Space Patrol And The Secret Weapon

Stories by Roberta Leigh
Illustrated by R.W.Smethurst
Hardback. 64 pages. ©1965 Wonderama Productions Ltd
Published in Great Britain by World Distributors (Manchester) Ltd
Printed in the Netherlands


Secret Weapon:

Synopsis:
The Dells and the Miocells of Northern Jupiter have been fighting for the last hundred years but the Dells have developed a super weapon. Concerned the Dells may one day use the weapon on Earth, Colonel Raeburn sends Larry Dart and the crew of Galasphere 347 to investigate. At the Dell capitol of Deelya, Dart meets the Leader who shows him the weapon - a supersonic transmitter that can paralyse anyone for a hundred miles, allowing them to conquer whole areas unopposed. Thinking Dart will only believe a practical demonstration, the Leader threatens to use it on the Miocells at noon the next day.
Galasphere 347 travels to Marga, the Miocell capitol, where Dart confers with the President and learns that if the Dell Leader were killed, a family called Darsa would take power. Marsa, the son of that family, is in love with the Miocell President’s daughter.
Dart hatches a plan whereby Slim’s new hobby of ventriloquism is used to impersonate the voice of the Dell Leader to gain access to the weapon. Husky attempts to sabotage the complex device but the crew are forced to hide when there is a change of guard without knowing if they have been successful. At noon, the Leader arrives to active the weapon and an aircraft despatched to check the Miocell capitol reveals the population to be unharmed.
Marsa is among the Dell guards who have arrived and tries to sway the others with the Leader’s failure. When the Leader turns on Marsa, the Leader is shot by the Captain of the guards. The Dells have realised that Marsa speaks the truth and that they have been ruled by evil for too long. Dart and his crew remain in hiding until it is safe to leave unnoticed, prefering the Dells to believe an unknown force acted to prevent the machine. Safe in the knowledge that a marriage will take place between Marsa and the Miocell President’s daughter, ensuring peace on the planet, the crew of Galasphere 347 return to Earth.

And The Moral Is:
• Love Conquers All

Huskyisms:
• “My stomach is me. And if I don’t fill it, it grimbles at me.”
• “That was a close hair cut”
• ”It’s fantasticacious.

Slimantics:
• Slim’s dialogue is straightforward compared to the TV episodes but his hobby of ventriloquism allows him to impersonate the Dell Leader.

Raeburnt:
• “...the Dells have developed a machine that can destroy their enemies from a distance of thousands of miles and I’m afraid that one day they might use it on us. That’s why I want you to go to Northern Jupiter immediately.”

“Don’t Call Me Pop!”:
• Haggarty doesn’t make an appearance in this story.

A Venusian Has...:
• Lots of hobbies. At least that is what we are told of Slim here...

To Coin A Phrase:
• “I’m hungry,” said Husky. “I wish you wouldn’t keep on with that hobby horse of yours,” Slim said crossly. “Right now I’m so hungry,” Husky answered, “that if I had a hobby horse here I’d eat it.” “Why can’t you two be... “ Dart’s voice trailed away and he banged his hand down on his knee. “That’s it!,” he said, “You’ve given me the answer.”

Riding Along In My Monobile... ‘:
• They get mentioned in the opening description - “...roads had disappeared and cars had been replaced by monobiles - shining silver capsules that whisked through the plastic tunnels linked one building with another.”



‘I’m An Alien!”:
• The Dells are “...immensely tall emaciated aliens. Their arms were as thin as knitting needles and their fingers were no thinker than matchsticks. By comparison their heads were large and their voices deep and booming.” Contradictory to their slender appearance, they are also very strong.
• By comparison, the Miocells are beings who “ ...waved their four arms like feelers and turned their circular heads from side to side in a strange, clockwork manner.” but who are also “ ...warm and friendly.” and have gentle, fluting voices.

Ooh, Bitch... :
• Marsa says to the Dell Leader “You and your family are evil and you have ruled us with evil for too long.”

Continuity:
There are several continuity reference to aspects of the TV series:
• The opening text seems to confirm that each Galasphere is indeed manned by one crew member from each of Earth, Mars and Venus.
• There is a brief outline of the Freezer Compartment and the Automatic Time Switch.
• Raeburn is refered to as the head of the United Galactic Organisation.
• The air of Jupiter is poisonous to Earthmen.
• While the Dell and Miocell cities contradict what we know of Jupiter, there is reference to ‘swampy marshland’ bordering the Dell capitol.

Plot Device:
• More of a convenient hobby than a device but Slim’s new ventriloquist skills nevertheless.

Astro Viewer Working:
• According to the story, food is limited on Galaspheres owing to lack of room.
• Martian Sausage is quite evil smelling!
• Artist Ron Smethurst was one of the art directors at World Distributors.

Hoorah!:
• The moral aspirations of the series are maintained, with the Dell Marsa arguing “The Miocells might not look like us but this doesn’t mean they are different from us. They have wives and children, they love and die the way we do, and it’s wrong to fight them.”. This sums up the morality of the show better than any line from the TV episodes!
• Ron Smethurst’s artwork is very nice and colourful throughout and his depiction of the Dells and Miocells gives you a feel that they could have worked as puppets in the series.

Boo!:
• Raeburn is seen waving off the departing Galasphere.
• A couple of times, the writer seems to forget the crew have molungs on with Dart wiping the sweat from his forehead, and Dart having to catch hold of Slim’s hair (ouch!) to drag him back from giving himself away in their hiding place.
• The Elektran seems to have been forgotten as when in hiding, Dart watches the Dell guards speaking in their own tongue and not being able to understand them.
• Husky is described as having ‘the grace of a cat’ when sneaking up on a Dell guard and later his large hands have ‘the delicacy of a ballerina’s’ when rewiring the supersonic weapon. This seems at odds with the Husky we know in the series.
• Galactic is spelt ‘Gallactic’ a few times as well.

Ready To Lift ?:
Despite containing many hallmarks of Roberta Leigh’s quirky writing and storytelling, ‘Secret Weapon’ has a major continuity error in the depiction of Jupiter and its people - the Dells and the Miocells were never even mentioned in the series. The story, which can be considered a reworking of Volcanoes Of Venus, is somewhat oversimplistic with a resolution obvious as soon as the ‘Romeo & Juliet’ parallels are signposted. Thankfully in this case the ending is happier. Not a bad story, told reasonably well, but lacking a little in originality of ideas and plot.

out of 10




Above: Ron W. Smethurst's stunning endpaper doublespread which opens and closes the story book.


Time Watch:

Synopsis:
Galasphere 347 has been despatched to confirm whether a Martian called Zota really has a secret weapon with which he threatens to overthrow the Martian government. At his base on one of the moons of Mars, Zota shows Dart and Husky a device which can make people unconscious for 24 hours. With it, he can immobilise half of the planet in one go! Back on Earth, while Dart is briefing Raeburn on the situation, Professor Haggerty arrives with his new invention - the Time Watch - which speed people up sixty times faster than normal. Dart uses the watch to enter Zota's base unseen while Slim pretends to be Raeburn's personal aide who must see the device for himself. Zota gives Slim a demonstration of the weapon, using it on a Martian town. Slim can only hope Dart is able to sabotage the weapon before he becomes visible again but back on the Galasphere, Dart reappears with the news he destroyed every valve and placed plastic explosive in the device. On operating the ray, Zota and his base are destroyed.

And The Moral Is:
• Every Second Counts

Huskyisms:
• The story ends on a humourous note with Husky wanting to add Martian Sausage to an Irish stew!

Slimantics:
• “I will progress as rapidly as I can.”

Raeburnt:
• Raeburn uses his well worn line "Keep your hair on." to Haggarty but doesn't follow it up with "What little you've got left... "

“Don’t Call Me Pop!”:
• “If it’s miracles you’ll be wanting, then it’s Haggarty you’ll be wanting.” and “”I work 100 times harder than the average man, which means I’m 1,000 times cleverer.”

Is This A Joke ?:
• When Dart responds with “I don’t follow that Irish arithmetic!”, Raeburn retorts, “There’s no time for joking.”

The UGO Needs You:
• Dart tells Zota “As members of Space Patrol it’s our duty to see there is peace between all the Planets.”

Riding Along In My Monobile... ‘:
• There is a reference to ‘bullet shaped cars moving along the road’ when Marrar is viewed on a screen.

‘I’m An Alien!”:
• According to the text, “Like all Martians, Zota was over 7 feet tall, strongly built with a bullet shaped head and spiky hair.”

Continuity:
• Haggarty’s explanation of the Time Watch is pretty much the same as those in the TV episodes.
• Raeburn is again refered to as head of the UGO, as well as the S.B.I. (see Astroviewer Working).
• Dart tells Slim it is his turn to guard the Galasphere on their first visit to Zota, and on their second visit it is Husky’s turn.
• Hoverjets are refered to but not used.

Plot Device:
• The time watch makes its third appearance (after two in the series itself) but there is no reference to it having been seen or used before.

2100 ?:
• Raeburn refers to The Invisible Man being a series on television hundreds of years ago.
• The reference to valves on Zota's device dates the story considerably.

Astro Viewer Working:
• Haggarty is spelt Haggerty, and as this is the most common item of merchandise has led to confusion over the correct version.
• Marrar is referred to as a small Martian town a hundred miles from the Martian capitol.
• This story was originally thought to have been an adaptation of the television episode Time Stands Still. In fact it is more like Sands Of Death.
• The reference to the S.B.I (Space Bureau of Investigation) would appear to come from Paul Starr, a pilot for another puppet series made in 1964 by Wonderama as a follow up series to Space Patrol. It is interesting to speculate that Secret Weapon may also have been an unused Paul Starr story, hence the different culture on the planet.

Hoorah!:
Slim is very true to character in this story, and it's nice to see Professor Haggarty.

Boo!:
• The story is almost identical to ‘Secret Weapon’! I know both had to justify the concept of ‘secret weapons’ but both devices do almost the same thing, and are used for the same reasons!

Ready To Lift ?:
It might have been better to present this as an adaptation of the episode Sands Of Death rather than rehash the plot and present it as a new story but here we are. It is regretable that this and ‘Secret Weapon’ are so similar in plot but this story feels truer to the televised episodes and gets an extra point for it.

out of 10



World Distributors also published some activity books in 1965

TV Comic also produced an annual in 1965