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Husky Becomes Invisible

Synopsis:
Professor Zeffer’s new star measuring instrument has an unusual side effect - objects placed in it become invisible. Raeburn is concerned with a spreading condition called ‘the Floats’ affecting people on the moon. Haggarty discovers that a protein from the square eggs of the rare Martian Aba bird cures the condition but only twenty Aba birds are left on Mars. Galasphere 347 is dispatched to collect more eggs in the hope of finding a way to synthesise the protein and while waiting at Zeffer’s observatory, Husky is accidentally made invisible... permentantly it would seem...

Husky Becomes Invisible
Cast
Captain Larry Dart
Husky
Slim
Colonel Raeburn
Marla
Professor Haggarty
Cassie
Gabbler
Professor Zeffer
Zeffer's Assistant
Gamewarden
The Martian President
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 Dick Vosburgh
Ronnie Stevens
Ronnie Stevens
Murray Kash
Libby Morris
Ronnie Stevens
Libby Morris
Libby Morris
Dick Vosburgh
Ronnie Stevens
Murray Kash
Dick Vosburgh
And The Moral Is:
• What You See Is Not Always All You Get.

Today I Will Be Mostly Learning... :
• Low gravity conditions cause muscular wasting.

Huskyisms:
• “He’s cleverer than all the other doctors rolled up inside out.”
• “Look, no hands.” takes on a different meaning for Husky and “You’d better take these eggs... I’ve got nowhere to put them.” highlights the fact he is stark naked for quite a percentage of the episode.

Is This A Joke ?:
• “Husky invisible? Preposterous!”

Riding Along In My Monobile... ‘:
• Raeburn visits Haggarty.

The UGO Needs You‘:
• Husky seems to quote what could be the recruiting slogan for the Space Patrol, spoofing that of the Navy - “Join Space Patrol And See The Galaxy.”

‘I’m An Alien!‘:
• The Aba is ticklish and has a very human laugh. It lays three eggs - one is its young and the other two are food for it.

Continuity:
• Gabbler is on holiday on Mars already.
• Was Haggarty’s experiment to produce square eggs in The Wandering Asteroid inspired by the eggs of the Aba bird ?

"It's caused by living where there's very little gravity.
Muscles lose their strength, and you die."
Colonel Raeburn, describing 'The Floats'


Haven’t I Seen... ?:
• The gamewarden was one of the Martian colonists in The Slaves Of Neptune with a moustache.
• Gabbler says Zeffer’s device looks like the birdsong machine used to teach him to talk. (It doesn’t, incidentally.)

Take A Break:
• Dart tells the gamewarden he has hoverjets and the gamewarden replies "Good, let's get them." On the video release, the fade out is retained but on the DVD release it has been edited out.

Astro Viewer Working:
• Professor Zeffer occasionally wears glasses.
• The star on Husky’s uniform disappears when he is invisible. Maybe it’s organic too.
• This episode is sometimes referred to The Invsible Martian, no documentary evidence supporting the alternate title has been found.

Hoorah!:
• Husky being invisible - a puppet suit with no hands or head - is eerily effective.
• The condition ‘The Floats’ anticipates well the problems faced by real astronauts in microgravity environments.
• While we know Husky would never be killed, there is an ‘oh no’ moment when Haggarty suggests the only way to make him reappear is to make his molecules ‘lifeless’.
• There also a reference to a television satellite, anticipating satellite TV by more than twenty years.

Professor Zeffer's Laboratory

Boo!:
• The Galasphere 024 launch is used.
• The Martian President seems to be the same puppet seen in The Wandering Asteroid but speaks with a typically accented voice this time.
• Where exactly does the invisible Husky sit on Dart’s hoverjet?

Computer Central:
• First screened: September 1st 1963 (ABC Midlands)
• Running time: 24 minutes 27 seconds
• BFCC Classified - 26th February 1998
• VHS - Volume 3
• DVD - 'The Best of', Vol. 1
• DVD - Complete Series Box Set, Disk 2

Listings
• London, December 5th 1963:
Husky, visiting Mars with Larry Dart, becomes invisible through an accident. This proves of great value, but Husky does not want to be invisible for ever, and there seems to be no prospect of him returning to his normal state.

Brahms & List
• It is rumoured the alternative title of The Invisible Martian came from an Australian listing for the episode.

Ready To Lift ?:
A somewhat whimsical and humourous episode in theme, and the Aba seems suitably alien - until it laughs.






On to the next episode
Episode Guide Series One
Episode Guide Series One
The Planet Of Thought
The Glowing Eggs Of Titan
The Planet Of Light
Time Stands Still
Husky Becomes Invisible
The Walking Lake Of Jupiter
The New Planet
The Human Fish
The Invisible Invasion
The Talking Bell
The Buried Spaceship
Message From A Star
Explosion On The Sun
Episode Guide Series Two
Episode Guide Series Two
We close on the blazing sun in space before fading to a view of ringed planet Saturn. A gyroscope-like ship, enclosed in a flickering bubble of energy, speeds past us and beyond accompanied by almost musical radiophonic tones. We see it pass the Moon before spinning away to the twilight of the Earth's curved horizon... As we hear a grinding rhythmic electronic score, we see scenes of a futuristic city under a dramatic sky. Some buildings and antennae rotate, light pours from other structures as bullet-shaped and spherical vehicles move rapidly back and forth... 'This is Earth - the year 2100. New York is the headquarters of Space Patrol and men from Earth, Mars and Venus live and work there as guardians of peace. This is the story of those men, whose courage and daring make the universe safe for us all.'
We close on the blazing sun in space before fading to a view of ringed planet Saturn. A gyroscope-like ship, enclosed in a flickering bubble of energy, speeds past us and beyond accompanied by almost musical radiophonic tones. We see it pass the Moon before spinning away to the twilight of the Earth's curved horizon... As we hear a grinding rhythmic electronic score, we see scenes of a futuristic city under a dramatic sky. Some buildings and antennae rotate, light pours from other structures as bullet-shaped and spherical vehicles move rapidly back and forth... 'This is Earth - the year 2100. New York is the headquarters of Space Patrol and men from Earth, Mars and Venus live and work there as guardians of peace. This is the story of those men, whose courage and daring make the universe safe for us all.'
We close on the blazing sun in space before fading to a view of ringed planet Saturn. A gyroscope-like ship, enclosed in a flickering bubble of energy, speeds past us and beyond accompanied by almost musical radiophonic tones. We see it pass the Moon before spinning away to the twilight of the Earth's curved horizon... As we hear a grinding rhythmic electronic score, we see scenes of a futuristic city under a dramatic sky. Some buildings and antennae rotate, light pours from other structures as bullet-shaped and spherical vehicles move rapidly back and forth... 'This is Earth - the year 2100. New York is the headquarters of Space Patrol and men from Earth, Mars and Venus live and work there as guardians of peace. This is the story of those men, whose courage and daring make the universe safe for us all.'