Line #24 Recap/RockyJonesBeyondTheMoon


1	[floatboxright:
2	Series: Series/{{Rocky Jones Space Ranger}}\
3	Title: "Beyond the Curtain of Space"\
4	Alt Title: "Beyond the Moon"\
5	Number Of Episodes: 3\
6	Recapper: {{Tropers/Tustin2121}}]
7
8	[[AC:Chapter 1]]
9
10	Rocky Jones and his first-mate Winky are returning from another mission and are being granted Shore Leave by Secretary Drake, which Winky is very excited about. However, before they can leave, Vena Ray rushes into the power plant--er--Office of Space Affairs Headquarters, blowing past the guard checkpoint (which ordinarily would get you killed, as Drake points out). However, she has extremely important information: Professor Newton may be in trouble.
11
12	We learn that, previously, he defected from the United Worlds of the Solar System and relocated, along with his ward Bobby, to Ophecious, which is currently in a cold war with the UWSS. Drake writes him off as a traitor, but after watching the tape of Professor Newton's Declaration (which is most obviously a hostage tape, what with several armed guards around Newton and Bobby as they declare that they made the choice to relocate willingly and on their own, in very stilted voices), Rocky decides a rescue is in order.
13
14	Vena Ray wants to help out, but Rocky is not a feminist and tells her she can't because she's a girl (which elicits the response [[PluckyGirl "I'm not a girl! I mean, yes, I am, but I'm not a girl in the way YOU mean I'm a girl"]]). Drake, however, thinks its best if Vena helps out, and assigns her to go along with Rocky. Meanwhile, Griff, fellow Space Ranger, current secretary to Drake, and [[OnceAnEpisode this episode's traitor]], overhears Rocky's rescue plan and tips off the Ophacians to it.
15
16	Rocky, Winky, and Vena prepare to blast off in the Orbital Jet. Winky takes this time to explain to Vena what a "Blast Off Synchronizer" is, so [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail expect this to be a plot point later]]. Basically, it's an annoying alarm and when it gets high pitched enough, they blast off.
17
18	On the way there, Vena tries to prove herself to Rocky, but it falls flat and she gets snappy at him. But then she spots a ship off the back of the ship (on an instrument not on the bridge) and runs to tell Rocky, who at first doesn't believe her (because she's a girl, after all). Turns out that ship starts firing at them and they take evasive maneuvers and ram a missile up their jet (which renders the enemy jet helpless and in [[ArtisticLicensePhysics freefall... downward...]]).
19
20	But unfortunately, Rocky finds that the damage is substantial: they've punctured a tiny hole in the hull in the engine room section and [[ContinuousDecompression are losing air]] (which he finds via balloon indicator). He runs back to the bridge, not informing Vena of the situation (because, girl). Vena goes to check it out herself and gets locked in the engine room via emergency blast door, which Rocky puts down to stem the loss of air. Thankfully, Winky soon finds her and Rocky cuts her out of there with a welding torch. Vena is revived by Winky's medical training, and they all wear fishbowls -- I mean -- air helmets, which have a convenient switch on the top for audio feeds (for some reason) which provides end of episode laughs.
21
22	[[AC: Chapter 2]]
23
24	Headquarters receives a report from the space station Rocky's ship refueled at via a highly secure ticker tape Scrambler (which Drake reads aloud [[InsecuritySystem next to an open mic]] to the station sending the report). Rocky is now beyond the "Ophecian Curtain" (read: political border), and well within range of the Ophecian signals. They spot him and ask his business, which he tells them (as per the plan) that he is in distress (and he orders Winky to sabotage their own rockets to help their story). He talks directly to the Sovereign Ruler Cleolata (because there's no such thing as chain of command in this universe), who prepares to accept them.
25
26	She does this by bringing Bobby into her office, where he outright screams at her that he wants to leave and is being held against his will. But she fixes that, with [[MindControlDevice a bit of mind control]]. She then does the same to Professor Newton, despite the protests of her underlings. When Rocky lands, she greets him personally and arranges for her technicians to fix his ship - it will be faster than simply Winky alone. In the meantime, why doesn't Rocky visit Professor Newton in the Newton Observatory? Rocky wasn't expecting her to know the connection (she was briefed by the traitor), but goes along with it.
27
28	When he, Winky, and Vena meet up with Professor Newton and Bobby, they are clearly not in their right mind. Bobby is stilted, Newton doesn't recognize Vena (when he directly interacted with her at the start of the adventure), and they both blithely insist it is nice here and that they won't go. Bobby is clearly out of character, because he barely raises his enthusiasm to more than a drone, and isn't interested in the Orbiter Jet at all (which is his favorite place).
29
30	But the brainwashing has a time limit, and it snaps for Bobby at about the time when Vena takes him back to the observatory. Bobby, still muddled, tells Vena to get Rocky, quick! But Rocky is already in Cleolata's office, being [[MindControl "convinced"]] by her to stay. But Vena arrives in time and manages to snap Rocky out of it before the mind control takes hold.
31
32	Rocky goes to the observatory and makes a daring breakout of Bobby and the still mind-controlled Professor Newton. [[GoodOldFisticuffs Via lots of unarmed combat]]. During this, he manages to strangle the name of the Earth-bound traitor out of a high ranking official. Rocky makes it back to the ship with Bobby and Newton, the latter of whom is coming to his senses slowly, and they make a hurried blast off.
33
34	[[AC: Chapter 3]]
35
36	Rocky's ship is still in the Ophecious Formation (read: their airspace), and Rocky puts the ship into auto pilot and turns off the front screen, and starts taking the mission log.
37
38	But Cleolata is not done with them yet. [[VillainousCrush If she can't have Rocky]] - er, she means, if she can't have Newton, [[BeneathTheMask yeah, that's it]] - [[IfICantHaveYou then no one can!]] She sets their ship on a collision course with one of the Ophercian moons. [[AbortedArc Not with any sabotage her technicians could have done]], but [[ForScience with MAGNETISM]]!! And Rocky's ship almost crashes, but due to a misspelled word, the ship is saved when Rocky checks the front view screen.
39
40	Soon they are out of the Formation, and relay a message via the refuelling satellite's super-secure scrambler technology (on open mic) that the mission has failed - in an attempt to throw off the traitor Griff. However, that doesn't last long as an Ophecian ship relays the real status to the traitor, which is overheard by Drake. Drake, now aware of the Traitor, tries to take him out by pulling out a laser pistol. But since guns wouldn't be fair play, we have a fist fight instead, which Drake quickly loses, and he is taken captive.
41
42	The traitor Griff soon has the whole complex rigged with explosives, with the help of the [[MinimalistCast one other nameless person who works there]]. He allows the ship to come land and ([[FridgeLogic instead of rigging the landing pad with explosives, which would surely take out Rocky easily]]) plans to take the ship up and blow the complex sky high.
43
44	But Rocky doesn't allow this: he leaves everyone onboard the ship and goes out to face Griff alone. When Griff attempts to get on the ship, he stops him at gunpoint and lets the ship blast off (automatically, presumably, via the aforementioned Blast Off Synchronizer). This of course, leaves Griff scared stiff due to the bombs set to go off any minute. Rocky tells Griff to cut the timer cord(s), and leads him down to the ground to do it. But Griff loses him and disarms the bomb. Then Rocky finds the bomb and disarms it again, possibly.
45
46	Then Rocky watches as Griff steals a car and drives away, cackling meniacally. But instead of [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shooting him]], [[GunsAreWorthless because the gunfire might have blown the special effects budget or perhaps their rating as a kids show]], Rocky goes inside and picks him up on the [[MagicalSecurityCam VisioGraph]]. Then he presses the DeusExMachina button, and Griff ''simply explodes into nothing''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=bmnEyeqx5lA#t=1450s]]
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Context Recap / RockyJonesBeyondTheMoon