SYNOPSIS

Unnerved by the arrival of the Solo Ship, the Buff Clan retreat from their attack. Onboard the ship, the action has damaged the lock in Karala's cell, and she and Mayaya escape. The Solo Ship only goes a short distance before landing again, and the Ideon is taken onboard. The colonists begin to explore the ship, while Bes, Sheryl and the rest of the military begin plotting leaving the planet on the Solo Ship, before testing the Ideon machines further. Above, Damido leads a sortie, eager to show up Gije by rescuing Karala himself.

The Solo Ship takes off under normal engine power, and moves to New Lopia. There, whatever supplies and survivors can be found are loaded onboard. However, a squad let by Gije attacks the Ideon units, and damages the Ideo-Buster. The three jets form Ideon, but because of this damage the robot can't walk. Joliver and Hatari fly the Solo Ship over to cover them, and Ideon is able to move onboard. The Gauge on the Solo Ship comes to life, the antimatter engine fires up and the ship blasts off into the atmosphere, wiping out several Buff Clan fighters as it does so. Gije laments that Karala is still onboard.

NOTES

Hatari Naburu: Hatari is seen for the first time, in the forest as Bes, Sheryl and Joliver discuss launching the Solo Ship.

Moera Fatima: Moera makes his first appearance as a Cavian-Crosus pilot who comes onboard at New Lopia. It's fair to assume he's a tidy pilot seeing as he survived the attacks despite flying one of those death-traps. His Cavian-Crosus is also taken onboard, and is seen in a later episode.

The Solo Ship: The ship has a forest already grown under the retractable dome behind the bridge. The entire bow of the ship hinging up 90° to house the Ideon is something that will gently be dropped as the series goes on.

Buff Clan: The Buff Clan have watercress (which Karala likes) on their planet too.

Gil Bau: A Buff Clan fighter/attack type with a two-man crew. Larger than the Dekka Bau, and with a high crescent-shaped wing. This is the preferred type of Damido.

The Ideon: The crew are outfitted with battle suits to help against the stress of combat. Cosmo (orange) and Kasha (lilac) get individually coloured suits, showing everyone else in their uniform cream suits exactly who the stars are. The first planned crew roster is Cosmo and an unnamed gunner in the Ideo-Delta, Bes and Bento in the Ideo-Nova, and Kasha and Tekuno in the Ideo-Buster. The individual units use monitors to see the battle. At this stage, there are random soldiers operating Glen Cannon turrets as well - these will be dropped soon. The units are protected by a barrier when combining, though this capability will disappear and reappear as the series goes on. One of the advantages of Space Runaway Ideon is that you can just blame this sort of inconsistency on the Ide.

REVIEW:

Another slightly slow episode. Nothing much seems to happen for the first half, and there's a lack of urgency to the script whenever the Buff Clan aren't actively attacking the colonists.

On the plus side, the rivalry between Gije and Damido, with the former worried about Karala and the latter bent on taking advantage of his comrade's failures, is shaping up nicely, while Abadede is functioning nicely as a somewhat weary mediator.

It's also nice to see Bes' group finally link up with whatever's left of New Lopia, however briefly, and it brings us Moera, who'll have an on-and-off duel with Joliver over the title of grumpiest man onboard for most of the series. He gets off to a winning start here, getting angry with Sheryl for no reason whatsoever...