The Rules of Luton

Koenig, Maya and Tony take an
Eagle to investigate a lush planet
to see if it would be a suitable
new home for the Alphans. As
they approach, an alarm goes off
warning them of an oxygen leak.
Koenig has Tony return to Alpha
for another Eagle while he and

Maya stay to check out the
planet. As Tony lifts off, Maya
scans the vegetation and learns
that some of the berries where
they landed are edible. Koenig
picks one and eats it, at the same
time Maya picks a flower.
Strange screams are heard

from all directions. A booming
voice declares that they are
"cannibals, murderers" and "will be punished as cannibals and
murderers deserve to be punished".
Koenig tries to contact Alpha
but the voice tells them that they
will not be allowed to.

Koenig asks what their crime was,
and is told that they killed members
of the society of Luton. Koenig
explains that any crime they
may have commited was done
out of ignorance. The judges of
Luton respond that they have heard
that explanation before, but

they will be allowed to prove
their innocence in the crucible of
combat with other aliens who make
the same claim. Their opponents,
three aliens who also destroyed
plant life, are revealed. Whoever
survives the battle to the death will
win their freedom. Koenig

quickly learns that their stun
guns are ineffective against their
adversaries, and try to put a little
distance between them. Maya
suggests trying to talk to them to
them instead of fighting, to show
that they mean them no harm.
Koenig agrees, especially after

seeing one rip solid rock apart
to make weapons. From a place of
relative safety, they try to talk. The
strong alien responds by throwing
large rocks, so they are forced to
keep moving. Back on Alpha, they
try to contact Koenig and Maya
unsuccessfully. They can't even

locate the planet. Koenig and
Maya swim across a small river to
get away from the aliens who are
tracking them. The aliens appear to
be afraid of the water and do not
follow. Koenig tries to talk to them
again, with no luck. The aliens
wander off to find a way

across. While looking for some
means of defending themselves
Koenig and Maya find an animal
skeleton that appears to have
been killed by vines. Koenig
realizes he hasn't seen any living
animals on the planet. He tries to
reach Alpha again, and gets

only the judges of Luton, who tell
him that they have provided the
other aliens with powers to match
Maya's to even the playing field.
Koenig has Maya search for the
aliens from the air. While she is
looking for them, one of the aliens
teleports across the river to

attack Koenig. Maya sees this
and returns to help. She transforms
into a lion to fend off the alien.
Startled, he falls into the river and
drowns as Koenig and Maya try to
talk to him. Maya notices that
Koenig has been injured and tries
to clean the wound. Now they know

two of the powers that the judges
of Luton gave to the aliens, strength
and the ability to transport. The two
remaining aliens find a log to use
to cross the river. Meanwhile, Tony
is on his way back to where Luton
was before it disappeared. Still
unable to locate it on sensors, he

hopes to make visual contact.
Koenig and Maya continue to keep
ahead of the aliens tracking them,
and find the location of the final
battle of plants versus animals.
While Koenig works on a bola to
use as a weapon, he and Maya
talk a little about their pasts,

until they hear a sound nearby.
When they look, they don't see
anyone, but they do see one of
the stone weapons on the hillside
below. Koenig thinks he knows the
ability that the judges of Luton gave
the third alien. They move back
so he can finish work on the

bola. They hear another noise.
Maya turns into a dog and tracks
down the invisible alien, he raises
a rock to crush her, but stumbles
and falls to his death. Koenig
becomes delirious and Maya flies
off in search of water to clean his wound. When she lands the

strong alien, catches her in a
cage made from the mesh off his
outfit. Koenig hears the bird's cry
and sees that the alien has her
captive. Koenig appeals to the
judges of Luton to intervene and
trade his life for Maya's. They
refuse. The alien sits and waits

for Koenig with Maya in the cage
before him. Koenig descends the
hill to rescue her before she reverts, and is crushed. In his weakened
state, he stumbles, and the alien
laughs. Tony's Eagle gets refueled
while he continues to search for
the planet. Helena warns him

that he is dangerously close to
its last recorded position. Koenig
attacks the strong alien and runs.
When the alien chases after him,
Koenig throws the bola and trips
him. The alien falls, hits his head
on a rock, and is knocked out.
Koenig releases Maya as she

transforms back. Koenig returns
to his fallen opponent, with his
rock lance poised to finish him off.
The judges of Luton tell him to kill
the "criminal". Koenig refuses. He
says they are the criminals for not
stopping them before they ate
berries and picked flowers.

There is a chattering sound as
the plants agree with him. The
intensity increases until the judges
of Luton tell them they are free to
go. The planet materializes before
Tony and he manages to pull up
without crashing. He lets Alpha
know he has "found" the planet,

and has them contact Koenig
and Maya. Yasko asks for their
position to guide Tony to them,
but they can see the Tony's Eagle
landing near by. They return to
Alpha, and when Koenig returns to
Command Centre, he sees a
potted plant at Maya's work

station. He asks where it came
and Maya tells him that Tony
though it might cheer her up after
her ordeal. Helena says that they
lovely and Maya offers her one.
Koenig tells her never to pick a
flower while he's around, and has Tony return them to Hydroponics

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of The Rules Of Luton is Lost in Space's The Great Vegetable Rebellion. While The Rules Of Luton does not sink to the same depths of people in carrot suits, it does stretch plausibilty with its premise. I do not have a problem with the idea of plant life evolving to be the dominant species of a planet, in fact, I rather like the idea. But, I would imagine that they would have to be evolved to a form different from the trees and shrubs we know on Earth. How would a tree talk without a mouth? Or transmit to a commlock without the benefit of a similar technology? Or wilder still, How would it make an entire planet disappear? These are the main problems I have with this episode. Even if some of the plants had evolved to a state where they were either mobile, capable of speech, or able to show some sort of advancement in a way that would make sense, that might have been more understandable. But to this story's credit, it has some wonderful character interaction between Koenig and Maya. We learn a little bit more about both of their pasts, in a moving scene that ranks as one of the best character moments of the second season.

Koenig's reflection on the death of his wife was wonderful, as was Maya's memories of Psychon and her family. I might have left out the part where Earth begins to build a new wonderful civilization though. That struck me as going a step too far.

It was nice to see another episode filmed on location, rather than on a soundstage. This always adds a certain credibility to the situation. I also give credit to them for the numerous animal skeletons that were placed in various locations. That also helped to set the mood.

And most importantly, there were enough to to make it believable. Frequently when a show is on a tight budget, as they were filming the second season, they try to use just one or two to get the point across.

One little thing that bothered me in this episode, beyond the fact that I am not sure how the Judges of Luton were able to communicate with Koenig via commlock, is that when they appeared on the commlock screen, they were in color!

Not only can they transmit a video image, but they can remotely upgrade a black and white screen to color? Very impressive!

Another small flaw worthy of note, is that when the one alien turned invisible, his stone lance disappeared with him in every scene except when he was climbing the hillside to Koenig and Maya's location.

One more thing of interest, is that this is one of the few episodes that uses an effect for teleportation other than a ball of light. The Taybor is the only other one that comes to mind.

Lastly, I think the final act of The Rules of Luton is probably one of the weakest of the entire series. Revolving around one bad joke, it just leaves me feeling uncomfortable.

Over all, I think the character play in this episode for outweighs the plot's shortcomings making this quite an enjoyable episode. Any replies to comments made here are always welcome. You can contact me by using the commlock in the Communication Centre.

	Koenig has a light snack with dire consequences.
	Koenig and Maya receive the sentence for their crimes.
	Maya questions the need to kill their opponents.
	Maya convinces Koenig to talk to the aliens.
	Koenig and Maya attempt to reason with the aliens with no success.
	Another attempt at communication with the aliens fails again.
	Koenig notices a distinct lack of animal life on Luton.
	The judges of Luton explain the fine points of justice on Luton.
	Koenig's attempt at humor fails.
	Maya shares her memories of Psychon and her family (part 1).
	Maya shares her memories of Psychon and her family (part 2).
	Koenig tells Maya about war on Earth.
	Koenig tells Maya about his wife.
	Koenig tries to convince the judges of Luton to let him give his life for Maya's.
	The judges of Luton free Koenig and Maya.
	Background sound.