Fireball XL5 Ep 29: Trial By RobotRating out of 10: 6.5
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0819055/?ref_=ttep_ep29Review (SPOILERS AHEAD):This was alright, a bit overplayed and suffered horribly from foolish villain syndrome but at least it was a reasonably fresh plot.
The essential story revolves around a mad genius trying to create a planet of robots. These are, considering the relatively high tech world of XL5, as usual surprisingly low grade in their abilities, and indeed he uses them at times like puppets to act out scenes. It was strongly implied throughout that the villain was deranged in some way, which I suppose potentially explains his complete hopelessness at planning. The strongest thing I can say in favour of the plot was that there were some genuinely clever elements in the villain's planning - the method by which Robert is stolen was genuinely a surprise to me - and the robot planet did involve some nice scenes.
I did feel that the whole thing would have been a better plot if it had been... cleverer, after the beginning section. The villain was a bit too much of a cackling wreck, and the trial scene itself, whilst nicely illustrative of the insanity of what he was doing, almost lacked menace as a result. Putting his prisoners to work, freely, with only one guard, to fix a group of military-grade robots, may also not have been a terribly bright move on his part and made the endgame almost absurdly easy for the heroes to win. I suppose overall in some ways it was all so bizarre and presented such a weak if erratic threat that it became
too serious as a result, more of a portrayal of an obsessive recluse's descent into madness than either an adventure thriller or an exploration story.
This one, then, didn't hit me in quite the right way to give it great scores, and could have benefited from some tweaks. Nonetheless it stands as a pretty interesting story, if not one of the most enjoyable ones in the Fireball arsenal, and pretty worth a watch.
