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The Talking Bell

Synopsis:
Out on a shooting trip, Raeburn and Haggarty find a curious bell-shaped object which they bring back to Space Headquarters. There, it is found to be intelligent and communicative but it is now marooned as Raeburn inadvertantly shot down his ship! To make amends, Raeburn sends Galasphere 347 to return ‘Mr Bell’ to his mothership near Neptune. En route, the Galasphere is diverted to Jupiter to collect plant samples but Dart falls into a hole and becomes trapped...

The Talking Bell
Cast
Captain Larry Dart
Husky
Slim
Colonel Raeburn
Marla
Professor Haggarty
Gabbler
'Mr Bell'
Doctor Brown
Doctor Smith
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 Dick Vosburgh
Ronnie Stevens
Ronnie Stevens
Murray Kash
Libby Morris
Ronnie Stevens
Libby Morris
Libby Morris
Dick Vosburgh
Ronnie Stevens
And The Moral Is:
• For Whom Mr Bell Tolls

Today I Will Be Mostly Learning... :
• A few snippets about the star Betelguese

Slimantics:
• “With alacrity.”
• “This is calamatous!”

Raeburnt:
• “For a man to lay down his life for a friend is the greatest thing he can do, but for a creature from another solar system to do it for an Earthman is... “ and there, both he and Haggarty are lost for words.

“Don’t Call Me Pop!”:
• When asked by Raeburn what he thinks the creature is, Haggarty’s first response is “I’d say it was a bell like object able to extend and retract its leg.” - but considering the alien nature of Mr. Bell, we’re really none the wiser by the end of the episode!

Riding Along In My Monobile... ‘:
• Haggarty orders a monobile to take himself and Mr. Bell back to Raeburn but we never see the trip itself.

‘I’m An Alien!‘:
• ‘Mr Bell’ hails from the Betelguese system, 190 light years away.
• Betelguesians have a single extendable leg, and a longer extendable antennae that appears from the top of his dome. Their species can transfer their life energies to each other.
• They all (allegedly) have the ability to decode and translate alien languages in a short space of time.
• Betelguesian speech sounds like a strange strangled squeal.
• Earth germs also have no effect on Betelguesians.

Ooh, Bitch... :
• Gabbler: “Who’s ever seen a leg like that?” “What a funny looking thing you are!”

Continuity:
• Galasphere 347 has just left Venus before being diverted to Earth.
• Dart is buried for at least three days.

2100 ?:
• Haggarty and Raeburn are seen on a shooting trip with conventional 20th Century shotguns at the start of the episode.

Haven’t I Seen... ?:
• On the shooting trip, Raeburn is wearing Haggarty’s cardigan.

Take A Break:
• Having landed on Jupiter to pick up plant specimens from the Scientific HQ, Dart falls into a hole.

"If I can reach down through the rubble,
I can pass my energy into Captain Dart."
'Mr Bell'


Astro Viewer Working:
• Galaspheres have ‘boost speed’ which enables them to travel at about a million miles per hour.
• “Space Around Us!” and “Space Race!” are two of the series more exciting exclamations.

Hoorah!:
• Real footage of the countryside is seen to establish the setting of Haggarty and Raeburn’s shooting trip.
• At last, the launch sequence states Galasphere 347 is ready to lift!
• ‘Mr Bell’ meting out some retribution for Gabbler’s cheekiness.
• The morality of ‘Mr Bell’s race is a nice touch, if somewhat overhammered on the audience, and his physiology remains alien with no attempt to explain what he is.

Boo!:
• The birds Raeburn and Haggarty gun down could only have been just out of shot for them to fall right in front of them!
• When Mr Bell plays with the scanner in Galasphere, there appears to be a wire hanging behind the screen which is illuminated when the light flickers behind it.
• We never really see ‘Mr Bell’ move (he kind of hovers into view in one shot) and it is unclear how he does (does he hop?)

Computer Central:
• First screened: June 23rd 1963 (ABC Midlands)
• Running time: 24 minutes 40 seconds
• BFCC Classified - 22nd September 1998
• VHS - Volume 5
• DVD - Complete Series Box Set, Disk 4
• The sleeve notes on the video and DVD release for this episode say Raeburn and Haggarty are on a ‘haunting trip’!

Listings
• London, January 9th 1964:
Colonel Raeburn and Haggarty are on a hunting expedition when Raeburn shoots down an object shaped like a bell. Although not a human being, the bell has a voice and proves to be very intelligent, especially when Dart is buried in a cave without food and water.

Ready To Lift ?:
An intriguingly moral episode, with ‘Mr Bell’ willing to lay down his life trying to keep Dart alive while a rescue attempt is made.






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.'