Fireball XL5 Episode 2 Review: The Doomed Planet

[Jubal]

Fireball XL5 Ep 2: The Doomed Planet

Rating out of 10: 8.2
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803305/?ref_=ttep_ep2

Review (SPOILERS AHEAD):

This was a good episode. Narratively it worked fairly well; the opening cuts straight into Fireball taking evasive action, which is a very neat high-velocity way of setting up the plot of two interstellar objects coming towards collision. Too much of the episode is spent in the mid-sections, which are rather slower paced; the tension cannot be maintained over the length of time given, and the alien, invisible for most of the episode, only ever represents a threat in the minds of Steve and the other humans. These scenes do however help set up some more points that weren't covered yet in Planet 46; Commander Zero gets some time as the grumpy, disbelieving, not wholly competent leader of the Fireball fleet, and Zounie, Venus' pet La Zoun, is introduced for the first time.

The intended switch between the assumed threat of the mysterious flying saucer and the actual nature of its inhabitants and their need for Fireball's help is the main thrust of the second half of the episode. The implied threat is too minimal for this to be pulled off entirely successfully, though the communication via Robot is a nice touch. Steve's gun-readiness contrasts well with the pacifism of the alien being - with some implied criticism of both sides, the humans being mistrustful and nearly literally shooting the messenger whilst the aliens have become so opposed to the use of "primitive" methods that they are not able to save themselves from impending disaster.

Whilst complaining about the science in Fireball is always pointless, a few applications of Occam's Razor at the end might have helped. Fireball's interceptors knocking a huge object off course, say, would have more sense than it spontaneously combusting and exploding in a ball of flame that reaches well past any atmosphere it might have.

All in all I found this an effective and enjoyable episode - it had a lot to recommend it.