This post is first in a new feature whereas a specific episode will be showcased for a distinct reason, either for a guest miniature, story arc turning point, or in this case, the addition of a new cast member (and new miniature!), which will change the dynamic of the stories from this point on. So stand by for a plethora of plot contrivances, Deus Ex Machina, and merciless rewrites of Year Two episodes!
As you may remember, we left the PHOENIX and battered crew in deep space after the unfortunate encounter with a proton storm (it's not safe out here...). Badly damaged and limping through space, VICTOR detects an alien planet nearby. The ship heads for the new planet with hopes of finding materials and minerals (especially titanium) to make repairs to the ship.
Alan initiates Red Alert and all weapons are charged. How can anything live down there? Suddenly, a loud booming voice breaks the silence. "Commander Carter!". The volume is lowered on the speakers and a large bearded man appears on the main screen. It is Mentor Blessed, the sole inhabitant of the planet "Psychon". After some discussion, an exchange will take place in orbit. First returning the first two pilots, and then negotiating for the minerals required. Alan commands Dove 02, with Koenig along for support, Helena for any medical needs, and Science Officer Picard (no relation..) for mineral advice. But no one has seen the lioness behind him. The big cat transforms into a young woman; she is a shape shifter and Mentor's daughter! Back on the PHOENIX, the five board the Dove and set off for the planet. In near orbit, a ship appears...
VICTOR scans the ship, but there are no life signs aboard. It's a trap! Mentor's ship, using magnetic energy, begins to drag the Dove down to the surface. Alan hits the boosters but no effect. As G forces increase, Alan tries a short burst of the Queller drive and they escape. Safety is short lived as Mentor's ship has turned into a glowing green energy ball and engulfs the Dove as before. The green ball descends and lands amongst some volcanoes. But as the light dissipates, the captives realise they are in a kind of spaceship graveyard, made up of assorted Year One ships turned upside down. They also see Dove 01 on the other side of the crater.
Mentor tries his word tricks again, and they cannot contact the ship. A cave is nearby so they disembark and head for entrance. Meanwhile, Toren's is having his psychic energy extracted into Mentor's computer "Psyche". He hopes to exploit this energy to rejuvenate the planet. Meanwhile, Alan and the gang are exploring the caves. They hear tools and find an area full of various humanoid aliens doing unpaid mining. Torens appears and starts digging as well. "Some sort of brain damage", says Helena. Mentor appears as a hologram, and Picard shoots him, but the energy is reflected back and he is vapourized. Helena screams. The green ball of light appears again and the remaining four in the landing party are transported to a cell.
Maya, Mentor's daughter, has a chat with Alan; she is naive as to what her Father is up to, using beings as fodder for his evil machine and exploiting the left overs as labour. Maya takes Alan to Mentor; he has John, Helena, and Fraser hooked up for psychic energy extraction. Mentor will spare them all if he agrees to bring down the rest of the crew. He complies, contacts the ship, and orders the crew to leave the ship; "Directive 4". No one on the ship knows what that means. VICTOR does. It means destroy the origin of the transmission. With some protests, Tony agrees and Petrov dispatches a Planetomic bomb (they are not supposed to be carrying these...).
Mentor sees the deception, and destroys the missile. And in kind, sends a few missiles back at them, but luckily Petrov's marksmanship prevails. Meanwhile, Maya has been talking with the hostages. They convince her to go to the mines and see what her Father is really up to. She reluctantly agrees and sees for herself the results of Mentor's work. Maya then takes Alan and John to Mentor for a final negotiation. He will not listen so they begin smashing "Psyche". Unfortunately, this machine is holding the planet together; Pychon starts breaking apart in spectacular miniature pyrotechnics. Alan, John, Helena, and Bill make a run for the Doves, but Maya will not leave her Father. Bill takes 01 and the others escape in 02. The planet explodes and they return to the ship. Just before they are about to leave, they hear a cry for help.
It is Maya in a strange alien spaceship, the "Psyche". "Please, I have nowhere to go..." Alan gives her permission to come aboard and the ship docks at the main airlock, the docking clamps giving her ship a warm, welcoming embrace. (They never did get any titanium...).
Current Mission Report:
Ship's Complement (109)
Unwilling VIP Passengers (ep03)(added to roster)(+2)
Crew Deaths (ep04) (-2)
Alien Refugee (ep04)(+1)
Revised Complement (110)
"Space:1999" - Year Two, in this twisted 2022 timeline, is ship based rather than set on a rogue moon, so I had to devised an alternate way to get Maya on board that ship. I borrowed (OK, stole...) the addition of Hawk (and his Hawk Fighter) to the cast/scenario of "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" - Season Two. Now that Maya has joined the crew as Science Officer, she will also utilize her ship, the "Psyche" when convenient for the plot. As to the back story of this ship/miniature, please continue.
Building "Psyche"
I wanted Maya's ship to be radically different from the other primary ships, nothing 1999ish or recognizable. I rummaged through my kit warehouse and found a suitable model from a totally different source. The 1/550 HG Bandai kit of the MA-06 Val-Walo, a mobile armour from "Gundam 0083".
Perfect size and very organic! Of course I could not build it stock out of the box; I had some modifications in mind already. Since Maya is a metamorph, I thought it would be a good plot device to have her ship able to change appearance as well. Not by changing mechanically or by molecular re-arrangement, but by using holographic emitters. To make the emitters, I remembered a Peter Elson painting I had seen (Perry Rhodan - 30 to Arkon book cover) of a craft encrusted with small domes. Perfect for those emitters...
Built the kit over a few evenings, re-arranging some of the bits, and adding others. Not going to over the top, as afterall, it has to be filmed... Final step was adding on various sizes of domes (those plastic pearl things from the good old dollar store craft section) to complete the job.
It would have been easy to overdo the domes. Luckily restraint prevailed! After prime time, a final colour had to be chosen. It's an alien craft, so (by law, somewhere...), it was painted green.
A basic off-the-shelf olive drab really with some highlights and minimal weathering. Some metallic accents and a few alien-looking decals (ripped from a Macross kit..) completed the job.
That gap is where the cowling can be removed for docking. I put some magnets inside the ship as well as in that main docking tube with the claws. So the ship can be held there when not in use; it is permanently berthed there now. It can hold two people if need be, but somewhat cramped. And only Maya can operate the ship as it is controlled by her Psychon mind. Maya can board the "Psyche" in seconds from the Command Module; just a few quick zero-G yoga moves!
Welcome aboard the PHOENIX, Maya! We'll see what this little ship can do in later episodes to help combat the scores of alien baddies which, as you all know, are omnipresent in deep space! You never know, it may turn into a hawk!
Have a better one!
