Fireball XL5 comes across a derelict tanker in deep space. When they investigate Steve and Professor Matt Matic discover the ship is adrift with only one man aboard--but he's in a hypnotic trance and is barely alive. When they discover other tankers have suffered the same fate, they put into action a plan in which the XL5 shadows another tanker to see what happens. It turns out that a odd hypnotic sphere has been hypnotizing pilots and ordering them to change course and deliver their fuel to another planet. The XL5 almost meets a similar fate but are led away (but into the direct path of another planet!) by Robert.
This all leads our heroes to a magnificent looking ice planet where an evil brain creature plans to use the fuel to power up his string of hypnotic spheres and take over the universe.
The brain is a good villain, looking sufficiently creepy and is well acted vocally. The music by Barry Grey is especially good in this episode and sets the mysterious element of this nicely. The scenes of Steve and Matt exploring the derelict are well lit and suspenseful (even though Matt has an odd line saying how "cold it is" in the spaceship--like floating around in space without a spacesuit wasn't?). A slightly shocking moment also comes when Robert strikes Steve who is trying to change course again while under the influence of the sphere.
But this episode is loaded with mystery, suspense and action enough to make up for whatever flaws it may have.
This all leads our heroes to a magnificent looking ice planet where an evil brain creature plans to use the fuel to power up his string of hypnotic spheres and take over the universe.
The brain is a good villain, looking sufficiently creepy and is well acted vocally. The music by Barry Grey is especially good in this episode and sets the mysterious element of this nicely. The scenes of Steve and Matt exploring the derelict are well lit and suspenseful (even though Matt has an odd line saying how "cold it is" in the spaceship--like floating around in space without a spacesuit wasn't?). A slightly shocking moment also comes when Robert strikes Steve who is trying to change course again while under the influence of the sphere.
But this episode is loaded with mystery, suspense and action enough to make up for whatever flaws it may have.