has changed in the 24th century.

There are unresolved problems with the Trans-Utopian and they must work together as a more-or-less cohesive team to survive.  Travis, it seems, is a natural-born leader, and he begins to act as the leader of the group.

Percy chafes at this, and when Travis take the shuttle to investigate, she balks, re-taking command of the ship and making to abandon him and Callie.  But Zavras arrives, and the Trans-Utopian and the shuttle work together to fight him off.

Later, Zavras’ second in command sets up an obvious trap from Travis, which he walks into and, with the help of his new friends, they walk out of again.

But, they don’t get any bounty, so they’re stuck with their trial partnership for the next exciting episode of Starhunter Redux.

Episode 559 before 558?  What the heck?  Blame a Time loop. Blame Chibnall.  Why not?

The 2022 New Year’s Day Doctor Who Special Eve of the Daleks is here and the year is off to… a start.

Simon and Eugene discuss.

Episode Synopsis

Warning: The following plot synopsis contains both editorializing and swearing.

It’s New Year’s Eve, it’s only been a few weeks since the Lupari put a shield around the Earth, and the Sontarans invaded and, pretty most of the universe was wiped out of existence, but mankind is big and dumb and life has pretty much returned to normal on Earth.

Sarah, owner of a massive (but basically empty) self-storage facility, hates working on New Year’s Eve, but she does, and once a year her one and only customer, Nick, comes in to store some stray item.  He’s a weird one, our Nick, and he’s clearly got a thing for the caustic, self-interested Sarah.  She, on the other hand clearly holds him in the contempt that all good business owners hold their customers in.

Meanwhile, the TARDIS, like many in the audience, really needs to get the last traces of the Flux out.  This is done by a complete reset – which is different from a reboot, which was done back in Village of the Angels.  The TARDIS team will have to spend some time outside the TARDIS while the magic happens.  The Doctor chooses a beautiful beach planet for their destination.

You don’t have to be a genius to guess where the TARDIS lands – in the self storage facility.

A Dalek comes and kill everyone.  Really.  Everyone.  Nick, Sarah, Dan, Yaz, and the Doctor.  Dead.  Real dead.

Then a time loop happens, and they get to do it all over again, only differently.

Over and over again.

While that happens, we learn just what a horrible person Sarah is, what a crazed lunatic Nick is, and how, after 4 to 6 time loops, they begin to come together in a romantic comedy which will, if you’re like me, have you shouting at the TV, “shut the f$%& up and get on with the plan before you die again!”

(Which, I suppose, in retrospect, is a small victory for Chibnall, since I wasn’t shouting for the Daleks to kill them.  Mostly.  Ok, actually once or twice.)

Eventually, and in the nick of time, the Doctor gets the Daleks to blow everything up and they all escape. Through a door the Daleks never bother to guard.

Sarah and Nick embark on a new life together traveling around the world where, no doubt, Nick will murder her and cut up her body and store bits of it in a self-service storage facility.

Everyone knows how terrifying honey can be, but who knew a haunted house with giant spiders could be a thing? John and Eugene discuss two more episodes on Ultra Q.  This week it’s Terror of the Sweet Honey & Baron Spider.

Terror of the Sweet Honey Synopsis

It is a dark and stormy night, when an old man is awakened by the sound of someone breaking into a nearby greenhouse.  He sees a figure in the dark smashing up things.

10 days later, Jun is teaching Ippei how to fly a plane, which I suppose is a good thing since Ippei has been a pilot at Jun’s air service for some time now.  Below them they see a train derailed when it hits a strange pile of dirt on the tracks.  Let’s not make a mountain out of a molehill, just yet, though.

Soon, Professor Ikinotani, along with Jun, Yuriko and Ippei are visiting a research facility working on a new super royal jelly called Honey Jellion, which can make things giant.  Head scientist Kimura is worried about the greenhouse break-in.  Something ate the Honey Jellion.

Soon a giant mole turns up.

Yuriko investigates the greenhouse and discovers it would not be possible for a mole to get in, save for the fact that someone deliberately broke the glass from the inside.

Kimura’s research colleague, Itami is outed as the saboteur.  He runs off with plans to destroy the mole by blowing it up in its burrow.  He reveals to Kimura that it was jealousy over Kimura’s  academic success that drove him to it, but it seems there is a bit more.

Blowing up the mole, or at least the burrow where it and Itami stands isn’t even enough to kill Itami, who manages to stumble out and reveal it was jealousy of Kimura’s upcoming marriage to Aiko, whom he also loves, that really drove him to the crime.  Then he dies.

The mole, also still alive, emerges and the army attack it.  Terrified, it burrows deep underground where, just as Professor Ikinotani planned, it strikes a volcanic layer and dies, bringing forth a new volcano in its wake.

Baron Spider Synopsis

It is a foggy night, and a report comes to a lighthouse keeper that there is something odd about their light.  He goes to investigate and is attacked by a giant spider.

Jun, Ippei, Yuriko and their three friends Hayama, Kyoko and Takehara are returning from a party somewhere along the coast.  They get lost in the dark fog.  While scouting the area, Ippei and Takehara fall into a bottomless swamp.  Unable to swim or reach the ground just inches away from them, the begin to sink to their deaths.  They are rescued by the others in the nick of time, but they are in a bad way on a cold, cold night – especially Takehara.

They spot a light and a mansion nearby and go for help.  The mansion is abandoned and overrun with spiderwebs.

While they try to help Takehara and Ippei, they investigate the mansion, all the while being watched by giant spiders, unbeknownst to them.

Jun tells a ghostly story about the Spider Barron, a crazy man who collected spider from all over the world in his home, including even a venomous Tarantula from Europe.  On her wedding day, his daughter was bitten by the spider and went into a fit, running out and sinking in the bottomless swamp.

She returned as a giant spider and she and the spider Barron lived together in the house.

“Thanks, Jun,” says everyone, “for the heartwarming and not at all terrify story in this cold, spooky abandoned mansion.  We appreciate your efforts to cheer us up – NOT.”

Jun, lying down on a bed upstairs spots the giant sider overhead and runs downstairs in terror.

Hayama, downstairs in the wine cellar, does not see the other giant spider watching him.  He finds an Ocarina and pockets it, while taking a bunch of wine for his friends upstairs.  Might as well have a party!

He gives the Ocarina to Ippei who starts playing it and he gives the wine to Takehara, who is now feverish, and drops the wine.  He hears Jun’s story and says, “well, if you see a spider, just leave it alone and it will leave you alone.”

Hayama returns for more wine.  This time the spider doesn’t leave him alone and attacks.

The girls get made at Ippei for playing a creepy tune on the Ocarina, but when he stops at their insistence, the Ocarina continues to play.  The throws it in the fire.

They hear Hayama’s screams and all buy Kyoko and Takehara go to help.  Kyoko goes to the kitchens to get water.

In the wine cellar, Hayama is, surprisingly, alive, and they get him upstairs.  When they get there, the find a giant spider attacking Takehara.  Jun and Ippei fight it off, with Jun killing it with some fancy knife work.

In the kitchens, Kyoko is attacked by a spider.  She gets away, covered in webs and gets upstairs.  Everyone runs out of the house and back to the cars with the spider on their tail.

Hayama’s car gets away, but Jun’s, a convertible, won’t start – typical!

As the spider crawls on the hood, the car revs to life and Jun’s backs up, throwing off the spider, then runs it over, mortally wounding it.

As the spider dies, the mansion catches fires, falls over, and sinks in the swamp.

Just in time for a very merry Fusion Patrol Xmas!  It’s K•9 and Company – the failed 1981 Doctor Who spin-off pilot starring Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith and John Leeson as the voice of K•9.

Simon and Eugene discuss this holiday classic!

Synopsis:

In the village near Chipping Norton, a Black Mass is being held, presided over by a goat-masked high priest and priestess, the burn the photo of noted scientist, Lavinia Smith.

Soon, noted scientist Lavinia Smith is conversing with her friend, Juno Baker, about how her planned tour of America had to be suddenly moved forward and now must leave before her niece, Sarah Jane Smith, Journalist, arrives to stay.  She’ll also be missing on the return of her nephew, and ward, Brendan, who will be returning home from school for the Christmas holidays.  Some of the locals say she’s being “spirited away” to America by witchcraft.  All because of some silly letter she wrote to the local paper, the Standard, saying that there were still people practicing witchcraft in the village.

Lavinia is partners in a Market Garden with Bill Pollock, whom she leaves to run the business.  Also on the grounds of her manor is George Tracey, the man who actually does all the growing and stuff.

Lavinia leaves behind a mysterious crate that she’s been keeping for Sarah for years.

Sarah Jane arrives a fortnight later to find Lavinia gone, having received no word from her at all.  Sarah meets George Tracey, the epitome of the laconic English-country denizen.  She meets his son, Pete, followed by Brendan, whom she has previously never met, and Bill Pollock, whom she has previously met.  None of that detail is important.

First order of business – open that crate, which contains K•9, Mark III, a present left behind by the Doctor in 1978.  Brendan, a bit of a propeller-head, is entranced by K•9’s capabilities, but Sarah Jane is more concerned by her missing aunt.  She tries various inquiries but cannot figure out what, if anything, has actually happened to her.  She does learn about the controversy that Lavinia stirred up with her letter to the Standard about witchcraft.  The locals are really superstitious about that stuff.

Sarah is invited to a small gathering at Juno Baker and her husband Howard’s home.  Although Juno is Lavinia’s friend, Pollock lets Sarah Jane know that the Howards own their major competing Market Garden.  While she is there, Brendan is attacked by George Tracey and his son.  K•9 defends him, stunning Pete.  K•9 pursues George but fails to catch him, but does some damage to one of the greenhouses in the pursuit.

When Pete comes around, bound up, he tries to warn Brendan that he and Sarah Jane should leave the village immediately.  When Brendan follows K•9, Pete escapes.

Howard Baker is mysteriously called out of the party for some important business.  Soon thereafter, George Tracey is reporting to a mysterious, unseen superior, about his failure at the manor and the devil dog, sent by Hecate, spitting fire from its nose that pursued him.

Next day, Sarah and Brendon meet with Pollock and Tracey at the busted greenhouse.  Brendan never got a look at Tracey senior, so he doesn’t recognize him, but he does state unequivocally, that he’ll recognize the other assailant on sight.  Pollock, upon hearing of the attack, suggests Sarah Jane report it to the police, which she already has.  He also tells her about how poorly the business has been.  Freak accidents and acts of god have been playing havoc with their profitability.

In a village that believe witchcraft can influence crops, that sure is suspicious.

Knowing his son will be identified, Tracey orders his son to kidnap Brendan or he will face the wrath of Hecate.  Pete doesn’t want to do it, but that night, Brendan is kidnapped, and Sarah Jane’s phone lines are cut.

Based on Brendan’s original description of his assailant, she’s pretty sure it’s Pete Tracey.  She tells the police and demands action.  She and K•9 also go to Tracey’s cottage, where K•9 stays behind, hidden to spy on Tracey.

Later that night, K•9 overhears Tracey telling the local police sergeant that Hecate is demanding a human sacrifice of Brendan.  The police sergeant, obviously one of the coven, protests: “We haven’t done a human sacrifice since 1891!”  As a member of the coven and officer of the law, he is clearly conflicted.

Sarah Jane returning to pick up K•9 also sees the sergeant leave.  Later, she finds him on a dark country road, dead of an apparent heart attack.  A nearby goat startles her, too.

The next morning, she tells the Pollock and he takes her at her word.  She also visits the Bakers and tells them about the witches.  They are less accepting of the idea, and even hint that perhaps Sarah is a bit distract. They suggest bedrest and a visit from the local doctor.

K•9 assimilates all of Aunt Lavinia’s books on witchcraft and worlds out a search path to check all the likely places the coven might be using.  They have to hurry, though.  Midnight tonight is the winter solstice, the most powerful day in the witchy calendar.

Before they head out, Juno Baker calls and invites Sarah Jane to come from dinner that evening.  Sarah Jane declines, but when they hang up, Juno Baker gives the audience a very sinister and suspicious look.

Time is running out and the search so far has been fruitless.  The realize that it might also be a chapel, and there’s one of those on the manor grounds, the rush back, just in time for K•9 to stun most of the coven, with Sarah Jane incapacitating the others., just in time to save Brendan.

As Sarah Jane pulls off the mask of the High Priestess we see Jun… um… some woman we’ve not seen so far?  She then takes the mask off the High Priest to reveal it is Howar… um… no, Bill Pollock!

A few days later at Christmas dinner at the Baker house, who turned out to be just ordinary folks who were just friendly locals, Aunt Lavinia calls.  Everything is fine with her in America.  She can’t understand why Bill Pollock didn’t send Sarah Jane the cable she asked him to send.

And with the dulcet tones of K•9 singing “we wish you a merry Christmas” we roll the end credits.

We conclude our two-part look at Doctor Who Flux as if it were a single six-part story.  At six hours of television, it rivals the length of even the longest classic Doctor Who series.  There’s a lot to unpack and the unpacking ends here.

Simon and Eugene continue to discuss Doctor Who Flux.

We start our two-part look at Doctor Who Flux as if it were a single six-part story.  At six hours of television, it rivals the length of even the longest classic Doctor Who series.  There’s a lot to unpack and the unpacking begins here.

Simon and Eugene discuss Doctor Who Flux.

Serial Synopsis

Chapter 1

A long-imprisoned villain called Swarm escapes imprisonment. A woman living an ordinary life on Earth is actually, unbeknownst to herself, Azure, Swarm’s sister.  How did that happen?  Don’t waste your time asking silly questions, there are more pressing concerns.  The Flux, a universe-ending MacGuffin is ending the universe.

Also, Dog People known as the Lupari are going to save the inhabitants of Earth, one person at a time, starting with Dan.  Karvanista, the dog who tried to kill the Doctor in the pre-credit sequence, rescuing “his” human, Dan, and he just happens to get there first because of a time thingy. (Don’t worry about that, it’s not relevant later)

The Lupari have built over 7 billion Flux-proof spacecraft, which the Doctor reconfigures into a shield to save the Earth.  Not so lucky for the TARDIS though, and it crashes headlong into the Flux.

Oh, and we’re introduced the Vinder, Di, Joseph WIlliamson, and Claire…. I’m sure they’ll be important later.

Chapter 2

Damaged, the TARDIS lands in the 19th century Crimean War, except, it isn’t about the Russians anymore, it’s the Sontarans, and no one seems to notice.  Mary Seacole is there, just generally being better than the British.  Dan and Yaz get zapped elsewhere.  Dan back to modern-day Liverpool where he single-handledly (with some phoned in help from the Doctor) and the timely arrival of Karvanista, saves the Earth from the Sontarans.

Yaz goes to the Temple of Atropos on the planet Time, where she meets Vinder – one of the good guys – and Swarm and Azure, the bad guys.

Back in the Crimea, the Sontarans are really rubbish and the Doctor sends them packing.

Chapter 3

The Doctor rescues Yaz and Vinder from Swarm and Azure by throwing them into their timelines.  For giggles, she chucks Dan in there, too. They have a bunch of flashbacks.

Chapter 4

The Weeping Angels have captured the TARDIS and take it to an English Village in 1967.  There, the Doctor meets Claire – she’s from 2021 but has been sent back to 1967 by the Angels.

It’s all a trap.  The Division are hunting the Angel because it has escaped and contains all the Doctor’s missing memories.  The fugitive Angel lured the Doctor there to help it.

The plan fails and the Angel turns the Doctor over to the Division Angels.  Yaz, Dan, and Professor Jericho are flung back to 1901.

Chapter 5

The Doctor meets Tecteyune, her supposed adopted mother, and they exposition at each other in the gap between universes.  The Division sent the Flux to destroy the universe because… the Doctor?  Don’t get hung up on that concept, it comes to nothing.

The Swarm and Azure arrive, and kill Techteyune.

Yaz, Dan, and Jericho travel all over the world for very little reason.

UNIT gets a retcon as we learn the history of UNIT has been infiltrated by an alien life form known as the Grand Serpent since long before Col. Lethbridge-Stewart even formed the darned thing.

Chapter 6

Everybody loves a multi-Doctor story, and in this episode we’ve got three – 13, 13, and 13 – split into three parts, each expositing like mad.

The Sontarans are back, with the aid of the Grand Serpent, and they’ve got a plan to rid the universe of the Daleks and the Cybermen – a plan which they succeed in executing.

One of the Doctors manages to get the Flux swallowed by another convenient MacGuffin, which, unbeknownst to Swarm and Azure, has thwarted their plan to release Time.

When they go visit Time, thinking they have triumphed, they have failed, and Time kills them, but doesn’t kill the Doctor, just says “your time is running out” and the story is over.

After all the trouble the Doctor went to retrieve her missing memories, she gets rid of them.  She’s just about to kiss Yaz, too, but goofy old Dan cock blocks that.

Nothing will be the same though, most of the universe has been completely destroyed, countless trillions of life forms have been wiped out of existence, the Sontarans, the Cybermen, and the Daleks no longer exist.

Next time: The Doctor battles the Daleks.  Ok, maybe things will be the same.

Series 1 of Bugs comes to its dramatic conclusion with some really strong nostalgia about how computers used to be… and also how they didn’t used to be.  Simon and Eugene discuss Pulse.

Episode Synopsis

The folks from Bugs are on the case, although, it’s unclear who their client is.  Some French people have been buying up little loser companies, and, in some cases, the original owners have gone missing.

They create a profile of the type companies that might be targeted and Ed recognizes one of them, Weapon Works, which is owned by someone he knows, Claire.  He goes to see her.

She’s not interested in Ed’s help, but she’s hiding something.  She also has a daughter named Katie who is a lot better at computer games than Ed.  We see that she has a meeting with Marcel and that she initially refuses to accept his offer.

Beckett is talking with the owner of a different target company.  He’s a stubborn Scotsman and he’s not about to sell out to the Frenchies.  He walks away from Beckett and into his office, and a bomb kills him.  Team Bugs take over the company to see what happens next.

Soon, Marcel has visited Beckett and made him an offer he cannot refuse… so he takes it.  His job, build a doohickey. Just exactly the type of doohickey this company makes.  What’s got everyone shocked is how well informed Marcel is about everyone’s business.

They realize that Marcel has access to the companies’ data backups, and indeed, he is the owner of Computer Recall, The premiere offsite data repository for European businesses.

Because of the nature of the business, the building is shielded from electromagnetic signals, making surveillance almost impossible.

Using a two-pronged attack, Ed delivers a “backup” for data storage that its actually a video transmitter, while Ros tours the facility pretending to be a potential client.  While there, she plants a transmitting relay.

The video device is soon discovered, but not before they figure out that the chauffeur is actually Patrick Marcel’s smarter and more ruthless brother, Jean-Daniel Marcel, the actual mastermind, with Patrick as his front man and also that Claire’s daughter, Katie is being held prisoner in the facility.

Claire is still uncooperative with the Bugs so they surveil her and confirm that Katie is being held hostage to ensure compliance.  Claire is supplying a specialized EMP missile for Marcel.  They realize the doohickey their company was charged to make was a missile launcher.  The pieces begin to fall into place.

Meanwhile Jean-Daniel, having detected the bug, easily tracks it back to our heroes lair and delivers two bombshells.  The first, metaphorical, in the form of the revelation that this heretofore nameless business which we have been calling “Bugs” is actually called “Gizmos,” and second, literal, in the form of an actual explosive delivered via his overly-complicated bazooka. This renders Beckett injured and a prisoner of the Marcels.

Ros chases Patrick and the missiles.  Ed discovers that Beckett is a prisoner and hatches a plan involving a hatch to gain access to Computer Recall’s facility.

The Marcel brothers’ plan is this:  They’ve been using the data backups to spy on companies, finding small, vulnerable business to buy a controlling interest in.  They’ve also used this information to find companies that can help them build the missile weapons system.  They will use an EMP burst over London and Geneva to destroy the computers of the major corporations that exist there.  Their building, shielded from electromagnetic radiation, will endure, and then, in a massive conflict of interest and breach of contract, they will NOT supply the backups to their competitors, only to the companies they’ve bought up – thus destroying their competitors, and causing a massive increase in value to the companies they’re bought into.

Ros has been trying to disarm the missiles, but she’s caught by Patrick, the stupid one, but not for long, as Patrick is killed by standing in the backwash of the missile launch.  The good news, Ros is free and one baddie is dead.  The bad news, the missiles are on their way to reek havoc.

Jean-Daniel has programmed the missile destinations and goes to deal with Ed.  Beckett escapes and, in a nod to Jurassic Park, Katie is the one who reprograms the missiles destinations to be “harmless.”  They attempt to escape, taking the missile programming systems trackball ball with them because, that’s a thing you can do.

After a tense chase, Jean-Daniel catches them, but Beckett poses him a question:  Where do you think I redirected the London-bound missile?

Just then the missile hits the building, disabling all the electronic devices including Jean-Daniel’s overly-complicated bazooka.

Not so with Ed’s super-soaker glue gun though, which he uses to incapacitate Jean-Daniel.

In a tag scene, in the upstairs/downstairs headquarters of Gizmoids, Katie is holding Beckett hostage until he agrees to marry her mom, Claire.

This week John and Eugene look at two rather different episodes of Ultra Q with tales of a child’s fantasy world and a modern-day Tarzan – who fights monsters.  Join us as examine Grow Up! Little Turtle & S.O.S. Mt. Fuji.

Grow Up! Little Turtle Episode Synopsis

He is sent to the roof as punishment.

There is a bank robbery next door, which he witnesses.  He ties to report it but, as the boy who lies all the time, no one believes him.

Later, still at school as he tortures and harasses his turtle he encounters the gangsters who have evaded the police and are hiding in the school.

His turtle has bit the leg of the gangsters and when they run, he pursues them, escaping with them into the back of a truck.

Meanwhile, for no logical reasons, pilots Jun and Ippei, along with reporter Yuri, are checking out the robbery.  They enter the school and listen to the school break the bad news to Taro’s parents.  Our heroes play no further part in this story.

On the truck, his turtle won’t let go, and as they come to a police checkpoint, Taro spies the gangsters’ machine gun and takes it from them, pointing it both the gangsters and himself.  The gun goes off, drawing attention.  The police chase them through an amusement park. 

They escape into some underground tunnels, Taro still following to retrieve his turtle.

He dreams about his Dragon Palace visit and the princess Otohime.  When he awakes, his turtle has grown to 99 cm terrifying the gangsters who flee to turn themselves in, returning with the police to confront the giant turtle.  Before they can, Taro rides the turtle off, where they pass through solid walls, and fly at hypersonic speeds out to sea, and the finally to the Dragon Palace.

At the palace, which is quite minimalist, he meets Otohime, who is a mischievous girl with a runny noise.  First Taro gets blown up by a bluff atomic bomb, then he chases the girl on his turtle.  She is flying on, first a rocket, then a dragon, and finally the turtle is shot down by the dragon

Otohime extracts a promise from Taro.  He must never lie again.  Then she gives him a present to used if he’s in trouble. 

Next, he’s back at school with his worried parents.  He promises to never lie again, but when he tells them where he was, they think he’s lying.

To prove it, he opens the box, but he is turned into an old man and everyone laughs at him, but then he’s back to normal.

Next day, in class again, Taro is studying, and everyone else is playing with turtles.

S.O.S. Mt. Fuji Synopsis

Ippei is frightened into believing that Mt. Fuji has erupted when a group of children’s rocket launch goes awry.  The local policeman arrives and runs them off, but he’s got bad news.  His word is so distrusted in the nearby town that they don’t believe him when he says there are signs of volcanic activity.  Also, he hasn’t been able to catch up with Takeru, the local Tarzan-like character that lives in the woods.

Ippei convinces Yuri that a local Tarzan story is far more interesting than a volcano.  She agrees.

No on actually knows Takeru’s real name, but a local woman is convinced that the wild man is actually her missing younger brother, Takeru, lost in the forest 15 years ago when he was but four years old.

Later, the policeman is guiding Ippei and the local children on a walk through the forrest, telling them about Takeru when Takeru appears.  The policeman gives chase, hoping to warn him about the volcano, but Takeru is too fast and loses him.  About this time, the policeman witnesses what appears to be a volcanic even, a massive bolder is blasted out of a lake and lands nearby on a roadway.  The public are notified that Fuji is active.

Yuri returns with Jun and the helicopter so they can survey the whole area.

The boulder is blown up by workmen and the rubble deposited back in the forest, under the watchful eye of Takeru.  Later, during the night, the rocks form together around a mysterious white orb that was inside the original boulder and become a monster, which chases Takeru and eventually knocks a tree on him, trapping him.

Yuri, Ippei, Jun, and the woman who thinks Takeru is her brother are searching the woods the next day.  They spy the monster.  The policeman, also searching the forest nearby finds Takeru and rescues him, as the monster attacks again.  They flee to Takeru’s cave, where the a briefly trapped by a rock fall.

They escape due to Takeru’s prodigious strength.  They meet the others, and when the policeman tries to shoot the monster, Takeru knows what to do.  He steals the gun and attacks the monster, jumping on its back, then digging in and, grabbing the white orb, leaps off the monster as the monster’s body becomes inert.  Throwing the orb in the air, he shoots it, destroying it.  An avalanche causes by the volcanic heat melting snow on Fuji briefly threatens everyone, but eventually just covers the monster’s carcass.

Takeru recognizes his sister and is taken back to civilization where he is given a suit, a tie, a haircut, and the attention of the Japanese press.  As Takeru, a new man, stand proud, the local children finally manage to get their rocket to launch.

Five episodes into the six and we’re still piling new storylines on. It’s our compressed reaction to Doctor Who Flux, Chapter 5, Survivors of the Flux.