Fireball XL5 Ep 4: Plant Man From SpaceRating out of 10: 7.3
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803299/?ref_=ttep_ep4Plant Man From Space is about as hammy as the titles suggests. The ham is fairly fun, nonetheless.
The plot is actually quite nicely detailed, and the mad scientist style plot is a worthy if unadventurous one. It would however have made for a more challenging and interesting twist if rather than raving madly the scientist actually presented his case as an ideology - and this would have increased his stature as an opponent significantly. The twist where the perpetrator is revealed could have been far better hidden; it was too obvious by the time it was revealed and this meant the story lacked suspense. There were also obvious plot holes; it is not explained how Fireball will be wrecked by the plants, nor indeed is it clear how they exit the craft when it lands since by this point there are plants covering the way out of the cockpit. Nor is it clear how the scientist gets them to land in exactly the right place to find his laboratories, or indeed how the first plant-creature was made (was there some other poor human who was converted?)
There were a lot of good and charming points however. The overgrown Space City and Fireball were nice to see. The idea of neutralising somewhere with super-rapid plant growth is a pretty fun one, and the overgrown Fireball gives a very clear focal image that sticks in the head well beyond the episode's ending. The "monster" for the episode is actually quite a fun idea as well, not necessarily perfectly handled but it's actually quite an unusual/novel take on what a "plant monster" should look like (and is significantly and pleasantly less humanoid than a lot of Fireball's other aliens). The ending solution, with Robert coming to the rescue, is also pretty good and well played. All the hammy action sequences are good old fashioned adventure-ham, the montages are fun, and the dialogue is pretty well written.
Plant Man From Space gets into the average scores; it would need a tighter plot to get higher. It's well worth a watch though.
EDIT: Subject corrected.
