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Alpha has discovered a planet,
in its west quadrant. Preliminary
reports suggest that it is capable
of supporting human life. A
reconnaissance team has been
dispatched to substantiate these
reports. Although the planet
appears to be uninhabited, an
alien structure has been
discovered. Koenig calls the
survey party in closer to base
camp until they learn more. As
Tony and Joe Lustig head back,
Joe hears a sound as Tony walks
ahead. He investigates, and sees
a pulsating light at the source
of the sound. He screams as it
drives him mad. Tony hears, and
returns to help Lustig, but too late.
Lustig pulls a gun on Tony, who is
forced to defend himself. They
struggle, and the weapon goes
off, killing Lustig. As Tony tries to
let Koenig know about the
accident, he is driven mad by
the same thing as Lustig. He runs
off into the woods. Koenig tries to
contact him, but Tony crushes his
commlock and keeps running.
Lustig's body is found, and Dr. Ed
Spencer pieces together roughly
what transpired. A security 
detail reports to Koenig that
they discovered Tony's crushed
commlock, about half a
kilometer distant, heading away
from base camp. Koenig takes
them to try to track Tony down.
At base camp, decide to unbury
the alien structure, as they
were unable to penetrate it with
their lasers or sensor scans. They
find a control panel to open a
door, but with no power. Alan
notices some solar cells and he
uncovers more in hopes of
powering up the control panel.
He alerts Koenig to their
progress, who in turn asks him
come pick them up in an Eagle
as they have seen Tony, and are
about to confront him. Tony fires
on Koenig when he approaches.
Koenig circles around and they
fight until Tony collapses. Alan
arrives with Dr. Spencer, who
tells Koenig that Tony is slipping
into a coma, and needs to be
returned to Alpha for treatment.
Koenig contacts Alpha from the
Eagle to tell them they found
Tony and are returning with him.
On the surface, two men die from
drinking water that was tested
and declared safe. Jerry Travis
contacts Alpha to tell them what
happened, and his commlock
shorts out while he's using it.
Maya reaches Koenig to tell him
what has happened, but loses
contact with him as well. In light
of the system faults, Koenig
checks the Eagle's circuits before
proceeding to Alpha. He finds
that all the metal are corroding,
and has Alan head back to base
camp. Maya's sensors detect a
change in the atmosphere of
the planet. Helena worries that
Tony won't make it if they can't 
get him back to Alpha. On the
planet, another Alphan dies from
fruit that has turned to poison.
The systems on Koenig's Eagle
start to fail, and it catches fire.
They crash land, as the rest of
the survey party helplessly watch
from the base camp. Having
survived the crash, the Eagle
crew are brought back to base
camp. Alan checks the other
Eagle to find it had corroded
as well, and is unsafe to fly. When
Koenig wakes, he is apprised
of the situation. They are
stranded, and if Alpha tries
to send another Eagle, it will
break up in the atmosphere.
They manage to put together
a transmitter made of parts
scavenged from the Eagle that
did not corrode. Using the solar
cells from the alien structure for
power, they warn Alpha not
to attempt to land. Maya and
Helena decide to use a glider
to get to the planet, as it is
made of carbon fiber and the
atmosphere won't affect it. The
solar cells on the alien structure
become fully charged, and
Koenig, Carter and Travis
investigate. Inside they find
the remains of an alien sitting
at a desk with a roll of discs
in his hand. When placed
in a port on the desk, each
disc activates a holographic
recording. The first one they try
is of Zoran the leader of an
alien expedition explaining that
his people perished, and he, too,
was dying. He states that the only
way to escape the planet is death.
Bill Fraser, who is flying the Eagle
carrying the glider to the planet,
alerts Helena and Maya that they
are coming into range of the
planet. They move into the glider
to prepare for release into the
atmosphere. At the pre-determined
altitude, Maya tries to launch, but
cannot. Bill decided to take them
closer, to increase their chances.
He releases them when his Eagle
develops a fault. Maya
and Helena encounter a
region of severe turbulence. The
glider is struck by lightning more
than once, and Maya has to alter
course. Meanwhile at the alien
structure, Zoran's recordings tell
of a solitary, immortal, creature
that longs for companionship
but inadvertently kills those it
wishes to make contact with, by
driving them mad. He also
describes a brief period of
lucidity before the death of
its victims. Dr. Spencer shows
up to tell Koenig that Tony is
awake. Koenig leaves Alan
to review the discs for any
useful information they may
have missed, and goes to see
Tony. Tony is awake and tells
John what happened with Lustig.
Helena and Maya appear to
everyone's surprise, having
walked from where they landed.
Helena examines Tony, and
can find no permanent damage.
Maya spends a little time with
Tony trying to comfort him.
Jerry tells Koenig that they found
another disc that may be useful.
Koenig has Maya join him to
look at it. It describes a
protective encounter suit Zoran
used to confront the alien being.
He tells of a minor fault around
 the eyes that allowed him to see
the alien, causing him to go mad.
Alan shows Koenig where he
found the suit. Koenig decides
to reinforce the area around
the eyes, and try to contact
the alien himself. Helena,
Maya, and Alan help him
prepare, as he must walk
into the alcove of the being
completely blind. When he is
ready, Helena guides him via
the transmitter built into the
head piece of the protective suit.
He walks into the grotto where
Tony found Lustig. The alien
begins to try to communicate
with the light and sound. Koenig
tries to talk to it. At first it simply
mimics his words, until it finds
the key to communicate.
When it does, it asks John
who and what he is. John tells
it that he is a man. It responds
that he is a voice. John tells it
he is a living being like it is. It
asks John to reveal himself,
saying that he will be safe.
Against all advice, John
removes the protective gear.
Good to it's word, "I that am I"
did not harm him. Koenig calls
in the others to show it, that it is
not alone, but one among many.
"I that am I" restored the planet
to it's nonpoisonous state, and
Tony is saved. But sadly,
as the four return to find
their base camp missing, Bill
Fraser appears to tell them
that it has been evacuated, and
everyone is waiting on the Eagle
to return to Alpha before it
moves out of range of, what is
once again, a perfect planet.

Screenplay....................................................................Johnny Byrne

Director.........................................................................Bob Brooks

Guest Stars

Jerry Travis.......................................................................Karl Held

Zoran....................................................................Nadim Sawalha

Additional Cast

Bill Fraser.........................................................................John Hug

Alibe..........................................................................Alibe Parsons

Dr. Ed Spencer...............................................................Sam Dastor

Voice of "I that am I"..........................................................Hal Galili

Joe Lustig..........................................................................Roy Boyd

Les Johnson..........................................................Walter McMonagle

Guard........................................................................Quentin Pierre

Guard..............................................................................Jack Klaff


I have always liked this episode, and the idea that the danger does not have to come from an evil being, or typical bad guy, but from simple misunderstanding. One minor complaint with it would be that they do not quite explain why things happen the way they did. We do understand how and why people went insane looking at "I that am I", but we are never really made clear on why everything on the planet turned to poison. Was "I that am I" actually the planet, and not just an energy being in a grotto? Was it reacting to the Alphans, like the Space Brain reacted to an Eagle? Were the Alphans, yet again, and invading virus? Even if they didn't want "I that am I" explaining this all at the end, a few lines of Zoran speculating something to this effect would have been nice.

Despite a minor lack of dialogue, I think this is possibly Tony Anholt's best performance in the series. He manages to convey the insanity convincingly without coming across as a parody, which is not an

 easy thing to do. I particularly liked the scene where he was running and clipped a tree stump. In his irrational state he fires his laser at the stump as though it had attacked him. It was both cleverly conceived and well acted.

It was nice to see Helena and Maya get a chance at some action, in what is still, basically, a "man's universe". Has an Eagle ever been flown by a woman?. Other than some co-piloting duties, I don't think so. But in this episode, Helena and Maya get to fly the glider to the planet, deal with lightning, and turbulence, and get to crash land like the big boys! You go girls!

And speaking of the glider... There was a lot of nice model-work done with it. I loved how it was attached to the Eagle, and how they were able to board through the bottom. In hindsight, the Eagle spine seemed almost designed for just such a use!

Another small issue I have with this episode would have to be the holographic recording of Zoran. I don't have a problem with it per se, but as a plot device that had been used once already this season in Space Warp. To their credit, at least they had alien markings on the discs this time! It does amaze me that always the mission commander is always the one who dies last. Why not the alien janitor... or cook? Maybe that is why we are drawn to fiction? There is an order to the universe, and the best man is always in charge.

It was also nice to see a little more of the supporting cast get some play. This is the second planet Alibe has been to in as many episodes. What was Sandra doing wrong all that time? She only ever got to go to Retha (....and Zenno, but not her body).

And Bill Fraser got a brief chance to shine as well, further cementing his position as our second favorite pilot!

There were a few small gaffs in the episode. One being the distance shot of the Eagle using a standard pod rather than the laboratory pod it lifted off with, or that we see in the close ups.

Another being the misspelling of "comlock" on the screen of the commlock.

Minor faults aside, I think The Immunity Syndrome holds up as one of the second seasons better episodes. One last thought... What is the title referring to? I think that would have been a much more appropriate title for Devil's Planet.

Replies to comments made here are always welcome. You can contact me by using the commlock in the Communication Centre.


Who knew tracking Space Warp Locators could be such a full time job?  Now infamous since it's naming in Space Warp, the Space Warp Locator shows up again in the Eagle in this episode. But this time it is in the center of the cockpit rather than off to one side as seen in Devil's Planet.

We also see the set piece designed for the Nuclear Waste Dome in Bringers of Wonder Part 2 used in the alien structure. We have also seen them used in the Croton ship from Dorzak


The light panels/doors were used as far back as End of Eternity, and Mission of the Darians, and more recently in AB Chrysalis, and  Dorzak as the entrance to the Croton's sleep chambers.



The "splatter art" panels were also used as far back as The Infernal Machine and Mission of the Darians.


Click here for downloadable version

 

Click here to play sound "Moonbase Alpha status report,
2310 days after leaving Earth orbit..."
Click here to play sound Maya can't wait for Alpha's pokey
computer to analyze the data.
Click here to play sound Tony wrestles a crazed Lustig,
accidentally killing him.
Click here to play sound Helena consoles Maya.
Click here to play sound John tells Maya about Tony.
Click here to play sound Alpha loses all communication
with the planet, and the Eagle.
Click here to play sound Maya learns that something is
happening to the planet.
Click here to play sound Alibe and Jerry realize what's happening.
Click here to play sound Helena and Maya hope for the best.
Click here to play sound Ed Spencer explains things to Koenig.
Click here to play sound Koenig warns Alpha away from the planet.
Click here to play sound Helena and Maya ignore Koenig's warning.
Click here to play sound Helena and Maya discuss the joys of walking.
Click here to play sound Bill takes the glider further than planned.
Click here to play sound Zoran spells it out.
Click here to play sound Tony becomes lucid.
Click here to play sound Koenig talks to "I that am I".
Click here to play sound Koenig risks listening to "I that am I".
Click here to play sound "I that am I" feels remorse.
Click here to play sound The Alphans make it home,
with a little help from a friend.
Click here to play sound Background sound.

 

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