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The Unknown Asteroid

Synopsis:
The Plutonine mines are all but exhausted, then Galasphere 347 discovers an asteroid made of the mineral near Jupiter. Raeburn has other concerns - space pirates have been raiding the spaceways for some time. When Galasphere 347 returns to claim the asteroid they find it has gone. A rich Venusian called Miga has already moved it to an orbit close to his home planet and is trying to sell it to Raeburn who has no option but to pay. But he sends Larry Dart and Galasphere 347 in the hope they will find out if Miga is as honest as he seems...

The Unknown Asteroid
Cast
Captain Larry Dart
Husky
Slim
Colonel Raeburn
Marla
Professor Haggarty
Cassie
General Smith
Miga
Miga's Aide
The Venusian President
Interplanetary News Reporter
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 Dick Vosburgh
Ronnie Stevens
Ronnie Stevens
Murray Kash
Ysanne Churchman
Ronnie Stevens
Ysanne Churchman
Dick Vosburgh
Ysanne Churchman
Ronnie Stevens
Dick Vosburgh
Ronnie Stevens
And The Moral Is:
• Lock Before You Leave

Today I Will Be Mostly Learning... :
• Asteroids could come from other solar systems.

Huskyisms:
• “That’s ridicuble!”
• “Tickle me.” (Instead of ‘Search me’)
• “I’m positove.”

Slimantics:
• “An interesting conjecture.”

Raeburnt:
• To an infuriated Haggarty: “I didn’t call you Pop... “

A Venusian Has...:
• The ability to interupt her employer’s turkish bath - three times!

Riding Along In My Monobile... ‘:
• Dart takes the rock sample to Haggarty.

Ooh, Bitch... :
• Haggarty “You haven’t the mind of a scientist Cassie, you’d be better off peeling potatoes.”

Continuity:
• Galasphere 347 is in need of overhauling.
• Supplies of Plutonite are nearly exhausted.
• Space pirates have been operating for about two years.
• The currency on Venus is the Venusian Franc.

Plot Device:
• You’d think Miga would have had a lock on that door for the gold...

Haven’t I Seen... ?:
• Exploring the asteroid, Husky and Dart pass over the same 'clearing' twice.
• Miga is the Tara/Gallia puppet again.
• Raeburn’s turkish bath is the cabinet from Professor Zeffer’s invisibility machine.
• Miga’s palace is Tara’s palace.

Take A Break:
• Galasphere 347 has been launched to claim the Plutonite asteroid. Dart contacts Earth to let them know they are going into the freezer and Marla replies the message has been received and noted.

"Perhaps they're not pirates all the time. Perhaps they're
a business organisation with space rockets."
Larry Dart


Astro Viewer Working:
The second series saw the series revamped:
• The uniforms, while essentially the same, have been remade with the white jumpsuit having more sparkle and a regular check pattern while the six pointed star is seen on its side now.
• Slim sports a rather fetching bouffant hairstyle and seems to have taken to wearing eyeliner!
• Cassie is restyled for most of the series with hair tied up with a clip, giving her a more mature appearance, and she seems taller.
• The Galasphere control room is more detailed and with the change in uniforms, the pre-launch check sequence is reshot again for these thirteen episodes.
• Raeburn's office, notably his desk and chair, has been revamped and smartened up.
• The hover jets lose their rim of hemispheres and just have circular markings instead.
• On Volume 7 of the video releases, there is a duplication fault towards the end of this episode that causes the sound and image to flicker intermittantly on some copies.

Hoorah!:
• The set of Miga’s palace is notably plush, and one of the high points of the revamped production values.

The Palace Set

Boo!:
• In the first scenes in Haggarty’s laboratory, the original Cassie puppet from the first series is used . For the rest of the episode, the revamped ‘mature’ version with her hair tied back in a clip is seen.
• The stolen bullion has the extremely incriminating ‘UGO GOLD’ marked on the side.

Computer Central:
• First screened: March 19th 1964 (Associated-Rediffusion London)
• Running time: 24 minutes 36 seconds
• This episode appears to be the first not to feature the vocal talents of Libby Morris. Ysanne Churchman does not recall recording with her, suggesting she was unavailable for some of the second series.
• BFCC Classified - 15th July 1999
• VHS - Volume 7
• DVD - Complete Series Box Set, Disk 5

Listings
• London, July 5th 1963. TWW Wales, December 18th 1963:
Dart and his crew, seeking a lost party of scientists on Jupiter, come upon a band of criminals who are killing numbers of Lumis, the only wild animals on the planet.
• Westward, October 31st 1963:
Jupiter is still largely unexplored, and Colonel Raeburn is worried that he can no longer maintain contact with the scientific expedition on that planet.

Ready To Lift ?:
While the story is somewhat straightforward and a little contrived, almost a step back from some really good and adventurous ideas, the script is quite sharp and the new production look is very good.






On to the next episode
Episode Guide Series One
Episode Guide Series One
Episode Guide Series Two
The Unknown Asteroid
The Evil Eye Of Venus
Secret Formula
The Telepathic Robot
Deadly Whirlwind
The Jitter Waves
Sands Of Death
The Hairy Men Of Mars
The Grass Of Saturn
Forcefield X
The Water Bomb
Destruction By Sound
The Shrinking Gas Of Jupiter
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.'